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yvesdot · 2 years

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yves.’S 2021 YEAR IN REVIEW

(2018) (2019) (2020)

(view the image in highest quality here!)

A look at something I wrote every month in 2021. All of the above excerpts can be read in order at this link, and I've included a few notes below on the pieces and months in question. It feels as though I spent so much of my time writing for Patreon and editing Forest Castles and so on, but there was still a lot of fresh content every single month!

JANUARY - In Her Arms (unpublished)

COVID's been pretty bad, hasn't it? I think it's been pretty bad. Wrote this piece almost a year ago now to deal with it, and have workshopped it several times since. Eventually I'll get a version I'm happy with, and then you'll see it published!

FEBRUARY - KAY Valentine's Drabble 2 (read online)

I made sure to come up with something to post for Valentine's Day 2021-- a cute little moment between Kay/Atlas, and then Constantine/Julia. Still warms my heart to read over this... that transphobic dad of Kay's isn't always completely useless!

MARCH - mortālēs (unpublished)

I've had a lot of ideas for erotica this year (all excerpts here are SFW!) but haven't managed to post them yet-- I'd probably put them on a separate NSFW writing blog, as I've mentioned before. Well, here's one, inspired by my sudden apparent interest in historical m/f.

APRIL - Silvia (unpublished)

While in the car on the way to a more wintry setting, I listened through the entire Miike Snow self-titled album, and was struck by a sudden intrigue caused by this song. Here was something out of the box, intense, explosive in its unrequited emotion. I could see it all playing out in my head, so clearly I knew I was coming up with a 'true' narrative totally disconnected from the original... but, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't set it to paper. I'm going to let it percolate.

MAY - Forest Castles (first two chapters)

Again, I did edit FC year-round, so I only displayed it here in months where I honestly couldn't find any other new writing (probably hiding in the depths of my Drive.) This was a fun scene to write, though who knows if it'll survive later cuts.

JUNE - THE LOVER RISES FROM THE ABYSS・恋人が黄泉から生えてくる (read online)

I wrote this flash piece in either early June or late May, and then I was stuck revising it for quite a while. You can read about the process of that on Patreon! I worried over it until I felt it couldn't be worried over one second more... and then I edited it as I posted it on Tumblr ^__^

JULY - Something Weird I Heard About Rebecca (available in BLOOD&BREATH zine)

I wrote this so long ago! And, honestly, I expected to spend even longer editing and submitting it, but when the Blood & Breath submission form came around, I knew it was perfect. Preorder the LGBT vampire zine before January 5th to read the story in beautiful, physical form!

AUGUST - Forest Castles (first two chapters)

Day One Hundred And Seventeen Billion: Eliza Is Still Stuck In White Castle. To be fair, though, I remember when I thought I'd never reach White Castle! I hit quite a block around here, which I am still unsnarling, and I like that I've chosen to lean much harder into Eliza's princess nature.

SEPTEMBER - WTWBingo drabbles (read online)

Oh, God, what a timesuck! In addition to The Death of The Author (more shortly), in joining the WTWBingo event, I found myself tormented by hundreds of ideas for drabbles! Thanks so much to the WTW folks for inspiring me to write 10,000 words of these stories.

OCTOBER - The Death of the Author (read online)

I love Halloween. I love Halloween writing, and I love Halloween Episodes. More than all of that, though, I love murder mysteries, and so I am thrilled to present to you, with no further context whatsoever, The Death of the Author.

NOVEMBER - The Proposal (unpublished)

More erotica, with an eerie amount of people waiting on it. Very, very simple romcom MILF nonsense, which apparently is not only a thing I can write but something other people might want to read. I absolutely loved this piece, and it was responsible for my incredible 8K start on Day One of NaNo.

DECEMBER - Exhaustively (read online)

Exhaustively's had a big edit, and I'm now formatting it to release in limited edition paperbacks, in honor of beloved Archivist Max @goose-books! I highly recommend taking a look at it in this graphic (instead of just in the transcribed version) for full formatting joy. Also, I wrote 10,000 words in a day... but that didn't make it in here.

Man, was I prolific this year! I really enjoyed my writing, and I explored all sorts of artistic nooks and crannies (as Patrons especially will appreciate, what with all the experiments and behind-the-scenes things posted to Patreon this year. Fun Patreon surprise coming for free shortly...)

I also spent a lot of time on non-writing writing things, such Exhaustively's formatting, and, well, this Year in Review! I tried to show myself how much of my work wasn't just sitting and writing but reading and thinking and promoting and posting, and I think it worked... though I do miss just-plain-writing this week, as I wrap up all these New Yearly loose ends.

This upcoming year, I want to work more steadily on Forest Castles. It's hard to fit in with all my other priorities, especially when I don't have too much time to write a day. Do I need to set aside an amount of time daily to get it done, or is it better to dedicate full days? That's something I am still exploring.

Finally, this year I began using 4thewords, and I quite like it! Makes writing addictive and much more naturally fun. If you'd like to join up, feel free to DM me any questions, and my referral code is LOMDY47116.

And please, if you feel inspired by this post, make your own! That links to my template, which shouldn't be too painful to use. Just hop in there and change my name to yours, and tag me when you're done so that I can see it!

As always, you can read all of my posted writing here, and if you’d like to support me, I have both a ko-fi for one-time donations and a Patreon for exclusive monthly content. Thanks for being here this year! It's been a big one for so many reasons, and I'm so grateful to have had you along. Have a wonderful 2022, and I'll see you then.

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yunsoh · 3 years

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s3 episode 3 thoughts and oh boy!!! trio time. disaster siblings + yuki time.

- man have i missed the student council. just wow have i missed them

- tbh my first thought is just how cute kimi is at the start of this ep. also i love that she and yuki have this same problem with the seniors suddenly confessing their love/trying to ask them out before they graduate and while yuki’s sitting here like “i can only hurt their feelings :(” kimi’s straight up like “let them throw a pity party!! whatever” queen

- and of course “what makes a guy attractive is his bank account 💖” fave. and kakeru agreeing with “true facts” god the two of them. mhm.

- the way that kimi decimates nao’s entire life and career in one fell swoop. get his ass. also i find it endlessly funny that nao has a crush on minagawa of all girls because she is point blank the most obnoxious girl in the whole school. like it just seems like he wouldn’t have the patience for her at all LMAO but i guess crushes just do that to your brain sometimes

- the girls calling machi scary for knocking over a bunch of chalk while being dead fuckin silent on haru literally destroying their classroom. actually not even dead quiet the girls literally cleaned up after him. hot privilege.

- i’m endlessly curious about how this rumor about machi trying to kill her little brother even got around like. i have to assume it was something that slipped from either her parents or kakeru’s mom to other parents of kids who go to the same school/adjacent schools. because obviously it did not come from kakeru and he’s the only other person who knows yk.

- kakeru: *sulks*

- machi: *trots*

- ugh man it’s machi’s parents just continuing to put her own feelings in her mouth and never once letting her have control over her own personhood, down to displaying her thoughts or emotions. “you’ll be more comfortable alone.” also her dad saying that he assumed that machi might try to hurt her brother and treating that as the truth because she’s never had the space to become an individual to them separate from what they project onto her. how much can you hate your child actually.

- also find it interesting that kakeru has never fully questioned whether or not machi actually tried to kill her brother. when he says it to yuki, he says “what those girls said is pretty close to the truth.” and when yuki says he finds it hard to believe, kakeru says he “may be right,” since it’s just the version of the story he heard from his parents. but all things considered i don’t think he’s necessarily ever believed it to be true; he’s just never been able to see machi’s side of the story because she’s been fully closed off to confiding in him, which is mostly because she feels as though she won’t be listened to or understood anyway thanks to the treatment she’s had from her parents.

- that said. kakeru go to jail

- it’s about yuki feeling comfortable enough to engage in physical acts of friendship without so much as thinking about it. yeah :)

- i do find it interesting that kakeru remembers this moment of machi making footprints in the snow when they were younger. it’s something that would probably be easily forgettable but it stuck with him because even he found something a little off about it.

- this whole minute is just such a whirlwind. the little arrows pointing to yuki. machi trying to slam the door on them. kakeru dragging yuki in to the point that he’s tripping over his own feet. yuki calling it the sea of decay with sincerity but machi has no idea what the context is. the bra. machi about to throttle yuki. kakeru finally fucking leaving after getting hit and still being a shit. this all happens in like forty seconds.

- her best quality: her squiggles

- oh this visual of her having to walk this tightrope with her mom. interesting

- also interesting how young machi sounds in this scene where her mom is talking down on her to another person. i know she must be in her first or second year of middle school (just because kakeru was in middle school when he finally got out of the inheritance situation) but it really drives home just how young she was.

- also heartbreaking because this is a moment where machi is trying to stand up for herself and asking why her mom is saying those things about her when she’s the one who shaped her this way, and she’s just so thoroughly shut down by her that she can’t cope.

- i thought this shot was adapted well, although i think the scene itself is kind of confusing -- in the manga, it’s insinuated that she has this breakdown moment right after this conversation with her mom, and that it’s the first time she reacts this destructively (in the manga her outfit is the same between shots, and it doesn’t appear that she’s in her own apartment yet -- it’s more ambiguously just a home office). here though they change it so that it’s a more recent event -- more like she’s reacting this way because she’s remembering this conversation, rather than reacting directly after it. the outfit she wears in this scene is the same one she wears when her parents are accusing her of trying to hurt her brother, too; it’s also reasonable to read this as her having a breakdown after being left alone in her apartment for the first time. to the team’s credit her window is also broken in the season 2 ep where we see her apartment for the first time, so we can assume that they made this change deliberately.

- yuki is so genuinely kind as usual, but it’s also because he does have a thread of personal understanding of where she’s coming from. he also suffered from being held to an incredibly high standard and was similarly emotionally neglected because of this, but it’s also something he’s come to terms with and has started to heal and move on from. so he’s at a place where he’s able to give her some comfort. even just the simple act of praise for still being here, and just being herself, is something that is so desperately needed.

- kakeru listening in..... boy take ur notes

- literally yuki is like the epitome of being machi’s senior like this moment is just sooo gentle but also protective i think. like he’s really just taking the helm where kakeru has been unable to all this time. he’s her mentor in a way.

- kakeru’s goofy fucking ringtone and the animation that goes with it. love that

- the chalk-breaking scene did change the game. yuki is just completely on for her to the point that he doesn’t even stop what he’s saying to consider it. he’s just really looking out for her :’(

- rest of the ep under the cut because i know this is gonna be about minagawa lmfao

- oh this new scene is cute? love kyo actually helping out + uo and hana just fucking chilling. also uo hana and yuki only giving a fuck about tohru while kyo falls from like eight feet up.

- yuki literally only coming in for that second lmfao king

- i knew that this would be the minagawa ep and yet when yuki said he had an appointment i was like...... are you....... going to the doctor’s for some reason....... this is a weird reboot addition..............

- the beginning of this scene is weeeeeird what a weird transition to minagawa. also this feels super jarring and i knew this was coming?? like there’s no setup for this being a goodbye to minagawa she’s just suddenly sitting there getting super nostalgic

- i am grateful though that they didn’t split the time these chapters got completely 50-50. minagawa only getting like five minutes of screentime before gong away forever feels apt.

- minagawa really is just here to say “thank you yuki for being the center of my harassment campaign on the general student body here for these past two years” before bouncing. this isn’t even a point of character development she literally didn’t learn anything.

- the pacing of this feels so WEIRD like. on the one hand, glad it’s only five minutes. on the other hand why was it included at all. it really dampers the rest of the ep and just feels super distracting.

- the dramatic music....... the dramatic flashbacks......... i mean it tracks for her but i just cannot take it seriously lmaooo

- wow the way this is delivered just makes this scene with minagawa feel extra undeserved. like even more so than in the manga. that’s pretty incredible.

- am i going to sit here and make mental parallels between the fact that neither minagawa nor machi actually know yuki personally. like they’ve both been observing him from afar this whole time. like is that the parallel i’m supposed to draw this episode that both of these girls have crushes on him but he hasn’t actually divulged anything personal to either of them. idk. like i know the answer is no and that it’s more fodder for him having a romance plot and whatever but. idk!

- what is happening what is happening what is happening

- this departing song + the shots of the empty school feels so fucking weird. we’re saying goodbye to minagawa and takei. what is being imparted emotionally does not match the actual narrative we are receiving. also feels weird to put a scene with this much “goodbye” emotion in the third episode?

- did i just fast forward through this nao and minagawa scene. maybe.

- oh that’s right we also get hiro at the end of this chapter too. and kagura talking about rin. this pacing is weird

- it still baffles me that rin was able to graduate how tf did she manage that

- wow i really wish these last parts of the ep were moved to the next episode or something. they feel really out of place squashed into the end here. this rin bit definitely deserved more time to let the weight sink in.

#fruits basket #fruits basket spoilers #surprisingly felt like i didn't talk too much about this ep #probably because i've talked about all this stuff w machi to death already

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valley-of-the-lost · 3 years

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The Emotional Abuse of Eden Starling

I have a massive soft spot for Barbie movies. They defined most of my early childhood, from the music to the dress transformations. It was an intense nostalgia trip to revisit them when I was older and through a more comprehensive lens compared to when I saw them last. While I was doing this, one in particular stuck out to me. Barbie in a Christmas Carol. It was the version of the classic tale A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens that I had grown up with, and while my memories of it were fond, it didn’t trigger intense nostalgic reactions in me like ones like 12 Dancing Princesses did. So, naturally, I rewatched it to refresh my memory. And it immediately shot up to my favorite Barbie movie, at least, of the ones I have seen, because it handles surprisingly more mature and complex themes than you’d expect for a piece of early 2000’s kid’s media. I’d like to dissect one of these themes today: childhood abuse, specifically how Eden Starling, the protagonist of the movie, was abused by her caretaker, Aunt Marie.

Aunt Marie was emotionally abusing Eden throughout her childhood by overworking, socially isolating, guilting, shifting the blame, and asserting control over Eden through verbal manipulation. All of the above can be seen in the interaction between Eden and Marie in the Ghost of Christmas Past flashback section of the movie. While the conversation is brief and I am well aware that technically due to how short it is, it could possibly not be representative of Eden’s entire childhood, the movie treats it as the standard for their dynamic when Eden was a child, so that is how I will be treating it as well when analyzing the quality of Eden’s upbringing. So, without further ado, let’s parse out what tactics Marie employs on Eden throughout the conversation.

The scene opens with the Ghost of Christmas Past and Eden from the present (whom I will call “Present Eden” throughout the rest of this post aside from this scene summary) arriving in a room via a golden portal. Eden as a child (whom I will call “Past Eden” to differentiate her from Present Eden, again, aside from this summary) is sitting at a long table, resting her head on her arm and staring out the window at the snow falling outside. She has food in front of her, implying she was eating or expected to eat at some point, but she doesn’t touch it until her Aunt Marie says her name and walks into the room. Past Eden then straightens in her seat, looking more alert, and quickly eats all her food as her Aunt Marie enters the room while staring into a handmirror. After she is done, Eden asks if she can go to the Beadnell’s house for Christmas, where she had been invited by her friend Catherine Beadnell. Aunt Marie refuses, and says that after dinner they rehearse. Eden tries to press the issue, but is shut down and told to rehearse until dinner is ready.

Already the movie itself is calling attention to a major disparity in this scene: there is no indication of celebration within Marie’s household, be it Christmas or otherwise. The room Past Eden is sitting in is literally bare floorboards and blue wallpaper, with the only lighting being the dim sunlight streaming through the window. The decor itself is the epitome of the bare minimum; it’s wooden and matches the floorboards, giving the room a homogeneous appearance. Taken altogether, the dim lighting, cool color scheme, and general emptiness of the space gives the room a cold, lifeless feeling.

To further reenforce this, when the Ghost of Christmas Past thinks she accidentally didn’t send them to Christmas due to the room’s clearly lacking Christmas cheer, Present Eden corrects her by saying “No… this is right…” establishing that this is indeed how she spent her Christmases as a child. If that was not enough indication that something is definitely wrong, the Ghost of Christmas Past is still in disbelief, pointing out the absence of typical Christmas fixtures like a tree or stockings, but then she comes to a realization and says to Present Eden “Oh… you poor thing”. This expression of sympathy shows that there’s not just something off about this scene, something’s terrible about it that would warrant this sympathy in the first place. The conclusion from just this section of the scene would be that Eden was not very happy as a child, and never had what would be thought of as a “proper” Christmas growing up for one reason or another. So what was the reason for this? Why, Aunt Marie of course. Not just because she’s Past Eden’s guardian and therefore these responsibilities would fall onto her, but for other reasons that are revealed in the following conversation when Past Eden asks to go to the Beadnell’s house:

"Eden: I'm all done Aunt Marie. Can I go over to the Beadnell's house?

Marie: Of course not. After dinner we rehearse.

Eden: I know... But I thought we could... maybe make an exception today. Because it's Christmas! They all said they'd really love to see me there. Catherine even said it'd make her Christmas!"

This immediately ticks off two red flags: social isolation and overworking. Marie is preventing Past Eden from spending Christmas with Catherine and Catherine’s family, and by extension, denying her positive social interaction. In the context of the date being Christmas, Marie is also denying Past Eden a better Christmas with this action, as when Past Eden sneaks out to the Beadnell’s house, it can be seen that they celebrate a more typical Christmas. They have family, food, decorations, a tree, and presents, even some for Past Eden. This shows that Marie shows a lack of regard for Past Eden’s mental wellbeing, as positive social connections and interaction is critical to a child developing into a healthily functioning adult. In addition to isolating Past Eden, there are implications that Marie is overworking Past Eden as well. It is obviously cruel to make a child work through a holiday when they obviously do not want to, but Past Eden’s wording (“...maybe make an exception today…”) insinuates that working through the day with no known breaks under any circumstances except to eat is the norm for her. Barbie and Kelly, the former of which is telling Eden’s story to the latter, also confirm this:

"Kelly: Wait... Aunt Marie is making Eden work on Christmas?

Barbie: Well, every day. But yes, on Christmas too.

Kelly: But that's not fair!

Barbie: It's not.

Kelly: And there's nothing Eden can do about it?

Barbie: affirmative noise"

Forcing a child to rehearse day in and day out with no time off except to eat against their will is not natural; it’s controlling. It’s a bad sign for their future development and mental health, as this constant pressure to rehearse and by extension be good at this thing they are rehearsing for will likely end with them pinning their sense of self and self-worth on this one thing they’re working towards. Thus, they will have a harder time coping with failure at this one thing, or have no other emotional rapports to fall back on if something happens. Marie is not setting Past Eden up for a healthy adulthood here in any way. She has no regard for Past Eden’s mental wellbeing, and is not above employing manipulation to force Past Eden to agree to her demands, as she proceed to do when Past Eden tries to press her request:

"Marie: Make (Catherine's) Christmas? Make her Christmas? What about your Christmas? More importantly, what about your future? You want to be a star, don't you?

Eden: I do, but-

Marie: More than anything else in the world?

Eden: Yes, but-

Marie: Then what Catherine and the Beadnells want doesn't matter!..."

Now, what happens here is that Marie guilts Past Eden for considering Catherine’s feelings and manipulates her answers to shift the blame for the circumstances onto Past Eden. This is all designed to browbeat Past Eden into submission so she will do what Marie wants. First, with the guilting, Marie shifts the conversation from spending time with Catherine to Past Eden’s future (“...What about your Christmas? More importantly, what about your future?...”). Her word choice of “what about” and “don’t you” suddenly imply that Past Eden is putting her future singing career in jeopardy by wanting to spend one day with Catherine. In essence, Marie is saying Past Eden is putting her entire future at risk just for the sake of catering to what the Beadnells want, completely ignoring that it’s what Past Eden wants as well, and thus making her feel guilty for putting something so important as her singing career on the line just for the Beadnells and their feelings.

Marie also shifts the burden of the situation onto Past Eden over the course of the conversation, by suddenly placing it on Past Eden’s shoulders. “More importantly, what about YOUR future?” and “YOU want to be a star, don’t YOU?” both imply that Past Eden herself is responsible for the perceived obstacle (her singing aspirations) blocking her from going to Catherine’s house, and thus absolve Marie herself from any of the blame she has for creating this situation for Past Eden in the first place as her guardian.

In order to guarantee that Past Eden will comply, Marie manipulates the conversation in her favor. First, she poses a yes or no question to Past Eden (“You want to be a star, don’t you?”) giving Past Eden reflexively predictable answers, so she can more easily get the response she wants and shut Past Eden’s objections down when Past Eden clearly has more to say by interrupting her (“I do, but-”...”Yes, but-”). She employs the same tactic again with “More than anything else in the world?”, except when she gets the affirmation she wants, she uses the absolute of “anything else in the world” to dismiss what Catherine and the Beadnells want, and by extension, what Past Eden wants. The message from this she’s sending Past Eden is that by her own desire to be a star more than anything else in the world, it’s her own fault for not being able to spend time with Catherine or the Beadnells because they fall under “anything else in the world”. In short, the problem is Past Eden’s fault. Which it isn’t, but Marie wants Past Eden to think that it is, so she bends to Marie’s will more easily. And eventually, she wants Past Eden to bend to her way of thinking too:

"Marie: Then what Catherine and the Beadnells want doesn't matter! What do I always tell you?

Eden: In a selfish world, the selfish succeed.

Marie: That's right. And if you want to succeed, you must use every second of your time selfishly.

Eden: Yes, Aunt Marie.

Marie: Good choice. I'm proud of you. Now go work your scales until dinner's ready."

Marie defines how Past Eden should feel, and then tops it off with a dose of conditional affection. She makes Past Eden repeat a mantra she has told her in the past (hence the “always”): “In a selfish world, the selfish succeed”. Her goal is to make Past Eden internalize this value and eventually have it dictate her life, so she shuts down any other avenue for Past Eden to deviate from this. No Catherine, no Christmas, no disagreeing with her on any level.

Ironically, it should be said that Marie is telling Past Eden to be selfish and to “use every second of her time selfishly”, yet there’s no room for Past Eden herself to define “selfish” for herself. How can Past Eden truly live selfishly if she’s not allowed to define what selfish is for herself? She can’t, it’s a contradiction, and it exposes that Marie doesn’t want Past Eden to live selfishly with regard to herself. No, Marie wants Past Eden to live selfishly with regards to her, and wants Past Eden to only think she’s living selfishly for herself. A line earlier in the movie supports this and puts Marie pushing Past Eden to practice in a new light: “(In a selfish world, the selfish succeed) was my excuse for not having the talent to become a star myself!" This makes it seem like Marie was living vicariously through Past Eden due to her failed aspirations, like those dance moms who live through their daughters.

Of course, Past Eden finally relents to Marie as she’s no longer being allowed a voice in this conversation and Marie rewards her with “Good choice. I’m proud of you”. The “good choice” sounds vaguely threatening, as if implying there was a BAD choice in the first place, but the small bit of praise in “I’m proud of you” is an example of conditional affection, especially in the context of Marie giving it. Past Eden bowed to her wishes, thus she “earned” Marie’s affection. This is a bad message to send to Past Eden, as it says to her that she’s only worth the affection when she agrees with Marie. Essentially, she’s not worth loving as her own person, only as what Marie wants her to be.

After this, Past Eden sneaks out when her Aunt is asleep and sleds to Catherine's house. She briefly gets to celebrate Christmas with her friend and the rest of the Beadnells, but then a knock comes at the door. Aunt Marie had woken up and is there to yell at Past Eden and drag her back home.

When the knock comes, Present Eden’s reaction is worth noting, especially to determine how the following events affected her long after they initially occurred:

"Present Eden, to the Ghost of Christmas Past: Take me home. Now.

Ghost of Christmas Past: Why? We're having so much fun!

knocking gets louder and more insistent

Present Eden: NOW!

Door opens to reveal Marie standing in the doorway

Aunt Marie: Where. Is. EDEN?!"

Present Eden’s immediate distress with the smile vanishing off her face to be replaced with a scared expression at the sound of the knock and her increasingly insistent demands for the Ghost of Christmas Past to take her home before the door opens signifies that this particular part of the memory was traumatizing for her. It also implies that Eden, both Past and Present, is afraid of her Aunt Marie. This isn’t the first time Present or Past Eden have shown fear in Marie’s presence. Earlier, in the beginning of the flashback, when Aunt Marie addresses Past Eden, Present Eden recoils with a fearful expression on her face at the sound of Marie’s voice. Past Eden also has trouble keeping sustainable eye contact with Marie, especially when Marie is looking directly at her, which could be a sign of intimidation or anxiety.

The traumatizing part of this event wasn’t just Marie angrily demanding to know where Past Eden was though, as is revealed when Present Eden relays the rest of what happened in her bedroom with her knees pulled up to her chest:

"Present Eden: She ruined the whole holiday. Just stood there, screaming, for what seemed like forever. At me, at Catherine, at the Beadnells, oh, it was horrible. That was my last Christmas there. Aunt Marie never left me alone for a second after that.

Ghost of Christmas Past, placing a hand on Present Eden’s: I'm so sorry, Eden.

Present Eden, shrugging off the Ghost of Christmas Past’s hand and getting up from the bed to fluff her hair: Don't be. Aunt Marie was right! I wasted time on those silly Christmas pageants for the Beadnells. After that, I concentrated on myself. And you know what happened? I made my Covent Garden debut at thirteen. Thirteen."

According to Present Eden, Marie screamed at not just Past Eden, but everyone present. Not only is it already traumatizing for Past Eden to be yelled at by an adult figure she’s already shown signs of being scared of already, but it would also be mortally humiliating because she’d likely think the Beadnells are being yelled at because of her. As if Marie hadn’t already heaped enough undeserved blame onto Past Eden, intentionally or not.

This event also marked a turn for the worse in Past Eden’s life. If Marie wasn’t controlling enough before by depriving Past Eden of social contact in favor of having her rehearse, she apparently became worse by “not leaving (Eden) alone for a second after that”. That, coupled with that being Eden’s last Christmas at the Beadnell’s, likely means that Eden was completely socially isolated for the rest of her upbringing, except perhaps in special Marie-approved and supervised interactions.

As if this wasn’t all bad enough, Present Eden also reveals two key pieces of information through mentioning her Covent Garden debut at thirteen years old. It confirms that Past Eden in the flashback was at the very least younger than thirteen, as Present Eden speaks about the debut as if it happened after Marie forced her away from the Beadnells, and that Eden was a child star. The abuse has been happening at the very least since Eden was younger than thirteen and she was a child star, which she does not have the proper support system to manage the stress that would come with that. And even Present Eden herself doesn’t seem too happy about it either for a split second.

While the peek into Eden’s childhood is brief, dissecting it reveals that it is far more insidious than it appeared to be upon first glance. Marie’s methods of molding Eden into what she wants is terrifying as she’s willing to sacrifice Eden’s happiness and agency as a person in order to further that end. And the worst part is that she succeeds. The Eden at the beginning of the movie is the result of years of being subjected to Marie’s abuse, someone who was never allowed to grow into her own person and probably doesn’t even know how to express herself properly beyond the toxic methods that Marie taught her. But the extent of Marie’s damage to Eden’s life will have to wait until another post, since that’s another deep hole I want to dive into but for the sake of staying on topic we’re leaving that for later. Thanks for reading!

Loose ends:

- The hell was Eden eating in the flashback? It looked like burned potatoes and toast. I remember being baffled by this even as a kid, because I was confused that I was supposed to see that as food. The implication seems to be that Eden didn't have good food and nutrition growing up, which @/barbie-movie-reviews pointed out in their review of this movie could be why she was so passionate about her crumpets. I plan to expand on that later for another post, but Marie apparently can’t be bothered to get decent food for Eden.

- Aunt Marie's handmirror and her looking at herself in it is likely a visual shorthand for her being a selfish person like how she wants Eden to be, especially since she is supposed to be the Jacob Marley of the story and the mirrors are her “chains”. Though now I get more of the impression of "narcissistic tendencies", which are apparently common in emotionally abusive parents.

- Aunt Marie tells Eden that after dinner they rehearse, implying Eden just ate dinner, and then later orders her to practice her scales until dinner is ready? It's either an inconsistency or awkward wording.

#meta of the lost #barbie #barbie in a christmas carol #barbie a christmas carol #eden starling #eden starling meta #aunt marie #catherine beadnell #cw: emotional abuse

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dweemeister · 3 years

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The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)

In these days of social isolation, domestic distractions, and pandemic, rare is the feature film that I watch at home in one sitting. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp might have confused me in its opening half-hour but, in the end, commanded my attention for all of its one hundred and sixty-three minutes*. It is a film made during a time of crisis now fading from living memory, from British filmmakers reveling in their work’s Britishness. During Colonel Blimp’s wartime production and release, Britain was under existential threat from the Nazis, despite the opening of the North African front and apparent British victory in defending its airspace. A gentleman's war this was not, if ever such a thing existed. British cinema reflected those beliefs of the nation staring down its own annihilation, as the industry set to work on patriotic, if not propagandistic, movies.

There is no denying that Powell and Pressburger’s The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp has elements of propaganda. The film, so resistant to any categorizations by genre (including comedy, drama, epic, romance, war), has no qualms that Britain is fighting a just war against Nazi Germany. But there are moments that must have given British Prime Minister Winston Churchill – who attempted to halt Colonel Blimp’s production and distribution – pause. Powell and Pressburger raise questions towards the justifications and necessity of past British wars, the idea of warfare as a noble exercise, and introduces a “good German” character. Colonel Blimp’s genre-bending and provocative queries into Britain’s militant soul represents the most breathtaking balancing act in any of Powell and Pressburger’s movies.

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp takes place over three time periods, each in a different setting:

Boer War (the common name for what is technically the Second Boer War): 1902 in Berlin, far from the violence in southern Africa

World War I and between the World Wars: from November 1918-1935 between the Western Front and postbellum Britain

World War II: from 1939 through the Battle of Britain (1940), mostly in the London area

The film begins near its chronological conclusion, when the rotund, mustachioed, Major-General Clive Wynne-Candy (Roger Livesey; whose role is modeled off of the “Colonel Blimp” comic strip character’s appearance and mannerisms) is surprised to be “captured” by Lieutenant Spud Wilson (James McKechnie) during a premature training exercise. Candy, who is trying to enjoy his afternoon at his favorite Turkish bath, is outraged at Wilson’s disregard to the exercise’s rules, and fisticuffs break out. From here, Colonel Blimp flashes back to Candy’s service in the Boer War and sticks to a strict chronology. Then-Lt. Candy is in Berlin, on leave from his service in the Boer War. There, he has a series of misadventures (and a love triangle) involving Edith Hunter (Deborah Kerr in one of three separate roles she plays) and an officer from the Imperial German Army named Theo Krestchmar-Schuldorff (Anton Walbrook). All three become friends while in Berlin; Theo and Edith become engaged shortly before Candy must leave Berlin.

We never see Edith (who stays in Germany with Theo) again in Colonel Blimp, but Theo – even though his time with Candy was relatively brief – remains friends with Candy. That friendship, however, conflicts against and interweaves into his German patriotism. Theo’s patriotism is not unconditional: he believes fervently in the aims of Imperial Germany in World War I’s immediate aftermath, but flees Hitler’s Nazi regime for soil his wife once called home. Taking account of all English-language cinema, he becomes a rare “good German”. In a person that a xenophobic British person might consider the enemy, we see a man heartbroken for the fate that befalls his native country and the violence waged against his adopted one.

Take the cruelly ironic scene of Theo visiting Candy after being released from a prisoner of war (POW) camp, as he ingratiates himself with Candy’s British dinner guests. Candy’s friends remark that British hospitality and organization must have eased the lives of the POWs, and the insinuate that British-German tensions shall soon wane. Germany will soon recover from the war, the dinner guests maintain. Notice Anton Walbrook’s physical acting here, acting as a man too polite to belabor his fellow guests with his sadness for his country and the anger of their presumptuous predictions. The Austrian actor, perhaps best known as Boris Lermontov from The Red Shoes (1948), provides a stupendous performance, most likely the widest-ranging one of his career. He inhabits his character’s contradictions of all three eras: the martial rigidity and playfulness of his Boer War-era youth, the defiance and disappointment following the Great War, and the sadness and pent-up fury of his elderly years. This is quite demanding for any actor, let alone someone who is nominally in a supporting role. Yet, a particular interview scene might represent the best piece of acting in any Powell and Pressburger picture. Walbrook performs spectacularly, with never a wasted motion or a dull moment from him.

Personal change comes much more slowly to Lieutenant-later-General Candy. This is as much for the purposes of the film’s chronological drama as it is a product of World War II-era remembrance. At this time in British filmmaking, one could not make narrative art deemed too critical of Britain’s bloody past – whether colonial or against its European rivals. For a film that engages so vigorously in a discourse concerning jus in bello, it portrays zero wartime violence. Meditations of war arrive solely in conversation, never action. In Candy’s indefatigable Britishness, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp affirms his views that the Boer War and World War I were and are just conflicts, fought justly. He does not thirst for violence, nor does he dismiss the traumas war brings to combatants and civilians alike (he may downplay those traumas, though). Candy’s flawed introspection and stubbornness are endearing, at first. As time progresses, those qualities come ever into conflict with the changing nature of warfare and the contexts of the war currently waged. Britain is and will always be above committing war atrocities, Candy believes (you can roll your eyes; it is the least you should do after reading those last few words), and Nazi Germany’s tactics will never succeed in the face of Britain’s upstanding military. Such thinking was outdated even then, and only through his friendship with Theo does he consider how wrong he is.

Roger Livesey might not have been Powell and Pressburger’s first choice as Candy (that would be Laurence Olivier, who probably would have made Candy a more sophisticated character), but he embodies a contradictory gruffness and gentleness that weaves between military and civilian life. Those qualities are on full display when Livesey captures the attention of Deborah Kerr’s characters. In addition to Walbrook’s turn as Theo, Livesey and Kerr offer wonderful performances that cement the film’s Britishness. Through the three eras covered in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, Candy’s relationship with these women evolves as he ages, as the nature of the Britain’s conflicts make romance unwise. Kerr’s three characters might have different life interests, romantic inclinations, and temperaments, but their similar appearances – no coincidence, as the viewer later learns – anchor Candy to a perpetual past.

The striking Technicolor photography from Georges Périnal (1930’s Under the Roofs of Paris, 1948’s The Fallen Idol) with assistance from Jack Cardiff (1947’s Black Narcissus, 1951’s The African Queen) and production design from Alfred Junge (Black Narcissus, 1953’s Knights of the Round Table) makes The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp one of the most arresting Technicolor productions ever. The vibrancy of the colors leap from the screen – even the gray interiors of modern buildings and the browns of the World War I trenches and wooden panels of Candy’s estate. One crane shot of Candy and Theo during their first encounter – a swordsmen’s duel inside a cavernous hall, away from the freezing storm outdoors – and the fade into the shot of a building model gives the film the feel of an oral history where the most dynamic moments can never be truly captured. Those moments of action blur into Candy’s memory, as tangible now as the buildings inside a snow globe. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp might not have the dedication to visual leitmotif as The Red Shoes does, but its visual interest outstrips all but the most masterful Technicolor pictures of the 1940s.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was cognizant of the buffoonish Colonel Blimp and, in addition to Lieutenant-later-General Candy, believed the characters were modeled after his appearance and behavior. Furthermore, considering how Powell and Pressburger imbued Theo with such humanity, Churchill – who had only read of the filmmakers’ preliminary plans for their film and never saw any footage – believed that The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp would only undermine morale for the war effort. In response, Churchill directed his Minister of War, Sam James Grigg, to suppress the picture to the extent that he could. Grigg denied Powell and Pressburger access to matériel, but the filmmakers had friends in the correct places to procure military uniforms, vehicles, and weapons necessary for their production. Despite Powell and Pressburger’s resourcefulness, Churchill succeeded in preventing the international distribution The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp for at least one year after its 1943 release. The film’s American debut would not occur until March 1945. For the American release, the film lost thirteen minutes of its 163-minute runtime; television screenings further reduced the work to ninety minutes up until the mid-1980s.

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp might not seem like accessible viewing. This is a tale of an aging British military officer clinging to the ideals of his militaristic youth, long after when such ideals had purpose, let alone meaning to the young people of his present. It is rooted deeply into early twentieth century British culture, with an opening that might only serve to confuse a new viewer as it transitions to flashbacks. However, like any Powell and Pressburger film (and this might not even be the duo’s best work), there is much to offer. This is a love story, with love shown in various forms: for the first true love of Candy’s life, for the man who should be his enemy, for country. The genre gymnastics on display – a war film with nary any war violence; a romance without torrents of romance; a comedy without boisterous belly laughs – allow any caring viewer to witness General Candy grow into his times, all while retaining traces of a self that no longer is. That growth is subtle, but enveloping. His story feels like the origins of present-day Britain, its empire slipping away, wresting with a world no longer bowing in deference. As we must guard against the unexamined life, so too, Candy realizes, must he.

My rating: 10/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp is the one hundred and sixty-fifth feature-length or short film I have rated a ten on imdb. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found in the “Ratings system” page on my blog (as of July 1, 2020, tumblr is not permitting certain posts with links to appear on tag pages, so I cannot provide the URL).

*The longest film I have seen in one interrupted sitting at home was Lawrence of Arabia (1962), in all its 227-minute glory.

For more of my reviews tagged “My Movie Odyssey”, check out the tag of the same name on my blog.

#The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp #Powell and Pressburger #Michael Powell #Emeric Pressburger #Roger Livesey #Deborah Kerr #Anton Walbrook #Ursula Jeans #James McKechnie #Georges Perinal #John Seabourne Sr.#Jack Cardiff #TCM #My Movie Odyssey

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hopeaterart · 3 years

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Mario Odyssey: Paper Kingdom AU

Or: The AU where I adapt Paper Mario characters into a kingdom in Mario Odyssey because while my brain is small, it has a big mind that keeps thinking up new ideas. This tackles the kingdom’s backstory, it’s travel brochure, why Mario ends up going there, and the frankly ridiculous political context he stumbles into. I might tackle the characters in another post.

Backstory

A long time ago, a creature made out of shadows and thin as paper rose out of an island. Calling itself- or herself- the Shadow Queen, the malevolent spirit could wield the power of seven stars, and her heart was pitch-black and full of chaotic hatred. She reigned over the land with an iron fist, terrified painted shadows at her command.

Until one day, a small faction of her own people turned against, led by four heroes and eight mages. They studied her magic, and turned it against her, folding themselves like paper get close to her and stealing her stars to destroy her body, the eight mages using their magic to separate her heart from her spirit

Enraged, her spirit lashed out, cursing the four heroes into suffering the same fate as her, reduced to spirits enclosed in coffins just as she unleashed the full power of her heart. But before she could turn her wrath on the other rebels, the eight mages sacrificed themselves, turning their souls into pure energy and setting it on the Shadow Queen’s heart, ripping it out and sending both the heart and the soul of the Shadow Queen into a deep sleep.

The only thing left was a prophecy- a warning. If a cruel monster and a gentle maiden marry each other in a farce, the Chaos Heart will rise again. If this happens, the Shadow Queen’s rise is imminent, and she will take over the body of the maiden. The only way to stop her is to find her Seven Stars, and use them to destroy her soul once and for all.

The throne of the Paper Kingdom is left symbolically empty, and the country is ruled by a council.

Travel Brochure

Population: Sparse, but plentiful

Size: Wide

Locals: Shapeshifters

Currency: Paper fortune teller shaped

Industries: Construction, stories

Temperature: Average 73 °F

A craft for the ages

Multi-level: The Paper Kingdom is made of multiple levels carved within the plateau, and all of them have something to offer. From the charming beach town of Rogueport to the looming Castle of Chaos, this place is vibrant and full of carefully crafted layers.

Rich History: The Paper Kingdom’s history is something for the ages: A demon rising out of the earth, her own people standing up against her, a battle ending in tragedy, and a prophecy! And they know it too! Their own history is so rich and captivating, they transformed telling people about it into a spectacle. If you’re ever in the need of someone to give a grandiose speech, a Paper Kingdom storyteller is what you need!

Origami Festival: If you visit the Paper Kingdom during their fall season, you might bear witness to the Origami Festival! While considered unorthodox and dangerous, Shapeshifters recognize origami as an incredibly powerful type of magic, allowing one to become anything their heart wish. As such, they have festivities centered around this concept that lasts a week, where they put up tons of different and incredible origami displays celebrating the concept.

How it fits in the game

For it’s location, it would be a decently sized island between the Luncheon Kingdom and Snow Kingdom, and would be the last place you go to before Bowser’s castle. From above, it would look rectangular, and most of it would be very elevated (think of a plateau, but in the middle of the ocean.) While it would seem small at first glance, the truth is that most of the earth is hollowed out, and there’s a lot of communities that live underground. You would be able to visit the two surface ones (Rogueport at the base of the plateau, and Castle of Chaos (Equivalent to Castle Bleck) on top of it) from the start, and at least one additional area under Castle of Chaos would unlock after the main story.

As for it’s place in the story, a wedding needs an officiant, and Bowser decided to get a storyteller from the Paper Kingdom because they’re known to give quite touching speeches. Bowser was originally planning to make his announcement of his marriage to Peach, take someone by force if he got denied, and leave the kingdom in disarray as punishment for denying him.

So you can imagine his surprise when not one, but two storytellers volunteered to be his officiant: Dimentio, royal jester and local agent of chaos who’s starting to find the current situation in the Paper Kingdom boring because it’s stagnating (albeit because they want to stop the hostilities temporarily for the upcoming Origami Festival), and the Beldam, eldest of the shadow Sirens and actively trying to resurrect the Shadow Queen.

Let’s be clear, here: Neither of them are really interested in Bowser’s marriage, but both are after the power of the Chaos Heart, which has the potential to arise from this union: Dimentio to create even more chaos, and Beldam to harness it’s power and bring the Queen back to life. He picked the storyteller who had actual experience with being an officiant: Dimentio, who officiated multiple noble weddings- and left a fuming Beldam behind. In her rage, she decided to make the King of Koopas not choosing her as an evil marriage officiant everyone else’s problem and promptly started freezing everything in sight.

And that’s where Mario and Cappy come in, looking for Power Moons...

What’s going on?

A few weeks before Bowser shows up, the wedding of Blumiere, the son of an important count, and his human girlfriend Timpani (I don’t know from where she could be, probably New Donk CIty), was happening. However, in part due to a sinister prophecy that foretold the rebirth of the Chaos Heart if a furious monster lord (Blumiere is not human, and he has quite the unstable temperament) and a fair and lovely maiden (Timpani is a bit shy, cares for everything around her, and is nothing but kind) got married, and in part due to being a racist fuck, Blumiere’s father tried to stop the marriage by lethally attacking the bride.

Big mistake.

Blumiere ended up flying into a rage, messily killing his father with his bare hands and the assistance of a surge of magic, and destroyed the wedding venue. He then took Timpani, who was dying, to the origami craftsman, who earned himself a reputation of defying nature’s law by creating Olly and Olivia for an Origami festival, which was. Not planned. He then more or less forced him to heal his bride.

The craftsman was absolutely able to say no: Olly brought to life multiple office supplies and all of them are ready to attack on sight, but he still went and healed up Timpani, albeit altering her physical appearance permanently due to having to heal her up using Origami Magic. Olly does not take his father being threatened into helping someone well, and barges into Castle of Chaos two weeks later and self-proclaim himself king with the assistance of the office supplies, which he dubs his Legion of Stationery, because of a perceived disrespect toward his family.

He is twelve.

Blumiere- who renamed himself Count Bleck following his father’s death- is understandably outraged, and denounces Olly with the support of his companions. Said companions are: his wife lady Timpani whom he (and most of the kingdom) adores, a small bat-like woman and his spokesperson Nastasia, the strong but dimwitted warrior and champion O’Chunks, the robotic but emotional Mimi who works in banking, and local shit-bastard jester Dimentio. This is due to Bleck being a direct descendant of one of the eight mages that sacrificed themselves, and he’s forced to make a claim to the throne to be taken seriously in trying to stop Olly.

He does not want to take the throne.

So now, there’s a twelve years old and a pissed off count who murdered his father in a blind rage fighting over the throne of the Paper Kingdom, neither of them know what they’re going to do next, and no one is happy about this situation. The instability allows a third party to make an appearance and grab for the throne: The X-Nauts, a race of robotic aliens led by the tyrannical Sir Grodus. Their goal? Resurrect the Shadow Queen and use her power to remake the Paper Kingdom, and eventually the planet, in their image.

The good news is that neither Olly nor Bleck want the X-Nauts to succeed. Bleck because he knows they’re planning on resurrecting the Shadow Queen and he does not want that to happen, and Olly because Grodus’ second in command was mean to Olivia once. This means that they are able to put their difference aside, which means there’s still hope an all-out civil war can be avoided.

Speaking of Olivia, poor girl think her brother went evil and wants to reign over the Paper Kingdom like a tyrant. This is understandable, as he’s a irritable twelve years boy with six killing machine at his command and also starting his emo edge lord phase, and she’s a literal ray of sunshine. As such, Olivia decided to find other people willing to stop Olly, Bleck and Grodus from burning the country to the ground in their squabble, not realizing that, as the leader of this group, she is also making .a claim for the throne.

She is also twelve.

And now, there’s Beldam losing her shit over being turned down and freezing everything into unmoving sheets on the walls. Ironically, this common enemy might just be what’s needed to calm everyone down.

#writing #My writing #mario bros #paper mario #paper mario origami king #paper mario the thousand year door #super paper mario #pmtok #spm #pmttyd #king olly #olivia #count bleck #blumiere #timpani #tippi #dimentio

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falloutsketchysecretsanta · 4 years

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Sketchy Secret Santa: THE HOLIDAY PROMPT!

Friends, fans, and followers-- it’s finally here! The time you’ve all been waiting for! The anon function is off, the request window is OPEN, and the prompt is HERE!

For those who have never participated in a Sketchy event before, let me break it down for you. Sketchy Secret Santa is a Fallout Fandom Event where you send in a sketch request to our group of volunteer artists to whip up a nifty gifty for someone else as an anonymous surprise! If you’d like more information, here’s a link to our info post.

And now, let’s get into the meat of THIS post. How to send a Valid Request, the Do’s and Don’ts, the Prompt List itself, and What to expect after you send a request in!

[Read more to keep dashboards clean]

To Send a Valid Sketchy Secret Santa Request, Please Send an Ask Including The Following:

WHOM the request is for. ---- At current, we are only making requests for people on Tumblr. We’ll need their username so we can @ tag them with the finished work when it’s posted.

The character[s] you’d like sketched up ---- All characters welcome! Canon, OC’s, everyone is fair game so long as it’s Fallout! ---- MAXIMUM FOUR CHARACTERS PER REQUEST. Our artists are working on a volunteer basis, and more figures means more time. ---- Is a request intended to be shippy? Let us know! We don’t read minds. ---- Poly? Found family? Hell yes! Just make sure to let us know the relationship context for the request. All genders and sexualities welcome, so long as everyone is a consenting adult.

1 [ONE!] Item from the prompt list below ---- The prompt list is both to give the artists direction and to limit the scope of what can be requested, keeping things manageable. ---- The items on the prompt list can be considered INSPIRATION, and what is drawn is up to artist interpretation of that prompt. ---- Do not dictate specific poses, colors, or situations. These are freebies, not commissions. All specifics are up to the volunteer artist who takes your request. ---- Do not dictate a specific artist to fulfill your request. Artists are operating on a self-directed basis and are, again, volunteers providing freebies to spread holiday joy. If you want work from a specific artist, might I suggest checking their commission status?

[OPTIONALLY!!] Tell us what holiday traditions the requested characters keep. ---- While there are various holidays on the prompt list, those are general AF prompts. Telling us what holidays an OC celebrates, or what holidays you HC a canon character to celebrate is additional character context and EXTREMELY ENCOURAGED, and does not replace the prompt. It’s like reference information-- telling the artist whom they’re drawing.

Please Do:

Be polite! Say please and thank you, be kind to the askbox managers, ect. Everyone working on this project is doing so on a volunteer basis.

Be patient. Depending on what kind of traffic we see right off the bat, it may take a hot second for your request to be accepted.

Be present and ready to provide ref information! If you request an OC for a friend, we’re going to need reference material for our artists to work with! Have files ready upon request, and be prepared for one of our helpers to request that information through the Tumblr IM [check your blog settings and make sure you’re set to accept messages]

Be kind. We’re going to do our best to get to every request we can throughout the month, but please don’t be upset with us if we can’t serve everyone.

Please Don’t:

Try to circumvent the rules. Just don’t.

Be an entitled jackass. This is a volunteer holiday event. We’re gonna do our best, don’t be a jerk if there’s mix ups or we don’t get to your request.

Try to request for yourself. The whole point of this event is do something nice for others.

Ghost us. Please, please don’t send a request in and then ghost the staff of the event. Nothing kills morale quite like a participant dropping off the map without a word.

Okay, are we through all the rules stuff? Then onwards to...

THE PROMPT LIST!

The following is a list of words, phrases, ideas, and memories brainstormed by our team of volunteers to give the requests direction and verity. You may pick 1 [ONE] per request.

Christmas

Hanukah

Kwanza

Samhain

Keeping Old Traditions

Ghosts of Christmas Past

Drifted Myths

Twisted Christmas Tales

Deck the Halls

Making Decorations

Repurposed/Reused/Recycled

Junk into Jolly

Improvised Christmas Tree

Nuka Cola Christmas

Santa Spotting

Holiday Clothes

Ugly Sweaters

Posing for Pictures

Gift Exchange

Present Scavenging

Firelight

Thawing out

Tending the Bonfire

Lights

Unexpected Kindness

Little Mercies

Rare Reunions

Community Celebration

Found Family

Oh Shit I’ve never had real friends during the holidays before

Holiday Meal

Baked Goods

Potluck

Fireside Cooking

Kitchen Catastrophes

Pound Cake

Feasting Aftermath

Holiday Mischief

Brahmin Tipping

Stolen Pants

Pet Dress-up

Mistletoe Mishaps

Someone is kissing Santa

CUI [Caroling under the Influence]

Holiday drinks

Holiday drunks

Is that supposed to be glowing

Candlelight and Snow

First Snow

Noob in a Snowball Fight

Soaked Through and Freezing

Snowed in

Antlers

Pinecones

Fire and Ice

Tropical Transplant

Ringing in the New Year

To New Beginnings

Celebratory Toast

Watching the Clock

Fireworks

Reinvention

Hokay! So you’ve gotten this far-- you know WHO you wanna request for, WHAT you wanna request, you’ve picked something from the PROMPT LIST, and you’re ready to SEND IT IN!

... So what happens after you send your request?

The mods on this blog will add it to our list, and answer your ask PRIVATELY to confirm your request has been added. At the time of the confirmation, we may ask for additional OC reference information, if an OC was requested, or request clarification on relationship context between the requested characters if more than one character was requested. Be ready to correspond with us, and have reference material ready for OCs!

Once your request is confirmed, you’re all done! The rest is up to us. Finished requests will be posted on New Years Day, @ tagging the gift recipient and no one else, leaving the requester entirely anonymous.

Thank you so much if you choose to participate. The request window is open until December 25th. We’ll be working hard until the very last day.

We wish you all a happy holiday, whatever you celebrate, and a happy New Year!

#Sketchy Secret Santa #Fallout Sketchy Secret Santa #Prompt Post #HOLIDAY PROMPT POST

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humans4vampires · 3 years

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1977 Homecoming

@teamlesbianbella Happy Holidays, my dear! Not-So-Secret-Anymore Santa here, delivering your gift! I do hope it’s everything you were wishing for! I loved writing this for you and I hope it makes you all toasty-warm with Rosalie goodness. Honestly, I would do so much more writing for this... Let me know what you think :)

Can’t wait to do another @twilight-secret-gift-exchange.

1977 Homecoming

If my heart could be pounding, it would be. If my body could lift my feet with any more anxious haste, it would. The cold wind broke against my skin, the snowflakes only lingering in the fibers of my clothes. It was well below freezing; I was sure this blizzard would be record breaking. I hadn’t seen this much snow in New York State since I was a child. As we ran, I tried to remember the Christmases I’d spent with my human family. The faces of my mother, father, and brothers were fading from my memory. The pain I always felt when I thought of them flooded through me. It wasn’t a raging agony anymore; it was rather dull and nagging. My life, after all, was not entirely riddled with sadness. Though my human family would never be replaced in my heart, my new family loved me and I, them. New? Well, in the context of eternity, it was in the realm of ‘new.’

We had stopped once on this journey from British Columbia to New York as we crossed paths with a friend in Saskatchewan. It wasn’t my first introduction to Garrett, but Jasper was freshly engrossed with Garrett’s patriotism. And Garrett was more than eager to swap war stories. This was also Garrett’s first time meeting Alice, so our initial stumbling upended to an extended stall. I was bored within the first hour. Battle had never interested me and though I loved my Alice, the curio displays of her gifts to each old friend we encountered had become monotonous. It was no better than enduring the years of Carlisle and Esme fawning over Edward when we were still a small family. While they all talked animatedly around the fireplace of a vacant cabin, I read the paper I had grabbed as we walked through the town. The date was January 23rd, 1977.

Christmas of ’76 had been mostly uneventful. We had spent the holiday with our ‘cousins,’ Tanya, Kate, Irina, and Carmen and Eleazar. Though, of course, we had to leave sooner than I would have liked because of Tanya’s constant advances toward Edward. I laughed to myself then, at the thought of anyone finding Edward to be a good romantic match. How funny, I thought, that Carlisle had once hoped that I would be that perfect pairing for Edward.

Of course Edward was beautiful; we all were. But he was handsome, still. I was sure he had been in his human life, too. He was also a gentleman, refined, and certainly someone who would have made a quality match for me when I was just a human girl. But Edward was much more than those simple things, too. Edward was witty and kind. He was talented and well-educated out of interest, not because he felt obligated to fill his time. There was also a part of him that understood me, and I didn’t chalk it up to the mind-reading. No, Edward valued mortality and the virtues of humanity in the same manner I did, I was sure.

Carlisle couldn’t have known me well enough in my human life to truly know that Edward and I would have so much in common, but it did seem to pan out perfectly. By all accounts, Edward was exactly my counterpart; of all my family and all those we came across in this new life, Edward and I were still the most alike. But if likeness equaled a perfect match, then Edward and I had broken the mold.

We were still running, through the tall red oaks and ash trees coated in ice and snow. I had let myself fall a bit behind, letting my thoughts wander. But I was back in the present now, and searching for my imperfect match. She was ahead of me, bounding through the snow with a childlike enthusiasm, moving like a tornado through the forest. Her long, chaotic brown curls were thick with ice. Her long, imposing body charged through the blizzard, her muscles dancing beneath her pearlescent skin. She was unaware of me, totally enthralled by the thrill of the wind, the blistering cold, and the sleet of ice. No one enjoyed being what we were more than my Eleanor.

I juxtaposed the day I carried her home to Carlisle in my arms, battered and broken, to watching her leap through the snow as she did now, a titan, a fearless woman, and smiled proudly. God, how I feared that she would resent me for how I had damned her. Until I had found her lying helplessly on the forest floor, I had never truly known Carlisle. How I had hated his selfishness, his cowardice in facing death, until I was the selfish one begging for the life of a stranger.

Eleanor thought I had saved her, but truthfully, she saved me. She saw me as an angel when I was nothing more than a monster. The guilt of my selfishness waned with time as I saw how much joy this new life brought her. Eleanor embraced everything with barefaced ardor. She was rough and intense and unrefined. She was easily distracted and entertained by each passing moment. She was unfocused and happy. Eleanor had a burning fervor to make the most of every amusement. She found no guilty pleasures, for every pleasure was unburdened; she was completely free.

I had never found myself attracted to women, though I was sure there would be no other woman, or man, on earth that could capture me the way she had. I had thought myself to be a romantic, but I had never truly known love, it seemed. Eleanor consumed me, slowly and surprisingly. A few years had passed before I had realized the devotion I felt for her was something more. I was relieved when I discovered she felt the same for me. How, in my damnation, was I allowed a miracle?

She suddenly turned toward me and stopped, blocking my path with her body. We collided swiftly and she wrapped her arms around me as she pulled me down into a thick snowbank. Eleanor’s laugh echoed through the trees and drowned in the howling wind.

“What are you doing?” I said into her hair.

“You’re going so slow,” she said. “We might as well take a break.”

“A break,” I huffed. “We’re almost there.”

I was locked in her iron grip, trapped in the snow pile against her as she chuckled. I moved to see her face and her expression became more serious. Eleanor brought a hand up to my forehead, brushing the hair there back behind my ear with her fingertips.

“What are you thinking about?” She was staring intently into my eyes, the question burning there.

I shrugged, “My love for you.”

She smiled sweetly, closing the distance between our lips as she cupped my face in her strong hands. Oh, her hands. They began to wander my body as we kissed more deeply. My hands were locked in her hair as she turned us over, pinning my back in the snow. The feeling of her body pressed against mine sent me into a frenzy. She was removing my clothes before I could catch myself falling into the fray.

“No,” I whined, pulling my lips from hers.

She kissed more fervently down my neck. I fought her hands to secure my shirt.

“Eleanor, we’re almost there,” I said. “Please.”

She groaned, lifting herself off me quickly. She stood in the snow a few feet away as I redressed myself.

“You’re awfully keyed up about this whole farm thing,” Eleanor crossed her arms as she argued. “I don’t see you as a farm girl.”

“I’m not,” I said proudly. “But this is different. You’ll see.”

She was unconvinced, but held a hand out for me to lead the way. I started ahead and she started clapping.

“God, I love to watch you walk away!” she said loudly.

I took off in a sprint and she followed.

I wanted to go home. When I was new and young and our family had to leave Rochester, Carlisle, Esme, Edward and I moved to a little stone house on the outskirts of the small town of Maine, New York. The house had been standing for at least a hundred years at that time, and while we stayed there, Esme spent her time restoring it. By the time we left to go further south for Carlisle, Edward and I to study medicine, the house had become a home. We left a family. For that reason and so many others, the house in Maine was my home. And I’d never shared it with my Eleanor.

I began to slow again as we approached. I wanted to walk at a human pace; enjoy every perfect detail. The house was atop a gentle hill situated in a large clearing. It was surrounded by towering white spruces and red oaks all blanketed with heavy frost. The long house was entirely stone, aside from a few additions from Esme where the Tudor style matched perfectly, as if they had always belonged. The paned windows were thick with ice like everything else, the snow piled high above the few small front steps to the door. Eleanor and I trudged forward, the snow above my waist. As we got closer to the door, I reached for her hand.

“Welcome home,” she said coolly.

I smiled and moved to open the door. Snow ran into the small foyer, dumping onto the stone floor as we quickly hopped in. I kept her hand in mine as I walked her through the rooms, telling the stories that came to mind. When we were back in the front room, she moved to the fireplace to start to build a fire. The others weren’t far behind. They would be joining us soon. When the beech wood was crackling with the roar of the flames, I joined Eleanor at the hearth. The snow and ice began to melt, thawing us both.

“A bath?” Eleanor suggested.

I nodded and hummed, “Mhmm.”

We were both drenched from the blizzard; our clothes had no hope of drying against our frigid skin. Though I couldn’t be uncomfortable, a warm bath sounded nice. Eleanor was gone then and I could hear the sound of the water running far down the long hallway.

My bedroom had the best view; Esme had insisted on it. Eleanor was standing at the far end of the room, bent over the large claw foot tub that sat in front of a set of wide French doors. She had the doors wide open, filling the room with the horizon, the afternoon light, and the faintest sprinkling of snowflakes. They danced through the air like pixies in the wind.

Eleanor turned to me after she had stopped the faucet.

I removed my clothes slowly, revealing myself to her. She did the same for me, removing her clothes as we admired one another. We didn’t speak. My golden hair was dripping, creating pools around my feet. She extended a hand to me and I crossed the room toward her with inhuman speed. I closed the distance between us, stone to stone as we collided. As we kissed, I felt a rush of peace. A gentle hum trilled my body.

We made it to the tub eventually where we sat, legs tangled together, facing each other as we looked out the doors and watched the snowfall. The neighbor that took care of the property kept horses at the stables here. We watched them as they tunneled through the snow that crested their chests, their brown coats casting a stark contrast to the heavy blanket of white.

“I love you,” Eleanor said softly.

I turned to her. “I love you.”

We stayed there until the water had lost its warmth. Eleanor and I dressed and met the others in the living room when they arrived. Once everyone had changed out of their wet clothes, we picked up our regular activities. Eleanor and Jasper left on a hunting trip to the Adirondacks. Edward went to tune the long-forgotten grand piano, then spent the evening composing something new. Esme and Alice made plans to visit the New York City for a shopping trip, chatting by the fireplace. Carlisle and I sat in matching armchairs, discussing my schooling and the new medical techniques Edward and I had been learning. We would be returning to school in a week when the new semester began again. We spoke for hours about medicine. Alice would chime in every now and then to explain what the future of medicine would look like in the next few decades; there were going to be incredible advancements. Edward would pick the images from Alice’s mind and explain the procedures and technology to us. Carlisle and Esme were beaming with pride as Alice and Edward dazzled them with their synchronized talents.

I wasn’t ‘gifted’ the way my siblings were, but I was never one to feel second-best. Though, at times, I wondered if I should. Was vanity clouding my judgment?

I was sure Edward had heard me. He made a polite excuse to leave the house. The others went to join him, leaving me at the fireplace to wait for Eleanor to return. I wasn’t interested in going out in the blizzard again. And I was grateful to Edward for giving me a reprieve – but I heard footfall coming back toward the house.

Carlisle was back quickly, dusting the snow from his hair in the doorway. I sighed and he smiled apologetically. I turned back to the fire.

“You didn’t have to come back to comfort me.”

His voice was soft. “I didn’t,” he agreed. “But I need to apologize.”

He was next to me at the hearth then, a hand on my knee.

I turned to face him. “It’s not fair for him to tell you every fleeting thought that passes through my head.”

“You know he wouldn’t betray your privacy, Rosalie.”

“I’m not jealous,” I said.

“You’re so much more than beautiful, Rose,” Carlisle spoke gently. “I’m so very proud of you, daughter. Of your strength and grace. Of your resilience.”

I nodded.

“Come now,” Carlisle continued. “Don’t allow another fleeting thought.”

We chuckled lightly.

“Can I convince you to join us?” He stood, holding a hand out to me.

I would never refuse him. I took his hand, and we ran through the snow following the trail of our family.

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sunflowerstalks · 3 years

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Shining Just for You

Sometimes, after a long day of running Out and About and *literally* saving the world, a moment alone together was what Roman and Virgil really craved.

(title from ‘mirrorball’ by taylor swift)

This is my gift for Patton, @4ngstyc00kie, for @sanderssidesgiftxchange! I hope you enjoy your gift, and I hope your holidays were and continue to go well! :D

(sidenote: the recipe for the pretzels in this fic can actually be found here! i can personally vouch for em they are SO good)

word count: 2199

rating: gen/teen and up (for slight language)

content warnings: none; mentions of food and kissing; slight anxiety attack, but for like two sentences; slight innuendo i guess?; two mentions of cannibalism but in a debate context and not in any detail

relationships: romantic roman/virgil (focus), romantic logan/patton (background), platonic sides (all of em)

characters: roman, virgil, logan, patton, janus, remus

additional tags: superhero au (v subtle, i guess), coffee shop au

The bell above the entrance to Out and About chimed as the door swung inwards, the puff of warm air and smell of pastries loosening the tension in Virgil’s shoulders. The door fell into place behind him as he hung up his snow-dusted coat—he smiled at the jackets already haphazardly strewn across the hooks, familiar leather and denim and down in the shades of his friends signaling his status (yet again) as the last one to arrive. Though, Roman wasn’t even off for another thirty minutes, so Virgil stopped himself before falling down that rabbit hole of self-loathing. He waved to the table where Patton was currently sidled next to Logan in the corner booth, both of them sat across from Remus and Janus—their faces were flushed from the cold and already bright with laughter, but Virgil knew Roman would forget the rest of the world entirely if not reminded of their biweekly after-hours confabulation, so a venture into the kitchens was necessary. The group returned his greeting, before falling back into the passionate conversation that resounded around the shop, twinkling against the glass and settling into the wood. Virgil chuckled as he ducked under the counter, pushing open the heavy doors into the kitchen.

Virgil sucked in a breath, opting to lean on the doorframe for support rather than interrupting… whatever his boyfriend was doing. Roman was a vision, sleeves pushed back, hands dusted with flour, twisting loops of dough over and over before setting them aside—Virgil vaguely identified them as pretzels, but the way that even fluorescent lights struck Roman like a sunset to marble clearly took precedent. Virgil cleared his throat, hating to ruin previously-said perfect moment, but nonetheless aware of the endless teasing the pair would suffer if they spent too long on their own. Bastards, thought Virgil, as Roman looked away from the task at hand, shaking himself out of his reverie. But his smile came back just as fast and twice as brilliant when he recognized Virgil, immediately making grabby-hands at his person. Virgil giggled (which he would never admit to anyone other than the witness, but it was sort of the point that it stayed between the two of them—it was the point of this time alone in the first place), and made his way into Roman’s arms. He was sure his shirt was getting dusted in flour and spices, but he couldn’t bring himself to care when all he could sense was Roman—yeast and oak and love and warmth and home.

“You’ve made me a sap,” Virgil whined—though it came out as more of a mumble, thanks to the position of his face pressed into Roman’s shoulder. A rumble, as Roman laughed, loud and strong, and against his reputation, Virgil smiled like the lovestruck fool he was, and tucked himself further into the crook of Roman’s neck.

“As much as I love surprise hugs from my paramour,” Roman fiddled with the hair at the nape of Virgil’s neck as he spoke, “I do need to get back to baking if we’re ever to join the others.” Virgil huffed, ever the dark cloud Roman adored;

“Do we need to though? I mean,” Virgil unentangled himself slightly, pulling back only enough to grasp the strap of Roman’s apron, “really, I think they’ll be able to handle thirty minutes on their own, don’t you?” He looked up at Roman innocently through his lashes, like he wasn’t absolutely certain that he was what Roman would rather be focusing on—they both loved their friends more than life itself, but sometimes, after a long day of running Out and About and *literally* saving the world, a moment alone together was what they really craved.

“You,” Roman flicked Virgil’s nose, leaving a trail of flour in the process, “can be a terrible influence. Besides, you love helping me bake!”

"No, I love watching you bake—there’s a difference.” Though, in reality, Virgil’s words held little weight, as he had already found another apron and had begun tying the straps around himself. Roman cooed, and Virgil bit back another giggle—as long as he was going to help, he could at least keep himself from giving Roman any more ammo against his reputation. Thus, the pair got to work, kneading and twisting. Pretzels weren’t exactly difficult, but Virgil wasn’t usually a kitchen guy in the first place. The third time his pretzel came out too twisted and small, Virgil stepped back with what could only be described as a growl. He pressed his palms into his eyes, and focused on his breathing.

“Hey, no worries, babe, okay? Trust me. Can you look at me?” Roman circled his own hands loosely around Virgil’s wrists, a presence but not a force. Slowly, Virgil moved his hands from his eyes, smiling sheepishly as his boyfriend gave him a small “yay.” His shoulders slumped a little from the stress, but Virgil had calmed down for the most part.

“Thank you, Ro.”

“No worries, my darling,” Roman squeezed his shoulders, “Do you want to stay with me, or go sit with the rest of the group while I finish up?” Virgil considered his options for a moment, savoring Roman’s touch.

“Can I stay with you? I don’t know how much of a help I’ll be, but I want to be around you. You make me feel safe, but like, you know,” he started backtracking, “not in a gay way or anything.”

“Of course you can. And,” Roman said, kissing Virgil’s nose, “I love you, too.” Virgil blushed scarlet as Roman returned to his task, perfectly aware of the stuttering mess he had just made (even though he’d never admit it). Refusing to give in to the teasing, Virgil pressed his lips into a thin line before settling himself onto the counter, perched to watch Roman. He spent as long as he could watching before getting antsy—and when he got antsy, he got curious.

“Wouldn’t it make more sense to use powers to make breads and stuff that takes this much work?”

Roman hummed thoughtfully. “Maybe, but I like doing it this way. It’s not the same when it’s done with… whatever powers use. What do they use? Vibes?”

Virgil chuckled, sending a flurry of flour falling down on both of them with a flick of his wrist. Roman looked at the faux snowstorm with glee, and then at his boyfriend with admiration. Virgil didn’t show off often, but, when he did, it was for Roman (he laughed at how that was nearly always the case).

“It’s more of a feeling, I think.”

“So what I’m hearing is that I’m right—vibes,” Roman said wiggling his fingers for emphasis, the pretzels all parboiled and ready for baking. A parting (if it could be called that, as Roman was only walking across the kitchen to the oven and back) kiss was shared as the pretzels began their journey to deliciousness.

“So,” Roman grinned devilishly, clapping his hands together, “The timer is set for twenty minutes. Thoughts on how to fill the time?”

Virgil quirked an eyebrow. “Without raising suspicion? With our group of friends?”

“Powers, Virgil, show me more magic things! Please?” Roman pleaded with his puppy dog eyes, nudging himself as close as he could get to Virgil. In their current position, Virgil was almost taller—a truly amazing thing to be, if Virgil was being honest—craning his neck to get an awkward view of his boyfriend was not the best of times. But now, he could breathe Roman in like the light and airy pastries he had such a way with, and take him all in at once without having to drag him down to his own level. It was a nice change of pace, and Virgil—Virgil wanted to give Roman everything he wanted. So he concentrated his energy, and…

Roman shrieked.

“What a drama queen,” Virgil sighed, fonder than he’d have liked, looking up at Roman as he hovered maybe a foot above the ground, taller once again. He giggled as he swung his arms, attempting to remain balanced (though, in reality, he really had no impact on it—it was all Virgil, except for the joy). Roman made for Virgil’s hands, an invitation and a request and a declaration of love all in one. Virgil accepted, taking Roman’s hands in his own, intertwining their fingers together—somehow, Roman’s smile grew even wider, and he tugged, pulling himself closer to Virgil.

“You,” Roman began, kissing Virgil’s forehead,

“Are,” His cheek,

“Perfect,” His jaw,

“Wonderful,” His nose,

“Amazing,” The corner of his mouth,

“Superb,” Roman breathed, finally kissing Virgil square on the mouth—they bumped flour-covered noses and their teeth clicked at first, but there was so much warmth that neither could bring themselves to care. Virgil smiled into the kiss, pulling Roman ever closer, holding him tight as his concentration turned from keeping him floating to keeping him close. Virgil hummed, pleased, before being rudely interrupted by the tinny ring of the timer. Roman pulled back reluctantly, giving Virgil one last chaste peck before making his way to the oven to remove the pretzels. He began transferring them to the cooling rack on the counter, and, not for the first time that day, all Virgil could do was stare—Roman was glowing, like, literally. It was faint, a remnant, or maybe a reflection of Virgil’s own powers, but it was there nonetheless. It cast Roman in a light similar to that of a sunset, breathtaking and golden and entirely overwhelming. Virgil’s breath hitched when Roman turned to look at him, and suddenly he was feeling much too small, and not at all worth the man in front of him. He decided to start small with confronting his insecurities:

“Hey,” he whispered, reverent and somewhat strangled. Roman laughed, and kissed him, still unaware of his own aura and its effects on his boyfriend. He picked up the plate of pretzels—half salted, half cinnamon-sugar—and offered Virgil his hand. He took it, gently, and stepped off the counter with Roman’s help. Their aprons were hung on the hooks, and they made their way out into the foyer of the cafe.

Patton was behind the counter at the drink machines, while the other three had spread themselves out across two booths, covering the floor and tables with papers and bags and… dice? Something of the sort—moving on. At the sound of the doors opening, Patton turned to greet Roman and Virgil, flicking his wrist to keep the coffees making themselves, but when he saw the two of them, he froze.

Regaining his composure, Patton grinned and waved. “Heya kiddos! How was baking?”

“Wonderful—look, pretzels!” Roman presented the tray with a flourish, earning a small round of applause from Patton—the others were thoroughly enamoured with their conversation, and had yet to notice the addition of the last two members of their group—but all good things must come to an end.

Remus finally looked up at the sound of laughter and clapping, and immediately smiled wolfishly—which was fitting, because he then wolf whistled obnoxiously. The trio behind the counter turned in confusion, as did Logan and Janus, pulled out of their debate about the morality of cannibalism. Logan looked like he was staring at a three headed dragon:

“Virgil, what did you do?”

“Uh,” he said, turning again to look at Roman, who was only glowing brighter, “Made pretzels?”

“Dude, you’re GLOWING!” Remus had jumped over a table and was leaning over the counter to poke and prod at his brother’s face.

“Huh,” Roman remarked, extending his arm and turning it over, “I guess I am.”

“Fascinating…” Logan had Roman’s other arm in his hands, and was closely examining how the light reacted to his touch. Virgil couldn’t help but feel a little excluded—he went from having all of his boyfriend’s attention to none of it, which was fine, and Virgil could live with that, but he didn’t think there was anything wrong with being a little jealous from time to time.

“Okay, okay, my boyfriend glows, lets eat,” Virgil huffed, stretching and wrapping an arm around Roman’s shoulders—as he preened under all the attention, his aura doubled in size, casting the shop in a soft light.

“Gross,” Remus wrinkled his nose, mouth full with half a pretzel, “Get a room.” Roman squawked at his brother’s teasing, and turned to Virgil to defend him (though all he did was shrug, it was enough to appease Roman). Somehow, in all the chaos, Patton, Logan, and Janus were able to carry the assorted baked goods that were left after closing, and the several drinks, to the table without incident. Janus and Logan had resumed their argument, this time interspersed with moral questions and praise from Patton—though, really, he was just paying attention because Logan looked awful cute when he was passionate. Virgil snapped his attention back to the twins, who were still arguing, albeit playfully, but far too long for his taste—he yanked Roman along through the opening in the counter (ignoring the offended noises of both brothers), and over to their friends. The remaining three fell into their places in the booth, as careful as they could, being themselves and all—and with their arrival, the night truly began.

#sanders sides #prinxiety #roman/virgil #ts roman #ts virgil #ts patton #ts logan #ts janus #ts remus

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rachelbethhines · 4 years

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Tangled Salt Marathon - Short Cuts

So the reviews for Rapunzel’s Return are taking longer then expected and due to real life complications I’ve now fallen behind in my intended schedule. So in order to catch up, I’ll be doing a series of rapid-fire mini reviews of all the official shorts that the series released in addition to the usual reviews.

Summary: Ten shorts were released throughout the three seasons of the show detailing Rapunzel’s misadventures in Corona.

Check Mate

Pascal tries to get Max to play chess with him, but the horse is too busy with guard duty to play. Pascal’s antics wind up causing a fire and Max must save him.

This short, plus the later Unicorn-y short, and the episode Pascal’s Story pretty much confirms that chess is pascal’s favorite game. Shame that’s the only idiosyncrasy that the series gives besides being the conscious of the group that sometimes gives the other characters guilty looks.

I said it before and I’ll say again, the animal sidekicks in the franchise don’t have enough personality to carry whole episodes by themselves, but shorts like this are ok and where things like this should have stayed.

Prison Bake

Attila recounts how he used his baking skills to break his fellow pub thugs out of prison back before they met Rapunzel.

This just raises so many questions. Why were they arrested? What was their punishment besides jail? Why weren’t they just re-arrested later after escaping? If they were all wanted criminals before meeting Raps then why did they try to call the guards during the movie to collect the reward money on Eugene’s head? Do we really think “crack-down on crime” Frederic would pardon them before Rapunzel’s return? How do we know they weren’t just framed given how shitty Corona’s legal system is?

Like I just need a tiny bit more context show. Two to three minutes isn’t really long enough to set up conflicts. These shorts should have been more like five or six minutes really.

Also Ludwig the Castle Cook is also just wasted. They built a model for him and hired a VA and everything and all he does is appear in this one short and nothing else. Like I think he makes a non-speaking cameo in The Alchemist Returns or something, but that’s it. It’s a clear mismanagement of resources.

Make Me Smile

Rapunzel tries unsuccessfully to make Old Lady Crowley smile, but it’s not until she holds an honest conversation with the woman does she find a solution.

This is best short out of the bunch, and not just cause it stars the great Pat Carol either.

This is how Rapunzel should have been handled in the main series proper. Which is why I screen-grabbed this whole convo. It’s perfect.

Rapunzel spent 18 years lock in a tower. Of course she doesn’t understand different perspectives from her own cause her development has been stunted. She’s compassionate but lacks empathy. So she has a hard time connecting with others, but once she slows down an actually takes the time to listen to people she is capable of learning.

We needed more of this; just on a larger scale. Have Raps make mistakes, have people be annoyed with her or right angry when she messes up, and then have her learn.

Why the series thought it was a good idea to have everyone kiss her royal arse instead while she dug in her heels and consendinly took charge of everything even while still screwing up, I’ll never know.

Hare Peace

Feldspar asks Rapunzel to take care of his “precious”. Rapunzel thinks he means a pet rabbit, and is run ragged trying to keep up with it, but it turns out he was talking about his prized cabbage instead.

These shorts overall work a lot better than the main show. They know what they are and don’t try to be anything else. Therefore they deliver what is promised competently. They’re nothing amazing nor groundbreaking and in truth I wouldn’t want a whole series of them, but I get the feeling this is what the head executives at Disney were expecting when they signed off on the show and not whatever mess the main series turned out to be.

Night Bite

Rapunzel, Eugene, and the animals are out camping for the night and Max gets irritated by all the bugs.

What doesn’t work so well is the placement of some of the shorts. This particular short aired during season two and indeed that would make sense given that they are camping out here. Which why would they do that if they were still in Corona...

Yet some of the later shorts, which also aired during season two, clearly do take place in Corona debunking that theory. Just some context would be nice show, that’s all.

Also this short is meh.. not bad, not, good, just there.

Hiccup Fever

Rapunzel gets the hiccups and everyone in Corona seems to have advice on how to get rid of them, but only Eugene has the solution.

I’d argue that this is the funniest of the shorts. I legit laughed out loud at some points which is rare.

However it does sadly prove on thing.

Rapunzel was always a shit girlfriend, even before season three.

Being a douche to your boyfriend isn’t funny show.

Snowball

Rapunzel and Pascal plan to have some fun in the snow and things go awry.

So where and when is this exactly?

Unlike the other shorts, the context and setting for this one is paramount to whether or not Rapunzel is a simply lazy or a an outright dick.

For you see, Rapunzel had never been outside in the show before Queen for a Day. Ergo, this can only take place during the latter half of season one or during season two.

Now season two makes a lot of sense. They’re at some cabin in the woods that was never mentioned are seen on screen before and this did air during season two anyways. If that is the case then Raps just avoiding her planned road trip like always.

However, the last short and the next two also aired during season two and all of those do take place in Corona during season one and even the wiki states that they were all meant to take place during season one in original concept.

Yet if that is the case then Rapunzel is ignoring Varian right now and playing around in the thing that almost killed him...

Oh and that still doesn’t explain where this cabin is. Is it the mountain retreat that the King and Queen were going to spend their anniversary at?

What’s really mind boggling though is that they made this short in order to reuse the character models from Queen for a Day in order to save money, but then went and built this whole set that’s never seen outside of this short.

Like seriously who was on charge of the budget decisions in the series?

Hairdon't

Rapunzel offers to cut Eugene’s hair but then messes it up. She spends all day trying to stop Eugene from seeing his new do, but turns out the hairstyle becomes a hit with the Corona townspeople.

Rapunzel seriously lucked out here and it borderlines on the main series style levels of BS. She asks Eugene not to get upset before he sees what she’s done and, guess what, he is rightly upset.

Honestly the series needed to let Eugene get angry at Rapunzel for stuff. That’s what happens in relationships, you will make your partner mad at times and that’s ok. It’s all about how both of you handle that.

We never get to see how Eugene and Rapunzel would handle a real ordinary conflict and not just magic/ex girlfriend shenanigans that don't end with them putting off talking about it.

Even their best episodes in season two still are over conflicts that don’t have any immediate impact on their lives and are mostly hypotheticals to them, like kids or how other people should approach dating. And of course by season three Eugene is just reduced to a doormat.

Unicorn-y

Rapunzel tries to help Vladimir find his missing prized unicorn figurine in this spoof of old detective movies. Turns out Max and Pascal had found it and were using it to play chess.

Ok, first off, Eugene has the patience of a saint and deserves so much better than Raps and her bullcrap here. Same goes for Lance who is tied up as well during this scene.

But also this is another short that needed to be more than three mins long. The “mystery” is over before it even starts and the film noir parody only barely has time register in the viewer’s mind and then it’s over with.

Shorty’s Theme Song Takeover!

The last of the shorts aired after the show had ended as part of the Disney Channel’s on going promotional gimmick “Theme Song Takeover!”

Shorty finds Rapunzel’s journal and sings his own version of the show’s theme song, “Wind in my Beard”.

It’s ok.

All of Disney’s animated shows for the 2019/2020 line up has done one and some are funnier than than this and others not so. The Shorty one is pretty middle ground but what makes it work is that Rapunzel is completely oblivious to what’s going on and only Shorty, always the anomaly of the series, can perceive the fourth wall. Thus proving he was never really human.

As for placement, we know it’s season three cause of Rapunzel’s dress and they’re mostly likely inside the Snuggly Duckling right now. So just slot it in wherever you see fit.

Conclusion

That’s it for the shorts. The rest of Rapunzel’s Return should be up later this week and then hopefully I’ll be all caught up in time to cover the next episode next week.

#tangled #tangled the series #rapunzles tangled adventure #short cuts #anti-rapunzel #anti-tangled

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windstormwielding · 3 years

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How did you come up with Kotaro's zanpakuto? (i really love the bird theme of his attacks!) did you go through a lot of changes when coming up with names, abilities, and the general concept?

{ ooc } bUCKLE UP KIDDOS ‘CAUSE IT’S TIME FOR SOME LONG OVERDUE GODDAMNED KŌTA META-

Kōta’s zanpakutō was essentially conceived out of my own love for great big storms and heavy winds – and yes, I have a story to go with that! On one occasion many years ago, I hopped on a bus to visit a friend in town, but I was ill-prepared in that it was about to rain heavily and I had jack shit but a jacket. No raincoat and not even an umbrella. I thought I would make it there on time, buuuuut evidently, I did not. It already started raining and thundering hard by the time I walked out of the bus and had to walk a few blocks by myself.

And honestly, Plouton, looking back? I would not have changed a single little detail that day. Those several minutes I spent outside at the mercy of a live thunderstorm left such a huge impression on me! The incessant rain keeping me tethered to the ground, the sheer volume of deafening thunder cracking so hard and so loudly that the air around me quaked... pair that with times I’ve enjoyed feeling myself at the mercy of heavy winds, or even the smell of the outside after rain falls...

...pretty much all of that served as the biggest source of inspiration behind the wind and storm-oriented zanpakutō, and I wanted Kōta to embody that himself.

Besides, aside from Senna herself in Memories of Nobody, the Gotei 13 lacked a dedicated air-manipulating shinigami barring Kensei’s unique take on the topic with Tachikaze, and we’ve only seen antagonists use this power (Dordoni of the Arrancar within the main story, Kariya if you want to go filler with the Bounts... whom I’ve honestly forgotten about prior to creating Kōta WHOOPS) in the traditional sense. Not to mention, air as an element is SUPER malleable and there’s so much you can do with it if you get creative?? So, given we’ve got some real powerful element-leaning shinigami already with water (lbr Kaien would’ve been a beast had he not been nixed), fire (Yama), snow (Tosh), and electricity (Sasakibe), why not keep adding to the idea?

With that, we’ve got the main concept locked down. Powers and general theme? Check. Bird-like zanpakutō spirit? Check. Defined attacks? ...noooooot quite there yet—in fact, those were a fairly late addition well after the blog reboot. As for what led to it, this never took off since the other mun blipped on an indefinite hiatus, but our thread would have likely turned into a fight thread between our muses and uh...

...yeah, I realized named techniques are kind of an important thing to have, especially when writing within the context of an action-oriented series like Bleach. It wasn’t just about the cool factor, but having a readily available kit for reference (for myself, my writing partners, and folks reading in) was a must, not to mention it helped better define just what his main friggin’ weapon is capable of like those of most of the existing cast. In case a fight thread does come around in the future, it’d be an ideal thing to have ready to go and bring him further up to par with other fighters!

Just like that, I subjected myself to extra homework. Coming up with the moves themselves came to me simply enough, in seeing how air was played with in other media I was familiar with (key ones being Sonic the Hedgehog, The Legend of Zelda, and Avatar: The Last Airbender) and fashioning some of my own spins on top of some original ideas. I knew I wanted to lean hard on the bird motif since his zan spirit is a tengu, and given the wide variety of things the element of air/wind can do, I thought to make full connections between the two by theming each special move after certain species of bird! Creating those moves and naming them were the easy parts.

Naming them, that is, in English. Naming them all in Japanese was, by far, the hardest part. Why? Parce que je ne suis pas japonais, et aussi parce que je ne parle pas la langue, you see. On top of language barriers, the Japanese tongue operates on a whole other set of rules, compared to the Latin/Germanic-based ones I’ve grown used to with English, French, and (at one point) German. I did take some Japanese classes as an elective back in university, but that was only in first year – my own understanding, as a result, was threadbare and surface level at best, so that was not going to get me anywhere. I did not want to half-ass it with romaji and I love Bleach too much to not want to do these ideas justice.

I am a stickler when it comes to detail and canon-compliance, so getting the naming right by abiding to the proper conventions as best as I possibly could became my topmost priority. Google Translate was not going to fly because lord knows it’s no good without proper context between wholly different languages in English and Japanese, and it only gets wilder once you throw Chinese into the mix, given I’m supposed to use kanji. Thus, the name of the game here turned out to be “reverse engineering,” and I had to go in accepting I probably wasn’t going to get it 100% right the first time.

“What rules do zanpakutō names and special attack names follow?” “How do I apply on- or kun-reading in spelling out a group of certain kanji?” “Where are the common denominators in those rules that I can identify?” “Which language conventions have I already picked up from watching god knows how much anime over the years that I can replicate?” “Which set of words best conveys this particular English word that has no direct Japanese translation?” “How does [x] roll off the tongue? Does it sound right and fluid enough, or does it still feel super stilted and weird?” It was a loooooooot of this until I was finally satisfied with each individual end result!

Tl;dr: Jisho.org and Wikipedia were godsends during this whole process. I also want to thank @tigrextoque who gave me some helpful pointers after the fact!

ALSO... the ones on the Battle Info page aren’t even all of the ones I’ve thought about. Because I’m a glutton for punishment apparently, I purposely went and submitted a request for a certain ask meme on an ask meme source blog, JUST so I could play around with more ideas that came or would come to mind. This time, however, it was through the form of COMBINATION ATTACKS (which, by virtue alone, are honestly peak awesomeness). Those that implicated other shinigami got new bird motifs to meld the aesthetics of both muses, while I did get a couple of Quincy ones (with their referenced attacks actually using romaji as a base! Whoo-hoo for saving me the effort!) as a bonus to mix things up!

I’ll link them all right here (and later on the Battle Info page) for your convenience:

Noboru no mai, Shiro Fukurō (騰の舞・白梟, Rising Dance, Snowy Owl), with Rukia Kuchiki

Ahōdori Kyōka: Flying Battery (群烏強化: フライングバッテリー, Albatross Strengthening: Flying Battery) with Bambietta Basterbine

Muragarasu Kyōka: Galvano Volley (群烏強化: ガルヴァノボレー, Flock of Crows Strengthening: Galvano Volley), plus upgraded variant Muragarasu Kyōka: Galvano Storm (群烏強化: ガルヴァノストーム, Flock of Crows Strengthening: Galvano Storm), with Candice Catnipp

Hagetaka Rinbu (禿鷹輪舞, Vulture Round Dance) with Rangiku Matsumoto

Senkō-fū: Kitsutsuki (穿孔風: 啄木鳥, Drilling Wind: Woodpecker) with Nemu Kurotsuchi

Gyaku-fū Fūsa: Benizuru (逆風封鎖: 紅鶴, Headwind Blockade: Flamingo) with Byakuya Kuchiki

Hikuidori Hinshō (火食鳥頻傷, Cassowary Frequent Cuts) with Ueno Chie

Yes, “Flying Battery” was a deliberately written Sonic the Hedgehog reference. No, I will never apologize for that.

...might I reblog that meme again in the future though...?

...probably not right away.

So, uh... Plou, I should probably apologize for giving you a lot more than you likely bargained for, but hey, I just didn’t want to leave any stone unturned! Thank you so much for sending me your three questions, I enjoyed writing these little deep dives into my Bleach OC, and thanks for taking interest in Kōta! I hope all of my responses have been both enlightening and to your satisfaction.

#deivorous #{ i’m falling free in the wind ☁ headcanon ☁ }#{ cut for length }#{ whispers in the wind ☁ replies ☁ }#{ beyond the sky ☁ ooc ☁ }#{ ooc: we hope to return to our regular programming tomorrow-! }#{ i just could not focus much until i answered all of these hahahaha- }

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sokkastyles · 4 years

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Redemption and Hope

One of the interesting things I think ATLA has to say about redemption is that in order to get redemption, you have to be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I’ve said before that Zuko could not have successfully joined Team Avatar if he thought that being on the good side was the same as being on the bad side. In order to become the best version of yourself, you have to have hope.

There’s a very interesting parallel that highlights this in “The Storm.”

Katara: (to Aang) I know it was meant to be this way. The world needs you now. You give people hope.

Iroh: Things will never return to normal. But the important thing is the Avatar gives Zuko hope.

“The Storm” abounds with parallels between Zuko and Aang, and this is one of the running themes through these two characters’ stories. Aang, waking up after one hundred years to a changed world in which he is the last of his people, will never be able to return to normal. Katara says he gives people hope but in the context of her words, she is trying to give Aang back some of that hope, after he blames himself for running away and getting frozen in the iceberg. Aang can’t bring hope to anyone if he doesn’t have it himself.

Whereas Aang’s world changed after he ran away, Zuko is desperately trying to get back to a place from which he was cast out. Iroh asserts that things will never return to normal, but it’s important that Zuko has hope. Iroh never really wants Zuko to capture the avatar, but what he doesn’t want Zuko to do is give up. To Zuko, if he doesn’t have his mission, then he has nothing. In this episode we are told just how important Zuko’s mission is to him, yet Zuko actually foregoes chasing after Aang in favor of getting his ship and crew to safety. So we are shown that there are limits to Zuko’s single-mindedness, and we actually see him be humble in this episode, apologizing to Iroh for his earlier selfishness. A similar scene occurs when Zuko decides to go rescue Iroh when he is captured by earthbenders rather than chase after the gaang.

At the end of book one, Zuko has braved freezing water in order to sneak into the Northern Water Tribe during the siege, captured Aang, then lost him, almost froze to death in the snow, was saved by his enemy, then tried to save Zhao from an angry avatar-fused moon spirit. All of these events put an additional strain on how he thinks the world works. His hope in his mission is faltering.

Iroh: I'm surprised, Prince Zuko, surprised that you are not at this moment trying to capture the Avatar.

Zuko: I'm tired.

Iroh: Then you should rest. A man needs his rest.

This scene is in contrast to the above mentioned scenes of Zuko choosing not to go after the avatar, because he’s not doing it to save others this time. But the voice acting makes it clear that the events that just transpired are weighing on his mind. He could not save Zhao, but was instead saved by the very person he was trying to capture. Zuko’s mission used to be a simple thing in his mind: capture the avatar, regain his honor, return to the fire nation and his place at his father’s side. But then the avatar was a child who wanted to be his friend and Zhao tried to have him killed and then Zhao was killed in front of him and he realized that he actually did care about other people, even cruel blowhards like Zhao.

When we first see him at the beginning of book two, Zuko is at his most despondent. He and Iroh are now on their own, and it happens to be the anniversary of the worst day of Zuko’s life.

Zuko: Three years ago today, I was banished. I lost it all. I want it back. I want the Avatar, I want my honor, my throne. I want my father not to think I'm worthless.

Iroh: I'm sure he doesn't. Why would he banish you if he didn't care? Uh, that came out wrong, didn't it?

Iroh tries (badly) to cheer Zuko up, because Iroh wants Zuko to have hope. His words here come across as empty, because I don’t think Iroh really believes them. In fact, later in this episode Iroh will give advice that is almost the opposite of what he says here, telling Zuko that despite what Azula says about Ozai wanting him back, he has “never known [his] brother to regret anything.” Iroh wants Zuko to have hope and because of this is willing to sometimes enable him in his hunt for Aang, but when it actually looks like Zuko might go back to the fire nation, or might be in danger (which are pretty much the same thing, whether he goes back as a prince or a prisoner, because it’s not safe for Zuko to go back to Ozai), he tries to discourage him. But in the above pictured scene, at least, all Iroh can do is give Zuko some empty assurance, because worse than Zuko actually achieving his mission to capture the avatar or going back to Ozai is if Zuko believes that nothing he does matters.

This is why when Zuko becomes officially cut off from the fire nation, he becomes anchorless, and resorts to petty thievery in a fruitless hope of regaining some semblance of his former identity as royalty..

Iroh: I know we've had some difficult times lately. We've had to struggle just to get by. But it's nothing to be ashamed of. There is a simple honor in poverty.

Zuko: There's no honor for me without the Avatar.

Iroh: Zuko... Even if you did capture the Avatar, I'm not so sure it would solve our problems. Not now.

Zuko: Then there is no hope at all. Iroh: No, Zuko! You must never give in to despair. Allow yourself to slip down that road and you surrender to your lowest instincts. In the darkest times, hope is something you give yourself. That is the meaning of inner strength.

As much as Iroh might be afraid of Zuko getting lost in Ozai’s toxic ideology, here he looks terrified that Zuko might lose hope completely. What’s kind of interesting here is that the way Iroh links the absence of hope with “surrendering to your lowest instincts” implies that there was a time when Zuko had even less hope than he does now, before the avatar was freed from an iceberg. As much as Zuko is introduced to us as a villain at the beginning of the series, what must he have been like in the years before there was any sign that the avatar had returned, with no direction and no hope, and nothing but hurt and anger to keep him going?

If this is Zuko at his most pessimistic, in contrast he is at his most optimistic at the end of book two, when he nearly comes to accept living a simple life with Iroh in Ba Sing Se. Previously we’ve seen him forego his hope in capturing the avatar in favor of doing the right thing, but this is the first time we’ve seen him put aside his hope in chasing the avatar in favor of putting his hope in something else. There’s a contrast here between Zuko’s hope in gaining Ozai’s approval vs his hope here which is centered around putting work into his relationship with Iroh; the absent father vs the father in front of him.

This newly discovered hope is only briefly realized, though. There’s a lot of dramatic irony in this episode. Zuko and Iroh are found out by Azula after Katara sees them while wandering around Ba Sing Se. Katara runs to warn the earth king that the fire nation has invaded the city, unknowingly realizing that she is talking to Azula who has actually invaded the city, while also alerting Azula to Zuko and Iroh’s presence, after Zuko seems to have stopped chasing the gaang. We don’t know, because it’s not allowed to last, but it’s possible that Zuko might have not even been a threat to Katara and the rest at this point any longer, had she not seen him at the tea shop.

Zuko then gets captured and thrown into prison with Katara, who he doesn’t know is the one who ratted him out. She starts leveling all kinds of accusations at him, and he initially is defensive (”you don’t know what you’re talking about”) then apologetic, then reveals the loss of his own mother in order to empathize with Katara. This new empathetic Zuko is a reflection of his attempts to try to make things work with Iroh, to live the life that Iroh wants for them both. Then when Katara apologizes to him he says that it doesn’t matter, because that life turned out to be short lived after all. Katara offers him another glimpse at hope in the form of healing his scar, but they’re interrupted.

Then Zuko has to make his big choice between Azula and Iroh. Iroh and the gaang represent hope, but it’s a hope that can’t last. As much as we might like to imagine that Zuko and Iroh could live a peaceful life in Ba Sing Se, Azula probably would have found them eventually, and the hope that Katara offers is uncertain - even she doesn’t know that it’s going to work, and it isn’t what Zuko needs anyway, because the physical scar is not the source of his problems, only a symbol of them. That’s why when Azula offers him another choice, the thing that he’s wanted for three years, it’s an offer he really has no hope of refusing.

Of course, Zuko eventually realizes only once he has returned to the fire nation that what he thought he wanted doesn’t make him happy, but he could have continued to live his life as the prince if he didn’t know that Aang was really still out there, alive. This is twofold because the fact of Aang’s survival means that Zuko can’t be comfortable by his father’s side because he’s constantly worrying if and when his father will find out that he didn’t actually kill Aang - which is what leads him to hire an assassin - but on another level, the fact of Aang’s survival is what motivates Zuko to actually oppose his father, which I doubt he would have been able to do without Aang’s presence in the world. When Zuko confronts his father, he tells him his plan to join the avatar and help Aang defeat Ozai. Without Aang, I don’t think Zuko has confidence that he alone would be able to oppose his father - he tells Iroh later that he is the only one other than Aang that could defeat the fire lord, showing that he does not believe it’s something he could have done on his own.

So in the end, what Iroh said in book one was correct. The avatar does give Zuko hope, but in exactly the opposite way that Zuko thought, the hope to become the best version of himself rather than the worst. Which then comes full circle as Zuko makes it his new mission to help Aang restore hope to the world.

#atla #avatar the last airbender #atla meta #zuko #iroh #aang

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leechonspeeddial · 3 years

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Midnight Shift: Carry On, Citizen Fang

Summary: Something wicked this way comes. If only Resentment could figure out if it was the same thing that stunk up the Burger King. Chapters: 2/? Read on ao3

Straight Kevin had been very understanding about my family emergency – He was super duper cool with manning the restaurant all by his lonesome. Sadly, he wasn't understanding enough to let me get away with not telling Gay Kevin about it – which wasn't very super duper cool of him, now was it?

He didn't even have the decency to offer to call for me, the fucking coward.

"Are you certain it's an emergency?"

I rolled my eyes and skipped over the muddy snow pile blocking the sidewalk. I felt a sense of kinship with the season. Besides the cold and death, Winter went all out when it came to inconveniencing the population.

"Trust me, Kev. If I wanted to blow off work, I'd do it on location. I'm not exactly in a rush to get home, ya know?"

The line went quiet for exactly five seconds and I could picture him doing that breathing exercise he did whenever he was fed up with my shit. I took the opportunity to loudly slurp my mello yello.

Delicious.

"I don't know, you could be ditching to hang out with friends or something. Teens do that. I did that." I almost laughed, as if.

"I spend all of my free time at work and everyone my age thinks I'm pregnant with an incest baby. Bold of you to assume I even have friends."

"You would get friends if you felt like it would inconvenience me. And it would really inconvenience me right now"

"Ugh. Don't be so dramatic. I don't do things just to be a general nuisance," I heard a snort that didn't come from Gay Kevin. "Wait, did you put me on speaker?!"

"What's the word, Res" Not Kevin chimed in before being shushed by Gay Kevin.

"Relax, we're loading the rental. I don't exactly have a free hand."

"So? This only needed to be like two seconds. Take a five or something."

"I'm going to level with you, our new napkin guy gives me real sketch vibes. Any second where we're not loading, it's an additional second we have to spend here. I simply refuse to die in a dilapidated warehouse, Resentment. I refuse."

I crossed the street to take the park shortcut home. A couple of high schoolers were vaping by the swings; they stared at me and I ignored them.

"I think you'd survive. You exude final girl energy"

"Have you ever watched a horror movie? I'd literally die first"

"I watched Practical Magic once" I smirked when Not Kevin groaned.

My satisfaction didn't last long, because no more than a second later, a snowball hit the back of my head. I took a deep breath and reminded myself that I couldn't gloat to Edward about having the moral high ground if I murdered every minor annoyance that crossed my path.

It just sucked having to ignore my vampire senses because I had to play human. What was the point of knowing something was coming if you were unable to stop it because you had to keep up appearances? In my opinion, humans should just have to deal with the knowledge of the supernatural. They were big kids, we didn't need to coddle them anymore.

It was 2022, for God's sake.

I turned back scowling and flipped off the fuckers. I recognized High-Pony in the group and decided to give her the soggiest, saddest, AND smallest fries next time she dared enter my work.

Maybe even sprinkle some burnt ones for extra flavor.

"I know what you're doing and I'm begging you to stop. I'm the one who has to deal with him for the next two hours"

"Don't be rude. Not Kevin is a gift," I glared at the group and slowly walked away backwards. At least until they were out of my sight. The Cullens were insane for going back to high school as often as they did.

"Ha. It's nice to be appreciated"

"Truly. Short of a museum, where else are you going to find something so old?"

"Boo. Get new jokes, the material is stale," I rolled my eyes as I shook the snow from my hair. I was rapidly approaching home and I wasn't quite prepared to go in.

For one, how was I supposed to keep my new mystery to myself if that's what Alice saw? It wasn't fair. To think I had only been worried about Big Brother and his thought police...

Reflecting on it though, if Alice saw my mystery man, then wouldn't that mean he was either a vampire or a human? Ergo, something neither mysterious nor interesting.

Disappointing.

"Whatever, gramps"

"Ok, ok. Let's get back on topic –"

"You gotta start trying harder, Chucky. You're far from the only teen girl that calls me ancient on the regular."

"Why are you regularly taking to teenage girls, creep?"

"Guys –"

"That's not what–! I foster kids!"

"Yeah, sure, pervert"

"I'm NOT –"

"OK RESENTMENT, DEAL WITH YOUR FAMILY. HANGING UP NOW"

I stopped walking and stared at my phone. Despite the length of the call, there had been no new messages from my family. I was unsure if that was a good sign.

I took a sip from my drink and was disappointed to find I only had ice left. I wondered if that was thematically significant, or maybe even foreshadowing.

Sigh.

I picked up my pace and tried to empty my mind before arriving home. "No thoughts, head empty" was a good mantra when you lived with a mind reader.

The rest of the walk was fairly uneventful, save for some guy who got attacked by a flock of ducks for getting way too close without enough food. Beware, all amateur wildlife photographers, lest the same fate falls upon you, I guess.

Poor guy even lost his coat. I was happy to assume it was the first casualty under the duck assault.

I slowed down when I finally arrived across the street from my home. The newest Cullen mansion stood foreboding before me. A concrete monument full of sharp lines and odd angles; despite all of Esme's soft touches, brutalism simply exuded hostility and soullessness. Try as she might, there was a limit to how much you could dress up a giant grey concrete block to make it look approachable – and if we were being honest, it wasn't working.

How's that for a metaphor?

Well. There was no use delaying the inevitable.

I entered the house.

[Scene Break]

Being a half-vampire meant that I always felt at a misstep with everyone around me. To me, humanity was more of a scientific field of study that I took interest in and less of a dearly held-on memento of a bygone era or something that I simply had.

From the vampire side of things, while I was clearly an abomination, my existence didn't require me to be a parasitic blood freak. That put me in a different head space from the rest of my family. For one, I didn't need to agonize over my monstrous nature; secondly, I wasn't a slave to my bloodlust if I kept myself full of human food; and thirdly, there just wasn't much precedent for me to measure up to.

For all we knew, everything I did was the best I could have done.

That was all to say, I always felt like there was something I was missing when interacting with anyone. My point of view was fundamentally a different one, and though some things I could make sense of theoretically, it wasn't the same as first-hand experience.

Standing in the living room, surrounded by my family as they continued to say nothing, I couldn't help but think that perhaps this time the context I was missing had nothing to do with my hybrid status.

Edward paced while looking constipated but everyone else stood motionless and rigidly like the statues they were. Not even Emmett tried to lighten the mood, and that's how you knew it was serious.

"So who's going to who's funeral? Please don't say any of my coworkers, I've grown quite attached to them"

"Renesmee," Edward warned. I ignore him like he ignored my preferred name.

"Is it you pops? Wanna crack open another high school girl and drink her up like grape soda?"

"For once in your life could you stop acting like a brat?" Edward snapped and I flinched.

"Takes one to know one. Maybe if you didn't raise one you wouldn't have to deal with one, dad"

"Enough!" We both turned to look at Carlisle and I could see how unsettled he was. My stomach churned.

"Maybe my vision was wrong. Maybe it wasn't him," Alice sounded desperate, almost like the time the truck transporting her latest Givenchy haul got into a freak accident and the customer service lady told her they couldn't replace her order until after whatever microtrend that had been happening at the time ended.

"No, Alice. I saw your vision. It was. No doubt about it, that face is burned in my memory"

"It just doesn't make any sense, Edward!"

"I know what I saw," he replied forcefully.

Carlisle rubbed at his eyes, and for the briefest of seconds, you could have mistaken him for human.

"What's going on? You guys are scaring me," nothing felt right and all I wanted to do was to get back to the Burger King. At least the Kevins kept me in the loop when potentially life-threatening stuff happened.

"James is back," Bella whispered and I looked at her. Out of all of the Cullens, she looked the least worried. While everyone else's expressions visibly darkened at hearing the name, Bella said the name like she would say any name that wasn't Edward's.

"Who the fuck is James?"

"He was a vampire," Jasper growled.

"So what's the big deal? I don't know if you have noticed, but all of you are vampires"

"Emphasis on the was, Nessie. We ripped apart the bastard a good 16 years ago," Emmet explained. I raised my eyebrow.

"You sure about that? Last I heard, once you killed the undead, they were dead for good. No such thing as an undead undead."

"Oh, damn sure. We tore into him like frenzied piranhas at lunchtime and then lit him like a firework on the Fourth of July," Rosalie lightly hit his arm.

"You don't have to be so graphic about it"

"So it's obviously not him," Edward made a noise filled with frustration.

"Renesmee, I know what I saw. It was him, I would bet my life on it"

"Would you bet Bella's?" was what I almost said but Edward's glare made me reconsider. Just this once.

"Dead people just don't walk around all over the place," I said instead.

"We do," Emmett chimed in.

"We're different!"

"So why not him?"

"Edward is right," Classic Carl Carlisle move. His Golden Child could never be wrong. "I might have heard of something like this happening before."

There was a brief moment of silence before everyone exploded.

"WHAT?!"

Carlisle sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"You have to understand, I couldn't verify it at the time."

When he said nothing, Esme made a "well, go on" motion.

"It happened about a decade ago. I only came upon this information because of Eleazar – he had approached me about it because he thought I was involved," Carlisle walked towards a window and stared into the distance like the dramatic bitch he was.

Edward slapped the back of my head.

"He told me heard of rumors of a vampire that had died 50 years ago and who walked the Earth again. You all know about my passion for Theology and my desire to find out what waits for us on the other side, so I promised to look into it. It took a while, but eventually, I heard back from someone"

"Your trip to Carencro," Esme gasped. "You said it was a conference!"

"When was this, I don't remember this?" Carl was holding back no punches in his dramatic reveal.

"It was our semester abroad," that's what Edward like to call the half a year experiment we spent in France. He wanted to see if Bella, him, and I could be a family unit all on our own.

It failed pretty miserably, would never happen again.

"I didn't want to burden you, love. Not unless I knew for sure."

Rosalie rolled her eyes. "So what happened?"

Carlisle turned back to us and shrugged.

"I met my informant and they told me to go to this one cafe and ask for Roy. I went there and the manager told me no one with that name worked there"

"So you got pranked," Emmet said.

"I looked around town for a couple of days, and since nothing else came up after my trip to Lousiana, I felt comfortable labeling the whole thing a hoax."

Rosalie scoffed. "And you think that's what's happening here?"

"I think it could be a possibility. This is our only lead"

I thought over what Carlisle just said. Could there really be an afterlife vampires could come back from? And if that was the case, then what happened to Roy? Was Roy even the vampire Elezear heard about?

But most importantly, why now?

"Hey, Alice. Besides James, what else did you see?"

Everyone went quiet and I looked back at them confused.

"I saw us without you"

"I mean, you don't really see me in your visions," I chuckled nervously.

"When I don't see you, it's like I'm looking around something. What I saw...it felt like I would never have to deal with that interference again."

"...Oh"

That didn't sound good.

#midnight shift #twilight fanfiction #twilight saga #my writing #renesmee cullen #the cullens #fanfiction #twilight renaissance

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just-a-cheese-stick · 4 years

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Naeleon week Day 1- confession (non despair au)

@naeleonweek2020

Makoto and Leon had been best friends since the start of their time at Hopes peak. They started talking to each other when they were placed in most of the same classes their first year.

It started when Leon tossed a note to Makoto’s desk, joking about something the teacher said that sounded weird out of context. At first, Makoto decided not to read it since he was in class, but as the kid next to him kept tossing more and more notes, he gave in.

Makoto read each note, each one making him smile without fail. He glanced back at the boy tossing them to him to give a chuckle, only to see who it was.

Before hopes peak, the lucky student had done some research on the other ultimates who were soon to be his classmates. He recognized that particular boy as the ultimate baseball star, Leon Kuwata.

Funny since he didn’t remember Leon’s hair being as scruffy as it was in his pictures.

Makoto was taken aback by this for a second, but responded with a small chuckle.

He took out a paper of his own from his notebook and a pen to respond to the other.

“Why are you throwing notes to me?” He folded the note neatly and slid it to the baseball player sitting across from him.

Leon noticed the neatly folded piece of loose-leaf paper slid over to his desk, and reached down to grab it.

He opened the response from the smaller boy who sat across from him and smiled a bit at it. He picked up his pencil and scribbled a response before attempting to replicate the neat folding of the note when it was passed to him before passing it back.

“Idk you seem nice”

Makoto saw the response, and tried to resist smiling ear to ear. Someone cool and popular like Leon wanted to make conversation with someone as basic as him? He stared at the note feeling his face heat up, before picking up his pen to send a message back to him.

They continued their chat throughout the class introduction, agreeing to meet up at lunch. They had been best friends ever since.

Now it was December. The two had been best friends for 3 months now. They were each others confidants, as well as best friends. Leon sometimes jokingly called Makoto his soulmate, since they understand each other so well.

But that statement was more than just a joke to Leon. He started to notice he was growing feelings for the brunette. Feelings way more intense than he’s felt for any other girl he’s ever met.

He could try and deceive himself, say it’s just what a true friendship is. But at the bottom of his heart he knew he had it bad for Makoto.

Midterm season drew close, which had everyone stressed and dreading the exams.

While Leon could usually care less, Makoto really wanted him to do well. So for him, Leon studied for the midterms. While it wasn’t too much, he still wanted to make Makoto happy.

The two even studied together in their dorms and in the library. Leon still got distracted a lot, but he was actually putting in effort. That made Makoto really happy. And afterwards, they’d walk off school campus to the coffee shop down the street and hang out.

Exam day came, and just walking into the exam hall, it was easy to tell everyone was stressed, tired, anxious, or all of the above. It was freezing outside. Snow was falling at quick speeds in high winds. Some people brought blankets or extra jackets into school. Others huddled into themselves or simply ignored the cold. Nonetheless, it was frigid indoors and out.

Makoto sat down in his assigned desk and took out his phone for them to collect, in order to ensure nobody cheats or gets distracted.

The desks were placed 4 by 4 rows, and students were sat in alphabetical order of their last names.

Aoi sat in the very front of the first row of desks. Behind her was Junko, who sat in front of Chihiro. In the back of the first row was Hiro, and in the front of the second was Mukuro, Junko’s twin sister. Sitting behind her was Kiyotaka, who appeared to be the only person who didn’t look like a zombie. Actually, he seemed quite eager to receive the first exam paper. Behind him sat kirigiri, who would be the runner up in The Who-Looks-The-Least-Lifeless challenge. She kept her calm and quiet nature constant, but appeared slightly tired nonetheless. In the very back of the row was Toko, who was too busy reading something to be paying attention to the cold. In the front of the third row was leon, who, unlike the two diagonal from him, looked like he was going to fall asleep any second now. Behind him was Celeste, who sat in front of sayaka, who was wearing a fuzzy looking hoodie with bear ears at the hood. She definitely looked comfortable. Makoto sat behind the three, and he looked exhausted. He brought a blanket into the exam hall and was wrapped in it, still shivering a little in the cold. At the front of the fourth row was Sakura. She appeared a little tired, which was odd, but not as odd as it would be in the situation they were in. Behind her sat Mondo, who had huddled himself into his jacket, and was trying to hide it. Togami and yamada sat in the two chairs behind him. Both, like toko, seemed too invested in a book to care about their surroundings or the cold.

Jin kirigiri came to the front of the exam hall designated for class 77B and loudly clearing his throat to silence the low chatter, turning the room silent.

From the corner of his eye, Makoto could see kyoko furrowing her eyebrows a little bit at her father. She mentioned once that he often overworked her to the point he refused to let her see her mother as she was on her death bed. The two had rocky relations ever since.

The headmaster began stating the exam rules and expectations, which, very little people paid much attention to.

“Please power off anyelectronic devices and place them on your desk so I can come around and collect them. You will get them back as you leave the exam hall when you’re dismissed.”

School bags and satchels could be heard unzipping almost in unison at that statement. Soon, phones and laptops were placed at the corner of nearly every desk, soon to be confiscated and replaced with a thick packet of papers and a #2 pencil. With that, the exam started.

It was like that every day of that week, leading up to Friday. Every day it snowed buckets, and every day people came into the exam hall cold and tired, and every day they took a midterm exam.

Friday afternoon. Makoto was one of the last ones in the exam hall, finishing his last part of the midterm. The only other people with him were hiro, leon, and mondo.

despite there being no windows in the gymnasium, Makoto could hear the snowstorm picking up.

“I hope everyone’s ok” he thought to himself. He was especially worried since this was when students began to clear out for winter break. His parents weren’t going to be able to come until Sunday, so he was glad they’d be safe.

He finally got to the last question. To his delight, it was a question on a topic he was really familiar with.

With eagerness, he aced the last question and got up from the desk, walking to the front table to turn in the finished exam.

Finally. His exams were done. He was so tired, physically and mentally. Finally. He’d be able to take a rest.

Makoto drowsily walked back to his dorm and flopped down on the bed.

He tried to nap, but he couldn’t sleep. His mind was racing. A lot of things were fuzzed together and racing thorough his head. He was stressed, tired, overwhelmed, and worn out.

But, there was one thing that remained constant on his mind. Leon. He’d recently been having dreams about him quite frequently. Dreams where he asks him out and he says yes. But he always wakes up from them knowing that will never happen. It was pretty clear to him that he had a crush on the redhead. But he never had the guts to say anything. But for whatever reason, he wanted to be close to him more than anything in the world.

But he was too tired.

He stayed in his dorm, gazing blankly at the ceiling; occasionally glancing at his window to watch the snow storm. It was pretty bad outside. Close to blizzard speeds, quite frankly.

He checked his phone to make sure the weather would be clear enough to get home Sunday when he heard a knock at his door. He got up and shuffled towards the door to open it, feeling a wave of cold corse down his body as his feet touched the floor. He turned the doorknob and opened it to be greeted by Leon standing in the doorway, looking excited about something.

“You’ll never believe this, but when I got my phone back, I checked my notifs and saw I got a B on my first two exams! Isn’t that awesome?” Leon said sounding proud of himself.

Makoto could feel himself beam ear to ear, pulling his friend into a tight hug. His entire body coursed with pride. He’d seen how hard he was working and it paid off.

Leon hugged back almost instantly squeezing the other out of pure excitement. Both boys were smiling ear to ear.

“Leon that’s amazing!” Makoto said pulling away from the hug.

“I know right?” Leon paused briefly. “Shit man it’s cold in here. Wanna come to my dorm? It’s a bit warmer in there” Leon then added.

Makoto thought for a brief minute. He was really tired— mentally and physically. But on the other hand he really wanted to spend time with Leon before winter break. “Sure”

Makoto picked up his phone and weighted blanket and fallowed him to his dorm, trudging a little. They made it to the Leon’s room and both sat down. “Those exams were exhausting, huh?” Leon stated.

“Yeah” Makoto said with an exhausted sigh.

“I dunno about you but I’m exhausted. I’m gonna-“ but just as Leon was about to finish his sentence, the lights to the dorm room went out.

“Shit was that the power?” Leon muttered under his breath. The entirety of the dorm building appeared significantly darker, and the tv that was on in the background of the dorm had completely shut down. In addition, the winds from the ongoing snowstorm had seemed to have picked up over the past few minutes.

“Yeah, pretty sure,” Makoto replied, slightly more interested in checking out the window and watching the leafless trees swaying violently in the storm.

“Damn” Leon paused. “Wait, that kills the heater too, right?”

“Oh god,” Makoto said starting to panic.

“Well shit!” Leon cursed. “Smart move bringing that blanket, man. But damn that isn’t good”

“Well, maybe we could have a sleepover” Makoto stated optimistically.

Leon turned his head towards him in curiosity. Makoto could tell that was kind of spontaneous, especially to someone who wasn’t komaru.

“Well, when I was younger and we’d lose power, komaru and I would always stay in the other’s room and have little ‘sleepovers’ where we’d stay in each others rooms and build pillow forts. We don’t have to do any of that but maybe we could just talk?” Makoto offered.

Leon thought for a second. He wasn’t used to friends wanting to spend that much time with him. Heck, he wasn’t even used to people he’d dated wanting to spend that much time with him.

“Yeah sure,” Leon replied with a slight smile.

Makoto’s face visibly lit up.

The two stayed up a few hours playing uno and other sleepover games and wearing those soft hoodies you never want to take off and are super comfy.

Before bed, they both snuck down to the kitchen where sayaka, mukuro, and kirigiri were all talking and holding lanterns.

“Oh, hi guys!” Makoto said seeing his friends.

“Oh, hello Makoto,” kirigiri stated calmly. “Need anything?”

“Nope. Just getting some cocoa,” Makoto replied cheerily.

“Wait Sayaka, weren’t you going home today?” Leon asked his friend.

“Mom couldn’t drive in the weather. She’s probably gonna come pick me up tomorrow, or at least when the storm calms,” Sayaka replied.

“Cool. Stay safe dude!” Leon said to his friend.

They made some cocoa and headed back upstairs to the dorms, where the awkward question of sleeping situation came up. Being as the beds in the dorms are somewhat small, they’d either have to smush together and share, or one would take the floor. While both secretly kind of wanted to lay together on the bed and share body heat, Makoto decided to sleep on the floor.

Makoto took his blanket and an extra pillow from the bed and laid down.

“Need anything, I’m here, ok?” Leon said before turning off the lantern that illuminated the room.

“Ok. Night” Makoto replied, shifting in his blanket to get comfy.

“Night”

It was midnight. There was still no luck with the power, and the temperature had only dropped more. The winds were still strong outside, and snow was piling up. On top of that, Makoto was tossing and turning in his sleep, letting out slightly distressed mutters. He curled up into his blanket more to preserve body heat, but was still undoubtedly cold.

Leon is a light sleeper. The slightest changes can wake him up, so hearing the constant shifting and shaking was enough to begin to wake him up.

Eventually, he couldn’t fall back asleep anymore. The constant disturbance was enough to shake him awake, and once he realized the source of the noise, he became worried.

He glanced down at Makoto shifting anxiously in his sleep, letting out almost inaudible whimpers.

Leon contemplated waking him up, but he didn’t want to be overbearing or annoying. He didn’t want to lose this friend. But his worries got the best of him and he gently shook Makoto awake.

Upon waking him up, Leon was met with a pair of drowsy eyes looking up at him.

“Hey, you ok? Sorry for waking you man, just saw you shifting a lot. Wanted to make sure you’re doing alright.” Leon said placing a hand on Makoto’s shoulder.

Makoto looked up at him wordlessly before throwing himself into a hug with him.

Leon was taken aback by this. He clearly did not expect that.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry Leon, but I can’t take this anymore! I like you! I like you in a way that’s more than I would like a friend! I’m in love with you, Kuwata! I’m sorry I couldn’t take the dreams and the falling and the embarrassment I couldn’t take it! I’m sorry for being so selfish, but I like you,” Makoto blurted out. Tears started forming in his eyes; purely out of anxiety. Did he really just blurt that out?

Leon stared at him for a moment, completely shocked. But then, he didn’t yell. He didn't leave. He didn’t even tell him he didn’t feel the same way. He hugged him tighter.

“So I’m not weird, huh?” Leon said somewhat under his breath.

“What do you mean?”

“Look man, I like you too. I don’t know if it’s weird or not, but yeah. Never thought you’d like someone like me,” Leon said resting his chin on Makoto’s head.

“You mean it?” Makoto asked, his face lighting up.

“Wouldn’t lie to ya, man. ‘Course I mean it.”

There was a silence. But not an uncomfortable one. It was actually quite pleasant. The two held each other for a while, enjoying the other’s company and warmth.

“Well, if it’s not too quick, would ya wanna come sleep in the bed with me? Floors gotta be cold,” Leon said breaking the silence.

Makoto’s face flushed. But he wasn’t going to say no. He could really use that right now.

“Ok.”

They climbed into the bed together. Makoto dragged his weighted blanket along with them, and Leon pulled it over the two for warmth.

He pulled Makoto into his arms and rested his head upon the other’s. Makoto returned the embrace, holding his new lover tightly and intertwining their fingers.

This was nice. It felt warm. It felt safe. It felt ok. They love each other so much. It felt nice to finally be able to channel that onto the other.

Barely 5 minutes had passed and Makoto could hear soft snoring coming from the other. This was a calming sound that he could get used to. He fell asleep soon after.

By around 6 in the morning, the power for the school came back on. It was warmer now. But that didn’t disturb the two. This was the closure they both needed.

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starbuck · 4 years

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All of Armitage’s Looks: Rated

Well, this was inevitable, wasn’t it? Being someone who very readily admits to having Armitage’s entire wardrobe memorized (and who will not apologize for how weird that is), I feel that I’m the perfect person to make this post, although perhaps not the most objective...

So, without further ado, allow me to present to you: every single one of Armitage’s Looks in chronological order: Rated.

#1 - Enjoying The Birthday -- 11/10

Unlike most named characters, Armitage does not appear until episode 4 but oh what an entrance it is... Look at that smile!!!! Actually, take an extra good look because you’ll never see it again.

Outfit-wise, this is just his normal steward uniform but I like those boots. Probably not unique to him but they’re very nice and remind me of a pair I own.

Bonus points for being the second person on the tackle-pile, following Tozer.

(You could accuse me of rating too high right off the bat, but look at his smiling face again and tell me I’m wrong.)

#2 - “Mr. Armitage, what do you report?” -- 8/10

And thus we are introduced to Armitage by name. Appropriately, he is partaking in his most consistent character-defining activity: protecting Tozer from harm (which, in this case, is the Not-Bear which has just come out of nowhere and ripped part of Heather’s skull off).

I’m gonna be honest: I don’t like how this style of coat looks when it’s fully buttoned-up. I think it’s awkward and boxy (see Gibson’s coat in the mutiny-planning scene at the beginning of ep 7 for a better idea of what I mean) and this is before Armitage figured out the belt trick that corrects the problem so I’m deducting points for the coat.

Luckily for him though, his hat is of my favorite variety in the show so I’m delighted to see it despite it just being his uniform. Also loving our first look at his blue sweater (peeking out beyond his coat-sleeves) and his gray gloves.

Further points added for this being the first of many scenes where he carries a gun, endlessly confusing the fandom at large about what the hell his job is.

#3 - tfw You’re Responsible For This -- 5/10

So I’m just gonna come right out and say that this is one of my favorite images of him in the entire show but, just as Look #1 was rated higher due to the context of the scene despite the outfit itself being average, this one’s rating, in turn, must suffer.

Things I love about this: the hat (obviously), the fact that the coat looks worlds better just because it’s slightly unbuttoned, the delicate dusting of snow, the way his face looks at this angle.

Things I don’t love about this: literally Everything Else.

Aiding in the racist kidnapping of an innocent woman and then not owning up to it twenty minutes after your introduction is not a good look, no matter how emotionally conflicted about it you are.

#4 - Who the Fuck is This Guy? -- 6/10

October 20th, 2019 was not the day that my obsession with Armitage began, but it was the day that I took a screenshot of this exact moment because I had no idea who this man was or why we were getting a close-up of him. It would take me two more months to figure his identity out.

But, to the point, not much to say here since it’s just his normal uniform again except that this is our first proper look at his hair which I absolutely adore. Also loving the little anchor buttons on his jacket - very cute!

Once again, points deducted for the unfortunate context.

#5 - Slops! -- 7/10

This look is noteworthy for a few reasons. First of all, we see his tan slops for the first time! Slops just sort of look horrible by default unfortunately but I’m enjoying the hat + slops combo here... it works for him. Secondly, Armitage disappears for the entirety of episode 5 so this is the first time we’ve seen the man since the lashing scene. I guess it was so traumatic to witness that he had to take a break.

He has a gun again though, so things can’t be all bad.

#6 - Big Carnivale Hours -- 8/10

I have given up on trying to figure out what the hell is going on with the marines and their costume theme. Are they knights.... with crowns? That’s all I’ve been able to figure. Who’s idea was this? (Despite having no evidence, I blame Pilkington.) So what does that make Armitage? Is he a squire? Or a knight that just doesn’t have a crown like the others because they ran out of them? Whatever the case, he’s clearly a part of their theme despite not being a marine himself which I think is adorable regardless.

Speaking of adorable, let’s just forget everything that happens for the rest of this episode and appreciate how he’s hanging out with Tozer and Heather. Isn’t that nice? God I’m distressed.

Taking a look at the costume itself, you’ll see that it’s essentially a cut-up burlap sack and a sheet over his regular uniform but realism is not the goal here and the DIY vibe is actually quite nice imo.

#7 - Enter: The Belt -- 10/10

The belt has arrived on the scene! Note its success in not only making the coat itself more appealing but making the coat + slops combo work against all odds.

We really get it all here: belt, (unbuttoned) coat, hat, welsh wig, gloves, and slops! What more could I possibly ask for in an outfit? It’s both stylish and practical.

And plus, I like his attitude in this scene - optimistic-leaning realism about the dangers ahead. I can get behind that.

Overall, no complaints from me - this is a perfect look.

#8 - tfw You Allowed This -- 7/10

This is a Significant Look mostly because we see his hair again, for the first time since episode 4! It’s a bit longer and more unkempt but still maintains a pleasing shape overall. Honestly, I think it looks good this way and its a pity we didn’t get to see it more in the transition stages (assuming it was steadily growing out since ep 4 like most people’s). Additionally, there’s a bit of stubble going on here which I respect.

Rated lower than it might be simply because, as has been established, slops on their own are just kinda ugly. I don’t have a lot to work with here outfit-wise. His face is lovely but this screenshot is a sepia-toned nightmare.

A bonus point for his desperate “please explain this clearly illegal thing we’re doing in a way that makes sense to Little” glance at Tozer, who is already on it.

#9 - Agony -- 8/10

It took me awhile, even after becoming aware of who Armitage was, to appreciate how truly miserable he looks in this scene. And I mean, why wouldn’t he be miserable? Tozer, a man who Armitage risked his own life to drag to safety at Carnivale, is about to be executed for something that’s arguably just as much Armitage’s fault and there’s not a thing he can do about it.

So... that’s depressing.

But, looking at the outfit itself, we see that it’s pretty similar to some past Looks. In fact, it’s identical to what he was wearing when the Tuunbaq attacked Heather with the exception of the belt which is, of course, a new addition since then! And look at the difference a belt can make... You almost don’t notice that the coat is buttoned up all the way.

#10 - The Same Outfit But Now He’s Saving Tozer So Its Cooler -- 9/10

Y’all ever think about the fact that, when things went to shit, Armitage’s first instinct was to grab a gun, find Tozer, and rescue him? I mean you probably don’t but I do. Constantly.

Obviously I love this part and the outfit is still solid (note how well the belt shows off his figure!) but it loses out on being a perfect 10/10 because he must have dropped his hat while picking up the gun so we never see it again. A necessary sacrifice but one that I mourn nonetheless.

RIP Armitage’s cool hat, ??-1848.

#11 - The Blue Sweater -- 8/10

It’s warming up so that means we finally get a look at the lovely layers that have been hiding under Armitage’s coat. It’s important to me to bring special attention to the sweater because, although (as I’ve mentioned) he has it on all the way back in ep 4, this is one of only two scenes in the entire show where we get a proper look at it.

Further, not only is he wearing the blue sweater, but he also has a blue vest on over it! Now, I’ll admit, these aren’t exactly complimentary shades of blue but it still works for me.

Note also that the belt he had around his coat has been repurposed to aid in holding up his slops-pants over his normal pants (which are held up by the suspenders). Does this man’s resourcefulness ever cease?

As much as I’d love to give a higher rating for the blue sweater, I can’t ignore the new beard which is... it isn’t... it’s Not Great. I don’t have as much animosity towards it as I used to but I can’t pretend that I love it.

#12 - Let Us Fly These Deadly Waters! -- 9/10

I’m not sure why but I’ve always found this outfit very appealing. The tan slops-pants go nicely with the white shirt and blue vest. It’s a solid look - I’d wear this irl honestly.

And bonus points for his trying to convince Tozer to leave Hickey, even though he was ultimately unsuccessful.

(P.S. - yes, the title for this one is a Moby-Dick reference... Did you really think I would make it through this entire post without one?)

...and now, last but not least, I present to you my absolute favorite Armitage Look™... all the other times I said some other outfit was my favorite, I was lying because what I am about to show you is truly the cream of the crop. Without further ado:

#13 - Kidnapping is Bad So At Least Look Good Doing It -- 12/10

Are y’all seeing this? Are you SEEING this????? It is episode fucking 10!! Everyone is dying!!! And yet here’s Armitage waltzing up in his best outfit of the entire show. What the fuck!!!!!!!

Do I even need to explain why this is exceptional? Just look at it! Look at how the vest is buttoned up and tucked into his slops-pants! Look at the suspenders over top which match the slops-pants in color! Look at the gun and keyring that look like they were made to accessorize this outfit specifically! Heck, even his hair and beard look much better from this angle.

Now, I’m not trying to discount the fact that Armitage was absolutely miserable throughout this entire episode, and understandably so, but, even with that in mind, I can’t bring myself to rate this look any lower. It’s just That Perfect.

If one must inevitably die horribly in the arctic, this is an excellent outfit to die in.

Well, that’s that! Thank you all so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed this! I’m glad that my ridiculous opinions about Armitage’s wardrobe finally came in handy for something other than my own amusement.

#the terror amc #the terror #thomas armitage #hell yeah let's tag this nonsense!#tbh i'm very proud of this post tho #it literally did take me all day #12 hours from conception to completion (with many breaks of course!)#and worth every second!#I love this man and his exceptional fashion sense #and i need you all to appreciate it as well #like i said - i hope y'all enjoy and thanks to those who read through my rambling!#love y'all!

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