#simply one hell of a post

[drippyantagonistsltd]

A frame of Undertaker from the recently resurrected anime “Kuroshitsuji”, edited to have him hold a Monster Energy Ultra Paradise.

This concludes my post, thank you for your time.

I’m sure Twisted Wonderland is nice but I need more manga :,)

[sweetmapple]

Communion

[cedric-k-rossignol]

[rainbow-taishi]

Cursed post

[artfulacrostic]

memes for daredevil: born again 1x04: sic semper systema

i have way too many thoughts abt this weeks ep and my brain is too tired from writing final papers to articulate them tonight so i will be posting meta perhaps on the morrow but in the meantime i could not contain myself fully so here lmao

+ bonus:

[smartzelda]

Sorry guys I gotta speak my truth on this one

I'm not kidding when I say that I think that blaming shit media literacy from fans on shipping/shippers avoids the actual root of the problem to throw people you can easily throw under the bus (simply because it's not unpopular to consider people who post about ships or ship characters in media as having lesser or derivative tastes by default)

And here's why.

I think when you blame people who are "shippers" or "consume media through shipping lenses", the true root of it all is a mindset problem.

In actually, putting on shipping lenses can be helpful when trying to analyze a piece of media. When analyzing media you're supposed to approach it through a number of mindsets and put on different lenses (both to deepen your personal understanding of the media, and to pick it apart and see what you can find there (whether intentional or not on the author's part)), and different ships can be some of those lenses

When it comes to ships between main characters (for those who are genuinely willing to see what the narrative is showing with their relationship and what it's doing), there are times when analyzing it from a shipping lens may be helpful. As someone from KH fandom, I have seen people come to deeper understandings and pick canon apart in the process of analyzing a relationship that is genuinely integral to the story (platonic or not). I've also seen people get into rarepairs of characters who barely interact or who just suffer little screen time, and I've seen them come to better understandings of those side characters and how they potentially fit into the world of the media simply because people are now focusing on these characters and how they fit into the narrative.

Frankly, I resent the idea that the only way to truly objectively analyze a piece of media is by turning off the part of your brain that gets excited over relationships and individual characters. Don't get me wrong, that is a way to approach a piece of media and a valid one at that, but the truth is that we cannot be free of bias.

For instance, I was watching House MD with my parents circa last year. At some point I started heavily tuning into what was going on with House and Wilson's relationship. My parents, on the other hand, were largely watching casually. They're not thinking of character relationships or getting heavily invested in most characters, they're watching because they like watching. One of them in particular did try to analyze things that were happening in the show as they happened. However, when it came to the scene late in the series where House threw out Dominika's letter approving her American citizenship, my parents could understand that he was doing that because he didn't want her to leave, but not much beyond that. I ended up explaining to them that House's fake marriage for Dominika was an explicit parallel to when Wilson was living with House in the early seasons. Both situations started with House being none too happy about it but ultimately letting them stay, spending a considerable amount of effort getting them to leave/getting this situation to be finally over so he didn't have to deal with it anymore, and then by the time a piece of news comes through that would mean the person in question actually leaves, House hides this news as long as he can. Because he doesn't actually want them to leave and has grown attached. And by doing this he became a self fulfilling prophecy. By reacting to the truth of Wilson and Dominika leaving him the way he does, he seals his fate and they ultimately leave anyways. Maybe I ship Hilson, but becoming open to how their relationship was handled allowed me to transition to doing character studies and recognizing patterns/parallels that I wouldn't have noticed if I didn't particularly care about the characters or their relationship.

Likewise, I've seen mutuals complain about how people who don't like or don't care about certain characters often overlook these characters (what they're actually like and their place in the narrative), while the mutuals in question (by default) are able to come to deeper understanding of what the writers/story is trying to do because they care about this funky guy

You can't eradicate bias when you're engaging in media analysis, but you can consciously put on a range of lenses and observe the media through different povs with the goal of understanding the media better or bolstering your reading of it. And those lenses/povs can include focusing on specific relationships or the perpective of certain characters

And this is why I say it's actually a mindset problem. Shippers and people who have this one blorbo they like a lot aren't inherently terrible "fandom brained individuals" who are the root of media analysis problems. The problem only arises when people's readings/analysis of a piece of media are inherently restrictive/narrow and self centered. Your problem is with people who view a piece of media through a ship they like but don't keep an open mind about it, and whose "media analysis"/views on canon cannot be split from fanon and their comfortability levels. These are the people whose "media analysis" starts and ends with justifying their fanon as canon, whose views on media revolve around sorting characters and relationships into categories they personally enjoy rather than trying to understand what's going on.

Here's another example.

Here we have a fictional ship we'll call uhhhh...Blanebin. this fictional ship I made up on the spot for characters that don't exist named Blane and Corbin

Person A is super into Blanebin. They're part of the main cast of characters and canonically childhood best friends, so person A (as much as they enjoy fanart and fic) is also enjoying analyzing how narratively important to each other they are. Recently, Corbin started dating another character in canon, but Person A is enjoying watching how Blane is reacting to this. "Is this potentially a tell that Blane is jealous or is having complicated feelings about this? What if he was, how would that contextualize his behavior this season? Here's what I think based on how Blane dealt with explicit jealousy last season in a different situation". It's not impossible that person A is still missing further understanding due to their obsession with Blanebin, but at the end of the day this obsession has allowed them to start picking through the characters both in and outside this relationship. It has allowed them to see potential subtext and theorize on what might happen next with these characters' relationship. Not to mention that with addition of Corbin dating someone else, instead of trying to erase this fact or state that Corbin canonically isn't into that person, Person A is trying to factor in how Corbin's current dating life affects his relationship with Blane (irregardless on personal views on the nature of Corbin's relationship with the person he's dating).

Person B is also super into Blanebin. They really enjoy fanart and fic of the characters, love obsessing over their moments together, and just feel like there's really something between the characters. To person B, every moment between them is just further proof that the writers are ship teasing them. But Corbin getting together with someone else this season? Oh that pissed person B off. They cannot believe that even though Corbin and Blane are CLEARLY gay for each other the writers had Corbin get with someone else this season. Perhaps, they think, it was even a decision specifically made to spite fans. How evil of the writers to tease a perfectly good ship and then have them not get together first? They must have been just doing those teases to get views from Blanebin shippers those scoundrels. To Person B, since Corbin started dating someone when he obviously has some chemistry with Blane (even though the series is far from over) means that Blanebin can never get together now and Corbin x person he's dating is ruining Blanebin by existing. In fact, they think, this is terrible writing for Corbin to be dating someone else because they don't like that relationship and don't see the point. Obviously if the writers were good then Corbin would have started dating Blane instead because this was supposed to be the Blanebin show.

Person C despises Blanebin. Don't get them wrong, they've always enjoyed the character's childhood friendship, but they actually have always thought Blane would have been better off with Victoria. They have a lot of moments too! But they're tired of seeing people ship Blanebin. Corbin just got together with someone else, so obviously that's not gonna work out. Plus Corbin and Blane totally has always given person C bro vibes. In fact, person C thinks, sure Corbin and Blane have a close friendship, but people shouldn't be shipping them. Person C likes Blanetoria and Blanetoria can't be canon if Corbin is in the way of it. So Person C likes to read Blanebin as siblings anyways. Sure they're canonically friends, but obviously their friendship turned into brotherhood. This means that nothing can be in the way of Blanetoria and Corbin can keep dating the person he's already canonically dating. Actually, now Blanebin just straight up makes Person C uncomfortable. Don't the pesky shippers understand that Blanebin are sibling coded because they're childhood best friends and that they're important to each other because they're brothers? It's obvious to anyone with eyes.

Sure, ships are involved here, but is the root of this problem shipping? Character A isn't as knowledgeable of other characters in the plot due to this lens they're using, but at the end of the day they're dedicated to analysis. Their love of the characters is pushing them beyond what they like or dislike to try to understand what might be happening through their lens. Not perfect, but they are slowly broadening their horizons. But Person B and C's problems here are their restrictiveness. What is or should be canon to them is tantamount to what they personally like or find comfortable. Is person C actually analyzing the this fake show when they decide to "read" Blanebin as basically canonically siblings (and this all of their moments are totally a bro thing) just because they don't like Blanebin and the idea of them getting together over Blanetoria makes them uncomfortable? Is person B actually analyzing this fake show when their "analysis" of Blanebin goes only as far as asserting it's being ship teased and deciding anything short of canonizing Blanebin is a targeted attack or "bad writing" because it's not what they wanted personally to happen?

This is what I'm talking about. This is the mindset. Shipping isn't the problem. The problem is when people marry fanon and canon to the point where they have a vested interest in superimposing their fanon over canon as "a reading" and trying to make "collective decisions" on what is canon (or what canon is trying to say) based on what does or doesn't make them uncomfortable. The problem is people being restrictive and centering their own likes and dislikes in the conversation, so they can only interact with canon "analysis" wise by deciding what is canon or should be canon "as obviously agreed on by everyone". You can't simply claim you like media analysis. To be able to analyze media and bolster your views on any given canon, you must be open to looking at it through multiple povs, to studying characters without trying to pretend things you don't like don't exist or do like do exist. There is a balance that must be kept between trying to keep objectivity and putting on specific focus/bias based upon the lenses you're putting on. You have to be willing to try to figure out what a media is doing or saying, not saying you're trying to figure out what it's saying while in actuality trying to define the narrative around what people believe it's saying in ways that suit you.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[happypeachsludgeflower]

In an au where your soulmate’s name is on one wrist, your soulnemesis is on the other, Luo Binghe has Shen Qingqiu on both. Too bad he can’t tell that it’s two different people with the same name!!

[ghostinacardboardbox]

CC is one of my new favourite things ever but ill respect your dislike of it far more than i ever will going "I'm not saying you cant criticise the musical but" then express discomfort with people calling out the antisemitism

CC is my least favorite Starkid show ever but I'll respect your appreciation of it far more than I ever will people who go "there's nuance here" in a post that is fully just using polite language to shut down criticism. I genuinely don't know what's so hard about this.

Anyway it's been a Rough Time to be in the Starkid fandom and actually want to complain about things I disliked in a show I was incredibly excited for. Somehow having literally any issues with the show at all means I must be someone who is only here for Hatchetfield and is just trying to bully Starkid back into doing Hatchetfield stuff. Piss on the poor website.

[rae-pss]

i never fail to go back to making this gifs, 'cause i genuinely adore them so much (😭✨).

[drippyantagonistsltd]

I figured out what my bastardized ai wrapped was trying to tell me.

[mostlyonthefloor]

Jasmine and Lief swap AU (Jasmine the heir, Lief growing up in the Forests of Silence) where Lief was actually called Leif (Layf) but Barda and Jasmine misheard him and thought it was very appropriate that a boy from the forest was called Leaf and Lief can't be bothered to correct them and so nothing comes of it until Doom hits his head and starts going 'My darling son ... my Layf...' and Barda and Jasmine are like your Who Now

[bodyofvvater]

hey gang, i’m back with a new and unreasonably long chapter of my jayvik fic, if anyone should feel inclined to read it 🙂‍↕️

[iambecomeahamburger]

Sweeney Todd (2023) textposts n stuff 8

yeah its just them again SORRY

[localthumbcache]

Max doesn't only train to be a good thief, but to also be efficient at cryptid hunting. He's convinced himself that Yamachan is not a minimum wage worker in a costume, but in fact a yokai. I could imagine him literally TACKLING that poor thing with such inhuman force omg (canon event). He's never been to Mt. Komorebi ...yet.... but once he does, it will be his first and last time going bc he will get banned due to his shenanigans.

He drives himself mad with these conspiracies and monster research. I mean he literally wants to disect Father Winter... with uh. questions. He wants to get to know him! Yeah :)

[victorluvsalice]

AU Thursday: Not-As-Vague-As-I-Anticipated Thoughts On A Valicer Ghostbusters AU Part Two!

Aaand we're back! :D So, we left off with the gang dealing with Edna Strickland being a jerk and trying to get them shut down while they're trying to bust ghosts and figure out what the hell is going on with the paranormal activity in the town -- here's where we go from there:

-->After meeting with the mayor and getting semi-officially sanctioned, the group retrieves the device that Jennifer found at the concert venue, and determines that it's the exact same kind as the one they found in the subway. Meaning Bumby was almost certainly the one who planted it and summoned that bat-ghost-thing to terrorize everyone. Alice complains that she wishes she could have caught the bastard in the act, then wonders "why the hell is he even doing this?" Doc says he can't be sure why Bumby specifically might want to do this, but tells her that, in his book, he'd advanced a theory that summoning ghosts to raise the psychokinetic energy (PKE) level of an area might allow one to open portals to other times, or even other dimensions (that sort of thing, particularly time travel, is another one of his interests -- whole reason he bought the DeLorean, its stainless steel construction makes it ideal as a potential time machine). Alice's first thought after hearing that is "okay, I can see him wanting to find a portal back to the past to make sure I don't survive the fire so he never gets caught" --

But Clara's first thought is "fuck, what if he joined the same Destroyer cult that built my apartment building? Or a group worshiping some other terribly-destructive god, and he's trying to open up a passage for them?" Everyone agrees that either possibility would be bad --

-->So, in between more busts (with Doc getting concerned that Edna might actually have a point about their storage methods, as the current containment unit is getting preeeetty full), the gang hit the books to study time travel and eldritch gods! They quickly come to the conclusion that, if Bumby's trying to create a time portal, he's not going about it in the most efficient way (Doc is only TOO happy to go on about his own ideas about a "flux capacitor" that would help store and release the energy needed to create a stable temporary wormhole to the past or future) -- but if he's trying to summon a god, well...there are worse ways to get one's attention. Cue them researching and making notes on as many of them as they can find, including Gozer (responsible for at least one gnarly ancient disaster that wiped out two civilizations; Clara's fridge monster Zuul is one of two "terror dogs" that is sent ahead whenever it's summoned to help open the way by possessing two unfortunate people and forcing them to be intimate -- everyone agrees that is very gross), Cthulhu (yes, that one -- everyone is a little disturbed that Lovecraft was apparently describing a real creature sleeping in the ocean, but fortunately it seems he won't be waking up any time soon due to the very specific astrological phenomena necessary to start the rituals) --

And Mar-Mal. An apparent god of pure happiness that, when summoned by a cult back in the 60s, did indeed make all of the participants in the ritual happy...so happy that none of them actually ate or drank on their own anymore. As you might imagine, the entire cult quickly died of starvation and dehydration. Alice is like "Well, this is why you don't trust extradimensional beings calling themselves gods, especially one of happiness" --

But oddly, Smiler rises to Mar-Mal's defense, pointing out that "well, they weren't human -- maybe they simply didn't realize that 'hunger' and 'thirst' were necessary to keep humans alive. I can't see a god of HAPPINESS deliberately killing their followers, can you?" Alice allows the point but retorts that all those people still died and they don't want a repeat, which Smiler does firmly agree with. And so the studies continue...

-->And then. One evening, Clara is sitting alone in her apartment, watching some TV and just generally relaxing after a long day -- when suddenly she hears weird noises coming from her fridge. Turning, she sees the door undulating, bulges appearing all over it...as if something is trying to claw its way through. Oh shit, she thinks --

And yanks the trap that she took from work out from under her chair, because she was expecting some bullshit sooner or later, and she wanted to be prepared! Her chair does attack her a minute later, spinning around as arms explode out to restrain her, but she manages to throw the trap down in front of her --

And when Zuul flings open the fridge and tries to drag her into it, slams on the foot pedal. Zuul is promptly sucked into the trap, howling and screaming all the while. The arms disappear, and Clara takes a moment to collect her wits and make sure the terror dog is secured before calling Doc to let him know what just happened --

And learning that he just caught the other terror dog, one Vinz Clortho. Who made the mistake of trying to attack him at Ghostbusters headquarters (Doc was having a late night tinkering with some tech). Yeah, uh, Vinz lasted about three seconds against him. XD She and Doc dump the terror dogs into the containment unit, and the next day, the group has a little celebration over stopping the return of Gozer, as all their research has indicated that the Destructor can't come into their reality if its terror dogs don't open the way.

-->And THEN. A few days later, some of the gang -- let's say Doc, Marty, Alice, and Clara -- bust a particularly nasty ghost at one of the local hotels, and find another one of the devices Bumby's been putting around the city in the room where it spawned. They show it to the owner of the hotel, and explain who they think is the culprit --

And the owner goes, "Wait, Angus Bumby? Tall, kind of bony fellow with a thick brown beard? Glasses? Permanently kind of condescending? That's our janitor."

Alice promptly laughs her head off because she knows that oh boy, being a janitor must rankle someone who once commanded respect as a psychiatrist and philanthropist, and leads the charge down to his little basement office to confront him. Bumby attempts to play innocent and throw Alice's mental state into question, but the other Ghostbusters make it very clear that they know its him and that they believe Alice over his lies. Alice informs him that she's looking forward to dragging him back to the authorities so he can finally face justice --

Only for Bumby to go "I don't think so" and promptly electrocute himself. Everyone is rather "holy shit WTF" about that, as you might imagine. O.O The police are called, and while his death is ruled a suicide, it does prompt another meeting with Mayor Wilson, who isn't exactly pleased that somebody died during one of their busts. Neither is Edna, who happily accuses them of murdering Bumby and making it look like a suicide -- Marty has to be restrained from attacking her, while Alice is like "trust me, if I'd murdered him, you'd know I'd murdered him." Things don't really improve from there, and the four leave the meeting in poor spirits, worried that Edna will get her way and the mayor will shut them down...

-->And then, when they get back to the station and report to the others what happened, Victoria essentially goes, "Does anyone else think it's slightly suspicious that the man who was so obsessed with summoning nasty ghosts all over the place killed himself?" Everyone agrees that that is suspicious, and Doc and Smiler head down to the local police station to see if they can get their hands on any of Bumby's personal effects. Turns out, among the items in his office was a copy of Doc's book! Smiler is able to sway one of the officers into handing it over (claiming the Ghostbusters would be better qualified to investigate any supernatural phenomena Bumby was studying), and take it back to headquarters for everyone to study --

And discover a bunch of scribbled notes from Bumby, revealing that his plan was to plant the devices on various ley lines around the city, summon ghosts to increase the PKE in Hill Valley and center it on -- what else -- Clara's apartment building (taking advantage of the fact that it was already supposed to be an antenna for the stuff), then use that energy to try and turn himself into a godlike being. And that killing himself was always a part of said plan -- shedding his mortal body so he could absorb the PKE better. However, studying the map that Bumby drew and his notes, Doc is able to determine that he wasn't able to hit every ley line -- they found out about him midway through his attempt, and forced him to put the "kill myself" part of his plan into effect early. Alice is certain that Bumby's going to try and come back as a ghost to finish what he started, though, and she, Doc, Marty, Victor, and Smiler decide to head out and investigate all the spots on the map Bumby didn't already check off, just to see if there's been any suspicious activity at any of them. Clara, Jennifer, Victor, and Emily agree to hold down the fort, and the other five pile into Doc's van and do their tour. They are deeply relieved to find no ghostly Bumbys or ionizing devices at any of them --

-->But. While they're out, Edna Strickland appears with a bunch of cops, declaring that she's determined the group are massive frauds, she's not going to let the mayor be taken in by them anymore, and that she is shutting the Ghostbusters down. Clara, Jennifer, Victoria, and Emily of course loudly object and try to stop her, but she had the police restrain them and then goes down and shuts off the containment unit, declaring this "nonsensical farce" over --

And cue a MASSIVE blast of PKE exploding out of the roof of the building as all of the ghosts the gang have caught are released at once. Followed by a ghost Bumby (having just snuck into the building, hoping to possess one of the Busters to continue his work) materializing, thanking a dumbfounded Edna, and then rushing off to Clara's apartment building, as of course that's where all the energy is being attracted to. The other Busters arrive just in time to see the light show and furiously throw Edna and the police out, then the entire team suits up in preparation for going to fight the threat --

-->Aaand cue Slimer stealing the DeLorean and nearly running a few of them over. And when Marty goes to blast the car to stop him, Doc is like "NO NO NO THERE'S A FUSION ENGINE ON THE BACK OF IT!!!" Turns out he and Clara had a breakthrough on one of his old designs, and yeah, managed to stick a fusion engine (partially built out of an old coffee grinder, of all things) on the back of the DeLorean to power some of its ghostbusting tech. As you might imagine, the others are all like "as if we didn't have ENOUGH to worry about!!" However, there's not much they can do about it, and Doc says there shouldn't be a nuclear explosion unless Slimer really wrecks the damn thing (he made DAMN SURE his shielding was good), so they decide to focus on the "Bumby trying to become a ghost god" threat first and head toward Clara's apartment building --

-->Which involves going through the town square. Which, thanks to the intense amount of PKE in the area, now keeps flickering between various versions of itself (naturally, the versions from 1885, 1955, 1985, and 2015) -- and is CHOCK FULL of various ghosts and other supernatural entities from those periods. All of which seem very interested in taking out the Ghostbusters. The gang does their best to fight off as many as they can with their proton packs and traps, but there's just too many of the damn things, and for a minute it looks like they'll be overwhelmed --

And then Alice, after getting her proton wand knocked out of her hands, somehow manifests a ghostly version of her Vorpal Blade and manages to slash the ghost in front of her. Turns out that, thanks to some latent psychic powers in her bloodline, she can use the high levels of PKE in the area to turn her hallucinations semi-real -- real enough to hurt the monsters, anyway! Cue her summoning up her arsenal and going to town on the creatures threatening her and her friends. The ability turns out to be a bit of a double-edged sword, as she also starts manifesting some of the enemies she usually fights in Wonderland (notably some Ruin monsters), but THOSE prove to be vulnerable to the Ghostbusters' tech, due to how they were created, and working together, the gang manages to fight their way through the town square and to Clara's apartment building!

-->Where they find not one, but two problems -- at the base of the building is a weird vortex, apparently opened up by the sudden influx of PKE into the local ley lines, that's just spewing yet more extradimensional entities into the area and keeping the PKE levels high; and at the top seems to be some sort of supernatural storm, which they guess is Bumby gathering energy to ascend himself to godhood. It's quickly agreed to divide the party, with Clara, Jennifer, Emily, and Victoria staying at the bottom to find a way to deal with the vortex, and Doc, Marty, Victor, Alice, and Smiler climbing to the roof to deal with Bumby. Goodbyes are exchanged, with Doc making sure Clara has a walkie-talkie so they can keep in contact, and the two groups set about their tasks.

-->After a long climb, Team Rooftop find their way to said roof, where they find Bumby, much larger than before and looking disturbingly like his Dollmaker persona from Wonderland (Alice is not pleased). The team manage to restrain him with their proton pack beams, but he proves to be a little too large and powerful to go into the standard trap. Bumby breaks free and taunts them about trying to take on a god as they try to recapture him --

And then a glowing portal opens up behind him, two familiar terror dogs appear and each grab a limb, and a massive burst of lightning shoots through the portal and absolutely shreds him. Moments later, GOZER walks through the portal, having used the influx of PKE into the antenna to bypass their usual requirements to enter this realm. The horrified group try to hit the god with their beams, but Gozer simply shrugs them off and shoots lightning at them too, sending them flying to the very edge of the roof --

-->Where something catches them. Alice theorizes that Gozer doesn't want to give up its playthings too soon, but Victor notes that Gozer actually seems a little puzzled by this turn of events --

And then Smiler announces that they want to try talking to Gozer, and all questions of how they survived are dropped in favor of trying to talk them out of it. Smiler's insistent, though, and -- after telling Victor and Alice that, no matter how this goes, they want them to know they love them -- they get up and approach Gozer, politely asking it to vacate their world and head back to its home point of origin or the nearest alternate dimension. Gozer laughs and asks mockingly, "Are you a god?" And Smiler responds, with a big grin --

"Yup!" Everyone's like "WTF?!" with Marty in particular being "Smiler, you don't make those claims without being able to back them up--"

-->And then the clouds above them start turning yellow and black and twisting into spirals. And a steady "ha ha ha, HA HA HA" fills the air around them. And Smiler's form begins to fuzz out around the edges a little bit, revealing, among other things, strange twisting tentacles emerging from them...and wrapping around the others, keeping them away from the edge of the roof.

Yup, in a possibly-shocking twist, it turns out Smiler is INDEED a fucking god, and they are kind of pissed that Gozer just tried to kill the people they love. Cue the pair fighting while the shocked Ghostbusters try to figure out what the HELL is going on (and keep the terror dogs off Smiler because, well, they want them to win)...

-->And then cut to Team Vortex, blissfully oblivious to this and desperately trying to figure out how to close the PKE portal! After taking some readings, Clara is able to determine that, if they could drop something sufficiently explosive into the portal and detonate it, they could force it to reverse its flow and start sucking IN all the ghosts and monsters and PKE around the shop, which would at least start fixing the problem. There's a brief discussion on whether or not they should sacrifice their proton packs to the cause --

And then Slimer drives by in the stolen DeLorean and they're like "...yeah, the fusion engine mounted on the back of that thing would totally work, wouldn't it?" Cue them chasing down the DeLorean; Emily using Ecto-1's gunner seat to get close enough to Slimer to trap him and force him out of the driver's seat; then Emily climbing into the DeLorean herself from said gunner's seat and gunning it toward the portal. She manages to throw herself clear at the last second as the DeLorean plunges in, and a shot from Clara's proton pack explodes the Mr. Fusion she and Doc worked up --

-->And success! The vortex does indeed switch from "blow" to "suck," dragging in all the ghosts and monsters that it was previously spewing out. The girls take a moment to celebrate as Emily gets back to her feet --

And then one of the monsters grabs her and drags her into the vortex as a final "fuck you" to the ladies. A horrified Victoria immediately grabs the nearest rope, ties it around herself, throws the other end to Clara and Jennifer, and dives into the portal to rescue her. She does manage to successfully wrestle Emily away from the creature, and Clara and Jennifer do manage to successfully to haul them both out, but the trip ends up having some -- interesting side effects. Specifically, poor Emily's skin and hair turn bright blue for some reason (Victoria's hair also changes color, but for her it's luckily just a lightening of her brown hair into a more gray shade). Emily isn't exactly pleased, but has to admit it's better than being dead or trapped with all those ghosts.

-->Back on the rooftop, the fight between Smiler and Gozer continues -- but while it was previously fairly evenly matched, the vortex below suddenly going from spewing out monsters and PKE to sucking them in ends up weakening Gozer, and Smiler gains the upper hand. Smiler starts forcing it back toward its portal, declaring that there is no way Gozer can destroy the world now --

But then, for some reason, Gozer beams and declares "THE FORM HAS BEEN CHOSEN" before disappearing. Baffled, Team Rooftop is like "what form? Chosen by who?" for a minute before the ground starts shaking --

-->And then, up the street, the giant form of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man appears. Turns out Smiler had a joking thought about Gozer being reduced to using an advertising mascot like Stay-Puft at its current power levels while trying to get it to leave, and Gozer was like "fuck, I'll take it." The girls on the ground also see this and are like "what the FUCK" -- Doc explains the situation to Clara via walkie-talkie and asks what she did to the vortex to stop it empowering Gozer. She explains how they sacrificed the car, and everyone starts wondering if there's anything they could do that's similar to stop Gozer --

-->And then Victor suggests crossing the streams. Marty is like "uh, hey, remember when Doc told us that was a VERY BAD idea," but Victor explains his thought: basically, if they fire into the portal Gozer opened up, and THEN cross them, the whole "every molecule freezing, then exploding" thing Doc warned them about should happen to GOZER'S dimension, not theirs. Doc thinks it's a likely possibility, and Smiler backs him up, causing everyone to admit that Smiler would probably know, given THEY'RE A GOD TOO. Doc suggests to Clara that she and Team Vortex do the same thing with the vortex to try and shut it for good, and the two teams cross the streams into their respective portals --

-->Aaand it works! Both portal and vortex close, and Gozer-as-StayPuft violently explodes into a massive rain of marshmallow. (Doc: [contacting Clara over the walkie-talkie] Are you okay?! Clara: Well, I feel like a s'more...) Team Rooftop make their way down to reunite with Team Vortex and make sure everyone is all right, and everyone agrees that they really just want to go home, get the marshmallow off, and maybe then just lie in bed for a few days --

-->But then the same police officers who showed up to take them to the Mayor the first time at the concert show up again to do the same thing. Though they hastily assure everyone -- including the gathering citizenry, who do not look like they're about to take any bullshit -- that they are not ARRESTING the heroes of the city, the Mayor just wants to see them.The group agrees to go, and after working their way through the cheering crowed, get in the provided cars and head to Town Hall --

Where Mayor Wilson greets them kindly, thanks them for saving the city ("even with all the collateral damage -- hope you all like paperwork!"), and apologizes for Edna's role in this disaster, assuring them that she has been fired for it. (Marty: "About goddamn time!") Wilson then says that he has plans to give them a Proper Official License, and a bigger, better facility -- Doc says they like the firehouse as their "main office," but he would enjoy having a bigger, more secure building dedicated to containment. Mayor Wilson is more than happy to fund that! They chat a bit about logistics, and then Wilson sends them all back to the firehouse to rest, clean up, and get ready to re-bust all the ghosts that got released.

-->And then, once they're back at the firehouse, and everyone is no longer covered in marshmallow and in a somewhat-better state of mind than they were earlier, Marty turns to Smiler and is like, "Um. So. The eldritch god thing? Wanna explain that?" Smiler says yes, they can --

Only for Alice to cut in with "you're Mar-Mal, aren't you?" Turns out she'd guessed after seeing Smiler in action and remembering how they defended the god's actions during that summoning they read about earlier. Smiler confirms they are, and reiterates that they NEVER meant to hurt those people, much less kill them. The problem was just as they said -- Smiler had no human form back then, and thus no idea how humans worked. They only saw that hunger and thirst seemed to be stopping those in the cult from being fully happy, so they removed the feelings. They were utterly HORRIFIED when their followers died as a result, and decided they had to try and figure out what it was to be human before they bestowed any more blessings. So they took on their Smiler form...

And ended up really loving being human. So much so that the fight with Gozer was the first time they'd gone back to any of their eldritch ways in quite a while. They apologize for not saying anything earlier, pointing out that they were pretty sure they weren't going to be believed (everyone goes "yes, that's fair"), then offer to leave if they make the others uncomfortable...

-->And the other Busters are all like "we'd prefer you not to go THAT far." Because, well, while this is a huge revelation for everyone to adjust to, the fact of the matter is they all still consider Smiler a friend. And it doesn't hurt that Smiler actively saved Doc, Marty, Victor, and Alice's lives on the rooftop, and fought very hard indeed to help save the world. Smiler is relieved, as they didn't really want to go, and says they'd be happy to help Doc with his studies, which he appreciates, and answer any questions they have. (First questions consist of Doc asking "so why didn't the PKE meters pick up on your nature?" Smiler: "Well, you did calibrate them when I was in the room, so..." and Marty asking "Hey, why did you get spooked by the ghost in the library if you're a freaking eldritch god?" Smiler: "I may be a god, but that doesn't mean I can't get startled!")

-->Later, in private, Smiler also asks Victor and Alice if they're interested in continuing their relationship, making sure to reiterate they're not going force them into anything. Victor says it's going to take some getting used to, but he does want to stay with Smiler, and Alice says that, as long as she has a promise from Smiler that they won't mess with their minds or bodies, she's willing to give it a try. Smiler swears they won't do anything that the pair don't want them to do, and the trio resume their relationship with just a few bumps as the humans get used to being partnered with an eldritch being. (Which does have some benefits, including Smiler now being able to use their powers a bit to improve any Sexy Fun Times they have...)

-->And so the Ghostbusters become an Officially Licensed City Service! Going around, busting loads of ghosts, and studying them to find the best ways to contain them and hopefully help them move on. Helped by the fact that Smiler can now be more open about being an eldritch being, of course. Probably the hypothetical "epilogue" chapter would be set a little ways in the future, with Doc and Clara married and balancing their Buster duties with taking care of a young Jules; Marty and Jennifer also married and having transitioned to part-time busting so Marty can continue getting his band off the ground and Jennifer can do some stuff with her art; Victoria and Emily planning their wedding in between helping train new Ghostbusters (since it's now a viable career path in Hill Valley); and Smiler, Alice, and Victor still as full-time Busters, living together now and still very much in love. With Smiler sometimes freaking out the new hires by using their tentacles to grab stuff. :P

And there we have it! I have NO idea if I'll ever write this thing in full, as complicated AU is complicated, but at least the idea is out there in the wild. Which means the verse is available for Not-Incorrect Quotes scenes and prompt fic if I am so inclined. :p Hope you all enjoyed reading that! I think I did a pretty good job welding the two movies together, personally. :)

[blue-thief]

@galaxynajma @melodiclune @soleilonthesun @kityeeee more shayuga i foraged from the forbidden forest (i forgot if other people asked for me to update them)