#redux!Needle

[bfdiredux]

Absolutely loving this blog. Do you fw the head cannon that Leafy would hate the taste / smell of yoyelberries after being forced to eat them for years?

Also your opinion on having any romantic relations in redux! since the og series doesn't have any romance at all.

Sorry if this sounds a bit awkward I wasn't sure how to phrase everything.

No need to apologize Anon!! It's all fine, I understood !

I do fw that headcanon. I can imagine--

Months/years in isolation destroyed Leafy.

She hated herself. She punished herself. She pushed everyone who tried to help away. She told herself that she deserved it.

Yoyleland had very little food sources. She turned to yoylebushes and their budding fruit: yoyleberries.

Fresh, ripe, unprocessed yoyleberries.

The cool smell of the leaves, like mint, while the fruit was balmy. The initial sweet flavor on the tongue, followed by sour the longer it sat in her mouth. The metallic aftertaste.

Sometimes, she can still smell and taste it. Nobody will bring it up and she can feel it on her tongue, in her nostrils.. she HATES it.

-

Now, in the romance department!!

I am not that much of a romantic myself,,, but I know a thing or two about writing it!! And I've confirmed romantic attractions for several characters.

I think it's a wonderful idea!! Part of the redux is presenting different dynamics and relationships. Healthy, unhealthy, or otherwise.

I think Match had feelings for Pencil around BFDIA-IDFB. It began to die down in BFB, especially after both of their eliminations. They suddenly had problems. (Six years of trauma) Doomed toxic one-sided yuri!

I also considered Needle and Pencil, which would also be toxic and probably doomed because of the way Pencil was with Needle in BFDIA and how she is with her whole team in IDFB. (inspired by this tiktok)

I toyed with Golf Ball and Tennis Ball but I find it didn't go anywhere, I didn't like it. I ended up giving the flirtiness between them in BFB to Lollipop. The old character proposal I made for them is getting a huge overhaul!

Lollipop flirts with every friend she makes but she is a lesbian!! If Teardrop stuck around after BFB ended, the two of them would've kissed. TD is demiromantic!!

Pen, Blocky, and Eraser as a polycule mayhaps? With Blocky splitting off following BFB post-split and maybe doing something with Woody. I like queer relationships I am queer

Price Tag and Book could be worth something. They're both in a good headspace for it in TPOT!

If the audience has any suggestions, I am all ears!! They do not have to be healthy. They can be toxic and doomed.

[trans-axolotl]

not at work today i LOVE not going to work i love sleeping in and then tonight is NEEDLE EXCHANGE at the SHOW and my best FRIENDS are here im soooo thrilled

[redflagshipwriter]

Halfa Cass

Chapter 6 Preview

Masterpost

(The night Cass came home)

Tim rounded on Bruce as soon as Cass went up the stairs. “Something happened,” he said firmly.

Bruce nodded, brows furrowed up. “I agree. She was shaken. I observed that she was reticent and avoided eye contact at a conversational juncture where she normally does not.”

Tim agreed with a grim, sister-analyzing nod. “Her typing speed was significantly reduced. She was carefully choosing her wording.” Tim scanned over her brief report again and frowned. “There's not an electrical shock that would short out her suit without killing her.”

“So it wasn't electricity, or there was another factor.” Bruce frowned at his screen so hard it was probably cowering inside the code. “Neither Black Bat nor Marvel have any particular scientific competence. I would suggest-”

“Yeah.” Tim cut him off. He rolled his neck and thought it over. They sat quietly for a few minutes as Tim typed up his initial proposal. He broke the silence. “I'll hit up Young Justice and see who has time tomorrow to have a redux of all our creepy lab tours. There's something really weird about that place.” He paused. He side eyed Bruce. “Captain Marvel was right, huh?” He kept his tone deliberately innocent. “What a good catch on his part. I wonder how many people on monitor duty saw the town was dark and didn't think anything about it.”

Bruce grunted. He rolled a few inches back from his computer and picked up a stapled stack of reports. He began reading them intensely.

Tim interlaced his fingers and gave a stretch. Something popped in his back. “If only you'd believed him and let me go along with Black Bat when she said she was leaving,” Tim said wistfully. He was mostly just being a dick. They needed to find out what happened, but everyone was fine. This was a prime opportunity to needle at Bruce's weird reflexive hateration towards his most cheerful Justice League teammates.

Bruce lifted the reports just a little higher to block off his face.

Ha.

Tim left it at that and shut down for the night. Tim had really just been killing time until Cass got back for the night. He hit up the group chat with his mission proposal before he went to bed.

He belly flopped on top of his mattress without bothering to pull the covers over top and powered off easily for his clockwork 7.5 hours. He had weird dreams about Cass getting electrocuted. He woke up feeling unsettled.

“I know she said she got electrocuted,” Tim muttered. He sat up in bed. “But this seems dramatic. She's fine. She walked home and typed up a report.” He rubbed at his breastbone. He didn't know why he was so unsettled.

…Alright, that was a lie. Tim reframed his perspective a little more honestly.

No, no. He did. It was anxiety. He needed to feel he had control over the safety of his family. The way everyone had gone horrified and silent on comms when Cass’s suit reported a flatline to the main computer-

Tim’s stomach lurched. He took a minute to go through some breathing exercises.

It was just a false alarm. It was fine. Except that it had been truly terrifying and it proved that there was something seriously wrong with either their current tech or something extraordinary going on in some decommissioned mad scientist lair.

Fuck. He didn't like unknowns. He was eager to get to the bottom of this Amity Park incident.

Tim fished his phone off the charger and checked the group for responses, heart beat still pounding in his ears. So far, he'd heard yesses from Kon and Bart. Unfortunately, Cassie hadn't viewed the message yet.

He typed up meeting coordinates for the guys and sent it in the same chat. Hopefully Cassie would see it in time, but if not, three was probably enough for the trip.

Making specific plans settled his anxiety enough for him to find some appetite. He ended up very glad that he'd gone to breakfast.

He got an unexpected assist from both Cass and Damian on his point re Bruce's hateration at breakfast the next morning. Tim watched gleefully as they psychologically manipulated their father with opposite approaches.

[delimeful]

how easy you are to need (redux) (7)

warnings: misunderstandings, feeling trapped, unhealthy thoughts about an assumed situation, death and injury mention, discussion of debts, unreliable narrator, virgil horribly misinterpreting yet another normal conversation, literally embarrassing levels of thick-headedness

-

Letting his guard down around the humans was far, far easier than it should have been.

He still eased his defenses down slowly, bit by bit, of course, he wasn’t a complete fool. An understanding between him and Patton didn’t necessarily mean that the others felt the same.

They were humans, not shifters, after all, and while he could see the shape of a pack in their closeness, that didn’t mean he could assume the same principles would apply. They all took on equal responsibilities in maintaining and protecting their home, and none of the three had shown any particular indication that they were a designated envoy, meant to speak for the entire pack.

Frankly, with it only being the three of them, a lack of envoy wouldn’t have been too surprising even if they had been shifters. Some smaller packs forewent assigned roles, rotating them as needed, or were close-knit enough that they essentially acted as one whole, any individual able to speak for the pack.

The humans loved to bicker, though, and it would have been like a slap in the face to trust in Patton’s promise and then have them argue about it right in front of him. Instead, Virgil tested the firmness of the new ground he’d been offered with slow, tentative steps, like a deer crossing over a frozen lake. Better to take his time and test the ice than plunge right through.

Irritatingly, the humans made it far too easy for him to forget how precarious his standing was.

Even the simplest of interactions seemed to please them. When he’d responded to Patton’s friendly greeting for the first time, the morning after their midnight conversation, the human’s expression had lit up like a lightning bug at dusk. When he’d finally answered one of Logan’s questions during a meal, the scholar had blinked a few times in quiet surprise before smiling in a way that made his entire face look softer. When he’d pursed his lips and snapped out a sharp retort to something annoying Roman had said, the hunter hadn’t hesitated to needle him right back with friendly delight, the same as he did with the other two.

They were keeping him trapped here, because they were human and they knew better than to let a monster roam free in the woods around their home, but they didn’t want a starved prisoner or a ticket to easy riches. They wanted to offer him comfort and belonging in the time that he had left.

He’d saved them, and they were repaying it in the only way they could afford to.

It was pathetic, how relieved he felt. How genuinely grateful he was for the simple fact that he wasn’t being forced to relive the unending torment of his first imprisonment. How such basic offerings of food and warmth and companionship made it possible to ignore or even briefly forget about the executioner’s axe hoisted over his head.

He’d been on his own for a long time. Returning to that solitude would be its own kind of death, a slow and painful relearning of what it meant to be alone. He knew this, but tried not to dwell on it. He’d survived it once before, and he would again. Better to endure the loneliness than lose the safety of isolation.

So, he forced himself to keep focusing on methods of escape, on the ways this slowly-growing camaraderie would offer lapses in security, on the new freedoms he could take advantage of, and didn’t think about what he would do afterwards.

With this goal in mind, he immediately decided to test his luck by poking his nose where it didn’t belong.

He’d regained some mobility after another week of healing, though he kept his walking pace to a slow shuffle out of caution, and the humans still tended to hover like agitated honeybees whenever he was on his feet for too long. The cabin was small enough that he had mapped out most of it within a day or two, and now he approached the only room he hadn’t yet entered or peered into.

When he pushed the door of Logan’s workspace open, the human’s head snapped up immediately, wearing the beginnings of a frown. Once he saw that it was Virgil who stood in the doorway, though, the displeased turn of his lips faded away, replaced by eyebrows raised in intrigue.

“Hello,” he said, voice polite despite the interruption. “Is there something I can help you with?”

Of the three of them, Logan had been the most respectful in his formality, and so Virgil impulsively tested the bounds of that patience by not answering right away, instead letting his gaze drift over the room and its contents.

There were far more plants scattered about than he’d expected, though perhaps he should have expected as much from the dedication Logan tended his garden with. Pots of different shapes and sizes were settled on every inch of the window ledges, and planters hung from shelves and hooks on the ceiling alike. There was an entire corner of the room dedicated to racks of drying herbs and flowers, both wild and homegrown, which lent the room a pleasant dusty floral smell that almost covered up the sting of ink and chemicals.

There was a table against one wall, the shelves around it packed full with bottles of miscellaneous ingredients, all of them labeled in neat handwriting. The table itself was covered in neatly-organized supplies, with protective sigils carefully carved into the outer edge of the wood, keeping any experimentation contained. It stank less than he’d thought it would, for human magecraft, but then he hadn’t yet seen Logan doing any of the typical dissection and harvesting of supernatural creatures, either.

After the full moon, it would have the bitter tang of magic made through unwilling sacrifice, the distant preserved rot of bottled blood. Virgil would recognize the stench of post-harvest ingredients anywhere. Not that he’d be there to smell it, at that point. He forcibly pulled his attention away.

The last section of the room was less orderly than the rest, primarily due to the heaps of books that were stacked and shoved wherever there was space. Logan’s desk was the only semi-clear spot, and even that had a few precarious book towers sitting atop or alongside it. It was also covered in stacks of parchment, with lines and lines of writing or intricate diagrams sketched on the paper.

Logan sat behind it, still awaiting a response, those keen eyes watching him right back.

There was no sign of the lodestone for the ward around the cabin at first glance. He had known better than to think it would be that easy, though.

He hadn’t known that he would actually get this far, assuming that they wouldn’t want their magic prisoner sticking his nose in the most likely place to find a way out of their wards. Even Roman and Patton didn’t tend to disturb Logan too often when he was working in this space, so he’d assumed he’d only get a few moments to glance around at best.

“You haven’t been to the leyline crossing,” he said, because the silence had begun to grow awkward and he’d panicked and they really hadn’t, even though it was well past the usual time of the month they went.

Logan’s stare sharpened, which was probably a bad sign, but he only stood up to clear the books off of a second chair, and gestured for him to sit.

This had been a bad idea. Virgil slunk forward with extreme reluctance and sat.

“We haven’t,” Logan answered affirmatively as he returned to his seat, adjusting his spectacles. “It didn’t seem wise to venture into the woods, seeing as that is where the bear headed, last we saw it.”

That was… a really good reason, actually. Virgil shuddered at even the idea of them running into that creature again in the dead of night, without him to help.

“I take it that you’ve been familiar with us for a while, then, since you know of our routine offerings?” Logan continued, sounding more curious than angry.

Virgil froze up, regardless. He should have known better than to hope he could make it through a conversation without giving anything away. He hadn’t even managed to make it through the first sentence.

“I am not upset,” Logan offered, glancing down at the open book before him in a gesture that seemed designed to give Virgil a moment to breathe. “On the contrary, I am… rather relieved, to have my suspicions confirmed.”

“Relieved?” Virgil echoed dubiously, his voice a low croak. It tended to go raspy and hoarse if he wasn’t focusing on speaking, probably the result of not using his human vocal cords to speak to anyone in literal years.

“Indeed,” Logan answered. “I will admit, my initial impression of you was made hastily. We had never seen you before, and yet you didn’t hesitate to defend us, and you earned a significant injury in the process. It was worrying to unexpectedly incur such a debt.”

Virgil managed to shove aside his embarrassment in favor of confusion. It was strange to mention a debt, especially one owed to a shifter. Humans didn’t consider shifters worth trading with in any fashion, in his experience, and even other supernatural beings knew that wolves weren’t fond of holding debts or grudges. Really, the way Logan spoke about it sounded more like…

“You see, I was aware that it is rather rare for a shifter to reveal themself to humans for any length of time, as I’m sure you know, and I was also aware that the fair folk are often deft hands at taking on wild shapes of their own, particularly when interacting with humans, so…” Logan trailed off, looking a bit flustered at the admission.

“You thought I was fae,” Virgil completed the thought, feeling a bit taken aback at the idea. He certainly would have done a fair bit more against that bear if he’d had the sort of natural power that faeries so often courted.

Of course, things also would have turned out a lot worse for the humans if he’d been a fae, more likely than not. Humans who had fallen under the attention of one of the fair folk frequently met an unfortunate end because of it. Whether the faery in question was maliciously fixated or lovingly obsessed, the human would be lucky to come out irrevocably changed. They’d be lucky to come out alive at all.

“It was a working hypothesis,” Logan said primly, turning a page in his book despite the fact that he almost definitely hadn’t been reading while they spoke. “It was disproven easily enough, and so my precautions weren’t needed in the first place, but seeing as my haste has gotten me and those around me in trouble before, I thought it best to perform them anyhow.”

Precautions? Patton had said that Virgil saved his life, if not all of theirs. To the fae, a life debt like that could only be paid off one way, whether they’d been tricked into it or not.

Oh. He had wondered why Logan had been so uncharacteristically careless before, carrying an agitated and injured shifter back with its teeth only a handspan from his neck. If Virgil had been fae, if he’d chosen differently and torn out Logan’s throat, that would have been the end of any debt between him and the others. A life paid for a life owed.

“Did you run that plan by the others, first?” he asked, despite already knowing the answer.

Logan waved a hand dismissively, not bothering to pretend at regret. “They traveled out here on my behalf, in the first place. To let them suffer for my mistakes would be a poor repayment.”

From what he knew of them, Virgil thought Patton and Roman would disagree. Loudly.

“…Right,” said Virgil, in his most dubious tone. “On your behalf?”

“I’m cursed,” Logan explained shortly. “I don’t have the constitution required to perform magework without damaging my health. It was intended to make me choose between my health and my passion, but I was willing to give up neither, and found a third option: proximity to powerful natural magic, which would prevent spellwork from being as taxing.”

“Huh.” It was a clever solution. Logan might have been the one to propose their solution to Virgil, too. Offering a shifter a peaceful last few weeks certainly wasn’t an option he would have expected from any normal humans.

Right. He’d almost forgotten that his plan had been to push against the boundaries of his cage, to force them to acknowledge that he was stuck here, to remind himself that no amount of kind company was worth the pain of how this month would inevitably end.

“Well, you don’t owe me anything,” he said, a little too sharply. “And in that case, there’s no point in me staying.”

Logan sat up straight, posture stiffening as he frowned. “You’re still far from healed. I understand why you don’t wish to shift, but surely, leaving is a bad idea for the same reason?”

There it was. In the end, that was the biggest flaw in the arrangement the humans had come up with. If Virgil attacked them or tried to leave, they’d be forced to kill him immediately. He would lose, but so would they; killing him in his human form would make his corpse far, far less valuable.

“You’re only making things more difficult on yourself,” Virgil told him, crossing his arms as tightly as he could without jarring his wound. “I’m not fae. There’s no worth in being hospitable to me.”

It certainly wasn’t going to convince him to stop trying to escape. He might be pathetic, but he wasn’t that pathetic. Honestly, it’d probably be easier for everyone if they just cut their losses and killed him now.

Logan closed his book, folded his hands over it, and met Virgil’s eyes squarely. “We offered you our hospitality because we wanted to. It is freely given, no matter the ease or difficulty involved.”

Virgil couldn’t help the way his eyebrows lifted slightly in surprise. That implied that they would keep on offering him this kindness even if he did get caught attempting to escape.

Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t ever been truly punished for that first desperate sprint to the wards, had he? None of the things he’d believed to be threats or punishments had ever panned out the way he’d assumed. Ultimately, they hadn’t so much as directly scolded him about the escape attempt, as though the act was hardly surprising. He hadn’t been drugged, and he still wasn’t guarded.

He couldn’t be certain unless he got caught again, but… the signs were all there. They were confident enough in their cage to indulge him even when he was caught gnawing at the bars. They were underestimating him.

“Don’t blame me if you regret it later,” he said dismissively, but he couldn’t help the disbelieving half smile creeping onto his lips.

Logan returned his smile with an encouraging one of his own, apparently unfazed by Virgil’s renewed determination. “I very much doubt I will.”

He snorted and left the human to his work, not cowed at all by the arrogance. Logan could doubt all he liked. Virgil had beaten much worse odds before.

[whyeverr]

finally had the bandwidth to circle back to an EA redux — and I really think it's going to move the needle 💀📈✂️

[thanx-files]

*banging pots and pans together* I FINISHED ANOTHER SEASON OF THE X-FILES!!! GATHER ‘ROUND FOR MY HOT TAKES!!!

Spoilers, as usual. It’s all below the cut.

The End

I’m not even sure what to think. This finale felt like a regular ass X-File until the last minute on screen. No one was dying of an incurable disease or being drugged within an inch of their life. No one even faked their death! Though we did have another delightful moment of Mulder physically attacking his colleagues in the halls of the Hoover Building, plus another reassignment! Classic finale stuff.

I’m honestly still processing the image of Mulder’s office gone up in smoke. That’s one of the few spoilers I’ve managed to avoid. I can never keep track of whose side Mr. Morley is on, but damn. Damn.

Backtracking tho: MSR goes crazy this ep, but on the down low. He is thinking about ONE of the ladies. ONE of the ladies is thinking about him. Scully doesn’t care what anyone thinks except Diana — not even what Mulder thinks. What a fucking interesting distinction, right? Alexa! Alexa, play ‘Girl Crush’ by Little Big Town!

Not to mention the way she goes back to his place after everything that happens — the fanfic of it all, going home with him to make sure he takes a nap on his couch and doesn’t jump the tracks. She’s confused and tired and probably angry, and she loves him so much despite it all. Agh. AGH.

Anyway if anything bad happens to the kid I quit the show. Earlier in the series, I was tired of bad things happening to women (still am) but now I am tired of bad things happening to kids. Scully is, too, damn it.

The verdict: This is good. This is solid. It’s not the same levels of drama we are used to from a finale, but it’s enough of a paradigm shift to make you wonder what’s next. And maybe it would feel old-hat (the X-Files are shut down again, what else is new?) if we didn’t see Mulder’s life’s work go up in literal flames.

Season 5

This season, y’all. This season! It has EVERYTHING. It’s got needle drops and fun dances and unreliable narrators and fun and humor, but it also has FUCKING EMILY!!! Redux and Emily are within TEN EPISODES of each other. Are you kidding me? It has Catholicism! It has Scully to the rescue!

Pros: Lots of Scully!

Cons: Lots of Scully being sad.

Yeah, season 5 may be a new favorite. It has its clunkers for sure, but it also has some all-time best episodes. It’s literally watering the seeds of doubt, showing us that absolutely nothing and no one is trustworthy — I’m so mad that we never talk about “trust no one” anymore — that the truth may well be out there, but that we wouldn’t fucking know it if we found it, right now. Mulder is more skeptical than Scully ALL FUCKING SEASON! She may not be ready to write it in a field report, but you cannot seriously tell me she doesn’t believe something. She believes enough to know that something is wrong with Chinga. She believes enough to shoot the shadow in Mulder’s hospital room. She believes enough to set the nephilim free. To protect Gibson. Meanwhile, Mulder is kind of done taking people at their word. He needs evidence. He needs to see to believe. These two have changed each other so much in 5 years!

I just love it. I just do.

Episodes

I’m making a Tier List this time. And heaven help me, it is not particularly balanced.

It’s also worth noting that this ranking might change over time. I tried to account for both quality of the ep and my own personal feelings about it — which aren’t always the same thing. For example, I’ll rewatch Unusual Suspects long before either of the Reduxes.

[rockinlibrarian]

My Current (again) Hyperfixation: The Legion Soundtrack

I read like three posts in a row-- and left an encouraging comment on one saying much the same thing-- saying GEEK OUT OVER WHAT YOU WANT TO GEEK OUT OVER UNABASHEDLY, PUT THAT LOVE IN THE WORLD EVEN IF ONLY YOU APPRECIATE IT-- just as "David Redux" was playing on my computer. Again. Because I have been hyperfixating on the Legion soundtrack for the past two-ish weeks and playing my playlist on repeat. In this case it was actually just part of my "Psychedelic and Prog Rock" playlist because I've been trying to branch out, but still, I feel the need to gush, but I've been RESTRAINING MYSELF BECAUSE WHO REALLY CARES... but this is a sign, isn't it? So allow me...

*ahem* Those of you who have been following me for any amount of time are probably aware that I'm a fan of the FX show from 2017-2019, Legion, a highly-mindtrippy, oft-problematic, X-Men spinoff about mentally-ill superpowered folks, for which I have written the vast majority of my fanfic. I first checked it out because showrunner Noah Hawley (whose Fargo I'd loved) crossed with the X-Men?! I stayed around because PSYCHEDELIC TRIPPINESS. Which includes the soundtrack. And honestly, maybe it's the soundtrack I love most of all.

There are two, possibly three, parts here. The needle-drops are A-PLUS, perfectly used in the storytelling, and just generally good songs, most of the time (yeah, a few I don't like. But then, sometimes that's what you need to tell the story). A lot of them are genuinely psychedelic or at least prog-rock, but even the ones that aren't are USED psychedelically: ironic in tone, simply capturing an odd fleeting emotional state, whatever. There are some well-known songs like "Speak To Me/Breathe" (more about the Pink Floyd connection in a bit), and a lot of rarer songs from lesser-known artists that I am ETERNALLY GRATEFUL to music supervisor Maggie Phillips for introducing me to. I ended up buying albums from The Beta Band and Secret Machines because of songs used in this show.

I feel like a lot of people had this reaction when "Undiscovered Firsts" by Feist played in Chapter Four of Legion, but this is one I immediately tracked down to purchase, like, after that episode. It might have been later than that. But it's definitely the first Legion-prompted music I purchased at SOME point:

Yeah, looking at the comment section of that youtube video, it's pretty much all "Legion sent me here!"

But the needle-drop I've been most obsessed with during this current binge is Radiohead's "The Daily Mail":

It is constantly in my head and I don't mind at all. It captures my underlying emotions lately (and I didn't even realize this until rewatching Chapter Five with closed-captions-- rewatching the show is another way I've tried to branch out from JUST relistening to my playlist over and over-- but the lyrics are eerily timely, too). It builds, and then it's over too soon, and I feel the need to start it from the beginning.

Here's a Spotify playlist I used for reference when building my own collection:

There are two three reasons I made my own playlist on my own computer out of my own collection. Probably the most important one that just occurred to me is because then I'm not reliant on Spotify. I own this music dangit! I can listen without commercials or supporting shady streaming services! Anyway, another is because there are a few songs on here I WOULD rather not listen to, thanks, why should I force myself? Thirdly, and originally most importantly before I remembered the "not reliant on Spotify" thing, is it only includes "songs," not OST instrumental background music, which is necessary!

I mean listen to this:

That's basically the main musical theme of the series and sums up what it's all like and is also gorgeous.

Score writer Jeff Russo has stated many times in interviews that Pink Floyd is one of his biggest influences in general, and that he specifically leaned into that influence in the music for Legion. Well, whaddya know, my second-favorite band!--and for that matter, there's Beatles influence in there, too. Actually in the comments of the link I put to "David Redux" above, somebody said "This is literally I Want You(She’s so heavy) like just straight up that song." ...yeah so? No seriously it's not JUST straight up "I Want You (She's So Heavy)," but the influence is clearly there. There are definite bits of the score you can point to and say "Ah! Pink Floyd!" about, too, but mostly it's less blatant. But still-- the FEELING is there, that eerie, dreamy, sometimes disturbing feeling.

--Slight tangent about Pink Floyd and psychedelic music in general. It CAN be disturbing, and that's the POINT. It shakes you out of your comfort zone. Now, when I was a teenager and first getting into "Classic Rock," I HATED Pink Floyd. Not just meh, not just didn't care for, ACTIVELY HATED. And I was like, "Yeah, sorry, no way this is EVER going to grow on me." And I don't think it ever DID grow on me-- it just immediately flipped a switch-- from UTTER LOATHING to me buying a copy of Wish You Were Here at the used CD store and thinking, in that moment, oh darn, I think Pink Floyd has suddenly become my second-favorite band. Now, I wrote a whole long thing about my feelings about psychedelic music about 2/3s of the way into this article, so I'll leave you with the link and get back to the Legion soundtrack.

The Floyd influence extends across ALL of Legion, actually, not just the background music. The show's heroine is named after founding Floyd member Syd Barrett (who, notably for purposes of this show, had quit the band due to mental illness). I already mentioned the "Speak to Me/Breathe" needle-drop, and in Season Three there was a literal performance of "Mother":

Admittedly, I have the original Floyd track on my playlist, not this performance.

But that brings us to the third part of the Legion music story: a lot of songs actually PERFORMED for the show. Often IN the show. Usually by the characters themselves, though once the band Superorganism actually appeared in the show to accost one of the characters with a performance of their song "Something for Your M.I.N.D.":

In what is one of my favorite episodes of television ever, Chapter Seven (which when I opened up IMDB just now to make sure I was spelling Maggie Phillips' last name correctly, I noticed is ranked as the top episode there, 9.3 stars out of 10), Oliver Bird (whom you've probably heard me mention because he's one of my favorite characters ever--my third-favorite in this show only because the Loudermilks exist) conducts/wills into existence an eerie arrangement of "Bolero" that scores the frickin' amazing climax of the episode (cw for some creepy body horror and a bit o' gore if you watch this whole video):

Oh oh oh the most amazing thing I've ever seen on TV is this mind-battle of "Behind Blue Eyes" from Chapter 19:

But we were talking about the MUSIC, not so much the SHOW, and one of the other aspects of Performed for the Show is a whole series of covers Russo and showrunner Hawley recorded together as, technically, needle-drops, but often incorporating themes from the score, like the intro to their "Cornflake Girl":

This makes for really unique covers that sometimes sound completely unlike the originals but actually are really friggin' good in and of themselves. I think my favorite is their "Fly Like an Eagle" which is WAY un-Steve-Miller-Band:

Note that the intro is blatantly the intro to Pink Floyd's "Echoes"!

Which is how I managed to branch out to my full "Psych and Prog Rock" playlist in the end-- "ooo, I really want to listen to 'Echoes' now"!

OKAY. RIGHT. So if anybody else gets hyperfixated on psychedelic music, let me know, because it's such a weird thing to hyperfixate on. But never mind. I HAVE NOW SHARED WITH YOU SOME AWESOMENESS. LISTEN WELL.

[piizunn]

just realized i missed a major social cue literally months ago and i’m actually losing sleep over it now…i went to the pharmacy for needles for testosterone a couple months ago and as i was leaving they asked if i needed naloxone and in my mind i was like “oh wow they’re so pro harm reduction here that’s awesome!” and literally told people about it

i carry naloxone because i live downtown and transit and i interact with drug users almost every day and used to be a lifeguard so i am familiar with first aid, informed consent, medical confidentiality, harm redux, etc.

and then today i realized they probably asked me that cause they thought i was using the needles for drugs….i literally told them i already carry naloxone which i’m sure did not help my case!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[littlewalken]

sep 21

Well, I know what I'll be doing for Samhain, recovering from the redux root canal that was supposed to have been done and done by now.

I'll survive.

The dollhouse is roughly where it belongs but that still leaves a few more things and a set of carpet furniture scoots will be a big help. Meanwhile the current state of affairs in here being 'good enough' will allow my back to recover.

I might be over weight, and would like to either drop or convert some of the fat to muscle, but aside from the ankylosing spondylitis I'm quite mobile and have some muscle tone. If my back and hips didn't lock up while using them I'd be using them more.

Weird thing, I can walk more than I can stand still which is extremely painful.

Well, nothing like taking two different chains to the craft store to find a size in between only to come home and find you already had chain that size. And now I have another package.

Switched the charms to a 4mm curb chain for five minutes, lol. If I had an average sized wrist I could fit them all on there. The Who, Beatles, Rockapella, Daft Punk Helmets, grucifix, and log flume didn't make the cut. The log flume could have if I didn't want the 2 nickels on there or the CK+LL one. That's to help me decide if I want to get a more dedicated one for Smallville. I really do have to accept it as a key part of my life for a few years. The nutcracker may or may not switch out.

That's not the order they went on to the bracelet, aside from the top row then the stuff below the hand went next to it. I put a lot of the personal pop culture things in to a somewhat chronological order of hyperfixations. Most of course are pulling double or triple duty for what they stand for. I combined the four leaf clover and hi/bye because Joey McIntyre and Robert Sheehan in Young Blades sort of overlapped. Just got the gold paw for Chat Noir yesterday. I had one of those sticker charms but the paw print was rubbing off. I could get an official Lady Bug charm but this works.

The only one I'd replace now is the foot, with either another foot or something else Monty Python, because it's one of those bulk milagros and I worry about it holding up.

Should I get to typing today I'll look in to typing up the Smallville story I put up an excerpt from. Made some progress sewing my potato purse so I want to work on that too but I can only hold a needle for so long at any given time.

[bfdiredux]

you should do a proper character proposal for book!! she's my favorite character <3

hi, same anon as the one who requested book!!! i was thinking about a way to do a little rewrite of the team bleh arc in bfb:

-book's the first one to spot taco being out of the jawbreaker. the other members of team bleh don't notice at all at first. -her face sours. she doesn't accept taco trying to explain her absence after she herself has been abandoned for no good reason. -afterwards, she vents to her teammates about taco. her wording paints taco as a bad person putting the team against her.

basically, team bleh doesn't immediately go straight to shittalking taco in her face once they first see her, but instead hears abt her from book, who is, at the time of late idfb-bfb, like a mentally unstable unreliable narrator. and then they distance themselves from taco. also book doesn't straight up harrass taco bc i personally think that's a bit ooc

taco doesn't know why she's being ignored by everyone ....until she hears book venting to icy. events happen, taco's hurt, then we get to that heart-to-heart scene you mentioned in an earlier post!

hopefully i did this right im not a writer ^^;

ANON.

ANON, YOU GENIUS!! I LOVE THAT.

I LOVE BOOK!!

SO!!! DRRRUMMMROOLLLLL!!!!

Cw; verbal, emotional, and mental abuse.

Redux!Book is the epitome of hurt people hurt people.

Going into BFDIA, Book is cooperative, friendly, passive, gullible, and insecure. She just wants friends man!

Book applies for BFDIA with support of friends and family.

Book approaches Pencil to be in an alliance because she watched BFDI and she saw Pencil with a strong team! They lasted so long!! Pencil seems glad to have Book on.

Pencil has strong leadership skills and her right hand, Match, is a great manager. Bubble, a season spectator, seems less than content to have Book and a second newbie on the team.

This second newbie is Ruby!! Book can tell Bubble's hesitation makes Ruby upset. Book doesn't have much of an opinion on it.

Ice Cube!! Book naturally gravitated towards her when they first met, even if Ice Cube's expression was off-putting. She's often quiet so Book finds it easy to hang around her. She's also strong-willed and supportive!!

While Pencil is in the game, she puts herself in control and isn't afraid to set boundaries. Apparently that includes snapping at Ruby. (And Book if Book tries to echo Ruby's hype)

Book is genuinely disturbed when Pencil uses prizes from her alliance members to disable Pin and remove her autonomy. Ice Cube tries speaking to Pencil about this and Pencil shoots her down HARD.

Pin is a threat. Pin is an opponent. If she can't win challenges, she'll surely get out and FreeSmart has a higher chance of winning. This isn't personal. This isn't personal. Book keeps telling herself that Pencil doing this is NOT personal.

Pencil also keeps Book distanced from others. Pencil expects total dedication from everyone to FreeSmart. This includes hanging out between challenges, supporting those in the game even if you're eliminated, and GETTING THE JOB DONE.

This social isolation is why Book develops DPD. She NEEDS direction and to be controlled by others or else she won't know what to do.

But Pencil has to be justified. She just HAS to! Nobody says anything about it and Ruby and Match hardcore enable Pencil.

Pencil lights a fuse whenever Book fails at challenges. Book isn't.. exactly the best at them. But she tries!! She does!! And the audience loves this!

Book doesn't always like what FreeSmart does-- but they have to. She can't bring herself to speak up-- she sees what happens when Ice Cube tries. So, Book can only look at Pencil and wish her thoughts and feelings would magically project to her.

When everyone in FreeSmart BUT Book is eliminated, Book searches for anything that will bring that dynamic back. She tries Baseball, Fries, Needle...

Even PIN! Who brutally killed her. Just to announce the alliance as over after she got safety and kill Book again. She and Book will eventually talk about this

If Book wins BFDIA Pencil will definitely hold that over her head. She'd say that someone who struggles as much as Book did should be thankful for those who boosted her. Well Pencil will probably hold how far Book got over her head either way,,, fun.

IDFB

Same old, same old. FreeSmart is more of a dysfunctional friend group now than ever before.

IDFB Book will get more focus towards the middle-end of the season. She spends almost all of her time with FreeSmart until then.

Same behavior from Pencil. Match is like her but softened. Ruby is an apologist. Bubble is there and has long since warmed up to Book.

Book still sticks by Ice Cube.

One day, Pencil is in a bad mood. It feels like whatever they do, Pencil finds a reason to snap at them.

And Ice Cube snaps.

The confrontation between them is harsh. Ice Cube calls Pencil's behavior out, then Match for enabling it, and stomps off, saying she's DONE with this friend group.

...leaving has been an option? It's that easy? Has it always been that easy? This whole time, the way out was just to walk away? Book can do that too, yeah?

Book goes to follow Ice Cube. Pencil shoves stops her.

Quoting directly from an older post here-- ...Book needs them. She's loyal to them-- that's her alliance. They got her to the final 5 of BFDIA. She owes them to be loyal. She owes Pencil to be loyal and if she can't be loyal, what use is she to FreeSmart? If she can't be loyal, she's abandoning her team and she's no better than...

And Pencil reinforces this mindset. She GOES OFF. She berates Book for even thinking of leaving. She tells Book that Book is abandoning everyone if she goes. You can find the direct quotes here.

Pencil then tells Book to leave.

It's no victory. Book follows Ice Cube in tears, feeling so guilty and horrible.

For the rest of IDFB, Book's mental health is shit. She breaks down multiple times. She's self-loathing.

Ice Cube defends Book when Pencil is there to bully her. And when Ice Cube isn't there, Book has to sit through ridicule. She barely fights back.

Ice Cube is there for Book. Book is there for Ice Cube. With Ice Cube's influence, Book starts to become braver.

Book decides she has to return the favor the best she can. She becomes more assertive, less quiet, and open.

BFB

Book's bravery skyrockets in BFB.

When Taco disappears for a challenge or two and then reappears out of nowhere, Book is the first to see her. Book feels bile in her throat. Taco tries to explain herself and Book refuses to listen.

She does indeed vent to her teammates, painting Taco in a bad light. The team distances themself-- except for Lollipop, who does go to Taco.

Taco decides to try to talk to Book. She finds Book venting to Ice Cube and Ice Cube being very quiet.

We eventually get Taco confronting Book. Bad at communicating #1(Book) and Bad at communicating #2(Taco) do not have a fun time.

Book does not relentlessly bully Taco, no. She instead lets her feelings accumulate until she can't keep them in and finally lets it all out. HURTFUL THINGS ARE SAID!!

"You abandoned us when we needed you! An alliance is supposed to work together! We all have a job we're supposed to do!! You're- you're useless if you can't pull your own weight. We valued you and you LEFT US! We-- you- you're useless if you can't be there. By- by abandoning us, you... You hurt this team. You suck, Taco. You... Suck.."

Yeah Book is definitely in tears by the end of that! And walking away. It's a rage-induced and impulsive state-- it's also Book pushing all of her own self-loathing onto Taco. Yah.

Book and Taco are no longer on speaking terms.

Near the end of BFB pre-split, Book's controlling behavior towards Ice Cube grows worse as she searches for anything to stabilize and distract herself. Ice Cube HATES it.

Ice Cube also won't sit there and tolerate it.

She confronts Book. The two start arguing and, in the heat of the moment, Ice Cube compares Book to Pencil. Whatever Book was going to say, she stops.

A nerve is struck.

Ice Cube tells Book how she feels-- how Book's behavior hurts herself and her team, how she's acting like someone Ice Cube knows she's not, and how Ice Cube is done with it.

Ice Cube stomps off. Book is speechless and sits in silence for a long time before completely breaking down.

It took losing her best friend but Book is finally able to acknowledge how her actions have hurt others-- and how Pencil hurt her.

She vows to make an effort to be better.

Whether or not she talks to Taco by the time Two comes down,, I've been thinking about it but maybe yes!! This is how Taco also gets better at communicating.

With that being said, they won't become friends. But they will be on neutral terms.

When Two pulls up, Book really wants to switch shows. As she's going to switch, she spots a shy Cake looking lost and uncertain. Book goes up to him and offers a listening ear.

TPOT

Book is happier than she's ever been. She's on a fresh new team with fresh new faces and they get along GREAT!! Most everyone on the team is supportive and friendly. Hi Just Not.

Book is the closest with Price Tag and Cake. Book lets Cake vent to her and enjoys his Goiky's Dragon campaign. He's a strong DM!

After Cake is eliminated, Book finds herself a best friend in Price Tag. Best. Friends!!!

When the team swap happens, Book is shocked to find herself on the same team as Ice Cube-- Team 2.

Book tries talking to Ice Cube. Ice Cube isn't interested. Okay!! Book'll just chill with Price Tag then. Price Tag asks about Ice Cube and Book's history and Book gives them the rundown.

Book is stunned when Pencil joins TPOT and takes Book and Ice Cube aside for a cross-team alliance.

It's Price Tag who comes in and pulls them apart. Book expects Pencil to have some strong words for Price Tag but she stares instead.

Book tries talking to Ice Cube about this too. It seems Icy is starting to open up to her again!!

Pencil tries with Book and Icy off and on-- until TPOT 15 when her own actions causes the world to almost end. Ice Cube, Book, and Price Tag all huddle together.

And the next episode, Ice Cube is eliminated. Not before confirming her friendship with Book is back. This is a good step.

Price Tag and Yellow Face are becoming close friends. Book talks to Winner about this and they're starting to become friends too.

As for Pencil? She pulls Book into a very makeshift version of TCOA and tries asking her to team again.

Book tells Pencil to shove off and walks away. She is genuinely scared of Pencil. 😁

THE FOURSE SCENE. PENCIL TRIES AGAIN. HEre's the redux version of their talk!! It's very similar :P

"I am not going to risk going up again!"

"There it is again, Pencil." Book deadpans.

"What?? What is that supposed to mean!?"

"You're still selfish! I thought that, by some miracle, maybe you'd have changed or gotten better, but you're worse than before! It's always 'me, me, me!' with you!"

"Then let me be a WE and JOIN MY ALLIANCE ALREADY!" Pencil takes Book by the arms and they both grapple to stay balanced on the fourse.

"No! I will never be on an alliance with you ever again!" Book grits her teeth.

"Why!? Why not!?"

"Because-" Book yelps as Pencil pushes her hand into Book's face "-because I HATE YOU!!"

"You hate me?"

"YES! You're controlling and selfish and obsessive and MEAN! You never let my achievements be my achievements. You made me scared of you!! Scared to go against you!! You bullied me for MONTHS and you NEVER LISTEN! I gave Ice Cube the space she needed! Why can't you give me the space I need!?"

"Because you're all I have here!! Book, Match is who knows where, Ice Cube is eliminated, and Bubble and Ruby are missing! I just want things to go back to the way they were. I was trapped in the EXIT- in Four- for years! YEARS! And this is how I'm welcomed back!?"

"You nearly destroyed the universe for your own selfish needs! You didn't come back asking to be friends or with an apology-- you wanted an alliance! To get you further in the game! That's all you want! That's all you've EVER wanted! And I will NEVER be used like that again!"

"Then what use are you?" Pencil throws Book off.

Book is left shaking. Yea,, she's scared of Pencil but that felt GOOD. She got her feelings out and now Pencil will finally leave her alone.

That's it! Thats the end!!!

[bleachanimefan1]

Bleach Shadow Redux Part 12

Love Confession,

Akari groaned and slowly opened her eyes, and they started to adjust a little to the sunlight, shining into the room from the window beside her.

"Oh, good. You're awake." Akari looked over and saw Unohana smiling down at her. Akari sat up, groaning a little holding her stomach in pain. She saw that she was changed into a white hakama, panicking a little. Her mid-section was covered in bandages as well as her hands. Akari glanced over and saw her shihakusho lying on the floor and sword sitting beside her.

"Where am I?"

"You're in Squad 4's barracks, the medical bay to be exact. You've lost a lot of blood." Unohana told her.

"What about the intruder?" Akari asked Unohana.

"He escaped. The other squads took care of the remaining hollows." Unohana explained. 

"How long have been out for?" Akari asked her.

"Five days." Unohana answered. Akari's eyes widened. "Some of your friends came by every now and then to check on you. The Head Captain and Captain Zaraki, as well." Akari was surprised to hear that her father had come to see her, not that he cared in the first place to begin with. Why did he bother to come? But Kenpachi as well? Akari felt her heart began to beat faster thinking of him.

"Kenpachi?" Akari murmured softly to herself. Why did he come?

"Tell me, what's your relationship with Captain Zaraki?" Unohana asked her a little more serious. Akari blinked, looking at her confused. By the tone of her voice, she sounded a little jealous.

"He's my captain." Akari told her.

"Is that all?" Unohana smiled.

"I admire him." Akari spoke. "Is there something wrong?"

"I'm just looking out for you. Kenpachi Zaraki is a dangerous man." Unohana said, sternly.

"I can handle myself." Akari told her.

"Oh really? Like the other day?"

"That man was a coward and a snake." Akari jabbed back, moving so suddenly. "How am I supposed to know he was going to attack from behind!" She hissed a little in pain, holding her stomach.

"Don't get so worked up. You're still recovering. Although, it is surprising to see your wounds almost healed." Unohana said a little confused then gave Akari a suspicious look.

"What?" Akari tensed up. Unohana stared at her for a few minutes before she shook her head.

"It's nothing. By the way, there is a matter of your shots that you need to get." 

"Shots?" Akari questioned.

"How long has it been since you've had any?" Unohana asked her.

"I don't even know what they are." Akari told her. Unohana smiled, which creeped Akari out a little. She saw the captain walk over and pulled out something from one of the drawers and turned around. Akari's eyes widened, and her mouth dropped seeing a very large needle and syringe. 

Oh, hell no!

"This is it. Now, wait right there while I go and get some of the injections. I'll have Hanataro sit with you until I come back" Unohana told her and she walked out of the room. 

She needed to get out of this place now!

Akari quickly got out of the bed, slipping into her shihakusho and grabbed her sword and immediately went to the window, escaping. A minute later, Hanataro came into the room only to find that it was empty and Akari was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh dear." He sweated a little nervously. He felt a cold chill behind him and slowly turned around to see Unohana with a creepy smile on her face.

"So, she's chosen to run. I'm up for a little chase."

Yumichika was sitting by himself on one of the benches in the Seireiei lost in thought. Akari. Even though he knew she would pull through. She was in Squad 11 after all. But he couldn't help but worry. He liked Akari, but he also liked Seireitei as well. It was driving him nuts! He can't one or the other. The most beautiful woman he's ever met or his long-time best friend...

"Still thinking about her, eh?" Yumichika snapped out of his thoughts and looked up to see Ikkaku walking over to him. Strange. Ikkaku's usually not done training with the other squad members at this hour, mostly beating every single one of them.

"Ikkaku, that was quick. You're done already?" Yumichika smiled, getting up. Ikkaku grinned, walking a little closer, now standing in front Yumichika.

"Yeah, I had something else in mind." Ikkaku replied.

"And what's that?" Yumichika asked him.

"You."

Yumichika blinked, staring at Ikkaku. Did he hear that right? Yumichika laughed, covering his mouth.

"Yes, my astounding beauty has finally gotten the best of you, has it?" He flicked his hair a little.

Suddenly, Yumichika felt himself being pressed back against the wall as Ikkaku leaned forward, placing both hands beside Yumichika's head. He saw Ikkaku gaze staring back into his piercing through is eyes as if staring into his very soul. It sent shivers down Yumichika's spine, getting excited. But something felt off...

"What's gotten into you?" Yumichika spoke, moving Ikkaku's hands away from his face. "You're never this open."

"I've been thinking for a while now. We've been together for a long time. Been through everything together." Ikkaku looked away before scowling in frustration rubbing his head. "Damn it, what I'm trying to say is..." then he looked back at Yumichika. "You mean a lot to me, Yumichika."

Yumichika felt his heart flutter. Then before Yumichika could say anything, Ikkaku pressed his lips against Yumichika's, kissing him. Yumichika's eyes widen in shock, unable to move. Then Yumichika heard Ikkaku made an evil giggle. Yumichika began to feel weaker and weaker as if his life energy was being sucked out of him. This wasn't Ikkaku at all, it was a Shadow hallow! How could he have been so stupid!? Yumichika tried to push Ikkaku off of him but Ikkaku pinned his wrists down. He could barely move his fingers now only embrace the kiss that this fake Ikkaku was giving him as he literally sucked the life out of him. It was so much different than Akari's. Hers were gentler. He didn't want to die here or become one of them! He never got to tell Ikkaku how he felt!

 "Hey! Get off of him!" Yumichika heard Akari screamed out. His eyes snapped open, and he saw her kick the fake Ikkaku off of him. "Ikkaku" was sent flying, and he tumbled on the floor. Yumichika dropped to the ground, panting and coughing as he tried to catch his breath. Akari quickly turned to him. running over to Yumichika.

"Hey, are you okay?" She shook his shoulders.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Yumichika coughed. "Nice to see that you're finally up." The two heard footsteps coming closer and turned and saw Ikkaku running over towards them.

"Hey, what's going on!? I felt Yumichika's spiritual pressure getting weaker all of a sudden!" He called out then Ikkaku noticed the fake version of himself, getting up from the ground.

"Meddlesome brat." the fake Ikkaku spatted out and he ran off. "You'll regret this!"

"You bastard." Ikkaku growled. Akari stopped him.

"No, I'll take care of this. Help Yumichika." She told him and then she went after the hollow, leaving the two.

"Yumichika, are you alright?" Ikkaku said concerned, helping Yumichika up.

"Just peachy." Yumichika retorted.

Akari quickly chased after the shadow hollow, gripping her sword tightly in her hand. They darted from roof top to roof top of the Seireitei. Suddenly, the hollow made a quick turn and Akari flew past him. Damn it! She quickly rounded the corridor, only to find that he had vanished. Akari tried to sense around for its spiritual pressure. It was faint, now heading out further almost outside the Seireitei. She quickly followed after it. After a while, Akari found herself in a clearing.

"I know you're there." Akari spoke. "You're going to pay for what you did to Yumichika!" Then Akari heard rustling from the bushes nearby and quickly turned. Her eyes widen a little, seeing a taller figure step out. Kenpachi.

"Hey, what's going on? Ikkaku and Yumichika told me what happened." He asked her, stepping closer to Akari. 

"Do not come any closer." Akari said, dangerously, stopping Kenpachi in his tracks.

"What, are you threatening me, girl?" Kenpachi smirked, which sent shivers down Akari's spine. Almost like his. Kenpachi began to step closer and closer towards her until he was right in front of her. Akari's sword almost pierced through his chest, cutting it a little. Kenpachi gripped the blade her sword, tightly in his hand.

"Are you scared?"

Akari gripped the sheath of her sword tightly in her hands. This should be easy! It wasn't him. This wasn't the real Kenpachi. "Kenpachi" leaned in closer to her ear, whispering.

"Or maybe you can't do it. You can't hurt the one you care about the most-"

Akari's eyes widened. "Shut up! You don't know anything!" She screamed out loud and she quickly flipped over Kenpachi and sliced the back of his neck before he could react. Kenpachi laughed evilly as he disappeared, vanishing into thin air. Akari stood where she was, her sword trembling at her side. The shadow hollow was right about one thing though. How was she going to fight Kenpachi, now? 

She was in love with him. 

Then Akari heard footsteps in the distance and turned her head and saw Ikkaku, Yumichika, and Kenpachi. Yachiru was riding on his back, peeking over his shoulder. Akari shifted her gaze away from Kenpachi once he met hers.

"Is the hollow taken care of?" Ikkaku asked her.

"Yes. It's done." Akari spoke suddenly and walked past them without another word and left.

[bergeremporium]

Flitcraft Redux

The mask I wore for the Pandemic was one made for me special by a friend who has a way with a needle and thread. Then I lost it. The she made another. Then I found the original again. I guess there’s no harm in having more than one mask. I really only maintained one. Now, I tend not to wear any even though it’s probably smarter to be safe. It’s the Flitcraft Story, all over again, Where you get…

[theropoda]

SO,

-to start off. this is literally just bad fanfic that got published. i can't believe it LMAO

-has a slur count of 5

-high school sophomore drama round the beginning. he has several high school friends, several girlfriends including A Pornstar and a 40 year old. he's 16 yeah. anyways-- feels antithetical to the idea of postal dude, a lone wolf who doesn't have anybody except his dog

-while redux decided to change its ending because it knew that a school shooting in a video game crossed a line in the year 2016,this book from 2015 literally STARTS with a school shooting that's apparently "the third time already"

-take a shot for everything dude is referred to as "the youth" and you WILL speedrun cirrhosis.

-the novel quickly lets you know that pdude has an alcoholic abusive mom, an absent (or dead?) dad albeit he has a nice kind sister (doesnt last long tho LOL) and is the sole provider of this family. dismissed it initially as "oh they're givin him a Sad Traumatic Backstory™©® to explain why he's like that" but it doesn't, really. pdude ends up going postal more because of the events that happen to them alongside some supernatural shit, not just because he has a dysfunctional family

-speaking of supernatural, in an abandoned garage there lives.... something that pdude is feeding and trying to control. he's the "only one who can talk to them". he talks to his friend about plans on "how to use it", and later on a mob discovers it and kidnaps pdude to ask him how to use it as well. he refuses to answer. pdude also occasionally gets visited by shadow figures, sometimestheyre voices in his head, that he seems familiar with and yells at to leave him alone. i can only assume these two things are the same, some demonic entities he's discovered that he was gonna use for his selfish desires but is now turning on him. LIKE it's never fully explained what they are but i surmise that they're something like that. eventually these voices and shadow figures get names: meredith, black ghost and the silver stallion which is literally a vision of a gigantic silver horse in the sky. meredith's full name is revealed to be Meredith grey which.....????? LIKE THE NURSE FROM GREY'S ANATOMY? Girl idfk

-pdude IS diagnosed with schizophrenia later on but it's clear there's still some supernatural element to these entities considering how literal hit men are sent after this kid to take control of these entities

-did i mention he's christian. he's christian and talks about it kind of a lot, he stresses over whether he's being a Good Christian quite often and it's partially why he goes nutso at the end.

-the other part is dealing with family death/illness, abuse and especially poverty. it's apparent he's been dealing with these things for a while but it feels like the supernatural shit is what is really the last needle on the camels back. while i felt it could be done better i did like it cause it feels plausible and realistic for pdude's character (p1 i mean)

-this

-postal dude here is far less postal dude and more, some kid who played the first 2 games and is cosplaying as him tbh like that's what his character is to me LOL. it feels like a very abstract, derived form of the game to the point I really was like.... wtf am i reading man.....

REVIEW: 0/10 could have gotten at least a 1 or 2 if not for the use of the hard r Twice. anyways conceptually this is an interesting novel cause it asks the question: what if we took the setting, characters and zaniness of 2 but combined it with the darker atmosphere and tone of 1? which is cool and awesome. and then completely squanders it by making it about a highschooler???????? ¿ and also it just reads badly. Like im no fucking author but it does genuinely read like juvenile fanfiction. ive read smut more elegantly written than this, although tbh by the fifth or sixth chapter i kinda got used to it.

anyways that's a few hours wasted eh?

finished the postal novel

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Kaiju Week in Review (February 12-18, 2023)

Kadokawa has revealed the core cast and crew of Gamera Rebirth, and everyone's already despairing at Hiroyuki Seshita (co-director of the Godzilla anime trilogy) landing in the director's chair. Worth noting, of course, that those movies were low-budget productions meant to plug the gap between Shin Godzilla and Godzilla: King of the Monsters and thus could afford to experiment, whereas the future of the Gamera franchise is riding on this show. And ENGI seems to be primarily a 2D animation studio—basically, don't expect a redux. I was also amused to see that there are characters named "Joe" and "Brody", which together form the name of Bryan Cranston's character in Godzilla (2014). So one of the writers is probably among the droves who didn't care for how quickly he was killed off.

Here's the latest episode of Godziban, in which Girly Garlin breaks out the bedazzled dual chainsaws and Gigan draws upon his many training sessions with Little in a rematch against King Ghidorah. This is the 13th episode of season 4, matching the length of the last two seasons, but I doubt this is the finale.

Godzilla Rivals: Biollante vs. Destoroyah, the last Godzilla comic currently on IDW's docket, will be released May 10. Nick Marino's writing and Sean Dove's illustrating (huge props already for the stealthy Gamera cameo). Here's the synopsis:

No need for gloom, just drink a BLOOME! There's an irresistible new beverage, Bio-II from BLOOME, that's taken the world by storm. The lives of two unlikely allies collide as they scramble to unlock the sinister secrets behind Bio-II and halt the rebirth of the strangest botanical beast the Earth has ever seen, the blossoming Biollante! Dr. Meena Shyam is a disgraced kaiju researcher whose radical ideas saw her shunned by the scientific community. Needles is a slacker hacker who's just cracked the code behind BLOOME's proprietary recipe. Together, crisscrossing the moonlit hills and bridges of Pittsburgh, they race against the clock to stop Biollante's destruction as they call forth one of the deadliest kaiju of all time, the dastardly Destoroyah!

Destoroyah as the lesser of two evils? I guess it had to happen eventually. High hopes for this; I'm a big fan of the cartoony style, and Bio-II sounds like what Slusho! should've been.

Bandai's You Choose! Toho Kaiju Sovfi Figure! contest has its three semifinalists: Biollante's rose form, Desghidorah, and Zilla. Of the three, Desghidorah interests me the most, though it would be funniest if Zilla won. Voting kicked off yesterday through the Godzilla Store and will last for the rest of the month. This was announced about an hour after midnight Sunday in my time zone, but the vote will nearly be over by the time I post another one of these, so I figured I'd get it out there now.

[judithviolin]

@p-redux Everyone just tries a little too hard. It is fun to imagine; I enjoy it too. There are many reasons why people are where they are; threading the needle so it makes sense is what makes fiction. It is not even known if people "stayed" there. It may have been used only the day - for business. Then, there is fiction.

Everyone from that boat were at the same hotel. Please investigate better. It was a corporate event and all were there. Does that mean he is dating every woman on that boat? No.

I am all for your side of this fandom, but your “detective” work needs work!

Ohai shipper in disguise...hahaha

The one who needs to investigate better is YOU. My Peak Challenge is based in Los Angeles. The staff is based in Los Angeles. Yes, it was a staff event, but since they live in Los Angeles, there was NO need for anyone who lives in L.A. to stay at a hotel. DOH. The ONLY ones who stayed in a hotel were the out of towners: Sam Heughan from Scotland and Susie Evans from Texas.

Let's look at some of the main guests on the Marina Del Rey boat video posted a few days ago with the My Peak Challenge crew.

I won't post a pic of Alex Norouzi because everyone already knows he lives in Los Angeles.

But here is Melanie Raymond, the woman who posted the Marina Del Rey video on her Tik Tok account. This is her role in My Peak Challenge 👇

Here is her Tik Tok account. Where does she live? LOS ANGELES. 👇

Even Sam's long time Scottish friend, Marina Campbell, who was also on the boat NOW lives in Los Angeles aka in SoCal aka Southern California. 👇 Kudos to her for talking like a native now. As an aside: People outside of SoCal say Cali. People in SoCal NEVER say Cali. You can tell someone IS NOT from California if they refer to it as Cali. It's SoCal, dudes. Or I guess if you're in Northern California, it's NorCal. It might as well be a different state though. Now you know.

Here is Melissa Polson, the ONLY one that was on the boat that follows Susie Evans. And she ALSO lives in Los Angeles. Here she is at SoFi Stadium, yes IN Los Angeles. 👇

Here is another MPC crew member who was on the boat. Guess where he lives? LOS ANGELES. 👇 Anon, are you seeing a pattern yet?

My Peak Challenge crew live in Los Angeles. None of them stayed at a hotel, let alone Shutters On The Beach in Santa Monica, one of the MOST expensive hotels in Los Angeles. The MPC crew drove from wherever they live in L.A. to Marina Del Rey where the boat was docked, partied, and then drove home...in Los Angeles.

The only ones who were not from Los Angeles and stayed at a hotel were Susie and Sam. And as I said in a previous post, there is NO reason for Susie to have stayed in a $5,000 a NIGHT suite all by herself. If she was visiting L.A. for whatever reason, and was friends with one of the MPC crew, she would have stayed at one of their houses OR stayed at a $200 a night hotel, like a normal person. But NOPE, our Texas darlin' most definitely stayed in The Beach House $5,000 a night Suite at Shutters On The Beach in Santa Monica 👇 And so did...

One fine, golden, delicious Scotsman named Sam Roland Heughan. 👇

There's the detective work, my friend. 🤷‍♀️😘

[bonefall]

having read a lot of your ideas in one sitting (lol) I'm so excited for your redux of avos. it's not one of my favorite arcs per se, but needletail is one of my favorite characters and I'm confident you can do her justice, especially in making her a POV character!!! With that in mind I was wondering, do you have anything in mind for sleekwhisker? does she stick by the kin to the bitter end like in canon, or does she just become an unwilling participant? does she die early? do you think of her with the possibility of becoming a multifaceted antagonist along breezepelt lines or just a rogue nuisance after the fact? anyway, love your work! keep fighting the good fight!

Thank you so much!! AVoS is going to be the hardest arc to rewrite. I feel like the original arc has such a heinous takeaway that I've actually done things in previous arcs specifically to soften the blow of AVoS; The Sisters, the Tribe, and BloodClan all got a ton of sociological attention to detail so that the Kin would be an outlier.

I mentioned Sleekwhisker once before! I updated this overview post with a link to it, plus the Breezepelt ideas. But I'll talk more specifically about Sleek here

To answer your questions

The Apprentices

There's a specific scene at the start of AVoS that bugs me, where Sleekwhisker basically says, "It doesn't matter where a person is born" and it's kinda framed like it's... bad? Especially in the context of saying this to Alderheart, both Tigerkin and kittypet-blooded (through Jessie in this rewrite), who is anxious at his first Gathering.

It SHOULD be a radical statement, but one born out of goodness. In general, the ShadowClan apprentices don't actually believe in any principles and that bothers me.

So I want to approach them, and Sleekpaw at their head, as being CORRECT about some of their initial ideas.

They're sick of not being helped by other Clans. They're tired of the way they're subjected to bad leaders. They hate being told they can't have outsider friends. They're right. They don't know how to word their discontent but they DO HAVE LEGITIMATE REASONS FOR FEELING HOW THEY DO

But the problem was Darktail. They trusted the wrong person, someone who exploited them for his own gains. He creates a coalition of ex-DF trainees, discontented young cats, half-clanners, and exploits them like a cult.

Sleekwhisker

So, with her, I want to thread a needle (heh). The person at the beginning of AVoS would HATE the person she eventually becomes. At the start of AVoS, Sleekpaw is the leader of the ShadowClan apprentices, the brightest, a rising prodigy. She speaks about how the Clans aren't so different, how it shouldn't matter where you're born, and how "something has to be done".

If it wasn't for Darktail, if someone had been able to save her, Sleekwhisker might have even been a new Firestar.

But that's not what happens. Over time, Darktail changes her into his right-hand man, slowly turning her against her friends and her ideals. This culminates in her drowning Needletail.

See though, I'm not sure what the steps are for that yet though. Hollyleaf over in Bonefall Po3 has a pretty decent 'roadmap' for how she gets from the prodigal apprentice she was at the beginning to the murderous, revenge-seeking warrior she will become. But Sleekwhisker? I don't have that yet.

Just a knowledge of the character arc I want her to have, in the end.

And I know that Breezepelt will see Sleekwhisker specifically, and recognize himself in her. I think that should really twist his gut, to know that he was complicit in the destruction of this young warrior. Just like the adults in his life were to him, just one arc before.

Other Stuff

I would like to make it official that Sleekwhisker and Raven are an item, but I've been making sure there's lots of other gay rep before I do that.

I have three solid MLM couples (Smokefoot x Talonclaw, Runningwind x Redtail, Stonepelt x Weedwhisker)

One solid WLW couple (Sunstrike x Furzepelt)

And a lot of other queer dynamics (Bluestar @ Oakheart & Lizardstripe, Hollyleaf's Secret Tunnel Friends, Ivypool and Blossomfall, Aroace Firestar, whatever the hell is going on between Brokenstar and Runningnose, Sparkpelt and Hollylark, Mothwing)

But I want more solid, healthy WLW couples before adding Sleekwhisker x Raven officially. Maybe my standards are just too high? In any case I intend for them to be a couple.

And to answer some more of your questions more directly;

-How long does she stick with the Kin?

To the bitter end, like canon. She's too far gone and can't be saved; and in any future appearances will continue to be a problem in some capacity.

We're going to have to see what the future arcs do with her, too. As you know, I stick close to canon and rework the major events, and Sleekwhisker is still out there in the world. There's a chance, in any given new book, that she could pop up again; so I can't work her into the TBC arc, or even ASC when it's complete if she doesn't pop up.

I will say though if we go through enough arcs that it does look like they've just utterly dropped her as a character, the Bonefall Rewrite WILL give her an actual conclusion to her arc.

-Rogue Nuisance or Multifaceted Antagonist?

Well, to begin with, the Kin has a LOT less non-Clan rogues. I'm capping them to 6, not including Darktail himself. Most of them are going to be warrior-named and Clanborn; I am not going to tolerate the idea that every villain can just conjure up a bunch of random rogue bodies to use for Nefarious Deeds.

(Kin starter pack: Flame, Nettle, Rain, Raven, Roach, Dragonfly. Consider all others cut; IF Zelda, Loki, and Max don't get chopped they will be combined with Jacques and Susan.)

So if Sleekwhisker is ever a 'rogue nuisance' it'll always be with the backing of the Kin remnants, and she's the leader of this faction.

Sooo... thinking about it now, hey, maybe she can eventually change over time as she actually learns to lead this group. We'll see how the modern arcs go, and if there's a random new character somewhere who could become an older, wisened Sleekwhisker... or, an aged, even crueler Sleekwhisker. We'll see.