#now they are old and wise and ready to bully the next generation

[krazieka2]

Making really good jokes with the Awakening characters today

[pappydaddy]

Mashed Potatoes and Joel Hoekstra (b.h.)

 A/N: This is for the lovely anon who wanted a Billy x Byers!Reader. I was so excited to write this one, I loved this request (I am loving ALL requests, but I’ve been loving these Billy ones lately!). Definitely very fun to write this one so thank you so much for requesting doll! Hope you love it lovely anon💛!

Pairing: Billy Hargrove x Fem!Byers!Reader

Show/Movie: Stranger Things

Requested

Warnings: Mean people, bullying, prejudice, the shits of the teenage years, but fluff in the end!

Remember guys! Your family name does not define you or someone else! It’s who they are that defines them, it’s who you are that defines you. It’s how you act, how you treat people, etc. Just like you don’t judge a book by it’s cover, you don’t judge a person by their name. If anyone tries to put you in a box simply because of a prejudice with your name, ignore them. I know it’s hard, I know - trust me, but they really don’t deserve your time. And if you feel trapped in a box because of your name, just know that you can break free from that box. My DMs are ALWAYS open if you lovelies need to talk💛!

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  “Billy,” Y/N’s soft voice broke the tranquil silence that had settled over the room. Her finger that had been tracing random shapes on his chest stopped moving, her eyes flicking around the darkroom as she waited for him to respond in some way. She knew he wasn’t asleep by the lack of snores lowly rumbling in his chest (which she also laid her head upon) and his breathing pattern. He hummed, the sound reverberating in his chest, his hand still stroking up and down along the dip in her back where her spine was. “We’ve been dating for a few months now-” 

  “Six months.” He interjected, pressing a warm kiss to the top of her head. 

  “Right, yeah, we’ve been dating for six months,” She nodded, her already tangled hair tangling a bit more. Her voice was nervous, not knowing how he would react to her bringing this up. “And I was just thinking that maybe it would be time for you to meet my family,” She asked, her voice pitching up towards the end. “Maybe. You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but it’s just everyone else I’ve dated has met them by now, but then again, everyone else I’ve ever dated left a few weeks after meeting them so-”

  “You’re rambling again, Bug.” Billy cut her off gently, knowing that she rambled and rants when she’s nervous and scared. Her cheeks heated up, burning as she settled back down to cuddle into Billy’s bare chest. 

  “Sorry.” She whispered. 

  Billy pressed another kiss to her hair, knowing that her ex’s all harped on her about her nervous rambles, making her snap her mouth shut and sink into herself. “Nothing to be sorry for, Bug, you’re nervous.” He reassured her. 

  She took a deep breath, calming herself as Billy gave her the silent support she needed. “Back on track,” She nodded her tone calm once again. “I still think you should meet my family because they are really important to me and you’re really important to me and I just really would like it if you guys got along,” She expressed nervously. The room was silent as she waited impatiently for his response, her breath was hitched, her mind automatically assuming that he was going to leave her right here, right now because he didn’t want to meet her family or worse, not feel the same about her. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to; if you’re not there in the relationship, that’s fine, we can take a few steps back if you’d like-” She started to shrink away from him, her mind panicking as it continued to imagine him leaving her like the rest - like her father. 

  “No-” Billy interjected softly, gently pulling her back to be flush against him. “I’ll meet your family only if you get some sleep, it’s late and you’re exhausted. He bargained, suddenly feeling nervous and wanting her to go to sleep for her sake and his. 

  “Okay, deal.” She yawned, closing her eyes, snuggling her cheek farther into his chest, listening to the beating of his heart. Billy squeezed his eyes closed as he tried to control his heartbeat so he didn’t alert her to his sudden nervousness. 

____  

  The next day was relaxed other than Billy’s increasing nervousness. He loved Y/N, he was at that place in the relationship where the only logical step would be to meet each other’s family, but he couldn’t help but feel a sense of doom. For one, meeting her family meant she would have to meet his family and he wanted to keep her as far away from Neil as possible. Secondly, the Byers family had a certain reputation around Hawkins High and Middle and Billy had heard all about it from his friends. Of course, he was stand-off-ish of Y/N before they started dating because of this reputation, but everything turned out fine with her so why wouldn’t her family be the same? 

  “What’s got you so quiet, Hargrove?” Tommy asked aggressively as they mulled around the locker room, changing after gym class. Billy jolted out of his thoughts as he just stood, staring into his locker. Looking back at Tommy, he blinked at him for a second before comprehending what his question was. 

  “Uh, nothing,” Billy shook his head, grabbing his shirt from his locker, slipping it on. “It’s just that Y/N invited me over to meet her family.” He had no idea why he was confessing this to Tommy and his other friends of all people, knowing how they feel about Y/N and the rest of her family. The words had tumbled out before he could even think about stopping them. 

  “Woah,” Tommy exclaimed, laughing as he pretended to back away from Billy as if he were carrying some sort of contagious disease. “Boys! Say good-bye to the Billy we all know because soon, he’s gonna be infected by the Weird-os.” His statement earned a chorus of laughs from the boys huddled around. 

  “Buzz off Tommy, they can’t be that bad. I mean, Y/N is great!” Billy said mostly to himself, closing his locker. 

  “Sure, she’s the most normal one,” Tommy shrugged. “But the rest of them man,” He shook his head as if telling some old wise tale. “They are complete basket cases. Completely messed in the head. Look at Jonathan for an example,” Tommy paused, walking over to Billy and slinging his arm over his shoulder. “Nobody talks to him, he sits in the back of the classes or in that stupid dark room, playing with his stupid little camera.” 

  “Y/N says that he’s quiet and works most of the time so he doesn’t have much time to hang out and the time he does have, he chooses to practice photography.” Billy pointed out, pushing Tommy’s arm off him. Tommy remained unfazed, leaning against the lockers as he continued.

  “Alright, if not Jonathan, then the younger one,” He paused, using his hands to set the scene. “He died, okay? Died and came back to life like in one of his freaky little movies he and his dork friends watch,” Billy glared at him, knowing full well that Max was one of his friends. “Much like his brother, he just sits there and colours and colours and colours. He’s in middle school and still colours like a pre-schooler.” 

  “He’s pretty talented, I’ve seen some of his pictures in the car when Y/N has it.” 

  “Now, let’s talk about the mother. She works at a general store, she dated that geek from Radio Shack, her husband left her, she had a meltdown in the middle of the street, she bought all the fucking lights in Hawkins because she thought her dead son was talking to her through them,” He paused. Billy opened his mouth to defend Joyce, but Tommy cut him off. “They are weird, Hargrove. They are completely nuts and you better prepare to be just as nuts because I am pretty sure it’s contagious.” 

  “Just look at Harrington and Wheeler,” Another guy piped up, making Billy look towards him. “They started to hang around with the Byers and look at them, they turned just as crazy. Constantly looking over their shoulders, Harrington only hangs around kids now, always having hushed conversations with them and Wheeler only talks to Jonathan now.” 

  “That’s not-” 

  ‘That’s not the same,” Tommy cut Billy off with a question. “It is exactly the same. Meeting the Byers is like the kiss of death. Kills your social life and makes you crazy-” 

  “Billy,” Y/N’s voice called into the locker room from the door she held slightly open. “Are you in here, we should really be getting to lunch, I’m starving!” 

  “Yeah, be out in a second!” He called to her, the door softly closing in response. He nervously looked at the door as Tommy clicked his tongue. 

  “It’s your choice, Hargrove, it’s your grave you’re digging.” Billy glared at him, shrugging on his jean jacket and leaving the locker room. His eyes met Y/N easily, seeing her talking to Steve excitedly. Though Billy still didn’t like Steve, he didn’t have the mental or emotional capacity at that given time to deal with his fluffy-haired nemesis, too busy fretting about what to do about meeting Y/N’s family. 

  “There you are, I was worried that you accidentally slammed your head in the locker or something,” She joked, not realizing that Billy was actually considering it. He didn’t want to make her think that he wasn’t ready to take the next step in the relationship, but I also was scared now. As much as he wanted to admit that he didn’t trust Tommy H and all the other guys, he really did want to say that he let their warnings roll off his back, but he couldn’t. “Come on, I want to eat, see you, Steve!” She grabbed Billy’s hand, pulling him out of the gym and into the halls. 

  “What were you talking to Harrington about?” He asked, hoping that it was completely unrelated to her having him over for dinner. 

  “About you meeting my family,” She chirped happily. Billy wanted to deflate right there. Of course it had to be about that. It couldn’t have been about anything else. Anything to take his mind off something so anxiety inducing. “He thinks it’s a great idea! He said that you would love my family and I really hope he’s right.” 

  “I really hope so too-” He muttered under his breath. 

  “What was that?” She asked, her brows furrowing as she leaned in closer. 

  “Nothing, Bug.” He told her, hoping she would buy it. She pulled a face, shrugging before regaining her giddy mood. 

  “Must have just been hearing things,” She chalked it up. “Anyway, I was thinking that you should come round to my place at seven? My mom is off today so she’s been prepping for this since nine this morning!” 

  “Yeah, about that,” Billy spoke slowly, dreading what he was about to do. He really didn’t want to do it, but he needed to buy himself sometime so he could figure out his next move. Find a way to keep Y/N while not having to meet her family. “I’m feeling a little sick to my stomach, Bug. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to go tonight.” 

  “Oh no,” She gasped, her hand squeezing his affectionately as she stopped in the hallway. “You might have overdone it in gym today, especially when I accidentally kicked that soccer ball right into your stomach, sorry about that by the way.” 

  “No, it wasn’t that, but you do have one hell of a kick on you,” He shook his head, not wanting her to blame herself. “I just think I’m coming down with something and I really don’t want to infect your family.” He lied through his teeth. 

  She awed, her hand coming up to cup his cheek sweetly. “That’s so sweet,” She cooed. Her hand slid from his face as disappointment flashed across her face, but it was gone as soon as it came, or at least she tried to fake it. Billy could see the disappointment she tried to bury, his heart pulling at the sight of it, knowing that he was the one who caused it. “It’s alright, I want you to worry about your health first. I’ll just go call my mom and tell her that there was a change of plans-” She paused, looking for a quarter as she tried to ignore the worry bubbling up once again. “Could I borrow a quarter? I think I spent mine calling her earlier to check up.” She asked, extending her flat palm, waiting for him to drop a quarter in it. 

  Billy tucked his bottom lip between his teeth. He could tell she was thinking that he was trying to avoid meeting her family because he just didn’t want to. While there was some truth to that, he couldn’t let her feel like he was pulling away from her. “You know what,” He pushed her hand back down to her side. “I’m going to go to the nurse and see if she can help me. I’ll see you before next period and update you, Bug.” He pressed a quick kiss to her forehead before running off down the hall. 

  “Okay-” She breathed out, shocked. She watched him run past Tommy and his gaggle of idiots, the group watching him run - laughing. 

  “Oh, the crazy is already starting to rub off on you, Hargrove!” Tommy yelled, but Billy either ignored it or didn’t hear it. Y/N eyed Tommy oddly before eyeing Billy’s retreating form. 

____

  The fact that Billy stood at the front door of the Byers’ house was a miracle in itself, considering how many times Billy considered swerving hard right into a tree in order to escape this night, but he pushed forward, knowing that Y/N was worth it. He tightened his grip on the bouquet of flowers, the thorns digging into his hand making him wince. Groaning, he switched holds, shaking his stinging hand out. He felt constricted in his clean cut clothes, his button-up buttoned more than usual, only the first two buttons being undone. The slacks itched his legs and made him feel like he was heading to a Sunday service. 

  Taking a deep breath, he raised his close fist, hitting his knuckles against the door twice in rapid succession. He could hear a scuffle from behind the door and Y/N’s distinctive voice pleading with her mother to let her answer it. The door was jerked open, revealing a breathless woman and a blushing Y/N standing in the back looking defeated. “You must be Y/N’s sister.” Billy used his normal line that worked wonders on mothers, but he was so off his game that he sounded a bit nervous, spitting the line out a few moments too late. The woman didn’t seem to mind, taking the compliment easily.  

  “Oh, stop it,” She flicked her hand, a wide smile nearly breaking her face as she laughed. “You must be Billy,” She continued to giggle, the laughter making her look youthful. If Billy hadn’t known that she had two teenagers and a pre-teen, then Billy would have thought she was much younger. “I’m Joyce, come on in, you must be cold,” She ushered him in hurriedly, her hand guiding him into the warm, cozy house as it rested on his upper back. “Standing out there in only a shirt in this fall weather.” She shook her head, closing the door behind him. 

  “Mom-” Y/N whined, embarrassed by her mother’s fussing. Joyce gave her a look, silencing the whine. 

  “You stop that and get this poor boy a drink,” Joyce insisted, leading Billy over to one of the couches. With a small groan in protest, Y/N ducked into the kitchen and out of Billy’s sight, sending him right on edge again. He sat on the couch, his clammy hands running over his slacks as his eyes watched Joyce. She was fairly gentle and normal looking for someone everyone called insane. “Will, go grab Jonathan from the shed, supper is going to be in a few minutes.” Joyce told the small looking boy who worked at setting the table for five, a mismatched chair added to the four that looked like they normally surround the table.

  “You have a lovely home Ms. Byers, thank you for having me.” He extended the pleasantry, seeing Y/N coming into the room with a glass of water. 

  “Please, call me Joyce,” She told him, waving him off once again. “And it’s no problem, Hunny. We’re glad to have you. You’re welcome anytime!” She reassured him, thinking that his nerves were from the donating task of meeting the family for the first time. 

  “Will do.” Billy nodded, gulping down his water. Y/N sat next to him on the couch, her hand naturally falling to his knee. Though his nerves lifted with each passing second he spends with them, he couldn’t seem to get Tommy’s warnings out of his head. 

  “You know, my mom was so excited for you to get here, she side-checked me out of the way to get the door,” Y/N told him, giggling. That seemed normal enough, they all seemed to have a good relationship with each other. It was more functional than his family and they were deemed normal. “And I definitely think you made her entire night with your comment.” 

  “Kids, dinner is ready,” Joyce called from the kitchen. Y/N patted Billy’s leg, standing up. Billy swallowed thickly, feeling like he was walking to his death as he neared the table filled with loads of dishes full of a beautiful home-cooked meal. “Billy, dear, you’re the guest so you can sit here,” Joyce patted the chair at the head of the table, before pointing to the chair next to it that sat between the wall and the table. “Y/N, you sit there.” She instructed her daughter. 

  “So, Billy,” Will spoke up, taking his place beside Y/N, looking directly at the blonde as he scooted his chair in. “Max tells me you like rock music. What’s your favourite band?” He posed the question, grabbing the pitcher of water and filling his glass up. 

  “Uh- I’ve been listening to a lot of Whitesnake lately, but I would say the Scorpions are my favourite band I guess.” Billy answered him, his hands nervously hovering over his plate, not sure what he should be doing. 

  “That’s cool, I like The Clash the most personally, but I like watching the Whitesnake videos, their hair is really cool-” Will nodded, accepting Billy’s answer. 

  “And where have you been watching Whitesnake videos, young man?“ Joyce perked in eyebrow at the youngest, making him shrink back slightly, but Billy could tell it was all playful banter. 

  “At Dustin’s.” He admitted, making Y/N laugh and nod as if it were to suspected. 

  “That was probably Steve’s doing, no doubt.” Y/N pointed out, filling up her own water before filling Billy’s glass automatically.

  “Yeah, it was Steve, he turned MTV on while he was watching us play D&D,” Will perked up at the mention of Steve. Looking right at Billy, he excitedly spoke. “I drew Joel Hoekstra a few months ago, but I made fire shoot out the end of the neck of his guitar. It’s insanely cool.” 

  “Billy, you haven’t gotten any food yet! Go on, you get some first.” Joyce noticed, holding a bowl of mashed potatoes to him. He looked at the bowl of potatoes, perfectly whipped. To anyone else at the table, it was just a bowl of starch and butter, but to Billy, it was the sign that they weren’t crazy. They were just not fitting into the box that everyone says you have to fit in. Looking at the bowl, he felt every bit of nervousness and apprehensiveness leave his body. Smiling, he gently took the bowl, scooping some out onto his plate, causing everyone to start putting food on their plates. 

  “Hey, Will,” Billy spoke up, causing everyone to look at him nervously. Jonathan eyed him, not trusting him yet. “Maybe after dinner, you could show me that drawing? Joel Hoekstra is my favourite member of Whitesnake.” He suggested, causing the boy to light up. Y/N smiled gently, her hand laying over Billy’s gratefully. Who knew that some mashed potatoes and Joel Hoekstra was all it took to see the Byers for who they were.

[sepublic]

The Third Temple!

           SASHA you’re so DUMB, dang it! WHY would you?! WHY?!

           Sasha, you really ARE brute force, in spite of your seemingly more subtle, nuanced, and manipulative strategies on the surface… Superficially you think things through, you have plans and rely on Honey over Vinegar… But fundamentally, I think it’s clear that Sasha is someone who gets by through brute force, in the sense that she blindly throws her power around, instead of genuinely conceding to diplomacy and whatnot. And, this plays into her Persistence, and never giving up, as we see against those two bullies in the flashback…

           Also, lemme just say- The dehydrated bit for the Amphibians was hilarious and also a clever way to isolate the conflict to just the humans, and THEN just Anne and Sasha- Because alas, Marcy’s weak nerd arms…!

           Seriously though, seeing how Grime lowkey lays the pressure, I like how it displays that they’re both… Toxic and enabling to one another, even if supportive, and it’s not like just ONE is in charge or whatever. Sasha having to choose between Anne and Marcy, and Grime, is interesting; To her, Grime is someone who stuck with her through thick and thin, at her lowest point… He’s someone who’s not afraid of her power, but even actively encourages her, supports Sasha’s ruthlessness! In some ways, it seems he’s more supportive and understands Sasha better than her old friends…

           And, I have to think that Sasha wasn’t totally lying back there. That a part of her DID in fact feel remorse, or at least understand that she messed up… But it also means that she’s burnt that bridge permanently on her own end, or she’s trying to- Because she thinks that it’s too late, she’s just going to mess things up AGAIN anyway, because Anne and Marcy can’t handle the kind of person she is. So, Sasha is sticking with Grime… But again, Sasha has to wonder if Anne and Marcy have a point, and that’s something Grime doesn’t realize…. But then again, why WOULD he bring up Sasha’s flaws, in the midst of his own rebellion, which IS important to him!

           I think Sasha and Grime being a lot alike could make her realize what kind of impact she has on others, by realizing how she feels about Grime; And how Grime might realize the same vice-versa. In Grime’s case, he very much NEEDS to be ruthless in order to survive, in order to carry out his Toad Rebellion… And, he’s not completely wrong for it, either!

           For all we know, Sasha apologizing, and manipulating Anne and Marcy, isn’t totally mutually exclusive; Maybe she DID take Percy and Braddock a little bit to heart, in the sense that… She does care, but she also realizes that Andrias is pretty sus, and that they NEED to do something about him. To Sasha, she really is looking out for them by getting rid of Andrias… But how much of her is motivated by genuine suspicion of him, or just her own ulterior motives of getting back power and control?

           This could lead to a confrontation where Sasha NEEDS to be listened and heard out, because a part of her IS right about Andrias… But because of her own lies and treachery, Anne rightfully doesn’t trust her- And it’s complicated because in some ways, Sasha IS operating more from being selfish than doing the right thing, even if it’s ultimately siding with Sasha that is the right choice here. This could spur on Anne to side with Marcy and Andrias, perhaps help the Newt King in whatever he has planned… Or, it could lead to Anne realizing the Newts aren’t trustworthy as well, breaking those bridges!

           With what we see in the intro with Marcy, for all we know we’re being expected to think of Sasha as the betrayal, but it’s MARCY who screws things over! She did mention about how she wanted to bring the Calamity Box to Andrias first, so I imagine this has something to do with her deal… Perhaps Andrias will use the power in the Box, safely contained instead of in the girls, to help bring his master to power? Now I’m imagining a Breath of the Wild scenario, where ‘The Night’ rises to power like Calamity Ganon, engulfing Newtopia- This is of course more tragic because we got to KNOW Newtopia and its people…

           But even worse- Its power spreads out and it uses the Calamity Box power to revive the ancient machines of Amphibia, possibly even corrupting Frobo in particular- Just like Ganon with the Guardians! If Season 3 is Toad-themed, this could lead to Sasha and her rebellion teaming up with Anne and the others to regroup and defeat the Night… And as for Marcy, perhaps she’ll play the role of Princess Zelda; She’ll realize her mistakes, and pull some sort of sacrifice to keep the Night contained temporarily… Or even worse, Andrias will manipulate her into staying with them!

           Perhaps Marcy knows the truth about the gems draining power, that they’re needed to travel home; So Andrias proposed to have the power safely drained by the temples, and handed over to him, so that the girls could stay in Amphibia together, forever, never losing that fantasy of theirs… Who knows?

           I will say that it’s telling that Marcy, of course with the excuse of no Toad Tower incident, is immediately quick to fall into line with Sasha, and how this could play into her character being more generally gullible, possibly willfully so, because her default is to follow whoever’s in charge blindly… Ironic, then; Marcy is smart but not wise, Sasha is powerful but too weak to do the right thing and show vulnerability, and Anne is brave, but often held back by insecurities and doubt! These girls are their own antithesis!

           And Sasha… She needs to have the self-belief in herself, the way Anne and Marcy do- To actually do the right thing, to grow as a person. To not resign herself to who she is now, and even worse, because she believes in her own ability to improve and be better than that… Sasha needs to not let down Anne and Marcy’s trust, to make good on why it was given in the first place! Pay back their good faith in her, be the hero and leader they believe her to be!

           …Anyhow, I like Frobo’s brief involvement here- I’m glad to see he got to do more, and the gags with the dehydration, how I THOUGHT Grime’s arms seemed a bit skinnier than usual, were great! I like to see more of Frobo becoming more integrated into the family and cast, and I’d like to see how he, Sasha, and Grime would interact; Him being a powerful automaton might create some interest, perhaps in weaponizing and reactivating the Ruins of Despair… And of course, it’d complicate things for them to pull a full betrayal, considering Frobo’s power- Perhaps he’ll help against people like Yunnan, maybe even do a heroic sacrifice to help the others escape Newtopia, only to be destroyed or corrupted?

           I love how painfully direct the Third Temple was, how it’s really just about brute, raw strength- But making good on that strength to keep going, too! The gravity bit and Sasha removing her armor was classic anime characters with absurd weights, and I suspect that giant Toad golem is actually none other than the previous Toad we saw with Andrias… And, possibly Barrel himself! The golem conceding defeat with good sportsmanship probably gives us a good idea of what Barrel was like- Probably a much more boisterous, heart-on-your-sleeve individual…. Arguably way less toxic and manipulative than Sasha, perhaps the most traditional hero of the trio!

           Funny, then, that the trio first had the Wit be toxic… And now Strength… AND Wit, perhaps? We’ll see… Either way, I now suspect that Barrel talks the same way as the messages in the Third Temple!

           We’re in the final stretch, you guys… Nothing but pure plot and development, Sasha and Grime and the others, attempted reconciliation. If we saw Anne and the family try to say goodbye at Newtopia, this is going to take on a WHOLE new level, because Anne is going to think she’s really about to leave, for REAL this time; And this means teary farewells with all of Wartwood, and likely a montage and episode even MORE painful than our mid-point for this show! My heart isn’t ready… In addition to probably cute antics among the human girls, underscored by the darkness of what we KNOW is to come, no less!

           Until next time, F-Anne’s… We’re about to enter the calm, BEFORE the Storm!

[butterfly-winx]

Next baybee, is Mirta Wingert, in her pink punk barbie Enchantix, glow-ing! 

In this AU, she is the Fairy of Emotional Illusions and very, very gay. Let’s hear the rest below! 😁

Krystal | Diaspro | Mirta | Galatea | Nova | Miele 

Mirta is the same age as the Winx, but through her mid-year transfer to Alfea that only got finalised after the Trix’s megalomaniac attack had been dealt with, she repeated a year and graduated while the girls were away in Gardenia. 

Mirta is from an influential family in Magics that has brought forth many a council member, industrial and landowner. All of them witchcraft users, though. When Mirta manifested with magic it was not a question which stream she would pursue and that she would do it at one of the top schools of the Magic Universe. Mirta’s parents don’t immediately belong to the creme de la creme, but have enough influence to make things like this happen for their daughter. 

Being part of the upper class industrialists, but at the same time being removed enough from them to allow independent thought shaped Mirta’s personality greatly and contributed to her explosive rebellious teen stage. She wholeheartedly believes in what the punk anti-capitalist philosophy stands for and has alternately tried either to change her family’s ways from within, or to break away and distance herself. Her generous allowance was always spent on local youth groups, anti-discrimination organisations and personal drives for people in need. Many a times had her parents have to drag her off the streets where she chilled with punk buskers and their dogs before they could set an end to it by sending Mirta off to Cloud Tower.

Could Tower, now that was something else. Despite growing up in a family of witchcraft users, her home was still just basic, good old Adquistes. She has never lived in an exclusively witchcraft using society like the Cloud Tower coven, so a lot of things came as a culture shock to her. The school preserved a lot of things that modern witches in an integrated society don’t observe anymore, just for the sake of teaching history. Not all of it became Mirta, especially not the antagonism towards the fairies. Her heart is huge and as a true punk she stood up to the system and what she believed was not right. This didn’t make her many friends among the hard-core traditionalist witch*ers and combined with her very short statue, got her pushed around a lot.

Her only comfort and friend was Lucy, a childhood friend of hers. They met in an LGBT youth shelter organised event where Lucy had been tentatively seeking help for transitioning. Mirta was there to volunteer and the two girls hit off really well complaining about the world and uplifting each other where they could. After that they stayed online friends and talked on various forums, not having much of a face-to face relationship before becoming dorm mates at Cloud Tower. There it became obvious that some of their attitudes towards life and witchcraft were very different.

Mainly the Trix, they argued about them incessantly before Mirta left. Despite their horrible treatment of her, Lucy saw an opportunity in staying in the good graces of the Trix, as there weren’t many career opportunities open to witches at the time, so she thought it would make more sense to conform to the stereotypes. She was tired of fighting just to be recognised as a girl, why add to that plate? Mirta empathised with that to some extent, but she had unwavering faith in that she could do good, and she would do good regardless of what people thought of her magic stream. She decided to start that by passing on what she knows about the Trix’s doing in and out of school to the Winx. They met at the start of the year at the school’s joint ball that very few witch*ers actually showed up to. Flora immediately swept Mirta under her wing and the five girls frequently invited her to hang out. Mirta knew how the Trix have made Bloom’s life hell and wanted to help out to give the girls an upper hand. Until then she had been under the impression that their antagonism was nothing more than bulling, but the Trix pretty openly discussed ripping stuff from Bloom’s chest, so she felt they needed to know and warn teachers. Not Cloud Tower teachers though, them Mirta didn’t trust. She was discovered sneaking out and the Trix cast an advanced spell on her turning her into a pumpkin. 

Flora and Miss Faragonda cared for her while she was in that form at least for a few weeks before Faragonda was able to turn her back using her fairy dust. After reporting what she had intended to, which has by then become outdated, Mirta was hesitant to return to Cloud Tower. For one because of the Trix and the bullying, but also because of how she and Lucy had broken off. By that point Mirta had been nursing a giant crush on her friend and their angry parting words to each other broke her heart. While at Alfea she learned more about fey magic from the Winx basically by osmosis. She even had success with a few basic spells that absolutely amazed her. She was never the best student and she had to work so hard to keep up with witchcraft. This in comparison was a piece of cake. Faragonda then sneakily slid her a transfer slip before sending her home to her family in Adquistes. It took some convincing for them to come around to the idea of Mirta being a fairy, but Mirta was allowed a trial period which she aced with stellar notes, much to her parents’ surprise. She became a full time student the next semester, starting fresh with a new leaf.

She fell out of tune with the Winx a little bit after that, as their curriculum diverged greatly and they had each their own social circles to stay involved in. Tough a bit distrustful of her at first, Mirta’s room and classmates turned out to be good sport and she often hung out with them even after graduation. Mirta patched things up with Lucy eventually, both of them overcoming their shame over what had happened. As Mirta continued her work trying to bring the two schools together, their relationship seemed to grow even closer than it had been before and Mirta flirted with the idea of flirting with Lucy, before inevitably chickening out of it every time too afraid to ruin what they had. The year was over before they knew it and Lucy and Mirta went on their first sort of date at the end of the year ball. It was sweet and sapphic and filled Mirta with hope for the future. Then of course Valtor struck and everything went to shit. 

When Valtor and the Trix took over Cloud Tower, Mirta was ready to bang down the Winx’s door just as they were coming to her to do the same. Inspecting the castle they of course stumbled into the monsters left for them and the brain-washed Lucy. Mirta was horrified, but no matter what she did, she couldn’t free her from the trance. Lucy herself seemed to resist the pull though and her eyes clear, momentarily looking at Mirta. Later, when the horror was over and Valtor had been defeated, Lucy shared that hearing Mirta’s voice cut through to her and made her fight against Valtor’s control. She felt like she had to come back to Mirta, to see her, to fight for her. There was only so much a girl’s heart could handle and before she knew it, Mirta was kissing Lucy. Lucy broke an incredibly powerful witcher’s spell on her because she loved Mirta so much, how could she not? How could she not love her back? They laughed it out telling each other about all their insecurities and pining, thinking the other didn’t feel the same and decided to go on a lot of dates to make up for that.

In the S6 AU timeline, she is settled in Magics City with Lucy, who is pursuing further magic education at Cloud Tower as a teacher assistant, ready to get her Master Witch exam and become a potions teacher. Mirta is therefore at the front line when Lucy’s voice message comes in telling her that the Trix have returned to Cloud Tower with a strange new witch and something about them being different. More sharp and dangerous. Mirta spends the rest of that story arc trying to free Lucy, then survive in a hostile witch infested Cloud Tower after she becomes trapped in there. (wink a good ending is in sight for her however)

Magic wise she is definitely competent, though not as battle hardened as the Winx. She gained her Enchantix in a very characteristically her situation. During the time of the reawakening of magic on Earth Magics was also experiencing unrest with a lot of people protesting how Magics planned to handle the situation, leaving Earth magic users to their own devices once again. Counterprotesters crashed the scene and escalated the violence, endangering bystanders and protesters alike. Mirta stood her ground way before peace keepers responded and her initiative saved a lot of people, triggering her Enchantix. With emotional illusions she could pacify people for the time being and allowed for vulnerable people to scurry away. Mirta’s powers don’t change someone’s heart like Believix powers do (though after she hears what Believix can do, she becomes keenly interested in it), however it overlays an overpowering layer of what Mirta wants them to feel in the moment. If her concentration fades, so will the feeling. In that way, her power is actually very similar to Darcy’s psychic illusions. Using witchcraft with this aspect always made Mirta feel predatory, offering power bearing items in order to control someone else’s emotions. With fey magic, it is more like she extends what she feels into the mind of other people. All her spells turn out stronger if she herself is feeling the emotion and has an immediate reference to draw on what it feels like to experience it. Unconsciously she sometimes spreads her stress or dread, which took Lucy a while to figure out after they moved together. Now she isn’t as freaked by it and just tuts when she recognises that the jaw-clenching stress isn’t actually her own. Mirta is working on it, she swears! The two of them then cuddle it out, though they always look for excuses to spend the day on the couch, so that doesn’t say a lot. :)

--

I have a lot of love and plans for Mirta, I think this has been going on for a while. All of this is also poured into my S6 AU, which is a “coming soon” kind of project atm.

[popculturebuffet]

House of Mouse review: “The Three Caballeros” or State of Your Outfit Donald

The Ride of the Three Caballeros continues, and with reviewed paid for up until legend, we’re fueled up and ready to ride on for some time now. This admittedly has taken a bit longer than I like to get back on the ride, due to a  number of reasons, but i’m back on the ride and these next two were both a pleasure to get to and cover a show that was LONG overdue to show up here: It’s the House of Mouse! For those of you who haven’t heard of it House of Mouse was a Disney show in 2000 that ran on it’s one Saturday morning block, the follow up to the Disney afternoon. It also holds a close place in my heart as these are the versions of Mickey and Co I grew up with, as I had Disney Channel as a kid and they reaired it a LOT, so the show is sorta soaked into my DNA, and is likely the reason why I like Donald and Goofy so much, as their shorts here and their personalities outside them really drew me in. I’ll still be objective mind, but the show means a lot to me and i’m not going to hide that. 

The show has a really amazing setup: Mickey and Co run a club for Disney characters. While no tv characters showed up, anyone who had been in the movies was fair game, and everyone from Hades to both forms of Simba somehow to the horned freaking king showed up. The only exceptions were as I said Tv characters, though Pepper Ann makes a cameo in the pilot, and the Pixar characters.. which is more fair than you think. Keep in mind at the time of this series, there were only three Pixar Movies: Toy Story, a Bug’s LIfe and Toy Story 2, which came out the same year as house of mouse. Not only that Pixar wasn’t owned by Disney at the time, so there was likely a fear they could loose the rights to use the characters at some point and thus didn’t want to chance it.  But yeah this setting is used for great jokes, it’s the source of the “No one does X like gaston!” meme and it’s funny every time they do that gag. Though the main stars of the show are still mickey and co with each having a fitting position in the club’s hierachy: MIckey and Donald, being equal stars, co-own the club, though Donald sometimes feels overshadowed. Mickey, with his people skills and cheer is the MC and host. Donald, given his jack of all trades nature and butt monkey status, is guest services, in charge of taking care of the club’s featured guests and naturally having it backfire, as well as sometimes envying Mickey’s spot and trying to take it over. Minnie, being level headed, keeps things running, planning the show and managing finaces as well as calming Mickey when he gets panicky. Daisy runs guest services while trying to break out on her own and is somewhat of a ditz in this series, though not overly dumb or incompetent, just a bit of an air head is all, and her sweet bubbly nature makes her very likeable. That and outside the shorts at least, she’s very nice to Donald here and their realtionship is very sweet, hence it being one of the four versions of it I like.  Goofy is head waiter, which fits him because.. I dunno they needed one. But he does the job well even if he naturally screws up a bunch because Goofy. Pluto is also around as a personal assitant because eh why not.  But what really stood out abotu the show to me, even more so as an adult, was  the supporting cast. As a kid, I was introduced to a lot of the disney side characters i’d never heard of before, all of whom get a decent amount of screen time over the series, while as an adult, I find it heartwarming they brought these characters back and fleshed them out after not being used on screen for so long, with one big exception that was still nice of them to use and helps bridge the generation gap. 

The rest of the HOM crew consisted of Hoarce, Mickey’s friend who was used a lot early on and who works as the club’s engineer and handyman, Clarabelle, also often forgotten but thoroughly defined here as a loveable gossip and acted wonderfully by the incomparable April Winchell. I credit this show for making me love both characters especially Clarabelle and wanting to see them more. 

We also have Gus, a far more obscure on screen character. Gus is Donald’s Cousin, and as of this writing is the ONLY one of Donald’s three majorly used Cousins to have not shown up in the Ducktales reboot. Gus is also the only one whose not a comics original, to my shock, instead showing up in the short “Donald’s Cousin Gus”, communicating only through honks and eating all of Donald’s food. He was naturally adapted for the comics, where while still having a huge appetite became more bossed with being a lazy while working with Grandma Duck, his and Donald’s Grandma. He’s so different between mediums I genuinely forgot he was in this show and didn’t realize he and the chef from this show were the same person. Still it’s nice to see him and hopefully he’ll make the reboot before it ends.  Finally rounding out the supporitng cast we have Huey Dewey and Louie, who mostly show up as the quackstreet boys to dance and are kind of inbetween their classic designs and their quack pack versions: They have the hair from quack pack, but seem more like their 12-13, a bit older than standard, but sitll not as old as they are in Quack Pack. They also don’t talk which is a vast improvement over Quack Pack. And finally, and more prominently, we have Max, who as I said bridges the gap between generations and I think was an amazing inclusion. He not only gave younger viewers like me a character they knew better, but allowed the character’s story to continue a bit, clearly taking place after xtreme but having him actually go on a date with Roxanne. Thank you House of Mouse Writers. your doing Golb’s work.  Antagonist wise we have Pete, as usual trying to muck things up and presumibly flush with post divorce cash. He’s the club landlord, and wants Mickey out for reasons that are never explained, but as long as the show goes on and Mickey pays rent on time, the show goes on. Being Pete, he naturally tries to sabotage things. It’s a good device. The other is Mortimer, probably the series deepest cut alongside Gus as he only shwoed up in one short but the series easily made him one of my faviorites: A Sleazy asshole who tries to pick up on Minnie (who thankfully this go round is not at all receiptve), tries to get on the card, and constnatly says Ha-Cha-Cha. Maurice LaMarche, this show had a REALLY talented voice cast can you tell?, really owned the character and has been his voice since and really took him from a one dimensional douche to a LOVEABLE asshole. 

Granted most of this.. really isn’t relevant as only the main cast show up, but it’s an aspect of the show I like so I went into it anyway. Plus i’ll defintely be coverng the show again so this saves me time for later.  Back on point though, the show’s format was a problem of the week, ranging from guest troubles to pete shenigans to internal strife in the club to just general sitcom shenanigans, going on at the club, with shorts inserted in from a previous Mickey Show, Mickey MouseWorks. MouseWorks was a short lived, pun intended, show that didn’t do so good, so they had a bunch of these shorts sitting around including some that never aired on the show, and thus inserted them as cartoons being played for the club patrons. It was a great device and the shorts, while varying in quality , are mostly pretty good and were the first Disney Shorts I saw. It was a good format, allowing the main stories to have plenty of time, but not have to overpad them or anything and with so many shorts on hand they could simply write the story to be as long as they needed and then insert however many shorts were needed. It worked well. 

So yeah as you can tell I truly love this show and it introduced a lot of stuff to me. And naturally.. that includes the Three Caballeros here, with their song here being stuck in my head for years and this being the first time they’d shown up in decades... which is ironically how long it took for me to see their movie but regardless. The boys were back, and you can see how the show did with them, under the cut. 

Something to note, No Disney Plus this time.. because BAFFLINGNLY the show is not on there, despite no rights issues holding it up I’m aware of, and the show having every other mouse and duck related animated series on there. I know, I’ve talked about this before, even in this very retrospective.. but I keep bringing it up because it’s something you easily forget about. Something that may slip away. But don’t let it. Let them know, and get our shows on there already. Christ.  Anyways, due to the show’s format of sliding the shorts in, and to make thing easier on me for house of mouse reviews i’m simply going to do the shorts first, then the main plot. Good? Good. 

This one only had two, though it varied on how many they used, and some were just super short shorts anyway, so it all balances out and as I said, i’ts better they just told as much story as was there than tried to rush it. So without further adue...

Donald’s Fish Fry: Poor Poor Humphrey  Yeah I didn’t like this one. The premise is using the old character Humphrey the Bear.. only here instead of being the antagonist the ranger present basically bullies the poor bear, while the other bears constnatly get more fish than him when it’s their registered time to fish. It’s just agrvating.. and when the poor boy finally GETS a fish, Donald snatches it.  Donald isn’t unsympathetic here, he found the fish fairly.. but it’s hard to tell who we’re supposed to root for here. Humphrey, who just wants what’s his, or Donald whose oblivious but technically in the wrong. This kind of slapstick just.. dosen’t work as well with both sides being sympathetic. It can work with say bugs and daffy, because both are equal, but there’s clearly an antagonistc force in elmer fudd. But this type of shenanigan just dosen’t work when neither side deserves the punishment, and Humphrey did nothing wrong. I felt like this for supporting him the whole time. 

And it ends with the ranger getting the fish. Because he wasn’t unlikeable enough clearly. Though Humphrey does get some beans so yay? Also the house segment after has Ranger Dickhead stealing Humphrey’s dinner, which given he’s at the club he CLEARLY paid for because it’s too fatty. Fuck you dude. I hope Goofy threw you out for that one. Just not a fun sit. I’ve seen this kind of shenanigan done better, in disney classic shorts even. I’ve seen Don as the villian better, See Trick or Treat for a good example> There’s just.. nothing here and it goes on forever. This is a good chunk of the episode! Lordy! Just a genuinely bad short. Thankfully the next one while not as word inducing is also not as headache inducing How to Be Smart: Now THESE were my faviorites as a kid. I loved goofy, so shorts about him were no brainer but even now.. these are still funny. Basically a narrator would follow Goofy around while he tries to learn how to do something, in this case how to get smarter after loosing on a gameshow .. and owing the show three milion dollars. There’s not much ot go into, it’s basically a series of jokes about Goofy going to school from elementary to college and learning his way up while Dealing with Ludvig’s bratty nephew and his own stupidity. It’s a funny short and really well done and these are easily some of the show’s best shorts and this is no exception. Unlike  the Humphrey short, where this essentially happened. 

My soul and I gladly enjoyed How to Be Smart. Dare to NOT be stupid and check this short out. 

The Wraparound: And I”m Donald Duck! As for the main segment it’s pretty good. We open with Mickey hyping up tonight’s act, which is naturally the Three Caballeros! But trouble sets in as Donald, while proud at first, is rightfully annoyed that a man on the street segment shows NO ONE remembers he was in the group. Including his best friend goofy. Only Pumba does, somehow. I dunno maybe he dated Panchito once before meating timon. Point is Donald dosen’t take this well, even if we get a nice moment of Daisy swooning over the fact.. even if being  HOM Daisy, she can’t get the name right. But given i’ve had trouble spelling it right, I’m one to talk. 

So being Donald he overreacts, which I like as.. well it’s Donald. Of course when given a very resonable reason to get upset he takes it a step too far. In this case he’s gotten an army of lawers, refuses to speak to mickey and has put ... THIS on. I showed it at the top of the page but.. well it bears repeating. 

It’s like every bad thing about the early 2000′s, from the douchey shades, to the rings, to the golden knuckles, to the hat that looks like a penis, to the no donald logo. There should be all the donalds, ALL OF THEM. He also has an army of lawyers, and naturally resorts to hot doggin and grandstanding: Signing autographs during the show, putting a giant poster of himself up. It works okay, as it makes him unsympathetic for the next part to work and is really funny which is the point. Even if again he looks like the feces that’s produced when shame eats too much stupidity. 

Instead of just getting Dale Gribble in there, Mickey is at a loss for a solution till the boys show up and.. it’s a mixed bag. Carlos  Alazraqui is excellent as Panchito, slipping into the roll well. Unlike last time the character showed up, they did NOT get a mexican actor, but Carols is still Latino, so it’s still better than what they did for Jose, and still big of them to actually bother to get a Latino actor to play a latino role.  Jose on the other hand.. is played, and not very good, by Rob Paulson. And before anyone throws stuff at me, I love Rob. I will  be gushing about him when I get around to reviewing the animaniacs reboot. He’s a god among voice actors and I love him. But his voice, at least in this ep dosen’t really .. FIT Jose, and he dosen’t really match the characters energy which is VERY weird given Animaniacs was right before this. The guy can DO energy and it’s one of his best talents. He STILL can as evidenced by both TMNT 2012 and the Animaniacs revival. It’s just not one of his better performances. I love the guy but even gods have off days.  And of course there’s the bigger issue of the very white Rob shouldn’t be playing the very Brazilian Jose. Not matching nationatlies is one thing, it sucks, but The Three Cablleros had a much bigger budget than HOM likely did. HOWEVER, it couldn’t of been that hard to find two latino voice actors in 2000, especially when you found at least one. I get this wasn’t as big a thing but when the 1940′s did better than you, you know you screwed up. 

But it probably dosen’t help the two.. barely do anything. Despite the episode being named after them, they only show up towards the end and just sorta say hi to mickey, get cool entrances, and then seeing Donald being a dick and Mickeya sking for their help, humble him with their musical number.  And the Musical Number IS really good, it’s been in my head for years and is just as catchy as the classic “Three Cabllero’s Song”.. why they didn’t sing that I don’t know, but this original one, a light knockoff of la bamba is still really fun and bouncy and the gags are good. It’s a really good climax and Donald deserves his punishment.  The only really issue is the ending, as.. no one leaned anything. No one acknowledges how forgotten Donald felt, Mickey dosen’t seem to get the issue as his “promoting Donald” at the end to make sure he’s not forgotten.. just has a bunch of jabs at his expense, and Donald dosen’t apologize..t hougH daisy is really sweet to him so we got some Donsy at least. It’s just a weak ending to an otherwise excellent wraparound.  Final Thoughts: This one was.. okay. Shorts aside, i’ve said my peace about them, the wraparound is a lot of fun, as is the musical number, even if the “artist formerly known as” joke was played out even in 2000. I mean yeas Prince changing his name to a symbol was insane, I get that.. but by then everyone had clowned on that decision and given he did so in a bizarre act of defiance towards his label, at a time where we now know how scummy record labels can be, it hasn’t aged well. It’s just the weak climax, song not included, really drags things down. The Cabs are just.. a cameo in their own damn episode, even with the full musical number and could’ve been around more. They don’t get to show off personalities or really do anything but teach Donald a lesson and are basically one indivdiual here. It sticks out even more because Rosa had both be utterly distinct and showed the utmost care while here.. their just sorta tossed in so they could have Donald be a primadona.. which itself is funny but on the whole this episode was just.. disappointing to revisit. It was disheartening to learn one of my favorite episodes as a kid wasn’t that good. It is worth checking out if you like Donald or the cabs, provided you skip the first short. Trust me, trust me, but is far from the best the house of mouse has to offer and hopefully the next one will show that.  Next time when the Ride continues, my gig at the house of mouse gets held over another night as Jose teaches Goofy manners and Panchito helps deprogram him from that. Before that I hope to get to the next chapter of life and times and some other stuff i’ve had hanging, including the next loud house and the next part of the tomtropsective, as well as some new things that have come up like said review of the animaniacs reboot and a review of Adventure Time: Distant Lands, Obsidan. Until then if you liked this review, please check out my other pages for more, follow me to see them, and if you’d like to comission your own, just hit me up in my ask box for my discord or personal message me here on tumblr. Until then, ther’es always another rainbow. I’m out. 

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #430

“when the girl in the corner is everyone’s woman, she could kill you with a wink of her eye”

What kind of dog do you find most ugly? What a mean question. ;-; I don't think they're ugly, but I probably find chihuahuas to be the least visually appealing. Do you like wood floors or carpet better? Wood. Do you think the USA bullies other countries? Quite frankly, yes. Are you currently in love right now? No. Favorite fast food joint? Sonic. What would you do if your ex contacted you? THE ex, have a panic attack. Cry. Be wordlessly ecstatic. Be scared and confused. Do you still have feelings for your ex? Two, yes, but one is unrealistic considering I have no idea who he is anymore. It's been way too long for me to possibly, accurately like him. Ever tasted a flavored condom? No. Do you know CPR? No. How much do you care about your best friend? I'd die for her. Do you watch Dr. Phil? No. What age would you like to have a child? I don't want kids ever. Are your parents wealthy? Mom, absolutely not. Dad seems to be financially stable, but not wealthy or anything. Pick one state you’d love to live in? Alaska. How many pets do you want? And of what? Man, I want a LOT. I know I want more ball python morphs, a plains hognose, a woma python, numerous tarantulas, a fat-tailed gecko, a boa, orchid mantises, a sphynx, a tegu would be super cool... I'd love to have like an empire of pets one day, aha, but only so long as I could maintain them all and adequately provide for them. Have you ever asked someone out? Yes. When do you want to get married? I mean, I don't have a set age in mind. I want to get married when I'm ready. Can you play a musical instrument? I played the flute for yeeeaaaars in middle and high school, but I remember almost nothing by now. What if you stopped orgasming for the rest of your life? Idc, honestly. Does money make you happy? Money probably makes me happier than it should, but I'm not like madly in love with it or anything. Happens when you're poor your whole life. Your favorite breakfast food? Ugh, cinnamon rolls are a godsend. When was the last time you went to a funeral? I actually don't think I've ever been to one... only wakes. I really, really wish I could have gone to Jason's mom's, though... There was just no fucking way that I was going to risk upsetting Jason on THAT day of all days by popping up. Have you ever stolen someone’s boyfriend/girlfriend? Well, we never actually dated, but you could say that... Tell me the date of your first kiss. I don't know the exact date, but it was March 2012. Are your legs long or short? Normal, I guess? How many phobias do you have? Man, a lot. Is there a bookshelf in your room? No. Do you use the Facebook chat often? Barely at all. I only really use it to chat with Girt on the rare occasion we talk. Who got you hooked on the addiction you're addicted to (If you have one)? I discovered Mark on my own; I needed help in an Amnesia: The Dark Descent custom story, so I found his playthrough and watched it. Got a few laughs, subscribed. It was Jason who introduced me to Amnesia, though, so I can indirectly thank him, I guess? haha Are you currently worried about your parents finding out about something? No. Have you ever lived with a friend? Yeah, for a couple months. Have you ever only liked someone because you found out they liked you? No. Ever been on a real diet, or did you just stop eating? I've tried multiple diets. Have you ever known a white supremacist? I know multiple. Welcome to the South. Do you like the smell of a barbecue? Yesss. It's funny because I hate the food itself. Have you ever gone out in public in your pajamas? Yeah. It's not rare, if I'm being honest. How many times have you been to the ER? Too many times because of being suicidal. How many people are you currently texting? None. Anything exciting coming up? My nephew's birthday is in a few days! Would you rather get money or gift cards for your birthday? Money, so I can use it for anything. Do you have Instagram? I have three, ha ha. One for my basic photography, another for my morbid photos, and I went through a very short phase of having an Instagram for my pets. It still exists, but I don't really use it. Have you ever spoken to a detective before? No. Do you believe in ghosts? Yes. Do ladders scare you? Yes. Hot dogs or hamburgers? Cheeseburgers may possibly be my favorite food. Do you have any tattoos on your arms? I do. Have you ever owned or known someone who owned a black cat? I've owned plenty of black cats. What album is the last song you listened to from? It's from Disguise. What’s the last funny movie you watched? Probably Elf. Can you remember your parents’ birthdays? Mom's, yes. I only remember the month of my dad's. If you had to get a tattoo tomorrow, what would you pick? I think I want to get my tribute to Teddy next. How do you feel about band tattoos? Hey, go for it. I see nothing wrong with it. What piercing do you like most on the opposite sex? Probably snakebites. Lip piercings in general are hot lmao. Are you any good at applying make up? Noooo, my hands are so shaky. How old were the last 3 people you kissed? Sara's 23; idr the exact ages of Girt and Tyler. I think Tyler was a year younger than me, and Girt is at the bare minimum three years older than me. If you found out you got someone pregnant, what would you do? Well, I'm a cisgender female, so... Do you ever wonder what your ex is up to? Very frequently. Do you like your cell phone? I mean it's fine, but I'd like a new one. Is rap your favorite genre of music? No, it's actually my least favorite. Have you ever thrown up on anybody? Oh god, no. Do people think you’re happy? I think it's safe to say most people who know me know I'm clinically depressed. Or you know... maybe not. Quite a few people have been surprised to learn that about me because I can put on a good facade. What band would you stand in line for 24 hours to see? None, honestly. That's way too long. What was your worst childhood experience? I guess my dad's alcoholism. As a child, I thought it was a normal thing, but I do wonder if my fear of men has anything to do with how volatile drinking had a 50/50 chance of making him. He never hurt anyone, but he was just so mad and hateful towards the world sometimes. You can trade another person’s emotions for your own. Whose do you take? I have no idea. What was/is going to be your first waltz at your wedding? That'll depend on my partner and what song means the most to us/fits us best. "When It's Love" by Van Halen has been a consideration for forever, though. When it’s not summer, what do you miss most about it? I hate summer. I miss nothing about it. Do you consider yourself patriotic? No. What is the one thing that you need to do to die happy? Feel like I accomplished something notable. Do you consider yourself mainstream? No. What’s the riskiest thing you’ve ever done? Overdosing on cold medicine. What is life’s greatest mystery? Probably from whence we came. Humanity has fished for a definite answer forever. What was your favourite make-believe game as a kid? Pretending I was a meerkat hiding in a "burrow" that was a blanket fort, ha ha. Do you try your best at everything? Honestly, no. Who is your shoulder to cry on? My mom, without fail. What’s your standard excuse for not doing something? I dunno... it depends on the topic. Name the most beautiful person you know. As far as physical appearance goes, my friend Alon. Have you ever been to jail? No. What is one moment you wish you could have taken a picture of? Sara's face when I surprised her at her house for her birthday. It was absolutely fucking priceless. What place holds the most memories for you? Jason's house. Who was your first date? My puppy dog-love middle school bf Aaron. We went with a group of friends to a skating rink. My first one-on-one date was Jason. What’s the best trip you’ve ever been on? The zoo in 5th grade. It's the one and only time I've seen meerkats. For some weird reason, our zoo moved the meerkats not long after that visit. I THINK they said the environment just wasn't suitable for them, which I never really got... I think they mentioned the cold, but like, you have heating for them, and also, have you ever experienced a desert night? You consider all the other areas that have meerkats in their zoos and it's like... why, man. Bring my meerkats back. ;_; What do you think the earth will look like in 1,000 years? Oh dear God, I do NOT want to visualize that. My gut tells me it'll be a wasteland, probably without humans or most forms of life we have now. We have to get our shit straight, so very badly. I could rant for hours about how horribly and ungratefully we abuse our planet. Who makes you happy to be around? Sara! I feel like I can be my 100% authentic self, and we just vibe really well together. Like every time I've been there and she here, our friendship felt so natural and chill. I really, really need to save up for another trip up there. What secret have you tried to hide but it got out anyway? I kept the Joel situation to myself from pretty much everyone, but it eventually came out in front of Mom and Jason. It was actually the night of the breakup; I don't remember how it was relevant at all to mention, but I did in some form. Mom wisely never asked about it, and Jason obviously didn't. I was a stupid 12-year-old anyway, it's whatever now. Who/what is your everything? I will never. Ever. In five billion millennia. Let anyone be that again. How many people have you turned down when they asked you out? Ummm three? I think that's it. How many exes do you have? If I include everyone who ever had a title of "boyfriend/girlfriend," I have six. Who was your worst relationship with? Tyler. It was just pointless and the result of nothing but loneliness. What’s your ‘label’? (ex. punk, prep) I really, really don't care. Do you swear? How much? Like a sailor. I swore some beforehand, but I got really bad when Jason and I started dating. He swore a lot, and his mother did even more. I was around them as much as possible, so it rubbed off on me. What is the one thing that would make everything in your life fall apart? Losing my family, like being disowned or something like that. Especially when it comes to Mom. I rely on her so heavily, as much as I hate that. :/ What takes your breath away? Nature is very capable of that. Something like seeing big waterfalls in the mountains or something would marvel me. Are you patient? No, honestly. Are you a good dancer? No. Even when I took dance, I don't think I was great; however, I do think I was pretty skilled at clogging. Who would you call first in a life-threatening situation (not 911)? My mom. Who do you miss? Jason and his family, Megan, Alex, Hannia, Emily, Journee... a lot of people. Do you like snakes? I adore snakes.

[daydreaming-jessi]

Do u have any headcannons for the netherworld ensemble????

OH BOY DO I!!!

Ok so first off, Miss Argentina and Toaster Lady are wives, and I will not be taking any criticism thanks. Miss Argentina could honestly lead the whole department on her own, she’s VERY good at her job and wrangling people together to do tasks. If only Juno could see her capabilities and learned how to share her job. Argentina may be loud and brusque, hurrying to get her job done before things get backed up, but she is VERY kind, as we saw when she tried to convince Lydia to go home. She gained a new respect of life, and deeply regrets throwing hers away so carelessly. She’s also probably been around the netherworld the longest in the department, the only one that could beat her time is shrunken head guy, but he doesn’t remember exactly when he died, so Argentina gets the claim.

Shrunken head guy is no longer able to verbally communicate, and nowadays relies on sign language to get his message across. He’s in charge of security for the NCP department, as he was once the guy people went to when they wanted protection and a guide on their research trips to more remote locations of the world, but he’s kind of a big teddy bear. He was going to be a grandfather before he died, and deeply regrets going on a trip to Africa before seeing the birth of his grandkid. He doesn’t necessarily blame the people responsible for his death, the group he was with was trespassing on their land, but it still hurts to think about. He doesn’t really talk about himself, so few people know he even had a family, and it really is a shame, he has a lot of cool stories from all over the world.

I see toaster lady as someone shy and anxious, (thus why I call her shyanne, very clever me) and that she went through a very rough point in her life, leading her to suicide. She was never one for spooks, but now she is in the netherworld, land of creepy things, working in a towel (and a swimsuit I’m not CRUEL). It’s forced her to gain some confidence. She’s still very sweet, and acts very caring towards newly deads, when she’s not busy answering and connecting calls as the department’s secretary. Her coworkers tend to get very defensive for her, but she’s more than capable of giving someone a stern talking to if she thinks they’re doing something unfair.

Burned cigar man was actually a big business man before he died. What was his business? No one remembers. He acts like it was a big important thing, but it was one of those big important things you don’t really think about so no one really gets it and whenever he talks about his old job people get a glaze over their eyes and he ends up slinking off into a corner to sulk, chewing on his cigar grouchily because kids these days don’t respect business. He left behind a wife when he died, which he regrets very much. He didn’t die at home, thankfully, he died in a hotel on a business trip. Funny enough his doctor told him to cut back on smoking cigars, that they’d be the death of him. It’s a hilarious irony to him. He acts grouchy, but he does care, he’s just sweltering 24/7 due to his death u-u

Parachute Man used to be quite the thrill chaser. He was pretty used to sky diving, and got a bit too egotistical about it. He jumped off the plane before it was safe, and basically got beaten into a pulp by the trees. When he came to, he was standing next to his body, and had one second to get his bearings before a sandworm noticed a tasty ghost treat just standing around. He booked it, leaving behind his body and handbook with no idea of what was going on. He had a pretty rough time until a guide saved his hide and brought him to the netherworld. He now has a phobia of sandworms, and nearly faints just at the sight of black and white stripes. The jockey has had to apologize many times for causing him to pass out. His ego took a beating from the entire thing, and having to carry his parachute around or end up tripping on it keeps him from getting too cocky again. But there’s still a part of him that just craves adrenaline. A hard thing to come by in the Netherworld, surprisingly enough.

The Groom is still in denial about his death. He swears he loved his fiancé, he just had a moment of weakness! Had he been stronger he’d be alive and married to the love of his life. It’s pretty obvious that he wasn’t ready for marriage, or was even mature enough yet for such a commitment. He doesn’t like to talk about his beloved, for as much as he waxes poetics about the tragic end of their relationship, and gets pretty fed up with some of the antics younger workers in the department. The fireworks guy loves to tease him and rile him up. He likes to put on an act, that’s he’s all grand and wise, but really he’s just a 24 year old guy who hadn’t figured out his life yet, like most people his age. His ego won’t allow for that truth to come out though. He’s unofficially training under Miss Argentina to be a receptionist, and she likes him well enough, but she knows that he tends to take on more than he can handle if only to pretend that he knows what he’s doing. She won’t let him take over her job until he’s good and ready for it, lest he has a breakdown and the system backs up.

The exploded guy is the second youngest in the department, being only 19. Before he died, he was working at his uncle’s garage, saving up for college. He wanted to become an English teacher, he loved working with kids, having wrangled his cousins so much at family gatherings, and loved putting sentences together and breaking down the intent of writers and figuring out the symbolism of their works. He knows a lot about fixing things from his old job, and thus is in charge of keeping the department’s infrastructure up and running. He doesn’t mind it, he gets to explore all the nooks and crannies of the netherworld, and has had lots of fun adventures. He and the jockey are best friends, both love to pull pranks on the others, and lend each other a shoulder to cry on when they think about how much they didn’t get to do with their lives.

The jockey had spent her whole life working on becoming a horse jockey, even when people told her to give up. She dreamed of riding horses her whole life, since she grew up on a ranch. There aren’t a lot of female jockeys, but she worked hard to try and change that. Unfortunately she pushed her luck, whipped a thoroughbred, and ended up in the netherworld. Now she spends her days as a desk jockey, oh joy. She often finds herself bored and wanting to do SOMETHING, rather than the same boring routine of processing newlydeads into the netherworld, and so often goes out seeking trouble with exploded guy and parachute man on quite a few occasions. She’s used to people trying to belittle her, and isn’t afraid of getting right back in their faces and even using her whip if she has to. Being a jockey means she’s kind of a powerhouse. Racing horses is no easy job! People might underestimate her because she’s short and appears petite, but she can very easily flip you over should she want to.

There’s a whole team of college football players working as security in the netherworld, but three in particular work under shrunken head guy in the NCP department. They’re best friends, and when together, they become the stereotypical jock type you expect, they kind of just toss their brain cells away when they all hang out. But when separated their actual personalities shine through. There’s the one I call Vinny, the fullback, who wears a helmet to hide that he kind of lost a lot of his lower jaw, retaining only the bottom jawbone. When he speaks its a lot of clattering. People act like they understand him, and maybe they do? He’s the wisest of the three, being the oldest, and tends to keep an eye out for his boys, sort of acting like a mother hen to them, especially the youngest of the three, Carl. Carl, the running back, is actually a pretty good kid, being the youngest in the department at 18. He’s kind of quiet and meek, not really one to stand up for himself, and tends to do what people tell him too. It’s why he so recklessly follows his teammates around. If he’s not with his team, he’s usually around the younger workers of the department, usually the jockey and exploded guy. Then there’s Don, the quarterback. He’s the leader of the trio, and is pretty much stuck in his college frat mindset even though he was about to graduate college, and acting like the stereotypical jock bully. He likes to think of himself as a big alpha macho man, but he’s pretty sensitive of his friends, and will knock some heads together if someone tries to hurt them. He respects his elders, but everyone else is fair game to his peacocking. He tends to butt heads with a lot of the younger workers of the department, and ends up receiving the wrath of jockey and exploded guy’s pranks a lot.

There’s the general head canons I have for the netherworld ensemble, took a sec to write haha ^^ Thanks for the chance to ramble, anon! I’m more than happy to ramble even more if ya’ll have more questions

[ihavenoconsistentname]

@autistic--cryptid I'd do this in an ask but it's a lot so I'm just gonna do it this way but I'm gonna ramble about sea shanties comparing Wels' recordings of them to the ones by The Longest Johns and ik you like sea shanties too so :000

Ok so these are the sea shanties that Wels sang:

Roll The Old Chariot

Haul Away Joe

Santiana

Spanish Ladies

Old Maui

Randy-Dandy-O

Fish In The Sea

The only ones The Longest Johns haven't sang are Fish In The Sea and Roll The Old Chariot, I only listen to Wels' version of Fish In The Sea and David Coffin's version of Roll The Old Chariot

But!! He changed some stuff with the melodies n stuff when he recorded them, mainly the ones he sang on stream but he already had Roll The Old Chariot on his soundcloud for a long time before he recorded new sea shanties and you can actually hear a bit of a difference in his voice vs the newer recordings, his voice was a bit softer/lighter and not quite as voluminous if that makes sense for voices

In Haul Away Joe the opening goes like "When-I was-just a little-lad or so me mammy told me" but in Wels' recording it's more like "When I-was a little lad, or so me mammy told me", his voice also jumps straight to the next notes more whereas in The Longest Johns' version the voices sort of flow into the higher notes from lower ones. Wels also does more high notes whereas The Longest Johns sort of flow between low to high to low and keep going. They also, in the chorus, go "Away! HO! Haul away, we'll haul away together" but Wels goes "A-way! [Pause] Haul away, we'll haul away together". The Longest Johns pronounce it as "Revolu-ti-on" (like revo-lu-shy-on) and "Constitu-ti-on" (like con-stitu-shy-on) whereas Wels says "Revo-lu-tion" going from high to low to high and "Constitu‐tion" going from high to low to high again but starting low at the first part

HE ALSO PRONOUNCES IT AS "BOW-LINE" INSTEAD OF "BOW-LIN" AND CHAT SCREAMED AT HIM THAT ITS BOWLIN NOT BOWLINE

At the end they drag out the "o" sound in "Joe" then raise their notes up like "JoooooooeeeeAH!" But Wels doesn't he just drags it out a bit and ends

Onto Santiana! The Longest Johns have their voices sort of dip a bit when you listen to it whereas Wels sort of has this ruffly effect to his voice. Wels goes "Well [pause] Heeeaavee her up, and away we'll go!" whereas The Longest Johns go "Well heeeaaavee her uuupp and awaaayyy we'll gooo!", similar to how Wels goes "Shes-a fast-clipper ship and-a bully-good crew" but The Longest Johns go "She's a faaassst clipper shiiippp and a bully good crew", The Longest Johns sort of drag the notes out more whereas Wels has a bit more of a defined rhythm to his singing. Also when it gets to "Santiana, now we mourn", The Longest Johns slow down and sort of stay slower (they also go slower paced than Wels does because they drag out notes), they also stop at "Along the plains of Mexico". Wels, on the other hand, Slows down that verse a bit before speeding back up gradually and repeating the "Well, heave her up and away we'll go" bit that's in the rest of the chorus before ending the song and dragging out notes at the end.

Spanish Ladies!

In the beginning, The Longest Johns drag it out more going "Faaaarree-well and adieu to-you Spanish ladies" whereas Wels drags out different words going "Farewell and adieuuuu to yoouuu Spanish ladiieeesss" and "Farewell and adieu to you ladiiess of Spaaaiiinnn" but The Longest Johns stops shorter at "Spain". Wels also says "Aaanndd we never may see you fair ladies again" but The Longest Johns says "But we hope very soon we shall see you again". The Longest Johns goes "We'll rant and we'll rooar like true British sailors" but Wels sort of goes "We'll rant and we'll roaaarr like truueee British sailooors" generally kind of dragging notes out more. He changes the rhythm quite a bit for this one along with words like changing "We hove our ship to, with the wind at southwest, boys/We hove our ship to, our soundings to see" to "We hove our ship tooo with the wind from southwest boys, we hove our ship to, for to strike soundings clear" and "We'll drink and be Merry and drown melancholy" to "We'll drink and be jolly and drown melancholy" so it actually rhymes

Old Maui!

Generally the vibe of Old Maui by The Longest Johns is very slow and almost sounds sort of tired and foggy like the vibe you get from a stormy looking sky out at sea and a foggy island being the only thing in view, but Wels is obviously more upbeat in his tone of voice. The Longest Johns has slower and more dragged out notes whereas Wels is faster paced and sounds more upbeat. His notes go much higher for the most part and has humming in the solo bits whereas The Longest Johns actually has a bit of an echo and the sound of the sea in the back, plus humming but also the voices join in slowly near the end of the solo bits.

This one is probably the one he sang the most different just because his overall tone and the rhythm pace was a lot different than that of The Longest Johns when it comes to the sound of it, but for lyrics, this isn't the most changed one.

And finally Randy-Dandy-O!!!

First of all its immediately a bit different, Wels goes "Noooow we are reaaadddy to saaaiilll for the hoorn" sort of lowering his notes between flipping back to high notes, whereas The Longest Johns starts at a high note and generally stay at it and go "Now we are ready to head for the horn"

Wels has a lot more flowing between notes with his recording and a LOT of words were changed in his version. This is the one that he changed the most lyrics-wise.

The original has some sort of thumping beat in the back, whereas Wels only has the vocals. The biggest differences are that he flows between notes and that he changes literally every verse almost in lyrics.

And that's it for my pointless analysis of Wels' sea shanty recordings vs The Longest Johns' recordings!! :D

[razorblade180]

Twin Snowflakes pt2: Warming Up

[Saph’s place]

In the guest room Summer sleeps peacefully in the bed with tons of covers to keep her warm. To the right of the bed is a night stand with a bowl of stew beef and tea. On the left sits Nicholas attentively watching over her. The room itself is pretty warm so currently he’s on in a white shirt and blue shorts.

Saph:*opens door* Pssst how is she?

Nick:Her face as gotten color back into it again. She’ll be fine with a little rest and the food you made her. Thanks for that by the way.

Saph:Ain’t no thang for my adorable niece and nephew. You know you should really get good at cooking yourself; sixteen years old and all I ever seen you cook is some eggs.

Nick:*chuckles* You would think sword skills would transfer to kitchen knife ability but it certainly does not. Maybe I should spend more time reading recipes books...

Saph:Having you two over for cooking lessons instead of secret training would be a nice change of pace. I wouldn’t have to worry about my dear baby brother yelling at me if he finds out.

Nick:Aren’t you supposed to be the older sibling that can’t be picked on?

Saph:*smirks* Doesn’t Summer pick on you?

Nick:Hey! I’m older by minutes while you have years on dad. Besides I totally let her make fun of me.

Summer:*waking up* Keep telling yourself that.

Saph:Well look who it is!?

Nick:Wow, you are awake way sooner than usual.

Summer:How much time has passed?

Nick:Four hours since you clocked out in the snow.

Summer:Well that’s a full thirteen faster than last time. *rubbing her head* Makes sense, Shiva wasn’t out for too long. We should probably continue to tr- is that stew beef!!!? *grabs the bowl*

Saph:Talking one minute, stuffing your face the next. Definitely Summer talking to us.

Nick:You okay? Well rested, no fatigue, no broken bones, or bruises? How is your-

A spoon gets put in his mouth to prevent him from speaking.

Saph:Shut up and stop babying me. I’m perfectly fine okay? If anything you should be worrying about yourself it seems. *points to his side.*

He looks down to see a small red smudge. Saphron lifts his shirt to reveal a shallow cut that slightly bleeding. Nick tries to laugh off the this new discovery but is met with two pairs of highly upset cobalt eyes.

Summer:What’s the point of worrying about me if you’re not gonna take the time to make sure that everything is okay with yourself?

Nick:I only got grazed a little, plus it’s healing so it’s no big deal.

Saph:It’s totally a big deal! Just because you look like your father doesn’t mean you should be just as reckless as he is. Take care yourself and don’t take outrageous risk!

Nick:*scared* Yes Ma’am!!!

Saph:Good! Now go ask Adrian to borrow a clean shirt and get yourself some food as well.

Nick:*mumbles* But I’m not hungry....

Saph:*Death Glare*

Nick:Alright!!! I’ll make a small bowl or something. *leaving* Geez, you’re gonna give Bleiss a run for her money with that look.

Saph:I heard that!

Nick:I know! I said loud! *laughing*

Saph:*smiling* Your brother is a real piece of work.

Summer:.........

Saph:Summer?

Summer:Huh? I’m sorry, I spaced out....

Saph:Is you know who trying to speak with you.

Summer:No, I can’t even hear Shiva’s voice right now. I’m too warm and she’s too tired. Besides, anytime she decides to open her mouth it’s usually to insult me. I could go the rest of my life without hearing her. I’m just upset Nicholas is hurt because of me again.

Saph:I know we just grilled him and all over it but you shouldn’t feel too bad over a cut. Things could’ve been a lot worse.

Summer:They might be if I don’t get a handle on this fast. Six years of worrying about hurting your family is really, really stressful..... almost enough to make me feel crazier than I already am.

Saph:Hey, you are not crazy young lady.

Summer:Then what exactly would you call me? A freak of nature doesn’t sound any better, and being called “sick” isn’t comforting either.

The two quietly looked at each other blankly. Summer was waiting for some type of answer but her loving aunt couldn’t find any words that would help make her feel better about her situation. Saphron instead sat right next to the teenager and gave her a reassuring hug. Summer couldn’t help but return the embrace.

Saph:I’d be lying if I said I had a good answer to that question. However, I do know one day you’ll conquer this; all that training you put into this is bound to pay off. Even if some of it goes over my head sometimes. *smiles* One day you’ll kick Shiva’s but to the curve! Arcs and Schnees seemed to be really good at sticking up for themselves when it comes to being ordered around or bullied by someone else.

Ruby:*in the form frame* Ain’t that the truth!

Summer:You’re still here Auntie!

Ruby:Of course! I wasn’t gonna leave before I knew for a fact you were okay. Also, try not to think so negative all the time. We all believe in you so don’t go doubting yourself. More importantly, don’t try to rush progress. That’s when the worst mistakes happen.

Saph:Just ask Terra. She shut down power to all of Argus before on accident; all because she tried to finish all her work for the week without taking a break. Just to make sure she could attend Adrian’s graduation.

Terra:*down stairs* Stop telling that story! My boss still won’t let it go!

Saph:*whispers* No one is even mad at her. It was just really funny and unlike her.

Summer:*smiling* That must’ve been an eventful day.

Saph:It was a good thing Adrian was graduating. Imagine having to go to school with all the kids knowing that. Actually...he might’ve been seen as a hero when I think about it.

Ruby:Speaking of school....

Saph:Please don’t, let me enjoy winter break while it last. I only have two more days left then back to the worst place imaginable.

Ruby:Two days, some regular classes for everyone to get back into the swing of things, and then The Combat School Tournament!

Hearing that name made Summer a little anxious. They might as well change the name to Jr Vytal festival. The Combat School Tournament is where students from all over Remnant gets to strut their stuff against one another; home school or not. It’s always televised and it’s made to show that the next generation of huntsman and huntress are growing strong. Many games and side events will also be held for fun to show unity between everyone.

However, Summer won’t be partaking in those nice and simple events. She won’t even be in the regular tournament where anyone and everyone will be at arms with each other. No, She and her over eager brother will be going to be in special bracket. A bracket reserved for only the winners of their respective regionals along with the runner ups. The main attraction that’s sure to be watched in every house hold.

Summer:Ruler of the Castle......

Nick:*down stairs* Woooooo!!!!!!!!!

Ruby:Oh I’m so excited!!!!!!!

Summer:Because you’re not in it! No way I’m ready for that.

Saph:Last time I checked, your gold medal in regionals says other wise.

Summer:I only got gold in duos. Nicholas was practically the reason we one that. I got fifth place in singles while he got runner up.

Ruby:What did I just say about negativity? Nicholas’s shout tells me he’s not worried in the slightest.

Nick:*rushes in* Better believe I’m not! You and I are gonna clean up in duos and let everyone know there’s no greater tag team than us.

Summer:What makes you so sure?

Nick:Close your eyes and you’ll see.

She follows his orders while the others are a bit confused. He quietly grabs her spoon and closes his eyes as well. The boy throws the spoon right at her only for Summer to catch it. Without opening her eyes she throws it his left knee which instinctively raises up right before contact to bounce it in the air. Nick hits it back at her chest where Summer is already prepared to counter by grabbing the bowl for it to land. The entire bowl is tossed up and lands on a glyph that floats back down to the nightstand. Both of them open their eyes smiling.

Ruby:*whistles* You guys practice that little trick.

Nick:Nope! It’s a twin thing. Somehow we always know just what the other might do in a pinch.

Summer:It’s super annoying. Our snowball fights against each other always end up looking like a war where nobody got to win.

Nick:Yeah but our matches against other people always went undefeated. This isn’t gonna be any different! I got your back and you have mine; more gold medals are the only thing we’re gonna get. Duos is all about teamwork and we got that spades. *eyes shining* We’re gonna look so cool!

Summer:So it this about showing the world how skilled we are or just a way for you to look cool in front of Valerie?

Nick:*blushing* Valerie has nothing to do with this! Although if she so happened to be amazed by my- our skills and was left in complete shock then that would be nice.

Saph:Careful there tiger, she’s the reason you’re runner up in singles in the first place. Might wanna keep those hormones in cheek if by some chance both of you end up in the finals again.

Summer:Oooo imagine if she gets another gold medal off of you. Talk about embarrassing... *chuckling*

Nick:Wow! So much for the confidence. I got sucker punched last time. No way I’d lose to her again.

Ruby:I wonder how many times Jaune said that before sparring with Nora? *smiling*

Nick:All of you suck.... *red*

Adrian:*in his room* I believe in you Nick!

Nick:That’s why you’re my favorite cousin!

Saph:I’m telling the others you said that if they show up to tournament.

Nick:Please don’t.....I can’t fight my entire family tree; too many branches. Who is coming anyways?

Ruby:I’ll be there of course, Yang, Blake most likely, Veronica-

Summer:Uuuuuuggggggghhhhhhh!

Everyone:........

Summer:What?

Nick:Can you both be civil for an evening.

Summer:Can she not be such a b-

Saph:I’ll tell your mother.

Summer:Insufferable person? I’m not talking to her and hopefully she doesn’t speak to me. *mumbles* I wish she was in the tournament. I’d pay off the referee to match us up just to fight her.

Ruby:Be nice to my niece please? Maybe she’s changed a bit?

Summer:..........You think Veronica Belladonna, the girl that’s so extra that she has two faunus features, has changed?

Ruby:You know your mom is the queen of extra right? I think there’s another reason you two might be all feisty towards each other if you catch my drift.

Summer:I know what you’re implying and it has nothing to do with that! That’s not even a thing.

Nick:What’s not a thing?

Summer:Don’t worry about it!

Nick:???

Few people could get Summer worked like Veronica could. Between her and Shiva it was almost like a war on two fronts when it came to her self confidence. Though she did appreciate that at least Veronica isn’t actually trying to destroy her. It’s the small things like that which made things more tolerable at best. Now that she was fired up, Summer hoped out of bed and grabbed her twins hand.

Summer:We’re going to glyph train in the garden.

Nick:Right now!? Don’t you wanna rest a little mo-

Summer:Nope! If I’m forced to be in the same area as little miss perfect then she’s gonna see me at my absolute best! *drags him out the room*

Ruby:Poor girl must constantly feel weird about every thought and action in her life. Especially at sixteen.

Saph:It’s no different than Jaune or a couple other of our siblings. Preferences and other things tend to get all added into decision making when you have tight net families and such reliable siblings. It’s nothing to worry about. Don’t tell Jaune I told you but for awhile the girls he tried dating when we were younger sort of looked like us because he thought we were the prettiest.

Ruby:Hey I mean I fell for him hard for awhile and he looks like my dad. I think we all naturally seek out something familiar yet different. Once you accept the fact your taste is little awkward but natural, you laugh about it.

Saph:It’s going to be an hilarious day when she brings a boy home that looks vaguely like Nick and Jaune but doesn’t realize it.

Ruby:I will cackle on the floor for hours. Please don’t speak that into existence.

Saph:*snickering* Remember when she had a crush on Adrian. Telling her they weren’t blood related was the funniest thing ever.

Ruby:I guess it just shows that Arc boys are just too good. No wonder why few are born; too much power is contained in that smile.

Saph:Ain’t that the truth. I really hope Nick and Adrian don’t get into too many shenanigans. Not that I won’t get a good lecture from every woman in our family if they do.

Ruby:They’ll be fine. Then again Nick is half Schnee. That’s a double threat. Schnee’s got their own brand of charm. Just ask my uncle or Jaune.

Saph:*looking at Ruby’s wedding ring* I think you’re forgetting someone.

Ruby:*blushing and smiling* Oh I didn’t want to mention my fantastic husband but if you insist... *pulls out scroll* wanna see our vacation pictures!?

Saph:*rolls eyes playfully* I don’t know how Whitley puts up with you.

Part 1

[fakemuggle529-blog]

"HARRY DID YOU PUT YOUR NAME IN THE GOBLET OF FIRE?!?!"

I could go on for days about the differences between the HP books and the movies (just ask my wife). 7 books, 8 movies, 4 directors, 2 screenplay writers, a myriad of actors or varying levels of talent, but this 1 line haunts every single Harry Potter fan. One comment about this line was "we're never going to get over this, are we?" That one comment sparked this post, which was originally meant to be a list of my least favorite movie moments and why.

But Harry Potter is my favorite subject, and my rant about this became a separate post to answer that rhetorical question.

Simply put, no, we're not going to get over it. But why won't we?

As with any adaptation, since the world isn't ready for a 10 hour movie based on 1 book, bits and pieces of the Harry Potter books needed to be cut out. (I'd be down for that movie, but I digress)

Things like the Draco/Pansy romance, Rita Skeeter being an unregistered Animagus, or winning the Quidditch cup ultimately don't have an impact on the plot of "evil wizard finds path to immortality, boy wizard must stop him with the help of his friends," so they can get cut pretty easily.

Even things like the Marauders' full moon adventures and creation of the Map, Umbridge setting the dementors on Harry, and Neville's parents' fate are secondary material, meant to give more weight to the main story:

- The world would still be in mortal danger without four teenagers creating a map of their school, but that map helped stop that danger;

- Umbridge would still be a cruel bitch if we hadn't known she sent the dementors, but that tidbit show her own demented state of mind and how far she'll go to get what she wants.

- and we'd still want Voldemort dead even if we'd never heard of Neville Longbottom, because we've seen the impact he had on Harry. The info about the Longbottoms just gives more depth to the characters involved.

But regardless of what they left out, the basics stayed the same: "evil wizard finds path to immortality, boy wizard must stop him with the help of his friends" continued, except the written version had more information than the visual. The fans already knew what was missing, so our brains filled it in for us. And leaving out that bit of info for the adaptation process allowed people who hadn't read the books to know what was going on and how the information fit together, even if they had less information than the fans.

(I think of the miniseries Chernobyl, when the general asks how a nuclear reactor works. He gets a bare bones explanation, and can parrot it back to his subordinates later. He might not me able to do the math or understand all of the technical jargon, but that simple explanation has given him enough info to get things going.)

As the movies progressed, we saw more and more get left out since the books only got longer, or more in depth, or both which each new addition, but no matter what, that skeleton was still there, "evil wizard finds path to immortality, boy wizard must stop him with the help of his friends." And the 'friends' part was even more accurate with supporting characters!

Hermione was the nerd from the books, Ron was the goofy best friend, Neville was the underdog, Draco was the bully!

Every single character was fitting their book counterparts perfectly, they just couldn't be as in depth in this medium!

Lucius was the oily bastard you knew he was, Sirius was the Godfather who wanted to be there but couldn't, Bellatrix was the psychotic fanatic who'd do anything to earn Voldemort's praise, Dumbledo--

And that's where the similarities stop.

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore is a lot of things: he's the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot (the Wizard High Court), honoree of the highest medal of Honor possible for Wizards, one of the most notable contributors to the field of alchemy, and from what I understand a PHENOMENAL dancer.

He's human, and fallible like any other human, but he is definitely not stupid.

Just in book 1, before Ms. Rowling had even gotten into her stride as a storyteller, we see Dumbledore:

Send Harry to the safest place possible; watch over him as much as possible; send updated owls to Harry with every change of address; send Hagrid as the most friendly way to introduce Harry to his true world; Send Harry the invisibility cloak as a connection to his dad; say that he 'doesn't need a cloak to become invisible;' RETURN the cloak after Harry lost it; and turned around on his trip to London on some intuition, barely managing to save Harry's life.

While he might not be the warmest of people, probably due to a tendency to think too deeply, Dumbledore shows the strongest of power when he needs to fight, the quickest of words when he needs to talk, and what seems to be a clear sense of right and wrong (the waters get a little murky with that last one, but he stands up for what he sees is wrong, regardless of what he thought at 18), and a calm dignity, even while getting his feathers ruffled.

And that's exactly why this gets under our skin so much.

As fans of the books, we see Dumbledore do it all, in great detail. Even that infamous line is ended with "he asked CALMLY" (All Caps is my addition). We see Dumbledore:

-sit next to an 11-year old who nearly died recently and promise to some day tell him about the first time he nearly died as an infant AT THE HANDS OF THE SAME GUY... Calmly, because this is a conversation he's been dreading for years, so he's prepared.

- hire a clear fraud just to fill his staff; have two 12-year olds crash an illegal flying car into a living tree AND talk down the teacher that wanted to skin them alive; deal with an unknown threat that was attempting to kill his students; get forcibly removed from the school, only return ready to console grieving parents AND watch the same 12 year olds from earlier emerge from an unfindable chamber WITH the 11 year old who was thought to be dead....calmly, because he's lost loved ones, and he knows what it is to grieve.

- Hire a werewolf; keep that a secret from his students, their parents, and maybe even the government; and have two 13 year olds illegally time travel to save an animal an a convicted felon...calmly, because an innocent man's life is important.

- Host a death tournament specially designed to 'not kill;' and slowly watch a plot to revive to worst wizard ever unfold before his eyes....calmly, because he didn't have all of the information yet.

- Get slandered by the entirety of the government, and forcibly removed from his position in the Courts; have a government spy forced onto his staff; purposefully pissed her off; evade arrest and go on the lam...calmly, because he knows he's right, and the truth will out. THEN come back, fight every Death Eater in the ministry, fight Voldemort, convince the government not to arrest him, then talk Harry through his Godfather's death....calmly, because he knows he messed up, he even says that Harry show be so much angrier, and 'please, by all means, destroy my possessions'.

- Find out he's dying; find out there's a hit on him; recruit an old colleague, and use Harry as a means to reveal a crucial part of Voldemort's past, which he's been teaching to Harry all year; find a horcrux as well as pass on as much info about them as possible; AND get psychologically tortured mere moments before being murdered....

- AND, postmortem, we find out that Dumbledore has been playing pretty much everybody, but especially Harry....calmly, because for once, it really was "the greater good."

But he was fun loving too, maybe childishly so due to the fact that he had to grow up so fast.

- Some of His first words after Harry starts school are, "Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! And tweak!"

- He did what was best for the school AND Firenze by hiring the centaur, but he clearly enjoyed shoving it in Umbridge's face.

- and let's not forget the night he picked Harry up front Privet Drive. He obviously made those glasses hit the Dursleys as some small payback for how they treated Harry.

That's Dumbledore. Serious, wise, and seriously wise, with a penchant for mischief.

The movie Dumbledore gave none of that, especially with that terrible, terrible reading of that line.

That one line changed the entire character of Albus Dumbledore. Instead of the cool, calm, and collected man he always was, he lost control. In front of his foreign and governmental guests nonetheless. That would never happen to Dumbledore. He's seen the signs, and can tell something is up. That's WHY he hired "Mad-Eye."

Even that stupid Christmas scene added to the HBP movie, as much as I freaking HATE it, doesn't CHANGE anything. The Death Eaters attack and for some reason burn the house down. Boo hoo. Nobody gets hurt, nobody dies, the house is back to normal the next movie. No big deal. They just wanted to add to the drama some, instead of the usual deduction from the cuts.

This change is why we hate SO many other adaptations, or "cuts" as they call them.

-Those of us who are old enough to remember will freaking riot over the "Han shot first" argument, because we knew that there was no way in hell Han would sit and let Greedo take a shot at him, ESPECIALLY since they freaking showed it first, then changed it later.

-It's why we all hate M. Night. Shyamalan's fucking guts, because he took the single greatest cartoon masterpiece ever created, and tried to make it better. The one scene that sticks out to me is when they're trying to escape the earth-bending prison camp. First, they had to be removed from the land entirely, or their pride would cause a rebellion instantly; second, 6 benders did what we see Toph do her first lesson as a blind toddler. Unlike Lucas, Shyamalan wasn't trying to appease anyone. He just wanted a name for himself, so he decided to take on the most popular cartoon ever. Pass or fail, he has that fame now.

Some of the fault might lie with the director, or possibly even the actor himself. Michael Gambon is a respected actor, and probably had a sense for how the character would play, even if that sense might not have been based in the books. Couple that with multiple directors by this point, multiple actors having playing Dumbledore, and the books still gradually coming out, and the information and range for the character of Dumbledore might have been quite limited.

And let's not forget those cuts that needed to be made. With a shorter story comes a need to get the information across faster.

Instead of mulling it over for a moment while the rest of the group argues (and probably for a good year or so by this point), and calmly asking Harry if he entered himself in the tournament, the quick explosion both saves time by cutting the opening argument AND gives the audience a cue for suspense. They know something is wrong NOW, and they don't know what, but they'll find out as the people on screen do.

Personally, I believe that this system can be broken by a rather simple solution: TV show.

Instead of one movie, each book gets one Season, and every couple chapters or so gets an episode. I foresee problems as we get to the later books as opposed to the early one, since they start getting thick AF with GoF.

But I think the pros outweigh the cons.

-The locations for HP are actually incredibly limited. They pretty much go back and forth between the same dozen locations all seven books, so you could make sets to switch out whenever needed, and just reuse the exact same sets for seven straight years, with little to no change in between.

- We have all of the books now, and then some, and then some extra BS on top of that, and the plethora of headcanon out there, so we have more than enough information for every single thing about this place, excluding literal physical dimensions. Find a kid who looks like Harry, another actor who can flawlessly pull off Snape, and some old guy who wants to be goofy sometimes, and you've got gold.

- We could actually include the minor characters too. Peeves could pop in and out every few episodes, Dobby can play the role he was meant for, Kreacher can exist as more than 3 lines. The vanishing cabinet could actually be introduced in year 2, then addressed in Year 5, then revealed properly in year 6. Moaning Myrtle has her scenes, Bill Weasley has his, Tonks could be the most important female character besides Hermione or Ginny.....

Anyway, you get the picture. This whole thing was inspired by one comment, and I've been working on this for almost 6 hours now. Pretty sure I've worked harder in this post than any papers in high school...

Hollywood, if by some miracle you see this, I'll totally be a screen writer for the Harry Potter TV show. In the meantime, goodnight.

[acuppellarp]

Welcome (again) to A Cup-pella, Ellie! We’re excited to have you and Penny Owen in the game! Please go through the checklist to make sure you’re ready to go and send in your account within the next 24 hours. 

OOC INFO

Name + pronouns: Ellie + She/Her. Age: 27. Timezone: GMT. Ships: Penny/Chemistry. Anti-Ships: Penny/Forced.

IC INFO

Full Name: Penny Grace Owen. Face Claim: Brittany Snow. Age/Birthday: 27/May 18th. Occupation: Student Nurse and part-time Nanny. Personality:  Clumsy, Ditzy, Gentle, Nurturing, Sweet. Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina. Bio:

From as far back as Penny can remember, she has been surrounded by medical professionals. With a literal brain surgeon for a father and a very caring, committed midwife for a mother, she always felt a certain amount of pressure to go into the medical field, too. However, the pressure came only from herself. Her parents are perhaps the sweetest, most supportive two people Penny has ever met, and they have always pushed her to live life the way she wants to. Penny loves music, something her home was filled with throughout her childhood and teenage years, and something she very much wanted to pursue in a more professional aspect. A career as a music teacher would suit her well, everybody thought. She’s a total sweetheart, her kind, welcoming nature inherited from her mother, and Penny’s almost childlike sense of wonder would make her the perfect person to work with children and young people someday.

Personality-wise, Penny is very much a free spirit. She has a gentle nature and a nurturing soul, the kind to attract both the right and wrong people in their own ways. Growing up, she was always surrounded by friends, always found wearing a smile, though her kindness did leave her susceptible to the hands of bullies, people who wanted to take advantage of the fact that they could give her hell and she wouldn’t retaliate. Penny was always taught to just brush them off, though. By her teens, she had developed at least a little bit of a backbone, enough that she could stand up for herself where need be, but Penny has always remained a total pacifist, and would never resort to physical violence. She just knows that there’s a line now, and understands that it isn’t okay to allow people to cross it the way she once upon a time would. This set her in good stead for the time when college came around, and Penny was ready to move out of her family home.

The youngest of two girls, when her older sister decided to pursue a medical path just like their parents, Penny felt the pressure all over again. She never let it show, though, and was of course incredibly proud of her sister, but felt she had those big shoes to fill herself. Unfortunately, while Penny is definitely not “dumb” by any means, she does lack common sense sometimes, and she finds it difficult to focus on anything too serious for too long, so such a serious profession just would not have suited her. So, with the encouragement of her family, Penny decided to pursue her musical path, attending college to work her way toward a life as a music teacher, the way she was evidently always destined. Nobody in her family ever made her feel less than, though Penny would doubt herself from time to time. However, she loved college, she was passionate about her future career, so she gave it her all, and excelled to the best of her abilities.

Right out of college, Penny found herself a job working in the local elementary school, teaching music to grades one through five, and everything seemed to just kind of click for her. It was almost as if she had the perfect life, though nobody actually gets one of those, and when a raincloud finally found its way over the Owen family, it was almost as if they should’ve expected it. They didn’t, though. As far as they knew, Dr. Owen was healthy, full of life. So, an unsuspected heart attack knocked the rest of the family off their feet, and the world lost an incredible medical professional that day. Penny was often told to look for the silver lining, though she couldn’t see one, not in losing someone so incredibly important to her. Not until she decided that maybe it had been a sign, though. Maybe the world had lost her father, but he had a daughter who could perhaps take his place.

No, Penny was never going to become a brain surgeon. That would be a very out of reach dream, and honestly not one that she even wanted to attempt to chase. She did, however, make the decision to start over, to get out of Charlotte and to try to follow in the greatest footsteps she knew. Penny enrolled in college again at the age of twenty-four, this time in New York City, of all places – being in her hometown was just too hard, filled with too many memories to keep her up at night – this time navigating her way toward nursing school. She had the caring nature down, the drive to really take care of people and to really put her all into it an area so sensitive. The type of person to make friends easily enough, Penny found a whole new life out in the city, but is definitely a North Carolina girl at heart, and will visit home whenever she has the free time to do so.

Coming from a background of wealth, it would’ve been easy for her to allow her mother to pay her through school, but Penny is not the kind of person who can sit around doing nothing. She never has been, and even more so since losing her father. She needs distractions, she needs to constantly be moving, so alongside her schooling, Penny took a job as a part-time nanny, her passion for working with and helping children something she just couldn’t put to waste. At the age of twenty-seven, Penny is very much settled in New York, where she’s still an ongoing nursing student, still a nanny, and still trying to fill the big shoes left behind by her father. However, it’s fair to say that she really is not the best at what she does. She struggles with the more professional side of her future career, and has made a whole list of mistakes too long to actually name, but she’s trying her best, she’s giving it her all. And that’s really all anybody can ask of her.

Pets: So as not to be alone when she moved out to New York, Penny immediately hit up the local shelter and adopted herself a dog. Knowing she wouldn’t have the time to train a puppy, Penny opted for a five year old cross-breed (she doesn’t know exactly what she even is, just that she’s tiny and white) named Stella, a name she chose to keep. Stella is now eight and basically very spoiled. She loves to hop up on anybody’s lap that will let her and snooze, and is a total princess in that she wants to be carried everywhere. She generally keeps her distance from other animals, mostly because she just prefers to be around people, but she gets along with them fine.

Relationships: April’s Growers Committee Member / Roommate for Evie & Lara

Rachel Berry. Pretty recently, after Rachel split from her now ex-girlfriend, a mutual friend of she and Penny decided to set them up on a blind date. Penny had been off the dating scene for a while, and Rachel was of course down about her relationship ending. Although they went on the date and they got along in a platonic sense, there was no real romantic/sexual chemistry. They did each make a good friend out of it, though.

Lola Alvarez. To help along her schooling, Penny sometimes volunteers at a local center for traumatic brain injuries, somewhere Lola’s mother stays. The two would see each other in passing, but didn’t really know one another very well, though they both ended up joining the Growers committee, and could eventually put a name to the face. Lola told Penny what’d happened to her mother, so now Penny will make a point of mentioning her anytime she’s around Mimi to try and jog her memory of her a little bit, and gives Lola frequent updates. Now that they’re actually friends, they’ll hang out together at the center whenever Penny is on shift.

Sam Evans. Around three years ago, when Penny first moved to the city, she decided to try putting up a front so as to not find herself walked all over for her genuine niceness. She met Sam pretty much right away, and was still holding up her “tough” facade, so Sam pretended to be into the same metal music and tattoos/piercings kind of scene that Penny was pretending to like. They went on a date to a screamo music concert, but both wound up admitting halfway through that they hated it, and came clean with one another. They dated for 3-4 months following that, but split amicably when they found themselves too busy to commit to regular date nights. They have remained friends since.

EXTRA INFO

[ This is for the masterlist, but also a fun little way to get to know your character! ]

Penny 🌻/@penowen/description: NC ✈️ NYC. Music lover. Student nurse.

Five latest tweets:

@penowen: I don’t really understand how injecting a sausage helps… An actual patient isn’t going to fall apart, right?! @penowen: New York is so fun, you never know what you’re going to get. One block there’s a whole street fight going on, and the next there’s a lady giving away free flowers 💐 @penowen: I’ve been kind of lost ever since I finished The Hunger Games, no other book series has ever really done it for me. Suggestions? @penowen: Do you ever think maybe you’re a witch and you just don’t know it? … Oh, no, me either… @penowen: Karaoke night? My time to shine 🎤✨

[homestuckisautistic]

Thoughts on the new Friendsim

I want to preface this with a gore warning for the end of Nihkee’s route. If you choose to hesitate instead of accepting her training you’ll end up viewing a series of flashbacks to the old friendsims as well as an image of Nihkee’s mangled leg with bone sticking out. Be careful!

I’ll talk about Daraya first.

Firstly, I think it’s really interesting that they’ve confirmed that the jades aren’t this close-knit group of friends like we’ve all assumed. The fandom in general up until now has assumed that and depicted the jades as super close buddies but Daraya’s route confirmed that wasn’t the case. She outright says that she hates Bronya and Lynera. I really hope that something will actually come of this and that it won’t just be forgotten about. 

I also want to note that at times Daraya really looks like Gwen from Total Drama Island at times (they’re both goth but that’s about all they have in common), and that I loved Chahut’s cameo because uhhhhh I’m lesbiab!

I really liked the conversation between Tyzias and Daraya, it functions as a parallel to actual leftist discourse that happens every day on this website and in real life too I guess. There are people who once they realize how shitty this world is become depressed and nihilistic and there are others who get pissed and try to change things. One is certainly more constructive than the other but neither is the right or wrong way to feel about society.  

I think these two worldviews also apply to the autistic community and the various way in which we interact with our own oppression in society. When I first self-diagnosed with autism I was 14 getting ready to turn 15 in spring 2015 and I was very eager to share my newfound knowledge about autism with the world (like identity first language and why functioning labels are bad etc.) so I went around talking to basically everyone I trusted about it. But as we all are well aware of here, talking to allistics about autism is like talking to a fucking brick wall. And this got very exhausting very quickly and when you put so much effort into trying to change things with no results you eventually get to the point where you just say fuck it and stop trying. This is what happened to me and honestly I’ve actually regressed a bit since I first self-diagnosed in that I used to boldly flap my hands around my family and close friends but now I can’t because I’m too ashamed. I’m too ashamed to flap my hands around my best friend of 11 years who has known me and loved me and accepted me before I even fucking knew how to pass as allistic which is uh a big problem and it’s one that I’m working on. 

It’s also kind of dangerous to talk to allistics especially NTs about autism because you never know how they’re going to react. Sometimes it’s safer and wiser to just let that asshole who sits next to you in 4th period to keep using autism as an insult because there’s no way for you to educate him without outing yourself or him suspecting that you’re autistic because you’re awkward and don’t have any friends in this class and risk him starting to bully you vs. keeping yourself safe and trying to ignore this guy who you won’t ever see again after you graduate in a few months. In other words, to quote an old country song: “You've got to know when to hold 'em Know when to fold 'em Know when to walk away And know when to run”

And it fucking breaks my heart that this is a choice we have to make on this bitch of an earth because nobody should ever have to ask themselves “is it worth it to risk abuse/bullying if arguing with someone for a few minutes will ensure that they have a change of heart years down the road?” because no matter what choice you make you lose.

Daraya strikes me as autistic with a special interest in...idk how to phrase this...rebellion? Societal power dynamics? Idk but if you’ve played through her route then you know what I mean I’m sure. Daraya is also obviously depressed and suicidal, and unfortunately I get the sense that she doesn’t get much support from the other jades which doesn’t help. It’s heavily implied that she just lets herself burn to death in the fire at the mall, which is one hell of a way to die. Ask anyone who’s survived a fire and they’ll tell you that burning is on a whole other level pain wise. Heck, if asked then I’d say that a cigarette burn is among the worst pains I’ve felt in my life. I hope that Daraya gets help somehow. It really broke my heart when she asked if she could go to Earth with the reader.

Onto Nihkee

Nihkee’s route was a fucking wild ride. And I loved it.

This is minor but I really liked those horse statues in the background. The indigo caste almost has this ancient Greece/Rome (idk I’m into American history not European history and my world history class was 4 years ago) theme to their culture which I find interesting and I think it really works, aesthetically speaking. I also really like that they made Nihkee explicitly buff and didn’t sexualize her at all. Not that I think Hiveswap is the type of media that would do that but even Zarya from Overwatch, which is a game that tries to be progressive, has fucking boob divots in her “armor” which is not practical at all!

Nihkee seems autistic to me too (come on, who the fuck would be that enthusiastic about something if not for it being an autistic person’s Special interest) she’s really into wrestling and being buff, and even though I haven’t ran any significant distance since my freshman year of high school, I’m fucking here for it! Yeah I don’t have much serious analysis to talk about here because Nihkee’s route just was more lighthearted except for that one ending with the gore. I really liked Tyzias and Stelsa’s appearance though, I’m always happy to see them! I really want to see more of Nihkee because her character is so ripe for situational comedy imo. A conversation between her and literally anyone else would be fucking hilarious. 

Also in the background at the beginning of Nihkee’s route there’s two trolls wrestling in the cage and we later find out one’s a purple blood (which was obvious because, I mean come on look at his face) and that the other one is an olive blood that uses she/her pronouns but the thing is that she appears to be shirtless? Damn, tiddies really are just out for Nihkee I guess. 

I think it was a wise decision to pair Daraya’s somber and serious route with one that was more lighthearted like Nihkee’s.

I also want to stage why I didn’t make a post about Fozzer and Marvus’ friendsim. It’s no secret that I’m biased towards the girls and that mindfuck at the end of Fozzer’s route just didn’t appeal to me analysis wise and Marvus’ route was like 40 minutes long on YouTube but I bit the bullet and watched a few minutes and at the first mention of concert diapers I noped on out of there.

- Mod Jessica 

[draggoreviews-blog]

The Contortionist - Language (2014)

Pretentious is a word I often use to describe things in a negative light. Perhaps everyone uses the term in such a way. Though I must not deny that my thoughts on this album are fairly pretentious. I have long since refused to talk about this album; as I never felt that my words would fully describe what this album means to me. Why it is my favorite album. What it means to me. It might be the only 5 that will always be there. One I never in my 6 years of knowing the album have thought about lowering the rating. It is a testament to how wonderful I feel this album is. Though to accurately depict my love for this album, I must explain my history.

Like a lot of people at some point in their life, I was once innocent, and hid away my troubles because it is a common thing to do. The more troubles I hid, the more insecure I grew. The more insecure I grew, the more I started to see my life falling around me. Paranoia and anxiety grew, and I felt that I would be the next Humpty Dumpty. Self-loathing and cynicism grew. I grew insecure of that, and grew to hate it. The seed that made me discover what hate truly was. Insecurity in its most aggressive form. You hate the very things you wish were punished because you are punished yourself for a similar reason. Lacking the understanding of context and situational differences. I never fully understood these things because I almost refused to. I truly felt I would not leave the situation I was in. I was a preacher who did not follow my own teachings. Speaking out about hypocrisy but not seeing my own. Always aware but never accepting it. I rather would hide my own problems by going after others'. Though in 2014, I believe things started to change.

High School was pretty rough for me, but looking back even through all the depression and hardship, I feel like it was the best time in my life in a way. It helped me become who I am today. I met someone who changed my life. His name was Lance. He introduced me to metal, and many artists that made me become the passionate music lover I am today. He showed me Rings of Saturn, an artist that I obsessed over to ridiculous levels. Through them I discovered two albums. One of them is this album. My YouTube recommendations recommended me this album. My first listen I don't remember fully. I just remember being amazed by the beauty of everything I heard. It made me reflect on better times. I listened to it a lot because genuinely the instrumentation was the best thing I had ever heard at that point. Normally music kinda fell out of favor with me after a while, but this just stuck. Stick it did. I began to notice the smallest of details in the album and were amazed by them. The manic screams in “Language II: Conspire” that are almost unnoticeable at first, the lovely beginning to “Integration”; one of my favorite songs ever, the beautiful bass solo in “Thrive”, the outro to “Primordial Sound”, the outro to “Arise”, the outro to "Ebb and Flow”, and the reflection “The Parable” brings. That Alan Watts quote sticks with me, it feels like a reflection on the entire album. The more I think about this album, the better I feel about myself. The lyrics made this for me. I feel like it told me how to change and I never noticed. I feel at this moment now that I finally understand its message. It is symbolic of the human cognitive process. How we grow as people, despite the monotony of everything going on around us. Like tides pushing and pulling; ebb and flow. Everything is so simplified lyric-wise that it almost sounds cryptic, and that allows you to interpret it your way. Something I grew to love in music without noticing. This had far more impact on me as a person than I ever realized. I never could describe it because I never understood how transformative it was of me. Until now.

Language is important, both in reality and speaking about this album. This album feels meticulously thought out and executed at the highest of level. The instrumentals all compliment the wonderful and welcoming voice of Michael Lessard. It gets aggressive when it needs to be, and always at the perfect times. The lyricism is perfect, and sees Michael at his full potential. It is uplifting to think that the man who wore "The Contortionist" merch in a music video shoot 3 years prior to this album would become the vocalist of this band. It uplifts you. Michael Lessard is not only inspiring inside the music world, but outside too. A wonderful individual who is a living example that you can change, and make things better for yourself. I remember a couple years back reading a story of how Language inspired a 9 year old kid to stand up against bullying, it put me to tears seeing how impactful music can be to people. This album just feels like a reflection on Michael Lessard as a whole. It also feels like a part of me. I am so proud of who I am. Happy that I finally reached this peak, and ready to tackle the next with a smile for once. Trying to get back into shape, just like Michael has done. I hope people reading this can find an album that means to them what this album means to me. Or something else in their main interest. Art is powerful. It transforms and inspires generations to do things that they never thought they could ever do. I am happy I was able to understand its impact on the world. Through all the years of people thinking art was dying, it has survived. I feel blessed to have the thing that made me happy as a child continue to transform me today. Language is what made me discover this power once again. It is the most vital musical work to me. It will always be. I finally fully realize why I love this album. It is so empowering.

Rating: 10/10

[we-were-legends]

“Champion’s dawn”

Chapter 46 - “Storm is calming slowly”

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It seemed that Amdir was touched about what happened so much that he cared to stay with Oropher in the office. And he avoided such public places like fire. For a good reason.

It wasn't that Oropher believed Amdir's words blindly - it was as if he half-believed them and by the other half he didn't. After all the time here in Menegroth and after their meetings, Oropher hoped they got slightly closer with Amdir, but their fight from not long ago proved him painfully different. And his will to mend things between them had broken.

Amdir felt it, he knew it and he saw it in Oropher's eyes. It was a lost hope and Oropher didn't know how to regain it. He didn't know how to reach to Amdir anymore to not bring on himself such anger like before. Amdir was so furious at him, but it was not one of those like during their arguments or fights – Oropher didn't know what he had done to earn such hatred from his cousin. And he was scared to see and feel it again. Amdir was probably the only one who could make him feel like this.

Amdir tried everything to make him feel better as if he wanted to somehow erease the moment of how Oropher saw him not long ago. His eyes were calm, even kind, and he seemed like the old self from so long ago. But he wasn't and he never will be – Oropher won't ever forget this burning fire in his cousin's eyes that crushed him. He wished he could forget, that he could still see Amdir in the old light.

He wasn't scared of Amdir, but many would have told him that he should be. It was well known that they were great companions, brothers in arms and as often as they stood together against others they often stood against each other as well. Countless disputes and bickering, fight that sometimes ended in blood in bruises as the last one when Amdir met Arvellon in the city, all of those were a part of their strange relation and unwritten deal. That was who they were and it defined them. Then they made things up and once more they were a team – they were brothers, after all.

How Amdir treated him not long ago was not part of it. It was out of the game. With all of him Amdir denied everything in which Oropher believed – all the memories, every feeling and emotion that binded him to treat Amdir as his brother were worth nothing to his older cousin. He was a past for Amdir – not a cousin, not a companion, a friend and all the more a brother. He was a past. Maybe even less.

Oropher couldn't cope with it and each time he glanced at Amdir he felt his eyes were dark with sadness. Amdir saw it and it even seemed he felt guilty, maybe even fearful that he brought Oropher into such state. If he did it on purpose or not, Oropher didn't know, but Amdir finally managed to bring him this far and break him. And now in his weird act of care he tried to deny that his words came from his heart – Amdir tried to tell this to Oropher and maybe even to himself as well.

Oropher leaned on his desk with back turned to the door, through the window he could see what was happening on the fields. A night shift started1 now and great amount of soldiers and officers were resting in their own beds or having their time in a tavern. But there were some soldiers still around so Oropher didn't think much of it when he heard steps on the stairs.

He was still lost in own thoughts, mulling over everything again and again, and he couldn't decide if he should believe in Amdir once more.

And his cousin seemed determined to mend his mistake and hurt that he did to Oropher and how he treated him. Though they didn't speak, Amdir changed his place from the chair to lean beside Oropher at the desk. Oropher didn't expect him to speak and his simple presence should tell him how much Amdir cared. Oropher couldn't be sure about this anymore, but he wanted to believe it.

And then it turned out that Oropher should think twice when he heard steps going up the stairs. It wasn't any of his soldiers who appeared in the doorway nor any of his fellow Generals or his commander. It was no one other but Celeborn who knocked at the door before he entered.

'I saw the light in your office, so I came by.' he said opening the door. 'I hope you remember about our meeting with Galathil and Arvellon. And I already spoke with Bressil, so you don't have to buzz like a hornet anymore.'

As soon as he looked inside the room he fell silent. Oropher turned to face Celeborn and Amdir straightened himself as well and Oropher saw how Celeborn glanced from him to Amdir, first falling silent in surprise, then sparks of anger burned up visibly.

'What did you do?' Celeborn growled out, crossing the room in fast steps and faster than expected he grabbed Amdir by his outfit and held against the wall. 'What have you done to him?!'

'My, my, not even a word of greeting!' Amdir laughed and smiled with his known cockiness not moved at all by waves of anger that were directed at him. 'So nice to see you too, Celeborn.'

'You stirred in something again, didn't you?' Celeborn continued not paying attention to what Amdir was saying and still held him tightly. 'As always you will do literally everything to gain what you want! What have you done that you brought him to such state?!'

Just as Oropher had his things with Amdir, Celeborn had his own. And Celeborn knew Amdir longer than Oropher – they were the oldest elves of their generation and though there was not much age difference between them, it was Celeborn who was still older. He knew Amdir well and he was never dependant on Amdir as Oropher was as a kid.

And as always, Celeborn was ready to stand in front of anything that threatened them. It was always like this – when Galathil was bullied, when their parents falsely accused them of doing something, when Oropher got into fights, when Galathil had a broken heart, when anything or anyone dared so say a word against them or worse – rise a sword agaist them. And as always, Celeborn knew when something was wrong with either of them.

'You don't have to believe me, but there are acutally many things I won't ever do.'

'Spare me this.' Celeborn snorted, but he became serious again. 'Can you even count how many times you did wrongs to Galathil and Oropher? How many times you hurted them? Lost them in the forest when it bored you to bring them back? Lead them somewhere and left there on their own? Broke your promises?' he pinned Amdir even harder. 'Is it truly amusing for you to try out how far you can push someone? How hard you can press till he finally breaks? Are you satisfied, now that you finally know?'

Amdir pushed Celeborn away and he as well sharpened his stance, having enough of this and Oropher knew to not get in between them. His cousins had their own matters between them and unresolved arguments. Right now, their rank and status meant nothing – they were saying their wrongs as family.

'Funny that it is you who are saying so.' Amdir said flashing angry eyes at Celeborn. 'Oropher is the only one holding me back to this place. And he was the only one to reach out to me. His desperation in this was almost painful. Maybe you know why he is like this, Celeborn?' he paused for a moment. 'All of you allowed him to believe that he is in fault for my leave. You let this bloom for so long that it already mouldered. How long you wanted to try him? Maybe to see how slowly a grief is forming?'

'Turning everything to your favour? I should expect no less from you.' Celeborn said. 'You are so egoistic that you no longer realise when you are using someone, if it was Galathil, Oropher, your own mother, or someone else. You just don't care, do you? You don't even care to show someone a bit of love even when you are almost begged for it.'

'If a wise councillor is saying so, who am I to deny it?' Amdir bended in mocked bow, but his eyes remained angered. But Celeborn didn't let himself get provoked by what Amdir was doing, he knew those tricks all too well to fall for them.

'Oropher is younger and you managed to draw him into your world, and you know how to manipulate him. He was so fond of you before that is was a shame for you to not use it.' Celeborn said and his voice dropped dangerously. 'Never again try to wrong him or control him. You are well beyond my patience, any step further will get you to your grave.'

'Such serious threats spilling from your mouth. I am shivering all over!' Amdir smirked dismissively. 'You see yourself as a wolf, but you are nothing more than a well trained pet. You can't even turn around without someone allowing it, let alone taking matters into your own hands.'

'Funny to hear it from someone who joined the army before.' Celebon said, then he tilted head towards the door. 'Be of some use and leave. Leave everyone just as you wanted to be left alone.'

'As the oldest Prince wishes.' Amdir bowed again and as he straightened up he moved towards the door, but he glanced at Oropher who still stood behind the desk.

Despite everything that happened Oropher smiled delicately to Amdir and his cousin blinked in return as if to show that everything was alright. Then he was gone on the corridor, in the shadow that helped him disappear.

Oropher turned to Celeborn who still stared at the door where Amdir was not long ago. He was still angered, all of him showed this too well.

'He didn't do anything that wrong to treat him like this.' Oropher said, though it was not a truth and even he knew it.

'Don't get me wrong, but you look like a hunted down cub. Amdir knows how to bring you down like this and he won't think twice before doing it.' he glanced all over Oropher when he approached him closer, then he added more softly. 'Want to share what happened?'

Oropher sighted, only then realising what this long story went on through the last two days. Most of it was plotted by Amdir - the herbalist, threatening Rivalt. He barely knew where to start.

'Since he came to Menegroth I met with him few times.' he started. 'Most often it ended differently than how I wished, but I believed we are on a good way to make things up.' he sighted. 'Still, you know, there was a typical Amdir, saying something then changing his mind, breaking promises, using my words against me.' he paused for a moment. 'Earlier this night I confronted him about something he had done. He promised he won't do it and now there are serious consequences.'

'What was it?'

'It's a part of a long story.' Oropher said. 'One time we met, he said that he had one elf to hunt down and that I knew who he meant. Obviously, he meant Rivalt, though I don't know how he learned about it. I forbade him to get involved in this anyhow and he promised he won't. As you can guess, he broke this promise.' Oropher shook his head. 'When I got to the fields today in the morning there was a fight going on. Rivalt accused Alagos of threatening him as he woke up with a dagger just above his head. Many others got involved in this fight, including soldiers of Egnaspen and Haerdin, and greater part of Mablung's division. Tinnu and Saida were treated horribly, especially Saida.'

'As I guess they won't be judged?' Celeborn said as he leaned on the desk and Oropher snorted.

'Of course they won't.' he said. 'But let's not get in details, maybe another day. As I said, earlier that night I confronted Amdir as I was sure it was him who threatened Rivalt. Everything I said spilled over him and if something did not, then he waved it away. I quickly lost my temper, he as well and our conversation quickly changed from a broken promise to our argument long ago and my tries to mend our relation.' he shook his head. 'He pushed me away. All of it. But how he did that...'

'He hit you?' Celeborn almost interrupted, his voice and all of him rising in such anger that Oropher was sure that he would have gone and search for Amdir to confront him once more.

'What? No!' Oropher immediately denied. 'No, he just...all of him burned with such hatred that I knew what he was saying without words. All that we lived through together was nothing to him. Everything that I tried to do, all the words, promises, feelings, emotions, every memory, it was all nothing for Amdir. I was nothing to him, every tie I had with him was burned.' he paused for a moment. 'It was such rejection that I didn't even know what to say. I didn't know what I have done to earn such hatred from him.'

'Amdir is selfish and egoistic. He is doing what he wants and how he wants.' Celeborn said. 'He is dangerous, like untempered, vicious horse that cannot be trusted.'

'He was sorry for what he did.' Oropher said quietly. 'He was saying it to me and he stayed as long as I felt better. He was even fearful about what he had done to me.'

'And untempered horse is sorry when it throws you off saddle?' Celeborn asked. 'Maybe it will trott to see if you are breathing, but as soon as you get back on the saddle it will throw you off once more.' he shook his head. 'Amdir is just the same, only that he will bite you as soon as you will stand up from the ground.'

'I think that this time he really cared to mend this. It terrified him to see me like this.'

'Oropher, it changes nothing.' Celeborn said sternly. 'He did it, he meant it and he is responsible for it. Nothing justifies how he treated you.'

'I know, but-'

'You will do as you want.' Celeborn said more softly and he sighted. 'But I advise you caution. Amdir affected you in the past and he still knows how to do it.'

'I feel that this time it may be different.' Oropher said. 'He said he will fix it. Maybe he really meant it, maybe this time he will care.'

Oropher knew he was stubborn in this. He also knew that Celeborn had a reason to be this sceptical towards Amdir and to feel towards him disppointment and anger. But Oropher's relation with Amdir was different than Celeborn's, a lot of his memories were different – and those fond ones overweighted the other ones, though Oropher knew it shouldn't be like this.

Celeborn sighted and he probably let go of convincing Oropher from giving it a rest with Amdir. And even to this moment Oropher wondered if Amdir's words were truthful or once more he threw them on the wind to carry away.

'Let's head back to the Palace.' Celeborn said. 'A bit of wine and company will make you better. Besides, I left Galathil alone to prepare a fireplace. We should get back before he will make a fire all over the Palace.'

'He is not that bad in those things.' Oropher smiled and Celeborn shook his head.

'With Galathil everything is possible.' he stated and they both straightened up, crossing the office towards the door. It was quite late night already and there was no work left for Oropher to do. He was free to go.

The fields were quiet at this time. Only quiet snorting of horses was heard from the stables, soldiers made a small fire near the archery tracks and they cooked up something, arguing what spices they should use.

Oropher was sure he will feel better in the company of his cousins. There were still remnants of it, but even after a short company of Celeborn he already felt better. It was because of this usaid reasurrance of support and certainity that he won't be treated like this neither by Celeborn or Galathil, not speaking about Arvellon.

'One day in the morning I met up Arvellon and Ravoneth in the Palace. Before their duty, having breakfast together.' Celeborn smiled. 'I still remember those two whelps running around. Ravoneth grew up impossibly.' he shook his head falling in thoughts for a moment. 'Of course I saw her around sometimes, in the court, in the gardens or at some feast. She was often with other young Ladies, with flowery dress on her and clasps in hair. I would never say that one day she will decide to join the army.'

'Neither I would have suspected that.' Oropher said in turn. 'I only knew of this, because she was assigned under my Banner and joined the regiment of my cavalry.' he smiled then. 'Furthermore, she is a part of the best and leading division of this regiment, under the lead of Thand Oldhinion.'

'A young Lady became a brave warrior in silver armor.' Celeborn smiled. 'Like in songs and legends.'

'Honestly, I can't blame her that she wanted another life than the one full of courtesy and etiquette.' Oropher shrugged his arms. 'Of all the elves I understand her choice.'

'It's not so bad as you took it into your head.'

'Maybe to you, because you a Prince and it's everyone else who has to mind themselves around you.' Oropher grimaced. 'It's a bit tiresome to be treated like this.'

'Yes, because it's so exciting to provoke fights and hear insults in your direction from your rivals. Squabble with smiths and granaries, and run around the fields like drunk badger.' Celeborn laughed. 'Truly, exciting life you have.'

'Some insults are very creative, I am sure you didn't hear half of them.' Oropher shrugged his arms, but then he came back to prvious subject. 'Ravoneth and Arvellon are very close to each other. Their love is very mature and it only flourish. They show it freely and not once I saw them together on the fields.'

'Uncle and aunt Arradis are happy beyond everything possible.' Celeborn said. 'Arvellon and Ravoneth introcuded each other to their respective parents, their relationship becomes more official with each day as more and more elves started to learn about it.' he smiled. 'We need to give them time...but I believe we can expect Arvellon to propose to Ravoneth in nearby future.'

'Let's give them time.'

Ravoneth just started her carieer in the army and Oropher didn't know if she will be willing to give it up so early. But for Arvellon she may do so – love knew not boundaries and it was above all else. On the other hand, Oropher knew Arvellon will respect Ravoneth's wishes and they will make decision together as it goes to their engagement, future wedding, their carrieers...and, of course, about their future family.

But then, they didn't have to get elflings just after marrying each other – they can both continue their carrier in the army as husband and wife, and Oropher suspected that this will be their decision.

'Can you imagine it?' Celeborn said then all of sudden, taking Oropher away from his thoughts. 'Their wedding, and Arvellon, our little cousin, will bind himself with the love of his life? I will cry during all the ceremony!'

'Don't worry, I will cry with you.' Oropher said, briefly patting his cousin't arm. 'But let's be real, we will all drown in Galathil's tears.'

They climbed up the stairs leading to the Palace. Celeborn went on to find the bottle of liquor he mentioned a while ago and Oropher went to his apartment to get off himself his uniform and clothe in some comfy outfit. He also decided to wear his favourite coat, the one with wolf's fur around the collar.

When he was out he already heard Galathil and Arvellon talking in some room, deeper in the Palace, which area was under disposal only to their family and anyone they will invite themselves. Though Alagos was known to make himself comfortable even in there as well, but Alagos could afford it and he knew he could.

When he found his cousins they were making out a fire to get the room more warm and comfy. Oropher suspected they will rather choose to sit on a wooly rug rather than at the table, which was more than fine to him.

'Congratulations for not burning the Palace.' Celeborn said as he appeared in the room and patted Oropher's arm glancing at him in question and Oropher knew what he meant, so he smiled showing that he was alright after what happened with Amdir.

'I am not as talented in destroying things as you are.' Galathil said and he straightened up, while Celeborn poured his brandy to four prepared goblets. 'Finally, it's burning nice and warm!'

'Starting off with fancy stuff?' Oropher said as he grabbed once and sipped a bit of liquor.

'It will all end up in lemon shots and you know it!' Celeborn laughed. 'But if you insist, then I have some more fancy stuff in my cabinet.'

'All of us learned to be weary of the drinks you propose us.' Arvellon said and Oropher with Galathil nodded at this, sipping alcohol from their own goblets.

'You say as if you had some bad memories.' Celeborn said innocently.

'And you say as if you forgot what happened before my wedding!' Galathil said and he shook his head remembering it. 'I don't know what was in the drinks you gave us, but those were lethal!'

'I didn't expect you will actually drink it!' Celeborn laughed. 'I prepared whole three jugs of those, but Oropher was so blind drunk he took one of those and drink it like nobody's business.'

'Well...I don't remember.' Oropher shrugged his arms and Galathil snorted.

'Poor Arvellon almost threw up his stomach back then!'

'Let me remind you that you were throwing up next to him.' Celeborn pointed out, but Galathil dismissed it.

'And let me remind you that when I and Arvellon were sobering up and dying in the process, you and Oropher were still blind drunk. That's how many liquor you drunk back then. Uncles even started to think if they should call a medic so he can help you out, but father said to just leave you to your miserable fate.'

'I always loved my father's care.'

'All in all, we can agree that it was all your fault, Celeborn.' Arvellon said and Celeborn laughed at this.

'Fine, I can take the blame. But it doesn't mean I regret it.' he said then he glanced curiously at his yougst cousin and half-smiled. 'Truth be told, I hope there will be another possibility for such celebration in nearby future.'

It was meant to be a innocent bicker, but Arvellon fell in deep thought. First he turned his eyes away to stare for a moment at the nearby wall, but then he looked back at Celeborn.

'Actually...' he began with delicate smile. 'Actually I started to think about my proposing gift to Ravoneth.'

Galathil choked on his drink and Celeborn with Oropher stared at Arvellon and in this very moment Oropher considered in he should hug his cousin, but Galathil was faster.

'I am so proud, so...touched.' he sighted and he held Arvellon by arms. 'This will be perfect, I can already imagine all the ceremony, Ravoneth will be the gem of it! Not even Luthien will dim down her beauty.'

'I said I just started to think of it.' Arvellon said, patting Galathil's arm. 'It will be a while before I will-'

'There must be a lot of flowers.' Galathil said as he pulled away and held his cousin on arms length. 'Which one she likes?'

'Mallow. Especially pink one.'

'You are prepared. Very good!' Galathil nodded. 'I am sure Faineth and aunt Arradis will make a perfect composition with those flowers. They have a hand for it.'

'Let's face it, they won't let anyone else touch the decorations.' Oropher shrugged his arms.

'Hey, let's not gallop so far in the future!' Arvellon said, calming them down. 'As far as I am concerned, maybe it will be Celeborn or Oropher who will have their weddings first.'

'I don't plan it in nearby future.' Celeborn said shaking his head. It was quite a long time since he was in a relationship and since then there were only longer or shorter romances in his life, but Oropher didn't know exactly why his cousin didn't care to find someone for himself as he knew that Celeborn enjoyed having someone close.

'Me and Esgar are not planning anything either.' Oropher said, only then realising that he it was probably high time to tell his cousins about the change in his life, just as he said his father before. 'Because, you know...we are together.'

They stared at him for a moment, but there were no great surprises on their faces, all the more that they already saw Esgar walking out of his apartment before.

'And how you were saying it before? There is something between us, but it's nothing serious. And it was not longer than two days ago!' Galathil said bickering Oropher's own words.

'Because it wasn't serious back then!' Oropher said in his defense. 'But now it is. My father met Esgar early this morning and he was more than happy to get to know him better.'

'You see? Everyone is able to get their lives together except you!' Galathil said immediately, pointing out his finger at Celeborn.

'I know, my life is a mess.' he shrugged his arms, but he didn't really seemed concerned about it. Then he looked at Arvellon as he poured more brandy to their goblets. 'But, let me get us back on the ground for a moment. I spoke with Bressil and she agreed to leave earlier. And if this esteemed General next to me will agree then we will leave together to the forest of Neldoreth.'

'You can talk nicely to me if you truly want something.' Oropher said. 'I told you earlier that I will agree and I haven't changed my mind.'

'Are you nervous, Arvellon?' Galathil said sipping his brandy. 'It's your first such duty outside the city.'

'Maybe a bit nervous.' Arvellon admitted, but then he waved it all away. 'But I know we are well prepared and Bressil is an excelent leader. We will be fine.'

'Are you not bothered that you are going with Aglaron?' Oropher asked, hoping that maybe finally he will get a clear situation of what was happening between two soldiers.

'Our rivalry with Aglaron is over. We talked things through and by now I even think that we may become great friends.' he said. 'We learned that our hostility to each other was because of bad impressions and stubborness.'

'To make a friend out of the rival. Impressive and worth admiration.' Galathil siad. 'A wise elf, you are, yes indeed.'

'Thank you for your wise input, brother.' Celeborn said as he drunk up the rest of his liquor in a goblet and pouring himself some more, while Galathil laughed.

'Well, you and Oropher certainly have more enemies than friends! And those enemies are mostly rivals to death.' he said. 'You can show sometimes a better side of you and step down.'

'You are saying as if you didn't know us.'

Oropher smiled delicately, knowing how true those words were. Celeborn in the court and during the Council was just the same like Oropher in the army. They both sternly defended their own right and fiercely put down everyone who dared to oppose them. Though it could be said that Oropher did that more mindlessly and without consideration – only here and now was important and only that mattered. Celeborn on the other hand, elaborately planned and weaved a neat web of information and allies that would back up his right.

'I propose a toast!' Galathil said then as he rised his goblet. 'So that Celeborn may finally get his life together. For Arvellon's love fore Ravoneth, and Oropher's love for Esgar.'

'For your family, Galathil.' Arvellon said. 'So Nimloth will grow up in health and love. And for Faineth to remain in happiness, strength and health as she is now.'

'For the rest of our family then.' Celeborn joined in. 'For the health of our friends and peace that we have now.'

'Almost nothing left for me to toast for.' Oropher sighted, then he smiled a bit sadly. 'Then here is one for Thala, my dear friend. And the rest of her soldiers and my companions and friends. I hope they rest well.'

'Peace to their spirits. May the light guide them.' Galathil said a solemn words of last goodbye and they drunk up their liqour to honour all the words they just said.

Oropher sighted, for a moment falling in thoughts about his lost friend.

'Thala was a great friend of mine.' he said to Arvellon, who never met her. 'We started off our carieer in the army at the same time and we went through the same training. She always said she will have her own team, so I never tried to convience her to join mine.' he smiled to his memories. 'She was stupid like a bucket. And she used to say the same about me. Thala was everywhere at the same time and she was so loud that you knew when she was around. She was such a positive spirit.'

Thala was also a very sturdy warrior and as for an elleth she was incredibly strong and tall. She didn't do well in calm training on the fields – she learned through fight and she gathered experience by fighting other warriors. And Thala knew how to loose, she never showed anger or jealousy, she only praised a good fight.

'It's because of her that some still believe our Oropher will marry en elleth!' Galathil said and Oropher laughed at this, shaking his head.

'Yes, it's because of her!' he said, then he continued, looking back at Arvellon. 'So, there was an ellon she liked, of the Cougar Banner. Once when we were blind drunk she told me she had a crush on him and she wanted to know how good she is at kissing before she will go to him, so I agreed to test her out.'

They were seriously blind drunk back then. It was well pass the time when Oropher fully realised he preferred ellons, but even then he agreed for spontanious favors to his dear friend. He didn't believe that anything came out of him trying to improve Thala's skills and it only spread out a rumor that something was between them. Good, old times.

'She died during the war.' Oropher said, answering Arvellon's unsaid question. 'I have never found her body. She was send over the hills to support the offensive with her division. Me and my soldiers waited for them to be back but they never did.' he sighted, brief memories of those times crossing through his mind. 'I tried to search for her, but it was too dangerous to move out for such raids. I have never found her body, we never found any of them. The least I can hope for is that they rest in some peaceful place.'

Thala's whole division was lost during the war and Oropher remembered how painfully he lived through it. Oropher and his soldiers waited patiently and stubbornly at the verge of Doriath's campsites to see them return, but they waited in vain. After long time of hope, they slowly realised that Thala and her division won't come back.

After this tragedy, Oropher with his division made a small memorial to honour them. They decorated it with forest flowers and left two swords pinned in the ground, crossed over each other. It was the only thing they could do for them and the only thing to remember them for. All of them lost great friends during the war and they felt its cruelty and unforgiveness on their own skin. Oropher hoped they won't be reminded about it ever again.

[briangroth27]

Incredibles 2 Review

I absolutely loved Incredibles 2! It's a great time at the movies and definitely worth the 14-year wait. I was initially skeptical of it picking up seconds after the original, but I think the story threads here—particularly Jack-Jack's (Eli Fucile, Nick Bird) development and the Anti-Super laws—needed to be dealt with onscreen rather than off.  I liked that they reversed the structure of the first movie and had Helen (Holly Hunter) go off on the adventures while Bob (Craig T. Nelson) stayed at home to watch the kids. Even better, this switch was rooted in statistical facts that Elastigirl was the most effective and efficient hero between herself, Bob, and Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson). Since so much of her Elastigirl persona was left in the past in the original movie because she’d moved on in life while Bob hadn’t really, showing Helen truly loving her work and being great at it was a perfect moment that let us see a whole new side to her. Seeing Helen so overjoyed at getting to be a hero again—and being great at it, with no collateral casualties—was excellent! It was also nice to see that she had detective skills; a good contrast to Bob smashing his way through problems (and which have probably have helped her deduce what her kids are up to over the years!). That her heroic competence was truly valued outside her family circle and by the people who wanted to use her to push their politics Bob Odenkirk, Catherine Keener) was a genuine and welcome surprise; I'd love to see more female heroes respected and revered the way Elastigirl is here. Bob playing Mr. Mom was a lot of fun, even if I’m more than ready for a competent parenting duo instead of the always-effective mom and the cliché overwhelmed dad. That said, Bob’s battle with Dash's (Huck Milner) new math, Violet's (Sarah Vowell) teenage angst, and Jack-Jack's terrible toddling was extremely relatable and a great change from the superhero midlife crisis we saw in the original. I enjoyed Bob’s playful ego about being the better hero in his marriage and loved that it was balanced by genuinely caring that Helen had the space to do what she needed to do. That sort of loving/selfish balance is an extremely difficult line to walk but the writing and acting totally pull it off without making him unlikable (and it's not even hinted or implied that Helen is in any way selfish either). It was especially sweet of Bob not to tell Helen what was going on with the family not because he didn't want to come off as incompetent, but because he knew she'd stop her mission. Yes, he benefits from her completing it, but I fully believe that he also wants the better future for his kids that Helen can secure. I would've liked to see more of Dash and Violet in general, and particularly their school lives. Dash has homework trouble and Tony (Michael Bird), the boy Violet made a date with, forgets her (a cool example of superhero lives wreaking havoc on civilian ones as well as the law affecting the Parrs in an unexpected way), but the Anti-Super laws would've been stronger if we'd seen the kids’ lack of choice Bob talks about. Violet wanting to be normal and Dash being "defined as a person" by heroism does play out that choice, but we don't really get to see consequences of the laws in terms of impacts on the kids. Does having to come in second place in track rankle Dash? And if he's defined by being a hero, how does he feel about having to hide at school?  Is anyone suspicious of his speed? Does Dash have to fight to control himself when confronted by bullies that openly hate Supers? By teachers who preach that Supers are bad and should be illegal? Playing up the questionable aspects of the first movie's ending—is he cheating by using his speed, even for second place? How is not living up to his potential affecting his development?—would've built up a lot more pressure on the need to make Supers legal again. Violet hating being a Super made her a good proponent for not being legalized, though I would’ve liked more of that as well. How much of her tragic love life is really angst about not being able to be herself? Maybe she could’ve gotten involved with a student organization to keep Supers illegal, pitting her against her mom’s efforts. What if she discovered another Super kid at school and was forced to choose between outing them or letting them stay hidden? Might she find that pretending to be normal at school is simply boring or stifling her in ways she doesn’t want to admit? That said, I loved what we did get from Dash and Violet and absolutely dug Jack-Jack's awakening powers! The idea that Super babies often have multiple abilities is a very cool metaphor for kids having unlimited potential and it also made for a lot of fun, varied action scenes. His battle with a raccoon was highly entertaining and his unexpected bond with Edna Mode (Brad Bird) was a brilliant twist! Edna discovering a role as a loving aunt was as hilarious as it was heartwarming and a great way to reveal a new dimension of her character. Frozone is always a welcome addition and it was great to see more of him here, both as a "rebel" with Bob and Helen trying to get the Anti-Super law reversed, as a protective uncle to the Parr kids, and finally a hypnotized enemy. I’d like to finally meet his wife Honey (Kimberly Adair Clark) though. It's beyond time she was more than just a nagging influence taking the joy out of his superheroics (though I like that she knows her worth!). I really hope she’s also a retired Super so we can see what the two of them are like outside of their home. Or, it would’ve been easy to make her a Lois Lane-type figure, so she could cover Helen’s return to prominence and at least get a moment of bonding with her. Either of those options would be great and I’d like to see their relationship explored somewhere. I knew who Screenslaver (Bill Wise) was almost immediately, but that didn’t lessen my love for this character at all. The hypnotism was a spooky and old-fashioned angle that felt totally fresh and fit the retro-futurist world of The Incredibles perfectly! Screenslaver also managed to comment on modern concerns about social media obsession, which was a nice bit of relatability (just like Bob and Dash's struggle with new math) while remaining rooted in the films’ era, when TVs were the hip new thing everyone was obsessed with. Screenslaver was a creepy, cool villain who topped Syndrome for me. I just wish his argument—that people were getting lazy and becoming too dependent on Supers—was more explored with examples of people being "less" because of superheroes (beyond hearing about a death caused by waiting on one). Maybe Screenslaver should’ve been saved for a movie set after the law against Supers was lifted, but slightly clearer examples of his point here would’ve worked just as well. I feel like his argument would be stronger if we got to see Supers making things too easy or if more people were put in peril because they waited for Supers to fix their problems instead of the big argument against heroes being the collateral damage their fights cause. That said, I absolutely loved this villain and would definitely be down for a Screenslaver return! Underminer (John Ratzenberger) was also a cool, second-tier villain that felt like a classic comic book bad guy. He's clearly patterned off of Mole Man, but that didn't matter to me; it was kinda refreshing (and appropriately old-school, given these movies’ time period) to see a villain who just wanted to rob banks. He also provided a good way to reintroduce the family's heroic dynamic and to showcase Bob and Helen's different fighting styles while complicating their lives further, building off the end of the first movie brilliantly. I liked that it became a strike against the heroes that he was forgotten in the scramble to stop his drills and that he actually got away. The new Supers that were introduced didn't make the biggest impression, but I preferred this to more focus on a bunch of random new people who would take screentime from the Parrs. I did like Voyd (Sophia Bush) a lot; her fangirl attitude toward Elastigirl was fun and she was a nice answer to Syndrome's toxic fandom. I hope she returns in a sequel! Krushauer (Phil LaMarr) was a solid threat and got some good and funny lines in, while Screech playing up his full animalistic nature was creepy and something I hope Daredevil does with Owl Jr. These wannabe Supers did bring a variety of challenges to the final battle, so as secondary adversaries go, they worked perfectly. All the fight scenes contained very clever uses of everyone’s powers and were choreographed with an insane amount of fun and imagination! The numerous powers on display also made for battles that were never uninteresting. Even Bob's Incredibile got a nice showcase here as a display of the retro tech in this universe. I love the design of this world in general, but classic spy and superhero aesthetics like that are my favorite parts; I wish more superhero franchises would embrace stylized elements like this to carve out their own identities. Speaking of classic aesthetics, I loved that Bob, Helen, and Lucius had their own old-timey superhero theme songs! Michael Giacchino’s music was great as always, but those themes were great surprises! Brad Bird's direction was crisp and the writing emotionally resonate, bringing the heart of the first movie back at full force.  I can't wait to see what comes next from this world! I hope we don't have to wait another 14 years for Incredibles 3 (and I didn't need the apology/”trust us the wait was worth it” video that played at the beginning of this one; it only made us wait longer!), but I definitely want to see more adventures in this universe. Now that Supers are allowed again, I’d love for the next movie to introduce Dash and Violet's trouble-making cousins as wannabe supervillain bad influences. Cousins would bring aunts and uncles who have differing parenting styles from Bob and Helen, as well as Bob and Helen’s in-laws, who have their own opinions on how to “correctly” be heroes as well as parents. I'm thinking Christmas Vacation with superheroes, but whatever the next film is, I'll be in line to see it! While we wait, you should see Incredibles 2! It's among Pixar's best and definitely worth seeing on the big screen!

Check out more of my reviews, opinions, and original short stories here!

[la-paritalienne]

Hola! I think you might be busy so answer this whenever you want of course! I just wondered if you were good in school and if you were what kept you going? And did you have any bad days? How did you deal with them? Did you study everything everyday? I just need some advice because my anxiety is creeping in and I feel like I have to organize everything and be the best I can be and just the thought of it makes me exhausted.

heyyyy! ♥︎ i’m so sorry for what you’re going through, so let me start by telling you that if you’re not the best... it’s not the end of the world. honestly. take a deep breath and know that whatever happens, life goes on. school might seem like the biggest deal bc technically it’s important and i’m all about staying focused and craving good results and everything, of course, but also don’t be too hard on yourself, bc your health comes first. always.

for example, i was very good in school, but i’m not sure that what kept me going was inspirational or something to want to emulate, bc it was basically being bullied and the only thing i had on my bullies (which eventually became my whole class) was that i was, objectively, the best (which was also the reason for the bullying... clearly haha). i mean, i had other reasons like my teachers believing in me, my family, all people that i didn’t want to let down, in a way. but also (and i don’t mean to sound braggy, i’m sorry if i come off this way) it just wasn’t hard for me. it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, so i never stressed about it and i never even studied that much to get the results i got. (i did study, i guess, but i wouldn’t even call that studying after uni... that’s insulting to what studying really is!)

definitely not every day, but i’ve never been a fan of last minute either, so i would make time to get a little bit done for a couple of days before a test or something, to be sure to get the notions in calmly, and not having to worry like the night before. i’ve always been a big fan of sleep and of being fully ready some time before needed. 

but as i said, none of it ever caused me anxiety or anything. if it had, i don’t know... maybe wouldn’t have done it? or i would have done it anyway ended up hurting myself (mentally)? i’m not sure, but now that i’m old and wise i can tell you: don’t do it if it doesn’t feel natural, don’t do it if it’s too much to handle. cut yourself some slack, try and do what makes you feel satisfied and makes you go to bed with no regrets, but also not dreading your ‘plan’ for the next day. you wanna be happy to wake up and do what you have to do bc you’ll know it’ll make you feel good about yourself, okay? not be like ‘ugh no, 200 pages tomorrow’. plus, i’m sure you’re smart af and now that it’s over and it’s been over for me for quite a while i can tell you... you’ll find that often, half the effort would have been enough to get the same result. honestly. (or still a pretty good result but with waaaay less damage to what really matters, which is that beautiful brain of yours). 

i hope this helped! also i hoped you meant high school? if you mean uni, the ‘little bit every day’ still applies. what kept me going is that i loved it and wanted to do good for myself, wanted to go to paris (very selective so i needed good grades), wanted to graduate with the max grade etc. little / big goals each time, way healthier than before! but like if you have anxiety about uni come back bc maybe it needs to be explored further in terms of what you’re studying / why etc. do come back in general tho, of course, if you feel like it! x