#i know it's just a soap opera plot point but THEN JUST DON'T CALL IT ALLERGIC OKAY

[chronicdelusionistsart]

Bernard Dowd and the Art of Recontextualization

I'm what you might call a "fake Batman fan" - that is, I've only watched most of the Batman animated series', all of the live action movies, most of the animated ones, played some of the video games... so, you know, probably thousands of hours of my life in Batman related media. But not the comics! Fake fan!

Frankly, I find the comics medium the way DC and Marvel do it to be really hard to follow. There's the fact that you can't really follow an individual solo character without them getting caught up in massive crossover events that ruin their arc and pacing, there's the soap-opera-iness that encourages cheap and revolving conflicts inherent to the longform monthly release schedule, the writer roulette, and there's also just that going back to try and thread a particular continuity or character is an exercise in frustration. Oh and the retcons. Everyone hates those. They've (basically) never been good. Don't remember this part it will never come up aga

But, you know, despite this - or maybe because of this - comics is a breeding ground for ideas. Because of the quick turnaround and the demand for novel conflicts, comics just churn out idea after idea. Good ideas, bad ideas, doesn't matter. Get it to print. Retcon it later if we write ourselves into a corner. Comics are often soooooo first draft coded. This is why I personally prefer adaptations - they often reimagine ideas and retcon them into new narratives where they can serve a more coherent plot. But what happens when a character is picked up for a second draft ... without actually contradicting the earlier material? While enriching the earlier material, even?

(SPOILERS for Tim Drake: Robin and uh... 20 year old comics under the cut!)

So, uh, quick disclaimer - because I have very little overall knowledge of DC's Comics continuity, there may be more interesting examples of times that what I'm going to point out was done. But I love Bernard and from a writer's POV I'm impressed with the way they did it so we're talking about Bernard lmao

The Beginning (Robin 1993) - Reading comics from the 2000s hurts in a way I can't describe

Okay so I heard Tim Drake is dating a guy now? (Penny Sonic voice) Whoa he's bisexual I didn't know that! I'm sure people on the internet are being very normal about this. Cool let's find out more about his new bf. I like starting from the beginning... so like yeah hold on while I crack open the Robin comic and take down what this guy's deal is.

😬

So basically the TL;DR of Bernard in his original appearances is that he seems to be an attempt to introduce some normal stakes teen drama into Tim's life. He has all the Funny Guy Friend Classics - he's got an inflated sense of his proficiency at pulling girls, he's inexplicably drawn towards the protagonist (who is cooler than him), he wants to date the most popular girl in school, and he wants to get down with older women!

This might just be me but while I was going through this I thought like, he almost reads a little uncanny, like he's been filtered through a Disney Teen Special. In practice he mostly serves to introduce Tim to the Real Plot, Darla Aquista, and be one of his ties to civilian life, which is, like, fine. He's ultimately just a background character and he's so unimportant that he only has one appearance after their school gets shot up(!!!), which is, again, to be more of an accessory to the Darla plot.

After this display of "wow this guy's kind of lowkey insane for offering to his resurrected bestie supervillainess to be her manager actually", he's dropped forever. Comics! We're not gonna unpack that.

The Sequel (Batman: Urban Legends) - We're Gonna Unpack That

Until almost two decades later when he calls Tim up for a date. And while I'm trying to skim over a lot to get to the point here and I don't really know the FULL context, it is notable that Tim is in the middle of an identity crisis / the cusp of adulthood when this happens (I think he just lost a spleen or something. That sucks dude). It's pretty implicit that part of the reason he's going to see Bernard is because he's someone familiar in a time when he's facing a lot of new and scary stuff.

And at first blush, he really does seem like the same dude. The familiar arm over the shoulder, the banter, it's all very casual and similar to the ribbing from high school -

- and I guess nothing has happened to Bernard in the interim haha he's just the funny friend guy right?

I really like the way they did this. I'm just unambiguously going to praise how good this is if you just came off the 2000s stuff. Comics have kind of breakneck pacing by nature but they really manage to condense down and then pull off a neat sleight of hand over the course of like four pages here. They re-establish Bernard as a silly guy and then wham you with the fact that yeah actually we ARE gonna unpack that. Fuck you Tim Drake life is ever changing and nothing stays the same

So the TL;DR on the rest of the Urban Legends storyline is that stuff like, HAPPENED to this guy while our focus was elsewhere. He learned martial arts, presumably so that he wouldn't be so helpless in the next school shooting level event, he got into a pain cult, he's just Not Doing Well. We find out, reading between the lines, that calling Tim on a date was probably one of his last attempts to reach out to someone when the cult stuff was getting really bad.

I've heard people complain that Bernard is uninteresting or not a character or entirely focused on his relationship with Tim, and I think that criticism is really weird considering that his entire re-debut focuses on the point that he's been having his own life and making his own (often wild) decisions - ones that really changed the course of his life - while Tim was gone. And it's also notable that this story is about how the fact that he's his own person and has changed and has made the nerve-wracking decision to take action and call Tim inspires Tim himself to take a leap and fling himself into the uncertain waters of young adulthood.

Me when I have my bi awakening and call to get out of a rut simultaneously because Cute Insane Guy Inspired Me. iconic

So that's how Bernard has changed. But that's not recontextualization, that's just the writers taking a guy and making him do another, cooler thing. Well hold the fuck on because we're not goddamn done.

What did he mean by th-

The Recontextualizerrrrr (Tim Drake: Robin) - Bernard is the funniest person in Gotham City. I'll not be taking constructive criticism on this

Tim Drake: Robin is the followup to the Urban Legends story and Tim is the main character fr. Obviously. but Bernard is also a major character. Later, he even gets to be a POV character. But they don't do that for several issues, instead treating us to his shenanigans from Tim's point of view as he solves a bizarre serial murder case and like, they're cute! And neither of them are normal in the slightest. I love that for them.

Again, TL;DR, there are a lot of interactions where Bernard talks to Tim both in and out of costume, but we don't get to see his POV until they go out to a restaurant and meet Bernard's parents there by accident and Tim has to run off to do Robin stuff. And like... a lot of stuff happens in this one bois. Whammy after whammy

We're suddenly introduced explicitly to a lot that was only implied or just completely unavailable before. Bernard's parents are ragingly homophobic. Probably were never great even before that. He suffers from depression. All that is a lot to. wait. hold on a second

he knows?????

HE KNOWS????

Okay so if you stop at this point and reread the entire run so far you find out that Bernard is in fact the biggest troll in the entire universe. This is the moment that cemented him as my favourite, by the way. Like I had a feeling that he knew and I was just laughing my ass off when my suspicions were confirmed.

But this is really interesting on top of that because Bernard has been revealed to be, at this point, a guy who you should look deeper than the surface to understand. Someone who masks his true self and whose true motivations you can only uncover if you're really looking past the facade. Even with Tim, he sort of offers Tim and Robin half the story each, taking advantage of Robin's "distance" to give out information he wants Tim to think about but that he's reluctant to talk about frankly while at the same time almost daring Tim to open up about his identity.

Absolutely most normal way to tell your bf about your cult trauma. You'll always be famous to me Bernard Dowd

This is a really neat trick by the writers. It makes Bernard a multifaceted character who got to quietly develop while we were mostly focused on Tim, and there's some clever clever foreshadowing they set up in this run to achieve this. If it were just this, I would call it good writing.

But it actually goes one level deeper than that and becomes something really really special. because as we all know, Bernard was not conceived to be this way, he was a one-off guy who was kind of annoying and he was essentially retconned to be, like. Gay? Have depth? Be funny? All of those things?

The Seamless Retcon (Robin 1993 Again) - We took your guy and we gave him gay subtext and it worked astoundingly well

This is not a new observation btw, I've seen a ton of posts to this effect. But oh my god. Some of these panels really hit different with the new Bernard lore. Like holy fuck just read this back to back

There are tons of moments like this. There's SO MUCH that the revelation that Bernard is queer adds to his initially extremely underwhelming tenure in the Robin comics. A reread almost begs the question of what Bernard must have been thinking at any given moment! BRO YOU SAID YOU WANTED TO FUCK HIS STEPMOM. That's completely believable as a next-level closeting move and goes from kind of annoying to turbofunny.

Like yeah of course he's acting like a douche. His father is a status-chasing asshole and he's five racks deep in the closet. Of course he gravitates towards Tim - his gaydar is pinging and he thinks Tim is cute. And it's also pinging that Tim is like. You know

None of this would hit as hard if the writers had not set up Bernard as someone who masks so much. They worked it in that character trait to mean that you could always glean information deeper than the surface from his top level interactions.

Because of this, Bernard is really fucking interesting and he's a good character and he's one that gets better on reread. Like I said, that's a set of observations that are not new to me. But something that really gets to me is how seamless and intentional it is. It really feels like the writer sat down and took their time devising a guy that is believable as that other guy, but only if you read back with certain context.

The conclusion - Comics. Man.

So is this just about how Bernard is really fucking interesting and he's a good character and he's one that gets better on reread and that he can exist independent of Tim and all the haters are wrong. Yeah of course. 💖

But also like, I have thoroughly proven to myself that I was kinda wrong to just reject the published comics medium out of hand. I see now that there's room for the writer's roulette to hit the jackpot and that something I mistook as an outright flaw, the winding and unfocused and often improvised nature of it, can be ridden like a wave if you're skilled enough to do it. Meghan Fitzmarten is a goddamned genius.

I guess I have to read comics now. Fuck

[devilish-cherry]

choso relationship headcanons pt 2 ♡

ᨳ♡₊➳ choso x reader

ᨳ♡₊➳ crack, fluff

ᨳ♡₊➳ part one

ᨳ♡₊➳ me, not posting content for months: 🛌💤

also me the second choso crosses my mind: 🧍‍♀️💻🔥

i abandoned you all for two months but crawled out from under my rock at the call of my choso thirst alone. brand consistency is on point. nature is healing. please accept these headcanons as a humble offering before i crawl back into my hole. 😌🖤

₊⊹. choso's idea of waking you up gently is hovering over your sleeping form silently, staring until your soul feels his presence, and you wake up in sheer terror. "good morning," he deadpans, genuinely puzzled by your startled gasp. "were you dreaming badly?"

₊⊹. choso insists on watching those overly dramatic soap operas with you because his memories vaguely recall his vessel's grandma watching them. now he's deeply invested in the plot. you find him dramatically yelling at the tv, "do not give him the rose, mari! he betrayed your trust!" if you miss an episode, he's like, "i have updates. you will not believe who betrayed who."

₊⊹. he's surprisingly good at video games once he learns them, but is personally betrayed whenever your animal crossing villagers move out. you find him softly murmuring to your switch, "was my hospitality inadequate?"

₊⊹. choso discovered cooking tutorials on youtube exactly once and now he's committed to mastering japanese cuisine. unfortunately, it usually ends up with rice burnt to the bottom of your favorite pan. he always looks so earnestly distressed, blinking at the scorched remains, "this isn’t how chef kenichi said it would turn out…"

₊⊹. once he found out houseplants increase serotonin, your apartment basically turned into a botanical garden. he gets emotionally attached to each plant. you swear you've caught him softly reassuring a succulent, "you are doing well. keep photosynthesizing."

₊⊹. he knows how to use chopsticks, shake hands, and make a dentist appointment, all thanks to his vessel, but he has never emotionally processed any of those things. he does them like he’s cosplaying a civilian. that’s why he answers the door for the delivery driver by simply saying, “greetings.” and then doesn’t move to take the bag. just stares. the driver glances at the food, at choso, back at the food, like maybe this is a very elaborate mugging. you quickly jump in and handle the transaction while choso whispers to you, “they were unusually tense. suspicious?”

₊⊹. choso genuinely thinks the "don't talk to me until i've had my coffee" mugs you bought ironically mean you require silence in the morning. so every dawn, he sits in complete silence next to you, handing you coffee with reverence like you’re some ancient deity who must not be angered.

₊⊹. he knows how laundry works, in theory. but the first time you ask him to handle it, he somehow ends up washing your whites with a vibrant red hoodie. now everything you own is pink. he looks at you, tilting his head slightly. "pink suits you. i improved your wardrobe."

₊⊹. he doesn’t fully get sarcasm, so when you joke, "wow, love that for us," after you both spectacularly burn dinner, he nods sincerely, "i also appreciate our unified failure." he eventually adopts your sarcastic sense of humor but misses the delivery entirely, resulting in gems like, "oh great, another sunny day. precisely what we needed." completely serious, staring at a cloudless sky.

₊⊹. he tries to cheer you up by sending animal videos he discovers online but sends you bizarrely intense wildlife survival clips instead. "look, love. it's a meerkat narrowly escaping death. inspiring, isn't it?"

₊⊹. your first time visiting a pet cafe was his personal awakening. now, whenever he's stressed, you inevitably end up at the local cat café watching him silently commune with the cats. "they understand," he assures you while cradling a grumpy-looking cat named 'pancake'. "we should consider joint custody of this cat."

₊⊹. he knows what a “joke” is. he even knows the formula. set up → punchline → laughter. but when he tries to tell one, it’s like watching someone who read about humor but has never experienced it. he also always forgets the punchline halfway through and solemnly finishes, "i'm sorry. this was supposed to be humorous."

₊⊹. choso likes to hold hands, but doesn't quite understand when it’s socially acceptable. you once ended up awkwardly holding his hand while explaining to your landlord why the sink was broken, choso calmly beside you, fingers entwined, giving zero context.

₊⊹. choso tries texting you once, but doesn't understand emojis. you receive an ominous message: "Come home. 🔪🍅" and spend the entire day convinced something horrifying awaits you. turns out, he just wanted help cutting tomatoes.

₊⊹. choso believes firmly in quality cuddle sessions. he doesn't ask; he merely strategically drapes himself nearby until you notice and concede. you finally ask why he doesn't just say he wants cuddles, and he blinks slowly. "that seems aggressive."

₊⊹. choso finds diy tutorials online and tries them secretly to surprise you. spoiler alert: he’s hilariously bad at them. you've come home to questionable-looking clay mugs, half-painted canvases, and one very strange knitted... something. he presents each with absolute sincerity, "it is handmade. by me."

₊⊹. he randomly gives you head pats but doesn’t understand the social nuance, sometimes patting your head gently during serious conversations. "this is comfort." he declares, clearly satisfied with himself.

₊⊹. you once sarcastically called him “my strong little man” after he carried a heavy grocery bag. this man did not talk for an hour. he was processing. he sat down with a glass of water and said, “i am not little. but i am... yours.” you almost choked.

₊⊹. choso is basically your shadow in public places because he learned from his vessel's memories that partners stay close. sometimes so close he accidentally steps on your heel repeatedly. if you ever ask him for more space, he just blinks, totally deadpan. "i am ensuring your safety."

₊⊹. one day, you jokingly said, "ugh, i’d marry whoever does the dishes tonight," and you've never seen choso move so fast in his life. the plates nearly shattered from his enthusiasm alone.

₊⊹. if you ask him to pass you a towel while showering, he reaches into the bathroom with his eyes dramatically shut tight. his determination to respect your privacy while also being helpful is ridiculously endearing.

₊⊹. despite his perpetual resting bored face, choso genuinely believes everything you do is incredibly cool. you open a tricky jar? "incredible strength." you manage to fix the wifi router? "unmatched technological prowess." he looks at you like you're simultaneously beyoncé and albert einstein incarnate. it’s honestly adorable.

₊⊹. sometimes, he stares at your shared life, photos, plants, mugs, and mutters to himself, “i never thought i’d have this.”

[aihoshiino]

That Ai and Miyako post made me remember how back when chp 154 drop, some people were claiming that hikaai devalued Ai’s bond with her kids. Like????? Insane line of thinking.

I'm actually sort of in two minds. I defo don't agree that Ai's relationship with Hikaru devalues the one she has with the twins because. well, they're very different relationships above and beyond anything else. But I do think that this sounds like maybe a poor articulation of a critique that I do otherwise agree with - that the specific way Ai talks about her feelings for Kamiki in 154 is inconsistent with the Ai of volume 1 and, if taken at face value, does weaken what is otherwise an extremely efficient self-contained arc in relation to her feelings about the twins and how that guides her to her cathartic confession of love with her final words.

Akasaka falls into this bad habit in the latter half of OnK of like… I guess the most concise way to sum it up would be flanderization but of a relationship dynamic as opposed to a single character (tho I guess you could argue it's flanderization of both characters in relation to their dynamic, but that's picking nits). I've talked about this before in relation to Gorou and Sarina but tbh you can kind of see it all over late stage OnK when you know to start looking for it - where Aka tries to sell the emotional depth of a relationship by massively roiding up the intensity of it to near soap opera levels and rather than making it more interesting, it just ends up flattening out what already WAS interesting because the nuance gets lost in all the noise. GRSR are the worst victims of this mostly because the series relies SO heavily on getting you invested in that relationship that a lot of its beats flop all the harder if you aren't but HikaAi get some of it too.

Some of this comes down to the fact that we just don't really know a ton about how the HikaAi relationship really played out. I've talked about this in more detail before but the long and the short of it is that the 154 DVD is basically the one and only time we get Ai's actual perspective on the relationship and a lot of the stuff she says here is just, like… weirdly overly effusive in ways that don't one hundred percent line up with how she expresses herself in volume 1. And to an extent I give Akasaka a pass on that because he obvs didn't have the exact details of the HikaAi dynamic in mind when writing volume 1. But this does really feel like him falling into that trap of roiding up an emotional beat to the point where the nuance is lost. The DVDs are already such an awkward plot point bc they're so transparently utilitarian and there's never really a good in-story justification for Ai choosing to make them, but it especially doesn't help that the way she talks on the DVD is so obviously written to be the most hurtful and impactful thing possible to Hikaru.

And I think for the most part it does broadly work - the main issue is that depending on how you read some of what she says, it sort of retroactively centers Hikaru in her decisionmaking regarding the twins in a way that I think does kind of cheapen her immediate connection to the twins and her decision to selfishly pursue her own happiness if you take it at face value. It's not necessarily impossible to thread the emotional logic if you make the attempt but I dislike that I have to in the first place and I wish we'd gotten more insight into what caused the shift in her mindset between when the DVDs were made and when she called Hikaru.

The actual real problem is like. Literally this one part:

It would be one thing if this was being voiced as a genuine question that Ai was struggling with but her big happy smile and the way she immediately undermines it a moment later makes it clear this is a rhetorical question and that she is essentially saying without directly saying that she did love Kamiki and she knows it.

And like... that makes no sense, right??

Ai being able to so confidently and assuredly say that her "I can't love you" to Hikaru was a lie speaks to a level of understanding and security in her feelings that does not at all line up with the Ai of volume 1. The whole point of her conflict there - hell, of Ai's arc is general - is that Ai has been so starved of genuine human connection that she doesn't even recognise feelings of love in herself even as she experiences them. Her emotional palette has been so forcibly muted that she's effectively gone colourblind.

That's why she so scared of expressing her love to Aqua and Ruby - she literally has no idea what it feels like because she has no frame of reference. She assumes that it would be a lie if she said it specifically because she's never been able to speak a truthful "I love you" before.

So it's not that Ai having loved Hikaru undermines her love for the twins or anything - it's that Ai being so certain and at ease with the fact that she did, at this point in time. I do think that ultimately undermines vol1's conclusion for her purely because it's inconsistent and there's no attempt in the story to sew these inconsistencies up. Like I said, it feels like a symptom of Akasaka wanting to produce the maximally emotionally effective beat and either not realising or not caring that it didn't make sense for the arc he was writing.

To be clear, I do still love 154! It's still one of my favourite chapters in the series and I think it's overall very effective and definitely a better conclusion to the revenge & Hikaru as the antagonist than wtfever Aka decided to do with 160 onwards. It just has its issues like basically everything else in this manga past a point.

[lamardeuse]

well. shit. the Kenny interview just made me realize this may be really happening, huh? if it's real, here's the thing:

Tim Minear is not special. There have been so many TV powers that be, whether creators or showrunners or networks, who have been fundamentally incapable of guessing the ingredients in the secret sauce, the magic stored in this creative endeavour they've been entrusted with - even if they played a hefty part in making it. I'm sure all of us could name a dozen shows like this: shows we loved where that magic gets lost when TPTB think the format needs a "shakeup" or the program needs a "broader appeal". Sometimes it's a reaction to something happening behind the scenes, such as an actor asking for what they consider to be too much money or a Black woman knowing her worth and having the audacity to ask for better treatment (yeah, I'm talking about more than one show). They decide that they know better than the audience what the audience wants, enjoys or expects from the show. And nine times out of ten, it backfires.

911's special sauce is, first and foremost, that its core cast is incredibly fucking talented and - more than that - beyond happy to work together, in a way I haven't seen on many TV shows. There seem to be no prima donnas on that cast, and the #1 and #2 on the call sheet lead by example when they have every right by Hollywood custom to put up their feet and demand star treatment. I defy you to find an actress of Angela Bassett's calibre, experience, and status who would go through that whole cruise ship filming ordeal, but she did it. Krause puts himself through the same longass overnight shoots the rest of the cast does. The show itself is not great art, it's basically a high concept soap opera that only works because the writers have created loveable characters and the actors make you root for them no matter how silly the plots get. And because everybody lives and nobody dies.

If we wanted to watch a show where people die on the regular, we have a hundred other options. But this is one of the reasons we tune in to this show. We LIKE the stakes being low, we like our escapist nonsense, we're good with it.

One of the pitfalls of being in charge of a TV show, it seems, is you get to the point where you think you're making Great Art, and worst of all that you're smarter than the audience. Tim decided the audience (and who knows, maybe the actors) needed a lesson, needed to know after seven and a half seasons of keeping everyone intact that people could actually die. But here's the thing: we're not fucking stupid. We know all of this shit everyone survives could have killed them several times over in the real world, or on a TV show that was based in reality. But 911 has never been based in the real world, and we don't care.

Tim could have been happy that he and the other writers and cast and crew had created a show where the audience was able to suspend its disbelief to a frankly ridiculous extent because they loved the characters and actors that much, but instead he decided he was making a different show after seven and a half years. And if this is real and Bobby is really dead - and right now it seems like the only way it might not be real is if Tim hasn't told the actors what he's planning for the finale - I can't help but wonder if the secret sauce is gone forever.

Fuck.

[niobiumao3]

So like...

I really did NOT like Phee being absent for the Pabu invasion, that felt so fucking not great :( And so much of these episodes was SO GOOD.

Cross and Omega's argument! Pheeeeee my beloved!! Wrecker saving Gonky (called it on he saw the charges, grabbed Gonky and RAN).

But here's the thing, the Tech Tells on CX-2 are VERY strong at this point, except, we have 4 entire episodes in which to reveal how he became a Clone X when Crosshair didn't while ALSO not apparently remembering anything (Soap Opera Amnesia from the fall? Conditioning so bad his brain broke? did he make himself forget??) and then to reveal him AND fix this.

I don't see how that is getting done in 4 episodes in any GOOD way, one of which at a minimum involves the Juggernaut heist. In my estimation that's not enough narrative space to do this except Super Mario speedrun memory hacks with frame placement style stuff ala the power of Omega's love and like, that is simply not a compelling plot to me. Maybe they can pull it off, I dunno. It worked with Cross because it was spread over 5 months of in-story time, and we SAW the development in an entire episode dedicated to that. Are we getting that here? I just doubt that.

At least a couple casual viewers have commented it doesn't seem likely CX-2 is Tech now because, yeah, 4 episodes left and how does he not know anything? Amnesia so he forgets and has to remember? This is a classically disLIKED plot point from soap operas. So from a not-obsessively-examining-the-man's-every-motion POV it seems less likely, not more, due to the season rollout and current status heading into the back third.

From my POV, I feel like the tells are SO heavy. Placements on Pabu, 'domiciles', etc. But the show's writing is so very Occam's Razor that I don't see how Clone X Tech behaving like this makes literally ANY sense aside from a narrative which is a pale echo of Crosshair's merged onto an amnesia plot and and then cut brutally short.

The reviewer reactions DEFINITELY sounded like we get a Tech reveal somewhere in 10-14, for sure. Just, not clear on what kind.

But man I don't want Shifty Thrifting Crosshair Arc: Tech Version. Just. Do Not Want. Here's hoping they have found some way to do it well/right, if that's indeed where this goes.

My personal prefs are:

Tech is actually IN one of those CX conditioning pods, refusing to submit, clinging to his sanity

Tech is the partial-success m-count transfer subject and was such a problem Hemlock put him in isolation, having realized he made a huge mistake in giving this man even a LITTLE additional Force sensitivity

Tech will pop up out of the ground ala Gandalf in 12-14.

[lightofraye]

Eminem - Lose Yourself

Look, if you had one shot or one opportunity To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment Would you capture it or just let it slip? Yo His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy There's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spaghetti He's nervous, but on the surface, he looks calm and ready To drop bombs, but he keeps on forgetting What he wrote down, the whole crowd goes so loud He opens his mouth, but the words won't come out He's chokin', how? Everybody's jokin' now The clock's run out, time's up, over, blaow Snap back to reality, ope, there goes gravity Ope, there goes Rabbit, he choked, he's so mad But he won't give up that easy, no, he won't have it He knows his whole back's to these ropes, it don't matter He's dope, he knows that, but he's broke, he's so stagnant He knows when he goes back to this mobile home, that's when it's Back to the lab again, yo, this old rhapsody Better go capture this moment and hope it don't pass him You better lose yourself in the music The moment, you own it, you better never let it go (Go) You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow This opportunity comes once in a lifetime, yo You better lose yourself in the music The moment, you own it, you better never let it go (Go) You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow This opportunity comes once in a lifetime, yo You better

His soul's escaping through this hole that is gaping This world is mine for the taking, make me king As we move toward a new world order A normal life is boring, but superstardom's Close to post-mortem, it only grows harder Homie grows hotter, he blows, it's all over These hoes is all on him, coast-to-coast shows He's known as the Globetrotter, lonely roads God only knows he's grown farther from home, he's no father He goes home and barely knows his own daughter But hold your nose 'cause here goes the cold water These hoes don't want him no mo', he's cold product They moved on to the next schmoe who flows He nose-dove and sold nada, and so the soap opera Is told, it unfolds, I suppose it's old, partner But the beat goes on, da-da-dom, da-dom, dah-dah-dah-dah You better lose yourself in the music The moment, you own it, you better never let it go (Go) You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow This opportunity comes once in a lifetime, yo You better lose yourself in the music The moment, you own it, you better never let it go (Go) You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow This opportunity comes once in a lifetime, yo You better No more games, I'ma change what you call rage Tear this motherfuckin' roof off like two dogs caged I was playin' in the beginning, the mood all changed I've been chewed up and spit out and booed off stage But I kept rhymin' and stepped right in the next cypher Best believe somebody's payin' the Pied Piper All the pain inside amplified by the Fact that I can't get by with my nine-to- Five and I can't provide the right type of life for my family 'Cause, man, these goddamn food stamps don't buy diapers And there's no movie, there's no Mekhi Phifer, this is my life And these times are so hard, and it's gettin' even harder Tryna feed and water my seed, plus teeter-totter Caught up between bein' a father and a prima donna Baby-mama drama, screamin' on her, too much for me to wanna Stay in one spot, another day of monotony's gotten me To the point I'm like a snail, I've got To formulate a plot or end up in jail or shot Success is my only motherfuckin' option, failure's not Mom, I love you, but this trailer's got To go, I cannot grow old in Salem's Lot So here I go, it's my shot; feet, fail me not This may be the only opportunity that I got You better lose yourself in the music The moment, you own it, you better never let it go (Go) You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow This opportunity comes once in a lifetime, yo You better lose yourself in the music The moment, you own it, you better never let it go (Go) You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow This opportunity comes once in a lifetime, yo You better You can do anything you set your mind to, man

[zalrb]

PLL 3x13 Review - As Per Anon Request (AND I'M PISSED)

Oh look, the Toby reveal I didn't see. Lol.

IT'S HALLOWEEN. THIS IS THE EPISODE, RIGHT? THIS IS THE EPISODE ARIA FINALLY GETS HURT?

And it STARTS with Mona? SINGING TEDDYBEAR PICNIC? The song and the movie that gave me NIGHTMARES as a child??

Oh, I'm seated. I'm ready.

I just feel like, I just FEEL like, they keep trying to make her Harley Quinn

Emily literally stabbed someone and she isn't going through intense therapy right now?

"Now that he got out, we have to go under the radar." Hanna, literally, WHY. No one cares about your relationship.

I just don't have the time

They are going for hip elegance with Spencer but it just looks like she should be milking cows somewhere or being rich and repressed in Downton Abbey like 85% of the time

and I actually don't mind this outfit.

"What did he want?" wouldn't you already know, Toby, since you're Gossip Girl, I mean, a part of Team A.

VILLAIN FACE

which is just the Ian Smolder, honestly

For the love of god, he was just shot

and if you're going to have secret closet makeouts at least be Peter and Gwen

because that boy altered her brain chemistry

Liz and Max in the Eraser Room?

Like, if this is some, I was just shot, show me why I'm glad to be alive type of making out, it should be like this.

I don't know, man, Caleb always sounds annoyed with her even when he isn't meant to be.

"Everything that's happened and we're still in the same place." WHAT PLACE. WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

Where does Aria live.

"I can't go." You shouldn't be at a high school Halloween party at all, Ezra.

Hanna as Marilyn works, I just love how cheap that dress looks.

Of course Aria is Daisy. Jesus, her and Lucas - this is OTH Lucas.

And Aria is not Elena?

JENNA IS WEARING AN EYE PATCH AND NO ONE IS GOING TO TOUCH THAT? IS THIS PLL OR NOT?

If Spencer is supposed to be Lauren Bacall with the "you know how to whistle don't you?" she should be dressed like this

This is the best Toby has ever and will ever look

Hair is James Dean. I have to say, it works. Hair's got the hair.

How long do I have to watch Adam Lambert sing.

Obviously Phantom is Caleb.

"But you know I liked you a lot better like this"

THERE IT IS. THERE'S THE BLIND JOKE.

Oooh is Aria going to get pushed off the train? I think she should get pushed off the train.

Hair also shouldn't be at a teenager party.

WE GET IT. IT'S ADAM LAMBERT. I DON'T CARE.

Who is this ghost child with Spencer's clothes.

I'm probably a bad person but if a child is looking at me like this

she can't stay in my house, she can wait for her mom on the porch or something. I'll call a neighbour, they can deal with it.

If you take off the mask then what's the point. I love how this kiss SHOULD be dramatic

They've got the aesthetics right. But it's Haleb and they're just too unexceptional for me to care. You need a ship that you can get invested in, that has real stakes and real chemistry or a real narrative for a windswept train kiss.

I'm sorry, who is putting on this party again? To do all of this? Because this train is like the fucking Hogwarts Express.

I totally forgot about Emily. She hadn't been onscreen for like ten minutes.

Troian looks really pretty though.

This Jenna and Alison "fight" is laughable. Why even bother

what are we doing

You know what I changed my mind. Alison basically touched Jenna and she flew backward right next to the field hockey stick. This is soap opera territory. This is Passions. This is art.

"I didn't kill Alison but Jenna thinks that I did." "That's IT?" Lol Spencer.

"I'm going to go get Aria and you're going to say this to her face, you understand?" And I can't take you to Aria which would make more sense because that would make the plot harder to plot.

Lol this is how I feel rooting for Aria to FINALLY be endangered

but seriously, THROW HER OFF THE TRAIN. She'll survive. It's PLL.

If all she is is tied up and scared I'ma be mad.

Not Caleb.

Mona?? Tell me that was Mona. Because if that was Mona, they should've just made her obsessively in love with Hanna. Because she already is.

Nah nah nah nah this cannot stand. All I'm seeing is Aria in a box and Spencer is being choked and manhandled for the fifty-leventh time.

THIS is her trauma? A DEAD GARRET?

Anons told me she would finally be inducted into the maimed and nearly-murdered club of her peers. They promised me blood. Where is the blood? Where is iittttttttttttttttt.

"I'm looking for Aria. Have you seen her?" "No, but she has a thing for authority figures." Jesus Christ, Jenna. This is why everyone is on your neck about your sight.

Yes, I laughed.

OF COURSE SHE GOT SAVED. Anons, you lied to me. I have never been so disappointed during my viewing of this show.

I'm supposed to care that she saw a dead Garrett when Garrett was the one who died????? And Spencer was choked out AGAIN. And Caleb was SHOT. And Emily was SUFFOCATED. and Hanna was RUN OVER BY A CAR. And Toby fell off the scaffolding. CALEB'S MOTHER GETS INTO A CAR CRASH. Oh, she pisses me off.

You, anons, liiiiiiieeeeeed to me.

I can't even care about the rest of it because I'm so irritated that Aria sustained NO injuries after THREE FUCKING SEASONS.

and here Aria go holding her wrist?

I am so tired of her ass.

Oh fuck OFF.

I am so done.

And this dumbass Christmas and Toby not-fight.

And there was minimal Mona. Ugh.

[respectthepetty]

What are some of your favorite novelas, Petty? I grew up loving them too and personally I will ALWAYSSS show up for anything Fernando Colunga is in!

Anon, I'm not giving you some of my favorites. No. I'm giving you my favorite - If you know this bitch (affectionate and derogatory), you KNOW where this is going!

For all the BL people, this is why @italianpersonwithashippersheart, @lukaherehelp, and I are having no qualms about Twins or Playboyy.

Telenovelas, soap operas, y lakorns have trained us well for these shenanigans and hijinks.

Why y'all can't remember twenty-two people's names is beyond me, but I had them down the first episode.

Why y'all don't like the tonal whiplash is odd to me because for me, ten minutes on one couple is TOO MUCH TIME. Six minutes, TOP, and move on to the next one.

Someone getting stabbed in one scene then the next scene being someone celebrating at a birthday party is the way I like my shows, and don't let that person be getting stabbed AT that birthday party because that is my bread and butter.

Oh, and TWINS!

My favorite show includes all of these fine points, and it's the 1998 Mexican telenovela called

La usurpadora

Somewhere in fictional hell, Soraya Montenegro from María la del Barrio is pissed as fuck.

The plot: Paola is a rich bitch and wants to leave her husband for her evil lover but can't figure out how.

¡Sorpresa, cabrona! She meets a worker who looks just like her while on vacation or some shit.

Paulina is the other woman and she is too poor to contour. Therefore, rich bitch Paola convinces kind and caring Paulina to be her stand-in. Paola tells Paulina she will live the best life and be rich, while Paola can be free. It's a win-win.

¡MENTIRAS!

Paulina refuses! So Paola blackmails her into doing it, and with her mother dead, her fiance gone, and no job (since she was fired as part of Paola's blackmailing scheme), Paulina is forced to take the offer. This is like episode 2 out of 102.

In the next 100 episodes, we get forty-five other characters who are all important to the plot, amnesia, cheating, murder attempts, Paola pretending to be paralyzed, Paulina GOES TO PRISON, someone discovers they are actually twins (no duh!), and a crap ton of more drama.

Oh, and the car crash!

But God got Paulina, so she good. Even in the sequel when she had cancer, pero no, she was just pregnant.

The show is based on a 1971 Venezuelan telenovela that was adapted from the book La Intrusa, and has since had several remakes. One was in 2019, which made Paulina Colombian (or was she always Colombian?), and A MUSICAL THIS YEAR!

It holds a 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes because the people know this was a 🎁🎁🎁 from God, and it is not up for debate because it featured men dancing around singing Celia Cruz's "La vida es un carnaval" y Selena's "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom." This movie is the moment.

The lead is Cuban actress Isabella Castillo Díaz who played in America and México's co-produced telenovela ¿Quién es quién?, which is basically the boy version of La usurpadora because of the twins plot. Do you see the theme?

But back to the musical, which also features Drag Race superstar, Valentina. If you know this bitch (affectionate and derogatory), you KNOW!

The 1998 version and musical both embrace the camp of it all. The music in the original 1998 version was peak telenovela, and even if you don't speak Spanish, readers, just watch the first minute of this video. I promise you it will be worth it, and it will give you three perfect examples of the *vibes* I'm always rambling about.

So, yeah, Anon, I hope this explains a lot of about my taste in BLs. I'm here for a show, not the show. Soraya understands.

[gaykarstaagforever]

St. Elmo's Fire (1985)

I've always heard nothing but bad things about this movie, how it is a self-indulgent soap opera about awful 1980s people who never pay for their gross behavior. Everyone says the only good thing about it is the John Parr theme song, which is barely in it. And that wasn't even written for it, it was a triumphant pop-rock anthem written to celebrate a kickass wheelchair athlete.

Which is painfully obvious. Then John Parr just worked the name of the movie into it and shrugged. And everyone loves it. But not the movie, which was financially successful because it had members of the smooth and sexy Brat Pack in it, but critics and studio heads hated it then, and many people hate it now.

I, on the other hand, genuinely really liked it.

For all his many shortcomings, Joel Schumacher knew how to put a good movie together in 1985, and he did here. Technically speaking, it's fine. Artistically shot, well paced, the performances are all high-energy and affecting, and even the screenplay is solid, minus a few lazy strolls into trashy melodrama and plot contrivance. But the characters are well-constructed as unique individual people, the occasional jokes are funny, and everything for the most part feels real and earned and insightful.

So why do people hate it? The simple answer is the same one Joel Schumacher apparently got from reluctant studio heads: these people are fucking awful. They're stupid and selfish and cruel, and when that inevitably blows up in their faces, they pout and whine and throw temper tantrums and beg for money. They're well-off white kids from Washington DC who just graduated from Georgetown, and instead of taking advantage of that, most of them are drug-addled mopes for whom the entire world being open to them is STILL not enough.

And I agree with this character critique. These people suck. The whole movie is them ruining the lives of everyone around them with their bad behavior. I have known people like this, and I don't anymore, because they are frustrating and destructive and what they do puts an unfair burden on everyone else.

...But the movie knows this, and that is, in fact, sort of the whole point? Sure, they don't end up dead or in jail, so maybe they don't get the full brunt of what is coming to them. But they're also all 22 years old. Speaking now as a 42 yo man, people who are 22 are stupid baby-things who ruin everything they touch and will absolutely hate who they were in 10 years. That's called growing up, and the entire point of the movie is to show a small part of that process. They DO learn. They DO grow. Not a lot, but a little. And that's how it is, and was, if you were 22 in 1985.

I don't understand why anyone would hate this. You can hate them, if you want. They're detestable. But a lot of privileged people in their 20s are. And while that doesn't absolve them of their shitty behavior, it's kind of unreasonable to not expect this shit from these kinds of people. They are products of where they come from, and now as legal adults, they have to work through that themselves and come out the other side as better people. It's a gross, stupid, weird, terrible process, and the movie shows a glossy, sappy Hollywood version of that.

And it's not bad, for what it is. I don't know if I'd put it on a Top Movies list or even ever watch it again, but it does what it does well. I even kind of fell in love with these big dumb idiots by the end, because as they learn lessons, they become better people. Or at least, differently bad people. But they are still in the middle of that process. I'm not hostile to it or them, or the movie, about it. I don't know why anyone would be.

It IS a movie from 1985, so it has a lot of "movie from 1985" problems. Sexism, treating stalking as a cutesy sitcom plot with a resolution that rewards the stalker, some SA stuff played for laughs, not quite knowing what to do with the women characters that isn't them constantly talking about the male characters, some awkward stuff about one character maybe being gay that seems like it could get interesting, but then the movie remembers it's 1985 and reveals he is super-straight actually, whew! But, honestly, for this era, it is very mild in this regard. I kept expecting it to go dark and problematic and it mostly doesn't (aside from the goofball "I kind of like being stalked" nonsense). For a movie from 1985, it is very watchable and only mildly offensive to 2024 sensibilities. That alone is a rarity, and a big mark in its favor.

Plus it is fun as a fictionalized snapshot of what wealthy white young adults in Washington DC were up to in 1985. Lots of people in their early 20s smoking like chimneys and desperate to get married immediately to people they barely know. Kind of wild.

Also, while these people all have bachelor's degrees, the ease with which they lose and get new high-paying jobs, seemingly without their degrees even being taken into account, is a shocking vision from the past. Sure, some of this is just unrealistic Hollywood guff. But not all of it. They really would just hire you for the modern equivalent of $1500 a week back then, because you seemed cool and your friend called and said yeah, you totally are.

Computers were only starting to be a thing back then. No one could verify anything, no one kept records of anything, and every job a machine does now was something 4 people needed to do in 1985. What a time.

And these idiots STILL whine and moan and never appreciate it! While doing cheap and plentiful cocaine. Ah, the 80s!

...Also, Young Rob Lowe.

Jesus.

...Also, Jules's insane ugly pink neon gay-ass apartment. That I want to spend the rest of my life in.

I'm not just doing a slur. It being designed by her gay designer neighbor is plot-relevant a couple of times.

Also, this poster...

The bar they hang out at is called St. Elmo's Bar. The St. Elmo's Fire thing (the real phenomenon) is from one scene where a character uses it as a metaphor to make another character feel better about how screwed-up their lives are. Arguably he was inspired to do this because they go to that bar a lot, but the connection isn't firmer than that.

The bar is not called St. Elmo's Fire, is my point. So the heat this summer would be at St. Elmo's Bar, not St. Elmo's Fire. Which isn't a place.

This is a poster for the movie! Did they not watch it first? Yes it matters!

And here, finally, because I have to:

HA HA! I GOT YOU! THIS IS THE DAVID FOSTER LOVE THEME!

...Which is way more prominent in the movie, and is honestly way more its actual theme. You will note how it fits the movie tonally a lot better than that driving synth-rock song about a cool guy in a wheelchair.

[mikuni14]

Last Twilight - Ep 12

I really gave this series a chance, I honestly sat down for this episode thinking, ok, maybe they will save this dumpster fire that was the finale of the previous ep. I really WANTED to like it.

The series went for my throat literally in the first minute 😀 After that everything was more or less torture. Almost every scene, every word felt like it was written specifically against me 😆

Let's start with a nice scene of a smiling Day saying coachy, positive bullshit suggesting that he pulled himself up by his bootstraps, and wasn't literally dragged out of the stagnation and depression by Mhok. A montage of scenes of Day thriving. All of this thanks to himself!

And then Mhok arrives, cue the romantic Halmark escalator scene and………… ……………………. ……………….. Mhok and Day slip into their old shoes, acting exactly like they did after their first kiss scene LMAOOOO they literally went back in time to this episode, Mhok flirts, Day is skittish. Everything that happened is pointless. They act like the 3 YEARS (!!!!) apart, or that horrible scene, or even the fact that Day fucking blocked Mhok didn't exist.

This whole episode killed me because it made it seem like Day was the victim of something really bad and Mhok was the bad guy, like it was all because of him, like he had done something terrible to Day. When Day asks his mother if he can give Mhok a chance because he might do "the same thing again", it sounds like Mhok was beating him or cheating on him????? Mhok thanking for the breakup????????? Mhok doing emotional labor again and winning over Day, while Day pushes him away (but not really) and is blushing and skittish and just takes the attention given to him was a literal repeat of the past and actively made me feel upset, for me it was humiliating to see Mhok like that.

And what's interesting - Mhok after his return is exactly the same, he behaves exactly the same, he is "overprotective" again. But now, Day and the plot are ok with it? 🤔

And this wedding, which somehow was about Day anyway. Like everything. (Night and Porjai in the future: remember our wedding? oh yes, that event when we took DAY to the airport and when DAY had his eye surgery? 😆)

Also, please leave the weddings, the profound speeches, the dramatic scenes, the tearjerkers, the airport runs, and the sudden phone calls about available transplants to the professionals. Soap operas do it so much better, so just… leave it. I can cry my eyes out at these scenes during Bollywood movies because they know how to do it. In Last Twilight I don't know where to hide because of embarrassment.

Day getting his sight back? I'm for it! It wasn't a miracle, just a medical procedure. Why would they deny him that? Especially since medicine could help in his case. But again, it's not about what happened, it's about HOW it happened, it's about the execution (which is also my main complaint about the scene from the previous episode). It was just melodramatic and crammed into the moment to force an emotional response from the audience. And did you notice how flat the scene when Day sees fell? "I can see!" haha, Porjai is pretty, end of the scene. Like???? The series told a certain story and from a narrative point of view, Day's regaining his sight at that moment and in such a way was artificial, so it does not give any satisfaction or joy in the fact that a blind person can see again - I was embarrassed by how cringe and saccharine this scene is. Not to mention the beginning of the episode contradicted the ending of the episode! The story must hold together, it must be coherent, the series should have a central, main idea. Last Twilight doesn't have that, it lost it 2 episodes ago, and the saccharine ending of this show was just a soap opera nail in the coffin.

tl;dr Mhok and Day are back in the past. Despite the loud speeches about development, growing and having a beautiful life despite adversities, the series made sure that the characters end it pretty much the same, in perfect circumstances, without the slightest cloud in their perfect sky 😀

The best things about this series are:

Mhok, my golden boy

Night without hesitation or making a big deal out of it, calling Porjai's baby his. I am a sucker for men who don't care whether their child is his blood. Night and Ha Do Young from The Glory, unconditionally loving their children regardless of whether they are their biological parents -> 💯💯💯

Right now, I'm not even angry, I don't even have any particular negative feelings. I just… I watched the whole episode like that:

[thepluralmaster]

Hello! Bit of a random question, but I was wondering if you had any recommendations for Indonesian books or shows? I don't speak the language myself, but I know someone who's learning the language and, well, I figured this was also a good opportunity to get to know a mutual better ^^

To be honest we don’t really get into Indonesian media much so our knowledge on that is very limited. All synopses that we typed here are based on what we’ve seen on Wikipedia.

Off the top of our head we can only think of a few movies that we know many people like, such as Petualangan Sherina (2000) & Jumbo (2025).

Jumbo is about a boy who is often made fun of by other kids for being fat, and he has a storybook handed down to him by his late parents that he holds dearly. He wanted to join a talent show to prove his worth and he planned to do a stage play inspired by said book, but the book got stolen at one point so he and his friends set off on a quest to get it back.

Petualangan Sherina is a musical about a schoolgirl who just transferred to a new school and immediately had to deal with the bullies in said school, but at one point she found herself in the middle of a kidnapping plot with one of the bullies and they had to find a way out.

For books… we know Laskar Pelangi the movie is also popular, but since it’s an adaptation of a book, maybe that could work? The movie was from 2008, the book was released on 2005 and written by Andrea Hirata, just to give some pointers on where to look. Note that we only vaguely remember watching the movie, and we have never read the book. It’s about a group of schoolkids in rural Belitung who call themselves Laskar Pelangi (“Rainbow Troops”) and their life pursuing education in their small, underfunded school, which would be shut down if they don’t have at least 10 students.

For something like TV shows… people here love to dunk on local soap operas for a reason, we don’t know if there are any good ones.

Do any of our indo followers have ideas? Maybe talk about the stuff we already mentioned here if you have watched or read these? Maybe mention something else that we don’t know?

[my-chaos-radio]

Release: October 28, 2002

Lyrics:

Look, if you had one shot or one opportunity

To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment

Would you capture it or just let it slip?

Yo

His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy

There's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spaghetti

He's nervous, but on the surface, he looks calm and ready

To drop bombs, but he keeps on forgetting

What he wrote down, the whole crowd goes so loud

He opens his mouth, but the words won't come out

He's chokin', how? Everybody's jokin' now

The clock's run out, time's up, over, blaow

Snap back to reality, ope, there goes gravity

Ope, there goes Rabbit, he choked, he's so mad

But he won't give up that easy, no, he won't have it

He knows his whole back's to these ropes, it don't matter

He's dope, he knows that, but he's broke, he's so stagnant

He knows when he goes back to this mobile home, that's when it's

Back to the lab again, yo, this old rhapsody

Better go capture this moment and hope it don't pass him

You better lose yourself in the music

The moment, you own it, you better never let it go (Go)

You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow

This opportunity comes once in a lifetime, yo

You better lose yourself in the music

The moment, you own it, you better never let it go (Go)

You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow

This opportunity comes once in a lifetime, yo

You better

His soul's escaping through this hole that is gaping

This world is mine for the taking, make me king

As we move toward a new world order

A normal life is boring, but superstardom's

Close to post-mortem, it only grows harder

Homie grows hotter, he blows, it's all over

These hoes is all on him, coast-to-coast shows

He's known as the Globetrotter, lonely roads

God only knows he's grown farther from home, he's no father

He goes home and barely knows his own daughter

But hold your nose 'cause here goes the cold water

These hoes don't want him no mo', he's cold product

They moved on to the next schmoe who flows

He nose-dove and sold nada, and so the soap opera

Is told, it unfolds, I suppose it's old, partner

But the beat goes on, da-da-dom, da-dom, dah-dah-dah-dah

You better lose yourself in the music

The moment, you own it, you better never let it go (Go)

You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow

This opportunity comes once in a lifetime, yo

You better lose yourself in the music

The moment, you own it, you better never let it go (Go)

You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow

This opportunity comes once in a lifetime, yo

You better

No more games, I'ma change what you call rage

Tear this motherfuckin' roof off like two dogs caged

I was playin' in the beginning, the mood all changed

I've been chewed up and spit out and booed off stage

But I kept rhymin' and stepped right in the next cypher

Best believe somebody's payin' the Pied Piper

All the pain inside amplified by the

Fact that I can't get by with my nine-to-

Five and I can't provide the right type of life for my family

'Cause, man, these goddamn food stamps don't buy diapers

And there's no movie, there's no Mekhi Phifer, this is my life

And these times are so hard, and it's gettin' even harder

Tryna feed and water my seed, plus teeter-totter

Caught up between bein' a father and a prima donna

Baby-mama drama, screamin' on her, too much for me to wanna

Stay in one spot, another day of monotony's gotten me

To the point I'm like a snail, I've got

To formulate a plot or end up in jail or shot

Success is my only motherfuckin' option, failure's not

Mom, I love you, but this trailer's got

To go, I cannot grow old in Salem's Lot

So here I go, it's my shot; feet, fail me not

This may be the only opportunity that I got

You can do anything you set your mind to, man

You better lose yourself in the music

The moment, you own it, you better never let it go (Go)

You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow

This opportunity comes once in a lifetime, yo

You better lose yourself in the music

The moment, you own it, you better never let it go (Go)

You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow

This opportunity comes once in a lifetime, yo

You better

Songwriter:

Marshall Mathers / Jeff Bass / Luis Resto

SongFacts:

👉📖

Homepage:

Eminem

[yurisorcerer]

Starting my AWC Gacha Challenge off with a fucking bang right here.

I've been peripherally aware of the Uma Musume / Pretty Derby franchise for years. I actually checked the first season of the anime out back when it was new and remember not being super impressed (I think I found the trainer annoying? It's been quite a while since then), but I was put on to the existence of this four-part OVA, and a film related to it, by a friend, and it happened to fit both the "watch an anime with the 'athletics' tag" and "watch an anime whose romanized title starts with 'U'" criteria, so I thought I'd knock out two birds with one stone.

Can I just say? This shit is CRAZY. Danny Devito I Get It GIF. I have seen the light. I'm a believer.

I have long said I don't really "click" with sports anime, and that's proven true up until now. Maybe I just needed something in a more streamlined format? Maybe I just needed girls with fun character designs? Either way, this shit fucking slaps. Being an OVA focused on a competitive sport, there's not a ton of focus on "plot" per se, but the basic rundown is that Uma Musume's characters are horse kemonomimi, named after actual, historical racehorses in the real world, who run competitive footraces. Obviously, we follow a few of them on their road to victory.

These first two episodes follow a broadly similar format where the first 2/3rds of the episode is characterization for our three leads and the last third or so is the race itself, which is an incredible exercise in just absolute top-shelf action animation, to the point where that phrasing feels like selling it short. Like, I'm not a "sakuga head" as such in that it's not the main thing I look for in an anime, but I recognize fucking game when I see it and the lightning adrenaline channeled through these races is just a really rare thing, especially in the contemporary landscape. A lot of the more restrained 'character acting' animation is really excellent too, both in the obviously human movements the girls have but also the *in*human movements; the show never forgets that these are *horse*girls so a lot of them emote with their ears, it's honestly really endearing and helps the inherently somewhat goofy setting feel real in a way it would not if less care were put into it.

About the girls themselves, I said there are three main characters. I really like two of them. One, T.M. Opera O (whose historical namesake was at one point the highest-earning racehorse on Earth), is just a fucking crackerjack execution of one of my favorite kinds of character: she's amazing at what she does, and she fucking knows it. She's a showboat, but she's a *likeable* showboat. She's an artist and the racetrack is her canvas. It's her performance, we're all just here to watch it, and she knows it. Also she has what I will call "prince girl" aesthetics and hope you get it. She's awesome. If I have to pick a single favorite character, it's her, hands down, no competition. She wins the race at the end of episode 1 and if this were my show she'd also win the races in episodes 2, 3, 4, and 5, even though there's only four episodes. She's my fucking GOAT. I love this theatrical horse.

One of the others, Admire Vega, is very much a different thing. She's got a fairly serious and reserved personality. She also, we learn in episode 2, has mood swings, which she feels are in fact the feelings of her stillborn sister. I was not prepared for something this heavy---and honestly, this soap opera-y---to show up in this series, but it works surprisingly well in terms of giving her a motivation that feels like it makes sense. She wins the race in episode 2 and for the first time in the OVA's run we see her looking genuinely contented with a broad, serene expression on her face. It's lovely.

Now, there are three leads and I've just described two of them. Unfortunately, Top Road, who is actually supposed to be *the* main character I believe, is the least interesting to me. She wants to win because a lot of people believe in her and she feels like she owes her trainer. I get this as a motive intellectually but something's just kind of missing for me, yet. I WANT to like her, and after watching her get her spirit completely crushed twice in a row I definitely *feel bad* for her (especially as of the end of episode 2, where she cries one of the most pathetic-looking cries I've ever seen animated. Poor girl), but I'm not at the point where I'm actually rooting for her over Vega or Opera yet. Still, I'm hoping I'll get there. There are two episodes left which I'm tentatively planning to watch tomorrow. I'm excited! This is really fun!

[the-bar-sinister]

Chains of the Dragon (4445 words) by thesavagesabretooth Additional Tags: Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Drama & Romance, Eventual Happy Ending, ethical non-monogamy, relationship drama, Established Relationship, Developing Relationship, genre: political thriller and soap opera, POV Multiple, Klavier Gavin-centric, Apollo Justice-centric, Nahyuta-centric, Ema Skye-centric, Trucy Wright-centric, No cheating, Polyamory Endgame, klapollo-centric, klavema-centric, nahyupollo-centric, skyemadhi-centric, klavmadhi-centric, plot heavy It takes almost four months for Apollo Justice's on-again off-again boyfriend Klavier Gavin to find out why he hasn't seen his favorite herr forehead–or their forensic investigator– in town in a while. When he discovers that Apollo has moved to Kura'in without so much as a goodbye or a phone call, the rockstar hatches a plan with Trucy Wright to swoop into action and rescue the derelict lawyer from his self imposed exile.

Meanwhile, Apollo has been building a life in the newly reformed country. After confessing his feelings to his childhood best friend Nahyuta, the two of them have settled into a fond relationship which has begun to grow into to include Ema in its strange dance. Of course, there hasn't been much time for romance while rebuilding the country, and tensions are only growing as a schism spreads through the ranks of the Defiant Dragons.

Klavier and Trucy, along with Trucy's new assistants, Bonny and Betty, arrive on the scene in a Kurai'in situation that's as tense and ready to blow romantically as it is politically.

-

September 30, 2028– 2:30 pm

It wasn't babysitting. Trucy was almost 18 years old now– practically a woman in her own right– and certainly Klavier's dear friend in her own right. 

No– while the rest of the Wright Anything Agency was busy with the Sprocket wedding, Klavier was more than happy to keep his good friend company. Even if he did have to take care of some of the paperwork sitting on his desk in the prosecution office before they actually went out and did anything fun.

Paperwork aside, usually Trucy would be laughing about something or other by this point–sitting on his desk while he worked and going on about something that happened at the Wunder Bar, or something she’d done with Pearl, or hell, some fresh news about the Wright Anything Agency.

Today, though, she was laying face down on his ergonomic chair. Her silk top hat had fallen to the ground, where it rolled in a lazy half circle back around to bump against the chair leg. He heard her whine another. “uuuurghhhh” that was muffled by the cushions. 

Klavier got up to noodle a few chords on his guitar in between papers, and he leaned on the display case looking over at Trucy.

"Forgive me for saying so, but you don't exactly seem your perky self today, fraulein. Wedding bell blues?" He glanced over at her, stroking his fingers idly up the neck of his guitar.

Trucy looked up, dark circles around her eyes speaking to a night of little sleep. 

“I mean…I’m really, really upset that daddy didn’t bring me to that wedding, sure…I’m the ONLY one in the office who hasn’t been invited! Even Miss EMA got to go! B-but…” 

Klavier fingered a low, sullen chord at the mention of Ema Skye. She hadn't been in town for months, and now she was at a wedding without him? He had to admit he was a little hurt about that too.

"But, fraulein?"

“Daddy just told me some stuff that’s been…I d-dunno. A lot.” She sniffled as she wiped her face, and her head dropped back to his fancy chair. “And I don’t even have the chance to catch the bouquet to make up for it.” 

"That's no fair. No fair at all, Trucy." He played another low, thoughtful chord and sighed. "Want to tell mr. Klavier what's on your mind? Or should we just drink our troubles away? Soda pop for you, of course."

“Of course,” Trucy said with utter despair. She rolled over with a frown . “I don’t even get to drink the good stuff.“...so, you wanna know something super funny?” 

"I always want to know something funny, fraulein." He set down his guitar and he came over and stood beside the chair. "Even if I suspect this isn't the kind of funny that'll make me laugh."

“Oh it’s a doozy though!” Trucy rolled to sit up, her smile strained and twitching as she said “my dead mom has been dead lying to me for my whole life! Or at LEAST the last two years or so!” 

Klavier put his hand on the chair and frowned. He had known that Trucy was an orphan– much like himself So this revelation was absolutely a shock.

He put on his brightest smile. "Care to run that by me again, I think I missed it."

Trucy ran her hand through her hair with a laugh. “My dead mom! She’s been lying to me. Because she’s not dead at all, Klavier! She’s still SUPER alive, and SUPER someone we know!”

"Well that's fucked up, fraulein!" Klavier leaned in over her. He paused as the full extent of her words hit him. "Wait did you say someone we know? As in I know your dear departed mother?"

“Uh huh!” Trucy nodded seriously. “I mean…she didn’t know she was my momma right away of course. She had amnesia. But then she remembered and asked Daddy to keep it a secret from me.” 

Klavier clenched his knuckles unconsciously. "Oh did she?"

“Yep!” Trucy seemed on the edge of tears, nervously tugging at a lock of her hair “Lamiroir, the Siren of the Ballad is my momma, I guess. She swore daddy to secrecy until ‘the time was right’. And… I mean, that’s pretty crazy right?” 

She sniffed softly.

Klavier stood frozen for a moment while the gears of his mind refused to move. Lamiroir– his friend, Lamioir– the siren of the ballad. The woman he'd gone on tour with.

That was Trucy Wright's mother?

And she hadn't told her?

Klavier could only stare for a moment in shock.

"Scheiße…" was all he managed to get out of his mouth.

“And that wasn’t even all of it, Klavier!” Trucy had begun openly sobbing now. Tears spilled down her freckled cheeks as she tried to stop them by holding her hands to her eyes. “there was…was somethin’ ELSE too!” 

"Oh. Oh. Oh. Fraulein… come here…" He reached down and he scooped Trucy up into a tight hug as she cried. He was still in shock at the very idea of Lamoiror…. But he couldn't stand to see someone crying… "Tell Klavier what's wrong, okay?"

Trucy’s head thumped against his shoulder as she sniffled and cried for a moment more before he heard her whisper something in a murmur. It was barely perceptible between the tears and the way she pressed her face into his shoulder…but he heard it all the same.

“I got a big brother.”

Klavier's heart thumped in his chest like someone had plucked a guitar string inside it.

"Oh yeah?" he asked hoarsely.

“Y-yeah.” Trucy looked up at Klavier, her eyes red and bloodshot and tears dribbling down her face. She sniffed again, hiccuping before she said, “a ha-half brother who I’m never gonna see again! “

"What? No! Absolutely not true, fraulein," Klavier insisted. His heartbeat was playing a staccato beat now. "Where is this brother? Who is he? He's not dead is he?"

Or in jail? The thought rang loud between the beats in his chest.

“Not yet!” Trucy sniffled “...he’s just gone and sent himself into self-exile in the middle of the mountains forever! ‘Oh no, Trucy. I’m not coming back to LA. I gotta stay here and take up the burden of fixing a whole country’s legal system! Goodbye forever! Apollo FRICKING Justice chooses Khura’in!”

She gently thumped her fist’s against Klavier’s chest…and broke out sobbing once more. 

Rockstar Klavier Gavin held the sobbing, thumping young lady against his chest in a gentlemanly manner– while young, confused Klavier internally struggled to keep up with what she had said.

The gears in his mind seemed to stretch too far and go 'sproing' internally.

"Did you say 'Apollo Justice', fraulein?"

Trucy laughed painfully against him, and shrugged her shoulders. 

“Oh, I didn't tell you? Turns out Apollo’s my secret half brother, this whole time! Gosh! Good thing that didn’t go and turn awkward, huh? That’d be terrible!” 

"Very awkward," he said in a low voice. Normally he would have made a joke about a soap opera perhaps. But he was still too busy catching up. "Apollo is your brother. How funny, fraulein. And is he at that wedding today too? I haven't seen him in… a while."

A while was generous. It had been months. Klavier tried not to be clingy. He tried to give Apollo his space. After all, they weren't really official. They weren't official any more than he and Ema were. It was just an on again, off again thing, whenever they weren't busy.

Even if Klavier would have preferred a little more attention. He wasn't going to be clingy. He'd let Apollo have his space. After all, if he clung too hard, he'd just end up pushing him away. Better to play it casual.

“Oh he’s moved to the himalayan mountains with a monk.” Trucy said dryly as she wiped at her tears. “forever. They’re fixing the legal system after their merry band of revolutionaries initiated an armed rebellion and overthrew their evil queen. Who looked like a sentai villain, by the way.” 

Klavier started to laugh, rather helplessly.. "Oh, Trucy that's very funny. Good joke, very good joke! Moved to the himalayan mountains– does Apollo know you're telling people this?"

“No!” Trucy said with a shaky smile “because he’s in the himalayan mountains! With terrible reception and one letter every two months, at most!”

She thumped her hand against Klavier once more, before she started to sob again. 

“I miss him so …so so much and now I find out he’s my brother just in time for him to go hide in a temple forever!” She looked up at Klavier with a sniffle and a sharp pout. “You don’t believe me? Ask Ema. Ema’s been there too! She’s been Mr. Sad Monk’s detective for the past buncha trials, including that horrible one with me and Mr. Reus!” 

Everything around Klavier was noise. Horrible, out of tune static that filled his head like a screeching amp. He swallowed. 

"Trucy," he said quietly to the girl in his arms. "I'm going to sit down alright? Sit down with me."

He didn't exactly wait for her to agree before he toppled backward into his chair, pulling her down with him into his lap.

Trucy thumped against him, before she settled rather neatly into his lap with a hiccup. 

“I know it sounds crazy, I–I tried to convince him to come back, but he said he h-had to stay. And now he’s barely even writing! I was surprised to see Ema back but I wasn’t invited to the stupid murder OR the wedding so I– I haven’t really seen her enough to ask.” 

Klavier closed his eyes, shutting out the terrible light from the office window that had started to mingle with the noise in his head. Trucy was a reassuring weight in his lap at least as he reeled. He leaned back in his chair, chin pointed at the ceiling..

"So Ema knows where he is. She's seen him recently."

“Probably…she was still lingering in the Kingdom of Khura’in with the intention to continue helping that Nahyuta guy with the prosecution of a bunch of old cases in need of retrial. I think she only just got back…so s-she’s probably seen him recently.” 

"Right." He took a deep breath. "So we need Ema. Get to Ema, we get to herr forehead. Your brother."

“My brother. And Ema…..” Trucy nodded against him with another sharp sniff. She paused. “Wait, g-get to him? I mean, Klavier, what…are you saying we should stomp up to the temple gates and yell for him to get his butt out here?” 

His eyes snapped open as all the noise in his mind went suddenly quiet.

Stomp up to the temple gates and yell for him to get his butt out here.

He smiled a slice of a smile like the moon hanging in a dark sky.

"Fraulein, we are going to stomp up to the temple gates, yell for him to come out, and if he does not, we are going to force our way in."

Trucy Wright’s tears finally stopped, and she wiped her eyes with a shaky grin. 

“...stomp to the temple gates…and if he doesn’t come out…force our way in…” She seemed to mull it over for only a second before she grabbed his shoulders with a grin. “Klavier, have I ever told you that you’re the absolute BEST?” 

She fumbled for her phone “I gotta…no, dammit, Pearl’s just started in the police academy. I can't– well I’ll at least say that I’ll be gone for a few weeks…and I'll bring back snacks.” 

"Good thinking, fraulein," Klavier nodded, searching for his own phone. "I'm sure they'll have many fine snacks for us to bring back from your brother herr forehead's monastic exile, ja?"

He shot a text to Ema Skye– Fraulein detective, could you see me at the office after your wedding fun? I can pay for your taxi.

He didn't expect a text back soon– but he did expect Ema to be blasted out of her gourd. So she'd probably agree to the taxi.

September 30, 2028– 4:30 pm

Ema Skye was blasted out of her gourd.

The world was swimming, Larry Butz had his ass absolutely kicked by her and the ladies. The bar was free, on the mighty Sprocket tab, and she had missed the bouquet she’d been hoping to catch for a certain pain in her ass…but in return she got to snack on some of the finest appetizers she’d ever had in her goddess-damned life.

Life was great. Fantastic, even.

And then her phone beeped. The letters swam in her vision…but the gist was easily deduced as she murmured. “...so the glimmerous fop wants to see me, does he? And a free taxi at that.” 

Miles Edgeworth– technically, technically her date to the wedding, at least in the sense that she was his plus one– swam into her vision with a cocktail in his hand.

"You were saying something, Ms. Skye?"

“Mr. Gavin wants to see me.” She raised her cocktail to her lips with a bleary blink. “at the prosecutor’s office after my ‘wedding fun’. The adora….rible Adorible fop.” She murmured into her cocktail– the combination of ‘adorable’ and ‘terrible’ was sure to be a hit. Just like glimmerous. 

"Adorable fop," Miles agreed. He reached out and put a hand on her hand as she went to sip her cocktail. "Maybe we've had enough for this afternoon?"

“Guh.” Ema looked up at him with a grimace. “Don’t stop me now, Mr. Edgeworth, I’m just gettin’ started.” “gotta console myself somehow after that farce of Larry’s. Why’d they even invite that pest?” 

She still lowered the cocktail despite her protest, sighing gently.

"I suspect that he invited himself," Miles drawled. He glanced over with a worried look to where Butz was trying to chat up some wedding guests. "Unfortunately. I should probably try to wrangle him. Were you saying that you had a ride home?"

“To the prosecutor’s office, actually.” Ema stretched with a sloppy grin. “My fop needs me, I guess.” 

Miles patted her on the back. "Dutiful of you, investigator."

September 30, 2028– 5:35 pm

The warm sun had just started to set when Klavier and Trucy stood outside the prosecutors' office, waiting for Ema's taxi. Klavier leaned on the wall of the building with his hands in his pockets, thinking over the situation and the plans that they'd been making.

After the shock had settled, he'd been able to get a clearer picture from Trucy on exactly what had happened.

Trucy leaned beside him, finally having stopped crying– though she still seemed pensive and hurt as she looked up at the sky. “You really think this’ll work, Mr. Gavin?” 

"We'll make it work, fraulein," he said, his jaw tight.

Apollo Justice had been born and raised in a far away country under the tyranny of a strange religious law. He'd been raised by guerilla rebels. He'd been exiled from them to the united states as a pre-teen. And now he'd been summoned back to his foreign homeland, to inherit the work of his surrogate father and put right the country's own dark age of the law.

Klavier's knuckles tightened. Bullshit. It was all bullshit. Apollo didn't belong there.

He belonged here. With him. With his sister, too. Why should he owe loyalty to the family who'd abandoned him? Why should he work to fix the law in a far away land when so much needed to be set right here?

Klavier knew.

Klavier knew that Apollo Justice had been coming apart at the seams for the better part of a year.

This wasn't duty.

It was self-exile.

The taxi drew up under the streetlights in front of the office, and Ema Skye stepped out.

Ema had her familiar labcoat draped over one shoulder, but the dress she wore, high cut on the leg and body hugging with a long red scarf was something altogether new. Klavier was not so entirely distracted that he couldn't appreciate it.

She rubbed one hand on her neck as she squinted into the sunshine, her perfectly pinned hair already starting to fall out of the handsome bun she’d gotten it into.

“....Trucy? Klavier? I only expected one of you.” 

Klavier hurried over to steady her, slipping an arm underneath hers, and letting her lean on him. "Well, lucky you, you got two when you imagined one."

“Hey Miss Ema!” Trucy chirped with her usual cheer. “How was the wedding?”

“Missed the bouquet,” Ema grumbled as he felt the full weight of an intoxicated detective fall against his side. “Stupid asshole Larry Butz ruined the whole thing, but the happy couple got to shoot into the sky.” 

"Well,we'll see about getting you a bouquet, fraulein, and anything else you want. Maybe an ice pack, ja?" Klavier didn't stumble under her weight. He was used to drunk Ema. "Come on up to the office."

He started to lead her toward the door.

“Ooooh…the bouquet? Were you hoping for something when you caught it, Miss Ema?” Trucy asked cheerfully, though Klavier could tell it was forced.

“....absolutely not.” Ema turned a vivid red as she muttered. She hung on Klavier, resting her head against his shoulder. “An ice pack sounds nice...especially since Mr. Edgeworth cut me off of the free bar.” 

"What an absolute villain of a man," Klavier sympathized performatively. He shared a glance with Trucy, and they led her upstairs.

Soon enough, they were situated in the office again, Ema now laid out in the ergonomic chair, which Klavier had pulled back to an almost sofa-life configuration for her, and he'd gotten an ice pack and bottled water for her from his mini fridge. 

"There. Now we're on the road to recovery, ja?"

Ema gave him a weak smile, before she pressed her ice pack to her head with a low groan. 

“Sorry you two couldn’t have been there. It was…” She trailed off for a moment, before finishing, “...weird.”

“Well, I guess millionaire’s weddings usually are.” Trucy mused as she crossed her arms. 

"It's true," Klavier nodded. "The Gavinners played at the wedding of this particular actor one time and it was a very strange affair. I began to worry for the bride…. but that's neither here nor there. You're excused for not talking us along, Fraulein Ema."

Ema sat up with a wince, the world must have begun to spin from the rather nauseated look on her face. She pressed the ice pack firmly against her head again. 

“Wasn’t like it was my choice, Klavier Gavin. I was only invited ‘cause Mr. Edgeworth needed a plus one and I’d helped solve the murder. Not like I had the authority to invite anyone.”

“You’re still excused.” Trucy said with a grin.

“Ugh.”

Klavier patted Ema on the shoulder. "Don't worry. There is an easy way to make it up to us."

“Yeah, there super is!” Trucy leaned in towards her.

Ema frowned, glancing between them with bleary eyes. 

“....what are you two up to? You’re up to something. This isn’t…you want something, don’t you?” 

"I've been missing you, Ema," Klavier purred, leaning down toward her. "Trucy and I have been catching up, and she told me you've been hanging out with herr forehead. You know I was wondering why I hadn't seen him around."

Ema flushed, and for a moment her mouth formed a wibbly little line that was almost a smile. 

“I..I mean I’ve missed you too, glimmerous fop. A lo—a little. I was going to come visit after the damned wedding. You know I…My work keeps me busy!” She glanced at Trucy, who smiled angelically at her, before her eyes snapped back to Klavier. Her brow furrowed “I mean…he’s been busy too. In the Kingdom of Khura’in…he didn’t tell you?” 

Klavier smiled quite widely, showing all his teeth. 

"He did not." Not a phone call. Not a letter. Not a word. Klavier shook his head. "So, sweet fraulein, we humbly beg a simple favor of you. You are going to take us to Apollo Justice."

Ema pressed her ice pack to her eyes, and let herself fall back onto the chair with a low groan and a drunken sniff. 

“I should have known this wouldn’t be a pleasure call.”

“We’re asking really nicely?” Trucy piped in, which only seemed to make Ema thunk her head against the chair much to her own regret.

“You wanna see Apollo Justice? Fine. Fine. The idiot didn’t think to tell you, then he’ll have to deal with the consequences. Pack a nice coat. Khura’in’s fucking cold.” 

Klavier leaned down, and kissed Ema on the head just above her ice pack. "Thank you, fraulein."

“Sure,” Ema muttered, “I don’t know what you’re thinking you’ll find, though.” Still, she flushed when he kissed her head, despite her grumbling.

“Was extorting plane tickets out of me all you wanted, Gavin?”

"Absolutely not," Klavier smiled. "I'll call Trucy a taxi so she can work on getting her father's permission for time off of school, and I'll help you with your hangover."

“Oough….” Trucy sagged “...I forgot I’d have to get permission. Shoot.”

“The perils of being a teenager.” Ema snickered as the rest of the conversation clearly caught up to her and she flushed. She cleared her throat. “....Ah. oh. ..It is a pretty nasty hangover.” 

Klavier reached for his cellphone. "Then it will need a pretty nasty cure, ja? Don't fret. Doktor Klavier is on the case."

September 31, 2028– 9:30 am (Khura'in time)

Apollo was standing in the lobby, leafing through the paperwork for the first case on the docket that day one more time. He couldn't believe they'd been doing this for three whole months– almost four now. It didn't feel like they'd made even a dent in all the cases that had to be retried…

It was a years long list of unjust convictions, but even still the number of people the Ga’ran regime had put behind bars for ‘dissent’ and ‘rebellion’ was staggering…especially when you were still the only lawyer in the country.

His concentration was broken by a soft knock on the lobby door. 

"Huh?" he turned as the lobby door opened. There was only one person he knew who made a habit of being polite enough to knock on a public door, and it brought a smile to his face as he saw him enter.

Prosecutor Nahyuta Sahdmadhi smiled at him as he entered the room as serenely as always. Even under the weight of the cases that fell upon both their shoulders, and even under the stress of the life of a palace regent– he still had it in him to project that calming aura of his.

At least until they got into the courtroom.

“Good morning, Attorney Red Pepper.” he said with a teasing edge to his quiet smile. 

Apollo felt the same little flustered sting he did every time Nahyuta called him by the silly nickname. At least it didn't feel quite so humiliating any more. Since he knew it was meant with love.

"Good morning, 'Yuta," he said with a deliberate, familiar smile. Then followed it up with his own tease. "I mean Prosecutor 'Yuta."

Nahyuta laughed , before his graceful stride brought him shoulder to shoulder with Apollo 

“Careful with the pet names in the courtroom or our esteemed Judge may give us a look again.”

Apollo laughed and leaned his head against Nahyuta's shoulder. "Can't have that. I get enough dirty looks from the judge as it is."

Nahyuta’s hand rested atop Apollo’s head, rustling through his hair. 

“Apollo….” his smile took on the barest trace of a wry smirk, imperceptible to most save for Apollo and a handful of others. “That’s because you keep trying to bluff your way through every argument…and startle even the Holy Mother with evidence that seems out of nowhere.” 

Apollo laughed awkwardly, and arched against Nahyuta's hand, enjoying the fond touch.

"You'd think after a few months the judge would be used to it," he said with a shrug. "Besides, it's not that often, is it? A lot of these cases really are as straightforward as they looked the first time."

And thank lady justice that they were. Because there was a lot of them.

“I think he’s still reeling from the trauma of your…eccentric former employer and his particular brand of defense.” Nahyuta drawled. “But it’s true. Most of them are fairly simple…which is good, as we have a loaded docket today. Which is in fact what I’d come to talk to you about.” 

Apollo's shoulders sagged

Don't tell me they added another case to the docket.

They probably did.

"Ah, yeah, 'Yuta? What's up?" Despite the cynical voice in the back of his mind, he rubbed the back of his neck and looked up at Nahyuta with a hopeful smile.

Nahyuta’s smile was warm, but there was an exhaustion behind his eyes that Apollo knew too well.

“Miss Inmee has asked us to fast track another case for today. A former defense attorney who’s daughter works in the temple. It’s been insisted on by the former Queen Amarta that we add it to the docket today.”

Apollo felt a little weak at the knees at the very suggestion and he swooned against Nahyuta.

Easy there, Apollo. Come on, we can do it. Apollo Justice is fine, right?

Right.

He took a deep breath. "A former defense attorney. That's great. So if we overturn his sentence, he'll go back to defending cases– right? Please tell me he'll go back to defending cases."

So far, not a single person, Dragon or otherwise, they'd exonerated had gone back to practicing law.

“I wish I could read the karma of the man’s choices as well I can the karma of a case.” Nahyuta sighed. “We can hope, at the very least, that you…and I…can convince him.”

Apollo saw how his brow wrinkled just the slightest. It must have bothered him too. All these months and not a single practicing lawyer except Apollo Justice. Not a single prosecutor willing to stay active after the end of the Ga’ran regime except him. 

Apollo grabbed Nahyuta's free hand and gave it a tight squeeze, looking up at him.

"Hey, whether we can or not, it'll be alright," he promised. "At least we've got each other."

[wewebaggit]

"El never had romantic feelings for Mike"ers 🤝 "Mike had romantic feelings for El"ers

Y'all think y'all are arm wrestling bt it's actually called a handshake in most parts of the world.

Both come from some weird desire for romantic miIeven to have meant nothing/something for both.

Cuz everything has to be just right and fair and neatly tied in a bow. God forbid the gay boy have struggles with his sexuality or the straight girl get her heart broken in the process. Evil evil things. To have your feelings unrequited. Unless it's Will. Cuz he's single and has to stay single and pure and loyal and what not, and it's only temporary. Soon in a few years after the time skip at the end of the series he'll be rewarded for being reduced to a pathetic little sap with no social life beyond Jonathan, Mike and the horrors of having spidey sense for 2 seasons.

And yeah there will be cirque du soleil levels of acrobatics being performed to show why this story and narrative makes sense. And I'm not opposed to it for being that but just that on show that prides itself for show don't tell it neither shows nor tells and then there's outside the show telling by cast cuz inside the show showing was less subtle and more in the realm of not there at all.

MiIeven is NOT a "plot device" for Byler any more than Mike being revealed gay is a plot device for independent El. They're both self contained arcs for the respective characters. MiIeven thoroughly exploited the BSY dynamic with how their interactions were framed and played and okayed and filmed. It's incredibly condescending to fault the GA for buying into the self insert fantasy of nerdy boy gets supergirl when the show didn't shy away from profiting off of it. Regardless of Mike's impending sexuality. Especially because of the super ambiguity of Mike's sexuality it cannot be classified as anything but trope exploitation. Subversion where? Leaving some visuals here.

El initiating the kiss in S1E6

And I'd love it if anyone explains them to me that's not the tired af "El's idea of romantic love comes from her watching soap operas" cuz she was shown watching it once. She was stuck in a cabin with a TV so she watched TV most of the time and daytime is soaps. You know what she (also) watched regularly? Westerns. Miami Vice.

Also El did make the first move in s1e7 to kiss Mike. Before Mike ever kissed her in s1e8. And before the soap operas n all other things. Point being. The BSY has always been BSYing.

Poor babies being forced by Lucas, Nancy and daytime TV into making out and enjoying it. Tsk tsk. (S3E1)

A forced to be flustered and blushing El after talking to her boyfriend.

Time to make out some more. It hits different at 4:20. - Mike & El probably. Dunno it's on mute.

Naive but powerful fawn rebelling against father for nerdy boyfriend. Ya. White American thing cuz Mike would be pissing his pants if he were anywhere else or maybe anyone else. (Can you imagine Lumax this way?)

For God's sake your platonic soulmate and so called lesbian awakening's brother is dying there.

Don't even understand the point of this shot. Since Mike never looked Billy's way. Or comforted Max. A glance at El that, idk what it meant, no mike crow expressions to guide me.

Scenes from a Marriage (1973) dir. Ingmar Bergman

Scenes from a Marriage (2021) dir. Hagai Levi

There's an intentional way in which the MiIeven scenes (not just the kisses 🤮) are filmed in a more "adult" way as opposed to the "cute teenaged romance" way that some people purport it is in contrast to Lumax and Duzie. (I guess they didn't go through puberty.🤷‍♀️) Heck even Jancy, Stancy never looked this weird even though sex was shown/ implied. (Because they were played by actors born in the 20th century and even then they weren't 13 🤷‍♀️.)

MiIeven is not a plot device for Byler. It is fan service. The adults shipping them and comparing them to various other adult couples isn't outta nowhere. Please compute. Which is why it was stretched for 4 seasons.

As of NOW Mike's sexuality is still plausible deniability and the breakup too is neither here nor there. It's NOT straightbaiting. Lmao. Not at all. It's fan service. Leaving the OBVIOUS BSY aside, the point neither party were forced into anything nor were they doing it to keep appearances cuz canonically NOBODY cared. Not Dustin, not Lucas, definitely not Will and I'm sure neither did Max.

El was a willing participant and initiator and Mike was also not opposed to it until puberty monster/feelings caught up with him. El has shown her attraction to guys and it is okay. There's no need to take that away from her cuz that is also an experience of girlhood. She barely has any experiences anyway. Let her have that.

It's the same for Mike. He's not some evil monster for being gay. Not anymore than Joyce was for being with Bob out of convenience and the fact that she liked him n didn't hate him. Mike does love El and cares about her deeply as all of S4 shows.

So to sum it up. Yes I smooshed 2 posts cuz I couldn't be arsed talking about these 2 AGAIN. But Mike and El were independent agents when they decided to embark on their disastrous romantic journey and Born Sexy Yesterday is REAL.

P.S. If you find this shit cute and y'all roll your eyes over byler kissing n what not (even in fics goddamnit). Hit your head against a spiked wall till you can't no more. Piss and love. 💙💛

P.P.S. Mike's the clingy one. NOT Will.

[jon-withnoh]

Hello! Hope this isn't a bother, but do you have any tips for thinking up plots? I mean for the whole story. Reading Nie Wirst made me want to try to write something longer, but I'm a bit lost since all I've ever written are short one-shots or drabbles. Again, hope this isn't bothering you, feel free to ignore it! Also, this goes without saying but I'm looking forward to the sequel if you do write it

Hi! I love this question, thank you for asking it 😊 I'm pretty sure you'd get a variation of answers depending on who you ask, so my way might not necessarily work for you. (I'm thinking of this as a fun Pick&Mix of things that work for me and might work for others.)

My strategies differ for different kinds of writing. When I'm working on a poetry collection, it sometimes takes years to accumulate enough individual poems that fit together for me to start working on the arc or through-line of that collection. This just for context, since you did ask me about prose.

Whether for fanfiction or original fiction, I've found that I can only keep up my motivation for a longer piece if I am absolutely obsessed with it. Was wird aus uns was born from the immediate aftermath of me seeing Rebecca in Vienna, reading the book and pretty much every single fic on Ao3 and just needing those two fools to be okay. That one really came out of pure obsession. Nie wirst Du was a lot more considered and since the plot is quite complex, I did plan things ahead of time.

I'm going to try and sum up some of the things that I need in order to sustain my focus for a longer piece of writing under the cut!

I need to be absolutely obsessed with the initial idea. No matter how interesting a concept or fic idea is in theory, if it doesn't have that spark of obsession I might toss it around in my head for fun, but I won't actually write it. If an idea doesn't grip me enough that I'm constantly looking forward to the next plot point I'm "working towards", then I'll get bored and abandon the piece. This is especially true for fic. For Was wird aus uns, the first plot point everything was moving towards was their first kiss. Then Christmas, and then, finally, Danny's collapse and the changes that it brought. With Nie Wirst Du, I was constantly hooked, tbh. It's a little bit like a soap opera in that it has many twists and turns, very complicated relationship dynamics and many big feelings. Some plot points I was working towards there were the tea party and the costume ball. Once I knew what the fallout from the ball was going to be, I had a much better idea of how things would continue to escalate develop.

I figured out how I need to approach plot. A friend of mine is a hardcore plotter with detailed outlines, diagrams and everything. I used to try and approach plot like that with the result that by the time I'd thought everything through, I was bored and didn't actually write the story anymore. The thing I do is apparently called pantsing. It means I know the inciting incident of the story, maybe a few major plot points and I have at least a vague idea of how I want it to end. There is an overarching structure, but it's loose enough that it keeps me interested. I can decide to add or take away smaller plot elements without having to do major rewrites.

There needs to be a drive to the story. I need a sense of movement when I'm writing. Even if a story is set entirely in one place, there needs to be some undercurrent of change or development. If the story feels static, I don't have any way of getting a character from point A to point B.

I write the things I want to see. If you find yourself looking through Ao3 thinking "I wish someone had written about xyz", then that might be a sign for you to write the fic you're looking for! For example, I needed a happy ending for Danny and Ich, so I wrote one. Then I became really interested in learning more about Rebecca as a character. Who is she outside of the stories being told about her? To find that out, I needed a story where she was alive and since I didn't want to write a prequel, the idea for Nie Wirst Du was born.

I hope this was somewhat help or at least interesting! It also really helps to have a person who's just as excited about your story idea as you are. They might ask you questions you hadn't considered and give you a whole new insight into what you're writing. Feel free to ask more questions about this if you want. This was really fun!