#I miss lloyd a bit she was lovely but she got me killed many many times

[arthursfuckinghat]

Late dawns and early sunsets - New Hanover

[sunflowerandstrawberryspice]

More Song the Ninjago Fandom is missing out on

Alright folks guess who's back with more songs for you AND a playlist with them!

I've been having fun with this and I love talking about why I associate certain songs with certain characters I love doing it and I really do wish I was able to do animatics myself. But any who here are more songs! (Song-artist)

AS ALWAYS MAJOR SPOILERS

Violet- Marianne Ross: This song is SOOOOO Lloyd thinking about Harumi (I will in fact ignore Crystalized existence again), like it's all about thinking about someone who hurt you deeply and still thinking of them even though they treated you poorly. Lyrics: "When I think of violet I think of you I see you tryin got make is cool" Harumi trying to justify herself to Lloyd. "My mind reminds me of a purple hue, matched the sight of another bruise" Do I have to say more? Like Lloyd clearly cared about Harumi and she emotionally and physically beat the shit outta him

Like a Villain- Bad Omens: This song could totally be used for Morro or Garmadon in my opinion, the song is about someone talking to a person who unknowingly or not pushed them past the edge of no return. Lyrics: "Look into my face then look again we're not the same we're different" For Garmadon this could be a representation of the Great Devourer taking over his mind and transforming him and for Morro this could his transformation from a starry eyes kid to a depressed and evil ghost. "You need a new clean slate with out the dents" This could be either of them addressing Wu cause lets be honest neither of them have an all to peachy relationship with him, Morro especially who saw Wu with this new set of Ninja who are happier than he ever was who Wu treated like family while pretending Morro never existed. "I know that you tried your hardest I know that you meant well but you pushed me to the edge and I slipped and then I fell" For Morro this could totally be Wu's intense training and the way he made Morro believe he'd be the green ninja only for that to be false which kinda drove him crazy, or it could be used for Garmadon on him and Wu's journey in Spinjitzu Brothers to find the tea to heal Garmadon while the journey was supposed to get something to heal Garmadon it ended up just making him feel worse about himself and his place in the world. There's a bunch more awesome lyrics but we'd be here all day if I explained all of them.

Fourth of July- Sufjan Stevens: This one is a teny tiny bit of a reach but hear me out. Zane and his father. So we know that Dr. Julien passes away sometime I believe before season three takes place and it's said he died of natural causes and I'm just saying this could make a pretty decent song since I feel like Zane and Dr. Julien's really sweet father son relationship gets over looked a bit probably since he died so early on and we didn't get to see Zane mourn much afterwards. Lyrics: "And I'm sorry I left but it was for the best" Could totally be used for when Dr. Julien turned off his memory switch and everything. I don't have many particular phrases since the song is almost like a back and forth, but there are a lot of bird references which also works well for Zane.

Icarus-Luvbug: Now this could work for a couple different Ninjago parents since it's mostly about losing a child but I think it would work best with either the FSM feeling bad for what happened to Garmadon (if you want to make him less awful that is cause in cannon his feels about Garmadon are... slightly concerning like sir you're not supposed to hate your own child) Garmadon feeling bad about how Lloyd had to "kill" the child part of himself to lead the ninja, or Maya after Nya merged with the sea and how she wanted to badly to be there for her only for her to end up gone.

Little Lion Man- Mumford & sons: Misako and Lloyd, just trust me okay? Like it's all about someone blaming themselves how someone turned out and in a better world we would have gotten Misako canonically feeling awful for how Lloyd's childhood went due to the fact she decided to dump him gods know where (Darkly's is a boarding school and Lloyd doesn't remember his mother when he meets her so I'm assuming he was probably somewhere else before there?) but instead I'll settle for fan interpretation and I feel like this song would make a great Misako animatic. "But it was not your fault but mine, and it was your heart on the line" and "Now learn from your mother or else spend you days biting your own neck" and "Tremble for yourself, my man, you know that you have seen this all before"

Sorry the list is a little shorter this time but honestly sometimes I don't have full explanations for songs I just have like general vibes, like my excuse is literally just: trust, with little to no explanation. Like:

The Archer- Taylor Swift: Lloyd, Cole or Sora

Don't meet your idols- Everybody's worried about Owen: Jay (cause his bio father was his idol ig?) or Nya (I have no clue man)

Your sister was right- Wilbur Soot: Jay

Punching Bag- The Front Bottoms: Kai

Runs in the Family-Amanda Palmer: Lloyd, Garmadon, Wu, Cole, Sora and honestly just most of them tbh

Friends- Sonic Sea Turtles: Cole, Lloyd, Jay and Garmadon

Idk y'all my brain is actually just one big Lego brick.

[destinysbounty]

Oh nooo I have two new Ninjago OCs, whatever will I dooooo

Anyway their names are Nato and Kascha, and I've only had them for a day but if anything happened to them I would kill everyone in this room and then myself.

Details under the cut!

Nato (left/top) is a weary Ninjago City resident who's been here for several years and has pretty much seen it all at this point. She works a concerning amount of odd jobs - builder, mover, bus driver, tour guide, waitress, line cook, janitor...you name it, she's probably done it. She got bitten by a Fangpyre a while back, and while she managed to have the transformation mostly reversed she does still have some patches of scales scattered all over her body and her eyes are still a weird shade of green. She doesn't hold it against the snake responsible though, and they're actually on pretty good terms now. She is worryingly nonchalant about everything, and highkey disassociates to cope with living in Ninjago City. She's also a Darkley's student, but dropped out a year before Lloyd enrolled so they just barely missed each other. This probably factors into her inability to be phased by literally anything.

Kascha (right/bottom) is originally from Metalonia, but recently moved to Ninjago City to study history, so she is super involved in the academic scene. She's really into, like, history, and archaeology, and linguistics, and all that. Linguistics is her specialty, and as such she actually has a better grasp on Ninjargon than a lot of Ninjagians. But also she's very new to Ninjago City, and is very much NOT used to all the apocalypses happening on a weekly basis. Very panicky, on edge, and is constantly exasperated with Nato's nonchalance. She often used to visit Ninjago as a tourist in her childhood (her dad is a Metalonian trade ambassador so they had to travel a lot), and she ended up falling in love with Ninjagian culture. Of course, she is quickly discovering that being a tourist and being a resident are two very, VERY different experiences. Also she has a lot of metal jewelry, because y'know, her dad works for a metal export company. One time she broke a creepy porcelain vase while at a gift shop on one of her many trips abroad, and the shopkeeper cryptically told her that whoever breaks it will find themselves living "an eventful life" - and in retrospect she's like 70% sure that's why her life is so chaotic. There is a non-zero chance the SoG fiasco might have been caused by her curse, and she's not sure what to do with that information.

(For various reasons I am choosing to interpret the deserty wasteland Metalonia is shown to be in Korgran's flashback as being a more rural area, while Karlof and Kascha are from more urban regions. The fact that Karlof used to build Roto Jets suggests Metalonia is fairly industrial, at least in certain areas. It's probably similar to Ninjago in that way - major metropolitan areas act as major hubs of technological advancement and industry, while large portions of the country remain consistently and noticeably less so. Korgran comes from a more rural region, Kascha is from a big city, and Karlof is probably from a semi-industrial area like a factory town or something. Anyway, that's enough from me about worldbuilding theories.)

The fun thing about these two is that they're basically just kinda vibing in the background of all the canon plot while sometimes accidentally causing the plot. For example: Kascha interned under Dr. Saunders and was the one who set up the Yin Blade's clearstone display, and also helped put together the Hall of Villainy exhibit. Their hijinks caused the traffic jam that led to Pixal, Cole, and Zane being late for the boat ceremony in the beginning of season 10. Nato gave Vinny the idea to give Garmadon a plant, meaning she's indirectly responsible for Christofern. Kascha's cat gets possessed by Morro for a bit. They somehow join the Sons of Garmadon for a hot minute but purely by accident. They end up kinda adopting avatar!Harumi post-s12, but that was also an accident. Also Okino lives with them for a while. Nato and Tox are bitter exes. Kascha was also supposed to be on the expedition to the Island of the Keepers, but she overslept and missed the boat. They live in the same apartment complex as Dareth and were some of the first customers at Laffy's before it got overrun by SoG.

As I mentioned before, Morro ends up possessing their cat at one point due to reasons that are most definitely their fault. That is, they broke his Hall of Villainy mannequin, and thanks to all sorts of convoluted magic rules this led to his spirit returning to the material plane and becoming trapped in the nearest living thing - that is to say, Kascha's cat. I'd like to think their first encounter goes a little something like this -

Kascha: Let me get this straight. The ghost of that one emo teen who destroyed a small coastal village last year apparently had his soul tethered to a random mannequin at the museum - so when we broke the manenquin, your soul got trapped in the nearest living thing. So now you're, what, stuck possessing my cat for the rest of time? Morro: Trust me, I don't like this either. As soon as I figure out how to un-possess this stupid body and get back to the Departed Realm, I'm gone. Nato: ...so...do we still have to get the cat neutered, or...? Morro: NO Kascha: That's your takeaway from all this?! Nato: What? It's a valid question!

Of course, Morro still sticks around even after they exorcise him from the cat because why not, because they're his friends now and maybe getting a second chance at life isn't so bad after all. That being said, he's not keen on interacting with the ninja at all, and has no intention of making his presence known to them. So yeah, Morro is 100% hanging out in the background without any of the ninja finding out and he wants to keep it that way.

The running joke is that Nato and Kascha keep encountering various background/supporting characters, and keep almost meeting the ninja but never actually do (except that one time Sascha had a late-night conversation about the meaning of life with Zane at the grocery store, but didn't realize who she was talking to until two days later). Like, they'll interact with pretty much every canon character except the ninja themselves, often just barely missing opportunities to meet them in increasingly convoluted ways. So many of their shenanigans directly influence the main plot but they just straight-up never realize this. They're just out here causing AND solving problems completely on accident, all the time. Ultimate chaos duo. Just a couple of oblivious dumbasses stumbling into the plot but without even realizing it.

Also! This is very important to me. Their dynamic is essentially "I'd follow you to hell but I just wish you'd stop going there" but in both directions simultaneously. They may be each other's ride-or-die, but that doesn't mean they're happy about it.

[kkusuka]

Third year songs <3

this is most of the thrid years- not all 

from my spotify liked playlist <3

comes with a side of slight character analysis 

These are my interpretations of HQ characters and these songs!!

Time-skip spoilers!! (very slight) 

---

Karasuno 

Daichi Sawamura

 Waiting for Superman- Daughtry

She's waiting for Superman

To lift her up

And take her anywhere

Show her love

And climbing through the air

Save her now

Before it's too late tonight

She's waiting for Superman

Daichi seems like he makes a  lot of promises, that he just can’t physically keep. He just has so many things going on that he just can’t pay attention to all of them at once. This leads to far too many forgotten dates and even more broken promises. You know its not his fault and he does too, he just can’t leave anyone hanging. 

Koushi Sugawara

 Island- Florida Georgia Line

We might as well be on an island

Like we're the last two on this Earth

Like we're frozen here in time

Like it's empty here tonight

I feel like suga likes to put himself back into happier times. And that he tries to hold into happy moments as they are happening. He says he is a man of the moment, but when he feels down, he tries to put himself back into the more joyous times. 

Asahi Azumane 

You say- Lauren Daigle 

You say I am loved when I can't feel a thing

You say I am strong when I think I am weak

And you say I am held when I am falling short

And when I don't belong, oh You say I am Yours

And I believe (I)

Oh, I believe (I)

What You say of me (I)

I believe

Asahi is clearly very attached to how people perceive him. So when people shower him with compliments, he attaches onto them. He likes what makes him comfortable and he wants to stay comfortable for as long as he can. Words are important to him, so when he hears something bad it can ruin him for a while. He really does believe what the people he loves say to him. 

Kiyoko Shimizu

 Mothers daughter- Miley Cyrus 

Oh my gosh, she got the power

Oh, look at her, she got the power

So, so, so

…

Must be something in the water

Or that I'm my mother's daughter

The power this woman carries. She’s built her confidence and she’s not letting anyone ruin it for her. I truly believe that her friends all become more confident because she wants everyone around her to feel confident too. Since she doesn't speak all that much she lets her body language do most of the expression. 

--

Nekoma 

Tetsurō Kuroo

 High school sweethearts- Melanie Martinez 

Could you hold me through the night?

Put your lips all over my mine

Salty face when I start cryin'

Could you be my first time?

Eat me up like apple pie

Kuroo definitely takes trust very seriously. I feel he’s also really scared of someone breaking this trust, so he does form it with a lot of people. That saying if he does, he wants it to last forever.

 (...Step twoThis is a waste if you can't walk me down the finish line…) 

He truly believes in the people he surrounds himself with. 

Nobuyuki Kai 

Kill the Lights- Set it Off

Now I am cutting ties clean off

And I can breathe at last

So we all stand enthralled by this bland curtain call

And the truth we pursue as we all, we all beg you to

 Kai seems like he wasn't really that invested in volleyball, so having all these passionate people around him was a shock.  But he really got into third year, and he wants people to feel that passion too. In the back of his mind he feels bad for not feeling it like the rest of the team, but since looking in the past means nothing now, he tries to move on. 

Morisuke Yaku

 Mama- Mcr

And when we go don't blame us, yeah

We'll let the fires just bathe us, yeah

You made us oh so famous;

We'll never let you go

And when you go don't return to me my love

I mean, he is part of the mom squad. But it's ever so slightly more deep. I’m gonna say it's momma-bird syndrome. He doesn't want people to move on without him, seeing people achieve their dreams is great but he doesn't want you to do it if that means loving him. 

--

Seijoh

Tōru Oikawa

Prom Queen- Beach Bunny

Maybe I should try harder

You should lower your expectations

I'm no quick-curl barbie

I was never cut out for prom queen

I feel like oikawa is constantly feeling like he has to catch up to everyone around him. At some point in Argentina he came to the conclusion that he was good enough and didn't need to rise to anyone's standards of him, but when he got picked for the national team everything came back. He still has all of those feelings from high-school. Never making it to nationals, feeling like he failed his team. 

Issei Matsukawa

Bubblegum Bitch- Marina and the diamonds 

Got a figure like a pin-up, got a figure like a doll

Don't care if you think I'm dumb, I don't care at all

Candy bear, sweetie pie, wanna be adored

I'm the girl you'd die for

I feel like to earn Mattsun’s trust, he would put you through some ridiculous trial of sorts. I also feel that he is very comfortable with who he is, and he takes no shit about it. But that comes with the fact that he rarely takes fault in things, and that sparks arguments. He’ll use your love for him against you, he’ll be as cold as he can muster, until YOU take fault. 

Takahiro Hanamaki

 OUT THE ROOF- Chase Atlantic 

Yeah, we stay lit

We fuck bitches, pop on pillies, that is it, yeah

Holy moly, holy shit, yeah

Me and all my people are heaven sent, yeah, yup

9this is a strait vibe for Makki) 

I feel like Makki drowns his problems out with meaningless activities. Like smoking or one-night stands. He’d rather drown out his problems then have them in his  face. Or when he’s forced to face them, he’ll deflect until he has nothing else to deflect. Because when you’re high there nothing to worry about! Why stress about meaningless problems when he can be having fun!  

Hajime Iwaizumi

 Endlessly- The Cab

Yeah, your friends may think I'm crazy

Cause they can only see

I'm not perfect, but I swear, I'm perfect for you.

And there's no guarantee

That this will be easy.

It's not a miracle you need, believe me.

Yeah, I'm no angel, I'm just me

But I will love you endlessly.

Iwa knows that he can't be there for you all the time. Physically he tries his best, mentally he can help when he can. But you both know that you're perfect for one another. He just can't help but listen to the people around him sometimes. You deserve the world, but he doesn't know if he can give that to you. 

--

Fukurodani

Kōtarō Bokuto 

Prima Donna- Andrew Lloyd Webber 

Can you bow out when they're shouting your name?

Think of how they all adore you

We’ve all seen how Bokuto gets what he’s praised for literally anything remotely impressive. So that makes him a cannon prima donna! but that also means the lows and really bad mood swings. This song just fits him so well it’s scary.  

-- 

Shiratorizawa

Wakatoshi Ushijim

 More- Usher 

If you really want more, scream it out louder,

If you on the floor, bring out the fire,

And light it up, take it up higher,

Gotta push it to the limit, give it more.

This seems kinda obvious, but Ushijima never gives up. Ever since he was a kid, he set a goal for himself and he went beyond what he even set out for. And that comes with a lot of work and training for every new level of volleyball. He’s just going to get better and better until he retires, or is forced to retire. 

Eita Semi

 strawberries and cigarettes- troye sivan

Long nights, daydreams

Sugar and smoke rings, I've been a fool

But strawberries and cigarettes always taste like you

Headlights, on me

Racing to 60, I've been a fool

But strawberries and cigarettes always taste like

Blue eyes, black jeans

Lighters and candy, I've been a fool

But strawberries and cigarettes always taste like you

I feel like semi always thinks about how Shirabu replaced him on the starting line-up. But he’s mostly gotten over it, but certain things bring him back into that stage of his life. Then the cycle starts all over again. He constantly looks back on the game against Karasuno and thinks about wat would have happened if he was the setter instead. 

Reon Ōhira

 Remember when- Chris Wallace 

So can we push push push rewind,

Go go back in time,

When we were kids sneaking bottles of wine,

Take take take me back, I wanna go back,

Back to what we had! Do you remember when we started this mess,

My heart was beating out of my chest!,

Remember when we stole your dad's car,

Reon gives me the vibe that his days at Shiratorizawa were some of the best of his life. How can they not be? He made the greatest friends of his life there. And I also feel like he looks back on them a bit more than he wants to admit.

Satori Tendō

 This Side of Paradise- Coyote theory

Are you lonely?

Passion is crashing as we speak

You seem so lonely

You're the ground my feet won't reach

So if you're lonely

Darling you're glowing

If you're lonely come be lonely with me.

I get the vibe that Tendou attaches himself to whatever makes him feel wanted/safe. (ex. volleyball) he knows it isn't healthy, but he can't help it. This does lead to him completely distancing himself from you over and over because he thinks you’ll leave him. 

Hayato Yamagata- House of gold- Twenty one Pilots 

I will make you

Queen of everything you see

I'll put you on the map

I'll cure you of disease (Ooh)

And since we know that dreams are dead

And life turns plans up on their head

I will plan to be a bum

So I just might become someone

Even though we don't see a lot of him, I get the feeling he treats people really well. Like he cherishes people a lot more than some of them deserve. As you can see this leads to some unfair relationships and toxic people. He just wants to hold on until a good person comes along. 

--

Nohebi 

Suguru Daishō

Mr Loverman - Ricky Montgomery 

I'm Mr. Loverman

And I miss my lover, man

I'm Mr. Loverman

Oh, and I miss my lover

I feel like this was way too obvious, but it really is his song. It’s literally cannon, every lyric in this song is what happened with Mika. but in the end he got her back and made his promise  to be a better loverman <3. 

Kazuma Numai

 Nonstop- Drake 

Future took the business and ran it for me

I let Ollie take the owl, told him brand it for me

I get two million a pop and that's standard for me

Like I went blind dog, you gotta hand it to me

He looks and acts like a guy who listens to drake. He just seems like a guy who won't stop or give up even when things take a turn. He’ll just keep fighting until nothing’s left. 

Kōji Hiroo

 At the Wheel- Colorblind 

I need something to wake me up

It's never strong enough

I'm just getting colder and starting over

Going numb is just the way I run from

All my problems when I can't solve them

Need to break away

Escape the way I'm feeling

Hate to be fake, but I'm just dealing

This one doesn't really have a true reason, i really just felt like this was his song.  Sorry just the vibe. 

;)

Inarizaki

Shinsuke Kita

 Oh Ms Believer- twenty one pilots 

Oh, Ms. Believer, my pretty sleeper

Your twisted mind is like snow on the road

Your shaking shoulders prove that it's colder

Inside your head than the winter of dead

I will tell you I love you

But the muffs on your ears will cater your fears

My nose and feet are running as we start

To travel through snow

Together we go

I feel like kita is unintentionally cold towards the world, like he wants to open up but can't figure out how. But in turn if you can get him to feel “warmer” (get closer to him) he’ll share everything with you, almost oversharing. Just because he can't help it, he’s kept it all in for so long. Sometimes he just needs someone to hold him and make HIM feel better, because he does it for everyone. If you can manage all of this i feel like he’ll keep you with him forever. 

Ren Ōmimi

 Armor- Landon Austin

I'm not bullet proof when it comes to you

Don't know what to say when you made me the enemy

After the war is won

There's always the next one

I'm not bullet proof when it comes to you

I feel like not a lot of people approach ren because of how intimidating he looks. This has made him weary when people are really enthused to first meet him, because he thinks it’s a joke. After getting over that hurdle i feel like he just isn't an open person so it’ll take a long time to even get to a point where he trusts you. Hence the other wars after the first. 

Aran Ojiro-

 Never really over- Katy perry

Two years, and just like that, my head still takes me back

Thought it was done, but I guess it's never really over

Oh, we were such a mess, but wasn't it the best?

Thought it was done, but I guess it's never really over

Just because it's over doesn't mean it's really over

And if I think it over, maybe you'll be coming over again

And I'll have to get over you all over again

After all of these years, I really don't think Aran has truly gotten over losing at nationals in third year. And now on the national team he sees Hinata and Kageyama all the time and it takes him back. It makes him re-feel all the emotions he felt after the game. It hurt him to know that he gave his everything and still lost.  Like when he’s in bed he puts himself back into that self loathing phase of his life. 

Michinari Akagi

Try Hard - 5sos

It's obvious she’s so out of reach

And I'm finding it hard 'cause

She makes me feel, makes me feel

Like I try, like I try, like I'm trying too hard

'Cause I'm not being me

And it’s getting me down that

She makes me think, makes me think

That I try, that I try, that I'm trying too hard again

Akagi gives off boy best friend vibes.  But like to EVERYONE, so the person he liked just thought he was making fun of them and he didn't like them back. And i feel like that kinda traumatized him a bit, so when he got a new s/o he tried really really hard to make them special, but the same thing happened. 

i may do some with the second and first years, idk this took so long :)

[wellhalesbells]

✨✨ TOP FIVES FOR 2020 ✨✨

2020 was, i think we can all agree, a massively chaotic year but i have never consumed as much media before in my life, so i thought others might benefit from my slothery uh, connoisseur.... ship?  yes, that.  below are the books, comics, shows, and movies that got me through!

B O O K S .

the starless sea, by erin morgenstern - i loooove this book because it loves me back.  it says: ‘oh, you’re a reader, well i have just the thing for you.’  it luxuriates in language and story and riddles and fairy tales and it feels like an entire library in a single tome.

they never learn, by layne fargo - oh fuuuuuck, this was satisfying.  i thought it might feel a little exploitative as it is very aware of the zeitgeist and likely would not exist without the #metoo movement but it never ever did.  this was a fucking ROMP, period.  reading about a woman getting away with murdering skeezy guy after rapey guy after shitty human just made me happier and happier.

moonflower murders, by anthony horowitz - this is the second in the susan ryeland series (and the first was hardcore good fun too) and really feels very classic mystery with the artful twist of catering to the literary community.  mainly because: susan isn’t a detective, she’s an editor and she gets drafted in this time because the clue to what happened to a missing woman is in a book she edited, if she can find it.  both of the books in this series have such an excellent coming together moment that is rare af to find.

the invisible life of addie larue, by v.e. schwab - the writing in this is just so good.  it has that feel to me where i just want to drop the book and open up my own page and let my fingers fly.  it’s that inspiring kind of writing that reminds you of all the things language can do.

crown of feathers/heart of flames, by nicki pau preto - aaahhh, this series is SO FREAKING GOOD!  why is there not more of a fandom for it, why???? it is so many of my favorite tropes all resting perfectly together to the point where you almost forget they’re tropes because they just so naturally evolved there.  ugh, it’s just.... it’s so heart-bursty good.

.... number 5, part 2?  raybearer, by jordan ifueko - this was just so original and i was invested af.  like, what a brilliant idea though and an even better execution??  i loved every character and am so looking forward to the next in the series so i can get to know them even better!!

honorable mentions (sh*t i still liked a whole heckuva lot): you/hidden bodies, by caroline kepnes // writers & lovers, by lily king // i’ll be gone in the dark, by michelle mcnamara // the faceless old woman who secretly lives in your home, by joseph fink & jeffrey cranor // girl, serpent, thorn, by melissa bashardoust // a little life, by hanya yanagihara // the guinevere deception, by kiersten white // obsidio (and the entire illuminae series), by amie kaufman & jay kristoff // the bone houses, by emily lloyd-jones // house of salt and sorrows, by erin a. craig // we hunt the flame, by hafsah faizal // savage legion, by matt wallace // blacktop wasteland, by s.a. cosby // crier’s war, by nina varela // the empress of salt and fortune/when the tiger came down the mountain, by nghi vo // upright women wanted, by sarah gailey // the monster of elendhaven, by jennifer giesbrecht // a deadly education, by naomi novik // you let me in, by camilla bruce // when you ask me where i’m going, by jasmin kaur // the lights go out in lychford/last stand in lychford (and the entire lychford series), by paul cornell // the devil and the dark water, by stuart turton // serpent & dove, by shelby mahurin // one by one, by ruth ware // ruthless gods (this was SUCH an upshot from the first book - it’s worth sticking with if you’re on the fence), by emily a. duncan // cemetery boys, by aiden thomas // the inheritance games, by jennifer lynn barnes // the fortunate ones (2021 release), by ed tarkington

C O M I C S .

cosmoknights, by hannah templer - the art was gorgeous, the gayness was glorious, and just.... hot HOOOOOOOOT lady knights in space?!  a princess winning her own hand?  find something not to love in there, i dare you.

don’t go without me, by rosemary valero-o’connell - wow. wow wow wow wow wow.  the writing was stunning, so lyrical and atmospheric and deep, and rosemary has to be one of my favorite artists but even that managed to come as a beautiful surprise because it was just so freaking bold.

through the woods, by emily carroll - i loooove emily carroll, the convergence of spine-tingling horror and art that feeds into it, that is both visually and aesthetically pleasing, is hard to beat!  p.s. i also read beneath the dead oak tree from her this year and it was also a BANGER.

the impending blindness of billie scott, by zoe thorogood - zoe is someone that i just want to follow.  she’s just starting and i want to be there for every single step.  i love her art style and her ability to tell a story with it.

above the clouds, by melissa pagluica - this was so unique, and such a baller concept, as nearly half the entire book is conveyed only through the art and yet you’re never once lost, never once confused as to what any character is thinking or feeling.  it’s a story within a story and only one of those gets words though they both are chock full of emotion!

um.... number 5, part 2? crowded, by christopher sebela - everything about this series is fun af.  crowd-funded assassination and a hirable bodyguard who’s rated like an uber driver???  and the chemistry between the two mains is so great and gay!!

honorable mentions: monster and the beast, by renji // long exposure, by kam ‘mars’ heyward // fence, by c.s. pacat // invisible kingdom, by g. willow wilson // ms. marvel, by g. willow wilson // heathen, by natasha alterici // not drunk enough, by tess stone // giant days, by john allison // die, by kieron gillen // be prepared, by vera brosgol // ascender (sequel to descender, which is also great), by jeff lemire // the unbeatable squirrel girl, by ryan north // bang! bang! boom!, by melanie schoen // gideon falls, by jeff lemire // life of melody, by mari costa // cry wolf girl, by ariel slamet ries // the tea dragon society, by katie o’neill // ptsd, by guillaume singelin // heartstopper, by alice oseman // solutions and other problems, by allie brosh // finding home, by hari conner // the magic fish, by trung le nguyen // something is killing the children, by james tynion iv // the weight of them, by noelle stevenson // spill zone, by scott westerfeld // skyward, by joe henderson // miles morales, by saladin ahmed

F I L M S.

parasite, dir. bong joon ho - oh it was satisfying, oh it was suspenseful, oh i had to watch some of it through my fingers but i loooooooved it.  such a good story and so well made.

knives out, dir. rian johnson - okay, everything about this movie was amazing.  every single character was fun as hell and i could’ve watched an entire movie about each of them.  what a great fucking mystery!

blindspotting, dir. carlos lopez estrada -  this made my heart hurt so damn much.  what glorious writing, acting, and story!

portrait of a lady on fire, dir. celine sciamma - gooooorgeous cinematography, amazing chemistry, and such a soft, atmospheric film.

the farewell, dir. lulu wang - i cried and my heart felt so full and i love it so so much.

um.... number 5, part 2? someone great, dir. jennifer kaytin robinson - no part of me expected to love a netflix movie this much but it’s a love story that doesn’t get told that often??  the end of a relationship and the true love of friendship and i love these girls and i love jenny and nate’s broken relationship.

honorable mentions: eighth grade, dir. bo burnham // booksmart, dir. olivia wilde // midsommar, dir. ari aster // the curse of la llorona, dir. michael chaves // the secret life of pets 2, dirs. chris renaud & jonathan del val // jojo rabbit, dir. taika waititi // the invisible man, dir. leigh whannell // the favourite, dir. yorgos lanthimos // can you ever forgive me?, dir. marielle heller // troop zero, dirs. bert & bertie // ready or not, dirs. matt bettinelli-olpin & tyler gillett // brave, dirs. mark andrews & brenda chapman & steve purcell // the half of it, dir. alice wu // palm springs, dir. max barbakow // doctor sleep, dir. mike flanaghan // uncut gems, dirs. benny sadfie & josh sadfie // birds of prey, dir. cathy van // bloodshot, dir. dave wilson // the old guard, dir. gina prince-bythewood // enola holmes, dir. harry bradbeer // hocus pocus, dir. kenny ortega // always be my maybe, dir. nahnatchka khan // finding dory, dirs. andrew stanton & angus maclane // die hard, dir. john mctiernan

S H O W S .

black sails (2014) - this show, this shooooooooow.  i cannot, it just makes me want to cry with how good it is.  the characters, the EMOTIONS, the story, the plaaaaaan.  like, the creators clearly had a plan for every single step of this show and it was a gOOD, GOOD PLAN.

the untamed (2019) - truly, cheesy good fun with one of the best gay romances ever.  i love these characters and their relationships to each other and the way it glories in its own ridiculousness.

the righteous gemstones (2019) - one of the things that bothered me about my next choice (the ratio of female to male nudity) was so much more realistic in this one (i mean, we’ve all gotten five thousand dick pics and i know like three people?  so the fact that there is so rarely male nudity in shows when there are tits everywhere..... no, how does that even make a tiny bit of sense?).  this show was such great, wonderful, awful fun.  they’re not great people and the show is under no delusion about that and it’s GLORIOUS!

the witcher (2019) - this was just hella fun, i loved the characters and the fantasy elements.  i’m excited for the next season, it’s just entertaining swashbuckling through and through!

fargo (2014) - all of this was really very enjoyable with the through line being somebody fucks shit up and gets involved in something they really shouldn’t be involved in that’s going to swallow them whole.  season one and season three were my stand-out favorites but they were all so violent, clever, and vicious!

um.... number 5, part 2? central park (2020) - um..... so many of the hamilton actors in a muscial cartoon drawn and written by the bob’s burgers team? WHAT ABOUT THAT DOESN’T SOUND AMAZING?!  it was such a joy to hear daveed diggs and leslie odom jr.’s voices again!!

honorable mentions: schitt’s creek // the mandalorian // mr. robot // broadchurch // mindhunter // jack ryan // the good place // the end of the f***ing world // big little lies // elite // kidding // servant // letterkenny // curb your enthusiasm // i am not okay with this // ozark // buzzfeed unsolved: true crime/supernatural // you // runaways // dear white people // dickinson // brooklyn nine-nine // will & grace // 9-1-1 // dead to me // solar opposites // never have i ever // killing eve // what we do in the shadows // grace and frankie // avenue 5 // roswell, new mexico // the bold type // evil // tuca & bertie // impulse // the umbrella academy // watchmen // infinity train // corporate // search party // on becoming a god in central florida // a.p. bio // criminal: uk // the morning show // mythic quest // last week tonight // prodigal son // the great

[trashmancan47]

TW: Mentions of Death, mentions of scars, Doctors, hospitals, Mention of a coma, use of a dangerous chemical, and horrible father, unloving father. I don’t know of anymore, if there is let me know! Have a wonderful day!

Remus loses his vision due attempt to kill him by his own father.

Father’s name: Lloyd Mother’s name: Irene

Remus dreaded this but he was going home for christmas break, he knew his mother wanted to see him, and he wanted to see his mother as well. He also was coming home because he got a letter from his Father demanding that he come home, because his mother wanted to see him, and he had something to say to him. The letter didn’t sound mean by any means, and that terrified Remus. He was scared of what was to come, but he hoped it’d just be what has always been happening. His father would leave him alone, and not even look at him for the whole two weeks that he’d be home. Roman wasn’t coming though he respected why he stayed, him, and Virgil were doing better, and he wanted to stay with him, which he understood, he went through so much in the last four weeks, and couldn’t hold Virgil, and do really anything that he wanted, so he wasn’t upset or anything. He had tried thinking of everything except what was to come while he was on the train back, mostly thinking of Logan, Remus hadn’t wanted to leave him, but he was scared of what could happen if he didn’t because when he did finally go home what would his father do this time? He was terrified about a lot, and he hated that he’d left Logan there all alone, but he knew that this could also be good, whether or not Logan wanted to, he had to at least talk to Virgil, even if Logan didn’t want to be friends with Virgil anymore he had to tell him that. He couldn’t leave it the way they were. At least he felt he had to, he hoped that by the time he got back that they’d be at least talking, even if it’s not by much.

Now the first week was nice, and calm, and his Father actually spoke to him, had a conversation with him, and even told him to call him ‘Dad’ instead of sir.. It was so weird, his father was treating him like he treated him. He sat in his room most of the time, having Roman’s old christmas sweater with him since he was finally allowed to have it, and wear it, his father letting him. He used it when he’d talk to himself in his room, as if he were talking to Roman- that is if Roman were to know what his father had done. He didn’t trust him, it scared him honestly, he felt that anything was going to happen at any moment, that it would be worse than the last, that he’d be dead this time. He’d done everything his father had asked, always, even did extra, just to make sure he was okay, but his father always saw past that. His head was swimming swirling as he clung to his brothers sweater

“I wish I could be there.. With Logan, I want to *See* you, I want to hear your voice, I want to kiss your head, and say I love you. I want to see Roman, I want to be able to see you guys. This is torture, I’m so scared Roman..”

Remus quietly spoke, and didn’t cry, he never did when he was home, unless everyone else was gone, sleeping, or it was just Roman. His father couldn’t know that he had been crying, it wasn’t allowed apparently men didn’t cry. Remus saw nothing wrong with it, but he never saw what his father did. He just had to wait seven more days until he went back to see them all. Though he knew that Logan would need him, especially that long with no one, unless Virgil, and him somewhat made up, but he doubted that. He laid on his bed with the sweater, hearing his door open, and him scattering to sit up, and look like he wasn’t just fighting off tears, his stomach dropped as he saw it was his father.

“Can I come in?”

Remus still wasn’t used to this at all, and wasn’t going to be fooled by it. He nodded, and spoke.

“Yes Father.”

His father walked in, and gave a smile that looked caring, but Remus didn’t focus on it long enough to see if it was genuine or not. He didn’t care, he knew this was an act. Probably something that had to do with their mother honestly, she always just gave her love to Remus, and Roman, hating how their father treated Remus, but still loved him, and believed that he could change, that he just didn’t see how lucky he was to get two sons like this yet. Lloyd walked over, and sat next to Remus, putting an arm around him.

“Are you okay Son? You seem a little down.”

Remus hated that his father was keeping up this facade so much, if this monster really did care he would have apologized, and had Roman there to see that he was trying to change as well as show Irene that too. He still played into it though, but he couldn’t help the cautiousness, and worry that slipped into his voice.

“Yeah, I’m fine, just missing Roman, and my soulmate.”

Floyd nodded, and gave a smile, standing up, and looking at Remus. He opened his arms, and offered a hug as he spoke.

“How about we go to my office, and spend some time together, just you, and yer old man.”

Remus looked up at him, and his arms, and didn’t want to hug him, but he knew if he didn’t there could be consequences, so he got up, and hugged the other, feeling his father's arms wrap around him. The hug felt so genuine, but he still didn’t fall into it. He wanted to let go, but his father held on, and asked a question that he’d never heard before.

“How about we go to my office, and drink some tea, I’ll get it ready, and everything, Then we can talk. How does that sound?”

Remus pulled back when his father pulled away, and looked down. His father put his hands on Remus shoulder with a smile, and waited for a response. Remus was cautious, and scared, but nodded,

“Sure..”

His father smiled wide, and patted his back, standing up straight, and heading to the door.

“Great! I’ll go get the tea, you just head to my office, and get comfy, I’ll be there in a moment kiddo.”

Lloyd said, and left the room, going to the kitchen to go get some tea for him, and Remus, who was now walking to the office, trying to figure out what the hell his father was up to… Once he was in the office, he sat on the couch, and waited for the others' return, which didn’t take long. Remus had an odd feeling as the tea was handed to him, something telling him not to drink it, but he was sure it was because of him, and his fear of tea at this point. He looked at the small scattered scars on his hand. Some from punching trees, and such, but most, and he knew which ones, were from his own father.. The other sat down, and looked to Remus, grinning a little bit.

“Drink up son.”

Remus had a terrible feeling, but again it was most likely due to that grin his father had on his face, a grin he’d seen o-to-many times. He nodded, and put the up to his lips, taking a sip of his tea, the bitter taste, he hated tea, and his father always drank unsweetened tea… he’d always remember that. He drank a good bit before lowering the cup seeing his fathers grin had grown, Remus looking down at his tea, then to his father.

“I hope your last drink was delicious, you pest.”

Remus raised a brow, and stood up, but as soon as he did he felt dizzy, and held his head,

“W-What did you do?”

This monster in front of him, he knew not to trust it! Why didn’t he go with his gut! Remus felt the world start to spin as his knees got weaker, and he fell down, laying now, looking up at his father, but couldn’t move, or speak. He just watched as his eyes slowly closed, and his thoughts started to drift away.

“Bye-bye Remus~!”

~A day later~

Remus was laying in a hospital bed with an IV and such hooked up to him. His mother was sitting next to him, and his so called ‘father’ was pretending to be worried, and had alerted Hogwarts to inform Roman about his brother. His father had claimed to not know what happened, claimed to not have a clue, that he offered him some tea, and went to get it, when he came back he found his own son on the floor, looking pailer than ever, and barely breathing.

The doctors had said that Remus would either wake up, or he’d eventually die, his mother couldn’t bare the thought. They said that it was unlikely for him to wake up, and if he did he most likely would have something wrong.

Logan got his own letter as well, Remus’ mother was the one who sent it, always hearing Remus talk about his wonderful soulmate that he was sure she’d love when they met. She sent him his own letter so that he would know as well, just incase Roman, and him didn’t talk or something like that.

Remus laid there on the bed, in a coma basically, everyone unknowing if the other would wake or not...

[benisasoftboi]

Unorganised thoughts on Trails of Cold Steel III:

...I’m gonna need like a week to process that

I guess I know why people hate George now!

Could really use a good old reset from KeA right now

This is the best game in the Cold Steel series so far. Easily

I... there’s no way they’re all really dead, right? This series has been completely toothless about killing anyone who isn’t a villain until now, no way they’re permanently killing someone who’s been here since practically day 1, no way. Show me a body

And even then I’ll doubt it with all these revivals happening all over the place 

‘He’s HIDING’ I sob as I apply clown make-up 

Ben Diskin did not need to go so hard on the voice acting at Millium’s death he did not need to do that to me

My god when Angie drove into the graveyard and my PS4 popped up a little notification telling me it was a blocked scene, the tension in me... and I never saw that coming, I’ll have to see if it was foreshadowed at all by replaying CS1 and 2 some time

I saw Lughman being a baddie a mile away (a mysterious professor turning out to be evil in a Trails game? UNPRECEDENTED!) but he’s Alisa’s dad!?

Neat writing trick actually, since they probably knew we’d guess the former, they blindside us with the latter

I can’t express how happy it made me that the Rufus battle was Machias Jusis Elliot. My dream team!

Estelle and Joshua got mentioned so much I figured they’d make a surprise appearance at the end and save the day

:(

So. Characters:

Rean: Rean is once again moderately more interesting than he was before, but still the least interesting person in the game. I guess he’s got some guilt that’s actually justified now, that’s cool? 

I ship him with Crow, not because the pairing really appeals to me that much, but because being shipped with Crow would totally piss Rean off and I find that extremely funny

His relationship with Altina is the best relationship he’s ever had with a female character and it is 100% because she’s the only girl he’s never ship teased with

(I don’t have an issue with the concept of ship tease itself, I have an issue with Rean-ship tease because 1. I still truly do not understand why so many girls like him so much and 2. None of it will ever canonically go anywhere)

(Seriously I’m so tempted to write a breakdown of why every other guy in Erebonia is more desirable than Rean)

Juna: I like Juna. I realised early on that she and Kurt remind me of Estelle and Joshua, without being carbon copies, and that’s good. I also think her relationship with Rean was really interesting - ‘I don’t know how to feel about you because you saved my life, but it also wouldn’t have needed saving if it weren’t for your country’s actions, which you’ve played a major role in - but now I’m being forced to confront that you’re a human being too’ is a really complicated situation for her. It’s a lot more interesting than ‘I don’t like you because you accidentally got a face full of chest’, Alisa

I also really liked using her, I ended up loading her with the Platinum Pecky Medal and defensive stuff, and she was a wall, she took an S-craft from Arianrhod in her stride! My buff girl!

She should’ve just been the new protagonist ngl

Kurt: Kurt had a lot to live up to, seeing as his brother is my favourite minor character. And oh does he succeed, Kurt is my favourite of New VII, he’s a good straight man, he’s great in battle, I like his arc, I like his friendship with Juna, I like Kurt

Altina: I was not sure about Altina just... being a student now. But damn if she didn’t have the best character arc in the game. I only did her final bonding event on a whim, but it’s the best one I saw. My girl Allie deserves the damn world

I really, truly believe those three have a bond as well, they’re very well written as a group. This was a problem I had with Old VII, the fact that so many of them just... didn’t have relationships with each other. How do, say, Fie and Machias feel about each other? I have no idea. But this group has a fantastic dynamic and it makes that ending so much more effective

It’s like I praised Crossbell for, really - having a small core group is much more manageable in terms of giving them all equal screen time and getting me to care about them

Musse: Uh, kind of one-note and annoying, honestly. I don’t hate her or anything, but like... she’s either Being Mysterious or Hitting On Her Teacher (I hate it I hate it so much). It’s just hard to care about someone who’s clearly so fake, I guess? I’m definitely interested in her, but like... I don’t really like her

Ash: Poor boy. I thought Ash was such an interesting character (and man do I love having someone around who does not like Rean, and never really changes his mind about it). Ash is very well done imo

Alisa: Alisa is good when the issue is her family drama, and is so goddamn boring when it comes to Rean. Nothing new there

Elliot: I love his little ponytail I love it he’s so cute I want to hug him so bad

Laura: Winner of the ‘best new outfit’ award (was never that fond of her war outfit, but this one is perfect). Still good, but not notably so. I feel so bad for Laura, she tries so hard to matter, but she’s by far the character you’d have the easiest time lifting out of the game

And while I love Elliot... same situation really. You could go back to the start and have one character named Elliaura who likes swords and music and has two big-shot dads, and you wouldn’t lose much

Machias: Took down Rufus, yeah, destroy your best friend (boyfriend)’s evil family! Winner of the ‘worst new outfit’ award, AGAIN. Also winner of ‘dorkiest S-craft’. I did his final bonding event first, and according to Playstation trophies it’s the least popular one! Stop sleeping on my boy Machias guys, I know he was annoying in the first game but I love him :(

Gaius: Special award to Gaius for finally being interesting! Boy’s a Gralsritter now, did not see that coming!

And of course it happened off screen. Because god forbid interesting stuff happen to Gaius when we’re actually around

Oh also goddamn, that is a beautiful man

Emma: Don’t really like the new outfit. It’s kind of remarkable that she’s so important but I keep forgetting she exists. Exposition witch who sometimes just doesn’t deliver the exposition I guess

Fie: Still my fav girl. Wish there had been more focus on her feelings about her dad coming back to life. Like that she’s a bracer

Jusis: Wasn’t sure how to feel about his newly close friendship with Millium because I was concerned that I was meant to ship it (by far my least favourite thing about this franchise is that that was not an unreasonable concern, as it wouldn’t even be the most inappropriate relationship in this game alone). Very, very glad it was confirmed sibling-y (not that it’s stopped them before). He didn’t really get to do anything else, sadly, but he’s good as always

I did the Purebread contest with him, and he made bread from coffee beans Machias gave him, the Ferdibert Fire Emblem energy- 

“What are you doing underneath this scarlet Pleroma Grass?”

Milliam: :(

Sara: Doesn’t get much to do because this cast is bloated but like, I still really like her :)

Towa: Someone needs to check on Towa all her friends are dead or evil the poor poor girl (or uh. I guess Crow isn’t... hmm.)

Angie :(

My kids Tita and Agate are back and completely overshadowed by people teasing this almost 30-year old man about being in love with a 17 year old that he’s only ever claimed to see as a sister, I swear to god

The orbal gear looks so goofy lol

Stop mentioning Schera as just being ‘totally here, just off screen, ha ha’ give her a model! Have her be here!

Don’t get me wrong, I loved seeing Josette again, I just don’t get... why? Why is she here?

Tio is back! And so is Randy, as a major character! I’m very very happy, I love them both

Michael’s fine, I guess? He’s kind of bland but I guess that’s kind of the point and I like him just fine. He serves his purpose well

I’ve never really liked Claire all that much, but she’s fine in this one again I suppose. A bit disappointed by the Lechter reveals really, I had expected more, to be honest

Aurelia is a fun character and I enjoy her as the principal. Want to see her fight Cassius

Want to see Cassius 

I love my girl Annabelle, but she’s the only reason I didn’t get all the character profiles (how was I meant to know I could even go to the highway at that point hmmm Falcom!?)

They picked a good selection of returning Thors students. Even Dorothee isn’t as annoying as she used to be. Hilarious that she’s the only one who didn’t get a profile

Juna gave a great big speech about how awesome the SSS are and namedrops everyone EXCEPT WAZY! My FAVOURITE Crossbell character! So offensive!

Oh speaking of offensive I took Machias to the Mishy show and was told he and Rean did a Mishy dance but they didn’t show it, what the hell-

Playable Olivier! Olivier back story! I could write a goddamn essay on why Olivier is such a great character. Glaring at you Falcom

I miss Mueller :(

Ada Grant is wonderful and I want better things for her

Rufus is a damn great villain just because of how much sense his actions suddenly make when you know that one little detail of him not actually being Jusis’s brother

I hate Cedric but like, in a way where I’m having fun hating him. That little bitch

Literally what do you even actually want Osbourne

I still cannot stand Elise. Something I realised playing this game is that one of the things that stops the Estelle and Joshua relationship from being as weird as it could be is that they don’t look at all alike, it’s very clear they’re not related in the slightest. Elise and Rean look like they really could be siblings, and come to think, so do Lloyd and Cecile. Which is also teased, to a lesser extent. It would be so much less uncomfortable if they just swapped Elise and Alfin’s models ngl (though still not good)

inb4 the final plot twist of the whole series is that Estelle and Joshua actually were biological siblings all along

This game looks so much better than its predecessors. Having the models being a little rounder and softer looking makes it look much more like an updated version of the original style than the complete departure that was CS1 and 2. Every time there was a flashback, Rean would be like ‘back then...’ and I’d feel compelled to say out loud ‘when we were shiny, and looked bad!’

‘Evil ancient magic corrupts people into making them do bad things!’ is... honestly a bit of a cop out that I did not expect from this series 

I found Rean telling Patrick ‘leave room for Aidios when dancing with my sister’ extremely funny. Rean would totally be a Christian summer camp counsellor in the real world

I honestly would have enjoyed it a lot more if Alfin decided to cause a scandal and have her first dance with Elise, but we can’t have such luxuries I suppose

When you get that book on dystopias, very clever to put the author on the last page. Seeing the name Gideon gave me such a start

Racquel was easily my fav new location

Leeves > Trista no doubt, maybe I’m just biased because it looks a lot like the village I grew up in but it’s just such a nicer design

Also the branch campus > main campus purely for being smaller, making the filler segments between field trips more bearable 

I prefer the longer but fewer chapters set-up, I think

There’s so many sad faces in this write up :( 

Back when I played Sky SC, I said something about how one of the themes is ‘you are not defined by your trauma’. I now think it would be more accurate to say that the theme of all the games (but especially the Sky arc) is ‘don’t let your worst experiences define you’

Because there are characters who define themselves by their traumas and worst experiences - and those characters are all villains, or miserable, or both. Like, they don’t phrase it as such, but the requirement to be an Ouroboros enforcer is ‘have trauma and define yourself by it’

And both Joshua and Renne’s arcs are about learning not to do that

Equally, the idea that ‘it’s much easier to not to define yourself by your trauma when you have a good support system that wants the best for you’ is a big theme as well

I just think that’s a really interesting idea for a JRPG series to tackle, idk

I can’t believe I’m at the last game! This series has been my life for the past near-half a year, what do I do when I finish it?

...go back and play Sky FC, maybe?

[umbry-fic]

A Palette Full of You (2)

Summary: Glimpses into Colette and Lloyd's lives as they grow up together, learn who they are, and fall in love with each other.

(Written for Colloyd Week 2021)

Fandom: Tales of Symphonia Characters: Lloyd Irving, Colette Brunel Relationships: Colette Brunel & Lloyd Irving, Colette Brunel/Lloyd Irving Rating: G Chapter: 2 of 6 Word Count: 4212 Mirror Link: AO3 Original Post Date: 10/06/2021

Chapter Title: Save the Children!

Chapter Summary: Lloyd and Colette take a break from studying and decide to play a video game. Colette starts to ruminate a little on how she's different from the rest of her classmates...

(Colloyd Week Day 2: Sidequest)

Notes+Warnings: Chapter 2 of my multi-chapter Colloyd week fic! Colette and Lloyd play a bunch of Kameo: Elements of Power. Lloyd is bisexual. This chapter might have a bit of internalised acephobia so beware.

Chapter list Full fic Previous chapter Next chapter

~~~

12-years-old

"There! Over there!" Colette shouted, dropping the Xbox controller onto her lap and gesturing frantically towards a corner of the television screen. In her frantic excitement, she completely forgot that Lloyd was sitting right next to her on the sofa, her elbow banging straight into Lloyd's arm.

Lloyd, startled, pitched to the side and pushed the joystick on his Xbox controller in the same direction.

Major Ruin, who Lloyd had been controlling to charge up a Bolder Rush, executed the move at this exact moment as Lloyd let go of the right trigger.

And so Major Ruin careened right off the edge of the platform, as per the directions Lloyd had just inputted into the game. The tragic end to a glorious adventure. Kameo would never rescue her father from her sister’s evil clutches, for she had fallen to her death from a high height... by complete accident. Or maybe it would be better to class this as incompetence?

Oops.

"Oh, no," they both muttered at the same time, staring with their mouths open in horror. Colette reached out uselessly towards the TV, as if she could reach into the game and stop Major Ruin’s fall.

As if.

The armadillo look-alike Earth elemental (except a lot spikier) continued to fall while flailing their stubby limbs uselessly, eventually hitting the ground with the familiar and resonant "thud", accompanied with the dreaded snapping sound that had populated much of their playtime in the Snow-top Village. The thin and winding ice paths throughout that area had led to many a death from fall damage as they had tried to get their hands on the elemental fruits hidden away among various corners. Now that they were in the Ancient Tower, with its dark, foreboding, narrow stone corridors lit only by the sparest of torches sitting in sconces, where there was only one path forward and they were caged in by walls, Colette thought their falling episodes would be over. It was a bit claustrophobic, really.

It appeared that was not the case. Fall damage was eternal, and it would haunt them always, following them everywhere and showing its face at the most inopportune of moments.

Major Ruin morphed back into Kameo's petite, winged form, collapsing to the ground with a pained groan. Lloyd's side of the screen faded to black before he respawned at the last checkpoint, erasing a full 20 minutes of progress. The Kameo that Colette controlled was now completely alone in the chamber, performing her idle animations as Colette’s controller went untouched. Lloyd dropped his Xbox controller into his lap as well, leaning back against the sofa as he let out a groan of his own.

There was no sound apart from the whirring coming from the Xbox under the TV, the game music, and the "whup-whup" of the blades of the ancient standing fan in the corner of the living room, struggling in its job to blow "cool" air at them and combat the viciously hot weather.

Lloyd had every right to be frustrated with her; she had a tendency to kill him in-game. It wasn't murder, just manslaughter: knocking him off the cliff, setting both of them on fire, or startling him in general. It wasn't just in Kameo. Her clumsiness and butterfingers translated to every genre. No matter the game - Mario, Minecraft, Maplestory - she always found some way to cause a game over.

But he'd never directed any frustration or anger towards her. These are just silly games, he said every time. Much easier to laugh over the mirthful consequences together than get mad. Whenever they had the time to play video games together, the air was filled with nothing but laughter, a few frustrated grumbles from when they were struggling at a particular level, and the occasional rib from Lloyd’s end when she messed up. That's what made it incredibly fun. What the two of them had termed "game-time" never failed to put a smile on their faces.

And it was an effective destresser! It was a great relief to be able to channel all the stress from studying for PSLE into beating up trolls in Kameo. That appeared to be Lloyd's favourite part of the game - racking up combos with his favourite character Pummel Weed. Though she had to say her favourite part of the game so far was watching the cutscenes that played after rescuing the baby elementals from the prisons created by the nefarious shadow trolls. The wacky transformation from adorable blob to full-fledged elemental, complete with the blob sprouting arms and growing claws or shells, was… interesting to witness.

"Sorry," she sheepishly said, still feeling the need to apologise as she patted his hand. "Didn't mean to startle you. It's just that I found the last child!"

"Oh, really? Where?” Lloyd asked eagerly, attention turning back to the TV. “I couldn't see anything. It's all so dark."

"Over there." More calmly this time, Colette pointed out the child encased in a translucent ice crystal, tucked away in a corner of the platform hidden in shadow. She’d forgotten the name of this species, and could only describe them as cuttlefish that had taken human form. What were they were doing so far from the Mountain Falls? Weren't they native to that location? "We need to free them quickly! This is the last child."

“The last - you’ve been keeping count?!” Lloyd asked, voice rising in volume and shock written clearly across his face.

“Yeah! The mother said there were three, and we’ve rescued two. She must have been really worried, or she wouldn’t have begged us to save her children. I want to reunite them as soon as possible!”

"Alright. Ice, huh? It'd be similar to the other crystals we got rid of in the snow area. So just turn into Ash!" Lloyd suggested.

"Oh, you're right! Thanks for the reminder!" Colette opened the transformation wheel with a quick press of a button and proceeded to fumble with the joystick for a full minute while Lloyd slowly crawled his way back up the tower. She kept pushing too far to the right and overshooting Ash's dragon head on the wheel to land on Thermite, before overcorrecting to the left and landing on 40 Below. Frustration slowly piled up until she groaned, burying her head in her lap. This was embarrassing. She couldn't even navigate a simple menu like this, even after months of playing this game. Butterfingers, once again.

"Lloyd, can you open the main menu? I'll just pick Ash from there."

"Nah, we don't need to open Wotnot. Let's give Ortho a break for now," Lloyd replied. She knew that wasn't the real reason. Lloyd just didn’t want to hear from the eccentric wizard trapped within the paperback book that doubled as the main menu. "Here, let me help. But you need to get up first!" She straightened up, still sulking as he smiled at her, looking like he was holding back laughter at her predicament.

Lloyd stretched out his hand and placed his index finger over her thumb, gently guiding her thumb on the joystick so that the selection square landed right on Ash's head. Colette watched as Kameo hunched over and transformed into the red, clawed, scaly dragon that was the fire elemental Ash, tail slowly swaying from side-to-side as his wings flapped.

"You're so good at this..." she muttered, glancing down at her controller where Lloyd's hand was still placed over hers. They were only 12, but his hands were already slightly bigger than hers. He'd gotten his growth spurt in the earlier part of this year and shot up in height; now half a head taller than her. It was a slightly startling change after being the same height for the six years they'd known each other. He would likely only grow taller as time went on. As for herself... Maybe she'd gain another 5 centimetres by the time she was 18, if she was lucky. Given the actual state of her luck, she'd probably stagnate at her current height. Tallness was just not in the cards for her.

Not that she minded. The added height made him rather comfortable to lie on. If he gained just a few more centimetres, his shoulder would be the perfect height to rest her head on… That would make movie nights all the more comfortable.

Plus, the height change was just that. A physical change. Inside, Lloyd was still the same person - the boy who loved playing with Noishe but hated doing his homework, and would do everything in the world to avoid it. He hadn't changed. Not a single bit.

"Don’t sweat it. There are so many things you’re good at too! If it weren’t for your keen eye, I would’ve missed the kid entirely… So don’t be too bothered!” Lloyd gave her hand one squeeze before removing his hand, returning to his quest of returning to Colette's location. "Now, melt the ice!”

Colette did exactly that, leading the lumbering Ash over to the entrapped child and unleashing his fire breath. She watched with bated breath as the ice slowly melted, causing more of the child to be exposed to the air. They had previously used this exact same technique to unearth elemental fruits in the icy caverns filled with those icky bugs that exploded when defeated and obscured the screen with blue juice. It had been exciting then, to stumble upon secrets because of their penchant for exploration. But watching the child slowly be freed, watching their tentacles slowly start to move as they came into contact with warm air, was an entirely different experience, one that filled her with joy.

When was the last time the two of them completed a side objective like this, one that had direct effects on a citizen of this magical world? Casting her mind back informed her that that would be the starting town, when they returned to water the farmer’s crops with Deep Blue.

Now that the last child had been fully freed, all the children went running back to their worried mother, who proceeded to pull them into a giant group hug. Colette dropped her controller, clapping her hands together at such a sweet sight. Lloyd did laugh, then, a chuckle that she could feel rumble through her as well from where their shoulders touched. "What are you so excited about?" he asked.

"We did it! We saved all the children!" she exclaimed, watching the mother pull out one of the large elemental fruit in thanks. "Doesn't that make you happy? That we were able to help someone... That's what makes these side objectives fulfilling, right?"

"Yeah, I guess. It's just like you to get like this over a video game,” Lloyd replied, watching Kameo hoist the elemental fruit into the air, where it magically shrunk in size to fit in her bag. Colette wondered how Kameo’s bag even worked - how did it store Wotnot and dozens of elemental fruits? It was like a black hole. Just like Noishe's stomach.

“Though..." Lloyd frowned, staring up at the clock that hung on the wall, whose hands indicated that it was 2 pm. "Time’s up. We should get back to revising before Mom gets home from the vet with Noishe."

"Oh, you're right..." That was a downer. Time had flown so fast; their 20 minutes were up already!

The moment had come to return to the dining table and the assessment books that sat open on it. Studying was never fun, but it just had to be math today, and the chapter just had to be nets. Her most hated subject, combined with the topic she hated most. It was a headache all around.

But Lloyd was surprisingly good at nets, and he'd been a great help the whole day. Even if he still hated math with a passion and always got stuck on algebra questions, where it was her turn to assist him. That was why studying together was effective! They could fill in the gaps for each other, and motivate each other to keep going. Just three months left to go until it was all over! They could do this, and they would get through it. Together, just as they would every predicament that came to pass in the future.

"Um, and before you go home today, could you help me with something else?"

"What is it?" Colette asked, reaching for the TV remote on the coffee table. Lloyd was staring at the carpet, his hand absent-mindedly pulling at the hem of his singlet, separating the fabric from sweaty skin.

“Ellum’s birthday present,” Lloyd muttered, his voice getting softer with each word he spoke, until she could barely make out the words. “His birthday is in two weeks, and I…”

Ohhh.

They had a habit of telling each other almost everything, for any secret was always safe with the other. So she knew why Lloyd was clamming up. Ellum was his current crush, after all.

“Say no more. Of course I’ll help you! We can do whatever you want!” she replied with enthusiasm. She'd be happy to help.

"Thank you," Lloyd replied, meeting her gaze again with a tiny smile lighting up his face. "Now, let's get back to studying."

They made the short walk to the dining table, taking their seats across from each other. Lloyd's face was already starting to twist into a grimace, resigning himself to another few hours of torture at the hands of the twisted people who made their livelihood setting math questions.

Clearing away the Kit Kat wrappers on her assessment book, she glanced down at a question about nets she'd been working on before the break. Yet not a single word on the page was being absorbed. They were all running away from her.

The downside of Lloyd confiding in her for all of his crushes was that it was a stark reminder that she hadn't had her first one yet. And then, inevitably, her mind would drift further to all the little ways she stood out from her classmates.

It was like everyone around her had changed drastically overnight at some unknown point in time. The jokesters of the class had just started making dirty jokes one day, prompting scandalised glares from the rest of the class but also prompting snickers. She herself didn't get the joke half the time, just laughed to go along with everyone else.

Then there was the shift in daily conversation. Instead of discussing their favourite Pokémon, more often than not the other girls would now discuss in hushed voices while giggling which celebrity was the most attractive. She herself would sit quietly, trying to melt into the wall as she observed without interjecting, half fascinated and half horrified. Weren't they all too young for this?

Things got even more awkward when she was forcibly pulled into the conversation when someone directed a question at her. She had no idea what to say whenever someone showed her a picture of a celebrity and asked her to rate them. The only thing she ever managed to stutter out was that their eyes were a nice colour, and so was their hair. That... was how you judged a person on how attractive they were, right? Everyone else, though, seemed to think she was weird. But how was she supposed to be feeling? No one had ever taught her. It felt like everyone was keeping a secret from her on how these things were supposed to work, then making fun of her for not getting it.

She only got more confused every time something like that happened. All she wanted to do was go back to talking about her favourite cartoons, but that didn't seem to be an option. Lloyd wasn't in the same class as her, so she couldn't even sit with him and ignore everyone else. The only time she could meet up with him during school hours was at recess. She didn't know what Lloyd talked about with the rest of his friends. Maybe the same stuff. But she didn't really care, because, with him, she could just be herself. There was no need for tiring pretence.

All she could do when the girls were in a mood to discuss celebrities again was sit a little outside of their circle, counting down the seconds remaining for class to start while she tried to look as occupied as possible. She couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief every time the topic of conversation turned back to something a little easier to understand, like video games.

But surely, someday, she would understand.

She was waiting. For that day. For her to finally catch up to everyone else in the race she hadn’t even known she’d entered until everyone had left her in the dust, still standing with her mouth agape at the starting line. To finally be like everyone else, to be able to fit in seamlessly. But there was no use getting down about it!

She just had to meet The One. Then everything would change, everything would fix itself. That's what happened in all the stories, the shows, the movies, after all.

Because everyone, in the end, learned to feel the same way, right?

~~~

19-years-old

"Right! I think that’s enough for now.” Colette’s voice shattered the serenity of her room from where she was sitting on the bed with her laptop balanced in her lap, cutting through the sleepy fog that was starting to fill Lloyd’s head. The peaceful Ghibli tunes that had been filling the room cut off abruptly as she shut her laptop screen, reaching a hand up to undo her messy hair bun.

Lloyd yawned, rubbing his eyes and hoping that would make his eyelids feel less heavy. Pushing himself up from his belly-down position on the bed, he caught one last glance of the back of Colette's neck before her hair covered it again. Doing prep for uni was not the most exciting way to pass the afternoon, and it certainly wasn't normal fare for a date. But it had to be done, so they might as well do it together, as they did all things.

Though he'd gotten distracted and started scrolling through YouTube about an hour ago.

"Are you going to change out of pyjamas?” Lloyd asked, stretching, his shirt hiking up slightly. He’d taken the lift down the three floors that separated his apartment and hers in the old HDB block that they’d stayed in all their lives, rang the doorbell while staring at the Chinese New Year decorations that were still hung up despite the month now being April, and waited for Colette to open the door… Only to be met with the sight of Colette in her favourite doggie pyjamas, the baby blue button-up ones that covered every inch of her skin. She'd shrugged and said it was cold from the non-stop rain, but he knew the real reason was the lazy post-A-levels haze, that affected him as well. These days, sleeping in until noon was the norm. Or sleeping in until one of his parents came into his bedroom to knock him awake.

“Yeah,” she replied, grabbing a towel and a few articles of clothing from the open wardrobe and heading towards the doorway.

“Alright.”

Lloyd closed his laptop slowly, not wanting a repeat of the time in Secondary 3 he’d shattered the screen because Zelos had sneaked up on him and caught him unawares. He rolled off the bed, making the small trip of barely a few steps to the study table, passing the various objects Colette had up on the walls - the Disney posters she’d gotten ages ago, and the random stickers she’d amassed over the years from school club sales and donations - and the bay window filled to the brim with cute and huggable soft toys, a familiar Siberian Husky that showed the signs of being well-loved sitting atop the pile.

Lying on the study table was Colette’s Nintendo Switch, plugged into a socket to charge. Right next to it was a jar holding paintbrushes of all sizes, all of them as clean of paint as possible, for he knew Colette took extremely good care of her art supplies. The sketchbook no one was allowed to peek into was sticking out of the table’s drawer, half-used pads of foolscap and sheets of paper with pencils rolling in them visible within. Files that he’d nearly kicked, containing lecture notes and worksheets, were shoved into messy piles under the table, unneeded after the conclusion of examinations but having no convenient place to be stored. The tiny shelf sitting on the table still had her Junior College badge housed on one of the layers, silver in colour and reflecting the light from the windows, despite her having no use for it ever since they had graduated in November. (Perhaps she liked looking at it? She was something of a magpie sometimes.) He could spot a familiar conch shell, placed among other knick-knacks, mostly birthday presents.

Picking up the handheld (with its lime green and cyan JoyCons firmly attached), he unplugged the charger and watched the screen light up - and frowned at what it showed him.

"Hey, Colette!" he yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth. He hoped he could catch her before she entered the bathroom. Uncle Frank was working in the master bedroom no more than five metres away and had been nothing less than incredibly nice, as he always was, providing tons of refreshments and snacks. Lloyd would like to prevent a shouting relay if possible.

If Colette had been walking, she shouldn't have reached the bathroom yet...

The fast pitter-patter of bare feet against the floor informed him that he was right. "What is it, Lloyd?" Colette's head poked its way into the doorframe, her golden hair reaching down towards the floor, her blue eyes wide and questioning.

"You left Animal Crossing on," he answered, waving the Switch in the air.

Her eyes lit up in understanding. "Oh. You know what to do, right?"

Control the playable character and put her to sleep, then save the game. He'd done it before.

"Yeah, but, I was thinking... I haven't taken a walk on your island since last year. How about I take another tour while you're in the bathroom? If you're okay with it, of course."

"Oh, sure! I trust you." Colette smiled sweetly, turning to leave before pausing and turning back. "But remember -"

"- remember not to step on the flowers." Lloyd finished her sentence easily, stating that fact very seriously. He knew about Colette's concerns about her precious flowers, which she’d spent hours arranging around her little island until they were in just the right spot - fields of rainbows to welcome any guests and guide them around. He hadn't known that the stems of the flowers could break from being trampled multiple times when he first explored her quaint world - the fictional flowers were just as fragile as their real-life counterparts. He’d kept that in mind ever since, adding it to the many rules to follow to ensure no harm came to all the hard work Colette had put in to make her island perfect.

"Yep. Um…” Colette wrung her hands together, bowing her head so her hair formed a veil over her face.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, taking a step towards her.

“No, nothing’s wrong!” Colette hurriedly replied, lifting her head again. She screwed her eyes shut, hands clenching into fists. “I - uh, just wanted to say… I love you!”

The last three words came out in a shout, so quick that he almost didn’t catch them.

Lloyd froze, trying to process what he’d just heard - and before he could reply, Colette was already gone, having fled down the corridor and out of sight.

He slowly shut his mouth, which he hadn’t even realised was open.

This was the first time she’d said those coveted three words since they'd started dating. Her voice had been dripping with uncertainty, her posture betraying her shyness, but no matter how contradictory, she’d said it with sincerity, with all her heart. And even though he didn't need to hear them from her to know she loved him, for it was actions that counted, and certainly didn't need to hear them from her for him to love her, it still made him smile, his whole soul filled with a light warmth.

They’d travelled such a long way from all the checkpoints in life that they'd passed together. They still had a long way to go, but they’d do it together. As they always had.

"I love you too, silly," he said into empty space, knowing Colette couldn't hear him but wanting to say it anyway.

Lloyd unlocked the Switch screen, staring down at Colette's intricate creation. Flowers filled the screen, black, grey, white, purple, that he found familiar but couldn't put a name to. Oh, well. He would just tour the island and check out any new changes while he walked to the living room and waited for Colette to come back. Maybe he'd visit the town centre as well.

The most vital question to be answered was... Had Colette gotten those froggy chairs that she wanted for the townspeople?

~~~

Next chapter

[purplerose244]

Thinking journal for season 12 Prime Empire 😎😎😎 (2/2)

Here we go with the next part! I really hope we get some major big plot twist at some point, because it's all really cool but I need something to really change from good to GREAT

For now, let's focus on the next episodes!

It's the 17th of April and here we go!

GENERAL

I feel like there's little time to really pull up something, I don't know. Like, what plot twist could happen now that there just half season left with only Unagami/Dyer's identity and maybe Scott's past as mysteries? There's little space for more plotlines, that's what I think

Overall fighting scenes, character designs and game backgrounds are AWESOME!!

Let's see how it goes, maybe I'll be surprised. Wouldn't be weird for Ninjago to pull a bomb last episode 😅

ONE STEP FORWARD, TWO STEPS BACK

ZANE AND PIXAL FINALLY!!! IT'S DETECTIVE TIME!!! 😎

Okay, so there is a photo, and there is a friend. As I thought, Dyer might not be Unagami at all, I feel like there's a lot of backstory coming along. I wonder if Scott has a part in this... WHERE IS SCOTT 💙

Ah, of course Kai would spend his credits on an avatar, I should've known, my flame babe can be such a dummie sometimes I mean why would you even do such a thing as buying an avat-

NEVER MIND I LOVE IT 😍😍🔥🔥 I thought him being blonde was going to bother me, I actually kinda like the change. Still prefer my baby brunette, but it's really cool as well. The best of this season are definitely the characters designs

Was that "let's fight an ogre mission" a hint for next season? I wouldn't be weird, but it's been a while since I've seen forshadowing for new season in this show

HECK YEAH THE DANCING EPISODE!!! I was waiting for this, Jaya is so cute while they are on the dancefloor 😍 They have chemistry 😘😘😘

I like the implication that Nya was really bad at dancing before Jay, like Kai covering his eyes because he cannot handle her sister not being perfect at something 😛

And Cole being the dance expert, that little tango moment with Kai I bet made many lavashippers super happy 🖤❤🖤❤

THE TRIPLE TIGER SASHAY ALL THE WAY FROM SEASON 1-2 ABSOLUTELY YES YES YES!!! AND HE DIDN'T ROAR, HE STRAIGHT UP SAID "NO ONE PUTS COLE IN A CORNER" I'M DYING!!! With this and Nya's 'catch me', I expect so many Dirty Dancing AUs from this 😂👌

JAYA BEING AWESOME HECK YEAH ❤💙❤💙

JUST LOOK AT THEM!!! Nya better say I love you back soon, like Kai and Skylor are a little behind, Zane and Pixal already said it, Jay can't stop doing it, come on girl it's your turn! 😎😎

RACER SEVEN

SCOTT IS BACK YES!!! 😍😍😍💙💙💙

Okay, I think my theory won't happen 😅 Feels like there are not enough episodes for a good reveal, and it doesn't seem like Scott is that influenced by Jay. My last idea is that perhaps he has spent so much time in the game like Jay said (POOR BABY 😭) that he doesn't remember. Maybe the moment he will come back, we will find out that it is Jay's brother/twin, I mean he still has those dragon and lightnings drawing on his back... yeah I like this theory a lot, gonna hold on to it!

So Scott is indeed a person trapped in a game, at least that's confirmed 👍

Also he's got some major issues, the poor thing, and I think there is some special reason behind him not wanting to race besides having just one life.

HERE IT COMES

OH MY GARMADON 😂😂😂 Okay, okay, it's actually better than I expected really. The scarf is cool, and so are the golden tattoos, the suit and the golden sleeve. It's just the mohawk that will take time to get used to, it's not even bad, just weird 🤷‍♀️

Racer Seven is so cool! Always nice seeing a new female character in this show that is not a love interest. I do love Nya, Pix and Sky to death, but I love variety too 💪

Really, really nice the piece of all Racer Seven's crashes! Impactful and sad, a never ending loop that she wants to break through from. That's the heavy stuff I like!

Okay, ready for the race! And I'm... scared? Like, a lot of they guys have one life?? KAI HAS ONE LIFE?? 😱😱 I hope for the best I guess 😅

THE SPEEDWAY FIVE-BILLION

Might be my favorite episode yet

Seven is SO COOL, it's another reason why I'm sad these episodes are so short! I really would had liked see her more, truly have her bond with the guys

Soooo... I guess since Scott's been in the game for 30 years it's safe to assume he's not Jay's brother/twin. To be fair it's really hard to tell a LEGO person's age😅 At this point I guess he could be either Dyer's friend, even if it sounds unlikely, or... idk, still think he could have a connection with Jay. Maybe he's like... an older brother? Libber had him a long while ago?

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! WHY DID SCOTT HAVE TO DIEEEEEEEE??? 😭😭😭 Just when he was getting more involved, come on! He even said he wanted to try that hero stuff, I love him! WE WILL SAVE YOU MY TECH BABY!!!

Cole getting a ride from Kai, this season has some pretty good lava material ❤🖤❤🖤

I've got some major Ninjaball Run vibes from this, that brings me back 😂 Even the no rules thing is there, come on, there has to be a little bit of inspiration from it!

Still don't know what I think of the rats, kinda seems useless and annoying, gonna be honest. But it's a nice race, exciting with nothing big happenin-

Kai and Cole sacrifice for Jay

I KNOW I THOUGHT ABOUT IT BEFORE BUT I'M NOT OKAY WITH THIS!!! MY FLAME BABE AND MY ROCKY BABY!!! 😭😭😭😭 WHY PEOPLE KEEP DYING IN THIS EPISODE???

I so, so enjoyed how they did it. Like, one look between them to realize that yes, this is it, Jay is the expert and needs to go on. This is the end of our race... AAAHHH!! (Infinite shipping potential too)

Omg Nya screaming her brother's name and Jay his best friend's name, while Lloyd looks so devastated (those masks are actually kinda espressive, I really like them). Wow. This is the angst I needed, finally👌

YES SEVEN WON!!! HECK YEAH GIRL!!! SO HAPPY FOR HER!!! Also Okino in the background being happy, nice touch!

And now they are three... it's gonna end up with only Jay huh. I... I'm not ready actually, my heart 😢 They better all hug when this is all over!!!

STOP, DROP AND SIDE ROLL

I CAN SEE THEY ARE KEEPING THE FEELS FOR LAST APPARENTLY??? 😭

The music of the old school section was actually very nice, reminds me of the past, I kinda hoped The Fold were going to release some game themed songs. Been a while since I have one of those 😍

Lol, explaining the side scroll games was actually pretty cool

YES THEY ACTUALLY ACKNOWLEDGED THE AIRJITSU!! Maybe they will remember they can used it, right Cole? The ladder scene? YOU CAN FLY???

OMG NYA ACTUALLY SAID CICLON-DO JUST HOW CUTE IS THAT!!! All the way from my favorite season Possession, Jay's definition of airjitzu that I actually still kept in one of my fanfictions 😂

Okay the design of the temple of madness is REALLY cool, you can immediately tell it's from an old videogame. Gives me the double vibe the googles for the first 3D movies used to give me 😂

Also look at this

THIS IS ADORABLE!! 💙💚💦 Really old style videogame 😂

And there we go!! Harumi!! Since I saw her in the set I was wondering what she was going to be, maybe an avatar or an NPC of some sort... THIS HURTS WAY MORE!!! And of course pure heart BABY boy Lloyd doesn't feel good fighting her, he had a crush on her! AND HE FREAKING SAW HER DIE!!! It's really sad that he still hopes for her to be good...

The fighting scenes are really, REALLY good! So fluid and active! This fight was really pleasant to watch, not gonna lie 💜

NOOOOOOOOO!!!! NOT MY GREEN BABY BOY!!!! I KNEW IT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN BUT STIIIIIIL!!! 😭😭😭

Okay, down to three members. Remaining Zaptrap and water godess... omg Nya will totally die first and at that point Jay will go completely nuts. I'm both scared and DYING TO HAPPEN!!! ANGST FINALLY!!! THIS IS THE STUFF!!

Got some major Skybound feeling, like when it was only Jay and Nya... will Nya finally say I love you back?? I HOPE SO ❤💙❤💙

With the three keytana now, what will happen? I'm actually curious now, this is the exciting stuff I need! And yes I do realize it's a little weird that for getting hype I need my faves to die 😅

NINJAGO CONFIDENTIAL

OMG THEY ACTUALLY DID A DETECTIVE THEMED EPISODE BLACK AND WHITE I'M DYING 😂😂😂

The Weekend Whip with sax, never thought I needed this in my life 😍

Bet Brent had a blast recording this

Okay this is the third Chima reference I see, they better throw some Nexo Knights hits as well next season! Come on, it's about freaking knights!!!

This is not what I expected when they said there was going to be an episode with only Zane and Pixal but I'm sure as HECK not complaining 👌

Oh, seeing Pixal joining in so normally is so beautiful, I really wish we could have her even more often

Dareth's karaoke bar! From Sons of Garmaron! Also him guessing first try because the ninja really do get post in other dimensions very often 😂 Gotta love them indeed

Pff Zane narrating and getting stopped every time because of it, how I missed this naive little nindroid

So the bartender Tony is the friend? That's it? A little easy really, hoped for more... still calling him Milty is cute 💕

Buddy's Pizza from season 2!!! This season is killing me with references and I LOVE IT SO MUCH 💜💜💜

So, the mechanic is free again (the Kryptarium dudes should really learn how to do their job right 😓), Zane is kidnapped, and Pixal has a fedora that makes her possibly even cuter. I have emotions

AH!! KNEW IT!! UNAGAMI IS NOT DYER!! FREAKING CALLED IT!!... kinda expected really, but still called it 😅

So Unagami was the first name of Prime Empire and is also an AI that got crazy and was shut down, but now is back after programming the game itself and wants to get to the real world?... I'm down with it

So I'm guessing we won't get much of a Scott backstory... Eh, let's see how it goes!

THE PRODIGAL FATHER

I was seriously confused by why those dudes wanted to kidnapped Wu, but it made sense later. Still come on sensei, you're a freaking half god or something, pull yourself together 🤦‍♀️

Very nice that Pixal is the one to bring up the argument about feelings and AI. So very nice to have her in this!!!

I THOUGHT ZANE WAS GOING TO TAKE A BREAK FROM LAST SEASON, WHY ARE THEY MAKING HIM SUFFER AGAIN??? 😭

Oh finally the backstory of Unagami I'm really curious about what happened in the past and what exactly brought the shut down of Prime Emp-

I LITERALLY CARE ABOUT NOTHING ELSE BUT THIS BEAUTIFUL GAMER BOY IN REAL LIFE!!! 😍😍😍😍😍

So Scott was the first beta tester, Milton asked Unagami to make the experience as exciting as possible, and that ended very badly so the game was shut down and THEY LEFT HIM INSIDE FULLY KNOWING HE WAS THERE??? I HATE DYER NOW!!!

Although it is really interesting knowing a tech genius like him, until now we got Dr. Julien and Cyrus Borg that were plenty open about the idea of AI with feelings as meaningful as humans'. While he doesn't get that, they are only machines for him and that's the reason why he doesn't understand how much Unagami is mad and filled with need for revenge.

This is why I want more than 11 minutes, the themes of this season are really, REALLY cool. I would have loved more introspection and development.

I guess Scott being Jay's brother is officially debunked 😅 Although I am curious about the life he left behind, since he was stuck in that game for 30 years. He still has those lightnings on the jacket I don't understand...

DON'T YOU DARE LET ZANE BE DESTROYED AGAIN PLEASE I STILL CRY WATCHING "THE TITANIUM NINJA"!!! 😢😢😢😢😢😢

The portal is open, Zane might get destroyed, Unagami wants revenge, Jay and Nya are the only one left and I'm pretty sure Nya will be killed as well leaving only Bluebell so there's THAT. So yeah, this is actually pretty cool!

Two episodes left. Okay Ninjago season 12 Prime Empire, wow me 😎

THE TEMPLE OF MADNESS

This felt a little simple if I'm gonna be honest. I felt like the last mission before facing Unagami was a little basic, with nothing really exciting. Still liked it, but this is probably my least favorite episode 🤷‍♀️

Of course, put Jay is a sushi restaurant-themed level and he will kill you with puns 😂 I love this prankster

Again, the fighting scenes are dope. Definitely one of my favorite things since they changed the animation. You lose something you win something 😙

Wooo, Jay saying that he had trained for years just for kick his butt was actually cool! Bluebell is unleashing!

"And that's how we roll!". You rock we roll, am I right 😂

AH!!! CALLED IT!!! TOTALLY CALLED IT!!! MY POOR BABY BLUEBELL 😭😭

I wish Nya said that she loves Jay back though! Freaking come on girl, he is your yang!!! ❤💙❤💙

Unagami is not Dyer, he wants to get to the real world, I'm actually kinda curious about the confrontation that is about to happen... ALSO THERE BETTER BE LOTS OF HUGS WHEN THIS IS OVER

I... genuinely forgot about the dragon medallion 😅 Eh, I love dragons so I'm fine with it. Well, let's see how it ends!!!

GAME OVER

Wow, I actually love this ending?? A LOT?? After last episode I didn't have much hope, but after seeing it I gotta say, it was really great 👌👌

Thanks for not dying on us again Zane, much appreciated

Jay taking charge is quite rare and when it happens you know things are about to get crazy 😂 It was really nice seeing how sensible he could be, telling that Unagami wasn't evil after all, that he needed closure and answers

I know I miss the animation peak we reached with SoG and Hunted, but I gotta say the atmosphere of the city with the lightnings and the gray sky was really awesome. Very cool.

Pff, that part with the elevator though, reminds me of the one in season 1 that made me start watch Ninjago ✌ Also it's always Borg's Tower indeed 😂

OKINO KICKING BUTTS HECK YEAH LOOK AT OUR RONIN GO!!!

And wow. WOW. I didn't expect Jay to drop the I'm adopted bomb on us, I think I never heard him talk about it since Skybound (that technically never happened so 😅). It was SO good seeing him sympathize with Unagami because he was also left with no explaination. His desire to know, along with the hope that the past is the past, but they had a good reason for. Also he freaking said he didn't have the chance to ask because Cliff is dead and I 😭😭😭😭

And here I melted, because we finally see the situation for what truly is, the way Jay also sees it: Unagami is a kid, a child that doesn't understand how the world works, that just wants to make his father proud but got rejected instead. The confrontation was actually touching, I really wish we had more time for that. Even a little resistance from Unagami, another fight, and a finally reconcilliation with Dyer.

MY NINJA BABIES ARE BACK I MISSED YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!! ❤💚💙🖤💦💎

Could you seriously be cuter than this?? ❤💙❤💙 I wished for more hugs but I'll settle for this I guess 😍

Okay, very nice to see Seven and Okino out there and deciding to live their lives in Ninjago, nice to see some others like the rats going back to Prime Empire. As Unagami said, he gave them a choice, it's up to them at this point

But I'm sorry, WHY ARE WE NOT GOING TO TALK WITH SCOTT??? That guy's been trapped inside the game the longest, not even a "Hey bud, you're alive, cool cool"? I know I've been overbearing about how much I love Scott, especially since I had all those theories about him (still don't know why he has lightnings on his jacket and hat, is it just a style thing? Idk), but come on! Well I guess if he's happy I am 🤷‍♀️

Is that his girlfriend or something? After 30 years? Or maybe she got trapped with him a while later? Or maybe that's his... mom? Look, we all know determine the age of LEGO characters is hard, give me a break please 😅😅

Overall, very nice ending, it brought everything together quite nicely. I'm satisfied, yes!! 💜💜

FINAL THOUGHTS

As I said, the episodes' lenght I really think gets in the way of making this an excellent season. There is so much that could be explored more, the choice matter, all the amazing characters, and the AI feelings stuff from the latest episodes. There is room for more, I wished we got that

The characters though were really amazing. Between Scott, Okino, Seven and Unagami himself, there were very different personalities with very different dreams and thoughts, that made this ride much more interesting

Fighting animation was 👌👌👌

Comebacks from past seasons were 👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌

Maybe it didn't really focused on Jay as much until the end? Yeah it was about him, but we got to see his sensibility and his past only last episode. He loves Nya, he likes videogames, of course but there's more about him than meets the eye! Wished we saw that, but in general it was nice seeing him first line again 💙

I liked this season. It has flaws, but I enjoyed many parts and at the end I was left satisfied 👍

Just... wasn't Jillian supposed to be in this? Or is it next season? She said a mom was going to come back, I took for granted it was going to be Edna. I'm curious about next season now... FINALLY A COLE SEASON EVERYONE!!! 🖤🖤🖤

Thank you for leaving notes to my last rant, this helps me not jump excitedly every time a new episode comes out 😅 Well then, that's all from me!! Have a nice day everyone!! 💜💜💜

[thorne93]

Inside the Criminal Mind (Part 12)

Prompt: You’re married to Dr. Spencer Reid of the BAU, and are a distinguished doctor yourself on the team. You’re sent down to Miami, Florida for teaching and as a side request from the FBI, to investigate a string of missing persons. When you think you’ve figured out who the unsub is, your life becomes more complicated than you ever could’ve imagined.

Word Count: 2556

Warnings: (throughout the fic –>) death, blood, gore, killings, language, disturbing mental notions, mentions of rapes/murder/etc (You know, Dexter and Criminal Minds related business)

Notes: Thank you so much to @arrow-guy​, @carryonmyswansong​, and @mrs-dragneel-stark-solo​ - without each of you, I couldn’t have finished, written, or properly navigated this story. Each of you helped me fish out details that were incredibly important to me. Beta’d by @carryonmyswansong​ and @mrs-dragneel-stark-solo​… Aesthetic by @mrs-dragneel-stark-solo

This is a crossover of Criminal Minds x Dexter. First time writing Dexter.

Also, the timeline is after Season 1 of Dexter, but during season 14-ish of Criminal minds into Season 15. Enjoy!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally, spring break was here. 

Your flight got in and Spencer was waiting for you at the airport. You all but ran to him as he smiled at you, wrapping you in a tight embrace. 

“Oh, God, I missed you so much,” he remarked. 

“I missed you too. Any cases?”

“None so far, but I’m on vacation. Unless something huge comes in, you have me all to yourself.” 

“That’s just the way I like it,” you noted, grinning before giving him a quick kiss.

“Do you want to stop by the office?” he asked, taking your hand as you walked to the luggage carousel. 

“No, not today. I just want to be with you.”

“You sure? I know everyone’s missed you.”

You shook your head. “Yeah but I’ve missed you more. You and I are hardly ever alone. It’d be nice to just have one night, just the two of us?” 

He smiled down at you just before you grabbed your bag.

“Yeah, alright. Let’s go home.”

---------------------

“Holy… Wow. What have you been doing while I’m gone?” you asked, panting. 

“Nothing different,” he remarked as he rolled over. 

“It’s almost like you’re trying out for a marathon,” you teased, laughing.

“Are you complaining?”

“Hell no.” 

“Want to make dinner?”

“Absolutely. What have we got?”

“I got everything for you to make lasagna,” he noted, a bit of pleading to his voice and face.

You rolled your eyes. “I come back from working hard in Miami, working two jobs and you want me to make you dinner?”

“I’ll help make the salad, if that means anything?” he said with an uneasy face. 

“After the performance you just gave, Dr. Reid, I’ll let it pass.” You leaned up and kissed him before the two of you got out of bed and threw on pajamas to go make dinner. 

It took about an hour, but finally, the lasagna was in the oven. 

“So tell me all about Miami,” Spence encouraged. “I haven’t heard much from you in so long. Everything okay?”

You nodded, your stomach doing a flip. Until now, you could basically forget about Miami, Dexter… being a murderer. But your husband asking you about your second life brought all of that to the forefront of your mind.

You gulped down the hot pasta before answering, “Uh, yeah, everything’s fine.” You took a sip of water to buy some time. “Teaching’s been going good. I hit a snag here or there but midterm grades were great.”

“That’s great,” he said with an encouraging smile. “Does it feel like the students are really soaking up the knowledge?”

“Yeah, absolutely. Every class discussion is pretty interesting and I love answering all kinds of questions about our work and what we do. It’s pretty fantastic. It’s nice to be doing something where it doesn’t end in failure or worrying about losing my life or yours.”

“I know. I love our jobs but being in a calm classroom has its perks too,” he agreed with a quick grin. “And the investigation? How’s it going?” 

“Uh, going pretty good. The family’s had no leads though.”

“What’s your next step then? You’ve already questioned everyone in the PD, right?”

You nodded. “Yeah and that didn’t seem to help much either.”

“What about a geo-profile? I could help with that. Do you have the cases?”

“No, left them in my apartment down there. But I should definitely do that.” 

Suddenly, your hands were sweating but you tried hard to hide it. Lying to your boss over the phone was one thing. Keeping up appearances and not letting anything slip around Dexter’s circle was one thing. Lying to your husband whose career was to gauge every minute facial expression, shifting in weight, change in voice, was another. 

Not only was it his job, he was married to you. He knew when you were lying. He knew when you weren’t being totally truthful, and if he called you on it, you had no way to rebut him. 

“Are you sure you’re alright? I’m really surprised you haven’t cracked this case wide open. You know about doing the geo-profile.” His tone was just on the edge of accusatory and that sent your blood pressure through the roof.

Bobbing your head and swallowing, you said, “Right. Yeah, no it’s just I got caught up with school. No one else has been able to make a dent in the case so it’s obviously a hard one.”

“Yeah but you’re--”

“Busy with another full time job,” you reminded sweetly. “I’ll do the geo-profile. I was going to check into their criminal backgrounds next, see if maybe there was overlap there of drugs or money laundering.” This wasn’t entirely a lie, had you not picked up on Dexter’s mishaps, that would’ve been the next path you’d gone down.

“Ah, that’s a good idea too. Are you positive you don’t want help on it? I’m sure if we just gave the names to Garcia we’d have some overlap in a matter of a week.” 

“No, I really think I can start making headway with my stuff. I swear, if I hit a brick wall, I’ll come cash my chips in.” 

“Alright,” he agreed, finally dropping it, thank God. “Made any new friends? How’s your apartment?”

“Uh, I don’t really have time for friends,” you lied. “If I’m not on campus, I’m working the case or reading over homework. You know…” 

“Right. Well I hope you’re finding some sort of break down there. You need rest, time to recharge your batteries. Do you at least get to go to the beach?” 

“Not really, no. I should try though, more often.”

“Yeah, maybe every Saturday or something, try going out,” he suggested with a smile before taking a sip of his water. 

“Yeah, maybe. How about you? Have you been to see Morgan and the family in a while?” you asked, trying desperately to shift the conversation away from you, and it worked. The rest of the night you focused on Spencer’s work back home, Morgan, his mom, Garcia, anything but you. 

-----------------------------------

The next night, the team was still in town, so you and Spence decided you would surprise them after work. 

“So, I was just going to head home and--” Emily was saying as you stepped off the elevators and all eyes went to you. 

“Y/N!” Everyone greeted in a resounding happy voice. 

Garcia rushed you and hugged you tightly. 

“We weren’t sure you were ever going to come by! Reid said you were tired and just wanted to rest,” she said, glancing back to him, worried you were out against your will.

You laughed. “No, no, not quite. I just wanted the day with him,” you said, your eyes landing on him lovingly for a moment. “But now, we’ve caught up and I want to be with you all. Wanna go to the bar?” you asked and you were met with a resounding yes. 

The whole team joined you. Everyone peppered you with questions about the class, the course, how you felt about teaching. Often, people asked Spencer if his experiences were different or similar and you two had to bounce off each other for information. Everyone asked about Miami, how hot it really was, if you were enjoying it, if you were making friends, if you were happy down there. The team asked about your case, and you tried to dance a fine line of making it known you were working really hard, but not give away so much information that they felt like they had enough information that they could start looking into it. 

Eventually, talk turned to some shop talk, then home life, and then the party naturally divided into girls and guys. Rossi, Matt, Luke, and Spence went to play pool. Emily, JJ, Garcia, and you were at the other end, just talking girl talk.

“Okay, real talk,” Garcia started, looking at you, “is every guy just like really cut down in Miami? I mean, they’d have to be, right? They’re always on the beach, looking tanned and bronzed…”

You couldn’t help but chuckle. “I hate to burst your bubble, Garcia, but not every guy is a casting call for Baywatch.”

“It doesn’t have to be for Baywatch but maybe… I don’t know, a little Mr. Universe competition.”

The ladies all laughed, including you. “I really wouldn’t know. I don’t notice guys. If it’s not Spence, I just…” You left it at that before catching yourself staring at him from across the bar. He really was your one and only. 

“Aww, you guys are so in love, it’s so cute and, ugh, my heart melts for it,” Garcia said sappily.

JJ raised her eyebrows. “Well I think someone’s had one too many.” 

“Speaking of love,” you began, “Em, how are you and your boy toy? Any talk of wedding bells?”

“Woah,” she remarked, raising her hands in defense, “we aren’t even past the starting gate yet, not really. It’ll be awhile before we talk anything like that, but things are going good, really good.”

“I’m glad,” you said with a sincere smile. “Oh, I miss you all so much.” You put your arms around them and pulled them close. “How has casework been?”

“To be honest?” Emily asked. “It’s been really hard without you. Cases move about two times slower. There are times I’m close to begging Reid to just call you in on one or sometimes he even throws it out there but we know how important this is to you.”

“Yeah, it really is.”

JJ took a sip of her drink then said, “Oh, Y/N, you should know that Lloyd Markert was put away last week.” 

Lloyd was a case all of you had worked just before Halloween and his trial was slow to get off the ground but apparently it finally came to close.

“Oh, great! How long did the fucker get?” you asked, happy to know he’d be put away. He was a family killer who showed no remorse. 

“He got fifteen, thirteen with good behavior,” she informed with a sour face.

“But, at least that’s fifteen,” Emily noted.

“Fifteen? Fif-fucking-teen?” you all but screeched. “Jesus, why even bother with a verdict?” you asked, shaking your head. “Well, all we can hope is he gets jumped in the shower, right?” You raised your glass before sipping. All three women gave you an incredulous look.

“Uh, Y/N, you okay? That doesn’t really… uh, sound like you,” JJ commented. 

You shook your head. “No, I’m not okay. After Rochester and now Markert… No. I’m not okay. I’m sick of these fuckers walking. It’s just…. It’s not enough, alright? We’ve been at this for years… Years, every day we see people slaughtered, butchered, beaten, bludgeoned, raped, tortured, and for what? Because Mommy was a little too strict? Because Daddy had a forceful hand when they were a kid? I’m just sick of it all. I’m sick of seeing killer after killer after killer get the lightest sentences for horrible, gut wrenching crimes. These victims deserve better, they deserve justice.”

“And that’s what we work on getting them,” JJ reminded, frowning.

“Right, and that hard work? Our hours, weeks, sometimes months of work goes down the drain because some beat cop forgot the miranda rights. Or because someone tampered with the only evidence we had. Or because there’s some incredible technicality and it just sickens me. We do our job, we all do our jobs well, great even. But at the end of the day, we have a parade of people that these unsubs have to get through, and anywhere along the way, it can get fucked up, and most of the time it does, and it’s just....” You shook your head, trying to find the right word. “Heartbreaking, it’s goddamn heartbreaking, is what it is. To do what we do, to fight like we fight, for it to all count for nothing, not for the victims, not for us, not for their families.”

Garcia rubbed your back and Emily peered at you. 

“It can be rough, but if we do our jobs right, we have to have faith in the system,” Emily remarked. “That’s all we can do.”

“Maybe that’s all you can do, but I can do so much more,” you thought silently to yourself before taking a sip of your drink.  

---------------------------------------------

The next day, Spence and you were out getting lunch in the city when you were waiting on your food.

“This place reminds me of--”

“Cafe George, in Omaha, right?” Spencer finished and you nodded with a laugh.

“Yes, the same place that Morgan tried to convince you that rocky mountain oysters were fried chocolate.”

“Yeah, you know I still haven’t forgiven that?” he said with a smile.

“Oh, I know,” you assured. “That’s why you ensued on pranking him for two weeks straight following that. I still think the best one was when you disabled his car remotely and he could not figure out how to start it. It was pretty hilarious. And very sexy.”

“Didn’t know you found pranks arousing.”

“Oh I don’t,” you confirmed. “But you using that big MIT brain gets me hot and bothered every time.”

“Well maybe when we leave here I can show you just how big my brain can get,” he teased just as the waiter approached with your food.

“I’d very much like that, Dr. Reid.”

He smiled at you with a playful grin. “I’ve missed you, I’ve missed this.”

“I’ve missed a lot of everything,” you commented with a bit of melancholy. I didn’t realize how much I missed the team before last night.”

“So you don’t think you’ll stay down in Miami? I mean, if they ask you?”

You waved the idea off. “No, of course not. I mean… what could I possibly have down there? I can teach up here if I really feel inclined to.”

But then, the question caught up to you. You did have something down there, a friend. Emily, Garcia, Matt. They were all very close to you, your closest friends, you’d put your life on the line for theirs and vice versa. But none of them knew the real you. Known of them knew you were capable of murder. How could you give up a friendship with someone like Dexter, someone who wouldn’t judge you like last night? You couldn’t be yourself, you couldn’t rant about your hate for the scum of this world around your team. They believed in justice, a system, a higher power.

You believed in action -- real, swift, and effective action. 

How could you just abandon Dexter when he understood you and accepted you, your darkness and all, when you had teammates up here who could barely accept an angry rant?

And what about Spencer? He was the light of your life, the love of your life, everything you had ever wanted in a husband and more… If he found out what you truly were, what you were capable of, what you were willing to become, he’d be horrified, mortified, betrayed beyond any point of forgiveness. He’d leave you, and most likely have you arrested. 

He didn’t deserve that sort of pain, to find out he was married to a complete stranger. 

Which is why, he would never, ever find out. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tagging:

Forever Tag:

@essie1876​​​​​​

@magpiegirl80​​​​​​

@letsgetfuckingsuperwholocked​​​​​​

@iamwarrenspeace​​

@marvel-imagines-yes-please​​

@superwholocked527

@missinstantgratification​​​

@thejemersoninferno​​​​​​

@rda1989​​​​​​

@munlis​​​​​​

@thefridgeismybestie​​​​​​

@bubblyanarocks3​​​​​​

@igiveupicantthinkofausername​​​​​​

@kaliforniacoastalteens​​​​​​

@feelmyroarrrr​​​​​​​

@kaeling

@friendlyneighbourhoodweirdo​​​​​​

@damalseer​​​​​​

@heyitscam99​​​​​​

@yknott81​​​​​​

@thelittlebigirl​​​​​​

@glitterquadricorn​​​​​​

@xxqueenofisolationxx

@little-dis-kaalista-pythonissama

@bittersweetunicorm​​​​​​

@alyssaj23​​​​​​

@sea040561​​​​​​

@princess76179​

@thisismysecrethappyplace​​​​​​

@sarahp879​​​​​​

@malfoysqueen14​​​​​​

@ellallheart​​​​​​

@breezy1415​​​​​​

@marvelmayo​​​​​​

@paintballkid711​​​​​​

Spencer Reid

@camigt1999​​​​​​

@ultrarebelheart​​​​​​

@lenawiinchester​​​​​​

@esoltis280​

ITCM

@arganfics​

[darkhymns-fic]

And I want to be held, I want to be held by those arms

When Lloyd visits Flanoir after his mission from Martel, he remembers all that he missed - slowly, painfully, as Colette shows him more forgiveness than he deserves.

Fandom: Tales of Symphonia Characters/Pairing: Lloyd Irving/Colette Brunel Rating: T Notes: Takes place during Dawn of the New World after Lloyd gets back with the group. Sometimes you just gotta write some angst in these times.

--

The sharp cuff to the face had been a brief spark of life to Lloyd in the last few months.

“You monster! You killed my sister!”

The man’s voice in front of him cracked. If the punch hadn’t made him stumble, the grief in that voice did. Just enough that his left foot shifted backwards in the snow, against the slate of the pathways that made up the streets of Flanoir. He hadn’t been here in so long.

“This is a mistake! That wasn’t Lloyd!” someone had shouted back in defense. Lloyd wasn’t sure who. The other’s voice still resounded in his head, still pierced his skull despite doing all he could to not let it show on his face.

But over the past few months, he had only known distance and cold nights, known dark ruins in search for the Cores, known starry skies with no one to share it with. His cheek ached, and his arms felt as if they were weighed down with lead.

I deserve this anyway.

And like that, Lloyd took in all the biting hatred and despair that was still being thrown his way, long after the man had left with tears streaming down his face.

He thought he felt something in his own eyes before he finally left the others, saying he needed to be alone.

Lloyd had felt very little for so long. At least the pain gave him something.

--

“Lloyd?”

When she came by, it was like the soft memory of a dream that kept being on repeat, one that he wished he hadn’t had to wake up from before.

Lloyd smiled as best he could. “Hey, Colette… what are you doing out here?”

Because the last time, it had been her who had called him out to the balcony, out into the cold where her skin was feeling the brisk air. Few could have gone out into a snowstorm with a happy grin like she did. So, he had wanted to feel the cold too, placing his own hands into the snowbanks, starting a sudden snowball fight that Colette had already prepared for with a sneaky lob of snow aimed at his head.

That really had only been two years ago, hadn’t it? Time felt so still.

Colette had already reached for his hands, despite them being gloved, despite him not holding back at first. He stared at the touch with blank eyes, seemingly unable to understand what was happening to him right now.

“You’re hurt. You don’t have to hide that from us… from me.” Colette gripped his fingers tightly, the snow catching onto her hair, melting against her cheeks. “You’re not on your own, remember?”

Still, he couldn’t speak at first. He kept staring at how she held him. At her hands.

“Lloyd?” Colette repeated, following his gaze. “I’m sorry… should I not have-”

“It’s been so long since I felt you,” he said suddenly. The words came out hoarse, as if scraping against his ribs in all its pain. Hearing that from himself, he winced.

It had just been months of traveling, months of keeping his mouth shut for the sake of his mission, for his pact with Martel. And each night alone had been so cold and made his hands feel numb.

His face still ached from the punch, but the spike of pain from it had been sudden, revitalizing something in his limbs that it frightened him for a moment. And as the snow fell, as it made everything so quiet, the numbness had come back.

Colette’s fingers entwined with his, her body moving closer. The embrace felt natural suddenly, like back then.

“Is this what you need?” she asked him, murmuring into his jacket. The snow was still in her hair. He buried his face in it, giving himself to both her heat and the chill of the world surrounding them.

Telling her he loved her made him feel something again too.

It was hard letting her go – even after they both went to his room.

“S-sorry,” he stuttered, the cold finally getting to him, teeth chattering just slightly. At least it helped him with his grin. “I get cold easily now.”

“Heh, it’s okay,” she reassured, rubbing her hands against his arms. “Does this help?”

“A little, yeah,” he said, his voice lighter now. “Thanks.”

She giggled, the room a bit dark with only the lamplights from outside giving any light. “Remember when you used to do the same with me?”

“Yeah, you were freezing! I was worried that you got like, frostbite or something…”

How weirdly easy it was to fall back into this again – full of normalcy and settling into a rhythm that he realized had been gone for so long. Before, it had all just been a pull of either constant stumbling in the dark, or staying still, so still he could barely feel himself breathe.

But now, he smiled, and Colette was here, touching him so gratefully. His eyes half-shut, feeling her palms press against the sleeves of his jacket. “Need to make sure you don’t freeze too!” she said happily. Her cheeks were still red, and she flicked glances at Lloyd, shy as her own smile was shining in the dark.

He wanted to tell her how much he loved her again, but he felt his body sink against her hands. His head lowered a bit, cheek pressed against hers. He could hear the hitch in her breath, the room so quiet. “I think it’s making me sleepy…”

Colette didn’t say anything at first. Her touch moved from his arms towards his hands, then pulled him along to the bed that sat lonely within the middle of the inn’s room.

But they didn’t sit on it, not yet.

“Lloyd…tell me how long you’ve been gone.” She finally looked at him directly, her voice hushed, not wanting to disturb the falling snow.

Even after Lloyd finally met up with friends, could finally speak with them in more than half-words, time couldn’t seem to sync with him. Just movement, just the pact hanging over his head, the danger always present. “I’m not…really sure.”

“Almost 10 months,” Colette said quickly. Maybe there was a hint of something accusing in it – but not like everyone else. The accusing eyes of the grieving brother in the town square, the strained voice of Emil and… “But you know that.”

A hint of confusion. He shook his head. “What do you…”

Her hands swiftly moved away from his, and it was like being shut away in the dark. Cold and far deep into something nameless.

Back underneath the starry skies with no one.

Back into the ruins where the air was thin and monsters teemed among the stones, the pathways blending in among each other.

Back into the numbness and not remembering what day it was or how long he had been gone, how long he had away –

Lloyd instantly reached for her hands again, gripping tight. “Please don’t,” he said, his voice breaking.

Colette said nothing, but she looked at him, her fingers entwining with his. “Lloyd…”

He was shaking. Because of the cold. It was just cold. But something inside him continued to tremble. His cheek still burned, the pain still there, reminding him.

“I can’t…remember…when we…”

He watched Colette carefully, his eyes now long adjusted to the dark, always to the dark. She was biting her lip, thinking hard – and then her hands went to his left, where his Exsphere glinted from the lamplights.

“The snow made this damp,” she said, voice still so soft. She peeled away the glove, even as it stuck to his skin. “You’ll definitely get sick with this on.”

Her hand made contact with his, fingers brushing against his knuckles, his palm. Like sparks, but warm and bursting instead of suddenness overwrought by grief.

“This one too?” she asked tentatively, taking his other hand. He didn’t move, didn’t react. If he moved too much, would she stop touching him? He didn’t want her to stop touching him.

Colette drew out her movements, fingers slipping underneath the hem of his second glove. His hand lay limp in her lap, absorbing the curves of the folds in her dress, like the ocean waves caught at a standstill within the night.

His hands were cold and shaking, and she held them with hers, bubbles of warmth erupting at every patch of him that she touched. The soft rush of her skin on his, the slight tickle of her thumb against his wrist.

Why did this all feel so new to him?

“Can you…” he started, stopped, like a missed step in that darkness he had been too long used to.

“Yes, Lloyd?” she asked him, still rubbing his hands gently, so gently, the way he would start a campfire when the winds bit through his jacket, pierced through his skull.

“You’ll…stay with me?” he asked. Some other sound left him. He tried to cover it up by clearing his throat. “I mean…just for a little while. I think that guy hit me harder than I thought.”

Small jokes that he said to try to lighten the air, even as the snow gripped it tight. Colette smiled. Her eyes went to their clasped hands. “You have to promise me something though.”

The word echoed through him; the press of a necklace in his hand, her eyes like the washed-out sunset over the ocean. But those were before, long before, if he could just remember that.

“Okay,” he said, to keep himself steady.

“You have to trust me.”

The skies came back to him; to a time where his chest felt to bursting as he clung to her tight. Trust me to know of your pain.

He can’t keep being a hypocrite to her.

--

Many of the past months to Lloyd were a complete blank to him.

He knew that there were gaps in his memory – the last clear one he had was visiting Dirk back home, hugging his father so tightly before rushing off, laughing off any worries. This was his promise to the pact, and he would see it through. And in the end, Colette would forgive him.

Yet sometimes, he found himself in a town that he had no recollection of ever entering through its gates. Or he would see stone above him, the light of a Core just a few feet away. Martel said her power would protect him, but he had questioned, and touching the cores sometimes felt too sharp and invasive, like running his hands over something poisonous.

At some point, Colette had drawn him down to the bed. He didn’t recall how, but he didn’t feel fear over it now. She was lightly touching his hands, then to his arms, revisiting every place that she had once known as second to her own skin.

He watched, fascinated, at every motion. He could have done so for hours.

“I think I just…stopped paying attention to everything else after a while,” he finally said. Colette’s hands moved to his collar then, pressing lightly against the back of his neck. His eyes fluttered shut for a moment, fingers pressing against the knots in his skin. “I thought maybe it was the pact doing it but…I’m not so sure now.”

It was easier to do things when one was numb to everything, wasn’t it? Or was it even harder than before?

“So…you weren’t just ignoring all of us?” Colette asked. And there was the small change in her tone. He rarely heard her angry, even if it was soft and more an impression of it than reality. And yet he felt its contours, its meanings, the way it stuck inside his chest like thorns.

“I didn’t want to,” he could only excuse. Colette’s hands moved underneath his collar, then forward, reaching the top button of his jacket. “I hadn’t heard about Palmacosta until later…”

The gaps in his head had been so frequent by then. For a time, he had wondered, and tried to keep his hands away from his swords unless he absolutely needed to use them.

In the shadows, he saw the worry etched into Colette’s face, fine sand that made its mark over the course of only a few years. Had she always been this worried? It took him too long to notice. “It was hard convincing the Church to not condemn you for that.”

“…Yeah, I’d…think so.” And still, his imposter was out there. Still, that one man’s grief would never heal.

“So many didn’t want to listen to me. Zelos said I shouldn’t be trying to reason with them, that I should just say to them…um…I can’t…repeat it, heh.” A hint of a smile, lighting up the subject, making the thorns sting less. “But people were scared and so many still depend on the Church. So I promised that I would find you, and when I finally did…you just…”

Like some echo through the night. Lloyd couldn’t remember. “I don’t remember,” he said.

“You barely even looked at me.”

The thorns came back. He reached up to take her hand. “I’m sorry-”

“Wait,” she said, voice quieter again. “Your jacket is wet too, you know.”

A slow blink. He let go of her hand, felt her reach for the other buttons, unclasping them gently.

A few times she had done this for him on their own journey. When he would be so tired from all the walking, and just lay back in the grass as Colette played with his collar strips, tying them both into ribbons, or counting the buttons along his sleeves, marveling at just how many Dirk had thought to put on them. Small things that resurfaced, hidden away by something engulfing.

When Colette tugged at his sleeves, he let his arm slip through, only then noticing how his front had already opened, his suspenders pulled down. Half-asleep, half-disbelieving, he felt her hands press against his shoulders, taking everything down. The wind was chill, even inside the inn room, but her touch washed over him like warm sunshine.

Colette furrowed her brows in the dark. “You’re shaking,” she said. “Am I hurting you?”

“No…” He shook his head. “No, no, you’re not, just…” He pulled her close, cold at first, one hand against her waist. But his skin pressed against hers and it was searing and blissful and all he ever wanted. “Keep touching me.”

Colette still hesitated – unsure of whatever emptiness was still within him, even after reuniting with everyone. Something that made him fall away from everyone’s pleas for him, time and time again. Her hands tentatively slid across his arms, not quick and teasing like before, but soft and careful, like she was mapping the shapes of sharp glass.

“10 months…not just from me but… no one else at all?”

Lloyd only faintly understood, still holding onto her form, his shaking becoming less.

“You saw no one else,” she stated. “Or talked with anyone…hugged anyone…”

He blinked, the realization coming upon him in small waves. It seemed so…strange when he thought about it. “I guess I didn’t…Yuan doesn’t exactly like to give hugs,” Lloyd joked, though his laughter came off weak. “And…it’d be weird with Martel, wouldn’t it?”

But the expression on Colette remained serious, remained sad. Her hair fell against his neck as she shifted over to him. “But you’ve not even gone to see Dirk at all? Noishe?” Colette’s voice was full of regrets. “You’ve not felt anyone?”

Her hands moved from his arms to his chest, one moving underneath the hem of his shirt. He flinched slightly, but never moved away.

In the nights before with Colette, he would always be surrounded by her. In the nights after, he would be alone and cold, and the sky would be so engulfing that he’d fall away into it if he wasn’t careful.

It’s a blur, when she removes the rest of his clothes – his shirt, already upended past his head. Her hands were steadier when they reached his belts, unlatching the catch there, then gently having him lay back against the headboard.

There were nights when they had undressed each other, loved each other, when the nights felt warm instead of cold, felt reassuring instead of frightening.

Just the touch of her hand brought forth everything he had ever loved about her, in stark detail, as if he was even younger now, catching Colette within the starlight as she rushed towards her home with a wave to him.

“Remember when you’d always reach for my hand?” she was saying, sounding more at ease. Pretending for his sake? Or was she also…? “Even when we were kids… you never gave it a thought.” She giggled, still so close. It was only then he saw her unhook her overcoat, moving from her shoulders like water.

Like on the balcony from years back, she was moving towards him, but she didn’t need to ask his permission. He had already wanted her to give whatever she could. Her dress fell away, her stockings, her shoes, and then she was on top of him, the invigorating sensation of her skin all that he ever knew.

He panted, just slightly, and still Colette stayed, pressing her forehead against his chest. “And you were always still so careful when you did. Even when I felt you wanted to hold my hand harder, or hug me more…and I wanted that too.”

He could barely speak. His body was singing. His hands pressed against her naked sides. Overwhelming, drowning, when for months he only felt dirt and stone and the biting wind.

He couldn’t survive without this. He had been so close to not doing so. Dirk, who had taught him how to give the best bear hugs, Noishe who would always sidle up to him at every opportunity when they would walk outside, even Genis letting Lloyd surprise him with tackles or a friendly pat on the shoulder. And Colette, accepting his hand, gentle and waiting and eager.

Maybe if his time away from everyone had been shorter – just a month or maybe even less – he wouldn’t need this from Colette. Even after they had first started to go beyond brief touches, he had never felt this desperate, this hurting.

Colette’s chest was against his, and he took in a sharp breath. His hands went to her shoulders. “Colette…”

Her hair covered his face, shutting away the lamplight from outside. “Is this what you need?” she asked, and the tone was different, was careful. She was so, so careful with him.

“I…” He swallowed. His body arched, trying to catch every sensation, every part of her. “It’s just…Colette, it’s just been so long..”

She hushed him, and there was her smile, weathering even the worst of everything. And he wanted to apologize to her, to say he never wanted to leave her to deal with a world all alone. For he had now done the same and the loneliness was so unbearable and agonizing, and what if all that he felt, Colette did too? But she would smile and shake away those worries for him, and he couldn’t be responsible for that again-

She kissed him, her touch bringing everything back, and as he closed his eyes, he was once again a young boy seeing Colette leave the schoolhouse by herself, already rushing towards her and asking to take her hand.

[gwenbrightly]

Sledding

Crossposted from ffnet (originally meant to be published for the Christmas week writing promps).

“Wow.” Lloyd gasped. The sparkly layer of snow covering the courtyard was even more impressive up close than it had been through his bedroom window. Kai grinned at his brother’s enthusiasm. It was good to see him letting go a little.  

“It’s beautiful,” Pixal squealed in agreement, “I’ve always wanted to play in the snow.”

Kai raised an eyebrow.

“You’ve really never gotten to play in the snow before?”

“No? Father and I were always very busy at this time of year, what with all the tours and meetings and holiday parties to host... And I didn’t exactly have a body with which to enjoy such things after that horrible noodle man had me dismantled. So, yes, this is all very new to me.” she muttered distastefully, not even bothering to refer to Chen by his name. The others glanced at each other in surprise. Pixal fit into their team so naturally that they sometimes forgot that she had missed out on many of the things they took for granted.  

“Oh. Well. Don’t worry! You have all of us here to teach you everything there is to know about having fun in the snow!” Jay told her brightly.

“We’ll make sure you have a wonderful time.” agreed Zane, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Pixal brightened at this.  

“So. What would you like to do first?” Nya asked. She was eager to take advantage of the clear winter day.

“I... Could we go sledding?” Pixal suggested eagerly.

“Sure! There’s a nice big ledge about halfway down the mountain we can use as our launch point so we don’t have to hike as far.” Lloyd told them. He and Cole had gone scouting earlier, having figured sledding would come up eventually.

“Yup, right this way.” Cole said, gesturing grandly for them to follow him. They exited the courtyard of the monastery, turning left once they were outside. There was a sort of trail leading down the side of the mountain, reinforced with walls of stone and dirt wherever it got too perilous, courtesy of Cole. It didn’t take long for them to reach their destination.

“Would you care to do the honors, Zane?” Lloyd prompted. Pixal gave him a confused look.

“You’ll see in a second.” assured Jay. She watched with wide eyes as the master of ice used his powers to create elegant sleds from ice. Each one looked delicate, intricate. Perfect. She let out a soft oh. Christmas movies had nothing on this. Zane smiled softly at her.

“Want to go first?” he offered, holding out one of the sleds. Pixal glanced at the others. Jay gave her a thumbs up; everyone else smiled or nodded encouragingly.

“S-sure.” she nervously agreed. She took the sled and climbed on. If Kai pushed her just a little bit too hard (he was still slightly salty that she wouldn’t let him add Yoda to the already.... unique nativity), she didn’t notice. Suddenly, Pixal was flying! Down the side of the mountain she flew, the wind making a whooshing sound in her ears. The sun made the snow around her sparkle brilliantly.  

“This is amazing!” she shouted to the others, who were slowly gaining on her. Although she had observed this activity from inside of Zane’s head, she’d had no idea it could be this exhilarating.  

“Pretty epic, right?” Nya laughed as she sped past her. Pixal was about to respond when her sled spun out of control. The rest of her descent was spend dizzily trying to regain a stable trajectory. She ultimately failed and found herself being flung face first into a snow drift when she finally reached the bottom of the mountain. The impact left her breathless.  

“Pixal! Are you okay?” Zane asked worriedly, sliding to a stop not far away. Pixal flopped onto her back.

“I’m all good. Just,” she spat out a mouthful of snow, “need to figure out how steer more effectively next time.”

“That… would probably be wise.” he said, relief tinging his voice. Trekking through the snow to her side, he soon had Pixal back on her feet. She reached up and kissed her love on the nose as a thanks.  

“Let’s go again!” cheered Jay, oblivious to Pixal’s spill. The ninja and samurai scrambled to gather their sleds (as well as several hats that had come flying off). Up the mountain they hiked until they reached the ledge once again. Predictably, it was then that anarchy broke lose. As Lloyd launched himself down the mountain again, Kai tossed a snowball at him in an attempt to knock him off his sled.  

“Rude!” the blonde called over his shoulder indignantly. The master of fire only laughed. He jumped onto his own sled and sped away. The others glanced at each other ruefully.  

“I was wondering how long it’d take Kai to pull that.” Nya mused.  

“Poor Lloyd.” commented Cole, watching the duo race down the snowy slope, screaming raucously.  

“He… should be alright,” Pixal assured them, “Kai’s chances of hitting him at that velocity and angle aren’t very high.”  

She’d run the numbers in her head, but decided the others probably didn’t need to know exactly how unlikely it was.  

“Still, we should probably get down there before they kill each other, don’t you think?” asked Jay. Lloyd and Kai were almost to the bottom, now, and could just barely  be heard singing a very violent rendition of Dashing Through the Snow at each other. Zane climbed onto his sled, saying, “Yes. I think we’d better.”  

And with that they were off. By the time they reached Kai and Lloyd, the green ninja had turned the tables on his would-be attacker. He tackled Kai to the ground.  

“So cold!” the spiky haired ninja screeched as Lloyd shoved snow down the front of his coat.

“That’s what you get for messing with the Green Ninja!” Lloyd teased good naturedly.  

“I – ow – know,” Kai complained as the others watched with amusement, “you can let me up now, you know.”

Lloyd shrugged innocently.  

“Aren’t you guys gonna rescue me from this gremlin of a ninja?”  

“Nope. This is way more entertaining.” Nya told her brother.

“You definitely deserve this.” agreed Pixal. The master of fire gaped at them. He glanced pleadingly at Cole, who shrugged.

“Awww c’mon, Lloyd. I’ll give you a chocolate dipped marshmallow Santa when we get back to the monastery if you have mercy on me.” he offered.

“You really think you can bribe me with candy? I’m not a kid anymore, Kai.” Lloyd protested. He tried unconvincingly to hide his delight. Kai raised an eyebrow, not missing a beat.

“….. You’re absolutely right. I’ll take that marshmallow Santa.” the Green Ninia decided, smiling giddily. He released the master of fire from his hold.  

“Of course you will.” Kai muttered, rolling his eyes.  

“What do you all say to a nice hot cup of homemade hot coco?” Zane cut in, noting how chilled his companions looked. It was unlikely that anyone had the energy for another run, anyway.  

“Ooh, yeah that sounds awesome!”  

“Race you to the top of the mountain!”

“Seriously, how do you people have so much energy left?!”

Came the replies. It took them awhile to make it home that wintry afternoon, but no one complained for long when they finally got the warm beverages they’d been promised.  

[fishfingersandjellybabies]

So. Dont know if you still want to talk about it but I literally just got out of theaters to see Doctor Sleep and just!!!! Got so many thoughts like holey batman. I appreciate mark's attempt at paying homage to both the books and movies. I still wish so badly that jack from the books could have gotten his small bit of redemption but I have to acknowledge that movie jack was in too deep to get it and just am so happy Danny was with Wendy in the end. I've got so many feelings I cant put into words

YES ALWAYS PLEASE

Under a cut for spoilers for movie and book

Like I totally get why they needed to reference the 80s movie so I knew there were gonna be some creative liberties

I was SO SAD THAT THEY KILLED BILLY AND DAVID OMG. And that John Dalton wasn’t a bigger part. But I really liked how they redid Billy to be a mix of Billy and Casey Kingsley? I don’t know who that actor was unfortunately but his performance was great. BUT GOD HOW THEY KILLED HIM I wasn’t expecting it and it made me so sad. The way he looked at Dan!

I agree! I would have loved to see that moment in the book where Dan and the ghost of his father blow kisses to each other after the battle. I would have also loved for them to keep the detail of Dan actually being blood related to Lucy and Abra to make that moment even more powerful.

But at the same time, I like how they basically made the ending of the movie the real ending of The Shining novel, if that makes sense? While still keeping it pretty in tune with the general ‘defeat Rose’ of the book. And I LOVED the twist of the ghosts in Dan’s head killing her instead of her cycling after the push off the outlook. 

And GOD, that moment of Abra saying she won’t leave Dan, and that being enough to get him out of the hotel’s grasp, and KNOWING that’s what happened in The Shining novel between Dan and Jack!!!!! It was so emotional. and such a good homage for us bookworms.

I loved the girl who played Abra, I hope her career takes OFF. She played the part so well.

And while I wish we got the happy ending that is in the book with Abra and her Uncle Dan and his newfound halfsister and David all living happily ever after, I appreciate that Dan saw his mother in death. Especially more so now after thinking about it, because I saw a post yesterday that talked about how Dan said (in the film) that he couldn’t even look at his mother as she died. But there in his own death, she was right there to greet him and go with him into the afterlife. 

And back to ghost Jack I would have liked for him to be in that moment too but like you said, in the movie universe Jack was too far gone, and damn, even Dan talking to ghost Jack/Lloyd in the bar was such a tough emotional scene that just hit you right in the heart. because it reminds you of the childhood trauma Dan went through and still carries with him? and he was so childlike in that scene refusing to take the drink?

and while I was bummed that they killed Dan in the end, I teared up so bad when Abra told Lucy that Dan and her father were okay. Like i don’t know why but I did. And I also had the biggest grin when Abra went to go deal with the ghost woman in the bathtub like little Dan had. 

and I like that twist too? That Dan finally released the spirits in his head and they took care of Rose no biggie, but instead of just being able to suck them all back into his head at once, they overpowered Dan too? Like, I don’t know why but I feel like that was almost...more realistic in a sense. And the fact that Abra got saddled with them after. It just...all made sense, how the filmmakers dealt with them and made that all work. Though I do also miss again that ‘happy ending’ of the book where Dan was free of all the spirits for real and forever.

And I love the book and basically everything about it, and while I miss a lot of the details in the movie universe/adaption, I thought the adaption was just so well made and well integrated into both universes? You just don’t see adaptions like that anymore nowadays! It just blew me away. I mean, even those reenactement actors for the scenes of the original Shining movie - those actors/costume designers/editors/etc did AMAZING. I honestly wasn’t sure if someone of them were the original scenes or not when they started. (though I’d be lying if I wasn’t secretly hoping for a Jack Nicholson cameo SOMEWHERE, like with the original Danny actor (he was apparently in the baseball game scene, but I forgot to look for him))

this is also very long because I’m with you - I have SO MANY EMOTIONS ABOUT THIS MOVIE. I am honestly debating going to see it again like. next weekend haha

[malicerewatchesdoctorwho]

The Power of the Daleks - Episode Six

Written by – David Whitaker Director – Christopher Barry Producer – Innes Lloyd Animation Producer and Director – Charles Norton

Episode Six

(“Did I do all that?” – The Doctor who got knocked out while mucking with the power supply to Valmar over what happened to the Daleks and the power supply.)

Likes

- This episode had a lot of action in it.  If there was blood drawn from Dalek weapons, this place would be swimming in it.

- How only basically two people survived outside the Doctor and his companions.  Quinn and Valmar.  And they are planning on working together to get the colony back up and running.

- The very cyclical way this story goes for Lesterson.  It starts with people thinking he was mad for wanting into the shuttle so much and not stopping with the science ever to the point of obsession and bringing the Daleks to life as his servants.  Ending with the Daleks killing him with him saying he was their servant while actually mad, driven that way by the truth of the Daleks and how unlikely it is for them to be beaten.  Basically, the death of the colony would be his fault.  

- Ben just being so done with everything and everyone XD  I swear, he looks like he is scowling the entire episode.

- Valmar killing Bregan. I just really began liking Valmar last episode and in this one he really stepped up.

- The way Lesterson just stood there after being shot by the Dalek for a few seconds, before falling down dead.  Nice little bit of acting there.  Wish I could have seen that in action.

Dislikes

- Can the Daleks please, PLEASE shut up?  They get annoying in some of these scenes.

- How you can’t really see the fighting as well in the animation which is a damn shame.  I would love to see this one in live action.  It would be awesome.

- Bregan.  He just went from bad guy I hate to like to despicably evil I plain hate in two seconds flat and I didn’t like it.  

- You never find out what the rebellion was about.  It was never, not once, brought up.  You’d think it would at some point, since it is such a big part of the plot.  Was it simply that they didn’t like Hensell and wanted him dead?  Surely there were easier ways of doing things than the way they did.  I will continue thinking it was the milk shortage.  It makes as much sense as anything else *nods*

Awesome

- There is one scene with the three Daleks in the lab turning to look at the door, which is where the camera is, and it looked so ominous and cool.  It was really awesome and made the Daleks look like the malevolent force that they are.

- The guards’ guns. It reminds me of the cool guy thing in movies where people shoot their guns sideways to look more awesome, except that is the normal look of their guns.  They think themselves so cool, they made their guns look like they are always shooting sideways XD

- There’s one scene in here where the camera pans and shows a corridor full of dead bodies and afterwards a Dalek slowly rolls past the dead body of Janley.  That right there was a horrific little scene of the destruction a single Dalek can cause in classic Who.  It worked so well.  There was some nice camera work in this one if this is true to the original.  Very nice.  Kudos to the guys manning the cameras in this one!

- So many exploding Daleks! Yes.

Shitty

- It’s missing. Seriously, this episode would be absolutely awesome in live action.  Still, I am really glad this is animated so it is at least not just stills in the recons. That’s a definite plus.

- What was that lone Dalek doing outside the colony and right near the TARDIS?  Just...what?  I didn’t get why that was there, except to show us the Daleks weren’t truly dead and gone. Which could have been done in a shot inside.

In Conclusion

I really wanted to see this one live action.  It’s a great end to the story.  Lots of action, lots of deaths, lots of explosions.

But, alas, it wasn’t meant to be.  Thankfully though, we have it in animation, which is good.  I really liked the animation in this one.  Especially done on the Daleks and non moving people. They put so much detail into it. Look at Janley’s eyes and how her shoe fell off as she died.  Shivers, I tell you, shivers.

Great episode.

Body count – Well, considering it is basically Quinn and Valmar who survive that is in the main buildings we see here everyone BUT those two died.  So, we have the genocide of both Daleks and humans.  Both sides basically got wiped out.  

Oh, and of course the Doctor and his companions survived.  And both Ben and Polly are now convinced the Doctor has no idea what he is doing, I swear :P

The Power of the Daleks as a Whole

Watch this one. Seriously, watch it.  

It may be animated, because the original was lost, but who cares.  For the most part, the animation is excellent.  The characters are great, the acting is great, and the plot for the most part is great.  The Daleks are at their best (except the shouting, stop it Daleks...) here.  

Most episodes are great too.  I think one or two were a little bit slower than the others, but were still highly enjoyable.  

Also, it is the first regeneration story for the Doctor, the first story for Two and Ben and Polly have to sort out their own thoughts and feelings on that.

Highly enjoyable and shouldn’t be missed.  

9/10, would watch again.

[hadrianblackwaters]

I Should Have Read That (Tag)

Rules:

Thank the person who tagged you and link back to their post

Link to the creator’s blog in your post

Answer the questions below

Tag 10 others to take part

ENJOY THE TAG!

A book that a certain friend is always telling you to read:

My friend @revimakk has strongly recommended Maurice to me, and I am actually reading it! It just. takes. so. long. to get anything done! Looking forward to watching the film with you when I’m done, though ;) 

A book that’s been on your TBR forever and yet you still haven’t picked it up:

Obviously there are the classics, like Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoj (I have actually read a little bit of this, but I need to start from the beginning again) and Babettes Gjestebud by Karen Blixen, but I think a more fun answer is a books I actually really look forward to reading: The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. I’m scared of starting it because I think I’ll love it, but the series hasn’t been completed yet! 

A book in a series you’ve started, but haven’t finished yet:

I read The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander last year and loved it. It’s the first book in The Chronicles of Prydain, and I can’t wait to read the next! Did anyone watch The Black Cauldron? It’s so creepy and unsettling and GOOD! The Horned King and his undead army rising from the cauldron haunted my dreams!! But the books is in a lot of ways better because the female characters are actually cool and do stuff! What a concept!! Also Gurgi in the movie: cute, kinda annoying for the characters but funny for the viewers, I would die for him. Gurgi in the book: oh god what is that send an exorcist!

A classic you’ve always liked the sound of, but never actually read:

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. I lovelovelove deep sea stuff, be it books, movies, documentaries, general science, spooky stories, I eat it up. What is down there? Who knows, but it’s probably super cool and kinda dangerous! I love all the weird illustrations of the book, but I read Around the World in Eighty Days last year and ... there was a lot of sexism and racism (as I’m sure must be expected of a book written so long ago by a white man), and it really soured the story for me and I ended up not enjoying it at all. I’m sure a lot of people think you must be able to detach yourself from those feelings when reading classics, but it’s my time, and I don’t want to spend it on books I don’t enjoy just for classics points. I already have so many fcking books on my TBR!!!

A popular book that it seems everyone but you has read:

Hmm, depends on if I count ‘everyone’ as my circle of friends or the general online book community. If I look at my friends it’s definitely Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice agdshgdfsjf! I’m halfway through, but it’s a heavy read for me (please, I’m nothing but a humble geologist, I can barely read anything that doesn’t have the word ‘feldspar’ in it, all these old timey romantic words and sentence structures are killing me!), and I’ve been halfway through it for about a year now... oops! For the general online book community I think it would be Throne of Glass. I wanted to read it when I first got into reading again, but after many misses I’ve finally given up on YA fantasy. If I read another American book about horny super teens in love triangles I will actually burst into flames. 

A book that inspired a film/TV adaptation that you really love, but you just haven’t read it yet:

Good Omens! Yes, Good Omens has claimed yet another soul, send help! (Also The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty. I don’t care about the movie, and I know it’s based on the book, so I’m not super invested in reading it, but the tv series is soooo good!!!)

A book you see all over Instagram/Tumblr but haven’t picked up yet:

Hmm.. I don’t really use Instagram, and I don’t see a lot of book content on Tumblr. It might not be what’s hyped the most elsewhere, but probably Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater. I think I’ll get to it at some point, because Ronan was my favourite of the main squad in The Raven Cycle series, but I HAVE to stop buying books. Someone help me. I need intervention. Help me budget. My family is starving. :(

Thanks to the lovely @zahroreadsthings for the tag! <3 I would highly recommend her blog, she knows what’s up when it comes to books!! Her post is here !

I tag @rumandyarn @khazadqueer @khaaaaaaaaaan @panzertorte @pastmydancingdays​ @revimakk​ and @darthmaulnut but no pressure! If you feel like doing it I would love to read your answers!

And I also tag anyone else who wants to do this! Esp if we’re mutuals, I was probably too shy to tag you! And if we’re not mutuals say hello!

[asoulofatlantis]

Usually, that would be the moment were I ask: “Are we even allowed to do that?” BUT this is different from Cold Steel. We are all Bracers here and as Joshua just said, the law actually allows us to put them under arrest. So... HORRAY! We are doing this legally for once XD Seriously, not ONCE did I feel like it was legal when Rean pulled that off.

Fie was one to become a senior bracer in a very short amount of time. I think she was the one who reached that status as fast as one can be as far as I remember - at least until Kuro - and if you think about it, it makes sense. There weren’t many Bracer-Guild-Branches around Erebonia at that time that could give her a recommendation, if you know what I mean ^^’ Not to make her achievement look... easily earned, especially as we know she does a great job and all but you can’t help but question it a bit...

That took me AGES.

Oh! Steinrose is the distillery in Allster if I remember correctly. So its from Erebonia. Oliverts hometown no less.

Just the other day I was thinking about the timeline of the Sky games. In CS it took us either around half a year or a few weeks from the start to the beginning of the game. I think Crossbell had roughly the same time-management as CS and I’ve heard Kuro has been covering months as well, while Hajimari was likely even less than a week. Anyway, looking at this, you could say that it should take less than a month, probably not even two weeks, to scout around Liberl on food. Which would make this Kingdom really small, if you think about it. (Then again covering all of Crossbell and its surrounding areas takes less than a day ^^’)

This is something many people have missed in Cold Steel. The coutry who hungers for war like no other, that even had its very own Civil-War had no loses when it came to the main characters and their families despite the nature of the plot. They kind of pretended that even tho war is awful and they did mention people dying and all, it always looked like the one most involved - which were our characters - and their families always came out mostly unharmed. If you look at the story of the Liberl characters, then you see that Estelle lost her mother because of the 100 days war. Joshua and Leowe (as well as Ash, technically, but he doesn’t seem to care as much, because he was still so young) lost their whole families in the attack of Hamel, which was basically the start for the 100 days war. Agate too lost his little sister in the war. Even in Crossbell, even tho it was just indirectly, the reason people were killed often was because of the fighting between Erebonia and Calvard over Crossbell. That is how Ian lost his familiy, this is how Arios lost his wife and his daughter got blind. Lloyds brother died, because of the mess the fighting has caused. Elies parents have seperated because of the political issue this caused - yes, they are still alive (at least that is what I assume about Elies father, we don’t know that yet) but its still a tragic story caused by the political and economical issues that lead the plot and belonged to Crossbells history. We do have some people dying because of the problems between Commoners and Aristocrats in Cold Steel as well, but its all in all not such a big deal, thinking of how big the cast is. We don’t know to this day how Lauras mother died, but it never seemed to be important enough to mention it. Same goes for Machias. I think to remember Elliots mother was actually ill. So was Ashs adoptive mother. Reans biological mother is probably the only close family member aside from Machias Cousin who died because of the conflicts welling within Erebonia. Its funny tho, how no one lost their father in the 100 days war or the Civil war and so on. Its almost ridiculous how the game were we play students of a freaking military-academy is the game were we lose almost no one to actual military causes. But I digress. I love Cold Steel, but it is a questionable thing.

Urg. I am so not in the mood for all this shit V.V

And here is my prince of all princes. The one and only Prince Olivert! ♥ Aka Olivier Lenheim at the moment. So pssssst!

Olivert really is ridicioulus here XD I always say it, that if I had started out with Sky instead of with Cold Steel, it might have taken me A LOT longer to fall for this prince charming here ^^’

Don’t rush this, honey! You didn’t really leave a good first impression after hitting on Joshua just a few minutes ago and as beautiful as it was to hear you play Amber Amour, I think Schera needs a bit more time to realize your not just a freak from Liberl ^^’

I think thats it for today. Doing all those side-missions and hidden-missions means it takes a lot longer to get anything done here...