#SHORT LENGTH SERIES (8 EPISODES)

[bl-bam-beyond]

LOW FREQUENCY (2023, THAILAND)

Trailer Highlights

Premiere: July 8, 2023

Available on: IQIYI & Possibly YouTube

Genres: Supernatural, Romance & Mystery

Synopsis: Mon is an interior decorator with a special gift he can see spirits. And he doesn't see it as a gift on good days he help his relative who is a star manager. But then he gets involved with Thames, a famous young actor who due to an accident is lying unconscious in a hospital. Not dead but comatose his spirit is off to do what. Until he sees Mon can see him & communicate with him.

It appears this spirit has caught feelings for the one who can see him or will catch feelings.

Not much about this one my MDL but I've heard of it but thought it had a September release date. Official Trailer available on YouTube.

Low Frequency Series YouTube Channel

@pose4photoml @lutawolf have you heard of this one?

[metalheadsforblacklivesmatter]

Don't forget that the Live Action One Piece is covered under the SAG-AFTRA strike. But also this one fact about it covers a huge issue that SAG-AFTRA is fighting against.

Season 1 covers the entire East Blue Saga with about 8 episodes at am hour long. That's 480 minutes of content. (Note 60 minutes is a high estimate because am episode ranges between 49-63 minutes)

The East Blue Saga in the anime is 61 episodes at 20 minutes long each so 1220 minutes of content. (Note 20 minutes is a low estimate as an episode ranges from 22-24 minutes)

Why are these numbers important? Are we about to gripe about them cutting content?

Nah. Back in the day a season was 12 episodes. And them cutting seasons down to 8 episodes causes less job stability for the actors.

If your seasons are only 2/3rds the length of what they used to be, then they only have to pay actors 2/3rd of what they used to and their contracts only last 2/3rds as long. Meanwhile Netflix is going to be making a shitton of money LONG AFTER this comes out especially as the One Piece hype keeps up post Gear 5 and as we're nearing Laughtale.

So what were my numbers for at the beginning? Because there's no reason for the season to be this short. They have PLENTY of content to make a full 12 episode TV show and provide the actors with more job stability like they used to (and actually get them more money). They cut out SO MUCH content just to cheat the actors like this.

This completely aside from the fact that back when episodes were weekly a season was 20-24 episodes that were 30-40 minutes of content. Then when seasons were broken up into 2 parts with series like Walking Dead a season was still 12-16 episodes which also provided a lot more job stability.

(This is not a commentary on shows like Ragnarock which are shot in Norway as Norway has a different TV show season.)

So this cutting out a shitton of content to reduce the length of shows to 8 episodes ESPECIALLY when you have so much content is clearly a ploy to get as much money from the viewers as possible with as short contracts as possible providing employees with far less income per job.

-fae

[absolutebl]

In Strongberry We Trust

I had a private ask about Strongberry recently so here’s some thoughts.

Strongberry is probably the most established KBL studio, they started in high production shorts/microfilms (as, indeed, did all of KBL) and still specialize in them. They also do some GL. They tend to have very good chemistry, work with professional actors (not idols), and will go high heat. They are now a division of Matchbox, and have been around and steadily producing content since 2017. The CEO is adorable. 

For YEARS Strongberry was the only studio reliably producing BL content out of Korea. And, sometimes the kisses were even good! For real... there was a time, not so long ago, when all we really got was KBL shorts and most of those from Strongberry. Dark days. Except for Strongberry shining one bright light of BL content. They are reliable, HEA, and high quality. 

Hence the fandom slogan...

#In Strongberry We Trust

They often pick odd (or underserved) premises but always execute beautifully. Their stuff is either on YouTube, Gaga, or pay to play on Vimeo, and they do move it around so my links might not always still be working. Vimeo earns them the most money. They are a small, struggling, queer-friendly studio, please support them and their content by not pirating or watching illegally. 

Here's my ranking of Strongberry's offerings.

1. A First Love Story

2021 YouTube short in 2 microfilms 

Tropes: childhood friends to lovers, home setting, soft tone, grumpy/sunshine pairing

Strongberry are true masters of their craft and yet A First Love Story is still one of the best things they have ever produced. It’s the only microfilm every to make one of my year end top ten list. It’s two episodes of about 8 minutes each that manage to perfectly portray the sweetest friends-to-lovers confession ever. It’s joyful, and gentle with its characters, and a little hot. How on earth do they manage to leave us yearning for more yet completely satisfied at the same time? It’s like the perfect amuse-bouche, that one finger food at that one cocktail party that you will never forget. You are a ridiculous human if you haven’t spent 16 minutes with these two boys. Go watch it now. Or go watch it again. It’s time VERY well spent.

2. Long Time No See

2017 Gaga KBL length series (total 1.5 hr, some places packaged as a movie)

Tropes: secret love, enemies to lovers, secret identity, assassins, catfishing, mafia, higher heat, grumpy/sunshine pairing 

One of Strongberry’s few longer pieces and I often wonder whether this is strictly BL. It’s about assassins on either side of a terf war who fall in love not knowing they are on opposite sides. Or do they? Good fight sequences, mature characters, high heat, very suspenseful, AND an HEA. If you like KinnPorsche you will LOVE this one.

3. Some More

2018 Gaga microfilm

Tropes: friends to lovers, hyung romance, self acceptance, countryside setting, soft tone, age gap, country boy/city boy

One of my most favorite of Strongberry’s shorts, about a city boy on a bike tour who gets injured and rescued by a taciturn, but (as it turns out) very gay, farmer. Mentions of pride, adorable supportive cousin. SO CUTE with excellent chemistry and featuring tropes I can never get enough of. 

3. Private Lessons

2019 Gaga microfilm

Tropes: student/teacher, jock/nerd, hyung romance, obsession, crush, university setting, May/December, age gap  

Given it is age gap and teacher/student (AKA P’ABL’s catnip) it should rate higher on my list, but the chemistry is slightly off. Stil I do love this one for the dynamic. Certainly worth watching especially if this is one of your fav yaoi tropes.

4. Step For You

2018 Gaga microfilm

Tropes: friends to lovers, sports, university setting, crush, jock/nerd, soft tone

About a reporter from the student newspaper who has to interview an older dancer and falls in love with him. This may not have been my first Strongberry, but it’s the first one I remember watching. 

5. Please Tell Me So

2021 YouTube microfilm (AKA That's My Mr.Right!) 

Tropes: crush, obsession, cafe setting, sunshine/sunshine pairing 

Cute barista (played by Han Hyun Jun star of Love Class) has a crush on his customer, musters up the courage to ask him out. 

6. My Pistachio

2018 Gaga microfilm

Tropes: friends to lovers, crush, hero worship, hyung romance, university setting, play within a play, grumpy/sunshine 

7. As if You Whisper

2019 Gaga movie

Tropes: friends to lovers, self acceptance, music industry setting, grumpy/sunshine pairing

8. Confidential Coffee Break

2021 Vimeo microfilm

Tropes: mature romance, long term relationship, self acceptance, university setting, one act

It’s a monologue piece about two closeted older gay professors discussing changing times and the nature of acceptance (self and others) in modern day South Korean academic environment. 

9. Hold Me

2021 YouTube microfilm

Tropes: friends to lovers, self acceptance, high school setting

10. Sweet Curse 

2021 Gaga short

Tropes: horror, paranormal elements, ghost story, possession, obsession, gay friendship group, everyone wants that one boy, bad/good

This is a low-gore atmospheric horror, with some very high heat. I’m not saying it’s in the top 10 just because of that, but I am saying when Strongberry does high heat it v good and v gay. 

OTHERS

My Personal Trainer - 2019 short Gaga. It v silly and v gay. Influencer has crush on his personal trainer. 

Secret Roommate - 2020 short Gaga, Cohabit, self acceptance, home setting, family, coming out 

Fingers After - 2021 microfilm Vimeo. Cohabit, morning after, home setting, pining, sunshine/tsundere pairing. 

Secret Spectacles - 2017 microfilm Gaga. Very silly again, friends to lovers, paranormal elements, university crush.

Table Manner - 2018 microfilm Gaga. Cohabit, self acceptance, home setting, long term relationship 

The Summer Pasta Recipe - 2021 short YouTube, reunion, self acceptance, grumpy/sunshine.

There my be a few more I don’t know about, MDL doesn't seem to have a sort function for production company. 

NEW! 

Choco Milk Shake 

2022 YouTube KBL length series (total 1.5 hr) 

Tropes: cohabit, F2L, paranormal elements, home setting, soft tones, sunshine/tsundere. 

Two pets, a cat and a dog, reincarnate as humans to visit their old owner. Stongberry gave us a full length BL on YouTube! It’s a BL miracle and an endless delight. It was wonderfully cute, unexpectedly hilarious but expectedly silly, a little too poignant, occasionally gut wrenching and with a somewhat expected weird (but happy-ish) ending. The actors playing the two pets must have had the best time. As, indeed, did I watching it. Jealous Milk made me cackle so hard it scared the actual cat on my lap. Choco was perfectly cast, and the chemistry was ultimately decent. In Strongberry I still trust. Thank you thank you, may we have another, sirs?

Two Other KBL shorts worth checking out:

Just Friends? 

2009 Gaga short 

I consider this one of Korea’s first actual BLs. Boyfriends, one of whom is on military leave, trying to decide on coming out and their future together. Bonus for out gay director and queer activist. 

Being Me 

2018 short Gaga 

A summer of love for two long term besties who have basically always been boyfriends, but when a girl tries to date one of them, they finally realize it. Beautifully filmed and a STELLAR ending kiss. 

(source) 

[cirrus-grey]

From June 9, 2019 to September 23, 2023 I posted something new to my Ao3 account at least once a week, every week (allowing for some deviation between weekend/weekday posting in the early days). From January 25, 2020, I’ve had an update every single Saturday. In total, this has amounted to 219 weeks of content, 299 individual updates, and 204 unique stories (approximately - I think I miscounted somewhere in there).

4 years, 3 months of weekly posting. 3 years, 8 months of Saturday stories.

I’m very glad I’m taking a break, because finding time to post every Saturday has been getting difficult, but it still feels very weird to not be posting something today.

Anyway, I’m very proud of how much I’ve created over the last few years, so I wanted to do a bit of a statistics breakdown because I’m a sucker for hard data:

Per Ao3 sorting here, I’ve posted… 209 stories. Yeah I definitely miscounted. Anyway.

Fandoms:

203 for The Magnus Archives

2 for Discworld

2 for Good Omens TV

1 for Good Omens Book

1 for Skulduggery Pleasant

1 for Malevolent (which was a TMA crossover lol)

A bunch of other fandoms got dragged into the stats because of Vinettes, but I only added TMA stories to that one in the last 4 years.

Of the 203 TMA stories, 6 are multi-chapter longfics, including Yesterday is Here - which kicked off the Saturday posting, and remains my most popular story to date.

Wordcount:

Approximately 819,000.

Which equals about 530 words written per day.

My average story length was about 3,919 words.

If you take the 6 longfics out of that math, the average drops down to 2,623.

2020 had the highest per-year wordcount, at 236,485.

The highest wordcount for a single story was 57,758 for A Matter of Diplomacy.

The lowest wordcount was only 215 for Best Wishes.

You could fit 268.6 Best Wishes into 1 AMoD.

Random:

40 of the oneshots were posted as direct, week-of reactions to TMA S5 episodes, encompassing 19.14% of the total fics.

30 of the oneshots were for the Castaways series, for 14.35% of the total fics.

The 203 TMA fics are 97.13% of the total.

Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist was in slightly more stories (189) than Martin Blackwood (186), but significantly more stories than the next-most common characters, Tim Stoker (32) and Sasha James (26).

Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist was, unsurprisingly, the most common relationship, at 94.26% of the total (197 fics).

My ten most common tags were, in order: Episode Related (65), Fluff (53), Post-Canon (42), Short (41), Post-Episode: e200 Last Words (39), Location: Somewhere Else (29), Canon Asexual Character (27), Season/Series 01 (22), First Kiss (19), and Happy Ending (14), which says a lot about the type of story I like to write and also that I really like tagging when and where things are set.

Jon was still just ‘Jonathan Sims’ when I started this…

‘Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist’ arrived on the scene in May 2020, so 149 (78.84%) of the Jon stories have the long tag, and 40 (21.16%) have the short.

[whimsicallyenchantedrose]

Season 3 Rewatch Drabbles: 3x22 There's No Place Like Home (Part 1)

Summary:  A series of 100-500 word drabbles to accompany my    rewatch of season 3 of Once Upon a Time.  There will be a drabble–either a deleted scene, a “fix it” fic or a character musing for each episode of the season.  Focus will be on Emma, Henry, the Charmings and Killian–with an emphasis on Captain Swan’s epic love story.

Word Count: 484

Other Chapters: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (18) (19) (20) (21) (22) (23) (24) (26) (27) (28)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Notes: I knew there was no way I could stick to just one drabble an episode for the CS movie, so I didn't even try. There will be 2 drabbles for 3x21 and 4 for 3x22. They are all written, so the plan is to post one per day until they're all posted.

With Snow White off to secure reinforcements, Killian was left alone with the younger version of Emma’s father.  There was a long moment of somewhat awkward silence, and Killian couldn’t help but wonder what Emma was enduring at the hands of the queen. The anxiety swelled at the thought. She was in danger, and he was wasting time simply sitting before a fire.  He wanted to be off. Now.  He wanted to find her, to save her.

But he was and had always been a strategic thinker, and he knew Lady Snow’s plan was a good one.  He must content himself with remaining in place and waiting.

Nothing, however, said he must waste the intervening time.  Perhaps he could find a way to steer Charming toward his ultimate destiny.

“Are you excited for your nuptials?” Killian asked casually.

The prince shook his head and smiled self-deprecatingly.  “Hm,” he said, “marrying Midas’s daughter.  What’s not to be excited about?”

“I don’t mean to pry, mate,” Killian said carefully, “but you don’t exactly look like someone who’s doing this by choice.”

David was silent for a moment, staring sightlessly into the fire. “I always thought I’d marry for love, and here I’m about to enter into what amounts to a business transaction, a merger of two kingdoms,” he said. “I don’t know. This whole ordeal makes me wonder if there's even such a thing as true love.”

Prince Charming was questioning the very concept of true love?  Things were even more dire than he’d imagined. 

“I once felt as you did mate,” Killian said, “and all it took was meeting the right person, and everything changed.”

“Princess Leia, the one we’re rescuing?”

Warmth filled Killian as he thought of Emma. “Aye. I’d go to the end of the word for her. Or time.”

“And she for you, I take it?”

Would she?  Would she go to such lengths for him?  He knew she had feelings for him, but she’d been running for so long–running from him, running from her family, running from love.  Would she follow him through a time portal?

Killian chuckled “I don’t know.”

Charming looked surprised at that.  “What’s the problem?”

That was far more than a short, fireside conversation, so Killian merely brushed it aside “There are many complications.”

“Family?” Charming asked. “Because my father is making things quite difficult for me.

“Aye, there’s that,” Killian said, suppressing a grin at the irony of the question. “I’m not so sure her parents approve of me.”

“Given the lengths you’ve gone to to save her, they’d be crazy not too.”

Killian did chuckle.  “I hope you remember that.”

Further conversation came to a halt at the sound of someone approaching.  Killian and Charming got to their feet, their swords drawn and pointed to the potential threat.

It looked like further discussion on the topic of their respective love lives would have to wait.

NEXT CHAPTER->

[mastersoftheair]

ok, so my own final (and very, very fresh) thoughts, bc i wanted to wait until i'd watched everything to make a sweeping opinion of the whole series, and it's quite opinionated. and long. probably too long. i write essays for fun (everyone point and laugh):

my personal (and very, very fresh) ranking of the hbo war shows (not including gen kill bc that's a different war, sorry) goes- band of brothers > masters of the air > the pacific (it's the same for my title score rankings. that hasn't changed yet)

my main points of contention with MotA are 1) the nine episodes, 2) the length of the episodes, and 3) certain editing choices. nine episodes, compared to the classic ten, isn't Nearly enough time to showcase all that they wanna showcase (especially when the episodes are as short as they are, once you get past the recap and "next on" parts). and they wanna showcase A Lot! there so much going on! i'd ask them to pace themselves, but they literally Can't!

i mean, the editing choices are a Whole Thing! practically gives me whiplash sometimes lol. i feel like the weaker episodes still have parts that are Really good, but like. Individually. they don't work together as a stronger whole, which is to the episode's detriment. rather than jumping around (as the show often did), they could've benefited a lot from focusing on the One Story instead of squeezing three more stories into there (i say that, but i think the 4-5-6 episode run (all with multiple stories per episode) did this very well while Still being very good episodes, so it's not like it Can't be done, it just didn't work for 7, 8 and (partly) 9). granted, i suspect a chunk of the weird editing can be blamed on, well, there being only nine (and not all that long) episodes and no one wanting to cough up enough money for a tenth. ugh! i'm blaming both hbo And appletv for this (and covid19 ig). it's just One More Episode, how much could it cost?? and on the subject of episodes, why no episode titles? you used to love episode titles! i could've brainstormed episode titles for them For Free!!

when it comes to the characters, the rankings remain the same: BoB > MotA > TP. it's not totally fair tho, since BoB followed the exact same (and large-ish) group of guys from beginning to end, so you're Gonna know who they all are and get attached. this wasn't the case (for me!) when watching TP, since, unlike BoB, they jump around from group to group. i never felt like i got to know them all that well, outside of the main characters. i think MotA almost hits that sweet spot, especially knowing they had those two main things going against it: large cast And jumping from group to group. there's a case to be made for bias here (i Was the blog blogging about everything MotA for like. years.), but i still think they found a good enough balance of fleshing out the main characters while Also helping the audience get to know about a bunch of minor characters, of which there are a shitton (and their personalities, motivations, backgrounds, quirks).

there's also the representation of women. actual angel renée lemaire is and will always be a cut above the rest (bastogne is just That Good, argue with the wall). she's written so well that it almost makes me forget about how a bunch of women are portrayed in carentan. i have...issues with how women are portrayed in TP (even tho i love lena), so there's that. MotA falls in the middle (again) bc there's Way more women on-screen, but the writing can be questionable. balanced (as all things should be?) captain l'sandra wing-westgate is a character of all time, but episode 7 birthed the craziest discourse known to man (the hbo war fandom), but it wasn't all that unwarranted. manon and michou were sooo cool, but we didn't see nearly enough of them (another victim of the 'editing too many stories into one episode' problem. why not a whole resistance episode? or at least as the only b-plot?). paulina was interesting, but fulfilled one of those 'attractive foreign woman gives sage advice during/after sex' tropes (there's probably a tvtropes page for that idk). so many red cross girls, but none of the in-depth payoff :/ epic highs (multiple women!!) + epic lows (writing women??) = pretty tolerable. not great, not terrible. it was aight. i trust the fandom to build on this tho.

narrative is the big one tho. it's the whole "doing so much with so little" thing they've got going on (i'm ignoring their big budget here lol, could've been bigger). rather than having one main story with many connecting side stories (like BoB), it does the TP thing where there's many semi-connecting side stories set in the same general area. it helps that there's crosby's narration (i enjoy narration, sue me!), and he helps everything connect, sorta. but there's still other side stories that have Nothing to do with him (sandra's side gigs (revealing what she did takes away the mystery of what she Might be doing), the tuskegee airmen, quinn and bailey's eurotrip). would it have helped if there were two narrators (say, someone like rosie)? idk. gonna sit with that one. if there's a through-line, it's not super obvious like in the other two shows. which is insanely funny to me bc i literally like TP less, but that show's got an Extremely tight through-line all the way down. i can't lie and say it doesn't!

back to budget- i've seen people criticize this show for being called "masters of the air" when there's not much of "the air". ig that's fair, but there's the money issue, again. also, it'd get very repetitive if they were always in "the air". there was enough confusion about identifying who was who with the masks on, so imagine if that was Every Episode. out of All the issues the show has, this is the least issue-y. again, that's just my opinion, and it could change.

another budget thing (i think??)- idk enough about costuming and hair for period pieces so i can't comment on that with my 0 background in it, all i Can say is that i knoooooow people were clowning on marjorie cleven's hair in episode 1 (and i could see why, no such thing as 1940s beach waves). but from what i could understand- that actress' addition was a last-minute thing (bc i had No idea who the hell she was and i already found someone cast for marjorie all the way back in 2021). maybe there's something to say about the quality of rush jobs, but i really do think it was the most last-minute thing bc it came out of Nowhere, and timeline-wise, it looks like that bit was done long after everything else had been filmed. outside looking in, it seems something probably went wrong/didn't work out with who or what they already had and there wasn't enough wiggle room (time and money) to fix it. this isn't me being an apologist (lol), but i feel like a theorist at a big board bc nothing adds up! and i wanna know what happened! i'm just speculating! speculating on this blog is All i did for like Years lmaooo.

this is more of a side thing, but some of the lines in MotA feel really on-the-nose, almost corny. and that was Gonna be a knock against it, but there's some equally Extremely on-the-nose lines in both BoB and TP (Especially in BoB), so if i give MotA shit for it, i'd have to give all three shows shit for it lol. none of them are free of cheese.

another silly aside- no peaches, no main gingers, no main eugenes! we can't have 'em all, but c'mon!

there Is some good tho lol. one thing that MotA really has going for it, that i think the other shows have less of, is- and GOD it feels so weird to call this "world-building" when it's actual goddamn history, but- it's got world-building. maybe that isn't the best word for it. but i like how much Bigger ww2 feels in this show. BoB is one stop, then the next stop, then the next stop, which is, admittedly, good from a narrative-perspective (easy to follow), but not as good when you want a scale of how devastating the war is (in fairness, it was filmed in 2000). even TP feels pretty "enclosed" in a way. there's island-hopping, yeah, but all the damn islands look the same (not including australia lol). it's a theatre of the war we otherwise don't really get to see, but there still isn't all that much to see. it's water and sand and rock and dirt. which is the point, but Whatever! would've been cool if we saw sledge and co. in china, but moving on. MotA's able to really show the scale of it, both in the air and on the ground (that scene in germany during episode 6 was both harrowing and fantastic, also the inclusion of the actual children forced to fight nearer to the war's end in the finale). idk i just liked how it was able to zoom in and zoom out (and in and out again) in a way that the other shows weren't.

another thing it's got that the other shows don't is Really driving home how young everyone is (not "child soldier" young, but damn young). the cast is full of baby faces (rip babyface). a lot of ww2 shows/movies don't bother casting to reflect this, but i think overlooking that takes away from the overall impact. you browse through some old newspaper articles or photos of soldiers during ww2 enough and you're gonna Regularly get hit with the face of someone who looks like they could've sat in the desk next to you during a high school lit class. a lot of those b&w grinning faces look like kids bc they pretty much were (more so if they lied about their age). you don't really get that in BoB or TP (it's Crazy when the real life pics of the soldiers portrayed in those shows look younger than the actors).

i'm mixed about the tuskegee airmen. what we have, i love (thank you, dee rees). unfortunately, my biggest irk is that it leaves me wanting more of them, which i won't ever get. speaking as a black person (not speaking for All black people, just how i personally feel about it), having them included feels like a catch-22. if they weren't included in any capacity (all while knowing there were whole tuskegee airmen in stalag iii with the white main characters), there'd be a problem. however, including them (all while having these time constraints and not enough focus on them) leads to the feeling of having them "tokenized" (which i can see). there's no world where there'd be 50/50 split (even a 70/30 split) bc, at that point, just give them a show of their own. but there'd still be a general annoyance that big budget ww2 shows are only ever white. on the other hand, hanks and spielberg and orloff and miller and all the directors (except dee rees) are white, and how good of a story about black people are you really gonna get from the perspective of nonblack people? that in mind, i personally don't feel put-off by having the three tuskegee airmen in the posters/trailers/promos, bc i just Know there'd be a whole nother problem if they weren't included in them at all despite being in the show for however long (it'd be even worse if they made their pictures smaller). like i don't work in advertising, but i don't know if a "sweet spot" even exists for something like this. people would be pissed off no matter what imo (i'm also speaking with a bias here bc i had to browse through sooooo many comments written by white guys whining and crying and pissing and shitting themselves once they learned that the tuskegee airmen were gonna be in the show in Any capacity, so i'm just cool knowing they're in shambles rn (and josiah cross- he played richard macon- always goes Wild seeing his face in the promos, and his joy is pretty contagious).

i give it somewhere like a 7.5-8/10. 3.75 stars out of 5. not perfect, subject to change, gotta marinate, but i'm overall happy with it! MotA's best episodes are better than many other individual hbo war episodes. should i be grading it using the overall sum of its parts, not just the different parts? idk, i'm not being paid to grade lol.

[bettyfrommars]

Stop the World and Melt with You//Part 3

Eddie Munson x fem!reader

In this part, reader meets the Nancy Wheeler and Joyce Byers of this au, and starts to feel a bond with Eddie as you navigate the Twilight Zone episode you are in. You also find out what happens when you try to leave this place called Hawkinsgate.

Series Masterlist

Warnings: reader feels lost and confused in general, talk of being an outcast, feeling misunderstood, mention of having a period, lots of 80's nostalgia, eventual smut (I think) but not for a while. Word count: 4.3k

🔸currently posting with my clown shoes on because this is the second Eddie series I have going 🤡 I really adore and appreciate the three of you who have been reading this, I know it is a little "out there".

-------

When you came out to lock the door of your motel room, you looked up at the ornate, brass, number ‘8’ and noticed that, at one point, someone wrote a ‘6’ right after it in permanent black marker. Another someone clearly tried to clean it off as best they could, but only succeed in fading the dark green paint down to a grass green. Claudia was locking up the lobby and putting a sign in the window that gave a number to call if you needed any assistance, and she waved at you, but then she looked you up and down, and her face pinched.

“You’re not going somewhere tonight, are you?” She shouted to you from halfway across the parking lot.

“Um, I’m meeting someone?” You posed it in the form of a question as if to see how she felt about it before you decided to get in your truck and drive the short distance instead of walking and having to answering more questions.

“Well, be safe. There’s a strict no noise policy after 9pm here, so no parties in your room.” She had a ring of keys on her wrist and her hands on her hips.

“I won’t. I mean, there won’t be. We’re just—”

But Claudia was already on the other side of the door, locking it, and waving goodbye to you.

Again, your eyes did a sweep of the empty motel parking lot; even the Police Blazer was gone now.

There were shallow puddles of water in the pavement from the rain earlier and you watched the reflection of the red MOTEL sign on the roof disappear into ripples as you stepped in it with your boot.

Eddie was already sitting at a booth in the diner when you walked in---in fact, you’re pretty sure he saw you from his window seat as you approached, because he was already standing up to greet you when you came in the door.

“Welcome to Newby’s,” a small, brunette waitress greeted you immediately, bending down to grab a laminate menu from the side of the wall. “Just one for this evening?”

You looked over and Eddie had his arm up, motioning you over. “She’s with me, Nance,” he called to the waitress.

The long diner had booths to the left and right, with a row of bar stools at a counter ahead of you and a kitchen beyond with what looked like a mom and a pop back there making the food. The place was getting busy, with only a few open booths available. The waitress looked you up and down, smiled uneasily, and then motioned for you to go ahead and continue down the linoleum aisle.

You scoot in across from Eddie, the vinyl seat squeaking as you go. Eddie had his hair down, and it was still damp from his shower; he wore a tattered denim vest and leather jacket on top of a clean, white t-shirt, and your eyes went right to the jewelry on his hands that you hadn’t noticed before—there were chunky, metal rings on his fingers.

He points to an item on the menu in front of you, and his face is serious. “They make the best homemade mac n’ cheese I’ve ever had in my life here.” He pauses and then, your gaze follows his finger up the length of his arm to meet his warm, hazelnut stare. Something about the eye contact flusters him and he loses his train of thought, but then he squints at you. “But why do I take you for more of a liver and onions kind of girl?”

You make a yuck face and wrinkle your nose, and he snorts a little laugh.

Running your finger down the menu, realizing you might need glasses soon, something odd catches your eye. “What do these letters next to the dollar amount mean?”

He lifts up out of his seat a hair to see what you are pointing at. “Oh, that means four dollars or ‘T’ for trade,” he points to another part of the menu. “And the ‘OT’ means trade only.”

“Well, I checked my wallet again just before I came here,” you gave a nervous chuckle. “And there are no more mysterious daffodils in there.” You scratched your head, listening to the preposterous things that were coming out of your own mouth.

Eddie sat back and winked at you as he reached into the front pocket of his denim vest. “Don’t worry, I got you. Dinner is on me tonight.”

With that, he procured a stack of ten or twelve Garbage Pail Kid cards and fanned them out, showing them to you covertly, as if they were hundred dollar bills. He raised both of his eyebrows several times to accentuate that the two of you would be living high on the hog for the evening, before tucking them back into his pocket and snapping the button closed.

A different waitress came by and you ordered the Mac n’ cheese Eddie had suggested; you could tell he was pleased that you went with his suggestion. He ordered a burger with waffle fries and a chocolate milkshake, and you weren’t sure why—but you hadn’t expected that. A soda maybe or a beer, but a milkshake? It was so wholesome in contrast with his persona.

You both ate in silence for a few minutes, each of you ravenous. Once your stomachs started to fill up, you whispered across the table at him: “Why do I feel like everyone in here is staring at us?”

He pushed some of his burger into the side of his cheek with is tongue like a chipmunk and leaned forward to whisper back at you. “Because they are.”

You turned your head to find the girl he called ‘Nance’ and one of the customers at the counter both looking at you as they talked. Their eyes shifted away immediately once you caught them.

Eddie swallowed his bite. “They’re staring at you because you’re here with me, and they’re staring at me because I’m here with you. Get used to it if you ever want to hang out again, sweetheart.”

Now, none of that made sense to you, and the confusion must’ve registered on your face, but the idea of seeing Eddie again made your heart flutter in its cage.

He wiped his mouth with his napkin. “It’s a stupid thing, I know, but we’re not supposed to...fraternize much with Visitors.”

You had a lot of questions, but you asked the obvious one first. “How do they know I’m a...that I’m not from here?”

Eddie gave you a patient look, as if the reason should be obvious. “Hey, there’s nothing wrong with you, okay?” He assured. “It’s just...your hair, the way you dress, the fact that you’re staying at the motel. Most of these people have been here for so long, they can sniff out a new person right away.”

For a second, you felt like the proverbial sore thumb, like you had this throbbing, red bubble around you to let everyone know that you didn’t belong. You were a foreigner as Eddie had put it earlier. But, what you didn’t realize at the time is that—you were used to feeling that way.

“So,” you took in that information and pushed your shoulders back, trying not to appear like you cared about any of the spying eyes. “What about me with you? Why would it be a weird thing for me to agree to have dinner with you?”

Eddie picked up the last piece of his food and looked at it pensively, and then realized he was too full and put it back down. He scooted his plate to the side and put his arms on the table, interlacing his fingers. “The thing is, I’ve never fit in here either,” he opened his hands and looked at his palms. There was a lot more to the story, but he didn’t feel comfortable talking about it right there in the middle of the diner, maybe another day, if he ever saw you again.

You pushed your plate to the side as well and Nance (her name tag officially said Nancy) came by to collect them, and asked if you needed any refills. You both declined and Eddie asked for the check.

“I’m really grateful to you, for this, for...dinner and everything,” you stammered. You felt like it was time for you to both go your separate ways, and you weren’t ready. You weren’t ready to stop asking questions, and you weren’t ready to...say goodbye to Eddie. You felt your mouth drying up with anxiety, and you took the last sip of your tea through the straw; it made an audible sucking sound.

Eddie didn’t want the night to end, either. In his mind, he was panicking: should he ask for a dessert menu? He was full, but he’d have something with you if it meant you would stay. Should he walk you back to your motel? No, he didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable—he was a stranger to you, after all. What about bowling? He could ask if you wanted to try the bowling alley next door or…? Nancy put the check down by Eddie’s arm and it forced him out of the trance he was in.

“You know what’s weird?” You asked, pulling your sweatshirt sleeves over your hands so that only the tips of your fingers were visible.

“You mean, besides everything?” Eddie gave you a wide-eyed, crazy look, and it made you giggle; forgetting, if only for a second, that you were stuck in some episode of The Twilight Zone. He looked down at the check and started sifting through his Garbage Pail Kid cards. He pulled out a ‘Duncan Pumpkin’, a ‘Manny Eater’, an ‘Undead Ed’, and a ‘Jay Decay’. He also pulled out some coins that looked like they were from the early 1900’s. You gasped and picked one up to see it closer.

“Where did you find these?” One was dated 1927.

Eddie shrugged, as if they were as common as mosquitoes. “You’d be surprised at the stuff that shows up here. Someone’s trash ends up being our treasure, I suppose. I’m still not entirely sure how it works.”

He noticed how you were looking at one of the coins. “You can keep that one if you want, I have a ton of them back at my place.”

You thought about it, only because, it was a rare coin worth a lot where you were from, but here, in Hawkinsgate---it didn’t seem to have much perceived value.

“Thank you, that’s okay,” you set it back down in the pile.

“What was it you were going to say?” Eddie interlocked his fingers again on the table.

For a second, you feared that perhaps you were losing your short term memory as well, but then he prompted you.

“You were about to tell me what you thought was weird, and I interrupted.”

“Oh,” you remembered. But for some reason, now you felt shy about saying it out loud. “I was just thinking that you feel really familiar to me. Have we met before? I mean, before today?”

Eddie unlaced his fingers and drummed them on the table softly, nodding, biting his lip. He had been thinking the same thing. Certain things you said, and the way you looked when you said them, were plaguing him with multiple instances of de ja vu.

“I highly doubt it,” he adjusted the collar of his jacket. “But anything is possible, I guess. You ready to get out of here?”

You each put your hands in your pockets as you shuffled outside, both dragging your feet, both of your mind’s racing on how to not let the night end. You stood under the awning as the rain drizzled, the sky threatening to burst open in a matter of seconds.

Eddie took a chance. “How about I drive you back to the motel?”

-----------

He parked his van next to your truck and turned the engine off because you were still going through his cassette tapes and he didn’t want to rush you. He also liked watching your face as you picked up each one to look at it---you were almost as excited as when you were looking at the coins.

“I haven’t seen these albums on cassette tape in...well…” you stopped short, picking up a few that came out in the ninties/early 2000’s, including a few you’d never heard of—and were almost certain had never existed. The sleeves were warped from water damage and a few of the plastic covers were cracked or broken. You should’ve been glad to see them, because it let you know that you weren’t trapped back in time. The thought occurred to you that Hawkinsgate was a place, and not a time.

“I found those,” Eddie told you with pride, answering the question before you could ask it.

“In the same place you found the coins?” Anyone else might have had a hard time wrapping their brain around the idea, but you were fascinated. His van smelled just like you imagined it would: clean, Irish Spring scent, mixed with vanilla, cigarette smoke, leather, and just a whiff of mold after a rainy season.

“No, princess,” he turned in his seat and stretched one of his legs down between the two seats. “They are usually in the abandoned cars we find and have to tow back to the junkyard.”

...abandoned cars…lost things...someone else’s trash…

You looked down at a mix tape that someone had made that said, “Sandy Loves Roger”, and then a bunch of handwritten song titles in blue ink that were too water damaged to be legible.

“Eddie?” Your voice wavered.

“Yes?” He returned in a sing-song way.

“How many Visitors like me have you met?”

“A few.”

“10? 15?”

He shrugged. “Hundreds, I think.”

“Hundreds?!”

You hadn’t been prepared for that number, and your reaction made him wish he had told you that he simply wasn’t sure, instead of giving you a number. Maybe this place was like those vortexes where balls roll up hill and magnets stop working.

“I’ve never taken one to dinner though,” he picked at something invisible on the steering wheel. “Some of them end up here for years, and some for only a few hours.”

You were staring at the dash in front of you now, your thoughts far away, trying to pinch a bubble of a memory before it floated away or broke. “Do they ever get their memories back while they are here?”

“Not usually until the end,” he cringed at his wording. “I mean, not until right before they go back.”

You looked down at the handful of cassette tapes in your hand. “Tomorrow I’m going to have to try and get back home, wherever that is.”

“I know,” Eddie swallowed. If you were still there in the morning, he knew you would try—everyone did.

“But I promise to come by the garage and say goodbye,” you smiled halfheartedly, but you couldn’t look at him.

Eddie turned to you with a genuine smile. “I’d really like that.”

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

In the morning, after getting some coffee from the lobby and eating a stale granola bar that had been stashed in your purse while watching an old Bugs Bunny cartoon, you showered and packed up your truck. You used the last one of your tampons and made a mental note to stop at the next grocery store you found to replenish. You locked up your room and drove over to park in front of the lobby to drop off your key and pay for the night.

Claudia gave you a concerned look when you told her you were checking out. “Well,” she took the key you were holding out to her, but kept her palm flat and didn’t close her fist around it. “Would you like me to hold the room for you, just in case?”

“That’s okay, I really need to get back,” you fumbled with your bag to get your wallet out, forgetting for a moment that it was empty.

“Back where, hon?” She meant it genuinely, but you had to look up at her to make sure she wasn’t being sarcastic.

“I’m not sure, but I’m just going to go back the way I came and get back to the freeway,” you said with all of the confidence you could muster. “Are there any internet cafes around here?”

Claudia looked almost offended by the question. You opened your wallet and, with a flood of relief, realized that your unused credit card with the $500 limit was still in there. The ID and the cash and the debit card were still gone, but at least you had something to work with.

You shook your head apologetically for expecting her to know what an internet cafe was. “Do you happen to know a place where I could buy a phone?”

But to that question, she had an answer. “There’s one over there you can use,” she told you with an enthusiastic expression, pointing to the payphone that was just inside the door. But then, she remembered that you were a Visitor, and she put her elbows on the counter, moving her fingers to make a rectangle shape as she talked. “Or do you mean one of those handheld devices with the computers in them?”

“Yes,” you were excited that she understood. “I need to get one of those. Do you know a place?”

“No, sorry,” she stood back up to make room for another cat to walk across the counter.

You tried to pay for the room with your credit card, but Claudia showed quite a bit of interest in the bracelet you had on, and so you traded that, and a can of half empty hairspray, and an unopened palette of six eye shadows for your stay. You weren’t attached to any of the items, so you felt like you got it for a steal.

Claudia stood in the window and watched you go, putting the key to your room in her pocket for when you came back.

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

There was an older man with gray hair at the pumps filling up another car when you pulled in. You drove right by him and over to the garage side of the building that had two open bays. You could see Eddie’s legs sticking out from under a car, and so you turned the engine off and tried to sneak up on him.

As you tip-toed into the bay you could hear Black Sabbath playing from a boombox on a nearby chair, and then the sound of a wrench turning and bolts tightening. You were just about to kick the bottom of his foot when---

“Don’t even think about it,” he said, giving you a start. And then he used the heels of his feet to roll out from underneath on the creeper, his hands braced on the bumper, and gave you a smile. “You must think I’m dumb as hell,” he teased. His hands were covered in dirt and grease, and there was a smudge of black on his cheek.

“I didn’t know you heard me drive up,” you wrapped your arms around yourself and waited for him to stand.

Eddie got to his feet with a bounce in his step, holding the wrench he was using in one hand. “Oh, I could feel you coming a mile away, sweetheart.”

It was a playful flirtation, mostly a joke, but it was also true.

Without realizing what you were doing, you stepped forward to cup his face in your hand and used your thumb to wipe some of the dirt off of his cheek. “Sorry, there,” your eyes met, and something stirred in you. His breath caught in his chest, grateful for your touch.

Flustered, you moved back, clasping your hands behind your back so that you wouldn’t be tempted to touch him again.

“I guess this is goodbye,” you told him. “And thank you again, for everything.”

He couldn’t lie, the fact that you hadn’t evaporated in the middle of the night made him happier than he should be under the circumstances.

“Take care of yourself,” Eddie told you. “If you need anything, you know where I’ll be.”

“I’ll come back to visit.” It was a promise you didn’t know if you could keep, but you wanted it to be true.

“I’ll be here,” he gave a chuckle, hooking his thumbs in the pockets of his coveralls.

You looked both ways and turned onto the highway, headed back in the direction you had come the day before. It was still overcast, but the sun was bright behind the clouds, and the rain had ceased for now. You flicked the radio on to Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now by Starship and took an unsteady breath as you drove down between cornfields, feeling like you were back on track; grateful for a new day, and looking forward to getting back to your life. Whatever that meant.

The two lane highway seemed to go on forever without any turn off or side roads, and you swore that you came off the exit ramp not too far down from Gary’s Garage. You reasoned that it had been pouring down rain, and you were...sad about something...so maybe you had driven for a longer distance and didn’t realize it.

45 minutes later, all of the radio channels went to static, and you pulled off to the side of the road to catch your bearings. You were the only car on the road that entire time, and at one point, you thought you saw a stop sign up ahead, but it ended up being a red piece of clothing hanging from a mile marker.

You swallowed back your fear and frustration and kept going, continuing to turn the radio dial, hoping for a song or some sign of life, but the static persisted.

“How do I not remember all of this corn?” The fields of tall, green corn stalks were endless, and you were sure that there had been tall trees at some point in your journey the day before.

God, you must’ve been really out of it that day.

Almost two hours later and you hadn’t passed a single street sign. The numbers on the mile markers were all out of order and didn’t make any sense. At one point you realized that there must’ve been some turn off that you missed, but it was too late to go back and find it, and if you just kept going, you were bound to run into a freeway or, at the very least, another town.

Later that day, after pulling over to weep frustrated tears several times and shout muffled screams into the palms of your hands, your heart leaped as you could see up ahead that the corn ended and turned into a cluster of trees. There were outlines of buildings and telephone poles: signs of life!

You pressed the gas to the floor, whispering “we did it we did it we did it” to your truck, choking on a sob of joy. You entered the city limits and wiped your eyes, glad to see an official speed limit sign. You passed by a friendly looking park and a Family Video, and then there was a quaint downtown area with a Radio Shack, and a general store. You yanked the wheel to park in front of the general store, because you were scared to know how well that one tampon was holding out, and you hoped to hell that they had a bathroom.

The woman named Joyce who worked there said they didn’t have a public restroom, but at second glance, she could tell that you were in a bad way, and said you could use the one in the break room. There were only a couple boxes of tampons on the shelf, and all of them were different brands and sizes. You had a weird feeling in your gut, but you disregarded it.

You tried to pay for the tampons and a bottle of water, but Joyce wouldn’t let you. She put her hand on top of yours, looked directly into your eyes, and what she said made the hair stand up all over your body. “Listen, I know it must be scary. But you’re going to be okay. Everything will be okay.”

She looked around to see if the other coworker on the opposite side of the room could hear her, and then she lowered her voice again, pushing the merchandise toward you discreetly on the counter. “These are on me, okay? You take care of yourself while you’re here.”

“...while you’re here…”

You were afraid to ask her where “here” was, and you wanted so badly for her to hug you and tell you it was all just a dream. She was just that type of person; the type you knew gave really tight, genuine hugs.

By the time you recognized Newby’s Diner and the Grove Motel from the road, you weren’t shocked to see them, in fact, a strange, empty resolve had begun to settle in you, one born of exhaustion, hunger, and mind-bending fear.

Later that night, on his way home from work, Eddie saw your truck parked at the motel again, and he felt guilty for being glad. He had this urge to check on you, to console you and let you know that everything would be okay—but he didn’t want to lie to you. There were two strands of your hair left on the passenger seat in his van, and he planned on leaving them there, just in case one day the rest of you didn’t exist, at least he would have that.

[twig-tea]

My Universe Round-Up

This was a series of 2-part short stories, essentially each the length of a movie but they're more episodic which makes it an interesting format to get a wide variety of actors, directors, stories, and tones. And all of these vary widely. Most of the actors are very green, which means the performance quality falls all along the spectrum, but overall emotions often fall flat. There are a handful of different directors too (each directs a few of the stories), so these really feel different. The only two things that don't vary are the production quality (middling; sometimes some decent camera shots, but few sets and extras, sound is sometimes shirt-muffled or otherwise messed, the usual hilarity of royalty-free music choices) and awkward subtitles.

The subtitles deserve their own paragraph because I think they're potentially the worst kind, in that they look fine but then every once in awhile the translation is the opposite of what it should be. Having a bit of Thai knowledge and experience with Thai pulps really helps navigate these.

The other thing to say about the structure of this series is that there is a neat thing where each story sets up the next with either a character appearing in the next one or having been mentioned in the previous one. So they're all in the same universe but are otherwise unrelated. Sometimes you can guess whose story you'll get next (like a side character), sometimes it's a real stretch (like the waiter at the noodle place the characters ate at once).

As a really brief summary of what these are actually like in terms of narrative, they took as many tropes as they could think of and then treated them seriously. It could have been interesting, if they had something to say, but I'm really not sure they did. There are a lot of difficult circumstances covered, sometimes with hope, sometimes with nihilism, and it often feels like the story is about the characters around those who are dealing with difficult circumstances rather than those who are experiencing it themselves. Honestly this felt like a film school project about trying out difficult tropes, rather than folks with something to say about a specific topic.

Tropes [note, almost all of these are a dark/sad version of these tropes and end sadly or open]: bodyswap, mistaken identity, in-love-with-your-sibling's-friend, destined lovers, enemies-to-lovers, love triangle, coach/athlete, fake-date-turns-real, twincest, age gap, paid companionship, terminal illness.

Warnings for this series overall: murder, attempted sexual assault (in multiple miniseries), incest (only very lightly speculated about), ambiguous relationship with a minor, cheating, intimate personal violence, death of parents, death of a partner

If you're going to try any of them, I'd recommend episodes 5-6, which were the story Right Time, Right You as a starting point--it has some of the better acting, an open ending, but still some of the dark themes (treated not as dark as some of the other segments) so it's a good litmus for if you should try any of the other parts out.

The one I most enjoyed watching was episodes 7-8 You Are My So(ul) Mate which unsurprisingly had actors who have acted before, and was one of the rare happy endings. The last one, I Wish You Love episodes 23-24 was maybe the best done overall (least annoying flashbacks for sure, decent pacing in the romance, comparatively decent acting) but warnings for the ending.

Details of each 2-part miniseries with rating and specific warnings beneath the cut for anyone still curious about any of these stories! My goal here is to give you enough info to watch whichever ones might interest you so I do spoil twists below when I think it's important to help people decide whether to watch. Feel free to ask questions if you're still not sure or have specific things you want to avoid.

Ep 1-2: Casanova Begins

4/10: Not recommended unless you like bodyswap

This plot was doomed to never fly with me; a dead lover tries to seduce the man he left behind in the body of the man he thought his lover was going to cheat on him with. I love supernatural stuff but bodyswap is a hard hill to climb and 2 episodes just isn't enough time to do it well. That being said, the actors did surprisingly well in the scene where all is revealed and they're saying goodbye. There's a stinger, and it did NOT work for me--people are not interchangeable.

Ep 3-4: Marry Go Round

6/10: Decent pulp with a good underlying message, but you have to not mind slapstick

I like the way one side character from the previous series brings us into the next, it's a neat way to tie these otherwise unrelated stories together. For a slapstick comedy of errors, this worked surprisingly well. The misunderstandings are well set up and make sense, characters have motivation for continuing the shenanigans and the continual additional complications build to absurdity but it all holds together in a very slapstick comedy way. Mei being willing to marry her friend's boyfriend to help keep their secret is top tier allyship. I wish the fujoshi had been chewed out more; she was invested in exposing them as a couple for her own curiosity/excitement and that's gross, and I don't like that she got any credit for their happiness. The mom being a secret fujoshi herself [and, it's implied, very ok with their relationship as a result] was a little on the nose lol The performances in this one were a little weak on the comedy; slapstick like this isn't easy to do well and the comedy suffers from this not being these actors' strengths. All that being said, the underlying message that marriage equality is the right thing and having to stay in the closet causes so much strife for everyone is one I can get behind.

Ep 5-6: Right Time, Right You

7/10: Decent plot, acting, themes. A bit rushed, but good pulp. Warnings for references to intimate partner violence. Ambiguous ending.

I enjoyed this one; I love the in-love-with-your-sibling's-friend trope, I love smiling-to-hide-pain, and I love pining. I love the complicated feelings around not being ready to let go of the love you have for someone even if they hurt you. I love wanting to do something for your friend because you see them hurting, and not knowing what will help. I love your sibling and best friend always being able to read you and ferret out your secrets. The framing in this one was interesting, there were a lot of on the nose imagery with the fence, the rope, the cigarettes. I really liked the dynamic between these characters, Mhok really felt like a younger sibling; a little willful, pouting when he is ignored, or not taken seriously, stealing his sister's breakfast, tagging along. And the ending was sweet. It's clear that Phat feels something, though he's been explicit that he's not ready to open up to anyone. And we basically end with very tenuous possibility. Not for anyone who is not ok with ambiguous endings.

Ep 7-8: You Are My So(ul) Mate

6/10: Fun trope-y pulp. Again you have to be ok with slapstick comedy, and I docked this one for internal inconsistencies but the chemistry was on point.

Ahhh one of my favourite romance tropes, dreaming of your destined person before you meet, and then experiencing the dream in reality! I appreciated that Butr's mom really did have a gift, and that he didn't believe and wrestled with the ethics of that. I also really liked that they tried to engineer a coincidence and had one anyway; I'm a sucker for magic/fate is what you make it. The actor playing Butr looks like a Footloose-era Kevin Bacon when he smiles while ducking his head, and the other lead is from My Cuisine, so I was pre-disposed to find them extremely cute. I do love shy4shy. That being said, a lot of the melodrama was around coincidence, and it was clear the overeager senior was just scouring campus for the guy, so there was a double-standard with the "coincidence" that would work (at least in the eyes of the protagonist) so a lot of it doesn't really hold together if you think about it very hard.

Episode 9-10: Lucky Love

5/10: rough especially with the language gap, but the leads have an interesting dynamic

Content warning for an attempted asault in this one. Annoyed-strangers-to-lovers where one guy has just broken up and is drunk and belligerent about it, and the other is not taking his shit. I really like Jeng as this taciturn dude who shows caring through food. The ex is still around, Meen is still clearly not over him, and goes through the stages of learning to prioritize his own feelings and truly let Noll go. Jeng talks mostly in innuendo, which paired with the bad subs (bad enough that sometimes they say the opposite of what's meant) means that a lot of this one is lost in translation. Because of the short runtime and the amount of time Meen spends getting over his ex, they can't get far, but the show gives the sense that they'll just keep on as they've been going. All that being said, Meen wears dangly earrings and has a femme best friend who is fantastic, and I am a simple person who enjoys her simple pleasures, so I actually didn't mind watching this one.

11-12: The Camp Fire

4/10: really disliked the twists in this; the horror was ok. Warnings for blood, ghosts, references to drowning, on-screen death.

Content warning for blood, ghosts, death (more details follow). Horror BL starring Kaonah and Turbo. Two guys who have been chatting online agree to meet in person but it turns out they already know and dislike one another; now they're stuck toughing it out at the campsite rather than let the other chase them home. Turns out this is a classic BL love triangle wherein one of the boys thought they were competing for the same girl, but his "rival" loved him the whole time (this is not the twist, it's fairly obvious). And that was my first frustration; Talay was unwilling to admit any kind of feelings for Camp even though Camp tries to reach out, even though he's clearly been in love the whole time and now has the excuse of their anonymous conversation and meeting. But then we get into the real spoilers, with the double-twist that honestly ruined this for me. First, it's revealed that June the girl who Camp loved is dead, and she died after being rejected by Talay (implying she killed herself) after Talay pretended to be into June so that she would not take up Camp's offer to be together. This made me really not want to root for this couple at all, Talay's character is awful at this point. Then Camp hears this story and decides to admit he likes Talay anyway, which felt extremely rushed if not absurd, and then June haunts them in earnest and snaps Camp's neck on screen. And then in a second twist, we find out we've been watching a film within a film the whole time, and Talay and Camp just met for the first time for filming this and have just started dating in real life. But we spend so little time with the "real" Talay and Camp that I wasn't invested in them at all as a pair.

13-14 Friends Forever

4/10 friendship in this is great but upsetting on the romance front, and the actual execution was rough and full of unnecessary flashbacks; content warning for coach/athlete, unnegotiated kink (slapping during intimacy), dubious consent (for the slap not the intimacy), murder (not shown on screen), and ghosts

So spoiler based on the content warning, this is a story about a coach who seduces one of his athletes and then murders him so that the athlete won't expose their relationship and get him fired. The sexy scene is consensual but the coach introduces pain without any context or consent, and it's just kind of shrugged off. The coach is creepy from jump so I enjoyed none of the couple's scenes. Beyond that, my issues with this were the massive use of flashbacks in a 2-episode short. They basically re-showed ep1 in ep2. The acting is ok, and the friendship (which is the actual story) between the guy who is murdered and his team is extremely cute, it was heartening how much this team supported their teammate dating the coach and how much they missed him and cherished his memory after his death. But this could have been one episode, or they needed something more to do.

15-16 Fake Love

4/10 flat acting and more flashbacks than actual new shots (half of ep 15 is a flashback of the other half of ep 15, and then we get it AGAIN in ep 16).

In this story a university student is trying to show up his pushy ex by blackmailing a campus 'prince' to pretend to date him. He finds out that his fake boyfriend used to have sex with his ex, and gets upset. They make out and then avoid one another. Fake boyfriend gets beat up and they reunite and admit they both lie to protect their reputations. There's an implication that Pol was being judged for being slutty and Peem was being judged for being poor, which I would have liked as a theme if they then hadn't undermined this by framing Pol as being "good now" at the end. Open but tentatively happy ending.

17-18 Pisces of You

3/10 WHY IS THIS SO DARK DANG. TW attempted sexual assault, blackmail, speculation about incest (really mild),

Ok so this is about twins being jealous and confused about their feelings; Mild is here and he sexually assaulted one of them (idk how young these actors are but this was hard to watch though he doesn't get far). I don't mind what they're doing around twins pulling apart, falling for other people and putting them first, being confused about their feelings, throwing away their future for an unrequited love (this is actually super realistic), regretting their decisions. But goddamn that was painful AF and these baby actors really struggled to actually deliver on these difficult and complex emotions.

19-20 1626

6/10 decent short story but barely a romance. Warnings for age gap.

Follows one of the twins' love interests from Pisces of You; we find out why he wasn't interested in the twin, it's because he has his own love interest in his former tutor 8 years older than him (16 and 24). For what could have been a really cringe story, this was handled relatively well. They were careful that these two characters barely touched, and made the feelings between them very ambiguous and confused. The ties between them were very confused too; they both had family trauma and had helped one another to the point where desire and debt seemed to be inextricably mixed up. I appreciated the choices made in this one. Again, not what I would consider a "romance" story per se. And again, the ending is ambiguous.

21-22 Refund Love

2/10 incomprehensible, terrible acting, terrible plot, zero chemistry, infidelity, manipulation, and weird unclear moralizing around a thinly veiled allusion to sex work

This one, I don't even know what to say. It's trying to be clever with the way it parcels out information, but it ends up being just frustrating and, in the end, nonsensical. I won't even try to avoid spoilers or fake impartiality here, because I really think nobody should watch this one. This is all about jealousy of your significant other taking a job as a "companion" for other people. There's lying, manipulation, and attempted fake relationships for jealousy purposes. I'm sad because this also has a side GL couple, but they made no sense. This couple claimed to have orchestrated their boyfriends deciding to spy on them together (how?) in order to....see if they cared enough to fight for them, after one had already broken up with her man and the other was going to? What in the world was the endgame?! MAKE IT MAKE SENSE. Anyway they really shoehorned in a relationship in this one with two guys--one of whom just broke up, the other who is thinking about whether or not to break up, and who spent only one day together, most of which under false pretenses--and I didn't buy a second of it.

23-24 I Wish You Love

5/10 big themes, decently handled to a point, but the story was about how helping the terminally ill character helped the abled character find purpose, and that sat wrong with me. Warnings for discussions of terminal illness and character death (not shown onscreen), as well as loss of parents.

This episode was set up as a ghost in the mirror story, but the supernatural element disappears pretty quickly and is actually just an excuse to bring together the two main characters (who knew each other before but one thought the other was dead) back together. This story is trying to deal with the very serious issue of chronic illness and what it's like being young and unable to do the things other people do, and the suicidal ideation that can come from being isolated and having a limited time left anyway, as well as the regrets about missed opportunities. It was also dealing with the sometimes awkward feeling of sorting out the love of friendship and the love of romance, and transitioning from P'-Nong to Faen, especially with the additional fear of loving someone when one of you has limited time. The supernatural element comes back at the end to grant one wish, and to give the character who is sick a chance to undo one regret. It's implied Marwin died, but we don't really see him process having completed their bucket list, instead we get Pond reflecting on what he'll do next and how this experience has given him meaning. This episode had fewer egregious flashbacks than the other episodes, and better acting (one of the main characters is actually one of the series directors, and the other is Winner aka Wai from My Dear Gangsta Oppa, as well as War of Y and Nitiman), but did also use an instrumental auld lang syne in the background of a dramatic scene that was distracting, and some awkward we-don't-have-budget-for-an-actual-ambulance-or-emergency-personnel moments. Overall it was one of the better offerings from this series but I wasn't thrilled with how it made the terminally ill character's death a teachable moment for the one left behind, even though that was honestly flagged as the point throughout the two episodes, so is maybe my hang-up and a little unfair. At least this series framed that it was about Pond the whole time (we start and end with him).

[where-our-stories-start]

Tortall Fancast Series - Thom of Trebond

As children, Thom and Alanna were so much alike in face and body shape as to be mistaken for each other, if dressed alike. The only distinguishing feature of the twins at that time was the length of their hair. Both were short and skinny, with copper hair and purple eyes. When Alanna visited him at age eighteen she commented on his beard and height, suggesting he grew up to be taller than her. (x)

Okay so I already know this from my ASoIaF blog, but damn, finding redheads in medieval clothes is hard. Also, canonically Thom died at 20, but it's hard to find teenage fancasts, so I've included some who are technically too old but fit the vibe.

KEREM AÇARSÖZ - SEHZADE SELIM (MAGNIFICENT CENTURY)

Açarsöz seems to be 8-10 years old, although I cannot find a birthdate for him. He plays a young Ottoman prince in Magnificent Century. It can be somewhat difficult to navigate footage if you don't speak Turkish, but all episodes are readily available online, mostly on youtube. Costume design is distinctly Ottoman, but some of it works as general medieval European.

GABRIEL AND TRISTAN HARLAND - YOUNG CNUT AND ESGAR (THE LAST KINGDOM)

So there's not much footage of either of these kids, and in at least 1/3 of it they've got knives held to their throats, but I included them because they're identical twins with great vibes for Thom and Alanna at the beginning of SotL. The only source for their age I could find puts them at 10-11 filming The Last Kingdom, and while I'm not sure how reliable it is, that looks about right.

YIGIT ÜST - SEHZADE SELIM (MAGNIFICENT CENTURY)

Üst plays an older version of Açarsöz's character on Magnificent Century. I couldn't find an age for him, but he seems to have been in his early/mid teens during filming. He's often in a turban, but when he's not, he's got great hair for Thom. He shares Thom's dignified-and-broody vibe, too, which I like.

RUAIRI O'CONNOR - HENRY VIII (THE SPANISH PRINCESS)

O'Connor was in his late 20s when filming The Spanish Princess. There is ample footage of him both clean-shaven and with a beard. Since he's playing a king, his clothes are mostly too lavish for Thom, but they can work if you pick your footage carefully, and Henry VIII definitely lends himself to Thom's mercurial nature.

EDDIE REDMAYNE - JACK JACKSON (PILLARS OF THE EARTH)

Redmayne was also in his late 20s in this role. His hair is more auburn than copper, although it varies by shot. Clothing is 12th century English, and Redmayne definitely has Thom's brooding vibe.

TOM HIDDLESTON - HAL/HENRY V (THE HOLLOW CROWN)

So Hiddleston's character in The Hollow Crown is basically nothing at all like Thom, but there are still moments the vibe feels right. He's a primary character in three episodes, so there's ample footage of him (both clean-shaven and with a short beard!) At roughly 30 during filming he's far older than Thom ever got, but I still like him as a fancast.

If you've got any additions, or any requests for other characters to do, please let me know! The full series can be found here.

[kyberblade]

Back To You (Din x Reader) - Part 8

A/N: We got through episode 2!!!! Whew. A lot happens in this part. I came to a realization when someone mentioned to me, “They just need to say I love you!”, and here it is: “It’s not so much they aren’t saying it. It’s how many ways can they say it indirectly.” Also, there is some lore in this that @writerlyhabits wrote in a fantastic short, and I loved it so much, I asked if I could use it.

(This takes place right where the other one left off and goes into the end of episode 2x2/10, The Passenger.)

I do not own Star Wars or it’s characters. Sadly. But I carry them in my heart. Does that count for something? My soul says yes.

Warnings: Tooth rotting fluff, Grogu being the cutest thing you ever did see, and Din is once again a warning in and of himself in this one. Typical show violence. Space swearing.

Word count: 9,594 (*heavy breathing*)

As always, thanks to @grippingbeskar for encouraging me, looking over this for me, and being the one to introduce me to Din fanfiction in the first place, getting me hooked. You are fantastic and I always love our chats.

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Xxx

Standing beside him, you studied how he used the tool to repair the ship, sparks flying everywhere. With his visor, it probably wasn’t an issue for him, but the intensity the flying embers gave off made you squint, darting your eyes away. Even that didn’t help much, as the snow and ice all around simply reflected the light back to you from all angles.

You’d wanted to help, but quickly realized you wouldn’t be much help without understanding what exactly it was you were doing.

He paused, turning to look up at you from where he was on the ground, one knee bent, the other almost lost in the snow under him. “Here. Let me show you how to do this instead.” Rising to his feet, he tossed the tool off to the side before walking down to another section of the ship a few feet away, gesturing to you with his hand to follow him.

A few paces behind him, you watched as he popped a panel off the side of the hull, exposing a mess of wires that you were sure were in disarray long before the crash landing. Sparks flew out from somewhere underneath them, smoke curling up after the embers, and it looked like flames were starting to dance somewhere below.

“Dank farrik,” Din hissed, pulling wires to the side quickly to try and find the source, only to stop when a mass of snow was smashed into the space. Pausing, he stared at his hands, now covered in slush, then to you, and you only shrugged.

“It worked, didn’t it?”

He just stared at you for a long moment before a sigh finally escaped him. “Let me go switch off this panel so it’s not live. Otherwise I’ll be packing you full of snow if you try and work on it like it is.”

You snickered as he disappeared around the ship to go inside to the panel, turning after he was gone to take in your surroundings.

Large icicles hung off the ceiling, the wind whistled from up above the cave, and the errant snowflake floated down from above when the wind was just right.

Sticking your tongue out to catch one, you froze at a voice behind you.

“What are you doing?”

Smacking your lips after catching the flake, you turned to Din. “Making the most of a bad situation.”

Shaking his head gently at you, he turned back toward the panel, tilting his head that way with a quick jerk to gesture you back over.

“Now,” he began as you stepped up alongside him in front of the panel, “here’s what needs to be done.”

He pointed to various wires, explaining what they did, what they were doing, and what they were supposed to do, going over the color coded system, the lengths and thicknesses differentiating them, and their adapters that would need replacing or bypassing.

It was a lot. But it made sense to you. It was almost like the bar back home, each wire was a different liquor, each adapter a finished drink, and you had to mix so many of this to get that as an end result.

After asking a few questions, which he answered easily and without confusing you further, you set out to work fixing the wiring.

A few minutes into it, and you were startled when he appeared beside you again. You hadn’t heard him approach, as always, and snapped your head to look up at him, tongue stuck between your lips in concentration. “Kriff, don’t do that,” you huffed, straightening your back with a groan, arching toward the panel with your hands on your back to stretch your spine.

“I noticed you were hunched over, it didn’t look comfortable, and I know you’re still sore from the landing.”

“You mean from the crashing.”

A huff left the vocoder, making you smile, and his weight shifted to one leg as he stared at you.

“Anyway, I decided to do a nice thing, and brought you this to sit on, but if you don’t want it-”

“No, no, no, I want it. Thank you.” You reached out for the crate he had brought for you to sit on. “You were right. It was a landing. A bumpy, bumpy landing.”

A snort of laughter came through the modulator, and your smile grew, watching as he set it down in front of your little workstation.

“Thank you,” you said again, your voice quiet.

He nodded once before going back to his little area a few feet to the left.

The two of you worked in silence for you don’t know how long. It was comfortable, easy, familiar.

There had been a thought swimming around in your brain since the night before, and it finally felt like the time to voice it. Taking a deep breath, you yanked on a particularly stubborn wire as you began.

“Hey, D- Mando?” You didn’t know if your other passenger was nearby or not, so you decided to be safe.

“Yeah?” He sounded like he was laughing slightly at your little fumble.

“There was something I wanted to say after you told me about…. About you, about helping people, and it just didn’t seem the right time. Would it…. Would it be okay if I said it now?” You glanced at him out of the corner of your eye, gathering several wires you needed to bundle together in your grip.

He stopped his work for a minute, sparks ceasing abruptly as he just stared at the ship in front of him. “Yeah,” he finally said, voice low and quiet.

Focusing on the wires as you continued, you forged on. It wasn’t anything particularly deep or anything, but talking about his past at all was new territory for you both, and you wanted to tread carefully.

“I just wanted to say, that…. Well, you said something about people offering a hand to those in need, and I said you also were one of those hands being offered….” You took a deep breath, a nervous chuckle falling unbidden past your lips. Stilling your hands, you stared at the wires, not really seeing them as you began again, taking a deep breath. “You know that’s what you are for the kid, right?” You looked over at him, finding him staring down at the tool in his hand, fiddling with it needlessly.

“You just talked about it like what I did was something extremely rare and special, and it sounded like you didn’t realize that you do it everyday.” His hands stilled on the tool, but he still kept his gaze on it.

“I just wanted you to know. You were and are that helping hand for him, Mando, you’re basically a father to him.” Din lifted his head to stare straight ahead at the ship, his grip on the tool tightening, making his leather gloves creak.

“And I see that look you talked about, that spark every time that kid looks at you.” Din slowly turned his head to look at you finally, his chest rising and falling with his deeper breaths.

“You’re not just the kindness in the world to him. You’re the world to him.” His chest quit moving briefly as you heard his breathing stutter.

You smiled a small smile, glancing down at the snow before looking back at him, feeling in your gut you were meeting his eyes through the visor. Your voice was small and kind as you finished. “I just wanted you to know that.”

Turning back to the wires, you began to wrap them together with a fastener from the little gear bag Din had brought you when he switched the panel off. Reaching for a second one, you caught a glimpse of him out of the corner of your eye, and smiled to yourself, trying to tuck it into your scarf to keep it hidden.

He still stared at you, hands opening and closing around the tool in his hands before he glanced down at it for a moment, then returned to his repairs.

The Mandalorian was often silent, but he was not often rendered speechless.

Xxx

“If I only had my amazing flame thrower vambraces, I could take care of this….” You muttered under your breath as you tried to strip a particularly stubborn wire.

You could feel the slow turn of Din’s visor as it made its way onto you, leveling a heavy gaze on the side of your face as you stared at the wires in your hands.

Glancing his way briefly, you quickly turned back to the task at hand with a shrug. “What? It’s true. I could fuse these right here,” you pointed for emphasis, “and they would quit being a problem.”

“You would melt the whole panel,” Din said almost emotionlessly, the faintest tint of disbelief laced in his tone.

“Not if I just used the torch function before fully igniting it. It would be precise and accurate,” you singsonged, articulating the last words needlessly.

Din grunted in response, turning back to his work, quickly turning his visor back to you with a tilt of his head and a sigh before gently shaking his head and fully focusing back on the panel in front of him. “No.”

You let out a huff, glaring at the wires as they seemed to be almost more chaotic now that you had cleaned some of them up, if that were possible.

“If that droid is a killer, why is it on your ship? Especially since you hate droids.”

He quit working with a sigh, sparks flying off into the snow before stopping altogether. “What?”

You dropped the wires in your hands, stretching your fingers as far as they would go. Rubbing your palms together to try and get some blood flow back, you continued. “The droid the Frog Lady used to translate. You said it’s a killer. Why is it even in your ship, in pieces no less. I mean, you hate droids, so the in pieces part I get, but….”

“He went after the kid.” You snapped your mouth shut. That wasn’t what you were expecting. “It was on the ship when it happened, and, I don’t know…. I just, never unloaded it after that. Stuff got…. Complicated.”

“What, another incident?” You teased, going back to the wiring.

It was a long moment before Din spoke again. “We needed credits. There was a crew I used to run with that had a job, and…. I knew it was a bad idea, but I went anyway.”

You turned to look at him, lowering the wires in your grasp to rest against the others. You didn’t like where this was going. His body language was stiff, uncomfortable, and he wouldn’t look at you as he continued.

“It all turned sideways real fast. Turns out they were going to leave me there on the prison transport all along.”

Prison transport. That’s what the X-wing pilot had mentioned. So that’s why he was running. Wrong place, wrong time.

“They killed the only officer on board, and shoved me into a cell after I helped them free a prisoner. I got out, of course,” you couldn’t help the snort of laughter that came at the remark, “and got all three of them in the cell instead.” You smiled triumphantly at the news, turning back to look at the wires, but not doing anything.

“But the droid. It was on the ship, and so was the child.” He hung his head as if something about this memory haunted him. “When I got back, it had a blaster pointed at him, and I just…. I shot it without thinking.”

“You did the right thing.”

“I know,” he sounded distant, caught up in the memory before he looked back up at the hull of the ship. “After that I just had to get out of there, so I stuffed it behind the cargo net, and honestly forgot about it.” He looked over at you, and you paused your work to meet his gaze again. “I hadn’t had the kid long, I didn’t…. After that I didn’t leave him unattended on the ship anymore.”

“You don’t have to explain yourself,” you offered softly. “Wherever you go, he goes.” You nodded once, and he returned it after a moment. “Can I ask though?” He tilted his head at you in question. “Why do you hate droids?”

His head slowly straightened, his body language along with it, rigid and firm. His voice, though, was still soft when he spoke. “Another time, mesh’la.” He turned back to his work, his head dipping just slightly as he mumbled, “Another time,” and sparks began to fly again.

Your lips drew into a tight smile as you gave a single nod of agreement before turning back to your own work, the wires suddenly seeming more complicated than before. They stuck, were tangled, and required multiple patches. But in the end, they worked just like they were supposed to, transporting current to the receiving end.

And you had to have faith that someday you and Din could work that way, too. You’d patch one another up, untangle the mess, and help each other find the other side. And hopefully, once there, you could be as open as the current flowing at your fingertips.

The kid cooing somewhere close to Din made your eyes flick over that way, a smile climbing your face when you saw him trudging through the snow carrying a ration pack almost bigger than he was.

Ambling up to the Mandalorian, the child babbled something as he extended the packet as far as his arms could reach towards his caregiver.

Letting out a soft chuckle, Din reached in and took a piece. “Thanks, kid.”

You watched the kid turn and head back the way he came, your eyes going wide when you heard the hiss of Din’s helmet disengage. You just caught the beginning of the helmet tilting backwards in his hand before you darted your eyes quickly back to the tangled mess of wires in front of you.

You’d hoped you could be as open as the ones you’d fixed, but this whole thing felt a bit more like the one sparking over on the side; unexpected and dangerous.

Xxx

“Hey, can you come help me for a minute?”

Looking over to find Din poking his head around the front of the ship, you arched an eyebrow at him, glancing down to the wires in your hands. “Uh, yeah. Hang on a second.”

He came fully around the corner, standing with one leg bent easily while he waited patiently.

Finishing the last fastener on a bundle of wires, you dusted your hands off as you rose from the crate, groaning as your muscles protested. “Man, your landing packed a punch.”

Din leaned on one shoulder against the outside of the cockpit, the ice over the transparisteel creaking slightly in protest of his weight. “Anytime now.”

“Oh, you’re just so funny,” you smiled sarcastically, tilting your head in mockery at him as he did, mirroring him.

The kid came around the corner, his eyes lighting up when he saw you. He stumbled through the snow, his little robes collecting masses of the stuff as it drug through it.

“Hey, you,” you said playfully, scooping him up where you met him halfway, smiling at the squeal he let out. You tried to hide the pain from stooping down in a grimace, sealing it away for later, but he must have seen regardless.

His tiny face suddenly grew very serious, his eyes growing wider still, and one of his hands raised up to your cheek.

Narrowing your eyes at him, you lifted your gaze to Din, hoping for answers, but the Mandalorian remained silent, his posture relaxed and easy as he looked on.

Looking back to the kid, you blinked. It was all you could do as you felt a surge in the air around you, his aura ebbing and flowing like it had its own breath. Your skin began to tingle, the hair on the back of your neck stood on end, and goosebumps flushed down your body. A wave of warmth and happiness washed over you, and you realized your aches and pains were gone.

A calmness replaced it all as a stillness settled over the space. “Kid….” You whispered, your voice hoarse.

He left his tiny hand on your cheek as he grinned, eyes blinking heavily while he let out a coo.

Looking up at Din, you just stared at him for a minute. “Did you put him up to this?”

He snorted. “No. But what do you expect when you keep giving him cookies every time he does something like that?”

You looked into the kids bright eyes again, and reaching out tentatively, you didn’t want to wear him out any more than he already was, you searched and saw only pure intentions. Not that it mattered either way, but you were curious.

“That’s not why he did it,” you mumbled, reaching up to scratch the top of his head with one finger. Clearing your throat, you looked back at Din, lowering your hand to hold the child closer. “What did you need help with again?”

He jerked his head backwards indicating the other side of the ship before he pushed off of the cockpit, making his way around.

Once you caught up to him, you set the child down, watching with a smile as he meandered off probably in search of trouble.

Turning your attention back to Din, you saw he held a flashlight out to you.

“Could you hold this for me, please?”

You took it, nodding, flicking it on, and letting him aim your hand where he needed the light.

“Thanks.”

Almost immediately sparks were flying again as he began repairing this side of the hull.

Squinting at the bright embers, you looked around, noticing the area wasn’t particularly dark, at least not really enough to need a flashlight. It was still daylight up above the cave, and despite some shadows growing longer as the sun waned, he still should be able to see with relative ease.

“Is this really necessary?” You asked, jiggling the light just a bit to indicate what you meant.

He paused his work, looking up at you from where he knelt on the ground, his voice amused. “Would you be upset if I said no?”

You scoffed, turning the flashlight into his visor, making him wince back with a hiss. “That’s fair,” he ground out, shielding his eyes with his hands.

You flicked the light off, leaning back against the hull, arms crossing over your chest.

“Come on. You needed a break, and-”

“And you couldn’t just say, ‘Hey, you need to take a break’?”

He paused for a moment. “Would you have taken one if I did?”

You hesitated before looking away from him and across the cavern at nothing in particular. “No….” Your voice was barely a mumble.

“There. My point is proven. Now, if there’s nothing else,” he reached up and flicked on a light on his helmet, making your jaw drop before it snapped shut and you just rolled your eyes. “I have repairs I need to finish.”

The kid came walking around the corner of the ship, talking gibberish, and seeming to gesture the way he had come.

Din sighed, putting down his tool yet again, and flipping off the light from his helmet. Turning to the kid, he stayed kneeling, speaking dryly. “How ‘bout you come over here, give me a hand? Make yourself useful.”

“Din, really?” You muttered under your breath, casting a sidewise glare his way.

The kid lowered his arms, his voice fading off before he let out a frustrated grunt, looking between the two of you.

“Hey, kid,” Din called for him, turning his body more to face him properly.

The kid stared at him for just a second before turning and walking back the way he came, back to muttering gibberish.

“I said hey!” Din said exasperatedly, rising to his feet.

“Oh yeah, that’ll help,” you muttered, another roll of your eyes following.

“Where are you going?” Din ignored you, dropping his tool in the snow, and going after the kid with purposeful strides. “Come back here!”

You pushed off the ship with a sigh, following after the tiny wizard baby and the Mandalorian trailing him.

Making your way around the guns at the front of the ship, you saw the kid standing still a few feet away, looking off into the cavern. Din began to slow his steps, coming to a kneel on one knee beside his ward. The kid looked up at him and started again with the gibberish, and it was then you saw the footprints in the snow, leading away from the ship.

“When did she go?” Din’s voice had softened as he studied the path before looking back down at the child expectantly.

The child talked nonsense again, this time adding squeals for good measure as Din looked back to the steps with what, if you had to guess, was probably his thermal camera.

The child let out one final squeal as Din picked him up, holding him in the crook of his arm facing forward.

He began down the path a few paces before turning back to face you. “Stay with the ship.” You opened your mouth to argue, but he cut you off, his voice soft. “Please.”

You closed the distance between you, reaching up to grab his helmet on each side.

“I know, I know, ‘don’t be a hero’,” he teased, reaching up with the hand not holding the child to lightly hold onto your wrist.

Flicking your eyes back and forth as if you were looking into his eyes without the visor, you smiled softly before tilting his head down, bringing his forehead to yours. “Mesh’la-”

“Be safe,” you said softly, but emphatically, letting him know that’s what you were going to say. Letting your eyes flutter closed, you just breathed one another in, his grip on your wrist tightening slightly.

“Be safe,” you reiterated, pulling your head back to look into his visor again with an encouraging smile, before dropping your hands from his helmet.

He held onto your wrist, letting your arm slip down slightly so your hand was clutched in his. Giving it a gentle squeeze, he nodded once before he let go, taking a few steps backwards before turning and venturing deeper into the cave.

You waited until he was out of sight before turning back to the ship, staring at it absently, eyes scanning it back and forth as you processed what you had just done.

You’d meant to. You’d wanted to. You knew exactly what the forehead touch meant.

That didn’t change the fact that as you thought back on it now, a stupid grin climbed up your face and your hand came up to rub your forehead gently. Or that your stomach felt like winged things had grown and were taking flight, trying to escape through your skin and up your throat. A few let loose on a breathy chuckle, making you shake your head gently before determining to get back to work. “Right.”

Going around to the wire panel, you studied it for a moment before letting out a huff. “Let’s do this.”

Xxx

You’d gotten lost in the repairs, not sure how long you’d been buried in the panel.

A feeling niggling at the back of your mind drew your attention away, bringing your gaze up and toward the mouth of the cave Din had disappeared down however long ago. The ship was between it and you, but it was as if the ship faded away, and you could see everything clearly, almost too clearly. Tracing your way around the ship, one finger trailing along the hull of the Razor Crest as you kept your eyes on the cave, you tried to focus on the growing feeling creeping up on you.

As you made it around the guns again, the cave now actually in plain view, the feeling washed over you like a powerful wave, crashing into every sense, bombarding you at every angle. Something loomed, big, a life force, and it was angry. The sensation of hundreds of smaller life forms skittering around the floor, crawling over your feet, up your legs, and higher, until you shook your limbs in a violent shudder, making the phantom creepers drip off like water.

The faint sound of blaster fire met your ears, the cave illuminating with the bright red glow somewhere in the distance. Searching through the Force, you desperately looked for the child and Din, sighing in relief when you felt them along with the faint impression of the Frog Lady.

You didn’t think after that, you just ran. Navigating the cave wasn’t an issue, you just followed the sound of blaster fire. Turning around another curve, you saw Din running toward you, the child in his arms, container of eggs on his back, and the Frog Lady close behind.

Taking off towards them with a burst of speed, you skidded to a halt when a giant leg slammed through the ice between you and them.

Looking around it with wide eyes, you yelled to be heard over the chaos behind them. “What’s going on?”

“Go, go!” Din ran forward, grabbing your wrist and pulling you forward, quickly pushing you ahead of him.

Looking up as you ran back toward the ship, you saw a massive shadow crawling overhead, illuminated through the ice. Looking back behind you, you saw hundreds of spiders about the size of the child in close pursuit of your little party of four. Your eyes widened as you realized what was crawling above the ice, and you slowly looked back up, trying not to stumble as you felt your pace quicken.

Reaching for your blaster, Din’s hand on yours stopped you, and you glanced up at him, brows practically knit together in confusion. “No. Just run. There isn’t time.”

The shadow overhead loomed closer, its multiple legs making its way to you with ease, and a chill ran down your spine. “Okay,” you said with a small toss of your head to the side in agreement. You weren’t going to argue with that.

You were focusing back ahead of you when an unfamiliar beeping drew your attention back to the Mandalorian behind you. He held three glowing red circles in his hand, tossing one to the left, one to the right, then turned and tossed one up toward the massive spider. The circles all attached to the ice, their lights counting down before they exploded in quick succession.

The one that exploded closest to the giant broke the ice, dropping the monster down into the caves with you. Din ran a few paces further before stopping and turning around to see if it was dead, and you paused along with him. The creature was writhing and squealing a horrible sound that made you wince, sliding closer and closer from the momentum of the fall. Satisfied that it was at least injured, Din grabbed your forearm and began to pull you along again, hurrying back towards the ship.

“Why am I not surprised?” You panted out as you ran, turning your head to look at him as he ran alongside you.

“What?” He looked at you quickly before looking forward again, the container of eggs on his back sloshing with each movement.

“You have explosives. Why am I not surprised?” He huffed at you. “I mean, they don’t fit in your vambraces like every other weapon you use, but this still shouldn’t be news to me.”

Another huff of laughter passed his modulator.

“When do I get some?”

He groaned and started running faster.

With the large spider taken care of, all the little ones of various sizes surged forward, surrounding all of you, squeaking occasionally but mostly only making sound with their legs clicking against the ice. Each step they made was another click and it turned into a sea of constant clicks all around you.

Din shot at several of them, and you watched with disgust as they erupted in green goo. After a moment he stopped, holstered his blaster, and brought his arm up, engaging his vambrace as a small flame danced along the surface of the beskar. A whirring, ticking sound began to grow as the flame thrower charged up for use.

Running ahead of him with the Frog Lady, you looked over your shoulder as what almost sounded like the roar of a creature bounced off the walls as Din began blasting them with fire, the screeching sounds rising to a new level. The orange glow danced on the ice walls in a mesmerizing way, and you almost stopped to stare, but the Frog Lady gasping beside you drew your focus back.

Din came around the corner, quickly pulling his blaster back out and lightly shoving your shoulder to get you back ahead of him again.

The Frog Lady leapt on all fours part of the way, quickly closing the distance once the ship was in sight. Din shot behind all of you, trying to keep the wave of creepy crawlers at bay. You shuddered as they erupted in green goo each time, the mere thought of the oozing liquid making you sick to your stomach. You hated spiders.

Being the first to enter, the Frog Lady quickly extended her arms through the hull for the child, and you instantly felt a new wave of kinship toward her. She didn’t have to keep helping, but she was. You’d have to thank her somehow when this was all over.

You saw the child scuttle toward the cockpit with a whine once she set him on the floor, the flap quickly obscuring them from view again.

Din slid the egg container off his shoulder, and you took it from him, passing it in to your other passenger.

“Get inside!” Din continued to shoot as you put one foot over the threshold of the ship, holding the flap back for him.

“I’m not going up there without you.”

More spiders erupted in green goo, staining the snow.

One shot webbing at Din’s blaster hand, pinning it to the side of the ship. Another one, particularly small, reared back with a screech and launched toward the ship, flying right toward your face.

Your hand began to reach for your blaster, but the creature was stopped inches from your face by Din’s free hand, and promptly crushed. Tossing it down into the snow, he freed his hand stuck to the ship while you looked at the attempted assassin, curling up and shriveling into a ball in the snow.

Din began to back up into the ship, pushing you back in the process, his blaster never stopping until he made it fully into the ship and turned toward the cockpit, once again pushing you along in front of him.

Letting off a few strategic shots, he kept them at bay while he lightly pushed you to go up the ladder first. Scrambling, you had to remember how ladders worked for a few seconds as you tried to climb as quickly as possible, Din hot on your heels.

He shot a few through the hole at the top of the ladder once you both were at the top, but they just kept piling through.

Going into the cockpit quickly, soon a wall of spiders scrambling over one another were trying to push through the doors, keeping them from shutting.

Din braced a hand on one of the doors, and shot through the gap in an attempt to get them to close, but a few lone little scurriers got through, skittering throughout the cockpit.

“This would be so much easier if I had flame throwers!”

“It’s not happening!” Din’s voice was exasperated, but you still huffed at his response, eyeing the few creepers in the cockpit.

One especially small one dropped onto the kid’s head, and the child began to whine, reaching up to try and pull it off, but his short arms just couldn’t quite reach.

Without thinking, you grabbed the knife out of your belt, and skewered the thing, the blade sticking into the wall of the cockpit.

Two more spiders began to crawl towards the child, but they quickly erupted into goo when a blaster hit them dead on. Turning, you saw the Frog Lady holding a small blaster in her hands as she let out labored breaths, her big eyes staring back at you.

Din quickly looked over his shoulder when he heard the blaster fire, taking a second to process what happened before he turned back to the door, and blasted the wall of spiders with his flamethrower.

Once the doors clunked shut, you let out a breath you didn’t realize you were holding. “See? I told you.” He turned to you. “Flamethrowers make everything easy.”

He grunted in response, exchanging a glance with the Frog Lady.

Yanking your knife out of the wall, he turned his attention back to you as you flicked it to fling the dead spider off of it.

“I like my knife.” You knew it would probably just rile him up, given how he seemed to hate the blade, so his response was unexpected.

“Love it. It’s great. Real life saver. Now give it to me.” He held out his hand expectantly, waiting.

“What? No!”

“You’ll get it back, just…. Just trust me. Okay?”

Narrowing your eyebrows at him, you sighed as you pressed it into his palm. “I want that back.” You pointed an accusatory finger at his helmet.

“Didn’t I just say….” He muttered, sticking it into his own belt.

Suddenly the now familiar clicking of tiny feet sounded over the transparisteel of the cockpit, drawing all four sets of eyes up. The spiders left streaks in the frost as they crawled over the surface.

Din was quick to jump into the pilot’s seat. “Strap yourselves in. This better work.”

He began flipping switches and pressing buttons, the whirr of the engine coming to life underneath you. The Frog Lady strapped herself in, her container of eggs held tightly to her chest, while you did the same in your seat to Din’s left.

The kid crawled up into his lap, Din’s hands going around him, and you thought he was going to move him off of him, but he adjusted the kid into a better position instead, making the corner of your mouth twitch up.

“I’ve got limited visibility. It’s gonna be a bumpy ride.”

“Isn’t it always?” You mumble under your breath, cinching your safety belt tighter.

He pulled a lever on his right back, and the engines on either side roared to life. The vibrations caused some of the spiders to skitter off, then the slow momentum up made the rest begin to slide, but some were stubborn and hung on.

You’d made it a few feet off the ground when a massive thud sounded, and the ship jolted, dropping back down with an even louder thud.

Clunk. Clunk. Clunk.

The steps of something large shook the cockpit, and you hated that you already knew what that sound meant. You grimaced as the large spider you thought Din had killed in the cave came into view over the transparisteel. It roared, the display screens in front of Din going fuzzy at the sound.

Suddenly a large leg pierced the viewport, just missing the left side of Din’s seat, and making you yank your legs up toward your chest to get away. As soon as it withdrew, another crashed through onto his right side, just missing his seat again, and he curled slightly over to protect the child still in his lap.

The large creature withdrew, and began walking further ahead.

Thum. Thum. Thum. Thum.

Its footfalls on the ice reverberated in your chest, making it hard to breathe, and its shadow moving overhead made your mind spin.

It walked further to the front of the ship, leaning down to look into the viewport with large, black, soulless eyes before it reared back with a screech and opened its mouth wide. A ring of large teeth was all you saw before it tried to suction cup its mouth to the transparisteel, another mouth opening once it had, showing rows upon rows of sharp teeth. It slid to your left along the outside of the ship, and you’d never been more grateful that the Razor Crest was stubborn about giving up the ghost as the cockpit held. Its teeth scraped against the transparisteel in an ugly sound, its wet mouth squeaking as it was drug across, before it pulled away.

It looked like it was coming back for another attempt when suddenly blaster fire from your right knocked it off balance.

You’d jumped at the shots, startling as they repeated a few times, the large spider being hit over and over, and falling with a thump onto the cockpit. It’s limp body squeaked as it slid down the transparisteel, its large legs still draping over the top of the cockpit like some kind of morbid tunnel.

The blaster fire became almost constant, the muted sound of spiders exploding into goo with each hit becoming the new normal as you looked to Din for what to do.

He spun his chair to his right, getting up and putting the child in his place before drawing his blaster. You were quick to unclip your own belt, rising to your feet, and following closely behind.

The cockpit doors opened, and there wasn’t a single spider to be seen. The silence eerie compared to the wall of legs and hissing it had been not minutes ago. Where had they gone?

Din went down the ladder silently, and you followed, grimacing as he pulled back spiderwebs that now coated the inside of the ship.

Hand hovering over your blaster, you swallowed roughly. “I hate spiders.”

You almost gagged when the webs made a crackling noise as he moved them out of the way, their fibers already frozen.

“But I really hate ice spiders.”

The flashes and muted sounds of blaster fire lit up the inside of the ship from the hole in the side as Din made his way slowly forward, shooting one errant spider clicking along the wall.

He hesitated at the blanket hanging between the inside of the ship and outside, looking over his shoulder at you as he kept his body forward, blaster trained on whatever was out there. “Stay here,” he said quietly, but firmly.

“I’m coming with you.”

He sighed. “I need you to stay here. We don’t know who’s out there. All we know is they have a lot of fire power. So please,” his blaster dropped just slightly, his body angling slightly more towards you, “stay here.”

You must have looked like you were going to argue again, which, to be fair, was probably true, because in the next instant his hand not holding the blaster was around the back of your neck, tilting your head toward his, barely pressing your foreheads together.

His chest rose and fell as he let out a heavy sigh, and you nodded softly against the beskar, eyes on the floor. “Okay.”

Withdrawing from you slowly, his hand tracing down your arm as it fell away from your neck, he turned and pushed through the flap, the blaster fire brighter and a spotlight illuminating the interior of the ship before being obstructed by the blanket once again.

You leaned against the wall where the two of you had been sleeping only hours ago, right beside the hole, and listened.

Din’s footsteps in the snow headed up toward the cockpit slowly, the blaster fire dying down until it stopped altogether. Finally, a voice you recognized as Carson from over the comm started talking.

“We ran the tabs on the Razor Crest. You have an arrest warrant for the abduction of prisoner X6911.”

Your eyes wide, you peek your head around the edge of the hole, seeing through a crack as the blanket moves on a breeze. Two X-wings sit aimed at the Razor Crest several yards away, their cockpits open and pilots standing with blaster rifles in their hands. It’s too shadowy to see their faces, but you see enough before the blanket moves back, obstructing your view again.

“However,” Carson continues, “onboard security records show that you apprehended three priority culprits from the Wanted Register. Security records also show that you put your own life in harm’s way to try to protect that of Lieutenant Davan from the New Republic Correctional Corps.”

You felt a small smile climbing your face. He’d left that part out. Of course he had.

“Is this true?”

You waited for Din’s answer, a slight pause in the conversation keeping you on your toes as you looked at the blanket expectantly.

“Am I under arrest?”

Your stomach dropped. You hadn’t thought of that. They wouldn’t actually do it, would they?

“Technically, you should be,” Carson began. “But these are trying times.”

The wave of relief you felt was palpable. Your eyes fluttered shut and a breath you didn’t realize you were holding came out on a sigh.

“What say I forego the bounties on these three criminals, and you two help me fuse my hull so I can get off this frozen rock?”

Your eyes flew open at Din’s words, your eyebrow raising skeptically. “Really?” You mumbled, rolling your eyes and tossing your head back onto the wall with a gentle thump.

Apparently Carson was thinking along the same lines as you, his voice now a bit sarcastic. “What say you fix that transponder, and we don’t vaporize that antique the next time we patrol the Rim?”

You gently pushed the blanket to the side, peering out to see the officers getting back into their ships and taking off. You leaned one shoulder against the edge of the hole, keeping the blanket pressed back with the other hand as you watched them fly out through a hole on the far side of the cavern.

Din turned to you, and you couldn’t help your smirk.

“What?” He asked, hands going out to his sides slightly in question.

“Nothing,” you mused, pushing the curtain further back for him to pass through, standing up straight. “I just can’t believe your response to them not arresting you was ‘hey, help me fix my ship’.”

“They could have helped,” Din muttered as he brushed past you, making you chuckle.

Letting the blanket fall closed again, you turned to find the Frog Lady and the child on the other side of the hole. They must have just made their way down. You looked at the kid where he stood on a crate, and tilted your head as you noticed how calm he seemed, almost subdued, as he stared up at his caretaker with rapt attention.

“All right. I’m gonna repair the cockpit enough for us to limp to Trask.” Din was all business, but his voice was soft, like he was talking to a friend. He mostly directed his speech at the Frog Lady, and you smiled at how quickly their little relationship had grown. He had a reputation to keep, sure, but underneath all that armor, Din had one huge heart. Then again, escaping death together could do that to someone, too. Either way, he now regarded her with more patience than only just a few hours prior.

“There’s nothing I can do about the main hull’s integrity, so we’re gonna have to get cozy in the cockpit. It’s the only thing I can pressurize. If you need to use the privy, do it now. It’s gonna be a long ride.”

Xxx

Sparks were once again flying as Din made repairs in the cockpit. He sat in your chair as he worked, and you were in the pilot’s seat working on wiring under the console. The child was perched nearby, watching Din closely.

You reached under the edge blindly, fumbling for the wire opposite the one currently in your hand when you bumped into something. It rattled around a bit, bouncing softly off the back wall of the cockpit before stilling again. You tilted your head at the console, looking down where the sound had been as if you could see through all the buttons and switches.

You noticed in your peripherals Din had stilled his work, his visor turned your way ever so slightly, shoulders tense.

“What was that?” You asked, turning your head to look at him over your shoulder.

He let out a sigh as he set the tool down. “Look and see.”

Reaching a little further back, you knit your eyebrows together when your hand closed around something that felt almost like a drum. Material pulled tightly over a frame of some sort, only there was a jagged edge almost like a corner. Pulling it towards you, you gasped when you saw your painting from your apartment. Free of graffiti. “What? How? When?” You held it in front of you, looking at Din over the edge with wide eyes.

The kid came around to your side to look at the picture as Din spoke, his voice uncharacteristically quiet.

“I had stored it in a space under the bunk, but I moved it up here after we land- crashed so it wouldn’t be as exposed to the elements as down there with the hole in the hull.” He gestured down toward the bunk over his shoulder with the tool.

“But it was ruined! You said you wanted to know what type of paint it was or-”

He chuckled nervously. “Yeah, that was a lie. I have no idea if that can even be done. I just wanted to get it cleaned up and I said that before anything else….”

“How?”

“Peli.”

Realization washed over your face. “That’s why she was being so dodgy when we left. She didn’t know if you had stashed it yet. And why you closed the ramp in her face, before she accidentally said something about it,” you giggled when he let out a heavy sigh.

He nodded, looking down and fiddling with something he was working on in front of him.

“I left it with her while we went to Mos Pelgo, figured with all her stuff sitting around her shop, she’d have something that could take that paint off.”

You studied the picture again, smiling. “Well, I’m glad she did. This has always been my favorite.”

“Mine, too.”

You looked at him again, tilting your head in question.

“I picked that painting because it reminds me of my home planet.”

Your breath caught in your chest, and your gaze darted back down to the painting, taking in every detail with new eyes. It has always felt like an escape, like something secret and magical, but now it also felt somehow…. Deeper. It felt like visiting somewhere you loved. Almost like coming home.

He took an almost shuddering breath. “That attack on my home planet, the one where my parents died?” You nodded. “It was the Separatists. Droids. That’s why I don’t like droids.”

Such a simple answer. So why did it make your heart break into a million pieces on the floor?

“After the explosion, the doors of the cellar opened and a B2-series super battle droid was standing there, looking down at me. It took aim, and…. Then a Mandalorian shot it down.” He looked up at you. “They held out their hand, literally, and helped me out of the cellar, flying me off to safety with their jet pack.” He shook his head gently. “I haven’t been back since.”

“Do you want to?” You asked after a moment, holding the painting close to your chest and leaning closer to him.

“I…. I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it.”

You reached out a hand, placing it on his forearm, the cool beskar under your fingers. “Well, if you ever do, I’ll go with you.” You smiled at him as he lifted his head up just enough to look at you. “And until you do, if you ever do, you can just look at this if you ever get homesick.” You wiggled the painting with your other hand.

“That’s not home anymore,” he said simply, his head lifting up to look at you straight on.

The two of you stared at each other for a moment, the air in the cockpit feeling like it had its own electricity, until the kid burst the bubble, slowly leaning over and pushing a random button on the console. Sparks flew out from underneath where your wiring was still being done, making you curse as you spun back to take care of it.

Handing the painting to Din carefully, he set it off to the side behind your chair, quickly turning to the kid and lifting him away from the buttons, pressing a few to undo whatever the little gremlin had done.

After a little while, Din had moved to the outside of the cockpit, kneeling on a ledge as he worked, the kid pressed up against the glass as he watched.

You were still working under the console, now laying on the floor with your head under the board to better see what you needed to do.

Glancing down and to your left, you could see Din through the transparisteel, sparks reflecting off his beskar as they flew every which way, and the silhouette of the child as he pressed himself as close as he could get to the viewport.

You smiled at the image. He really was the world to the kid.

“Hey, you, tiny,” you called out to him, and he turned his head just enough to let you know he heard you before looking back out the viewport. “Think you could come help me with this?”

He let out a coo, the transparisteel fogging from his breath briefly before it receded, and he didn’t move a muscle.

Letting out a sigh, you gently shook your head, smiling despite yourself as you turned back to the wires overhead. “Worth a shot.”

Xxx

Din came into the cockpit after some final repairs on the outside, sliding into his seat and beginning to flip various switches and press buttons on the console in preparation for takeoff. You couldn’t help the proud little grin that climbed your face, knowing your work on the wiring was helping all those little lights flicker on.

“Okay, repair’s all done. Let’s see if we can get this thing going once and for all.”

You double checked your safety belt before looking out the viewport with a deep breath.

He pushed a handle on the right all the way forward, and the engines on each side roared to life. Pulling back on the same lever slowly, the ship began to rise, shaking enough to make your teeth rattle as it did. The giant spider body began to slip off to the side, throwing the ship off kilter, until it fell off all the way and released the ship.

The right side of the Razor Crest hit the side of the cavern, the Frog Lady grunting at the impact. The child’s ears were trembling with the vibrations of the ship, his little body squished between Din and the console.

The left engine hit the edge of the hole the ship had fallen down, and then finally it was clear to rise without interference. Making its way higher into the atmosphere, the vibrations lessened, and the flight was smooth, aside from more whirring, grinding, and bumping than usual coming from the deck below.

Punching a few more buttons - you really needed to learn what they all did - Din let out a small sigh, his body finally relaxing for the first time since before you’d crashed.

“Wake me up if someone shoots at us. Or if that door gets sucked off its rails.” The Frog Lady croaked a response, and you swore it sounded concerned. He turned his head to the side to look at her. “I’m kidding. If that happened, we’d all be dead.” You glared at him as he turned back to face forward, settling into his chair, arms crossed over his chest. “Sweet dreams.”

The kid peeked around the front of him to look at the eggs longingly one more time, cooing while the Frog Lady wrapped her arms around the container and closed her eyes.

“Kid….” You said warningly, voice low to not disturb the others.

He turned around and looked over Din’s other side to meet your narrowed gaze. He let out a soft squak, turning back to the front just enough that you could still see him, and popped another egg into his mouth.

You sighed, shaking your head before burying your face in your palm.

Xxx

Din POV

Once he was sure the others were asleep, he sat up quietly in his seat.

Slipping your knife silently from his belt, he wiped it clean of any remaining spider goo with his cape.

Glancing your way one more time, just to make sure, he watched your even breaths for a moment, having to bite his tongue to not laugh at the way your face scrunched in a dream. The child snuggled further into your lap, soft little snores proving he was also asleep.

Turning back to the blade, he looked at it with mild disdain as he flipped it over in his hands a few times, inspecting it. It really was inferior in most ways, cheaply made, barely holding an edge, but it was yours. You loved it. For whatever reason.

And you had saved his son’s life with it. Your first kill. A noble kill, at that.

If you were a Mandalorian, you would have earned your signet. He smiled at the thought of a Mandalorian having a first kill so tame it’s really just an overgrown bug, but to you it might as well have been a mudhorn.

He took out his own knife tucked away in his boot and began to etch on the blade near the hilt.

You weren’t Mandalorian, and you probably wouldn’t ever be, it wasn’t in your nature, but you fought just as fiercely as one. And that spirit, that drive deserved recognition. Or at least that’s what he told himself as he continued to work on the symbol.

In all honesty, he knew what this meant. He kept telling himself that putting the mudhorn on the blade was simply a way of protecting you, keeping you safe. The kid had the mythosaur necklace, and you would have this blade etched with his clan symbol in case things took a turn.

You were basically a part of his clan, anyway, he reasoned. On some level, you always had been. You don’t just keep going back to see just anybody. You don’t think about going back to them when you’re away, and you especially don’t think about it as soon as you walk out of their bar after seeing them for the last few hours.

You’d always felt like a sense of yaim'la to him, of being at home.

As someone who’d blocked out all memories of home, thinking about them too painful, it was a comfort to feel that again. You’d made home somewhere safe, somewhere he could return, and now, as he glanced over his shoulder at you, somewhere he could carry with him.

Being a clan of three was something that was always understood to him, from the moment you’d stepped foot on his ship, and probably even before that, he just never put a voice to it. Whether that came from a place of fear or what he didn’t know.

Looking back down to the knife, he finished the design, dusting off the blade with his cape once more. He held it up in front of his visor, tilting it from side to side, the lights from the console reflecting in the raw shiny metal of the sigil. He tipped it backwards, the stars catching the metal through the viewport, dancing off the hard edges of the pattern and reflecting on the ceiling of the cockpit.

Tucking the blade back into his belt carefully, he stared out the transparisteel absently as something settled heavily in his gut. Pushing it away, he tucked his knife back in his boot, then leaned back in his chair, arms crossing over his chest as he tried to sleep.

Blinking his eyes open after only a few seconds, he huffed in aggravation. He didn’t do this. He didn’t let things get to him like this.

Fidgeting in the seat, he watched the stars pass by slowly through the viewport.

He should tell you, he really should. He would. Eventually.

After he had gauged your reaction to being a part of his clan, he’d think about telling you what the symbol really meant.

It really was an oversight that the ancient Mandalorians had made a sigil on a weapon be a sign of courting. That way anyone he ever gave his sigil to would possibly fall under that category, if all they had available was a weapon, he thought with a smile. It quickly faded with his next thought.

You don’t ask just anyone to join your family.

And you definitely weren’t just someone to him.

Xxx

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[panda-puma]

I'm a little baffled by your post about the one piece anime, because while I would also recommend people read the manga instead, it still is a vastly more accurate adaption than the opla? like, opla is lovely for what it is, but oda being involved in it doesn't change the fact that they took huuuge liberties that the anime just... doesn't? which is perfectly fine for an adaption, I'm just mentioning it because it sounded like you were focused on the character dynamics, which are just... vastly, vastly different in the manga AND anime vs the live action. I'm thinking about Nami and Sanji in particular (and Usopp as well to a degree), who all kind of feel like watered-down versions of their actual selves (Nami isn't greedy enough, Usopp not cowardly enough, Sanji... well, I'm not saying Sanji being different is a bad thing asdf). Again, perfectly fine for an adaption that doesn't mean to adapt its source material beat for beat, but it just leaves me really confused over how the opla is possibly a more faithful/a better adaption than the anime? Which, as far as I can recall, has severe pacing issues, annoying fillers and leaves out things like the cover stories, but still sticks waaaay closer to the actual story and dynamics as they are in the manga.

(First of all: you can like the Anime. As I said before, I've watched the entire Anime 3 times this last year. But you can enjoy something and still know it's flawed. Very flawed, even.)

Uf, I will try to make this as short as possible xD If i sound dry or "angy", sorry, English is not my first language ^^

What baffles me is that most people really think the Anime of One Piece is a faithful 1 to 1 adaptation, or that everything on it is canon (except the fillers), or that Oda approves the changes they make. For context: it was very common in the 90s/2000s to just take a manga that was doing good and make an animation that took the characters and story and did whatever they wanted with it. One Piece is not the only victim of this treatment.

I respect the animators and Seiyuus, they do their jobs good and are what makes the Anime enjoyable. But I really can not understand the Directors and the changes they decided to make to the characters (and this applies to the whole series, not only 20 years ago).

The changes you see in OPLA are necessary to translate a drawing (Manga) to a series acted by real people. Also, condensing 95 chapters of Manga in 8 episodes and trying to bring the essence of the characters to the screen, translating Japanese funny gags to an International Audience and also having the input of 25 years of Oda thinking "huh, maybe this could have been explained better" it's obviously going to make things change.

The Anime has none of those excuses. It's also a drawing so no need to tone down, supposed to have the same Audience (even tho they really tried to make it for little kids and it shows), they clearly don't have an issue with the length of the series and they don't ask Oda for nearly any of the changes they make!

Pretending Oda being involved or not doesn't matter is just so weird to me. You know all One Piece characters are Oda's OCs, right? He is the original creator of the characters. He knows them better than anyone else. He knows where the story is going, what is acceptable, what is on character and what is not. Just because they are very famous characters it doesn't mean they are not someones Original Characters. He loves them and cares for them. Not respecting him as the only one that can say something is canon or not is completely disrespectful and dehumanizing.

About watering down characters in OPLA: again, they are real people acting the characters. In the Manga they are exaggerated to a comical effect that wouldn't translate as comical if it's real people who do it, it'd just be weird. That's because it's different mediums and different audience. But the core of the characters is very present, just less cartoony. On the other hand, the Anime reduces the characters to just this comical effect, taking away nearly everything else of the characters, making them just gags.

Answering to the specific points you make about OPLA:

Nami not being greedy enough: Nami's greed before Arlong Park Arc is just her trying to save enough to free her people. We don't really see her greed until after she is free. We haven't reached this point yet in OPLA, apart of her wanting to dress nice and enjoy a bath.

Usopp not being cowardly enough: they can not spend 5 minutes of an 50 minute episode showing him screaming around or running away. But they did show him running as first reaction in Kaya's Mansion, twice. They showed him wanting to go back home after encountering Garp. He does say cowardly things all the time, like wanting to leave, stay on the Merry, not fight the Fish Men, running away the second Chu payed attention to him… It's just less cartoony. They are also not showing inner dialogue of the characters, it's just shown by their acting.

Sanji not being a pervert: Not only is Sanji's perversion waaaay exaggerated in the Anime, to an unpalatable degree, it's also a very Japanese Funny Gag that wouldn't translate good to an International Audience. Sanji in the Manga has, on top of everything else, a friendly relationship with Nami. He can talk to her like a human being. They are friends that can agree or disagree without drama, that join forces to fix things very often and act very calm around each other unless something "special" happens and Sanji is lovestruck, but even so, he usually comes back to being normal pretty fast. Of course he likes her and he is attracted to her, but he also sees her as a person... unlike the Anime. This translated to into the Live Action to a man that tries to flirt and has no success, but that can take a no as an answer without being offended. Also, Oda probably wanted to show on the Live Action that the real reason Sanji is on the crew is no other than him following Luffy (that is also a thing that the Anime waters down: Sanji's dedication to Luffy)

The main point is: yes, OPLA is an Alternative Universe where things are shown a bit differently, but the core of the characters is the same. You see them and you see real people, just like in the Manga.

And let's see about the faithfulness of the Anime... just because the Arcs are called the same and things kind of happen the same, it doesn't mean it's a faithful adaptation. The most important thing in a story is the characters and how they interact and react to the world. These are just some differences between the Anime and the Manga that I can think of off the top of my head, just from the East Blue Saga. (without any particular order)

-- Zoro's real backstory (Manga) is that he had been in the Shimotsuki Dojo probably since birth, practicing his 2 Sword Style and only starting the 3 Sword Style to carry Kuina's Soul with him. [((spoilers from Wano: now we know Zoro is also a Shimotsuki, so he was training in his family's Dojo. It also explains why Koushirou gave Kuina's sword to Zoro so easily: they are family, and Zoro would carry the Shimotsuki name to the top of Swordmanship))].

Zoro's backstory in the Anime is completely changed to make it look like he is a random funny kid that came out of nowhere and one day appeared in the Dojo. His signature 3 sword style is also made like he just "wanted to use as many swords as possible".

I don't think it's very necessary to explain why this changes are just... terrible for the character and continuity.

[Edit: the following is not correct! Check the reblog for the correction :D] The Anime also makes Zoro's departure from Shimotsuki Village like something he planned to do, saying goodbye to Kuina's Grave and Koushiro… when in the Manga he literally tells Luffy he was kicking pirates out of his village and he got lost and didn't know how to get back. [/end of incorrect part]

Changing Zoro's character at every turn is something they love to do in the Anime.

--

Usopp in the Manga wants Luffy&co. to meet Kaya, because he cares about her well being. He wants her to make new friends, to be able help them and feel useful doing it. Usopp knows what Kaya needs is contact with the world and tries to bring it to her.

Usopp in the Anime is jealous and secretive of her. He doesn't want the others to go meet her, even knowing they are good people. He'd rather have her to himself.

This is a fatal change to the character of Usopp. He is a kind hearted lovely man that wants what's best for his friend... but the Anime just shows a jealous asshole.

--

In the battle against Cabaji, Zoro cuts his own wound, so his opponent can't use it as an advantage anymore.

In the Anime, he lowers his defense on purpose and lets Cabaji cut his wound.

The first one shows how far he can go to prove himself, also shows he is not at all worried because he doesn't consider Cabaji up to his level. I'm not sure what the second one is supposed to show apart from "children can not see self-harm".

--

Also in Orange Town in Manga, Luffy is fighting as much as possible against the cage he is trapped in, biting the bars. And afterwards he is very worried asking Zoro to leave him and not carry him or he will get worse from his wounds. In the Anime he is just surprised that Zoro can carry him like that. He doesn't really fight his predicament.

The Anime usually shows Luffy as an uncaring friend, which is sad when he is a character that cares so much and has so much empathy.

--

In the Manga, Zeff cuts his own leg and eats it to survive after giving all the food they have to Sanji.

In the Anime, Zeff lost his leg because it got caught in the ships broken pieces, and he had to cut it to survive. (i guess he survived 80 days thanks to the Holy Spirit or something) (again with being palatable to children)

--

In the Manga, the first encounter between Tashigi and Zoro is brief, Zoro gives her back the glasses and carries on (even tho tilted by her looking so similar to Kuina).

In the Anime, Zoro breaks Tashigi's glasses with the shock and she proceeds to be the meanest person ever insulting him in many ways (isn't she supposed to be a good person?) and forcing him to work for her to pay her glasses back, even tho she has no need for the money.

The Anime shows Zoro as a pushover, when in reality he is not. He was "pushed over" by Luffy out of the blue because it is Luffy, not because Zoro would let someone random do that to him. This type of "Zoro gets messed up easily by anyone" is very repeated through the Anime, taking away the importance of his relationship with Luffy and the other few he pays really attention to.

--

In the Manga, Sanji wants to be famous and have his face seen in the Newspaper. That's why he gets mad when Usopp is in Luffy's Wanted Poster and he isn't.

In the Anime, he is already a famous cook. We can see it in one of the many filler in Loguetown, where another cook has been wanting to surpass him for a long time.

[((spoiler of Whole Cake Island: This collides directly with how his Wanted Poster makes his bio Family looks for him to use him, after knowing he is still alive.))]

--

Also in Loguetown, in the Manga Luffy goes directly to the place Roger was executed.

In the Anime they make him get lost a hundred times for comical effect. He also meets Smoker, Buggy and others on the way… taking away all the surprise.

--

In the Manga, Zoro and Luffy are pretty confused with Sanji's romantic reaction to Nami. They don't get why she's getting special treatment. Zoro even wonders if she bewitched him somehow.

In the Anime, as soon as Sanji starts flirting with Nami, Zoro gets irritated and Luffy gets uncomfortable.

In the Anime they try hard to make Zoro have a romance with any girl that shows up, adding reactions that are never present in the Manga.

--

And well, a huge one that needs more elaboration, because it is the core of the Manga: Luffy is shown observing and judging situations and people constantly. Every time something is happening that shows the true nature of people, he is specifically shown paying attention.

In the Anime this is translated as him being an empty headed kid that barely thinks or cares about anyone. He is a shell of a man, who only repeats that he wants to be King of the Pirates...

--

This is a very tiny list of examples that explain themselves without going into extensive detail…

I can go on and on about more changes that make no sense or change characters personalities, but if I do, I will dedicate its own blog to it to not clutter this one. I need bigger posts to explain the changes I see in dynamics between the characters xD

And as I said: if all of these changes were approved by Oda, I would be happy to accept them. But sadly they are not.

So to me, the One Piece Anime is just a fan-made adaptation that takes too many liberties. Or, as Animes are really considered in Japan: just advertisement for the Mangas.

On the other hand, OPLA changes were approved after negotiations and struggles and years of back and forth. Oda was very invested in it, trying to really show his vision and his world as good as possible. That's why i consider the Live Action as a faithful adaptation of the story.

Of course you may not consider these things important, but they are for me. In the end, you are free to enjoy One Piece as you wish! ^^

Anyways, thanks for reading so much! xD This ended up not being short at all, but i controlled myself as much as possible, i swear uvuU

[ninthprime]

mildly arbitrary rating of every gundam i have watched so far

in order of me starting them

witch from mercury: 7.5/10. we’re never gonna get confirmation of people’s various theories that this show was originally planned for 50 episodes and i’ve also heard that the showrunner’s series tend to be kind of just Like This, but gwitch has a lot of missed potential mostly focused on 1. its seemingly incomplete worldbuilding and 2. the fact that the arcs of much of its secondary cast (guel, nika, shaddiq) appear to jump over a few steps or just are missing something. on the other hand, the arcs of its primary cast (particularly suletta) are great, suletta herself is a top-tier protagonist, the tertiary cast is one of the best i’ve seen in gundam (i love earth house), and sulemio is probably objectively the best gundam romance even if i’m pretty sure it’s not my personal favorite.

gundam 0079: 9.5/10. the GOAT. you know how it is. every single person who got into gundam via gwitch like i did but still hasn’t gone back to watch 0079 is doing themself a total disservice. you watch this show and both everything about mecha and everything about modern anime in general suddenly clicks completely in your brain. everyone who has been obsessed with char aznable and amuro ray for the last 40+ years has been completely right. i think its only big flaws are some of its treatment of women (though later shows like ZZ have way more glaring issues there) and its shortened length, but frankly if you hadn’t told me it got cut short seven episodes early i would not have noticed, because its finale may be one of my all time favorite television finales ever. just go watch it. i’m sitting you down right now

zeta gundam: 8.5/10. a really ideal sequel in a lot of ways that are remarkable considering the gap of time between it and 0079. focuses on new characters who reflect on the last show while still being their own things, and brings back the cast of the last show in ways that feel like they make sense while still being unexpected and making you look at things in a new light. deeply iconic and atmospheric in ways that are a little overwhelming at times; it is a dour show. has way more glaring flaws for me than a lot of the fandom brings up though, mostly in its pacing and its villains. this show has an entire middle section i barely remember and do we need both the four and rosamia storylines? and frankly i do not care about the titans that much (other than sarah).

zz gundam: 8.5/10. zz defender crop is here. please ignore everyone who tells you that you can skip zz. zeta’s other half in ways that aren’t just “it started two weeks after zeta in real life”- it also fixes zeta’s pacing, provides a welcome counterpoint to its dire tone, and its villains are literally just improved versions of zeta’s (glemy is better scirocco! haman is a top tier gundam villain in general!). i think the middle section of this show- the entire time they are on earth- is my favorite section of UC gundam, or at least tied with 0079’s ramba ral and finale arcs. i do think the dip in quality people say it has in the last arc is true. also probably has the largest Woman Problem in any gundam i’ve seen so far (i have a threshold for bad women writing so high it is practically antifeminist but unfortunately emary breaks that threshold, what the hell is up with everything about emary) even though i love some of those women very much. secretly has the boldest and most thematically interesting gundam finale so far. ple forever

char’s counterattack: 8/10. as i’ve said before: a gorgeous film about two men being so divorced that thousands of people die. genuinely iconic and also very bold but i often find myself torn as to whether i want tomino to be more explicit about what he’s saying here. we could have saved ourselves years of “was char right??” debates but then again, it’s the spirit of cca to claim that only you have the right take about cca. beyond the time is a good song

gundam unicorn: 7.5/10. politics here are often confusing and messy, and i think it suffers from its core characters (banagher and mineva) and their relationship not getting the time they need. on the other hand, i’m interested in what it says about the worldbuilding of UC (even if i think it didn’t execute it that well) and its secondary cast is great; i did nearly cry about marida and zinnerman so that sure works. full frontal does not bug me nearly as much as he bothers most people although i think he has the same “needs more time to cook” issue banagher and mineva have. i even kind of like what they do with riddhe and i usually dislike that archetype. in other words: i would have been nuts for the forty episode (and properly paced) version of this show. marida forever

gundam hathaway: 7/10?? hard to tell here without having the next two movies. was a bit hard to get invested in the conflict near the end as we met many characters who are not developed yet. but the relationship between the core trio here is intriguing and i like hathaway as a protagonist a lot.

the rest of my “gundams i am most interested in list” is victory -> turn a -> 00 -> iron blooded orphans so that’s the next four shows. after…who can say

[themattress]

Unpopular(?) Opinion Re:Dragon Ball

The Android / Cell Saga is the best story arc in Dragon Ball Z, if not all of Dragon Ball.

Having been revisiting the series lately due to Akira Toriyama's shocking and untimely death, and comparing the story arcs of DBZ in their manga, original anime and Kai forms, I feel like despite the Saiyan / Vegeta and Namek / Freeza Sagas being far more iconic worldwide, it's the Android / Cell Saga that came out best in all incarnations. First off, there's the pacing:

Saiyan / Vegeta: 48 Chapters Namek / Freeza: 87 Chapters Android / Cell: 91 Chapters

Saiyan / Vegeta: 35 Episodes Namek / Freeza: 72 Episodes Android / Cell: 77 Episodes

Saiyan / Vegeta: 16 Episodes Namek / Freeza: 38 Episodes Android / Cell: 44 Episodes

In all versions, this is the longest arc, and yet it's paced much better than the previous two.

The Saiyan / Vegeta Saga spent 30 of its 48 manga chapters dealing with Nappa and Vegeta on Earth; Raditz lasted just 10 and then only 8 were spent in preparation for Nappa and Vegeta's arrival. The original anime gave Raditz 5 episodes, 16 episodes for preparation, and 14 episodes for the big battle. For the former, it felt like the middle portion ran far too short which caused the end to drag on, whereas in the latter it's the reverse: the middle lasted far longer than it needed to as several episodes were spent on filler bullshit like a bug planet, a second Oozaru transformation for Gohan, fighting phony Saiyans inside a simulation room, or a backstory for the Saiyans and the destruction of their planet that ends up at complete odds with actual canon. Only Kai got it down right, with the first half (Raditz + preparation) and the second half (Nappa and Vegeta) both lasting 8 episodes, making it the ideal version.

The Namek / Freeza Saga has 27 chapters at the beginning where everyone goes to Namek and hunts for the Dragon Balls, 22 chapters at the middle where the Ginyu Force is the focal point, and finally 38 chapters at the end where we get the battle with Freeza. So yeah, the end section dragged on longer than it probably needed to. The anime is much worse: 23 episodes beginning, 16 episodes middle, and 33 episodes end, with a fair amount in each section being pure filler such as Fake Namek, zany Bulma shenanigans, or diversion after diversion during Goku's fight with Freeza. Once again, Kai is the most preferable version, as it again combines the beginning and middle into a first half and the end into a second half, both lasting 19 episodes, dividing the arc into pre-Porunga and post-Porunga sections.

Then we have the Android / Cell Saga. 30 chapters at the beginning where Dr. Gero and his androids are the central threat, 30 chapters at the middle where Cell emerges as the true villain and goes through his transformations, and 31 chapters at the end centered around the Cell Games....and the last of those two can essentially be considered one elongated epilogue chapter starring Future Trunks, meaning it's more like 30/30/30. The original anime's equivalent is 23 episodes, 25 episodes, and 29 episodes respectively - it's almost perfect, with the only flaw being the end section needlessly being dragged out by two episodes more than is needed (one where Hercule and two anime-exclusive students of his hog the spotlight even when the ultimate outcome of their antics is obvious and one where Cell inexplicably spends the entire length charging up his final Kamehameha). Kai makes the pace perfect again, with 14 episodes at the beginning, 14 at the middle, and 16 at the end, with the last two being the wrap-up and epilogue respectively following the main action against Cell.

Beyond the pacing, there's the content. Not only does this arc hold some of the most interesting and influential ideas (the existence of alternate timelines, Dr. Gero's scientific genius, Vegeta's character development, Piccolo and Kami becoming one again, the depths of Gohan's power, etc.) and not only did Toriyama and his editors fluke their way into a remarkable degree of consistency despite nothing having been pre-planned, but almost every character gets something important to do. In the previous arcs, you could count the important heroes on one hand: Goku, Gohan, Krillin, Piccolo, and the helpful comic relief (Yajirobe in the former, Bulma in the latter). They and the villains carried the arcs while everyone else were either a plot device (hi, King Kai!), sidelined, or made into cannon fodder. But here, in addition to now also having Vegeta and Future Trunks among the heroes, you get important and useful roles for not just those aforementioned characters but also Tien, Yamcha, Roshi, Dr. Brief, Kami, Dende, and even newcomer Hercule (poor Chi Chi and Chiaotzu, though).

And while the villains collectively don't quite measure up to the Freeza Empire in iconic status, they are still superbly designed and characterized, making them highly memorable. Cell himself has got to be the standout, being as good if not better a foe than Freeza. Let's just put it this way: once Goku went Super Saiyan, Freeza was done for, and his destructive tantrum that blew up Namek ultimately claimed no victims. With Cell, it looks like things are going the same way once Gohan goes Super Saiyan 2, but then his destructive tantrum that risks blowing up Earth actually does come at the cost of Goku's life! And then, Cell comes back, now as powerful as Super Saiyan 2 Gohan as he insta-kills Trunks, curb-stomps Vegeta, and breaks Gohan's arm before preparing to blow up Earth again, this time at no cost to himself! This was hands-down the biggest "Oh my God; holy shit; Game Over, man; there's no way out of this" situation in all of Dragon Ball, making the ensuing Kamehameha beam struggle where Gohan is guided by Goku's spirit all the more epic and satisfying. The anime and Kai made it even better, allowing Piccolo, Krillin, Tien and Yamcha to keep on trying to help against Cell despite how futile it was, inspiring a despondent Vegeta to get back into the fray and providing his crucial assist blast. It takes all of the Z-Fighters to save the world.

So that's my take. This story arc is just....well, perfect.

[comma57]

devil may cry netflix show!?

hi everyone. welcome to my in-depth analysis of the upcoming devil may cry netflix anime. yesterday was the first time we got a look at what to expect visually. it was very short, but there's a lot to talk about. long, image heavy post ahead.

what's old?

firstly, let's briefly go over what we had known about the show before the trailer was shown. it's featuring dante (of course), and lady and vergil were confirmed to also make an appearance. so i had assumed it was a dmc3 adaptation, since it was unlikely to be post-dmc5. the first season would be 8 episodes long, with more seasons to come. the producer and co-writer is adi shankar, and is working with the producer for the original dmc and 2007 anime, hiroyuki kobayashi. (1)

here's a selection of quotes from some interviews with shankar, previously known for work on netflix's yasuke and other shows (something called "castle" "vania"). apparently he's working on a PUBG show too. okay.

"I've acquired these rights myself, so that the jabronies in Hollywood can't fuck this one up too." (2)

"Again, this was developed by a DMC fan for DMC fans, that was the ethos of this project. Production should start at the beginning of next year." (3)

"I feel like I can meaningfully contribute to the lore of the series. Devil May Cry has unique iconography and emotionally engaging lore." (4)

"The characters in DMC have an operatic depth and they experience growth across the series so it’s fun to – in a Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase 3 kind of way – play with and explore that depth through the lens of psychological realism and dissect the trauma buried below the surface of that depth." (4)

"Devil May Cry.. will join Castlevania in what we're now calling the 'bootleg multiverse'. Let the speculation begin." (6) (i forgot he said this i'm so scared)

"You're a Vergil fan? Are you also a Thanos fan?" (6)

what's new?

with that awesome start out of the way, let's get into the new stuff. with no release date other than "soon", we know it's being animated by studio mir, a studio based in south korea ("anime" feels like a misnomer now but i won't get into that) and previously worked on legend of korra, voltron legendary defender, and star wars visions vol 2, to name a few.

hideaki itsuno, director of the dmc series since dmc2, tweeted that he was "supervising it properly!" (7)

there was also a promo for the netflix stream that showed ebony & ivory.. from the DmC reboot. which hopefully was a mistake. and that the reboot has nothing to do with the show.

here's the tagline for the show: "In this animated adaptation of the popular Capcom game, sinister forces are at play to open the portal between the human and demon realms. In the middle of it all is Dante, an orphaned demon-hunter-for-hire, unaware that the fate of both worlds hangs around his neck." aww, dante.

alright, now let's get into the trailer analysis..!! LET'S ROCK!!!!

dante..?

here's everyone's favorite devil hunter- wait. where is he? who is this? checks notes um. well. i guess this is supposed to be dante. white hair, red coat, twin pistols, confident smirk.. it has the key points of dante, but something is off OH GOD IS HE WEARING A SHIRT? (and suspenders??)

1. his shirt? now, in all other iterations of dante he wears a shirt yes. but fans of the series would know in dante's look in devil may cry 3, he very much doesn't wear a shirt. that iconic red jacket is the only thing standing between him and catching a cold in cerberus' icy chambers. not having a shirt tells a lot about dante as a 19 year old living on his own. who's got time for shirts? he just took a shower and a demon crashed into his office. he's only got time to put on his coat in a very cool and dramatic manner. but that's not the only thing different from his dmc3 design.

2. his hair. dmc3 dante's hair is nearing shoulder length, and is pretty flat. his bangs have a tendency to cover his eyes, but in the original game (not hd collection, which fucked with the textures), there was a bit of transparency. (8) of course i would not expect the same level of detail in animation regarding the hair, so some liberties must be taken. going forward acknowledging that when i further discuss his design, netflix dante's hair is totally different when it didn't have to be. his hair is much shorter, and kinda flares up in the back. it's more like lady's hair in that regard. his bangs are also totally different. with the middle part, it looks like much inspiration was taken from dmc5 dante's hair.

3. his coat. or whatever his shoulder pads that connect to the back of his coat (to hold his sword and pistols) are different. personally i feel they take up too much real estate on his coat's striking red. the shoulder straps are there for dmc3, but the back part of it looks inspired by dmc5 (minus the skull, sadly).

4. his amulet. if nothing else, this is what confirms it's an adaptation of dmc3 for me, since we haven't seen the amulet since dmc3, and chronologically, since dmc1. it went into the sparda, after all. i'm actually very happy it's visible on his neck, since in the game, it's only visible when he's coat-less (at the beginning of the game), or when it's relevant. otherwise it's tucked away. so here's the slightly concerning news. the amulet doesn't look like how it appeared in dmc1/3. in fact, it bears a closer resemblance to the reboot, with the brown string and lack of silver encasing. scary! that's scary!

5. his guns..? these don't look like ebony and ivory, seeing as they're the same color. but honestly that's intriguing to me. it's possible the show could cover what the pre dmc3 novel covers—how dante got his iconic twin pistols, and lost a friend in the process (nico's grandma, nell goldstein the gunsmith), which i would actually love to see how that would be done.

6. his sword (OR LACK THEREOF) WHERE IS REBELLION?! maybe he stuck it in a beast. it literally took me this long to realize it's not there. feels intentionally omitted. what happened to it..

7. his voice. he has a different voice actor. which is awesome because reuben langdon sucks shit as a person.

now, there is nothing wrong with a redesign! but i can't help but be disappointed. the art style is not my favorite so far concerning his ..face.. but i think his hair was truly the biggest loss, especially when dmc3 dante is my favorite. it just doesn't look like dante to me. it's always possible he'll change over the course of the show (lose the shirt and suspenders for one).. maybe he gets a haircut.. one can hope. and those pants man. lose the gray pants. dark brown looks better.

miscellaneous musings

the last section of this analysis is on all other visual elements besides dante's design. you might want to turn your brightness up for this part.

here's a shot of some industrial looking area—looks like cement floors, some crates and metal shelves. there's a table? a bench?? and a support pillar, which makes me think it's in some kind of warehouse, lit up with moonlight from windows. also dante disappears for a moment, only to reappear a moment later, which i want to believe is him using air trick. one can believe.

the first picture looks like a tail or something slamming into the wall, which dante was jumping to avoid in the shot. for the second and third pictures, something with a bat wing like appendage swings at dante, and it becomes veiny and much like a blade. there are no dmc3, much less any dmc enemies that this could belong to. i would place my bets on it being a new demon designed for the show, unless they are drawing from some other media (novels, 2007 anime) that i'm less familiar with the demons of. it could look cool, i'm always down to look at new demon designs.

and that's pretty much it! i hope you enjoyed reading this. i will be watching it when it comes out and will definitely have thoughts and strong opinions on it, and probably will more informally discuss any other promotional materials they may share.

(1) https://www.ign.com/articles/devil-may-cry-anime-scripts-done-multiple-seasons-dante-vergil (2), (6) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i-bP9MSi0c (3) https://comicbook.com/anime/news/devil-may-cry-netflix-anime-producer-adi-shankar-update/ (4), (5) https://ftw.usatoday.com/2021/11/adi-shankar-interview-devil-may-cry-anime-netflix (7) https://twitter.com/tomqe/status/1707071614423310754 (8) really recommend this video for those interested in how the hd collection differs from the ps2 originals. also catbus has done one on dmc1 too. general flashing warning bc it's dmc. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USE6-uwB6gc

[juneviews]

axelle judges bl shows > The Eighth Sense

summary: Jae Won, in his last year of university and just came back from his stay in the military, is the popular kid from the surf club. When Ji Hyun, a freshman from the countryside, joins the club for him, sparks fly, and a long tumultuous relationship starts.

where to watch: dramacool

grade: 8/10

pros:

- this show stands out a lot from its directing, which is very indie looking compared to other kbls. it feels like a film d’auteur, which makes it so there is a lot of experimentation in this show which is very appreciated, and also makes the show stand out & way more memorable.

- the chemistry is amazing. and I don’t mean just between the main ship, but the friendship chemistry is equally as great, be it jae won with yoon won (my fave friendship, I loved them sm together & she was by far my fave character!), ji hyun with ae ri, or jy hyun with his boss, the relationships of the show are portrayed very realistically & with great banter!

- the pace is SO much better than usual kbls that are way too short for my liking! with 10 episodes of 40 minutes, we get to fall in love with the story & characters way more, and moreover the writing was quite good & balanced so the story didn’t feel like it dragged often, if ever.

- the characters are amazing, and again, bc of the length of the show, we get way more attached to them. they’re all very flawed & sassy, and they truly feel like real people which is not always easy to achieve!

- the acting is very good & natural. it doesn’t stand out as the most incredible acting, but for a series that seem to want to be a bit more realistic than most kbls, it landed perfectly for that job.

- the soundtrack lowkey slaps, it’s very different from usual kbl soundtracks & contributed to make the show stand out. in a way, it reminded me of the not me soundtrack (my fave soundtrack ever) in the way it can sometimes feel a bit random but still works amazingly with the show.

cons:

- bc of its indie feel, there are moments that do feel a bit amateur, and the execution isn’t very uniformous, which makes it so certain scenes are truly amazing, while others feel like they should’ve either been cut down or shot/written differently. imo eps 7 & 8 especially were less good than the rest.

- this is a story that feels very reminiscent from the gay stories released before or in the early 2010′s. so if you’re like me & you’ve watched so many stories like this before, it will definitely limit the reach that this series has on you emotionally bc it feels like you’ve seen this story happen before. they did offer enough changes to make it stand out & different, but it is still a reason why this series isn’t an 8,5/10 for me.

would I rewatch it: yes!

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this show & would absolutely recommend it to everyone! I absolutely love these more indie-feeling shows, and here it definitely made a story I’ve otherwise seen over twenty times work way more! I also gotta praise the actors & writers for making me this attached to the characters, they were lovely!

[lotzzoforangezoutside]

30-Fic Rec Challenge

I did this last year.

Here’s my list for 30 recommended X-Files fanfic. I’ll try to not repeat on the authors. 

and they are, of course, all MSR.

1. Currently reading: Genius by Kipler. Summary: The story of a young girl who disappears and returns smarter than she was before.

2. A short fic you like: the truth or a Pomeranian by seek_its_opposite (@seek-its-opposite​) Summary: It occurs to them both too late that nice suburban couples don’t have dogs named after Melville characters.

3. A novel-length fic you like: Puppets by Madeleine Partous Summary: None provided by the author.

4. An AU fic that you like: By the Dim and Flaring Lamps by sunflowerseedsandscience  ( @sunflowerseedsandscience) Summary: Captain Fox Mulder, the abolitionist son of a Virginia plantation owner and slaveholder, has turned his back on his family and everything he's ever known in order to fight for the Union, rather than joining the ranks of the Confederacy alongside his fellow Virginians. He runs off to Pennsylvania to join a newly-formed regiment in the spring of 1863, and there, he meets and quickly befriends the enigmatic young Daniel Scully, a private under his command. Private Scully's steady shooting and bravery in battle have proven him to be a far more capable soldier than his age would suggest. But in the days immediately following Gettysburg, Mulder discovers that Private Scully is hiding a secret, one that could change their friendship- and Mulder's entire life- in ways he couldn't possibly imagine.              

5. A fic you like that has a person’s name in the title: The Divine Professor M. by Flynn Summary: "They exist as separate individuals .... but they aren't truly complete until they're together."

6. A fic that made you feel nostalgic: Energy and Light by Oracle Summary: our girls have vanished, each one on a different night. Each one by the light of a full moon. Is it just a coincidence? 

7. A fic that made you cried: 7 Days in May by prufrock's love Summary: It might be the end of the world. Fox Mulder had a psychic vampire on the loose, a six-year-old son in tow, a ton of emotional baggage, and an FBI budget, but at least he wasn't dead. Mulder felt things were looking up - romantically and apocalyptically.

8. A fic you like that’s written by an author that’s passed away: Past is Prologue by Brandon D. Ray Summary: An encounter with two strangers changes Dana Scully's life forever. Pre-XF.

9. A fic you like that has a title of less than three words: Ghosts by Anjou Summary: An early December 2002 tale, originally supposed to be a drabble, totally spun out of control. A post-series 'what if' where Mulder was irrevocably altered, replicants were the new reality, and the clock was ticking down to 2012.

10.A post-episode fic you like: A Less Certain World by Sarah Segretti Summary: A fragile and frightened Mulder, traumatized by the events of "Biogenesis," turns to an unexpected source for help.

11.A fic that you wish to be televise: The Boy on the Beach by cecily_sass ( (@cecilysass) Summary: One moment she was sitting in the chair. Her chin up, her expression ice. And the next moment she was gone.No one had to tell Mulder something had gone wrong. No one had to tell him the difference between having Scully and lacking Scully. In that distinction he was expert.

12.A cute fic: Home, home by onpaperfirst Summary: post-the truth, pre-iwtb, weirdo domesticitywhere seldom is heard a discouraging word, and the skies are not cloudy all day

13.A fic that made your heart raced: Miracle by Tesla Summary: None provided by the author.

14.A scary fic: then the bomb by all_these_ghosts (@all-these-ghosts) Summary: "Do you ever worry about the end of the world, Scully?" "Yes," she said. "But I don't think it's going to happen fast." She would remember that, later.

15.A fic you like that has the word love in the title: Love's Savage Sea Spray by MaybeAmanda & Foxsong & LaVa, Jacquie Summary: The dashing Lt. Fox Mulder saves the Lady Dana Scully from the  lustful clutches of the pirate Captain Skinner and other assorted meanies.

16. One of the first fics you remember really liking: Dumbo by Chimerical Chameleon Summary: Mulder's obsession...(it's not what you think it is)

17. A good casefile: In a Flash by TCS 1121 Summary: In a flash, life changes.

18. A fic you like that has a color in the title: Gold and Silver by dreamingofscully (@dreamingofscully) Summary: Scully does something spontaneous to honor her sister’s memory.

19. A fic you that you’ve read several times: No More Demons by Penny Daza Summary: Mulder and Scully find a way to keep the nightmares away. 20. A fic in your ‘to-read’ list: Love In All The Wrong Places by SisterSpooky1013 (@sisterspooky1013​ ) Summary: Mulder and Scully try their hand at online chat rooms, and each meet a compelling stranger who is perhaps no stranger after all.

21. A *classic* fic that you’ve not read but have been meaning to read: Memorial Day by Brandon D. Ray and shannono Summary: The Date is here ...

22. A fic you read as a WIP or the author did not finish: Speechless by Anjou Summary: A road trip with Mulder and Scully; a trip inside their heads and hearts.  While on assignment to A.D. Kersh on a seemingly innocuous case in Nebraska, Mulder and Scully reflect on their relationship and its progress. Slots into the US6 timeline post-Tithonus, and assumes a general level of knowledge of all preceding action and, unlike what we saw onscreen, there is sufficient time for Scully to have healed between cases.

23. A fic you’d recommend to a Phile who doesn’t read fic: 20 by syntax6 Summary: 20 years in the life of Mulder and Scully, one year at a time.

24. A dark fic: After the Colors Fade by Deborah L. Wells   Summary: Mulder must fulfill a desperate promise he made to Scully. Which could cost them both their lives.

25. A fic you like that has an element of time in the title: if I had to perish twice  by seek_its_opposite Summary: He thinks maybe they’re working backwards to something like new love.

26. A fic you like that was written before 2000: Tinfoil by Loch Ness Summary: None provided by the author.

27. A fic you read a while ago that stayed in your head: Objects Are Closer Than They Appear by Wayward Summary: Arcadia post-ep story

28. A fic that you wish was longer, or hope for sequels: Knock by Gnatalie Summary: "They were a perfect match, since neither of them was getting what they really wanted."

29. The last fic you finished: The Great Outdoors by agoodwoman Summary:Picking up a few weeks after Planes Trains and Automobiles left off, Mulder and Scully have met the luckiest man alive and faced off with Pfaster again. This story begins after Mulder and Scully decide to pack a bag and get out of her apartment. Except they don't spend another weekend in bed together - they deal with the demons from Pfaster and the wake of his turmoil in their lives. They also, of course, get sent on another assignment to The Great Outdoors.

30. A fic you want to recommend just because: The Fox Mulder Phonetic Alphabet by storybycorey (@storybycorey) Summary:The ABC’s, as told by Fox Mulder.

**Bonus: Light Don't Sleep by wonderland (@amplifyme) Summary: " ... I don't want this to end. I want to stay like this forever. Just the three of us, right here in this bed. Not a care in the world." REASON: I have a feeling not many people have read this. But it’s so cute.