#It would've been a lil weird but I'm also kinda here for it

[pianokantzart]

A little obsessed with the "utterly burnt out & can't quite figure out how to make it work in this economy" depiction of Mario in the concept art.

Look at him. He's so tired.

[directdogman]

Hello Hound!! Since it's Dialtown's 2nd anniversary, I've been planning up a few "general" related questions about your series that I've been meaning to ask, but I decided to save them up for the big day because why not? Anyways, here's what I've got, these were meant to be fun to answer so don't sweat it :]

1: How do you feel about Dialtown's success? Are you proud of how far you've come? 

2: Which character was the MOST fun for you to write, and which was the most PAINFUL?

3: What is something you wish more people would talk about or just know about related to Dialtown in general?

4: If you had the opportunity to write a FULL complete, detailed life story of any of your characters, who would that be?

5: What's a character you wish you could have given more screen-time or just in general content? (Considering iirc you were trying to make sure Dialtown wasn't TOO long, so I was wondering if this ever came to mind)

6: From what I know, you've been doing the job of cosplaying several characters in the game and acting out their sprites, which one was the most fun to act out?

7: Speaking of sprites, do you have a sprite you could consider your favorite, out of ALL your characters?

8: Do you have a specific line of dialogue you could consider your favorite throughout the entire game?

9: Could you ever see Dialtown expanding into perhaps sequels or maybe even prequels? More DLCs mayhaps? Heck, maybe even a Dialtown 2 or a Chapter 4??

10: If you could make any fan-made interpretation (such as headcanons, designs, or ships) canon if given the opportunity, what do you think would be your pick?

11: What was the MOST fun part about developing Dialtown? Coming up with new characters? Writing them? Adding all the bizarre dialogue options?

12: And last but not least — on a scale of 1-10, how fun was developing Dialtown just in general?

That's all I have for now, and I'm really excited to see your answers!!

I normally don't answer this many questions, but... alright, sure, tis the season!

1: How do you feel about Dialtown's success? Are you proud of how far you've come? 

Yeah, of course! I'm a lil proud, admittedly, but I'm aware of how comically little I really have to do with it all, even if I did make the game. Luck does play a LOT into it, of course. Granted, I made my share of predictions that wound up being useful, but it always comes down to lady luck at the end of the day. I've seen good projects fail and bad ones go viral. It's really all just a hodgepodge of probability and whimsy. That being said, I am very pleased with DT's success, and the community that's formed around the game! It caught me by surprise!

2: Which character was the MOST fun for you to write, and which was the most PAINFUL?

Gingi's always fun to write. And Mingus. Most painful is tough to say. Maybe Crown. I got a little weird when I wrote his full backstory, kinda caught up in the emotion Norm talks about. Never been a fan of stories getting cut short. You gotta wonder what would've happened if he'd made different choices, y'know?

3: What is something you wish more people would talk about or just know about related to Dialtown in general?

Honestly? Karen, probably. She's super underrated for sure. The fandom still loves her, but she doesn't get the same kind of attention as Oliver, Gingi, Randy, Norm. She's worth it.

4: If you had the opportunity to write a FULL complete, detailed life story of any of your characters, who would that be?

Oh, I already have. I have this monstruous 30-40 page document detailing Crown's life and entire career. It's quite a read. and quite a mind-fuck if you don't know Dialtown's universe too well.

5: What's a character you wish you could have given more screen-time or just in general content? (Considering iirc you were trying to make sure Dialtown wasn't TOO long, so I was wondering if this ever came to mind)

Oh yeah, a few characters had scenes that were cut. Stabby, Shooty, Mingus, Bunny, even Bigfoot! There's also the game's cut 6th datable, who was an interesting character with ties to other characters in the cast who I wanted to do more with. Ah, maybe one day.

6: From what I know, you've been doing the job of cosplaying several characters in the game and acting out their sprites, which one was the most fun to act out?

Bigfoot. I made the ape noises in the suit. Had to. It felt right.

7: Speaking of sprites, do you have a sprite you could consider your favorite, out of ALL your characters?

I quite like Norm's set, Mingus' too. Karen's poses too are quite good.

8: Do you have a specific line of dialogue you could consider your favorite throughout the entire game?

That answer probably changes every day. I like pretty much any scene where Mingus loses her temper.

9: Could you ever see Dialtown expanding into perhaps sequels or maybe even prequels? More DLCs mayhaps? Heck, maybe even a Dialtown 2 or a Chapter 4??

I'd love to make sequels one day! I've got a lot of ideas for where the characters/story would end up. By the time DT1 wrapped up, I'd conceptualized way too much stuff to put in one game (without it taking another few years to finish), so if I ever wanted to make sequels, I'd 100% know where to start! But, that's a later down the road conversation.

For now, I'm gonna keep working on the Roger DLC and if there's demand for more, I can go from there :)

10: If you could make any fan-made interpretation (such as headcanons, designs, or ships) canon if given the opportunity, what do you think would be your pick?

I guess I COULD do that with, like, anything. Nothing immediately springs to mind, since, y'know, I'm in control of the canon anyway. I will say, I've seen headcanons and theories that ARE scarily accurate to canon, to the point where I've feared people would just think I'm lifting stuff from the fanbase! It's a good thing I talk about these things with collaborators, huh? I've got a PAPER-TRAIL!!!

11: What was the MOST fun part about developing Dialtown? Coming up with new characters? Writing them? Adding all the bizarre dialogue options?

Finishing a new scene and realizing how stupidly long it was (without me realizing it) was always a treat. But yeah, writing the characters had to be it. Specifically any scene where a character the audience knows meets someone the audience doesn't know well (or at all), with the dynamic changing. Those are fun to write.

12: And last but not least — on a scale of 1-10, how fun was developing Dialtown just in general?

Hard question to answer. I do really wanna give a high number, but truthfully, a lot of game dev actually isn't super 'fun'. Some tasks are, granted, but many parts are a slog. Sitting and formatting dialogue, and then adding text pauses and pose changes isn't exactly a super thrilling activity. The engine itself also has some issues which I have to work around that adds to the workplace. Play-testing a scene for the 4th time isn't super fun either, or trying to figure out why the game crashes on some PCs and ONLY very rarely... Those tasks are Sisyphean to some degree.

...But, while most of those parts aren't fun, it's all still rewarding. There's a sense of accomplishment when you finish a scene. You get to look back at your hard work, remember the hours you spent typing dialogue into a text box and formatting mass amounts of pngs, painstakingly + manually getting the game's awful pre-loader to deal with the sprites right, etc... and suddenly, at the end, you've got this lil experience that people can play and enjoy. Somehow, the sum of all of those not so fun activities has created something that's going to make people laugh, feel happy. That's special. and even if some parts of development weren't super fun on their own, that's always what I remember. That in the end, all of those not so fun days mattered.

The route I agonized the most over was Oliver's. I went through a few weeks of writer's block, and now, it's one of the most popular routes in the game! Crazy how that happens. I was SURE for about a week that people would rank the route at the bottom! That's what I mean, all of the stress I went through trying to figure it out amounted to something people connected with! To think I almost CUT the route entirely!!!

And y'know, God knows Dialtown gave me something to throw myself at during a time where I REALLY needed the outlet. I'm very grateful to the project for that. So, I'll give DT an honorary 8 out of 10, even if it wasn't a consistently 8/10 experience making it heh heh! Sure glad I did, though and I'm very glad if any of you reading this had a really good time playing it! :)

Thanks for the questions!

[coulsonlives]

Mkay, time for my in-depth review of Zuko's scar in the live action ATLA, because I'm a lil salty.

This is the first shot of Zuko we see, and my first impression is: this isn't the best makeup. The first thing that stands out is the flatness of the scar. It's unrealistic, because burn scars usually heal in a lumpy way, it's called hypertrophy. See the burn scar from the Hound (Sandor Clegane) in GOT:

That lumpiness is super important for making skin appear like it had been burned by fire and healed over! But because it's not really there in Zuko's face, it just looks like he got a bad sunburn:

I understand Zuko doesn't need a super deformed face, or enormous textures in his scar, but we basically have just flat skin right now, and it doesn't sell 'bad scar' at all. The makeup should've been somewhere between those two things.

The second thing is the general inaccuracy of the scar itself. I'm not gonna nitpick how it doesn't go as far down his cheek, or how it's not affecting his left eyelid, but there are some major things I am gonna mention. In the animated show, his left eyebrow was burned away because the fire contacted the skin underneath it, and then went over that, up into his forehead:

Here's a crappy edit I made where the brow is mirrored, you can see how much the scar extends over it.

But in the makeup, it looks like the fire either stopped directly at the underside of his brow, or it did burn his skin under the brow, but the brow grew back somehow. It looks weird. Because the brow is still present, there's less contrast to draw your attention to the scar and subconsciously say 'this isn't normal'.

Here are two other edits I did:

This is what I'm talking about when I say the brow (and height of the scar) drastically changes how Zuko looks. He looks so much closer to the animated version now, but he's still free to emote because his eye isn't affected at all, and his brow could still move normally. It also helps give him that harsher appearance, which people tend to say exists with the ponytail hairdo! But it would also work great with his long hair look, which would soften everything anyways.

(For the second edit, I also tweaked the ear a lil bit.)

When it comes to the colours of the scar, I'm undecided. In the OG show, they probably had to change the colour of his scar so much to indicate there was even a scar in the first place, because it would've been annoying to add tons of line detail for the animators to deal with instead. At the same time, the live-action show could tone it down a lil bit. But it doesn't look bad, per se.

The third observation I have is Zuko's ear. If you look in the animated show picture above, his left ear (your screen right) is smaller than his right ear, because it's scarred over. I don't think it's practical to have that kind of effect in the live-action show, because it would mean even more CGI (they'd literally need to paint out the real ear, and then replace the ear with a digidouble ear). But if you look at the trailer capture, you'll see the scar colour doesn't even extend to his ear at all!

If you open the picture in photoshop, the scar around his eye and cheek has a reddish hue, but the skin on his ear is the same colour as the skin that isn't scarred. This isn't a cherry-picked sample, the hue is the same in each entire area. As soon as you stop sampling the ear and start sampling the cheek, it drops right into the reds/oranges:

I think the ear coming away unscathed might be a little unrealistic too, considering the scene where Zuko is burned by Ozai currently looks like this:

The fire is obviously going around the sides of his face, not just going directly into it and then bouncing away. It's kinda brushing around. With a scene like this I would expect the ear to have some kinda damage. Is it because they toned down the overall scar so much that any apparent damage on the ear would become nonexistent? Maybe. But right now, the scar just looks like a blob on his face, instead of a spot where fire actually flowed around.

And I just wanted to point out something else I've seen, not in the trailer, but in the fandom. Because I'm already tired of seeing it, it's dumb. Basically I was on a forum and I saw someone say 'if you want something like Two Face from Batman, this is the wrong property to ask for that'. I thought it was super unreasonable because nobody is asking for this:

And nobody is having a 'meltdown', like some other dishonest peeps are saying! People are just mildly upset that the actor's skin looks like it's been coloured in with dye, and there's almost zero hypertrophy to actually telegraph the fact that it's definitively a scar.

So those are my thoughts.. The scar is barely serviceable, they kinda dropped the ball imo.

Don't get me wrong, I totally understand the ~hollywood need~ to make things super toned down so you can see actors' glamorous faces or whatever, but some additional scar makeup wouldn't have harmed his ability to emote or anything. They didn't even need to do anything to his eye.. Just fix the overall first impression the scar gives, which would've worked with the stuff I mentioned above. So I'm not sold on 'it's to show the actor's face better' as an acceptable reason. It's an explanation sure, but it's just not good enough to justify the difference to me.

[xxsp3llb0undxx]

The Cullens as song's // HC

Song's I think the Cullens would be, based off of their personalities and their backstories. I couldn't find a song to fit Emmett, I've been searching for the last hour :/ Sorry to all Emmett lovers, he shall not be in this little HC. I hope you enjoy reading the rest though, please do let me know what you think the Cullen's would be as songs <3

MASTERLIST CULLENS

Rosalie - Black Dahlia // Hollywood Undead

I think this song fits Rose the best because of everything she went through prior to being turned.

Like the apparent love of her life, future husband, using and manipulating her ??

He took everything from her, let others do things to her.

He's a lil bitch :)

The lyrics "and I've been abused, I feel so used because of you."

"The future that we both drew and all the shit we've been through. Obsessed with the thought of you, the pain just grew and grew."

Really sound's like something Edward would hear Rose think to herself whenever he would listen to her thoughts.

Her revenge was worth it though, she finally got to take something from him, like he had done to her.

"You just lay without a sound, seems like all we had is over now, you left to rest."

Major 'Lol I killed my stupid husband' vibes

Edward - Parasite Eve // Bring Me The Horizon

Okay not to be one of those people, but considering Eddie boy over here was around during the Spanish influenza and almost dying from it; I kinda found this song fitting ??

'Parasite Eve' is about Covid, and both illnesses are similar; too similar in fact.

The lyrics "I've got a fever, don't breathe on me." and "Leave your flowers and grieve." Really scream Edward for me ??

We were all scared of big man Covid but imagine how terrified he must've been when he had the Spanish influenza.

Like he's just vibing one minute and then, boom, he's literally lying on his death bed.

Edward would probably really relate to this song, even if he's into classical; 'Parasite Eve' would be an exception.

Jasper - Forest // Twenty One Pilots

Okay, I know what you're thinking but hear me out.

Lyrics "I don't know why I feed on emotion, there's a stomach inside my brain."

Signifies Jasper's gift of empathy and control of emotions.

"My brain has given up, white flags are hoisted."

White Flags were used during the Civil War to end it, a way to show they have surrendered.

Not only does those lyrics signify the Civil War, it could also be a metaphor for Jasper; he's given up that part of his life.

He doesn't want to let it corrupt him any further because he's guilty for playing a part in taking so many lives.

So, in turn, he's put up white flags to surrender and hope to start over; become a better person, vampire.

Alice - Can You Feel My Heart // Bring Me The Horizon

Sweet little fairy.

Didn't deserve to be locked away in an asylum.

I think, in some way, this song is fitting for Alice.

Lyrics "Forgive me father, I love you Mother."

Make me feel like she would've said this a lot, thinking she was a disappointment to her parents for her gift.

"I'm scared to get close, and I hate being alone."

Definitely was something Alice had felt prior and post-vampirism, scared if she got too close to someone she could predict their fate.

But also being scared she would end up alone because people would be so weirded out by her gift.

Carlisle - Put Your Head On My Shoulder // Paul Anka

Absolute sweetheart !

This song is just Carlisle to Esme, 100%

He's such a gentleman, even though his father was like a BIG priest dude who killed the supernatural and he caused Carlisle to turn ??

He's just full of love, no one can tell me different !!

Secretly, Carlisle is Paul Anka and wrote this song for Esme

So sorry it's short, Dr. Cullen is just an angel and didn't really have much corruption in his life ngl.

Esme - Brick By Boring Brick // Paramore

For some reason I feel like this song definitely reminds me of Esme because of the meaning behind the song.

"The song Brick by Boring Brick is a story about a girl who escaped reality through pictures and fairy tales and anything that wasn’t the real story. This way, she’d look perfect to everyone else and we’d all think that she’s got it together. But being that it was all for show, it couldn’t last"

"Esme was born in 1895 in Columbus, Ohio, where she was treated at the age of 16 by Carlisle after breaking her leg when climbing a tree. She married Charles Evenson, but he abused her. After finding out she was pregnant, she ran away and gave birth to a son, who subsequently died a few days later."

Brick By Boring Brick resembles Esme's tough life from a young age, she was still only a child when she was to be married to Evenson, she didn't want to continue with the abuse she suffered.

So, she ran, she created a life where she would be happy, even though; if you looked a bit closer, there were cracks in her reality.

All she wanted was to be happy, but she also ended up losing her son in the process of freeing herself from the shackles of her abusive husband.

The lyrics "Well, you built up a world of magic, because your real life is tragic." Truly speaks on so many different levels how Esme presents herself to the world and everyone around, even though how she want's to be perceived is fake and in reality Esme has suffered a lot.

Not only with losing her baby but also she will never be able to have those years of her life back, it'll forever remind her of how badly she was treated. Just like Rose.

[nicoappreciation]

thots on tsats

okay this is gonna be very long and extremely rambly and not very planned out ok? ok. spoilers under the cut

FINE. I LIKED IT. WHATEVER. hit me with a car.

obviously there were parts of it that i didn't like. obviously there were moments that i felt were out of character. nevertheless, i had a lot of fucking fun while reading it. i love nico and overall i'd say i'm happy with where the story leaves him. yes, this book's existence is extremely unnecessary. but i appreciate it for what it is.

okay let's get the main things i didn't like out of the way:

nico would NOT know who lil nas x is. also why was the montero music video mentioned in a book for middle schoolers.

i understand the role that nyx is meant to play in the story and the message of it but idk i kinda wish they did her character a bit differently. she really reminded me of white diamond from steven universe i'm so sorry.

speaking of nyx that WHOOOLE weird "our children" thing with nico and the cacodemons. that made me very uncomfortable.

last nyx complaint the final confrontation with her ended pretty anticlimactically. kinda like with gaea, it felt like the way to defeat her was a little too simple. but y'know i haven't really been satisfied by a final battle since tlo so. that's just how it is.

it felt like will was kiiiiinda useless for a lot of it. obviously he was important for the story but i wish they had let him do some more cool stuff besides occasionally shooting some light lasers. i get he's a healer but why didn't he bring a WEAPON??? like at the very least he could have had a bow or a knife. y'know we haven't really had a character who uses a blunt force weapon as their main one besides hedge. i would've liked to see will with just a baseball bat or something LMAO.

kind of an add-on to the last one i think that will was nerfed wayyy too much. it makes sense that the underworld would weaken him, but it sometimes felt like they were stopping every five minutes to let him rest. we've seen before that he's quite strong and athletic, i just feel like he should've had a bit more stamina.

there were a few dialogue moments that sounded like they came from some extremely online gay teenager and not nico and will. "bisexual chaos" haunts me. he would not fucking say that.

NO HAZEL APPEARANCE and NO REYNA MENTION. this is the worst one.

i feel like tartarus should've been more physically dangerous. like they fought some monsters here and there and the terrain was hard to navigate but most of the dangers that they dealt with were more mental/emotional. you could argue that we got the physical danger from percy and annabeth's journey so that's why this one focuses more on the mental danger and i could see why you'd think that. but idk sometimes it felt like it was a little toooo easy y'know.

there were some parts of the backstories and flashbacks that were inconsistent with the previous books, like nico saying he spent weeks at camp half blood when he first arrived when he was actually there for only one. but continuity errors are just par for the course with these books at this point so it honestly doesn't bother me too much. we make our own canon.

i'm not a fan of the name cocoa puffs. i feel like they could've come up with something better.

i'm sure there are more that i'm forgetting, but those are my main gripes. okay now onto the things that i liked!!!!

the book was fun. it was just fun. there were some jokes that i genuinely laughed at and there weren't really any points that felt like a slog to read through. i was pretty consistently entertained the whole time.

WILL AND NICO WERE CUTE OKAY. THEY WERE CUTE. maybe this is just 12-year-old me talking but i sincerely found their relationship very sweet. it's abundantly clear how much they both care about each other and what they're willing to do to protect each other. they mean a lot to me okay.

i want to specifically draw attention to the part where it was revealed that nico gave will his skull ring and now he wears it on a necklace. absolutely devastated me. changed my life. people died. in a good way.

I LOVEDDDD the tension and conflict that will and nico had between them for most of the book. it made their relationship so much more believable to me! they haven't even been together for a year! they're complete opposites! they had very different upbringings! they're in an INCREDIBLY STRESSFUL AND DANGEROUS SITUATION in an environment that is literally designed to dig up their biggest frustrations and insecurities! they're going to clash and have fights and have very different worldviews that they need to work through. that doesn't make them a bad couple like i've seen some people say. tell me you've never had a loved one say something hurtful or ignorant to you. tell me you've never said something hurtful or ignorant to a loved one. you can't! because you have! but if you love each other you talk about it and work through it and try your best to understand each other!!!!!!

adding to the last one i like how the conflict got resolved by will realizing he needs to put in more effort to understand nico and nico realizing he needs to open up more to allow will to understand him. open and honest communication and a willingness to be vulnerable babey!!! if you want to be loved you have to submit to the mortifying ordeal of being known!!!!!!!

I LOVED. THE DREAM SEQUENCES. they all went so hard. some of them were downright disturbing. good shit.

even if they had some continuity errors, i enjoyed the flashback scenes and the backstories. we got quite a lot more than i thought we would. i was not expecting to see the entirety of nico's first journey through tartarus. it hurt me a lot.

i think it's cute they're making it canon that nico and will knew of each other since pjo. they were in each other's orbit before they even knew it. it actually got me thinking about some of my own relationships. i have a friend i knew back when i was 4 who i completely forgot about for years, only for us to reconnect by chance when we were 12 and be best friends ever since. i have a friend who was a vague acquaintance of mine for years, but then one day we somehow started talking more and now they're one of the closest friends i've ever had. idk. something about meeting someone once at the wrong time and then again at the right one.

nico was very cool. he was also a massive dweeb. he can do both. i love him.

i like the cacodemons as a very literal metaphor for learning to live with your trauma and the "worst" parts of yourself. celeste vibes dare i say. also nico just has a bunch of lil guys following him around now and i think that's neat.

fuck man. i like seeing nico be happy. i like seeing him in a happy relationship with someone he loves and who loves him just as much. i like that he's still learning to let go of his grief and move on. i like that he's hopeful at the end of the book that he can actually find happiness. he's always been one of the most tragic characters in the pjo-verse and it's so nice to see him just being HAPPY.

despite how hard to believe it was i did really like the little dream scene with the whole di angelo family. nico got to talk to bianca and maria one last time, he got to hug his dad, he finally got to rest for a bit. it was very cathartic and i maybe cried.

this book's message was very clearly for young queer kids who don't have everything figured out yet. you're allowed to change. you don't have to always be one thing. your past doesn't define you. you can find love. you can have hope. no matter how badly written you believe the story is, no matter how inconsistent you believe the characterization is, it's hard to deny how important these messages are and how badly some kids need to hear them. if the book has one redeeming quality, it's this.

so. yeah. i liked it. i had a good time. there's more that i could say but i would honestly just end up adding onto this forever. people who don't like the book have plenty of valid reasons to feel that way, even if i may not agree with some of them. at the end of the day, this story and these characters are not real. please be nice to each other and try not to take things too seriously. we're all just a bunch of late teens and young adults reading a book series for middle schoolers, and i think that's beautiful. thank you for reading if you actually made it this far, i know it was a lot. peace and love on planet earth.

[djservo]

that time of the month again... how did your october reading go? i saw you hit your reading goal! are we increasing it to push or just enjoying the moment? what's on the winter horizon

IMO !! we both hit our goals right? I feel like I cheated bc half of these reads were lil bite-sized afternoon reads but whatevz, october was fun!

High Risk: An Anthology of Forbidden Writings edited by Amy Scholder & Ira Silverberg

I found this buried in the back of a bookshop for like $5 & saw that old copies are selling for like $25+ online?? wild! I lucked out! I loved the variety featured here, poems and prose and short stories and essays, a lil bit of everything for everyone. I've shared this exact sentiment before I'm sure but I really do love these types of anthologies because it exposes me to so many new authors/artists I wouldn't have so easily come across otherwise, and this collection was particularly fruitful. my favorite bit was probably 'Dear Dennis' by Dodie Bellamy, which is from a collection of letters written from the point of view of Mina Harker from Dracula and it's just as fun and zany as it sounds. this particular letter is addressed to Dennis Cooper which makes it even more fun for me hehe here's a particular (NSFW) passage I was super charmed by and keep thinking about

The Complete Eightball 1-18 by Daniel Clowes

ohhhh daniel... with a collection this big there are bound to be some misses + the cynical sarcastic gen X 'everyone's an idiot & society is stupid' voice/punchline got predictable and grating after awhile, but it's still a treat to see the progression of his art and storytelling. Ghost World + Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron were featured in here so it was really nice to reread them bc I already loved them both but this time I was able to appreciate the artistic details and stories even more. especially Ghost World which I read around high school and it left a more superficial "haha bitchy teenage girls me as hellll" impression whereas this time around I was surprised at how emotionally gut-punched I felt at the end. so beautiful and touching

A Season in Hell and the Drunken Boat by Arthur Rimbaud

I was craving some poetry + Dennis Cooper has referenced Rimbaud as an early inspiration so I thought i'd give a try, and I totally see the influence with this sorta meandering self-loathing nature mixed with this sensuous + bursting understanding of life. poetic stream-of-consciousness mumblecore. the beauty's kinda stained for me by racial slurs and general weird racial undertones but what else can I expect from a white french man from the 1800s i guess! the length is short enough (hardly 100 pages) to not have to commit to it very long at least

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

I am sooo shocked at how into this I was + I wonder if this would've been the case if I'd read it in high school under a teacher's direction bc while I've enjoyed books I've been assigned to read and analyze academically in the past, the vibe is so different when you're reading something on your own and processing/interpreting things by yourself, more limitless in a way. and I think because of that freedom to move around and stew in and envision things way I wanted to, I really had fun with this!! I think reading it at my age, so removed from school, also made it more shocking in the sense of realizing these are literal children.....??!?? so crazy silly funny scary to think about... these poor boys who desperately need therapy... also the copy I had included introductions by Lois Lowry and Stephen King which were basically nostalgic odes to literature and the stories that shape us as and the way we interpret the world as young readers and I really had a moment like...wow... books really are so powerful like truly....

The Wolf Plays by Brad Fraser

I cant lie, I picked this up bc I was so entranced by the photoshoot Keanu Reeves and Carl Morotte did for the live performance they starred in hehe. it feels redundant to be like 'this would've worked better on the stage.." when reading a play bc Obviously it was Meant for performance/the stage, but IDK I've read screenplays that were so layered and full of life from dialogue to stage directions that it felt as if I really were witnessing a production of it whereas here, the direction and characters were so sparsely written that it was hard to imagine it being any more fleshed out for the stage. to be fair, Fraser himself admitted in the introduction to Wolfboy (the first/main play out of he two featured in this collection) being rushed and rough around the edges so oh well, I'm just glad to have gotten this out of my system now or else it would've plagued me

Castle Faggot by Derek McCormack

so strange and bewitching. I love how it plays with form in a kinda taunting way. blank boxes where you imagine the picture that's being drawn out n stuff like that. I think I'll need to read it again to flesh out my thoughts but with it fresh on the mind, I'm tickled by its way of weaving anger with absurdity. in the afterword convo between Dennis Cooper + Zac Farley, Dennis recounts a story about Derek where they were hanging out at some mall and Derek spotted Nicholas Brandon (the guy who played Xander in Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and without a word Derek made a beeline to Xander and just stood closely right behind him on the escalator staring at him intensely and Dennis was equal parts humiliated and terrified bc he'd never seen this weird dark obsessive side of Derek before + that was basically how he felt about the book as well. thought that was neat and somewhat clarifying LOL

PHEW im pooped. NO i will NOT be increasing my reading goal for these last 2 months, lest I strive farther than my capabilities/motivation yet again!!! I tried a few Fil-Am/Filipino horror fictions in october but none of them really clicked for me and i didn't want to commit to something I felt lukewarm about so I'm planning to read some (non horror) Fil/Fil-Am books this month. I realized in October I read almost every form (poetry, fiction, graphic novel, play) except nonfiction wtf! my bread and butter! so I'll probably look for something stimulating buried in my pdfs somewhere

[panicataphmausinsanity]

aaron rant

ok this is a rant no one asked for but i just wanna put all of my disorganized thoughts out there about aaron and the man my dude could've become without jesson's horrible execution. my grammar may be off and im not a good analyzer or anything, this is just a rant that i wanna get off my chest.

disclaimer :: i haven't watched MCD and i do plan to, and i'm aware of some things that happen but if you wanna share your opinion on anything id rather anyone would keep the reblogs spoil free

lemme start by saying that i love aaron. i genuinely love his character so damn much but NOT his canon. i love the IDEA of aaron and not his execution. jessica and jason did such a bad job portraying him- dont get me wrong i am not bashing them for the foundation they've laid for most of their wonderful characters it's the portrayal of them that gets me so ENRAGED. all of jess's characters have at least some thing going wrong with them and it's genuinely fucking insane. i don't mean what they go through in the series- as in who they ARE. what the fuck is a kawaii~chan? like god. i think so many characters in the series deserved so SO much more, especially aaron.

starting off with pdh s1 aaron. - i don't necessarily loathe pdh s1 aaron. i mean in here, he seems to have a personality than he ever does in season one of mys which is an upgrade i guess? a main problem imo was how his character always revolved around aphmau. i'm not even gonna choose to comment on the horrid age gap jesson's implemented in aarmau's story. i just hate that aaron himself didn't really have any other friend than aphmau and the fact that after they met, the series just continued to revolve around them.. and not them individually either- them as a relationship.

i think seeing certain instances like how aaron became lily's friend and stuff would've been important because technically, wasn't lily aaron's first friend in pdh? how is that just glossed over considering the fact that aaron pushed everyone who tried to interact with him off his back? isn't it interesting how lily managed to get a hold of him and actually became a friend? i don't understand why that was never shown because while students were scared of the dude because of all the rumors and shit going around, some kids like jeoffery actively reached out to him like we see in the ep where aaron asks aph to prom. he never relented to jfry's attempts to be friends w him and through this a girl like lily managed to be friends with him. i feel like something like this shoudlve been shown. i wouldve also liked to see a stronger reaction to him over lily and ivy's scheme. aaron obviously considered lily a caring friend and when he understood that they were scheming from what i remember, when he saw lily after learning about everything all he did was go "if ur gonna treat aph like this we're better off not being friends" or smt?? i think from what we understand about aaron over the series, emotional connections are obviously something he cherishes very much. so seeing him kinda like- brush the whole thing off and not be lily's friend feels so anticlimactic. idk how to phrase it. i know this was premature aaron and the aaron we know over the series is grown up and everything, but i still do feel like aaron would've had a stronger reaction to the scheme.

prob 2 was how after aaron and aph came to know ab each other being shu n fc, aaron didn't become full fledged friends with like ANYONE other than her. this felt extremely weird to me. we see him go to this dinner sylvanna planned and we see him socially thriving there- him cracking jokes and everyone having a fun time around him, travis and garroth wheezing over his jokes- how did this dude not become friends with them? i feel like they (garroth & travis) would've talked to aaron more and become more than acquaintances w him. a lil bonding thing if you get me?? mainly garroth. it's just weird that garroth never became a friend of aaron's imo. they were put in situations where they could've easily become friends. i know that garroth was jealous about aaron coming outta nowhere and swooping aph off of her feet, but he clearly got over it (during the time of s1 anyway, after that he went batshit crazy). they must've had one on one interactions during the dinner or prom right??????/ like come on. it's just weird!! this brings me to the fact that i literally don't see aaron making proper friends other than aph until fcu. like- aph is his only friend ever ykwim?? i feel like im phrasing this in such a dumb way- but it's just frustrating to see his entire social life just being- aph for a while. i just think garroth and aaron could have become friends as well, maybe even travis. and during prom, maybe even kaitlyn. we see aaron also being pretty mature and giving actual, promising advice to aph during the music room scenes. from this i feel like at some point aaron could have also comforted kaitlyn and maybe a friendship could've bloomed out of this??? this thought's just been sitting in my mind. aaron COULD have had a friend other than just aph. it just feels like his whole world revolves around aph and aph only until his family issues and the ultima bullshit comes around.

now in mystr s1, aaron is so FUCKING BLAND AND STALE AND UUUGHGHHHHHHH its actually so fuckin funny because mystreet season one aaron is relatively decent compared to his other versions *cough s5 cough. i actually do like s1 aaron's character. he's the epitome of chill- laid back, honest, communicative and supportive. he's a great friend to aph during her times of need, and during s1 he's the sanest character on the show.

but that's it. all he was was this friend to aphmau until the dumbass play arc during which they decide to go for something romantic. like his whole identity revolved around walking shirtless, being a chick magnet and a friend to aph. he revolved around aphmau, much like his pdh s1 self and that pisses me off so much!! he had no fucking personality other than being supportive to aph for a while. around the end you see him start to gain *something* similar to a personality, and while it was less than pleasant it was better than whatever the fuck was going on while he was only a friend to aph. it's also disappointing seeing him practically only gain emotions after developing a romantic relationship with aphmau. even during this, his interactions are limited to aph and zane most of the times, and even then he doesn't develop an outward friendship with zane- which would've been fucking amazing!!!! while they do start to bond, it's still like aphmau is the only one keeping them glued together while it would've been real cool for aaron to develop a friendship with zane and interactions w him that doesn't solely have to do with aphmau all the time. the fact that aph's brought him out of his shell is cool, but he's still ONLY friends with aph which is VERY eh. he may be considered friends w zane and stuff, but we only see major bonding stuff going on when it's between aaron and aph, but we don't see it with the other characters. it's jsut weird because everyone's known each other for so long, aaron;s bound to have grown closer w someone at the least- for example, garroth or travis. we've seen the unlikely group form during that one episode- aaron, aph, zane and travis- where they have a stupid lil immature game thing or whatever. i feel like travis and zane and aaron could've collectively bonded and it would've been super cute!! plus aph nudging him and zane to be more social as well- a lil detour to fcu where we see aaron trying his best to get out there and make friends w/ aph's adorable support- he has the perfect opportunity to do it during moments like these but it never becomes more than just what seem like forced interactions. like UGH. UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. so. much. potentialll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! just gone. poof. a strong friendship between aaron and the ro'maeve brothers wouldve been so fucking ack. sfryquoeuiwhiblforhgubhjfwe. litera;;y/. now i wpuldve loved to see tht1!!!! it's also just so weird that we see a drastic change in aaron's character from fcu to myst, in fcu he's so shy and he's trying his best to be friends w others and he succeeds little by little (we never hear of these friends again but ok.) and then in ms we see him as this super chill dude w hot gains sigma male or whatever and his only friend is aph. he was so much more expressive during fcu and while many events occurred in between, it's just weird seeing him not get out there more during s1 esp considering the fact that he has more freedom to. ill mention this later. anyway-----

one thing i liked to see was aaron break out of his cool character during the spectacle of zanemau, another stupid attempt by jess to get another boy to get infatuated with aph which thankfully did not happen.. kind of. id love to see people talk about how zane just heavily depended on aph as an emotional support system and was just afraid aaron would take aph away from him, a feeling of abandonment rising out of his own self loathing yada yada. . while zanemau is a cool ship, this whole thing was jsut extreenmly forced-it was obvious it was just to get another guy to fawn over aph. i hate aph's harem. i'll get off topic if i talk about how every single boy within a 50 mile radius of aph falls head over heels in love with her, but anyhoo. i did get off topic.. . . . so aaron breaking his character was like this breath of fresh air for me. when he's in the resto's bathroom, talking to the mirror ab his frustrations ab aph going all flushed and orgasmy over zane bc of the love ption that he wasnt aware of and how he should stop whats going on bc of zianna (fucking hate her ass), he seemed like an actual person lmao. i love that scene alot because he wasn't just this cool chill flirt(for aph), his feelings finally poured out in some way. it made him a full fledged character (for a little..). then garroth came in and talked to him and whatbnit (another wasted opportunity to grow closer maybe??????? idk) and they went back to the table . i havent talked ab how much i loathe this whole zuzu aph arc though like oh my god it mustve been incredibly uncomfortable for aph and aaron sitting through all that. i hate zianna so much and it was also mega annoying of vylad and the brothers to drag them into this bc he couldnt say no to his mommy. it was genuinely weird and so many things in the show are brushed off as comedic relief- things borderline crazy and worthy of restraining orders and jail. literally. literal kids watch these and may think it's normal bhvr when it isnt. but anyway.

i know that mystreet s1 was a spin off of mcd that just blew up and multiplied into other seasons and as it doubled prequels like pdh and fcu came to life. im very much aware of the fact that jess just developed the characters in their modern steads as the story progressed because it wasnt done something beforehand- mystreet happened to be a happy accident and jess didn't plan the characters out beforehand, including the plot (horribly evident from the shit that started from s4). they developed as characters in stages as the stories went on and that's just painfully obvious, especially when we watch the series in the timeline jess posted it. we see how aaron goes from the stoic chill hot sigma male to this uwu boy personality, which was what jess wanted him as in the end ig? it's obviously very weird though. imo, my opinion, she shouldve kept aaron's laid back personality. through this we could see him gradually grow and insert himself into aph's friend grp as well. we see that happen during s2 and s3 of ms, where he does progress in terms of social interactions- hes seen to be cracking jokes outwardly, he even has his own lil comedic relief spiels, becomes good buds with dante and stuff (which went just as it came from what i remember :[[[) and in s3 he becomes much cooler and is more involved within the friend group. he also seemed to be like this in pdh, like during the dinner as i mentioned before.

during fcu, this just. changes. his character is very... emotional? i dont really know how to put it. it's out of character. he's incredibly shy and relies on aph as a social plug. while in pdh he seemed to be less awkward w social interactions, aaron was 100x times more awkward during fcu. he seemed overly sensitive, and at moments its like he needed to be coddled. i did love it when aph helped him grow more socially, but we see that in ms 1 he has no friends. he's like this hot lone wolf (..), a drastic contrast to what he wanted to be in fcu imo (i believe this because derek was off his back now and he had the freedom to do have more friends and emotional connections like these is what he desperately craved- it's something so evident.) he wanted to have more friends and be more social. while this does happen in fcu, in ms1 we don't really see the results coming into place. like he becomes much more bold- in fcu he used to flush and blush at just hearing aph's heartbeat and in ms1, that one instance where aaron gets picked to play romeo and aph is like "you do realise we gotta kiss?" he just goes "yeah." in the most casual way ever- like it's just another tuesday for him or somethin. it's just a weird ass change. his character fluctuates when we watch the show in the chronological order and it's jsut so out of place and while i know it's no fault to jess ( i mean it is but part of it is justified ) it's still incredibly weird. jess could have prevented this by just keeping him as the character she initially started with.

and his last form- season 5. starlight. god fuck- this aaron was such a fucking baby. if fcu aaron wanted to be coddled, starlight aaron straight up wanted milk from aph's bosoms. he becomes this uwu soft boi- and considering all of the events that unfolded, it's still weird. yes, many things happened during their time at the lodge but it's just so fucking weird!!!!! i don't even know what to make of it. i just hated his character in s5. he stuttered every 3 fucking seconds. jason voice acted him so bad like oh my god im so sorry but it was literally unbearable. rewatching starlight was fucking horrifying. the stupid ass dips in the voice- god fuck!!! im so sorry its just what i think but i really hated how jason voice acted aaron during s5. i liked the fact that he was more expressive but he just changed completely- and i liked the small part where he felt like everyone wanted him to be something different now that he was out as a werewolf, but he really did fucking change and it did not feel like he was aaron at all. it felt like seeing a 12 year old find out about age regression and implement it onto a character like aaron's. it felt childish and just weird. jess couldve done way better with aaron during s5.

this shit was long and i feel liek i still have a lot more to say and when i rememebr ill jsut edit it on. no ones probably gonna reach the end of this but if you did, idk how u got so much time reading all this but i lpve you

( i love this picture so much <3 )

[neoputo]

okay, here we go

[ first of all, a lil disclaimer: these are my thoughts + opinions, this doesn't mean they're 100% right, at all. it's just some stuff i kept wondering abt after reading some theories and thought might be fun (?) to share. just to provide a look from a different angle, and to bring more questioning to the table. needless to say, i very much respect the authors of these theories, and i think their analytical skills are on another level! i would've never been able to come up with all that by myself! AND this post wouldn't exist if it wasn't for those analysis. so yeah, just wanted to make this clear. ]

anyway, these are some things i found that i think the following theories don't cover/might've missed out/might be wrong abt:

first, about "the *original* original sin theory": i feel like something's missing. this something being: there is no explanation for aziraphale's weird ass smile in the ending/credits scene. like, while i was reading the theory, i found myself nodding most of the time, and when i was getting closer to the end, i was hoping there would be some explanation for that final scene. but there wasn't! look, i'm not that smart, so i find it really hard to figure out why azi would smile like that after everything that happened, specially if we consider this theory to be true. something doesn't add up. there's something so wrong abt that smile. like,, on that same scene, crowley looks DEVASTATED and it makes sense! i feel aziraphale should look just as sad and broken, tho, and he doesn't. i mean, if it was a fake smile, i'd believe it was to deceive metatron, or pretend he is okay with his decision in front of him, or whatever. but it's not a fake smile. it's not a genuine one either. it's a very weird, kinda creepy smile??? like, michael sheen, you're amazing! but also, what the heck?! why would azi do that? (i have no idea. this is just me pointing this out, i don't have the brains to figure it out lol sorry!).

now, the other theory, "the magic trick you didn't see": i actually found this analysis very interesting and backed up with a lot of evidence as well! BUT (of course there's a but), i also feel like the author was kind of pushing it a bit too much sometimes. let me explain myself: i feel there are some moments that the author catalogues as "metatron's intervention/manipulation of memories" that, in my opinion, dont seem much like that... let's exemplify!

the "before the beginning" scene: honestly, i thought this scene was lovely! and i don't think metatron could've manipulated to draw aziraphale away from crowley. at all. in this scene, crowley is pictured as a cute little baby angel; so pure, so filled with excitement and curiosity and hope. he's also a bit naive, too, specially in comparison with aziraphale, who, on the other hand, looks baby but not so baby... he knows how things work up in heaven, he knows angels aren't that good (tho he might not admit it or say it out loud), he knows they aren't as free-willed as they might think they are, or want to be. so ofc, when crowley starts making questions + suggesting a suggestion box, aziraphale worries abt him. cus he knows how things work. and he knows angel!crowley could get in trouble for that. and he likes angel!crowley, boy! he so obviously does. so, aziraphale, much more aware of the situation and the way things work, is not withdrawn by crowley's innate curiosity. i think he actually likes that abt him, he might even think it's adorable. azi is just scared of what could happen to baby crowley, and i think he's trying to protect him. in conclusion, i personally think both aziraphale and crowley feel very much in character, which is to say, this memory doesn't feel/look manipulated or altered by metatron. not to me at least.

—i think there might be other scenes that the author labeled as "metatron's intervention/manipulation of memories" that i don't agree with, but i don't remember rn. guess i should read the analysis again to refresh my memory, but i won't do that rn, sorry!

also, i've already mentioned maggie's possible autism on another post!

okayyyyy,, this is it. i hope y'all (whoever you are) enjoyed reading this & thanks for taking your time! pls let me know what you think! i love discussing theories and thoughts on good omens with strangers lol but fr!

byebyeeeee

[muse-stellium]

|| Okay okay okay okay okaaaaay.

I'm still kinda processing things so this might be a lil all over the place and not to mention hella long I'm sorry the brain went brrrrr, but T8 thoughts tiiime. Absolute T8 spoilers below the cut

✦ First & foremost I do want to say that overall? I liked it. I wasn't amazed by it? It felt very reminiscent of things I've seen before, a lot of familiar tropes and all that, but I do think I might grow to love it someday. Do I think there are things they could've done better? Absolutely. But it also could've been a lot worse. Most of my greatest concerns didn't come into fruition, so even though I do think everything felt a bit rushed, I'll consider it a win lmao.

✦ Tbh I don't have a lot to say about everything that happened between Jin & Kazuya - which is wild bc y'know main plot - but like.. It feels too familiar. Too many familiar tropes to capture my interest I think? By the second chapter I was already going "this reminds me of this, this reminds me of that" every few minutes and just nothing felt.. unique with those two this time. I will say Jin's Angel form looks neat, and it does make me wonder about the Kazama clan's possible connection to Angel. But that's about all I have to say there unfortunately 🥲

✦ I both love and am kinda confused by all the fighters working together thing tbh. If only bc it feels a little disjointed for most of them to barely say a word to each other throughout all of the other previous games, and then to just suddenly come work together, to help protect Jin, who started this war in the first place 😬. – But at the same time that logic aside, that's also somewhat what I was hoping for?? Like I've been saying I wanted T8 to be some avengers assemble like scenario for years now lol. I just think there could've been more interaction prior that would've made it make more sense?

✦ In that line of thought, I am not a big fan of how the Jin vs Kazuya teams were divided for kinda the same reason? Mainly Marshall. Best buds with Paul all these years, they're literally the bromance of Tekken and all of a sudden he joins the bad guys all bc "yOu dIdn'T PaY mE" – I think it would've been a lot better if we could've actually seen how Nina recruited them? While I love her, she absolutely the Queen tm, she is.. a master manipulator. She absolutely manipulated them somehow into thinking joining G-corp was a good idea. Like maybe Marshall's financial woes run deeper than we know, and she used that to her advantage. Maybe she convinced Azucena with the thought they could protect her family and her farm, or maybe it was a Josie situation where Josie believed the Mishima Zaibatsu was a force of good, maybe Nina got Azucena to believe that about G-Corp with how she seemed to be up for fighting for world peace. But by not showing the reasoning behind it.. it just feels wrong and puts a lot of those characters in a weird light to me.

✦ ^ The same goes for my girl Nina this time around. 😔 We've been sitting here debating on why she would ever possibly join Kazuya with their history and her seemingly being such close allies w Jin before. It's completely out of character for her, there must be a reason, we've been wondering what the reason is and finally... we're not given one. It's just like "Oh, you work for him now." No comments made about it whatsoever. And there's some pro's to that? Namely yes it maintains her enigmatic nature, and it leaves a lot of possibilities open. But I think there's more cons to it than anything, bc this is absolutely just going to fuel the surface stereotype within the fandom that Nina's just a cold hearted killer who only cares about money. This game when taken at surface value (which I've noticed outside of on here, a large majority of fans seem to take things at), kinda gave her the appearance of a character with no depth whatsoever and that... tbh that scares me bc the treatment of her character within the fandom is already so bad...? And then to add the possibility that she may work with Reina of all people next time around just perpetuates that even further. Especially when you remember that this may be the first Tekken game for a lot of fans who came from Bloodline.

✦ On the other hand however, I will say I'm not as upset about what T8 did w Nina's character than what Bloodline did w her. I was hella concerned we'd be dealing w another bloodline scenario of her just being tossed aside, and in a way we definitely are? But at the very least, this time when I try to look from Nina's perspective, I can see multiple possibilities for why she just left / worked w Kazuya at all that would be within her character. W what happened in Bloodline I couldn't do that no matter how hard I tried. But here it's mainly just that none of them were addressed that's the problem. It's left too open, and it doesn't paint a good picture. — W the comment Lee & Lars made about "the G-Corp assassin", and how casual she seems to be w Lee in her character ep + intros, there's still the hella slim subtle possibility Nina could be secretly working for both sides. She did what she was tasked to do, and got out once her job was done. - There's the possibility that w how her T8 bio again brings up her doubts about hurting people for the first time since T2, maybe something finally clicked there mid battle. Maybe it was the realization that "oh joy there's another devil in the mix" and it'd be better w this new information to watch how this plays out. - Hell if we dare to hella hope about things lol, maybe w all the dbd easter eggs thrown out there this time and seeing her featured on a ship for the first since then, maybe she dipped to set up the plot of dbd 2 - It could be anything! And that's the problem.

✦ Overall bc of all of this, while I do think it's neat, and I do like a lot of it, it feels very... rushed. It really reminds me of when you go to reread old threads or your past writing, and in hindsight you realize "Wow I really rushed this part, I forgot to include this this & this bc I was too excited about what was to come next", which is kinda disappointing bc this was supposed to be this huge pivotal moment in the storyline. But then that also makes me wonder y'know.. what's to come next that they're possibly so excited to get to? 😶

Anyway! Hella hella long story short, I liked it. I'm not in love w it. I think it could've been done better. I might grow to love it later on, and I do have more thoughts on it like on what happened to Claudio & Zafina, Reina is a whole can of worms that I don't want to get into rn lmaooo, but this is already so long BYEEEEE

[beegod666]

I have weird dreams

lol first non reblog post- kinda-

anyway just had an odd dream, there was an ask box i was gonna drop it in. However I don’t remember who’s it was so uh, I'm just posting it here lol.

Quick heads up, I’m gonna mention the whole thing you do in dreams where you “just know” bc you do, and while this dream was Mcyt based (The Hermits, Empires, lil bit Dsmp) I also mention some other stuff. So if you don’t get a reference or smthn dw abt it.

kep in mind, this is the characters not the content creators (thank my fanfic addiction, my brain didn’t decide it was the cc’s that would've been a nightmare-)

(not bc i hate the cc’s just it would’ve been weird to post lol)

This was also a lucid dream, which means I was in control of myself, but I like to follow the story so I let it flow and just react. But that's gonna result in sentences like, I was trying yada yada bc it is me trying, not the flow of the dream. Just thought I’d mention lol. I half lucid dream a lot so I’ve gotten ok at giving the rundown.

Ok so the whole thing gave off almost life series vibes, but also apocalypse vibes lol. We were in a kinda medium little group, some faces I remember some I don’t some i just kinda knew without seeing their face or hearing them talk, and a couple I had no sweet clue.

At the very beginning of the dream, I was trying to figure out who was with me, bc I could immediately tell that there were at least six or seven people and at most ten (I think there ended up being more just not near enough to me that magic dream spidey senses happened.) we were in a kind of tower I think with our stuff in the corners, wooden floors and stone walls. We all had cloaks on.

First there was Wilbur talking and I was with him and two ish other people + Tommy, he was making some sort of strategy or plan for like an attack or something, but I think we were also hiding/taking refuge. I think it was Ren but that was only a late dream detail. I went to go check for people and no, I have no clue who the beginning people are. But based on later parts of the dream they could be Cleo and Pearl. Moving on I went look for I think Grian or maybe Jimmy? Anyway I find shenanigans with what I think what was supposed to be a warden idk it was too far away, whatever it was Bdubs did it and that was enough for me to leave bc Bdubs warden is not what i want to die too bc the dream was fun. Cleo and Pearl are there with i think Owen, but it could've been Oli- and then Wilbur comes out and panics lol. So I head back in and find Grian looting whatever abandoned castle were taking refuge in. We have a quick conversation and he says something that makes me think of Jimmy. I’m about to go look for him but I turn around and he’s behind me down the little bit of stairs (the second entrance to the balcony like section with the warden) I find him and two others. Who one i think was Joel and the other was either Etho or Grian. Yes that makes no sense bc Grian was just talking to me, don’t you just love dream logic?

About here it starts to cut forwards and back between the current scene and what seems to be the end of the situation.

so its a little fenced in area, iron fences to the right of the castle/tower thingy. Weird almost like fountain stand but it has a throne on it. That’s in the center. Theres a lil dirt path in the front. I don’t remember much abt this bit. But Ren rides up the path, Bdubs or Martyn was there with him briefly and then the dream logic’d them away. Scott is in the corner and I’m hanging out near/on the throne. Ren comes in yelling about smthn, oh btw it’s red winter Ren. Anyway he’s yelling abt smthn I’m basically hidng and Scott is dying from a sword wound in his gut hurt. And after that it’s blurry and inexplicable.

[safyresky]

This was the most anticlimactic finale I have EVER seen in my life??

IT WAS SO. ANTICLIMACTIC. LIKE. THE MAD SANTA AND SCOTT STANDOFF? THE UN-NUTCRACKERING OF MY BOY???? SANDRA'S POWERS??? I JUST. WHERE IS THE GROWTH. WHY CAN'T THEY GIVE US MORE TIME FOR ALL THE GROWTH. AH. BAD!

On that note, tho, things I actually quite liked, maybe even LOVED???? I thoroughly enjoyed the episode. Well, MOST of it. Especially:

Betty and Olga's whole toymaking thing lol that was cute and sweet

NOEL! EVERYTHING NOEL! TAKING CHARGE! BROKERING A PEACE! AMAZING

Kris tagging along, lol, what a vibe. "Holy crap! Ice bergs???!?!?!?!" (chokes on a bug)

Mad Santa and Olga acknowledging their toxicity with one another

Sandra calling Cal Buddy, THANK YOU QUEEN

Sandra's whole VIBE tbh. The witchy/goth prom look, her powers being like. Based on Christmas spirit!

Betty and Olga AGAIN, I really really REALLY loved how that went and LOVED how they were like "we're really quite the same"

Meanwhile Noel and the rest of the gnomes are like "Oh! Glad y'all caught up! Tea?"

Good for Magnus, going back and performing!! Good for him!!! I loved seeing him THRIVE with the sax!!!

and I'm really glad Magnus was like "Kris's place made me feel JOY", we LOVE TO SEE PEOPLE WITH CHRISTMAS SPIRIT REASSURED AND VALIDATED!

Everything about Mrs. Claus tbh. Carol, my belovedddddd~ freaking out about Buddy and and and having the RANGE, GOD, Elizabeth Mitchell fans, you are all SO RIGHT!

So basically everything that DIDN'T involve Santa? I'm kinda shooketh. Why was that episode so chill compared to all the other ones??? I obtained MINIMAL psychic damage (perhaps I have an immunity now??? WHO'S TO SAY!)

Santa's lines are all delivered so unenthusiastically and he just. GOD. You know how in The Christmas Invasion Ten looks at Harriet Jones, Prime Minister, then goes over to her assistant and is like "doesn't she look tired"? I feel like we could totally do that to Tomothy and just. End him. Then and there.

KRIS. He's really cool. Like I unironically enjoy him. He a little naive but BOY DOES HE HAVE THE SPIRIT! AND I LOVE THAT! Honestly, they could've had him be the next Santa and he'd be AMAZING at it tbh! he was very underused and that was a SHAME. Remember in episode 1 when we saw his dad for like 3 seconds and I thought "wow we could have a whole father figure angle here!" as if the writing in this show could actually decently do something like this

Get his ass count for this episode: about 5

Again, I keep getting hung up on the weird choices and the lore????????

Weird choices: having the underlying theme of Betty/Olga fight being I WANT THAT TOY NO IT'S MINE was weird?? You could've done it differently to get them to the Workshop to chat. you could have had them call one another out with their toymaking skills? And go from there?????? IT WOULD'VE BEEN EASY TO DO

Weird choices: Bringing Kris up??? I LOVED it, he was perf comedic relief--like, if anyone in this universe should have loony toon powers (see: him appearing in the cell behind Mad Santa and everyone being like OH YOU'RE HERE TOO), it's Kris. 100%

My mood @ Kris is very much:

yes. I made a meme about it. I just really appreciate him, especially in this episode? HE'S JUST FULL OF CRIBMAS SPIRIT!!! FUCK!

Lore things I had issues with:

1. "But a witch...born at the North Pole...could!"

2. "You've got a history"/"I've read your history! You were a GREAT Santa!" and also "Way to go Noel! I always KNEW you'd make a great head elf!"

3. "Storied apex of the globe"

(not direct quotes)

"But a witch...born at the North Pole...COULD"

As a disclaimer: I quite like Sandra having cribmas witch magic, and I like the idea that she's a lil different bc of being born at the Pole. HOWEVER. The execution/explanation is...mid. WHY is it that Sandra being a human witch born at the NP CAN un-nutcracker Cal??? Where is the EXPLANATION!??!!? WHAT ABOUT IT MAKES HER DIFFERENT FROM OTHER WITCHES? IS IT BECAUSE OF THE "storied apex of the globe" COMMENT NOEL MAKES WHEN HE'S BEING A BAMF AND HYPING UP THE GNOMES? IS IT LEY LINES??? LIKE. WHAT IS THE EXPLANATION?

I would be FINE with suspending my disbelief if they had maybe just GIVEN THE CONCEPTS AND CHARACTERS TIME TO GROW!!! You could've rewritten the whole entire "we're stealing doing Easter!" episode and instead SOLELY FOCUS ON MAGIC. Have Befana react more mildly and go "this is different, come along" and bring Sandy to her lil cabin while they try to figure it out and THEN drop the "she was born at the NP and this is why she ca do such a powerful spell" and then have someone go what why?? AND BOOM. BEFANA GIVES US EXPOSITION, WE LEARN, SANDRA CAN HAVE A PLOTTY ARC WHERE SHE'S LIKE "no, I can't do that, that's. Girl that's crazy" to have the build to her un-nutcrackering Buddy have more of an OOMPF, you know? IT'S THAT EASY. ARGH.

2. "you've got a history/I've read your history" (A) and "I always knew you could do it Noel!" (B)

2. a) HOW COULD YOU HAVE READ THE HISTORY WHEN THE ELVES RIPPED OUT THE PAGE AND BURNT IT? WAS IT YOUR SANTA SENSES? HELLO? IF SO, WHY DIDN'T THEY SHOW US MORE OF THAT?? MAYBE SUBPLOT FOR SCOTT WHILE SANDY IS LEARNING ABOUT HER COOL MAGIC, HE'S LIKE OKAY. INTO THE YULE VERSE, LET'S LEARN ABOUT MAD SANTA. AND GIVE IT SOME PROPER TIME TO BE ESTABLISHED! LET SCOTT SEE HOW MAGNUS WAS BEFORE HE GOT PARANOID AND DISPATCHED BY THE ELVES! THEN MAYBE. JUST MAYBE. THE ANTI-CLIMATIC SANTA VS SANTA SHOWDOWN WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN AS ANTI-CLIMACTIC BECAUSE SCOTT BE KNOWING THAT MAGNUS WAS GOOD AND IS JUST HAVING SOME RELATABLE ISSUES, AND THE PAYOFF WOULD BE BETTER!

2. b)

OH REALLY. DID YOU SANTA? DID YOU? BECAUSE I HAVE MOTHER FUCKING RECEIPTS:

I REST MY FUCKING CASE, SANTA.

(also I got a DAMN GOOD Noel snip. You GO NOEL. SHOW SCOTT WHO'S THE FUCKING BOSS! YEAH!!!! YEAH BABY!!!)

3. "The storied apex of the globe."

YOU CAN'T JUST DROP THIS ON ME. ON ALL OF US. AND NOT ELABORATE. ARE YOU IMPLYING THAT ALL THE STORY CREATURES LIVE AT THE NORTH POLE BC IT'S AN APEX? A NEXUS? FUCKING ELABORATE ON THAT! ADD IT TO THE REWRITTEN STEAL EASTER EPISODE. STOP DUMPING LORE WITHOUT ELABORATING. WHAT! DOES! IT! MEAN! AHHHHH (explodes)

(reconstitutes)

Whew! Glad I got all that out of my system!!!

Other odds and ends that did NOT hit:

"I went to MIT" I'm with Edie on this one tbh. Also, where is the MUFFIN institute of tech. At the North Pole? WHERE??? YOU CAN'T DROP HINTS THAT ALL MAGICAL CREATURES ARE THERE AND NOWHERE ELSE WITH AN AREA THAT SMALL. THAT'S WHY CRYSTAL SPRINGS IS A GD CONTINENT OF A LANDMASS!!!! AH!

ANTICLIMACTIC SANTA VS SANTA MOMENT! IT WAS SO DRY AND DROLL AND JUST. IT DID N O T HIT. SEE ABOVE POINTS.

ALL OF SANTA SCOTT'S BITS. SO FLAT AND DRY!!!!! SOMEONE PUSH HIM OFF A ROOF AND MAKE SURE HE S T A Y S DOWN

Mad Santa about 100 times: "I'M NOT A DUMB STUPID HUMAN LIKE YOU" THEN WHAT ARE YOU?!?!?!?!?!?

I AM ONCE AGAIN ASKING FOR CAROL TO HAVE MORE OF AN ARC THAN "overbearing mom" AND "token WE PASSED FEMINISM" rep, especially with Elizabeth Mitchell putting her WHOLE ASS SELF INTO IT! SHE HAS THE RANGE! A SHAME SHE'S STUCK WITH FLAT ASS TOMOTHY AND GLASS CEILING REFERENCES!!!

HECK, I'D LOVE IT IF BOTH PARENTS HAD MORE TIME TO REALIZE THEY WEREN'T BEING GREAT! OR EVEN, DIDN;T HAVE THAT PLOTLINE AND WERE JUST TRYING TO BE SUPPORTIVE BUT NOT SURE HOW TO GO ABOUT IT AND MAKING MISTAKES BUT LEARNING TO FIX EM!

I sighed loud enough to wake the entire neighbourhood ALL TWO REWATCHES WHEN THEY SHOEHORNED THE MOVIE FLASHBACKS IN. WHEN THEY REVEALED THAT KRIS WAS THE HOUSE OF KAYAK KID FROM TSC 1. WHEN THEY THREW ALL THE OLD "he is drinking out of the mug SEE IT'S ALWAYS BEEN HERE" flashback sequence in. uGH S T O P!!!! IT WAS BAD IN THE THIRD MOVIE AND IT'S W O R S E IN THE SERIES

(in Yzma voice) WHY DOES HE EVEN HAVE THAT AMULET? BC HE'S SECRETIVE? GIVE ME MORE INFO!!! (flips a table)

CURTIS EXPLODED. CURTIS WENT TO KRIBBLE KRABBLE AND NEVER CAME BACK. WAS THAT BEFORE OR AFTER HE EXPLODED??? (@shittyelfwriter and I both agree AFTER lol)

I figure he was patient 0 for Curtis-itis, hence the name! Maybe almost 'sploded but instead went nope! I need to kribble krabble!

I mean, he would uphold it, of course, the MOMENT after he became head elf bc he loves rules so heckin much lol

Regardless, MAKE UP YOUR MIND!

An aside: I read an article talking about that piece of info and the person who wrote it was like "Curtis stans will be happy to know (we know you're out there!)"

(me, squinting) where. where. I don't see them. I see the Elizabeth Mitchell/Carol stans (on occasion. I stumble into them like I made a wrong turn lol). The Bernard stans (how could you NOT see them they're everyone lol), The JACK STANS (guilty as fucking charged), but have yet to see CURTIS STANS. Mostly just Curtis appreciators??? y'all are cool tho. He is a funky lil stressed out nerd. Deffs NOT a management guy lol. Give him a couple hundred or so more years first :-)

HOW AND WHY DID MAGNUS GO INTO THE JAIL. WE ARE MISSING A SCENE. BIG TIME. WHERE DID IT GO. YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE CUT THAT ONE MY DUDES. MAYBE THE FLUFFY EATS A FLY WHILE IN THE SLEIGH BIT SHOULD'VE BEEN AXED INSTEAD SINCE FLIES DON'T GO THAT HIGH! WHY IS MAD SANTA THERE AND H O W DID HE PASS THE BLOCKADE OF PEOPLE??? HELLO???

Just. Just let Cal go to prom. Don't bring prom to him. Please. Please let him and Riley have ONE brain cell at LEAST. Technology isn't rotting our brains THAT badly. It's just pushing censoring and making younger gens forget what critical thinking skills are!

God, now I sound like Tomothy. VIBE CHECK ON AISLE SAFYRESKY!

Also, Riley, stop trying to steal @snowqueenjacqueline's DRIP GIRLIE. LIGHT BLUE? SNOWFLAKES? WHAT'S JACQUELINE SUPPOSED TO WEAR TO NORTH POLE PROM NOW?!?!!?

And I think that's it?? I think I got it all out of my system. WHEW.

Season thoughts: Ouch. Brain hurty. Andie you were SO RIGHT with the disjointed bit. TOO MUCH LORE. TOO MUCH THROWING BACK. NOT ENOUGH EXPLANATIONS/GROWING TIME. CHARACTER ARCS ARE ONCE MORE NONEXISTENT. THEY JUST HAPPEN AND WE DON'T SEE THEM. SOMEHOW BETTER THAN SEASON 1???? BUT STILL. NOT GREAT! Mid, mostly. Not great! Nothing to write home about tbh.

And now. I end this lengthy ass review with some snips of my FAVOURITE part of the entire season:

[drewsaturday]

Trollhunters

ty viennaaaaa! questions from here

Favorite character: barbara my beloved

Least Favorite character: i feel like it's almost lazy to say steve but... steve.... weirdly he kinda grew on me but he was still used in extremely annoying ways 9/10 times, so if i cared i would make my own lil pocket version of him that is bearable but alas i do not so he is simply... steve..... i'm also not a huge merlin fan.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): stricklake and stricklakerot are rly all i've explored but that reminds me i also wanna look more into barbmura, morgana/gwen, morgana/barbara, and usurna/nomura. honorable 3below mention to zadra/izita and wizards mention to arcane order hell since we're over 5 anyway.

Character I find most attractive: it is SO cowardly of me to say barbara considering the show is also like, monsterfucker central, but... she pretty... and unfortunately a lot of female troll designs kinda suck, and while i love morgana i have issues with her design as well. i do think strickler and angor rot are attractive in theory but i have a very weird sexuality of like, yes i'd love to get railed by them even if it'd kill me, but i don't think i'm "attracted" to them because i'm in a weird zone of being a lesbian but also a monsterfucker and i genuinely do not know how to explain it more than that. so yeah we'll go with barbara bc there is...... idk, something special abt bein into someone kinda plain amidst a world of magical creatures, too? maybe? who knows, thanks for coming 2 my ted talk in this wendy's drive thru

Character I would marry: barbara is going to be my answer for SO much so i'll say nomura for this one because i love the surprise of never knowing if i'm going to get poisoned. usurna is also in that realm.

Character I would be best friends with: hmm maybe blinky because we're both insufferably autistic, but i would probably get annoyed with him fast. i probs would've vibed with eli when i was in high school tho, and aja reminds me of the classic hyperactive adhd weeb girlies i always wanted to get to know better.

a random thought: this is making me realize that after i finished the franchise i forgot literally everything about the show that wasn't barbara-centric

An unpopular opinion: yeah we're not going there <3 the worst i can probably answer with is that while i hate rott, i also do love the delicious angst of watching barb's reaction to strickler dying (esp doing so right after they got engaged) so i am kinda glad it gave me a glimpse into that just...... i do not want to take that or anything else from that film as canon tho lol. i just like having that in my back pocket for when i want a mental breakdown.

My Canon OTP: stricklake babey

My Non-canon OTP: stricklakerot is the only other one i've really explored!

Most Badass Character: either angor rot or barb with her broom

Most Epic Villain: man i wish i could say morgana because i love her in theory but in practice i just... don't vibe with a lot of how she was handled. so i'm gonna probs say some kinda tie between angor, strickler, usurna, and nomura because i also don't rly care about gunmar or bular etc (sry mister clancy). arcane order comes to mind but i didn't pay as much attention to them as i should've.

Pairing I am not a fan of: so i don't hate jim and claire but i also don't know why i semi-like them??? i really appreciate a lot of the ways they're portrayed in fanart! esp when toby gets added in. and again i actually don't hate them! i just don't... know why they're together when i actually think about it, and they're also too young for me to rly care to think about that much anyway.

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): hmm i mean... rott aside i don't know. i guess "draal should have lived" counts here. also my previously mentioned issues with some troll designs, i just think nomura's in particular could've been way better. oh and i had some issues with morgana's whole narrative but i can't remember them. ultimately i think the writers just didn't go into the actually interesting characters' backstories anywhere near enough.

Favourite Friendship: barb and nancy even if it's all in my head <3 also jim and all his new dads

Character I most identify with: barbara, which is probably mostly projection but like... i vibe with trying to balance work and school and childcare responsibilities even if i will never have it as hard as she had jl;sdjfsldkfj. i also love angor rot because yeah i also relate to continually being at the mercy of people who don't have my best interest at heart and wanting nothing more than to have independence from them but having no means of doing so. there's also def something there with changelings x autistic feels with always having a Mask on and being in survival mode.

Character I wish I could be: omg none of them everyone's lives are all nightmares??? BUT probably barbara because being at the center of a monster harem sounds fun

[animusiem]

Billboard USA Exclusion Zone Episode 14 (06/03/2023)

This week felt a bit...weird. I think it's because some of these songs are just there you know? Anyways no more wasting time let's get through this.

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

2. "WHERE SHE GOES" by Bad Bunny

There's three big trends that has been happening over the course of the year. Regional Mexican sound going mainstream, lazy sampling, and the rise of Jersey club. Jersey club's impact so far on the global stage is basically that one Lil Uzi Vert and the remix of Players. But, now Jersey club has its biggest hit with this Bad Bunny song. I'd say that for those who wanna get into this genre, this song is a great introduction with more fuller production and the familiarity of the Bad Bunny formula with the synth and the subject matter of hostile back and forth relationship drama. Overall a great tune.

12. "Angel Pt. 1" by Kodak Black, NLE Choppa, JVKE, Jimin, & Muni Long

I'll just rank every performance here because this song is kinda boring. Muni Long = Jimin >>>> NLE Choppa >>>> Kodak Black > JVKE.

19. "Say Yes To Heaven" by Lana Del Rey

If there's one thing TikTok is good at is making deepcuts and even unreleased demo from an artist whom are still on an album cycle. It happened with The Weeknd and seems like it happened with Lana Del Rey too.

36. "TQM" by Fuerza Regida

You know I would've joked about how this song correlates with TQG but this song is generic enough even by corrido standard that I just ehhhhhhhhh.

89. "Amagura" by Karol G

I think I might like this song more than half of Manana Sera Bonito. It all came down to the vocal melody which is very nice indeed.

90. "Bite Me" by ENHYPEN

You know my friend actually love this band. So this is a perfect opportunity for me to listen to their sound. I would say that they're doing the ITZY sound but doing it 80%.

93. "America Has A Problem" by Beyonce ft. Kendrick Lamar

It's kinda nice to hear Beyonce paying homage to early southern rap with the Kilo samples. And Kendrick Lamar always love to experiment his flow with his features and this one is no different. I wish both of them have a better chemistry tbh.

100. "Mourning" by Post Malone

NOW THIS IS WHAT I WANT MISERABLE EMO POSTY TO SOUND LIKE. No but seriously if the next album sounds like this song, I think it's gonna be as great as Hollywood's Bleeding.

169. "Vagabundo" by Sebastian Yatra, Manuel Turizo & Beele

I wonder what would come after reggaeton if and when the genre will become unpopular. Seems like it's gonna be either merengue, bachata, or regional mexican sound. Honestly I would love more merengue that sounds like this.

174. "69" by Nicky Jam X Feid

Why does this song sounds like it sampled Your Mines Still by Yung Bleu? Also I think I can say that I am sick of Feid. He's very bland and his success baffled me even more than Peso Pluma this year.

182. "Novo Balanco" by VEIGH

Speaking of rising trend, I think Brazilian trap music will be the next trend worldwide I'm predicting it now.

187. "The Best" by Tina Turner

Rest in Power Tina Turner.

I highly recommend everyone to listen to these songs.

[crystalblazefire]

my thoughts after watching eternals for the 2nd time:

visual effects are fuckin cool and the music is so epic like it gives me goosebumps every time i see the intro where they land on earth

ikaris was sus af the whole time ig i was too distracted by the deviants when i watched it for the first time lmao

thena and gilgamesh's relationship is gonna make me cry (i only saw their relationship as a platonic one but i can see how people could interpret it to be romantic now)

the more i think about it the deviant subplot felt underused like i thought it was going somewhere but then the deviant just....died and i'm here like, Bruh™

i love dane whitman he's so adorable and i absolutely cannot wait to see more of him someone let that man become a giraffe

kingo is comedic gold, i love the levity he brings to the film. would've been nice if he were in the final act though, mostly bc his decision to fall back felt kinda...weird and out of place

the scene where makkari finds the emergence point is still the most epic scene ever the rush i felt while watching it was sublime

i wish makkari was more developed as a character

they really just forgave sprite for stabbing sersi?? like come on bro lol sprite doesn't even apologize? (ok it might have happened offscreen but still i feel like the "Hey I Can Make You Into A Human" development was pretty sudden lmfao)

i thought druig said "the beautiful makkari" back in babylon but it turns out he said "my beautiful makkari" so technically they've been together longer than ikaris and sersi have 💀

druig really isn't as much of a grouch as i thought and as people make him out to be - he's a lil shit but he cares a lot about his family and he stands behind them (him reassuring sersi and phastos dude...) that shit makes me Cry

phastos's family is beautiful and i love the scene at the end where the eternals are just hanging out on their couch and interacting with phastos's son, please i want more domestic! eternals content where it's literally just jack and his Cool Immortal Aunts and Uncles

speaking of domestic! eternals ajak's unconditional love for her family is a real tearjerker

i noticed druig is almost always munching on something in the domo and i find it hilarious idk why

also. druig wearing a sleeveless shirt & wielding a shotgun...hello yes 911 i'd like to report a robbery. the victim? my heart

can you tell i'm a druig simp

drukkari still owns all of my brain cells

[zozophoenixxx]

Serotonin Booster :D🐉

How to train your dragon edition

Here are some things I had forgotten or little details I just noticed on my rewatch, maybe even Unpopular Opinions 🤭👀

✨Defenders of Berk✨

Not Astrid being pissed bc Fishlegs called her mean lmaooo

OMGGG "I would never call my father ridiculous. I'm calling my chief ridiculous" THE POWER OF THIS SCENE

The way Toothless just sat to look at the sunset.. Me too bby me too 🥺

Toothless and Thornado's shots combined was amazing!

"The first rule about the dragon flight club is that there is no dragon flight club"

Istg Meatlug and Fishlegs are made for each other

Baby whispering deaths!

OMG THEY JUST CAME UP WITH GRONCKLE IRON

I love seeing the origin of things ☺️

Wowww I just realized that Gobber has a unibrow

Sandstone makes glass

That shiny black rock makes another shiny black Rock, it also has Meatlug boiling

WOW a combination of multiple rock makes Meatlug a magnet

The way Hookfang pays more attention to Fishlegs than Snotlout is funny

Fishlegs on Toothless!!!!

"TOO MUCH FURY, TOO MUCH FURY!" JAHDHDHAH

Awwww love how Fishlegs feels happy abt being needed

DAGUR'S BACK AHH

I never understood why Dagur called Hiccup his brother but it's kinda funny

Young hiccup actually fighting is pretty badass and that shield 🥴

The way they were all trying to get Gobber to shower lmaooo

Gobber saved Gustav's life and Fishleg saved Astrid's

Am I the only one that finds the whispering deaths kinda funny, like yes they're scary but these mfs have tiny wings, a big ass head, are covered in spines and can't see like-

Newly hatched whispering deaths can be more deadly that adults bc they can't control their jaws or spines

WOW WOW WOWWWW A WHITE WHISPERING DEATH - Titanwing whispering death with red eyes OMG NO NO THIS IS THE SCREAMING DEATH I KNEW IT ‼️‼️

Wow but the pain in Snotlout's eyes 🥺

Monstrous nightmares are stoker-class dragons

Fireworms get brighter the closer they get to each other

Ohhhhh now I get the history behind Hookfang and the fireworms queen's connection

"You're not just another sword, Hookfang"

Awww the fireworm queen saved Hookfang, I ship them now JSHDHSHS

BABY ASTRID!! 🥺🥺🥺 AWWW

Flightmare - follows the glowing algae caused by Aurvandil's fire, sprays a paralyzing mist to those who it considers a threat to its survival

Aurvandil's fire = Aurora Borealis

YES ASTRID BEAT SNOTLOUT UP

Hiccup: Well, you know, Astrid, uh, training dragons isn't the only thing I think about.

Astrid: Are you actually saying that to me with a straight face?

JAHSHAHAJAJ I SWEAR I LOVE THESE TWO the way both of them said these lines I can't ✋🏼😂

The way she said the exact same thing as her uncle and even took on the name I-

I have this headcanon that bc I'm pretty sure Astrid's parents were barely mentioned in the shows or movies that her uncle was the person that was there for her the most which is another reason why it upset her to see people making fun of him

Why does whenever Astrid gets shot by a dragon she always tries to hit it off like her axe is a baseball bat? 😂

Hiccup saving Astrid in the flightmare ep🥺🥺🥺🥺

GLOWY TOOTHLESS AND GLOWY STORMFLY AND GLOWY MEATLUG ARE ADORABLE

Awww I love how Hiccup makes sure to mention the fact that "Fearless Fin Hofferson was indeed fearless, just like all the Hoffersons" 🥺🥺🥺 STOP AND THEN SHE SMILES AND HE PROCEEDS TO PUT HIS HAND ON HER SHOULDER I-🥴🥴🥴

I love how they're always interrupted whenever they're about to say a bad word

Lil terrible terrors are adorable 🥺

The fact that what they were trained for was actually useful it's crazy

Astrid: "no one is kissing me on the lips ever!!" HHSHAHAH ASTRID WHY U LYING

I feel like we don't appreciate how smart Hiccup actually is, and I don't mean that dragon-wise or building stuff-wise I mean in general. I'm in ep9 and they're finding old dragon traps to get rid of them and there was a lil breeze and he was like "there's a dry hot wind coming in from the north. It hasn't rained in 2 months. This is definitely fire weather." like how- am I the only one that would've been like okok a nice warm breeze 😩

Dude the typhoomerangs are so scary and huge wtf

I KNEW HE WAS TORCH

Torch actually built a lil relationship with Tuff just for that but of time I love it

WE'RE FINALLY GONNA SEE THE SKRILL!! I love it it's one of my favorite dragons :D

I never understood why fishlegs says his name when he's excited

Skrills - The skrill was first found frozen, it's the symbol of the Berserkers, it can stay safely frozen for decades because of their internal body temperature, can't redirect any lightning if it's in the water 😳

Y'all the skrill and the nightfury have gotta be related somehow, they're probably like cousins or sum. I mean the night fury is the "unholy offspring of lighting and death" and the skrill can control lightning AND TECHNICALLY TOOTHLESS CAN TOO REMEMBER HTTYD 3 + they also have similar physical characteristics at least Imo.

Dude this dragon is so badass 😌🤩🥰😩🥴❣️🤍🤝 I'm literally so obsessed

Wow one of the first times I see the twins actually doing sum useful

The way the shots combine🥴

Dagur has misophonia - condition where people experience intense negative emotions for sounds such as eating, chewing, loud breathing or even repeated pen-clicking [ep11]

Oh wow so they originally trapped the skrill in this show i didn't know

Wait but baby Gustav is actually adorable wtf and the fact that he and Snotlout have matching Viking hats

OMG SEE NOW I'M SEEING GUSTAV'S ORIGIN WITH HIS DRAGON AND HIS DESIRE TO BECOME A RIDER

Fanghook🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

Ruff puts fish oil on her hair to get "a greasy unwashed look"

Really hate when Snotlout doesn't accept no for an answer

THE HAND THING AHHHH I LOVE IT this time is Ruff and a scauldron

Ok guys so I did this with mi friend's puppy who I accidentally scared enough to make him piss himself and I'm pretty sure I traumatized him and now when I'm around the poor dog tries to get as far away from me as possible but one day we were kinda bonding although he still wouldn't let me pet it AND I DID THE HAND THING BECAUSE WHY NOT AND THIS LIL MF ACTUALLY PUTS HIS FACE IN MY HAND- I screamed and he left again🥺😂 BUT IT DID WORK

Scauldy🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥰😌☺️🤩🤍

Ok but ruffnut with short hair 🤩

Speedstingers

Also the way Astrid ran up to Hiccup in the ep14

Wait but the scene whenever they're fighting the Speedstingers and Fishlegs says they're too fast but Hiccup's like "not for a nightfury" and then they show Toothless dodging the Speedstinger's attack AND THEN THEY SHOW HICCUP PROTECTING HIMSELF WITH HIS SHIELD WHICH GETS THROWN AWAY BUT RIGHT THERE TOOTHLESS CATCHES IT AND THROWS IT BACK TO HICCUP who's like "Thanks bud" 🤩🤩🤩 literally so badass go watch it!! It's ep14 frozen min 17:40

I really liked the relationship Snotlout and Astrid created with each other's dragon 🥺

HOOKFANG'S WINGBLAST AND STORMFLY'S SINGLE-SPINESHOT ARE HELLA BADASS... I love how they worked together this time 🥺

DUDE JAHDHSJAJJJSA ppl really underestimate Ruff's cleverness, this bish really gets Tuff to do the dumbest things just to enjoy looking at him hurting himself JAHDHSJAH😂

TOOTHLESS REALLY JUST BIT AN EEL'S HEAD OFF TO SAVE HICCUP🥺

Baby toothless is high🥺

"Uh, okay. That one was a little close to the one good leg" JAHDHAHSHA ISTG I LOVE THIS DUDE

Johan hates Snotlout for breaking his stuff

Tuff got Macey the Mace from Trader Johan

Astrid looks hot without her shoulder pads

Ok but Dagur looks so weird without his viking hat in this show

The baby thunderdrums are adorable - BING BAM AND BOOM

NOOO STOICK JUST LEFT THORNADO 🥺

OHHH SO ALVIN WAS ACTUALLY FROM BERK and he was Stoick's best friend

Snotlout and Hiccup are parallels of Alvin and Stoick

Ok but that trick Snotlout did was amazing, he really had Hookfang do a lil typhoomerangs move and then the wingblast🤩

I FINISHED IT OMG NOW ONTO RTTE!!

[no-psi-nan]

Extra Love Stories of Psychics Volume 2

Experimental Censored Edition

Chapter 4: A Lacy Day In

Aiura has hella cramps but she's being so brave about it, because there's no way she's gonna miss out on today's big date with Kusuo! Especially not when it seems like he's in the mood to smooch... 👀

Full chapter on AO3. T-rated version below the cut. More info about the Experimental Censored Edition here.

Censored content: Toned down descriptions of french kissing

[Are you okay, Mikoto?]

[I heard you thinking about pain…?]

"Oh, hey babe! Aww, you look so worried! It's okay Kusuo, I just woke up with killer period cramps today, criiinge…"

[Oh. Umm.]

[I can restore you.]

"I super appreciate the offer, but this would just come back tomorrow!"

[Ah.]

[Good grief… ]

"I guess you could technically keep restoring me over and over??"

[Hey. You lost your chance at eternal youth when you helped me stop the volcano.]

"Haha yeah!! I'm not interested in eternal youth anyways, I want to be a MILF!"

[Pffft. Haha.]

[Okay, I wasn't expecting that.]

"I made you laugh before our date already?? Already feeling better, hell yeah!!"

[Are you really okay to go on our date?]

"Wellll… I know I totes promised a super sexy breakfast before we hit the shops, but it does take like an hour for the painkillers to kick in, y'know?"

[Painkillers?]

[…Oh, that must be medicine, right?]

[The little pills.]

"LMFAOOO yes babe!! I love that you're just a little out of touch with humanity, it's such a mood!"

[Seriously?]

"Yeah! You kinda grew up as a god, so you missed out on some pretty basic human stuff. But that just means that I get to share a new experience with you! And I even get to see it with fresh eyes myself! Like, you're right, it IS whack that people can put lil healing spells in powder balls you swallow! Isn't that amazing??"

[It really is.]

"So like, dw, I'll take my meds and we can get brunch instead, what do you think?"

[Hmmm. Won't that make us late for the movie?]

"Nah, we totes can just skip the shopping. We'll go another time."

[What a pain, I know you were looking forward to shopping.]

[ …We can go tomorrow.]

"Awwwww, really?? Are you sure, Kusuo? We're already going to be out all day, and I know you need to have your chillaxing time!"

[I seriously don't mind shopping too much if it's with you.]

"Awwwww, come here come here come here!!"

[Hehehe… mmm… ]

"You're the sweetest, fr fr!! Love you, Kusuo~!"

[Love you too… ]

[ …Actually, I'm surprised you didn't see this coming.]

"That's valid lmao! Actually, I have a policy about not getting too many spoilers for my day lol. Like, yeah, I'll check for any danger I oughta watch out for every morning, and I'll pull a couple of random fortunes just in case, but otherwise I'd rather go with the flow, y'know? I've actually tried, like, previewing my whole day before and every time it literally sucks so bad. When you know everything that's gonna happen, it's all just kind of a bummer. Even when good things happen, I already knew they were coming, so it just isn't the mood lifter it would normally be. And I seriously felt like watching my day beforehand actually altered my day from what it would've been in a weird way. Fucked up my quantum state cuz I kept observing it, I guess!"

[Good grief… ]

[I've never thought of that before. It surprisingly makes sense.]

"Also there are like normal ways of knowing where you are on your period cycle but I admit I've been hella slacking on that end lol. It's just not as critical when you're not running the risk of pregnancy lmaooooo. If we ever get frisky, then I'll start worrying about it again then. Though… couldn't you technically restore me if I…?"

[Uhh… ]

[ … ]

[I've never– ]

[ … ]

[Theoretically… yes??]

"LMFAOOOOO I'm so sorry to give you a pop quiz before breakfast, babe, omg. Don't you worry about a thing, ya girl's always on birth control for health reasons anyways lol!"

[ …"birth control"…?]

"Omg, do you not know about birth control, babe?"

[ … ]

"Awww, lmao don't look so concerned~ There's a buncha types of birth control that stop ppl from getting preggers! The kind I have is the patch and it's a little sticker I usually have on my lower belly!"

[Ah… That's what it is.]

[What a pain, I thought it was just another sticker for decoration… ]

"LMFAO, not an unreasonable guess!! Nah it's actually meds lol~ I swap it once a week and it's soooo much easier than having to take pills daily at like the exact same time, y'know? It's not like we've fooled under the waist yet and you've gotta wear your gloves anyways, so I figured the patch wouldn't be getting in the way lmao."

[ …No, it really isn't.]

[I didn't know medicine could be on a sticker. Humanity can seriously be amazing… ]

"Ikr? But come on, let's get a little coffee at least while my uterus decides to take it easy~!"

[What a pain… I'm glad I don't have one of those.]

__________

"How're you sooo good at making lattes, babe?? You could srsly be a barista~!"

[No way. I've heard the thoughts of enough baristas to know better.]

"Hahaha, valid lol! …Hmmm… So like, what are you leaning towards, rn? Career-wise, I mean?"

[ … ]

[Good grief. I don't know.]

[Something where I can avoid standing out, I guess.]

[Maybe an office job… ]

"Boooringgg! I don't want to see my poor Kusuo locked up in a cubicle farm with a billion depressed nine-to-fivers, oof!"

[Do you have any better ideas?]

"Hmmm… Actually, yes! You should be my househusband~! I'll take care of bringing home the dough for my bae~!"

[Heh. Seriously??]

"Why not~? Gender roles are literally sooo passé and it's not like I shouldn't be able to afford it, y'know? Plus, if Aketoumi ends up living with us, then it'll be even more comfy money-wise lol. Economies of scale babyyy!!"

[ … ]

[That… does sound really good… ]

[Not having to hide my powers all day… ]

[ … ]

[I'll think about it. But I'm still getting a degree, good grief… ]

"Fair enough lol~! Ya gotta make your mama proud~ Plus, if you drop out, we won't get to live together like this and it's been sooo much fun!!"

[Yes. I feel the same way.]

[ … ]

[I already wish we could all live close together like this in the future… ]

"Hahaha, moooood~! Hey, who knows, maybe Saiko will have another complex ready for us by then, lmao! I'm totes down for being part of his extended friendship harem LOL!"

[What a pain… ]

[I've already heard a few of his guards thinking about us like that… ]

"REALLY?? LMFAOOOOO!"

[Seriously not sure how I feel about being considered part of a harem… ]

[ … ]

[What's that?]

[More birth control?]

"Oh, this? Nah, it's more like a funky little sticker you put on your lower tummy and it heats up to soothe your muscles! Heat really helps with the cramps and it's gonna start working faster than the pills, y'know? Want to make double sure I'm good to go for our date later today~!"

[Hmm… ]

[I can heat your muscles directly with pyrokinesis.]

"Whaaat?? For realsies??"

[Yes.]

"That is… so freaky, ngl… But hey, I'll try almost anything once, let's gooooo!"

[Good grief. Should I be worried about why you said 'almost' anything?]

"Hahaha, no worries babe~!"

[Well… If you say so… ]

[Give me a few seconds to get a good look at what I'm heating.]

"UGH… GROSS… I'm so fucking sorry you have x-ray vision, I would literally die if I had that!!"

[Don't be sorry. You're actually the picture of good health.]

[Well. Except for your skeleton.]

[It's healed incredibly well, but you can still see the impact of the truck.]

"4 REAL?? How is that [the picture of good health]??"

[You don't even want to imagine the sorts of things I've seen. Seriously.]

"Yikes yikes yikes yikes yikes!! No fucking thanks!! Sometimes I get a little bit jelly of your powers but then– Oooohhhh god, that feels gooood…"

[Better?]

"Yesssss… okay I'm back to being mad jelly of your pyrokinesis, this is literally SOOOOO much better, I could french you so good rn!!"

[ … ]

"Mmm, that's just the perfect temperature right there, babe~! Could you keep it just that hot without having to like stand around staring at my tummy for an hour lmao?"

[What a pain, I usually need to see what I'm heating.]

"Couldn't you make your hand super toasty and press your hand over here? Not like, AS good as the direct heating you're doing rn but the painkillers should start kickin' in soon anyways!"

[Yes. I can do that.]

[We can sit on the couch and watch something on TV until you're ready.]

"That sounds ballerrrr! Oh– and you're even offering your lap?? HELL yeah!! I get to be all cozy with my Kusuo~! …Mmmm, your hand is nice and toasty~ Ohhh, that's the ticket, I feel soooo much better already~!"

[Heh. I'm glad.]

[ …I seriously don't mind doing this any time you need it.]

"Good to know~! Def gonna take you up on that offer sometime cuz getting cuddled by my bae with a toasty hand on my tummy is obviously the super best way to deal with cramps, for realsies!!"

[Happy to help.]

"Goshhh, I wish I could brag to all my friends about you~! Like obvs I can't mention the psychic powers yadda yadda, but like even just to say how sweet you are as a bf! And I totes understand keeping the deets on the down low for our homies here, cuz yeah, it would be pretty awk to hear ppl thinking about you like that! Especially cuz half the building has had a crush on you at SOME point lmaooooo. But sometimes I just wanna shout from the rooftops how much I love you, y'know? And it would be cool to be able to gush to a bestie without embarrassing you lol. Maybe I could vague-blog about you on a side account lmao?"

[ … ]

["Vague-blog"??]

"Oh, that means posting about smth or someone on social media but like without naming names lmao."

[ … ]

[I'd really rather not be on social media.]

[But… ]

[It's not fair to you either, to have no one to talk to, good grief… ]

[Is there someone… who doesn't live here that you could talk to?]

[I don't mind it if you tell a stranger everything about us. Except the ESP obviously.]

[It would just be seriously embarrassing to encounter someone thinking about me like that… ]

"Really?? What if I told one of my old besties who moved to America? She headed out in middle school so she doesn't know anybody from P.K. at all, plus she'll basically never be around town cuz all her family moved out there too! I could even like use code names since some of our names here are kinda unique lmao."

[That sounds like a great compromise.]

[ … ]

[I should be the one shouting from the rooftops about what a great girlfriend you are, good grief… ]

[Even though you have so many friends and love to talk, you've been so discreet for my sake… ]

"A good fortune teller has to know how to keep stuff in confidence~ But for realsies, I know you're a private guy, so no worries! I'll keep the hot gossip to my homegirls away from home~!"

[Thank you, Mikoto. I seriously appreciate it.]

"Ehehehehe~! Mmmm~! Y'know, I do prefer you using your mouth to kiss me like this than shouting from the rooftops tbh~ With your hand on my tummy, and your chest to my back and your lips on my neck, I literally feel like a queen~ I promise I'll return the favor later, babe~"

[ …Heh. I'm glad.]

[ … ]

[ …You said you could "french" me.]

"Hmmm? Oh yeah, I did say that earlier lol. Like French kissing, y'know? With tongue!"

[I know that much, good grief.]

[ … ]

[I guess I've never tried it before.]

"Do you want to? Try it, I mean?"

[ … ]

[I don't know. It seems… ]

[ … ]

[It seems a little… ]

"Lmao, you can say [gross]! It does seem kinda messy from an outsider pov, lol. You're always so neat and tidy, so I've never tried for sloppy makeouts with you because I figured you might not be into it!"

[ … ]

[But you enjoy it, right?]

"Well, yeah. It's hella different when you're fired up and doing the making out vs watching two strangers get their mack on! Something about the vibe makes it super hot instead of super nasty lol. Hormones are wild yo!!"

[What a pain. It still sounds bizarre.]

"Well, you know I'd be more than happy to help if you ever wanted to try it~ No pressure tho, I'm perfectly happy kissing your cute face when we cuddle~!"

[Hmmm… ]

[ … ]

"Hehehe, you really do want to try, don't you~?"

[ …How can you tell?]

"You give off a different vibe when you're asking something for my benefit or when you're actually curious about it yourself~! But you know I don't want to do anything you're not totes comfy with or ready to try, so it's really up to you to tell me when you want to try something new!"

[That's fair. I do seriously appreciate it.]

[ … ]

[So can we try… kissing… with tongue?]

"Hehe, absolutely~! I'm guessing you wanna give it a go right now, huh~?"

[ …yes.]

"Oooh, a little eager, ain'tcha~? But first we gotta get in the right mood~! The difference between mack and wack is all vibes, y'know? Lemme turn around~"

[Alright… ]

Once she's settled comfortably on his lap Aiura leans in to press a soft kiss onto his mouth. Before Saiki can figure out what to do next, she's already moved on, trailing gentle kisses up his cheek.

His eyes drift shut as she sweeps her lips over as much of his face as she can reach with his glasses in the way. She peacefully covers his face with little kisses, her thoughts hazy and happy as Saiki hums with delight.

"Kusuo, Kusuo, Kusuo~" she sings, toying with the chain around his neck, and he can't resist leaning forward to kiss her back, relishing how her giggles tickle his lips.

Once she has her fill of little kisses, she curls her hands gently around his cheeks, her thumbs tracing just under the bottom edge of his glasses. Saiki starts to sweat, unwilling to lose sight of her gorgeous green irises as they look into each other's eyes.

"Love you," she whispers, caressing his face. "Tell me if you're uncomfy with anything, okay?"

[I will. Love you too… ]

His broadcast is full of jittery, eager energy she can feel in her marrow, and she smiles, fond and grateful that he trusts her with this first experience. She presses another gentle kiss onto his mouth, thumbs stroking sweetly at his cheeks. He startles, but doesn't retreat, his cheeks flushing a bright pink under her thumbs.

[Feels… feels good… ]

With the ring on his finger, Saiki can't hear her answering thoughts, but her eyes crinkle with amusement. She kisses his mouth again. One of her hands slips up his neck to comb affectionately through his hair, and his eyelids droop with pleasure behind his glasses.

[Mmm… ]

The vibe of his psychic broadcast has settled into a sensual fizz, and Aiura grins, knowing he's ready for a little experimentation. She kisses his mouth affectionately once more, then starts kissing him a little deeper. His eyes widen and he freezes, unfamiliar with the sensation. She only hums approvingly against his lips and keeps playing with his hair, until he relaxes, closes his eyes, and opens his mouth a little more for her.

That's her cue to tilt her head and kiss him more. He's clearly uncertain of what he should be doing with another tongue in his mouth, but the way he's carefully tugging her closer to his chest proves that he's enjoying it. She pulls away for breath and he leans in automatically, following her mouth, then pauses when he realizes what he's doing, and flushes a dark pink.

"Ehehehe, Kusuooo~! You liked that huh~?"

[ …yes… ]

[ … ]

[ …you were right. It's seriously different to watch it and to do it… ]

[But good grief… what am I supposed to do when you kiss me like that…?]

"Weeelllll… There's an easy way I can show you~!"

[ …yeah?]

"Yeah~! Just kiss me back and I'll show you how it's done~!"

[ …what a pain, you've only shown me one example and you want me to try it on my own.]

[I'm not convinced that you're a good teacher.]

"LOL true!! But dw babe, I'm not grading you! I promise I've suffered through way worse kisses than any you could do!"

[How do you know that?]

[ESP…?]

"Lmaooo, nahhh! It's just that I'm super into you, so you basically get a +5 bonus on making out~! So like, don't worry about technique or whatever, just do what feels right~ And I see that look– I'll tap your shoulder if you're accidentally hurting me or whatever. I get that you're still totes nervous about your strength, and like it's def a good practice to set up easy ways to communicate consent etc, but you've been super good about holding back and I'm proud of you~!"

[ …thank you.]

[ … ]

[I'm going to kiss you now.]

[Er… French kiss you. Now.]

"Hehehe, plzzzzz do~!"

[Good grief… ]

He approaches her nervously and hesitates, then turns his face to plant a soft kiss on her collarbone. She smiles as he covers her shoulder with sweet kisses, tilting her head to give him room and relaxing into the affection. He slowly works his way up her throat, his jitters soothed by her quiet hums and sighs of bliss.

[Mmmm… ]

He treats her cheek to several plush kisses, then presses his lips against hers with hardly any hesitance, and she tilts her head welcomingly so their noses won't bump together. Encouraged, he carefully mimics how she'd kissed his mouth.

[Mikoto… ]

They kiss deeply for a while, playfully taking turns exploring each other's mouths.

Then she taps his shoulder and he immediately disengages, worry written loudly on his face.

[Are you alright?]

"Y-yeah! Not, not hurt, just– wooo! Just catching my breath…!"

[Oh.]

[Oh.]

[I forgot that normal people can't hold their breath for very long, what a pain… ]

"Hahaha, I was breathing thru my nose but like, a girl still needs more oxygen than that after a while lmao."

[Ah.]

[Wait, so did I do it right…?]

"Oh hell yeah, that was literally a godtier first frencher, daaang! You're going to be devastating the heck out of me with your kisses soon enough~! And the way you say my name or make happy sounds in my head, plus your psychic broadcast?? It's like constant consent check-ins and it's soooo hot knowing just how into it you are?? LITERALLY obsessed… I might have to start tapping out for swooning purposes, omg!!"

[ …you're exaggerating.]

[But this is… fun. I wouldn't mind trying it again.]

"Is that so~? Then how about we kiss a little more rn~?"

[ …I wouldn't be opposed… ]

Her eyes sparkle and she wraps her arms happily around his neck, pressing a whirlwind of little butterfly kisses on Saiki's face. He laughs breathlessly with delight, and as soon as she slows her assault, he returns the volley, pressing slower, sweeter kisses onto her face and neck.

Their lips find each other after a while, and they kiss deeply again, this time taking little breaks for breath. They enjoy increasingly heated kisses, until his glasses start to slip down his nose. They yelp, both rushing to push it back up.

[What a pain… I almost petrified you…!]

"…yeah. Um. Most ppl take off their glasses when making out, tho it's obvs not that easy in your case…"

[Good grief… ]

"Uhh… Sooo like, don't feel pressured or w/e but you know how a girl likes to be prepared?"

[Uh oh.]

[Good grief.]

[What is it?]

"Wellllll… The other day I was kinda thinking about how your glasses would be mega uncomfy for kisses and other fun stuff you might want to try later on… And I think I have a fix? But idk if it'll actually work unless we try it?"

[You have a fix for my petrification that doesn't involve glasses?]

"Ummm, I think so? Uh… Well, basically, you said you have to cover your eyes with something to stop your Medusa gaze, but it doesn't have to be glass exactly, right? Just something not alive. So I figured, how about a blindfold?"

[A blindfold? Seriously??]

"Kusuo, you literally have x-ray vision lmao. And a blindfold can be comfier and fit against your face better than glasses, right? Plus since they're tied on, it's harder for them to slip off even if you're in a weird position!"

[Hmmm… ]

"Wait, that was just my first idea tho. Cuz I didn't really like the thought of not getting to see your pretty purple eyes when we kiss… So I wondered, what if there was some sorta transparent blindfold we could use? And then I realized that sheer fabrics are a thing! And that they should probably work to cover your eyes just enough to stop your power, but like still be almost totally see-through~!"

[That actually sounds like a good idea… ]

[But it would be a pain to test it. I don't want to turn you into stone.]

"Awww! Yeah, I thought you might feel that way lol. I figured maybe we could try with some bugs from the pet store? But like, I wasn't about to keep a bunch of crickets in my closet indefinitely to see if you might want to try my experimental makeout solution, lmfaooo!"

[Ugh, yikes.]

[Good grief. I'd suggest borrowing Nendo's hamster, but I think it would hurt his feelings.]

"Okay yeah I'd feel bad turning someone's pet into stone lol. Like 'whoops, my bad?'. Oof! I mean, I'm pretty sure my idea will work but I'm not like 💯, ya feel?"

[ … ]

[Oh! There are some squirrels that nest in the tree outside Touma-kun's bedroom. They won't notice if they miss a day.]

"Good idea babe! If you accidentally stone one, we can totes just bring it inside until it turns back so it doesn't run the risk of falling out of the tree, right?"

[Exactly.]

"Perf!! So I'm gonna go grab my lil stash of sheer fabrics, and you're gonna meet me in Aketoumi's room with your germanium ring on and without peeking into my 'just in case' box, okay?"

[ … ]

[What a pain. I won't look.]

"Awesome~! But before I go grab that, I do want to make out just a little more if you don't mind~!"

[I do not.]

"Perf, cuz you still taste a teensy bit like coffee rn and I'm suuuper digging it~!"

[Good grief… ]

__________

"Okay, so like here are the softest, sheerest fabrics I've been able to get my hands on! I've got nylon, voile, chiffon, silk organza, batiste, a bit of silk gauze, tulle…"

[These look expensive… ]

"Dw dw, I've been collecting these for a while and just getting little bits n pieces to test~"

[Seriously? How long have you been working on this??]

"Ehehehe, dw lmao! ANYWAYS, why don't you give em a try? I can help you tie on the fabrics if you like~"

[Thank you, but no.]

[It would be a pain if I accidentally caught sight of you.]

[Even if I only saw your hand, you would be petrified!]

"Aight, fair enough lol. Time to check out some squirrels, huh?"

[Let's see if your theory works… ]

[ … ]

[No petrification!]

"SRSLY?? HELL YEAHHH!!!"

[Let's try this next cloth… ]

[ … ]

[This one works too!]

[ … ]

[These all work!]

"YAY!!! That's literally so swag, any of these should be way more comfy for making out than your glasses~!"

[Wait, there's one piece left in here… ]

[Is this… Lace??]

"Haha, yeah! Not exactly as soft or sheer as the other fabrics but like… it would be soooo hot, y'know?? Tbh I don't think it'll work cuz it's got lotsa lil holes in it, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to try~!"

[ …Fair enough.]

"Oh wow…! I was right, that is suchhh a look!!! Even just a side view so you don't risk stoning me… Wowowowowow!! Kusuo, wouldya mind snapping a mirror selfie of this one?? I need this pic in my life!!"

[Seriously…?]

[Alright.]

[B. R. B. As you say.]

"OMG??"

[[ ( Teleport ) ]]

"Gooooooshhhh… What a man… Literally just went to the bathroom next door, but the drama… Oh hey, he sent a pic– OFFU!!! Hot DAMN… Literally begging the universe to let the lace work so I can make out with him like that, PLS!!!!!"

[Heh. Let's see if the universe is feeling generous.]

"Squirrels stay soft, squirrels stay soft, squirrels stay soft, PLEASE–"

[[ ( Ah fuck. ) ]]

"NOOOOO–"

[[ ( Telekinesis ) ]]

"Damnit… SIGH… Life-size squirrel statue and no lace…"

[What a pain… ]

[But hey… the other fabrics worked.]

[I could wear one of those underneath the lace.]

"You rly wouldn't mind??"

[No.]

[Here. Silk and lace. I'll just layer them together.]

"Wait, I actually have one more trick lmao! I got these lil gold beads n stuff to tie onto the ends of the blindfolds if they worked out. So they can match your glasses in value and you can apport em anytime for makeouts~!"

[Very clever… ]

[ … ]

[You've thought about this a lot, haven't you?]

"Ehehehe… Well… A girl can hope!!"

[Heh.]

[Good job.]

[Once you finish preparing that blindfold, I'd like to make out again.]

"HELL YEAH, you don't have to tell me twice!! Ummm, ummm, here's the receipt for this bit of lace & here's for the silk & here's for your glasses & here's for the beads… Like what… G = L + S + xB, solve for x… Ummm… Wait, the value of the blindfold can be anywhere within 10% of the value of the glasses… Can't BELIEVE I've gotta do math to make out with my bae hsfjdlshfks… I guess three gold beads would do it, but that would be uneven?? What if I like replace a gold bead with some cheaper ones? AUGH that means MORE math… Cuz x has to be a whole number divisible by 2… Girl help, WTF…"

[Hehehehehe… ]

"SMH laugh it up… What if two glass beads, a jade bead, and a gold bead on each side… …Okay, I think this is it! Give 'er a spin, Kusuo~!"

[[ ( Apport ) ]]

[ !!! ]

[Perfect…!]

[Good job, Mikoto!!]

"Ehehehe~! Thank you babe~! And dang… you look sooooo good with that pretty silk and lace on~ Espesh since I can see your gorgeous purple eyes like this when I lean in close~!"

[Kiss me then… ]

She did, with pleasure. This time her eyes stayed open, peering into the violet depths of his eyes behind the delicate whorls of thread. This close, the lace filled her vision, and she could pretend it was a wedding veil. With his ring on, he couldn't read her mind, but he must have felt some of her enthusiasm nonetheless, because he was broadcasting love and joy on every wavelength as he held her close and kissed her back.

[Mmmm…~ ]

[ … ]

[What's that beeping sound…?]

"Mmmmm~? Hm? Oh shit, that's my alarm! It's telling us to wrap up shopping and go meet everyone at the movies, rip. Oof, we didn't actually eat anything, did we??"

[Ah. What a pain… ]

"Urgh, def not enough time to cook or eat out, rip… If we hustle now, we'll barely make it to the movie on time!"

[Wait.]

[[ ( Clairvoyance ) ]]

[ … ]

[We can teleport there and eat at the concession stand.]

[Not the best quality food, but– ]

"Good enough 4 me! We'll just eat something sexier for dinner! Let's gooo~!"

[Wait… ]

[One more kiss…?]

"Ehehehe, you got it~!"

__________

[Alright, the coast is clear. You go out first.]

"Teleportation is sooo convenient lol~! Oh hey Chichi-chipmunk~!"

"Don't call me tha– Wait, what were you doing in that storage closet– SAIKI???"

[Hey.]

"WH– WHY ARE YOU WEARING A BLINDFOLD??"

[ …Ah.]

" …whoopsies lmaooooo…"

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

If you enjoyed this, please let me know in my inbox, in the tags, or in the replies~! It was REALLY hard to censor this one and I didn't even think it needed it originally hsfjdlshfks