#trying to figure out buddy and max's vibes in general

[maxdurden]

in the world of spyre, how much do we know about high court? like it's a predominantly (if not completely) human nation. it seems like worship of sol/helio is important. is it like,,, a theocratic ethnostate oorrrr???

and it would be completely high fantasy bs, right? i mean, solace is the only nation with arcano-tech, right?

[purecommemasolitude]

Okay so re: Darry as the captain in a sound of music AU. This is just one possible route that I thought up last night and typed out while I couldn’t sleep

It’s the type of AU where we steal beats and plot points from TSOM and transfer them into the outsiders, because not being rich is very important to why Darry is the way he is (also for reasons I outline below I made Two-Bit Maria and that man is never even going to think about becoming a religious career man)

And also I don’t actually know when he and Two-Bit would end up together because with some of the changes I made I couldn't make it work within the main plot, so it would have to be in an event bit taken from TSOM. So it’s not in the bullet points

anyway I'll put the bullet points I typed up in an hour at midnight yesterday below the cut because it’s long but I will admit. this one kind of got away from me

- okay so Darry is the captain. Obv

- High school & football take the place of the navy

- Racked my brain for a bit and I think Two-Bit is Maria?? Like I said I don’t really go in for outsiders ships anyway so I cross-referenced usual Darry LIs and general characters and he was the only one who was age-appropriate and also could have a Maria vibe (is able to find the light in life, willing to poke at a cold figure until it shows emotion, gets along with the brothers in canon)

- Soda & Pony are aged down because otherwise this wouldn’t make any sense — Soda is 14 going on 15 and Pony’s 12

- (Steve and Johnny are also aged down to match their respective buddies so the boys can still have friends I think. I haven’t decided what to do with Dally yet in this AU — I would put him as Max with a personality transplant but I don’t know if I can see Dally being chill with Darry’s attempt to. Play into respectability politics essentially)

- Darry’s infinitely more stressed supporting two more needy kids on his meagre income alone. Soda does odd jobs but nothing full time

- This manifests in him being colder / less outwardly affectionate than in the book to Soda as well as Pony

- Furthermore he’s desperately trying to ensure their futures, which means he disapproves of them being too outwardly greaser, both for separation reasons and for respectability reasons down the line

- However being 12 and 14 means they’re less able to control their emotions and understand Darry. So the guy from the state comes down and sees them and says you need to spend more time with these kids man. They’re not loved

- Shit.

- Two-Bit, meanwhile, is living an unluckier life than the book

- After his father left his mother was only able to choose one kid to be able to support, and because he was older and more self sufficient, Two-Bit had to go

- He grows up bouncing around from orphanage to foster home to foster home to orphanage etc, erasing his family out of his mind because it hurts too much and Two-Bit Mathews does not like to dwell on things that hurt him

- Upon turning 18, he’s out of the system and despite his nature is forced to get a job to survive

- He does odd jobs around and scrounges enough money to pay for a shitty shitty motel

- Meets Marcia through these jobs, and they strike up a friendship

- However most of these odd jobs are a lot of labour and very unstable so he’s looking for better & easier work

- He starts thinking and he thinks of his own childhood. If there had been someone else around to watch him, maybe his mother wouldn’t have had to give him away

- And then he has one too many encounters with the bugs in his motel and decides fuck it. I’m putting an ad in the paper

- Darry’s reading the news as he does one night when he sees what may very well be God’s gift to the Curtis family

- There’s someone willing to work for — well, he can’t afford that, just like he can’t afford any of the other prices he’s seen on nannies and babysitters and watchers — but he’s also willing to work for pretty much nothing if he gets lodging

- Soda & Pony are still bunking together for nightmare reasons, and Darry’s sleeping in his own room, so he sits Soda down and asks him if he’s okay with someone else using his old room

- If he’s not, Darry will have to move into their parents’ room, but thank God he is

- So Darry contacts Two-Bit who is surprised that he’s a man and not a single mom but agrees readily

- Darry’s wary of Two-Bit’s manner but monetarily he’s desperate

- Two-Bit meanwhile takes one look at the Curtis house and is like damn no one ever has any fun within these walls. I’ve gotta change that

- Instead of making new clothes for them, Two-Bit teaches them how to grease their hair

- (Darry was away working on a house a little out of the city — it’s a placing he’d normally have had to decline because of the kids, but because of Two-Bit he’s able to accept and get a slightly higher pay)

- Darry is of course furious but Two-Bit argues back, saying that kids need self-expression and haven’t you noticed how happy they are about their hair, and besides, you know damn well grease is more than just what you put in your hair, Curtis. You think Socs can’t take one look at those boys and see exactly what they came from? Exactly what they are? You’re out of your mind.

- We probably tie Maria’s impassioned “please, love all of them” speech to here — then again it’s been a while so maybe somewhere else is better we’ll have to see

- Two-Bit especially throws accusations at him about how Ponyboy thinks his brother doesn’t even love him, and if he’s not going to prove he cares about them then maybe they all would be better off without each other

- He thinks Darry might punch him for that but instead he staggers back like he’s been hit

- Darry remembers what this whole thing was for and resolves to be better

- In showing more of his love for his brothers he also shows more of his personality to Two-Bit, who wasn’t expecting to like this guy as much as he does

- He looks at how hard he fights to keep his family together when his own fell apart for very similar reasons and his heart hurts

- Also Sandy is Rolf (Ralf?? Whatever Liesl’s nazi boytoy’s name is)

- Except we are cutting the nazis because there is no not-grossly insensitive way to do the nazis

- We might have to cut the music theme too? Which is a SHAME, but none of Darry’s hobbies work. So we may just make him dig out his dad’s old guitar or we’ll just ignore that because the music theme, as far as characters go, isn’t as important in this AU. Or maybe music = the greaser lifestyle

- Anyway, life continues and it’s as good as can be, bla bla, somehow Dally is there, without realizing Two-Bit and Darry are catching feelings for each other

- One day, Ponyboy and Soda make some innocent remark about Two-Bit being in love with their brother, and he bluescreens

- Because. Oh shit. He’s in love with their brother.

- And the class difference & pre-existing engagement as reasons they can’t be together in the original is replaced with good old fashioned homophobia in this one, and Two-Bit denies and gets the hell out of there before anyone, let alone Darry notices

- He uses his meagre savings to return to the shitty motel, until finally he talks with Marcia and she’s like what the heck. Why did you leave a dream job to go back to the crummiest motel imaginable

- He dodges and denies but one of the things that drew him to her in the first place is that she’s sharp

- Marcia figures it out, or at least something very close to the truth, and while she’s too aware of 60s homophobia to actually urge him back, she does half-convince him through sneaky means like calling him a scaredy-cat who can’t even tell a few lies until the situation passes

- He goes back to the motel and thinks hard about the situation and remembers how much happier the kids were with someone to keep them company when they were done running around before Darry got home

- He thinks about how Darry was able to get better pay with him there and how much that helped give the family breathing space

- He thinks about how it really didn’t even feel like a job, which is a big draw to someone as disinclined to work as Two-Bit

- And he also thinks about how truly shitty the motel is. And decides to go back

- It’s for the good of the family, he convinces himself, telling himself he does not miss them at all

- He returns, no one says anything about him being in love with anyone, because the boys have learned that when they point it out their new brother leaves, and they’re not about to risk that again

- Darry & Two-Bit have a reunion with a lot of unspoken feelings and they do NOT get together because neither of them are willing to risk outing themselves for the sake of a one in a million chance

- Instead they do a lot of prolonged longing eye contact and are too busy looking at each other to notice Soda and Ponyboy sharing confirming glanced themselves

- So things continue kind of like they were before but with more pining, and also Austria is replaced by the Curtis house, which they’re in danger of losing

- Both Darry and Two-Bit are terrified the boys are going to end up following their respective paths, and they end up having a lot of talks about their futures that turn into co-parenting discussions that turn into heart-to-hearts about themselves

- Darry learns that Two-Bit never found his family again, and does some digging and asks some old school friends and lo and behold, they’re still in town, and here’s their address.

- Two-Bit, who has managed to convince himself that he made up being in love with Darry, sees this man who has every right to drop all three of the people in the house like a hot potato and chase the dreams he’s determined and ambitious and intelligent enough to get, pouring every ounce of his being into care for others, who takes hard times and instead of drinking them away or giving up pushes himself past the edge and comes out swinging, and realizes that he is still in love with Darry. And maybe he will never not be in love with Darry.

- Unfortunate!

- He came back determined to never run away again, and he’s sticking by that, even though it’s never been harder to live under the same roof as Darry and not Do something about his feelings

- (Also, at some point Soda gets jumped, and together with Two-Bit he fights them off. When they all talk about it later at some point in the Curtis home, someone makes an offhand comment about how Two-Bit is basically family and then he really resolves to not leave unless Darry chases him out with a broom)

- Maria and Liesl’s Sixteen Going On Seventeen Reprise is replaced with Two-Bit and Soda having a talk about Sandy, during which Two-Bit talks about being in love like he’s experienced it, which of course he has, but Darry overhears and it puts a lot of stupid hope into his heart because to his knowledge Two-Bit’s never gone steady with someone, and some of his descriptions sound awful familiar…..

- But he crushes those thoughts because he’s learned by now that Darry Curtis does not get lucky breaks

- And if he does confess and it goes wrong, which it will, it could mean his brothers getting taken away

- But he watches Two-Bit joke around with his brothers and sees someone who takes everything life throws at him and inexplicably grins back at it, who is just as intelligent as Darry is but in a way that takes its time to make itself understood, and who cares about his brothers as much as he does, and it’s stupid and hopeless, but he wants. Heaven help him, he wants so badly

- Meanwhile, he’s gotten a job offer. It’s a good job offer too, it means they could maybe afford to spend extra money on new clothes or nicer groceries

- And it’s an office job, someone who heard of him through the bookkeeping he does as his second job for his roofing company, which means fewer hours and more time with the people he cares about

- There’s a recreational football league in the area he’s never had time to join, or Two-Bit’s suggested coaching a younger team too, so he can return to workouts he likes rather than workouts that make his body ache like a man of 40 instead of 20

- It’s pretty much perfect. But it’s halfway across the city and it means they’d have to move out of their parents’ home

- (Yes this is Switzerland. It’s a lot harder to replicate without pre-WW2 Europe)

- He’s conflicted, Two-Bit thinks he should go for it but is also convinced he’s going to be left behind in the move

- Soda & Pony don’t want to leave but they do want Darry to work less so they’re also conflicted

- Two-Bit is listing out reasons for the move and one of them is that they’d be able to cut his cost since Darry’d be home more

- Darry looks at him and carefully says, “you wouldn’t be coming with us?”

- Two-Bit, with a raised eyebrow masking his heart starting to hope, says “well, do you want me there?”

- Darry is too stressed and tired and conflicted to mince his words when he replies, “of course.” like it’s a given, like they’re maybe something more than what they pretend

- But he still doesn’t want to move, until one day they have no choice: if they don’t get out of there, they’re going to lose the house. It’s just not in suitable shape for growing boys, says the state. They don’t have enough money to pay for renovations but Darry is going to rebuild the entire thing himself if he has to, damn it all, until Two-Bit asks him to talk and convinces him to move on

- “Your parents live on in your brothers more than in this house. Your parents live on in you more than in this house. You want to keep their memory alive? Start by doing what they would want you to do, and let yourself have an easy break for once.”

- And so they pack up and Darry takes the offer, but before they leave, Two-Bit visits his family

- It goes… well. Sort of. After seeing Darry run himself into the ground he’s forgiven his mother, and his sister is open to the idea of having a brother

- Their lives were better off than they would’ve been if he’d stayed but his was not and that hurts

- But he remembers the three people who now view him as their own like he was always there, and somehow the pain eases, and when his mother makes him promise to visit again, he actually means it when he agrees

- They gather to say one last good bye to the Curtis home, and despite facing the most unknowns since any of them can remember, they’re together, and that’s enough

The end <3 this is just one possible route that I thought of, I truly have no idea if this is cooking or if the kitchen is burning down

[blanket-fish]

Was bored and decided to watch 'Mech Cadets' on netflix. Never heard of it. Wish me luck!

- 'We call them... The Robos.' truly an inventive name for mechs

- I'm genuinely not sure if this animation looks really good or really bad. Give me a few scenes. I'll figure it out.

- Ok so as long as there's not too much motion onscreen it looks good. Unfortunately this is an action show-

- 'Forget the bike Stanford, you could've died!' his name is Stanford? Poor kid

- Actually, forget 'too much motion'. If there's any motion onscreen I feel ill

- 'We are code green. Pilot selection has been set for 15:00 hours' I have many questions about the worldbuilding. I got the vibe the robos were sentient, but they can't be, or why would they need pilots? But then how do they get to earth, and why did military guy expect more than two?

- Do they have a child employed as a cleaner? What??

- I mean I realise this is the child fighter pilot show but still

- 'The Robos will be evaluating your performance' okay so they are sentient!

- 'And then they'll choose which one of you to bond with.' what do the robos get out of this?

- 'For the very best of you to become mech cadets!' title drop

- But also what are they now then? Are they regular cadets? Or do they sit around waiting for Robos to show up?

- 'Its been over a year since any new Robos arrived. I don't know when or if there will be any more.' he can definitely see Stanford. They are a metre apart. Why would you say information like that in front of a random teenager? Seems like something the military wouldn't want to advertise

- Also can't they ask the clearly sentient Robos already on earth what's going on?

- 'Hey, mind your own business!' you guys stood next to him! If you aren't observant enough to notice the person right next to you, maybe you shouldn't be a mech pilot!

- 'If you didn't pass the screening test, you aren't eligible to try for cadet.' I mean, fair? Though I wonder what part he failed at. He's clearly smart and can drive his bike well. And he's also the stealthiest person in the world, aparently

- 'I need you to help me steal and exosuit.' '...Um, what?' ok that got a laugh out of me

- 'I made him a promise.' 'You were five.' I love this girl

- 'She said it was urgent!' 'Why, is something wrong?' 'Um, she didn't tell me?" Girl...

- Oh I've just realised the robos are based on transformers

- 'Sir, he's not a trainee!' SNITCH

- 'I just wanted a shot.' 'This is not how you go about getting one.' I mean, yeah. I'm not sure what he expected to happen if he did get picked

- 'Its a skycorps violation for a non-trainee to be in an exosuit.' that's a specific offense? I would've thought it would be theft or misuse of military equipment or something

- 'Chief max wasn't looking for me, were you involved in this too?' 'No sir, she wasn't! It was my idea, just me.' that's sweet, but immediately leaping to her defense is more suspicious than anything

- Oh my god it's like a whole tournament thing? Stanford how on earth did you think this would ever work? These people have met each other before!

- oh that running animation... It's sure something

- Olivia what the hell? You did not just push that boy down- oh, who am I kidding. At least you didn't call this one mopboy

- Yay for Maya! She doesn't shove people to the ground

- HA. I do not feel bad for olivia

- I can't believe this kids name is frank. But good for him.

- Big Red and Thunderwrecker. Oh yeah, I see why those two are friends.

- okay I don't feel bad for her in this instance but man general park is a dick

- oh great, big blue robot brought a skarg (?) with him. Good job.

- oh he is not gonna jump his bike as an attack. Oh he is isn't he. That's so cool.

- nice catch big blue.

- buddy?? Come on. The other one got Thunderwrecker. You're robo is gonna get bullied in robo-primary school!

- I really hope those creatures are called the skarg. I don't think they are but I can't remember what they are called

In conclusion: the animation is pretty good. It just has these moments where it looks weird and bad. But I like blue lock, so that won't stop me watching it.

Overall, I'm pleasantly surprised! That was an enjoyable episode! Next one, I suppose

[stardustsea]

you get one of each because i'm stalling reading tsc and also trying to figure out how to make breakfast

fmk, would you rathers, or have you evers!

fmk - the julie and the phantoms boys that i don't remember their names yet but you know what i mean

would you rather - have to wear one or seven colors every day

have you ever - swam in open water (like, left a boat to be in the water, as opposed to walking from the shore into the water)

ask me anything about a fandom, character, or ship (unpopular opinions!)

how are you feeling ab the tommy buck arc so far?

ask me about my headcanons! (be specific!)

whats your most niche take about andrew minyard

make me choose?? (between anything!)

who gets the cup next between kraken and flyers (sorry)

tell me about your crushes (tumblr + real life!)

when i was a junior in high school i went to a football game with a girl and it was cold on account of being night time and she let me wear her jacket. we never ended up going out or anything but i think that was peak romance and it ruined me for all other people forever probably

rec me stuff! (films, books, shows, clothing shops, anything!)

i have been absolutely VIBING the fuck out of the new glass animals single it's called creature in heaven and i adore it so much

ask me for recs! (^^^)

all time favorite lego set ?

vent to me! tell me about your day, what are you looking forward to??

vibing in my pajamas because i'm still lowkey devestated about leafs hockey but we r powering through. perhaps i will acquire a little treat for stars tn

what you’re thinking about/doing right now!

what i Should be doing is putting my standing desk together so i don't have to work hunched over like a gremlin all day but instead i think i will watch the new movie adaption of a john green book that came out on max this week because unfortunately that weird old man has the same chokehold on me that he did when i was 16 you know how it is

talk to me about anything!

tell me about YOUR day and one thing you are looking forward to 🫵

go read tsc i wanna talk about it 😭 but i love you

fmk - the julie and the phantoms boys that i don't remember their names yet but you know what i mean

changing fmk to hug-befriend-push into pool bc otherwise the answer is none for any but: hug alex, befriend luke (i have to bully him i HAVE to), push reggie into pool (lovingly, i think he'd enjoy it)

would you rather - have to wear one or seven colors every day

hmmm was gonna say one but it wouldn't be that hard to get some kind of rainbow colored accessory so 7

have you ever - swam in open water (like, left a boat to be in the water, as opposed to walking from the shore into the water)

i've jumped off many boats into water! usually in the middle of lakes. i've also been scuba diving mildly far out into ocean

how are you feeling ab the tommy buck arc so far?

love her dearly! we all know i'm a buddie truther 'til i die but bucktommy has been so fun to watch and i'll be sad when it ends

whats your most niche take about andrew minyard

hmm idk how niche this is but i'll die on the hill that he's not nearly as bad with general touching from people as some of the fandom seems to think he is

who gets the cup next between kraken and flyers (sorry)

aaaaaaaaa at beginning of this season i would've said kraken and i'm still kinda leaning that way but ask me again when kraken are done making offseason moves

all time favorite lego set ?

i really enjoyed the succulents and little plants ones!

bonus things

that is a fun song. i'm also still in my pajamas if that helps. enjoy turtles!

tell me about YOUR day and one thing you are looking forward to 🫵

have had a very lazy morning/afternoon. too lazy perhaps. but i might try to go look for shorts at target today

[thefourchimes]

the potential of gravity falls and stranger things together...

for the stranger weirder au, imagine the chaos of the group that is the party+co and the mystery crew

from the kids to the teens to the adults, all the groupings just have the potential to be so much

imagine.

here be the some thoughts for them because yes:

star twins immediately vibe with the party <3

more girls' night!!

more dnd campaigns!!

dustin and dipper smart cap buddies

party drifting apart fuels the fear and conflict even more in dipper and mabel vs the future

will and dipper "knows the feeling of being possessed" buddies

mabel and max being essentially taken hostage by the big bads AND are put through illusions bullshit

el would be persuaded by mabel to use her powers for arcade games

dipper would be fascinated and mabel would be in awe of el's powers

el learns so much of the world through the star twins as well <33

lots more competition with arcade games in general with the kids

the kids riding their bikes together!!

still unsure about gideon in general but imagine erica putting him in his place

will hangs around in the shack a lot because jonathan works there, and he's really fascinated by the attractions in the mystery shack

dustin would likely get attached to ford

post redemption pacifica will deck angela in the face <3

max, argyle, and the star twins talking about cali related things with the rest being unable to relate

soos loves hanging out with all his dudes

soos, max, and dustin knowing what it feels like without a father

the teens learn that college isn't the end all be all from the stan twins

jonathan and soos talk a lot as coworkers—and the latter is always able to help the former relax

steve gets a crush on wendy—this is gonna be a deja vu moment for him considering yknow

nancy and stan talk about guilt of past and stupid mistakes

nancy is taught and given advice on how to do illegal things and get away with it (plus gun usage) by stan

robin and wendy bonding over being queer in small towns in unspecified time of late 20th century

robbie gets punched and slightly beat up by one of the st teens (likely nancy or steve) for picking on the kids

robin and robbie is gonna be confusing when said aloud and they both hate it

argyle and soos besties heck yes

joyce and stan having an understanding with one another about protecting their loved ones no matter what

joyce mayhaps putting ford in his place since his head is still up his ass for a while ASHFIUASHf

joyce is always nice to mcgucket and tries to talk to him, but it's a hit or a miss at times

hopper is tired of seeing stan's face (usually to try and arrest him)

also when it gets to that point, hopper and stan have a silent rivalry for being jonathan's father figure (but they work together to beat lonnie up)

once they can kind of put their disagreements aside, stan teaches hopper how to bond with the kids

hopper is also tired of trying to wrangle mcgucket

hopper doesn't know what to think of ford, especially with the fact that stan had so easily slipped in and pretended to be the man for years

murray and stan making deals mayhaps??

mcgucket murray duo omg HAFSUIHAISF

murray's suspicious of ford the first time he meets him ("kgb? government??")

and that's only a few of what our little grp who's building this au has discovered and explored omg 😭

if you wanna know more...don't be shy, go and ask away AHSFUIAHSF 👀

tagging @sunflowersand-bees @itsanotheridiot because they helped me compile and add more in this list, ty guys <3

along with @laurienotteddy @lovefrom-theother-side @willelfanpage @she-wont-miss who are always sending me their thoughts and/or watching me go insane in that thread

[hiccanna-tidbits]

okay, okay but hear me out!

Hiccanna, Moanida and Jackunzel (and maybe someone else if u want) going on a holiday trip together (it could be sea or lake or just swimming pool).

And that three couples playing "chicken fight game"~ When u have to sit on partner shoulder or ridding piggy-back and knock down or separate the other couple!

sksksks just imagine the fun and the chaos!! hahaha

Okay SO I recently watched Palm Springs so I’m just imagining The Gang going to like…a fancy pool resort in like Arizona??? SURE LET’S GO WITH THAT

I’m imagining the only resort the gang could afford to stay at is someplace out in the middle of Arizona or something

It takes a LOT of persuading to get Jack to go, because he haaaaates deserts. Rapunzel basically has to beg. Moana finally managed to bribe him with really good homemade ice slushies. (She’s used to making smoothies for Merida, so how hard can slushies be??? Just throw in some ice!)

Rapunzel offers to help Moana with the slushies, since she gave Jack SO many puppy dog eyes to get him to come. Since they’ve got two people working on them, they’re REALLY good slushies. Jack approves.

Anna also tries to convince Elsa to go, but the perpetually-single Elsa is just like “Um, deserts? Sunburns? Being indefinitely stuck with gross couples doing gross couple stuff?!? Yeah no thank you”

Hiccup tries to wake everyone up at like 6 am to go hiking because "that's when the desert iguanas are out guys!!! C'mon, we have to go!!!" Anna is only persuaded to go after Hiccup makes her coffee--she really wants to make her bf happy, but also mornings can suck her dick. Rapunzel is more than happy to go, because she loves mornings anyways!!! And oh my god, IGUANAS!!! Jack, Merida, and Moana are like "oh FUCK no" and put the pillow back over their head, shoo Hiccup away, and go back to sleep.

On their hike, Hiccup just goes "!!!!!!!" about every reptile he sees. Snake, lizard, horny toad, literally anything with scales will send the boy into an excited frenzy. Rapunzel has similar reactions. Anna could not love both of them more.

At one point, they stumble across a gila monster sunbathing, and Rapunzel is overtaken with the unwavering desire to adopt him. She gets Hiccup on board, and he tries to lure the lizard over with a dusty piece of a snake carcass he found (Anna tried to tell him he really shouldn't touch that, but he was not to be swayed and Anna ended up figuring he could just wash his hands really well when they got back). Anna finds herself in the unusual position of having to be the Voice of Reason, having to be like “hey uh I think this might be illegal and stuff??? Also aren't they poisonous???”

(I know what you're thinking. Bold of you to assume Anna knows the difference between poisonous and venomous.)

Rapunzel literally CANNOT stop gushing to Jack about all the wildlife she saw when she gets back! Jackrabbits! Kangaroo rats! Roadrunners! Peccaries! Centipedes! Jack has only mild to moderate interest in desert ecology, but loves hearing his gf gush so he listens attentively anyways. 

Anna and Rapunzel definitely hit up the gift shops in the resort town at some point, and go ABSOLUTELY BATSHIT HOGWILD buying gifts for everyone. They probably max out their credit cards. It's embarrassing, really. But Anna gets Hiccup an absolute shitton of those little wall lizard things and he nearly cries tears of joy when he sees them, so it's all worth it, really.

Moana will not leave the pool like. The entire time. The girl is just obsessed with being in the water, honestly. She gets restless, though, and can't just stand in the pool and vibe--she needs to constantly be moving and swimming around or she'll explode. Merida is more than happy to indulge her by hanging out in the poor with her, but Merida is also constantly challenging her to swim races--a very dumb idea, considering Moana is on the high school swim team and water polo team. Merida, naturally, is an extremely sore loser and is not above excessive pouting, splashing, yelling in angry Scottish, and dunking her girlfriend in revenge. It's at least entertaining for all of their friends to watch.

Jack keeps fucking taking huge buckets of ice from the ice machine and dumping them in the pool. At first he only does this because he keeps griping about the pool not being cold enough (this boy will accept nothing less than sitting in the goddamn arctic ocean), but after her figures out that it pisses off his friends, he takes to pouring said ice directly over their heads. Merida has threatened to murder him several times for this.

Hiccup and Anna's main pool activity is just lazing around on their pool floaties (Anna has a duck one, Hicccup has a dragon one because obviously), sipping cocktails, and just generally vibing. Through some ungodly mixture of pure charisma and a fake ID that Rapunzel helped photoshop, Jack manages to talk his way into getting the whole group access to alcohol. Hiccup is a sangria or Moscow Mule kinda guy while Anna usually gets a Pina Colada or a Sex on the Beach (she's aspec, so she literally will not stop joking about the irony of this). Merida makes a game out of attempting to tip over their floaties and dunk them. Jack, chaos gremlin that he is, puts aside his usual rivalry with Merida to join in. They have a surprisingly strong dunking alliance.

Hiccup and Anna try to form a syndicate of their own, and try to lounge on the same floatie so that they can protect each other while fighting off Jack and Merida together. Unfortunately neither of their floaties were made to hold 2 peoples' weight, so the one they're on ends up tipping over, spilling their cocktails everywhere and dunking them anyways. Jack and Merida consider this a Win By Default.

Moana of course loops everyone into playing water polo at some point. Unfortunately some idiot decided it would be a good idea to let Merida of all people pick the teams, which means of course that they are incredibly rigged. It's Moana, Merida and Anna vs. Jack, Rapunzel, and Hiccup, so basically The Jocks vs. The Nerds (although admittedly Anna is more of a softcore jock--she's nowhere near on Moana or Merida's level, but she's still more naturally athletic than Hiccup, Rapunzel, or Jack). Naturally, Jock Team absolutely whoops Nerd Team's ass. Jack gets salty and demands a rematch. ...Jock Team kicks Nerd Team's ass again.

Throughout all of this, no one thinks to just...rearrange the teams a little. Merida was counting on this. All according to plan.

In the titular chicken game (yes, I remembered, don't worry!), it's Merida on Moana's shoulders (Moana swims and has a lot of upper body strength, what can I say?), Hiccup on Anna's shoulders (I mean...Hiccup's a twig, and Anna HAS to have a fair amount of upper body strength from throwing busts around and punching men off boats and such), and Punz on Jack's shoulders (Jack's pretty lithe and good at keeping his balance while jumping around, so he's their best candidate for not just falling over).

Jack and Rapunzel actually manage to stay in the game longer than anyone expects--their primary strategy is “be good at dodging and staying out of the way while Merida and Hiccup duke it out.” And it works! As limber as Hiccup is, Anna's not nearly as coordinated as Jack and is no match for Moana's sturdy footing. Also, neither Anna nor Hiccup are prepared for how goddamn ruthless and determined to win Merida is. Even though they really, really should have been. I mean...have you met Merida???

When it comes down to Merida-Moana and Rapunzel-Jack, Mer feels a little bad for having to go up against Pure Sweet Punzie. Unfortunately, Rapunzel turns out to be a very hardcore fighter when she puts her mind to it, and Merida is much more evenly matched than she initially thought and realizes she must use her Full Power. It definitely helps her snap out of Going Soft when Jack starts brutally roasting Merida in particular (as per usual). Merida gets a rage-fueled Second Wave, and finally manages to knock Rapunzel over in one foul swoop. Merida and Moana are victorious!

Moana and Merida basically always shower together after a day at the pool. They claim it's because they both know how to handle curly hair in chlorine, and just like to wash each other's hair, but the rest of the gang is pretty sure that's not all that's going on in there.

One day, Anna hits up the resort town alone to buy some kind of secret gifts for her friends with what little money she has left (this girl seriously has no chill when it comes to buying presents).  She goes past this huge, fancy ice cream shop and she's like “!!!! OMG!!! I'm gonna surprise all my buddies with pints of their faves!!!” She just gets super hyped and buys everyone ice cream, getting so caught up in the thrill of it that she forgets that she'll have to like. Drive all this back all the way back to the resort in the rental car. In like. You know. 110+ degree weather.

By the time she gets back to the resort, the ice cream is, of course, goop. Poor Anna, feeling incredibly dumb and like an utter failure of a friend, just kind of bursts into tears. Like damn. This is too much. She was gonna make all her pals so happy, and all for naught! Jack just kinda shrugs and throws all the melted ice cream cartons in the freezer anyways. Once they're (partially) re-frozen, Rapunzel and Moana make slushies with them. They actually come out pretty decent. Anna is substantially cheered up.

Moana prepares some tropical fruit platters for everyone to snack on. Rapunzel tries to “improve” them by adding chocolate sauce and nutella to half of them. Sometimes it works (I mean...bananas and strawberries with chocolate and/or nutella is pretty solid). Other times it just tastes...very weird. Merida gest frustrated and yells at Rapunzel for “ruining all of her girlfriend's good mangoes.”

Jack just thinks this whole thing is so funny, and decides to swap the chocolate sauce with barbecue sauce to cause further chaos. Absolute mayhem ensures. Everyone has a bad time. Except for Anna, who apparently is just a freak who enjoys eating pineapple slices dipped in barbecue sauce.

At some point, Merida gets really drunk on appletinis or some shit and signs the entire group up for a local archery competition. Much to everyone's chagrin, it's no refunds. Naturally, basically everyone sans Merida does terrible. Rapunzel and Hiccup very nearly shoot themselves, while Jack and Anna come very close to  accidentally shooting a group of referees (although Jack might have done this on purpose). Moana gets the farthest, if only because Merida's taught her how to shoot a bow at some point. Merida actually ends up winning--although unfortunately, the prize is $20 and a very cheap plastic trophy (which Merida STILL manages to find a way to break before the trip is even over).

The rest of the group is much more amicable to the concept of going on hikes when said hikes are in the evening. Hiccup and Rapunzel are still excitedly chattering about the local ecosystems the entire time, and Jack and Anna are just kind of looking at their nerdy SOs like “<3 <3 <3″ Moana and Merida, meanwhile, are just kinda vibing in the back, passively listening in and watching the desert sunset.

Rapunzel manages to capture Mer and Mo's interest and gets them to participate more with geology, of all things. Merida just thinks rocks are cool (especially when they can be thrown at people bothering her!), while Moana likes learning about the physical history of places--how water can carve out landscapes, and all that. Hiccup and Jack just kind of exchange a look like “I had no idea that they were into rocks, but...the more you know, I guess???”

Jack makes fun of every reptile they see, mainly to piss Hiccup off. Unfortunately it has the opposite effect, and Hiccup can't help but be entertained--mainly because Jack's insults are so weirdly specific and over-the-top that they loop around to being hilarious. Seriously, he keeps saying shit like “Those are the lamest scales I've ever seen. Absolutely drab, and not nearly shiny enough to prove that nature is beautiful. 0/10.” and “Ohhhh, this fucking rattlesnake think's he's so scary, with his dumb percussion instrument tail!!! I could be more intimidating with a mean look and a large pair of maracas!”

At some point, a bunch of tourists riding donkeys pass them. Anna, Rapunzel, and Merida just absolutely lose their shit fangirling over how cute the donkeys are, thus exposing all three of them as the unabashed Horse Girls they are. Hiccup, Jack, and Moana find this extremely amusing, and definitely aren't above teasing their girlfriends about it. Hiccup asks if next time they take a couples' vacation, the Horse Gang (as Moana insists on nicknaming them) would like to go to a ranch instead.

Anna gets like. Obsessed with palm trees. Like they're just so pretty and exotic and tropical!!! OMG!!! And they definitely don't have them wherever the gang is from in this AU. (Also if griping about Elsa not having "tropical powers" is anything to go by, she DOES canonically like the tropics!) She has to take a picture of like...every palm tree on her phone. And considering the gang is in Arizona, that means Anna is stopping to take a picture like...every 2 minutes. Rapunzel catches onto the fact that Anna likes them, and paints her a picture with some when Punz has the time. Anna definitely cries when she sees it. Hiccup can't do nearly that good, but he does buy her some little plastic figurine ones in a gift shop that she can put in her room. Anna also cries about this. She just cries whenever any of her friends indulge her random fixation on palm trees. Surely she doesn't deserve such niceties!!!

Rapunzel is just. In love with the desert landscape tbh. Like the huge funky cacti!!! The shrubs!!! The desert wildflowers!!! The mesas!!! All of it!!! So of course she needs to pull out her easel and paint it. Jack walks by one day and sees her working on it and, partly just to troll her, he's like “put some snow in it!” As he walks away, Rapunzel just stops like “wait...that'd actually be such a great idea for a surrealist-type fantasy piece!!!” After she finishes the main landscape, she adds an overcoat of little puffs of snow on top of everything, and has some clumps falling off of the cacti. When she shows Jack, he just about cries tears of joy, but frantically tries to hide it. She gives the painting to him as a present at the end of the trip. He hangs that shit front-in-center in his room and cherishes it forever and ever.

At some point, Jack gets the ingenious idea that he's going to prank Merida by catching a tarantula and leaving it in her room. It's one of the harmless ones--Jack fact-checks this by offhandedly asking Hiccup and framing it as a casual interest in local etymology. Still, Merida screams far louder than is at all dignified, and also probably loud enough to wake a neighboring country. Rapunzel later has to physically hold Merida back to keep her from absolutely beating Jack into a pulp. Rapunzel also manages to get the World's Largest Sheet of Cardboard and the World's Largest Cup and somehow manages to get the damn thing back outside.

[ctrlkctty]

          *turns the bass to max and blasts monsta x’s rodeo* howdy crazy kids, i’m opal and i reside in the good ol gmt timezone ( which seems to always make me like the odd one out in rp where did all u brits go sjdjd ). i use she/they so honestly either is fine !! i’m v excited to be here, it’s been a while since i’ve seen an rp around that has a supernatural element without it being like intense and dramatic plot wise. it’s nice to see a slice of life incorporate it for once !! anyway kit has a pinterest board you can check out here to get a sense of his general persona and his stats page is here ( he does not have a bio yet but his stats do kinda delve into that area briefly enough for now ) and below the cut i will give u the run down of him !! just heart this bad boy up and i’ll come to u for plotting i don’t like to lay things out in a like set super elaborate way so i’ll pop some general ideas down at the end of this intro but rlly we can just form connections off what our muses have in common and how their personalities would gel !! : 

so kit is a music production major student and his love for his craft is immense. music is without a doubt the passion in and love of his life. he’s never felt like he really connected to much else in the world like he has done to and with music. it’s almost like a living entity to him because he has this chemistry and harmony with it which seems to always mean that he excels at whatever he tries out in the musical field. 

he’s also a professional level violinist. he plays in competitions as well as concerts, pretty much always places first. i imagine it’s immensely annoying for anyone whose up against him. but kit doesn’t have bad sportsmanship, nor is he greedy. there’s just nothing he pours his soul into quite like his music. 

has recently formed a band. he plays guitar in it. it’s more of a hobby and a for fun thing then it is anything serious but they all enjoy it and have a good time just making melodies and stories with the instruments. they’re crazy good though. sometimes they will do some competitions or gigs. there is nothing that compares to the adrenaline rush of being on stage for kit in this whole world. ( by the way this is totally open for connections i think it would be super fun to have his band members be other muses ! ) 

think like the anime given and like day6, the rose etc in terms of kit’s vibes and inspiration. he mostly is inspired by the character of ugetsu murata if anyone has seen given. 

his mom passed away during childbirth but obviously kit is too young to remember all of this so he’s not traumatized by it or anything, he has an amazing and lovely adoptive family who he’s always seen as good as being biological. he does have that slight feeling of being unwanted though, since his biological father never wanted anything to do with him and he didn’t have the out of death interfering so he’s a little bitter about that. 

he was raised in busan and he has a younger sister and an older brother. he actually does have a really close relationship with his whole family but it isn’t in the conventional way where they’re super open and warm. not a lot of them are good with emotions, mostly that is down to his parents and sister. but it works out since they also make kit more in touch with his sentimental and loving side. 

he’s not like... a fuckboy per se but he’s a bit of a charmer and a minx. he does sleep around like a lot and spends half his life flirting up a storm, very into his casual intimacy. you can often locate him hooking up in really unconventional places on campus and he’s like hardly ever in his own dorm room. 

remembers strange facts about music like all the time, kind of just one of the perks of being a music major but he will randomly blurt them out and think that like this works as a form of comfort like if you’re worried about putting off something for your studies, he’ll tell you some weird fact about how much mozart or whatever used to procrastinate to make you feel better cause he’s terrible at being emotionally responsive :-))))

he’s really into like his fashion, bit of an 80′s fanatic so he loves like the whole aesthetic of that era in terms of fashion and music. i mean you can just go to his pin section on style but you’ll see it’s very much 80′s and 90′s inspired. 

has a sweet tooth so if you want a quick way for him to like you then i recommend just giving him baked goods or biscuits of any variety because he is a fiend for that. and it’s hard to impress kit on a regular day so you may want an easy way into getting him to actually notice you. 

he’s not mean, he’s just really unobservant. like he’s so focused on his music and study that he literally almost is obsessive so he finds most things boring that don’t relate to music somehow since it’s the one thing he feels he truly connects with but he’s trying i swear. he’ll improve. you just gotta prod him a bit and he will interact meaningfully. 

he’s playful, mischievous, fun loving despite sometimes seeming intimidating because he can regularly be found brooding over his desktop trying to sort out a backing track or something, just powering his way through a pack of cigarettes and drinking far too much caffeine. he loves to gossip and he’s pretty funny with the irony and dry-wit and smart ass vibes despite being so in his own world all the time. 

he’s lonely deep down underneath like all of his bravado. like ugetsu he is kind of one of those characters who has that hidden emotional complexity, on the surface he may just seem like a self-absorbed asshole but in reality he’s just a little bit lost and lonely and he actually does want to find a whole army of soulmates in friends and a ‘special’ someone that he can connect with. he’s kind of just trying to figure out who he is outside of his music without losing his drive for it. 

PLOT BUNNIES: 

BEST FRIENDS 

CONFIDANT

EX’S ( GOOD AND BAD TERMS )

FRIENDLY RIVALRY

BAND MEMBERS 

MUSIC ENTHUSIASTS

SHOPPING BUDDIES

CHILDHOOD FRIENDS

FRENEMIES

JUST PLAIN STRAIGHT DO NOT VIBE WITH EACH OTHER ( MAYBE IT’S MISINFORMED PRE JUDGEMENT OR WHATEVER RLLY) 

FRIENDS WHO ARE LIKE FAMILY

DRINKING BUDDIES

PARTY PALS

FLINGS AND HOOK UPS 

ONE NIGHT STANDS

GHOST HUNTING BUDS

GOSSIP PALS

these are all just super loose general ideas, we do not have to do any of these and we can totally just brainstorm what comes naturally from our muses shared interests, backgrounds, persona’s etc. honestly i’m pretty much open to anything !!

[discocritic]

mad as rabbits by panic! at the disco?

(quick warning for attempted suicide (if this counts): a character is seen standing on the edge of a building, considering jumping, but is stopped before they attempt anything.)

~

The first time they see the boy, he’s shoplifting at Tommy Chow Mein’s.

The figure in the second aisle, frame hidden by an oversized purple hoodie, is inspecting the merchandise just a little too closely. As Pony watches, he makes a move to slip something up his shirt.

The store owner, arms full carrying a box of plastic toothbrushes, suddenly drops the package and rushes over to him. The two other customers pretend they’re not paying attention and continue browsing the overpriced-by-ten-carbons goods.

“What do you think you’re doing, boy?” he barks. The boy jumps and a can of beans falls out from under his ratty jacket.

“N-nothing,” he stammers. “I was, uh…”

The boy’s got to be eighteen or nineteen, somewhere around Show Pony’s own age. (At least, they assume that’s their own age; you can’t be too sure out here. Time passes strangely. Maybe they’re actually thirty and just lost track of time.)

Chow Mein snatches back the can and gives the boy the evil eye. “Out of my store now.”

Show Pony watches him walk out with his hands jammed in his pockets. He’s lucky he didn’t get more than a cold warning. Tommy has a gun specifically to scare off the older teenage thugs.

They figure this kid doesn’t fit the criteria. He’s scrawny and not really threatening enough. He gives off more of the “homeless wanderer” than “juvenile delinquent” vibes.

The next time they see the boy, it’s from the back of Dr. D’s old pickup two days later. They and two other Zone rats lounge in the truck bed, feeling the sun beat down on their uncovered faces and the wind thread through their hair. Hot Chimp is driving because the Doc’s having a particularly bad day—the jarring, persistent pain that barely ever goes away has come back worse in both legs—and they’re going to Zone One to drop off the truck in exchange for a supply of stronger painkillers. He won’t be driving around anymore regardless, so there’s no need to keep the pickup any longer.

They roll to a stop in front of a half-collapsed warehouse. (It looks a little seedy, but Pony’s seen worse.)

Chimp presses the horn, and a heavyset man with two little dogs nipping at his heels comes out from the back exits. The DJ gets out to negotiate a deal.

Pony jumps down and ties his shoe, and then heads for a rock nearby. The warehouse is backed up next to a shallow cave, and little stalagmites (or are they stalactites?) jut up from the ground at the entrance.

They settle down on top of a nice-sized boulder and survey the landscape. The other two ‘runners that came with him stay behind, holding hands and cuddling and just generally doing stuff that girlfriends do.

They’re lonely by themself, having not been with a partner in a while, so they don’t really want to sit there and watch and be even lonelier. They decide to stay here and bask in the sunlight, doing their second favorite thing: channeling the spirit of a lizard.

Lizards are cool. They make nice earrings when they bite onto your earlobes and dangle—if you can deal with the little sting of pain.

And if that gets annoying, well, at least they’re nutritious.

Win-win for Show Pony, eh?

They must fall asleep somehow, because the next thing they know, the sun is going down and they’ve fallen off their perch. Hot Chimp looks like she’s almost done negotiating the deal, and as they walk back, they hear the end of the terms of the deal. The guy’ll come to the station tomorrow to pick up the truck with one of his buddies, so right now they’ll have a way to get back home.

As they hop in the back, wedging themself snugly between two bales of hay, a glint of something catches their eye back at the cave.

They squint. It’s the boy. He’s scurrying around the entrance with a metal pot or something, and Show Pony realizes that’s what was making the sun glare off at them a second earlier.

Maybe they should get out and introduce themself?

But the truck roars to life and they’re pulling out before they have a chance to move. They wave as they pass the cave one last time anyway.

The boy looks up, watching them, but he doesn’t wave back.

The third time they sees the boy, it’s pouring down rain and he’s about to jump off the second floor of an abandoned parking complex.

Show Pony initially ventured up here to get out of the thunderstorm, but they got distracted after walking inside. A couple cars sit in their parking spots, left years ago at the start of the Analog Wars. They don’t bother to check any out; they were looted and siphoned of gas long ago.

Thunder crashes loud enough to make them jump and the hairs on their arms stand up on end. It sounded like that was right beside them.

Then there’s a muffled cry from the level above and they freeze.

Someone else’s in here! A friend!

Well, it could be a drac, which would definitely not be a friend, but it could be another ‘runner. And it wouldn’t hurt to have a little company during the rain.

So they head up to the next level, thinking how great it would be to get one of those shopping carts lying around the Zones and push someone down this ramp in it. They’ve seen a couple outside of the Paradise Motel, but that’s a long way away from here. Wherever here is. Zone One or somewhere cl—

All of a sudden, a shadow makes them look up. There’s someone standing on the edge of an opening made by a bomb blast. His knees are bent like he’s going to jump down.

Down to the ground, two, almost three stories below. In the rain. Landing onto concrete.

“Hey!” they call, suddenly afraid he’s going to leap right then and there. “Don’t do that!”

He turns around, almost losing his balance, and Show Pony sees who it is. They run forward just as he clutches a pipe sticking out from the opening, narrowly avoiding falling off.

“Get down,” they say, softer this time. “Don’t jump, please. Let me help.”

The boy shakes his head. Well, now that they’ve seen him up close, he doesn’t look much like a boy. More like a young man. A skinny, terrified, young man.

Lightning flashes, illuminating his face.

He has brown hair the same color of the dirt smudged across his face. His sweatshirt, the same one he was wearing at the store the first time Pony laid eyes on him, is pretty much rags instead of sweatshirt. There’s a large hole in the knee of his jeans, dried blood peeking out from between the last threads struggling to hold the fabric together.

“Nobody can help,” he says, despair saturating the words. “I can’t even help.” He looks back at the hole in the wall, but Show Pony grabs his wrist before he can edge back over there. “I don’t know what to do anymore.”

He crumples to the ground, pulling them down too. Tears pool in his eyes and he buries his head in his arms.

“You gotta name?” they ask, sitting cross-legged beside him. They’ve carefully positioned themself between the wall and the guy in case he tries to jump again.

“It’s Max,” he mumbles after a long moment. Show thinks they’ve misheard him. His words are muffled since his face is still hidden. But they don’t make a move to get him to look up.

Max? That’s not a great alias. Easy for Better Living to track you down with.

“I mean, like, a 'joy name. No birth name-givin’ here,” they chuckle awkwardly. “I’m Show Pony. Didn’t get named that when I popped out. But 'ey, I think it’s a little more interesting than any normal name, y'know?”

Dammit, they’re rambling again. It’s not really the time for jokes.

Thankfully, the boy doesn’t seem to notice. Or maybe he just doesn’t care. People about to jump out of buildings don’t usually care about dumb jokes.

“No, no Killjoy name,” he whispers. “It’s just Max Armstrong. I just got out of the city a few days ago.” He wipes at his face, then raises his gaze. “Me and my brother. But he's… he’s not doing well.”

“What d'you mean?”

“They were gonna—well, y'know the pills?”

Show Pony nods. Of course they know the pills. Everyone knows the pills.

“Well, I stopped taking mine a couple months ago. But my brother didn’t, uh, he actually got into the stash I had building up and he overdosed two weeks ago. Um, Better Living Medical saved him, but as soon as he “got better” they said they were gonna take him to re-evaluation. Which, you know, no one ever comes back the same after that.“

Max shuts his eyes before continuing and takes a deep breath. "So I broke us both out as soon as he could walk. But he’s really sick now, with Zone flu or something and now—and I can’t find real medicine, and nobody has food and we don’t have any money. He—his name’s Gabe, um, Gabriel actually, and now he’s so sick he won’t even wake up. H-He hasn’t woken up in two days and… I was gonna jump 'cause—I’m so tired, I… I’m just—because I can’t do this anymore—”

He makes a little noise like he’s trying not to cry, and Pony reaches over to pat him on the arm. “Please don’t try to jump,” they say.

The pounding rain’s almost stopped; it’s quiet enough again to hear him without straining.

“Do anything but jump, okay? I’m sure there’s gotta be a way to help you.”

Max turns away and picks at a thread on his sweatshirt, presumably to hide his watery eyes.

Pony doesn’t care. They won’t judge.

“Show me where he is and we’ll help him. I know a guy… he’s good at stuff like this. Had a lotta practice. We can get your brother back. How old’s he?”

“Twenty-one. He’s my big brother and I just—I want him to get better and I’m scared that he’s never gonna…” He stops when his voice trembles. “I just wanna—I’m trying to be strong just in case.”

“Come on,” Show Pony says. “The storm’s almost passed. If you take me to him, I can radio my friend Dr. Death-Defying on the way over and he’ll meet us. I think he’ll know how to help him.”

“Okay.” And he stands up, and that’s it. Show Pony just successfully talked someone down from the ledge. They feel eternally relieved.

Max goes, and they follow him down the ramp and all the way back to the little cave they’d seen from the back of the truck, where Gabriel lays motionless inside underneath a stolen tablecloth/blanket. He’s using a backpack as a pillow. He has a fever just below one hundred and four degrees.

They get out their radio immediately.

Show Pony doesn’t really remember what happened after that, because everything is going so fast, but somehow it’s suddenly evening of the next day and the sky is clear. Max and Gabriel Armstrong are in the radio station, one room over, as Dr. D and Cola tend to the older brother.

It takes another two days, but he survives. He pulls through faster than either medic thought was possible.

When Pony asks how he recovered that quickly, Cola says he did it for his brother. That he knew he was there and woke up for him.

It’s probably true. They have one of the strongest sibling relationships they’ve ever seen.

And Pony becomes well acquainted with the two of them through the years. The brothers find two other 'joys in need of a larger crew and become one of the most famous desert gangs. Everyone knows who they are. Everybody knows their names. They’re legends.

But still, even though no one else has ever heard the story, even after the Fab Four are long gone, Show Pony never brings up the stormy night they helped save the lives of both Party Poison and the Kobra Kid.

[raguna-blade]

Revolutionary Girl Utena Live(ish) Reaction Episodes 8-11

So it's a new year, and I'm gonna continue this, cause its' fun. Had a brief break cause of the holidays. And doing so, I figure i'm gonna do a thing where I make up a nice cleaned up version of these cause if nothing else I like organizing my thoughts. So Control F or whatever your find function is for the cleaned up version if that's your thing. It'll be under Overall Thoughts per ep. Or you know, you're me and you're going back through this for validation for whatever nonsense you say later.

Episode 8

Curry huh? And another recap? uh....

enmy remains trifling

hey wait egg time already?

Danger? Really?

Body swap? Also egg time is goofs

throwin hands????? anthy?

Yeah nanami it is ridiculous

JERSUS TOGA

nanami you idiot

She just fucked off to india to get some weird back alley spice

Shadow girls can you please, just please for a single episode.

ANTHY YOU LYING. Never been good at sports and you did that leap apparently pretty well? What the fuck.

Also, the switching thing here is mad suspect considering the end theme thing (and I suppose the opening.

Utena as Anthy : I don't want to be a sacrifice of the rose seal.

Anthy As Utena: I'm super down staying like this actually.

Like..This is just details that

Uh..Uh saionji what. The implications are strong here. Also, Douche canoe he is, but he's a romantic apparently? UUUUH. Exchange diary.

Is the “A” plot a distraction? Like for real.

Also she took that elephant to the dome.

I'm not sure how to take this personality switch. Like the minds thing whatever, but if it's just the personalties but not the person so to speak,  hold on

WHAT THE FUCK. These elephants for fucking real?

Anyway, if they're just personalities altering the “person” it's uh...Interesting. I'm not sure how to take that til I get more info. It seems like a thing.

Also, Saionji apparently legit has feels for Anthy he's just...mad dumb about expressing it? Like he's pulling a lot of Badboy Romance Tropes here but...not...in a badboy romance. Which kills his behavior entirely.

Killed his Soul AGAIN. Damn.

Who's the divine justice for? Like it doesn't seem for nanami. Who fucked up. Presumably between anthy and utena.

Anthy what the actual fuck are you doing. Are you using gunpowder?

Homie, this isn't twilight, go home saionji.

Anthy as Utena(????) you trolling. So hard.

Saionji get's zero respect but dudes dedicated I'll give him that. Fitting for bad boy romance lead.

Uh...Wait, actually, are they all romance leads? Common ones in one way or the other. They are on the student Council so...Hm. I don't read enough romance stories of the variety I think but it seems to fit? I'm not sure what juri would be in that case.

Anyway, if this Episode Turns out to be a key for understanding things I'm gonna be pissed. Just a little.

Overall Thoughts: So this and the other “filler” episode is, especially after finishing my last ep in the session, read as anything but despite the obvious uh...antics on display. Like...

Ok, so the whole thing with the ending which frames Anthy and Utena as kinda the same (or rather exactly the same, except one's in red and the other pink) makes this whole episode feel like it's basically some kind of key for understanding everything else because it's simple times. It's goofy hilarity with Nanami that's the A Plot right hahahah....

Except the personality swap between the two of them is like...The implication here is that they swapped minds fully, and given the level of fairy tale bullshit that is at play constantly in this series so far it may well just be magic brand magic and we're supposed to roll with it. Ok. Fair.

Except...The thought that sits in my head is again, Anthy and Utena seem to equal each other. Hell I point it out slightly later that there's definitely this yin yang thing going on in the opening with the two which is so blatant as to be meaningless because Hah Yeah these are our two leads obvs and they're important to each other so hahah don't worry about or think about it check out these SWEET SWORDSMANSHIP MOMENTS FROM EVERYONE LOOK AT THE BUDGET AND COOL HORSES AND CASTLES HAHAHA.

But ok, if it's a Yin Yang thing, yes they're not the same but they have elements of each other within eachother. So if it's just a personality swap but not an actual soul swap thing, that is, Anthy is just acting like Utena's personality is in her, and Utena is just acting like Anthy's personality is in her it paints this picture of Utena and Anthy as having a lot going on under the surface. I mean obviously Anthy is fucking pissed at Saionji. That was really really evident in episode one because if she's just being submissive rosebride I do what i'm told and I do what i'm told I do what i'm told, the very very very sharp dig of “We're Just classmates” is fucking brutal unnecessity. And given that she DOES know what he feels for her, and he's still acting like that, her being vindictive(or just brusque really, he's being an ass full bore) is like...absolutely reasonable.

Her Slapping back and about to throw hands with her tormentors? Who wouldn't want to right?

But then, ok that's Anthy, but what about Utena. If it's just a mind swap, Utena...want's a very defined existence? Like, she wants to just stick to a role? Feels weird, and doesn't quite immediately jive with her cause that seems against her operations right? Except, as this episode so kindly reminds us (for at least the third time in 8 episodes which seems excessive. I might be forgetting one or two) Utena's whole thing coming to this school is I want to play the Role of the Prince, whatever that actually means. Playing the Rose Bride would be no real difference, except it's way more submissive.

So that aside, Saionji saying he's in love with Anthy (and that seems to be something he at least believes to be true. He honestly seems more into Toga. Like for real for real, all the imagery of those flashbacks reads not just as close buddies, but as I am romantically down with you Toga my guy. Him being Bi is probably the easiest answer, and he just drifted away from Toga for a while. Saionji clearly sees him as a friend and rival, although it's seemingly not reciprocated at the moment.

But the thing, the thing that's kinda weird to me, is that if he does legit have feelings for her, I was struck with this odd vibe that he's playing at being a romance lead. Specifically, a Bad Boy romance lead. And doing so SPECTACULARLY badly. Homeboy is sitting here busting out poetry (unless my brain is being a dumb and i'm somehow overlaying him with Tatewaki Kuno from Ranma which ok, weird but alright) but...

Ok, if he is playing at being a Badboy Romance lead, that actually explains his behavior for how he was treating Anthy, especially if he's legit in his feelings for her? Possessive, Radiates Danger, Engages in Creepy Behavior, is a bit of a dick, etc. It lines up with Being a Bad Boy, except that the way that those usually work out in fiction, as I understand it, they're not usually like...gonna hit you. That breaks the fantasy. But...That's him fucking up the archetype. It doesn't fit for him. He doesn't understand what he's doing in that archetype.

Like yes, abusers and the like can care and still be absuers cause fucked up behavior and motivations don't need to match in the least, but it still feels odd that a man who probably literally could have done any number of fucked up things has...an exchange diary with the girl he says he cares about? And it's not like he's unaware of how submissive/passive she is, his exchange diary actually kinda reads like Utena's Anthy is A Real Girl! Activities*. He wants her to be active part of whatever their relationship is and...Eh.

But ok, if he's that, It suggests the rest of the student council, and duelists in general, would fit into a given archetype right? Toga is clearly the super cool intelligent superman student council president, Juri is basically charisma max Jock, Miki is the cute nerd, Nanami is the Ojou villainess type, Utena is...Basically the Hero type, just morals, strains to upset the status quo, Has the Cool Original Uniform.

And they all kinda fit into those pretty thoroughly, kinda like they're trying to (to varying levels of awareness)

Anyway, I'll hit on some of the other stuff in the next Ep. It's a bit more relevant there I think.

*See Me In Episode 11

Episode 9

I just realized they're doing some kinda yinyang thing in the opening so

R V G FIGHT.

Pretty tense there. Toga went straight for the heart which i'm sure means nothing.

Old Friends? Phrasing seems uh...odd? Unsure if it's dub things or actual subtext. Or both.

Dude you really got beef with a monkey? No, utena.

Being a huge dick. As is tradition.

10 Years.

Saionji: Actually love her (said) but

This is mad gay. Like the lighting, the silhouette. Saionji you're sublimating something here.

Music, Silhouettes.

...Silhouettes show truth? uh.

They were Utena's folks funeral? Huh. Also, why on earth would Utena be kidnapped? Who she be?

….Three coffins. Uh. Uhhhhhh. Utena, Toga, Saionji? UuuuHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?

Dead utena. Uh.

Toga: Ally to all women. Ok.

...Why is there a third coffin?

Something Eternal huh? And Utena wants to die for reasons understandable.

Find another coffin. Rose Sigils on the coffins. Uh. Uhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Saionji: Hey, this is nuts, we should stop her.

Toga: Nah, I'm gonna Ennable the shit out of this.

Tiny Utena with the White Rose?

Saionji: Did he do something to her?

Toga: Nope

Uh....

Anthy: Something Eternal in the castle. I want to go there.

Also impressive grip strength considering. Flat.

Does Toga Remember this or...? I can't be sure. Saionji certainly didn't recognize her, but he wasn't like right on top of the trauma child.

Toga white roses? Uh? Uhhhhh. I think he definitely remembers. But questions abound.

Ufo's shadow girls? Shadow girls having flesh is deeply concerning.

TRUE FRIENDS ARE JUST FANTASIES. OK.

And UFO's broke, so that's probably not great. Who's getting the Revelations today.

That is the fakest voice toga what the fuck

Badboy Saionji: We're Gonna get the eternity.

Also, I just realized they (saionji and anthy) have color inversions going on which is making me kinda wonder if they're related in some way?

Just slap the shit out of him that's fair.

Ok, so Saionji didn't(?) do the dumb thing. Ok,

that is...a coffin. That he's 100% obssessed with. With Anthy (Utena) inside.

He's looking like he kissed his own mom right now, goin full oedipus in the holy shit revelations here.

Castle is crumbling, falling down. So...Eternity is Fake. Ok. Sure. Didn't shadow girls say that?

Castle Immediately tried to kill him. Crushed his soul 1 time too many there I suppose.

Utena, meanwhile, dove super deep into saving anthy which...diving deeper into the fantasy?

Yeah, they all just saw things.

Saionji: WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED WHATS GOING ON?

Bro, me too.

Ok, if the two are reflections, does Anthy and saionji both got some deep illusory bullshit going on? Are they both freaking out?

Toga, saving the day, and Saionji, tried to kill Utena with a sword. so. Ok.

Saionji Expelled?  Toga, fool for thinking they're friends?

WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED HERE?

Overall Thoughts: I touched on a bunch of the Saionji stuff I wanna talk about in the last episode review, but the thing I kinda want to look at here is well...

Ok, Now the colors probably don't mean anything, but there was this moment that Saionji and Anthy were in the same shot and I suddenly realized they're color flips of each other. Purple hair green eyes, Green Hair Purple eyes, which ok that's interesting.

So we already have Utena Reflecting on Anthy, and hey, there's Zero Reason, absolutely negative number reasons why that wouldn't necessarily be the case with any and all of the rest of the duelists to some degree or another.

And hell, the fact that we keep flipping back and forth between Utena and Anthy in Coffins, there being (for some weird ass reason) a third entirely unrelated coffin for Utena's folks funeral, why the fuck not right?

So ok, Anthy and Saionji mirror each other which...Ok. If the Personality Swap from Episode 8 thing holds, The two actually share some pretty dickish actions. They can be cruel and petty and just antagonistic to things that don't quite jive with what they want. Saionji with Anthy not being...whatever he's expecting out of her, or Utena butting in. Anthy with the girls who keep fucking with her and Saionji.

They both seem to be utterly STUCK on the Rose Bride thing, although from different angles of Possessing the Rosebride and being the Rosebride, and the kind of weird shaping of the Rosebride thing that's going on.

Saionji is treated as a joke by the student council, especially after he get's kicked out, which ultimately ends with him being someone who is generally wanted but ends up ultimately exiled from society. Which mirrors with Anthy as someone is is wanted, but doesn't seem to have ANY kind of actual tangible bonds with anyone.

And, for this last one I have ZERO evidence on the Anthy end, but the suggestions are uh..interesting. Saionji in this episode, as suggested by the shadow girls at least in part, is deeply deeply invested in a fantasy of some kind, one that ultimately leaves him crushed and rather empty, further exiled from people who could or do care for him and that he cares about. Which if we're going with the property sliding across and He's a Foil for Utena (which I think is definitely true in some ways) suggests bad things for her down the line.

Episode 10

Saionji's a joke huh? He's taking it well.

Toga WOW. WOW YOU FUCKING DOUCHE. STRAIGHT IN THE FIRE HUH.

EGG TIME.

So, thing about eggs, that includes whats inside it right? so...Revolutionize yourself right? Right? That's obvious right?

Oh new duelist. Cool cool.

Utena getting slapped. By Nanami. With Utena being hella submissive. (EPISODE 8 FLASHBACKS INTENSIFY)

maybe a girl can't be a prince. THERES THAT THESIS. E8 FLASHBACKS

Nanami got her brother a kitty.

Oh damn it is Nanami. Duel Time. I mean we sall it in the opening but you know.

Jesus Toga, please stop being

OH GOD NANAMI NO. NOOOOOO NOPE NO.

Toga: We ain't kids no more. Shit don't fly.

Nanami: Emotionally devastated.

Is that Miki's sister?

Hey, what happened to the cat?

Juri: Hey, Serious Business, what the fucks up with the duelist?

Toga is perpatrating as badly as nanami actually. He's just less immediately obvious about it I guess.

Goddamnit there's Anthy's next slap. Jesus. Legit, who hasn't at this point. Is this a theme? IS THIS A THING?

Jesus, he's just playing all of this to piss her off? What the fucks up.

...Did nanami kill the cat. Uh...Uhhhhhh.

Ring is an engagement ring. Wait, that's a flat out school rule that everyone knows? For real? Uh.

...What the fuck happened with the kitty. Uh...

ITS TIME. ABSOLUTE DESTINYYYYYYYYYYYY

I just realized the kinda weird framing with Anthy dressing up utena kinda looks like her opening her legs up with the way it get's framed and I'm not sure if that's me just kinda over reading things or if that's a thing.

Nanami's duel outfit is SICK. Also, a yellow alt color of utena.

Actually. ACTUALLY? Is...Is Nanami like an Utena Alt color? That can't be right. Actually looking at  them right next to each other they're...straight up alt colors of each other. Not to mention Nanami's my prince thing mirrors Utena.

She just HOT pulled a knife. Oh she's About to fucking hot MERC utena, going for death jessus.

They're supposed to be around the same age too for that matter right?

She absolutely killed that cat and it's...

With her hair down she does look like an utena alt color even more.

Why's the duel music still going after the duel finished. Jesus. This wasn't a duel with Nanami, it was a duel with Toga, and I think Utena Hot lost it out and out.

Overall Thoughts: Well the Big thing I'm paying attention here are two. First the simpler one.

The Egg has to break the shell of the world to be born right? I'm paraphrasing badly, but the thing is the way they keep phrasing that is that the World is the Egg, but the egg isn't just the shell right? It includes what's inside of it. Which if that's the case, mixed with the way that duels work out being more a clash of ideals than of actual tangible skill, the revolutionize the world bit seems to be referring to them themselves, that is the duelists.

Alternatively, the Bird Referenced, the thing being revolutionized is Anthy. Which...Is an interesting line of thought. Given the Duels as a whole are basically choosing who her fiance will be, that'd imply that ultimately this decides the way that Anthy would come to develop? Or how she chooses to develop? Which ok if so, and the way that Ideals seem to be at play, Suggests...What? Dunno. Need more info, which will be delivered later.

But the other thing here, continuing the mirroring thing, which might be me reading too deeply, but I think not and even if it is Whatever I'm having fun.

THE ENTIRE NANAMI DUEL felt like a Mirror Match.Heck, Nanami dressed like an alt color of Utena, and especially once her hair got undone she looked even more like an alt color of Utena. They're only about a year different in age, and her brother seems to be her Prince type, and he drops the ring on her like an engagement ring, and she basically says I fight like my brother because he's my ideal.

Which is a weird thing since right now it's not going...too far. I'll have to see how it shakes out, but if the mirroring thing continues, the fact that the moment she lost she basically said nope fuck that, Knife Time, was...Concerning. It says real concerning things with Utena.

But it also says other interesting things then, because if Nanami is supposed to be some kind of Alt color Utena, similar in ambition goals and the like, if more outwardly girly to Utena's princey thing, their relationship with Anthy is uh..

Uh...

Well put simply, Utena is fucking up big and dramatic with Anthy, and she doesn't realize it at all or care because she can't see it for what it is. Nanami actively tries to undermine Anthy, and does some fucked up things to her. Which..Makes me wonder about the Divine Judgement thing from Episode 8 which, damnably, seems to be forming some kind of key here.

Like the way it's frame suggests the divine Judgement being visited upon Nanami is what's being talked about. But ok, Nanami had some bad shit happen to her sure, but...All of that was self inflicted upon her trying to fix what she percieves as a problem. Yes her reasons for doing it are so she can be with her brother, no doubt, but...They're ridiculous. Like, I cannot believe this shit is happening. But

But

If the Target of Divine Judgement/punishment is the Anthy Utena duo, one or both of them are on the receiving end of it. It's not clear how Acting like Utena would be a punishment for Anthy (I'm sticking with it just being a personality swap and not a full mind swap) but Utena who prides herself on being princely and aspires to that being the super submissive rosebride? I could see that being a kind of hell for her. And if the logic of Utena is Undermining Anthy holds out, but the criitcal difference being her ignorance and dishonesty of why compared to Nanami unabashedly saying yes I am fucking doing this fuck you I get what I want no hold barred, it...

Like, Nanami, as far as it goes, doesn't really receive a punishment if we're being honest. Yes she takes a couple of elephants to the dome, and has to be away from her brother and see her thing fail but..The way it's treated by herself and everyone else is basically a LOL THESE THINGS HAPPEN I GUESS HAHAHA. The Utena/Anthy swap meanwhile seems considerably more serious for them (especially considering the Everyone Slaps Anthy thing that seems to legit be a thing. Somehow. Except here Applied to “Utena”), and seems to cause some serious distress.

We'll see I guess.

Episode 11

As I watch this opening more and more, why is anthy like constantly framed like...Ominous as shit? Is it me?

Homegirl is just. Damn. Sure glad NOTHING BAD WILL HAPPEN (I do not trust this series to not have something bad happen to Wakaba. Again.)

Anthy. Are..are you...passive aggressively doing...something

Toga: I can see through the illusions yeah boi.

I do not trust this for an inch. He is abusing the shit out of his framing, like the whole time, and I don't trust.

Toga is “student council prince” archetype. Miki's nerdy student counciler.

EGG TIME

Juri is...Antagonistic But well meaning?

Saionji...I'm not sure he was actually on the stuco. But if so, bad boy.

What....is with the balloons. The color coded balloons.

Miki: Like a Pet Cat.

The Pet Cat that died, got killed.

WHAT IS WITH THESE BALLOONS.

ALSO I SEENT YOU PURPLE BALLOON.

So if the duels are ideal clashes more than actually a matter of direct skill, is this Toga (touga?) trying to fuck with Utena before the fight?

Anthy is a Bird. Ok. And Toga, arguably, being the biggest dick here. We thought it was Saionji, but the trick was he's the red part of the rose.

Anthy shut down REAL quick when being the rose bride was brought up.

Is Utena projecting mad hard onto Anthy here?

Homeboy needs to stop playing these games.

Utena, Stahp.  DO NOT TRUST HIM.

Toga, You...DOUCHE. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH

Toga: Oh My B, Shouldn't act that way in front of the rose bride. ALSO DUELING LETS GOOOOO.

Utena: one link forces me to fight him. Meanwhile, rose symbols everywhere, a lot of them brought in by anthy.

Hmmmmmmm.

Utena is hard not understanding something here. I don't know what (rose bride related for sure) but I don't get...WHAT is off here.

Cause thinking about it, Utena's objective with Anthy is arguably the most noble, but she's still not quite treating anthy as a person.

….William Tell Interlude is SUITABLY CONCERNING considering the above thoughts so uh.

Also that was a weirdly specific number. 30K arrows or something?

I just realized that the DARKNESS OF DARKNESS OF LIGHT OF DESTINY OF (INSERT) things seems to show up right around anthy a lot. I'm not super sure if that's a whole thing or just a this episode thing, but...

Is Utena about to get HOT DUNKED? Because I think she is.

Also, I just realized, Utena slid into that pull sword out of rose bride thing right quick and she's never once questioned that.

So yes, Utena has BOOTY but cheeks swordsmanship, which yeah, obvs. Two of the people she beat were actually skilled before this fight, and yet she won somehow.

I don't know how to deal with these lyrics. But Toga is absolutely  fucking with her head here.

And She Lost. Decisively. YUP. WELP THIS IS GONNA BE A THING NEXT TIME.

Toga: Hey you don't have to deal with this bullshit anymore.

Utena is doing the EXACT same shit Miki and Saionji were pulling, and Anthy's blank soulless stare is freaking me the hell out. Again.

So, ideals here. But the idea that whoever has a...better grasp of the truth is the victor. Which makes sense that Toga wins here.

Jesus, Soul crush 2.0, except it's on Utena this time. Goddamn.

WELL NEXT EPISODE PROMISES TO BE FUN.

Utena: ITS NOT TRUE. ITS NOT TRUE!

The Anime Revolutionary Girl Utena IMMEDIATELY: MISSING TRUTH ETCETC HOLD ME IN YOUR TRUE ARMS I WANT TO KEEP SMASHING LIES APART

SURE THAT MEANS NOTHING GUYS GGNORE.

Also, no joke, these seem like a Direct response to this episode and I'm not sure how to feel about that.

I want to be hated by lies? Uhhhhh.

Overall Thoughts: So Hey, Here we are in Episode 11 and I want to talk about how Utena and Saionji basically are each other right here.

Like overtly even I think, even if the actions aren't precise clean mirrors to each other which I guess is just how i'm going to be going through this series right now RiP.

But ok, here's the thing. What has been increasingly clear as time goes by is that Utena is fundamentally misunderstanding something about Anthy. I'm not sure fully what it is, but it's clearly Rosebride related, and the thing with the clashing ideals suggests that the.

Actually let me explain that clear like. Right now my read on the Duels is that they are NOT in any way shape or form a demonstration of skill. I Think that's clear through this point, but I'm making it explicit for my own sake. The Victor of the Duel isn't the better fighter. If that were the case, It'd suggest the only ones in the running at all would be Toga or Saionji (Juri should also be in here, but I'm not actually clear how skilled she is compared to those two, and the way they're treated suggests that Toga and Saionji are comparable in pure skill/ability.)

But Utena somehow beat Saionji like three times, Juri and Miki. Miki's whatever, but Juri clearly knows what she's doing, and Saionji seems to be Kendo Team captain so you know. Up there. Meanwhile, Utena explicitly is an amateur.

I'm not saying, in full, that actual skill with the blade is a null thing, but your ideals seems to be the biggest factor over everything else. Presumably, people rocking equally “powerful” ideals would fall to skill with the sword.

Anyway. The Truths that Seem to be critical are Anthy Wants to Be Free of the Rosebride. Ok, so Utena has the right read then right? But then she lost to Toga who seems to be rocking Anthy Wants to Be, or else Considers herself fundamentally to be, the Rosebride, which is something that Utena seems to be denying about Anthy, but is none the less true.

But then, How are Utena and Saionji the same? Well, remember an episode back where I was talking about the divine punishment thing and all that jazz from episode 8?

It hits both of them for mistreating the Rosebride. There is a fantasy going on between Utena and Saionji, and while Saionji's is a bit complicated and unclear I think, Utena's actually is pretty straightforward I think. Utena want's to be a prince. That's her fantasy. The general virtues she want's to possess are great. Good even. But the specific's seems to involve a kind of rides in and saves the day riding in on a white horse thing, where she's the hero and does for some poor unfortunate girl what her prince did to her.

Saionji's meanwhile, seems to be something of him having a genuine reciprocal relationship with Anthy, with him inhabiting the role of a badboy romantic lead while the two of them have feelings for each other. When, really, he doesn't seem to care for her, or at least the feelings that he has for her are considerably weaker than whatever awkward feelings he has going on for Toga (I'm seriously a little fuzzy here, cause it feels like following his most recent defeat he's rocking some kind of clarity? I don't know how it's gonna work out, but I could sorta see him Returning and upsetting whatever the then status quo is.)

But notably, the big thing between them is their staunch refusal to accept what seems to be really true about their relationship with Anthy.

That the end theme seems to immediately pop up as an answer to Utena's reaction feels...Purposeful.

[lovelylunarwriting]

Gryffindor!Mingyu & Slytherin!Minghao

Gryffindor!Mingyu 

Has a yearly tradition of buying one of every single snack when the lady with the cart of goodies passes him on the train 

He's not wizard born, both his parents are muggles, so his first year he was like "weird looking/moving food? Sign me tf up" 

It's been tradition ever since 

Let's be real it's the main reason that Soonyoung and DK sit with him on the train rides 

Once during the prank war between Gryffindors and Slytherins (see Hufflepuff!Joshua and Slytherin!Jihoon post to understand), Chan slipped him what he thought was a shrinking potion. •But in actuality it was a growing potion. 

So 6 foot tall Mingyu became 9 foot tall Mingyu 

The effects of the potion latest a week and Mingyu had to be excused from quidditch practice because he couldn't fit on the broom... 

Was peer pressured by Seungcheol to join the quidditch team and is like "mehhh" about it until you get the the quidditch game 

Then he's competitive and determined af 

The reason Seungcheol wanted him on the team is because he saw Mingyu sprint across the castle from the dining hall to divination because he lost track of the time and was gonna be late, and Seungcheol was like "if he can run that fast for that long, how fast do you think he could fly??" 

The answer to that is pretty damn fast as they both found out at tryouts 

He ends up becoming one of the chasers for the Gryffindor team 

The only thing Mingyu had to practice a lot to get good at was catching the freaking quaffle because he's a clumsy giant and kept dropping it accidentally 

Mingyu: *drops quaffle from 100ft in the air* 

Seungcheol: "gOd dAMn iT, go get it!!" 

Is dorm roomies with Seungcheol and very happy about it 

Just came here to have a good time and learn magic n stuff but Seungcheol and Vernon are always dragging him into their messes 

Seungcheol and Vernon are always tryna prank the Slytherins but Mingyu just wants to live in peace and not be targeted for revenge 

It's hard for him to stay inconspicuous when it comes to pranking because he's really freaking tall (he literally stands out of a crowd) and has like the worst poker face. Precious tol bean 

Mingyu: *walks into the dining hall with a really awkward/uncomfortable smile* 

Chan: *blows whistle* "TAKE COVER" 

All the Slytherins duck under their tables and then the cakes that were on those tables explode 

Seungcheol and Vernon just look at Mingyu with the most disappointed look 

They learn to stop including Mingyu if they want to be successful 

Anyway moving on 

Every year, the new first years are kid of wary/cautious around him because he seems like a tall, intimidating guy 

But then he runs into a pillar or almost falls off the moving stairs and they're like "oh. he's fine" 

Generally a tall innocent meme who just wants to live peacefully but... naw lol his clumsiness and friends liven up things 

He enjoys it and appreciates them but he won't say it directly 

He'll bake Seungcheol and Vernon cookies or some shit and they're just so skeptical about it 

Vernon: "did you poison these? Have we personally wronged you somehow? Idk what it was but I'm sorry please don't kill me with these" 

Seungcheol: "no no I don't think that's it, he would have nowhere to hide our bodies. I think he did something wrong and we're gonna lose house points or something so he's trying to get on our good side before it comes to light" 

Mingyu: "wow I literally just made you cookies and I've been personally attacked. I'm gonna eat all three dozen of these with the Hufflepuffs, they're way nicer than you guys" 

Seungcheol: "Mingyu we're sorry come bACK" 

And Mingyu does come back and the positive vibe is restored via eating cookies and goofing off, what these three do best 

 Slytherin!Minghao 

Was really psyched to go to a wizarding school because he didn't have any wizard/witch friends growing up 

Until he got on the train and saw Vernon try to snort smarties because Soonyoung told him "it's a thing the muggle kids do" 

Minghao was freaking out on the inside like "dear god... They're idiots... I thought wizards would be more mindful people like me..." 

So he decided to keep observing the people on the train before actually initiating a conversation with anyone 

He sat down in an empty seat and started 'reading', but he was actually listening to everyone interact and figuring out who he might be able to tolerate for the next seven years 

The thing that got him to finally decide someone was okay to talk to was when Seungcheol accidentally elbowed Jun in the face as they were passing each other in the narrow hall of the train, and Jun started swearing in Chinese because ow 

Minghao looked up from his book so fast he got whiplash but was like "HIM. IT HAS TO BE HIM" 

Minghao's thinking "we can talk shit about people right in front of them and they won't know what we're saying" (honestly, friendship goals) 

And he's also thinking "if I have a friend that speaks my native language, maybe I won't feel so homesick" but he doesn't acknowledge that feeling because he's tryna be tough 

So Minghao walks over to Jun and is like "you okay?" in Chinese and Jun is just like !!! New Chinese buddy?? 

They sit together and by the end of this train ride they're close friends and have talked a lot of shit. About eVeRyOnE except that one kid Joshua because like they tried to find something bad to say about him and literally couldn't?? Like why is an angel on this train?? 

They gossip lightheartedly, obviously they're not really hating on everyone 

They're just being like "how many times do you thing Vernon will silently stare at Seungkwan until he stops talking and pays attention to him" 

Casually blunt observers 

Turns out Jun and Minghao both planned to try out for the quidditch team even before they got to Hogwarts 

The Slytherins captain at the time was like "listen all you people wanting to try out, it's not gonna be easy" 

The people who really wanted a position on the team were the ones who stuck through all the tough drills and training 

And the only two left in the end for the two open spots were Jun and Minghao 

Minghao earned the position of beater (not even a little surprised) and Jun was made a Chaser 

The literal definition of resting bitch face. He does not look approachable by any means if he's by himself 

He also looks really stylish in his robes by adding accessories and doing his make up real nice, etc. But to some people that can be a little off-putting because wow?? This person has their shit together enough to accessorize?? I sure don't.  

So that adds to the 'unapproachable' vibe. 

But when Minghao is talking to one of his friends, he has the cutest happy expression on his face 

The kind of loving look that everyone wants someone to look at them like that 

At first everyone thought that Minghao and Jun were dating because they spent so much time together 

When someone nosy *COUGH CouGH s e u n g k w a n* asked them about it, it ended up a lil something like this 

Jun: "you think I'm dating Minghao? I have standards, don't kid yourself" 

Minghao: "why would I date the moron who's probably backhugged every other boy in this school. Do I look like the kind of person to settle for an idiot like that" 

Jun & Minghao: *shrug at each other, fist bump, and walk away together* 

Seungkwan: "????? the fuck" 

So yeah they're not dating, just besties that enjoy roasting not only other people, but each other 

Because let's be real if you can't roast your friends, are you really even friends??? 

When it comes to the prank war... You do nOT want to go up against Jun and Minghao 

Because they only prank together and they have no mercy 

Like you thought Monsta X's No Mercy would make you cry?? Jun and Minghao's wrath is worse 

Y'all thought getting hexed by Jihoon was bad... At least that only lasts like 15 minutes, max. (Except for that one time... poor Seokin... but that's a whole other story) 

These assholes will prank you until you break and beg them to stop 

They will not stop until you admit that they win 

If you tell them they've won, they'll never bother you again. 

They don't do any really harsh pranks, they just keep bothering you incessantly until you give up 

Jun is mainly the execution of these pranks, and Minghao is the brains behind it 

Moral of the story, don't try to fuck with them

Minghao's favorite class is Care of Magical creatures and I will fight anyone who disagrees with me 

He tries to be cool, like "hmm I'm a Slytherin, I don't care too much for this" but homeboy skips his classes sometimes just to go pet and feed the hippogriffs (catch me sobbing, what a soft cutie) 

If you ask him nonchalantly a question about a creature he'll pull up a projector and show you a PowerPoint full of fun facts about whatever creature you asked about, full of adorable pictures of said creature 

Even if it's a visually... challenged... deadass ugly creature, Minghao will describe it like it is the most precious thing and will convince you that it is precious. Because no one has the heart to disagree with this boy who's so excited about these creatures?? 

He is accidentally very cute 

Just wants to be seen as independent and manly but is a spacey and cute boy

[ellahmacdermott]

Living on Bitcoin Day 5: An In-Store Buy At Last (Spoiler: It’s Pot-Related)

This is the fifth instalment of reporter Colin Harper's "Living on Bitcoin" experience in San Francisco. Find out what happened to him earlier on Day 1 , on Day 2 , on Day 3 and on Day 4.

I woke up in a millionaire’s bed today, something I never thought I’d say because I ain’t gonna make a million bucks, and I always doubted I could’ve finagled my way into the bed of someone who had.

Jeremy’s room is your prototypical festival bro living space: Bob Marley poster in one corner, jam band festival posters for Camp Bisco and Gathering of the Vibes (among other music festivals) tacked above a 50-inch, Toshiba plasma screen, which was leaning against the wall and propped up on the box it came in. A tangled cluster of conference passes (many speaker or VIP) hung from a back wall above the felt loveseat.

Below one of the room’s three windows, there’s a bookcase sectioned off into six cubbies, which include Hunter S. Thompson, Michael Lewis, Truman Capote, and some self-help and econ/business books. Almost poetically, a book called Ego is the Enemy appropriately placed in a cubbie diagonally opposite to the one housing Tucker Max’s Assholes Finish First.

On the third floor, I made the coffee I bought at Whole Foods, warmed one of the croissants and did some work.

Over Slack, my colleague Aaron van Wirdum suggested I try a map called Bitcoin Map on the Google Play store to see if it had any bitcoin-accepting places listed that I could be missing. I pulled it up, browsed some places I had previously tried but knew no longer did. Then, I glanced at Haight-Ashbury on the map one last time and noticed a smoke shop and one-time hookah lounge that accepted bitcoin.

On the off chance, I called them up.

“Do you guys still accept bitcoin?”

“Yes, we do.”

“Seriously?!”

“Yes.”

Exuberant, I let a triumphant expletive slip and thanked the woman, assuring her that I would be by later that day.

It would be a smoke shop that becomes the first place where I can spend some bitcoin, I thought to myself.

With that victory, my spirits were lifted and I began to make preparations for my day. Needing to get more credit for Uber, I tried out Gyft, a gift card purchasing platform that made Hill’s second run at this in 2014 so much easier. Vinny Lingham started it, and the platform accepts other forms of payment than just bitcoin.

I couldn’t use it though. I tried to buy an Uber gift card, but my Samourai wallet wouldn’t accept the BitPay QR as valid (which, given Samourai’s general crypto maximalism, made sense and also seemed to sum up the difficulties of the experiment to that point). I opted for Bitrefill again.

Then I started doing some research on Kraken and Coinbase’s locations in San Francisco. According to Google, they have the same office address, which I found odd.

Putting the address into my Uber app, I decided to make my way to the heart of San Francisco’s Financial District to see if I could pester my way into either or both offices. “Just show up and ask to talk to people,” Hill’s advice echoed in my head.

The addresses I got on Google led me to a mailing address, but then a bit of sleuthing got me addresses (supposedly) of the actual offices for both Kraken and Coinbase. Kraken’s, though, turned out to be a FedEx, which led me to think that my informant was screwing with me or that Kraken had registered that address intentionally so as to not be bothered.

Coinbase’s office was right, so I cut the informant some slack. I secured a receptionist’s number from the security desk in the lobby but didn’t really have time to make an appointment for later. This wasn’t 2013 anymore: I couldn’t just drop in on their three employees in an apartment office anymore. This was 2019 and Coinbase had become a unicorn with more than 500 employees and six offices in three countries.

The rain was light but steady when I was searching for Kraken and Coinbase’s offices, but it would come down progressively harder the longer I walked. I passed a Target on my route in which I could have bought an umbrella (Paxful and Gyft have Target cards), and it highlighted a problem with banking on bitcoin through gift cards. You have to preplan your purchases, or else you have to stop, connect to wifi, and use an exchange that takes bitcoin to buy new cards before you can redeem them.

It seems obvious, but it’s not as seamless as cash, debit or credit. Even so, there aren’t so many hoops to jump through — just enough to make doing so outside in the rain an inconvenience.

My denim jacket was thoroughly soaked, so I stopped inside a Starbucks and ordered a coffee with a Starbucks gift card I bought on Paxful. I ordered a seasonal latte, basic white boy that I am, but I had the barista only pump about a third of the usual flavor shots into it because I don’t like drinking syrup.

While downtown, I visited Quantstamp’s offices, as Christian had set me up with a buddy of his who worked there, Jared let me in and we talked crypto. He mentioned a bubble tea cafe nearby that used to accept crypto, but it proved to be yet another red herring, making me worry that maybe the smoke shop on Haight might not either.

Ubering back to the castle, I sent some additional funds to my Samourai wallet ahead of my trip to the shop. Rachel wanted to come along, partly I think for the fun of it but also because she was fiending for some Juul pods and was banking on my generosity to secure her some.

We reached the smoke shop shortly before close as one employee was busy allocating merch to a back closet. It was what you expected from a smoke shop: pieces, bongs and actual tobacco pipes in various sizes and in a motley of translucent, glass-infused colors. They sell smokes and vaping supplies too, but no Juuls or Juul pods (to Rachel’s great dismay).

Approaching the counter, I try to confirm what I’d been told over the phone.

“Y’all take bitcoin, right?”

“Bitcoin? Yes, I think,” said the middle-aged, Asian woman, hesitantly. “We used to at least. Ask him,” she says, pointing to the man stacking the backroom with inventory.

Her husband, a middle-aged, white guy with glasses, a mariner’s cap and close-shaven beard, who looks like he might read communist theory and know his way around a VPN, dashed my bitcoin-spending hopes with his answer.

“I don’t think so. Honey, do we still have the payment processor?” he asked.

They didn’t. Snapcard, which may have very well been the same defunct-processor that Woot Bear used, was no longer in service, so they stopped taking it some time ago. They had originally decided to start accepting bitcoin in 2013-2014 when it was “cool” to do so, and the husband was kicking himself for not doing it sooner.

“People would want to come in and buy rolling papers and we didn’t want to take it, which was stupid,” he chuckled.

I asked if they still had a Coinbase account to which I could send bitcoin, but the wife said that her son held the account and they didn’t know how to use it. After a few more failed attempts at trying to find a solution, I gave up, thanked them and left the shop.

As I left, I was convinced there was some grand conspiracy to keep me from spending bitcoin, until the woman peeked her head out of the shop to beckon us back.

“I think we figured it out,” she said.

Eager and a bit antsy, I leaned over the counter to observe her Coinbase app while I tried for the items I had picked out (a glass piece that’s totally not for me and white sage for the castle). As it turned out, they weren’t verified with Coinbase, so they could only buy/sell on Coinbase and not send/receive. This annoyed me: Why do one when you can’t do the other?

“It’s ok,” I said, resigned at this point.

But the woman insisted. She was nice enough to let me just scan the QR code for her son’s wallet, and she even gave me a five buck discount on the piece.

Effusive, I thanked them and asked for their names, which they prefered I not publish here. Apparently, San Francisco is not too friendly to tobacco shops.

“The city is trying to annex the smoke shops,” the husband told me. That coupled with the stigma of bitcoin and the illicit drug market’s symbiotic dependence on the dark web (and the fact that the business is basically a head shop) made them wary enough of potentially damaging publicity.

The fact that the transaction almost happened then didn’t, only to almost not happen and then succeed was representative of how the experiment has been panning out so far. The bitcoin PoS was makeshift, but it finally happened, and I was happy enough to finally get the first IRL transaction out of the way, even if it came on day five. It was also directly peer-to-peer — no middleman payment processor involved, which I liked.

Finally, something to write home about.

Returning to the castle, I would spend the rest of the night fraternizing with the residents who were quickly becoming acquaintances and friends. They all had their own goals and projects, and the interactions in my short time with them will be worth a story one day.

There’s Rachel, who’s known Jeremy since 2015; Liz, the Queen of the Castle (obviously); Michael, a laid back relations or community manager who “kinda does crypto but not really;” Orest and Aymard, who work at Ausum Ventures with Jeremy; Teddy and Hans, who are building a blockchain query database for legal documents; Vivian, the VP of the same self-driving car startup, comma.ai, that used to reside in the castle’s basement; and a prodigious, 18-year-old developer-entrepreneur who runs his own AI financial consultation startup and whom Jeremy referred to once as his “protégé.”

“So, are you like the wunderkind developer prodigy of the house?” I asked him.

“Pretty much. But it’s not just that.”

“What, like you’re also the wunderkind entrepreneurial prodigy?”

“Something like that,” he responded with a smile and honest innocence.

He told me he would rather not be identified in the article because the banks and other businesses he works with don’t know that he’s still a kid, he confessed. That he had operated so long without them finding out was astounding to me.

The Prodigy began his company when he was a freshman in high school. No, not college (he never took that road), high school. In the company’s early stages, he decided to go all in on his vision.

“So I pretty much left high school.”

No diploma or degree to speak of, he moved to San Francisco when he was 15. In what would have been his sophomore year, he was focused on driving business growth while his peers were testing for learner’s permits.

An early investor in Ethereum and a sometimes crypto-head, he met Jeremy at a crypto castle party in 2017, and Jeremy would take him under his wing and offer him a home.

Now he works out of the community surrounded by the advice and the tutelage of the castle’s residents, who, while still young entrepreneurs themselves, have plenty of experience and tips to impart to the kid.

I highlighted The Prodigy here because or his age and precociousness but also because the whiz-tech kid who eschews education in favor of just doing makes for a pretty good story. Realistically, I could have profiled some of the other residents and their endeavors as well (for instance, I plan on doing an article on some of the innovative, impactful startups Ausum Ventures has invested in).

But The Prodigy particularly personified the house’s ethos: driven, focused, entrepreneurial and hardworking.

“Do you do drugs or drink?” I asked him.

“No. Never.”

“Good. Don’t,” I advised him.

Truth is, considering the portrait of the millionaire party boy that has been painted of Jeremy in the past, the castle was nothing like that. It wasn’t like the mainstream coverage would imply: no end-to-end daily benders or booze-infused ragers. I don’t think anyone even touched a drink while I was there. Everyone was busy working. As Rachel would tell me, “No one drinks here. They all have shit to do.”

As Kashmir Hill did in her original journey, Colin is accepting BTC tips to help him along the way.

Tip jar: 3CnLhqitCjUN4HPYf6Qa2MmvCpSoBiFfBN

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

from InvestmentOpportunityInCryptocurrencies via Ella Macdermott on Inoreader https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/living-on-bitcoin-day-5-an-in-store-buy-at-last-spoiler-its-pot-related/