#also he directed fight club in my dream

[superiwhore]

Had a horrible weird crazy dream wtf

[eros-vigilante]

The Many References in Teniwoha's Samsa

If you haven't read "The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka, the one thing you likely know about the short story is that in it a man turns into a bug. And this is enough to recognize the allusion of Samsa being named after the protagonist, Gregor Samsa, as well as the imagery of a dragging tail and onomatopoeia of "zuki". However, there are several deeper layers to Teniwoha's symbolism of themes and references to "The Metamorphosis" that add a great level of cohesion with Immiscible Discord's story. First, I would like to say that "The Metamorphosis" can be found as a free pdf online, and is a very good short story, so if you have the time and energy you should read it. This post will only be summarizing the themes that are referenced in Samsa and Immiscible Discord and will not include some of the other great commentaries Franz Kafka has. And of course, it will spoil the progression of the plot. Also, all quoted lyrics are from Amiaryllis' english cover, which is also very good and worth listening to. The lyrics will not be quoted in order.

The biggest and first theme the surrealist nature of the story expresses is that Gregor Samsa has been led to - and does - believe that his worth is tied to his ability to work. When he discovers he is a bug, he is only concerned because he is going to be late for his job if he cannot figure out how to get out of bed in his new body. He is determined to go to work because his entire family relies on his job to pay for their lives. ("i've grown monstrous down to the very core of my soul") This is comparable to Mafuyu's relationship to academics. Their mother relies on them to fulfill her dream of Mafuyu becoming a doctor, and so teaches them that nothing matters as much as this goal. Even when Mafuyu is stressed or physically ill, they push themselves to attend school, club activities, cram school, and study. Mafuyu's academic performance is their worth to their mother, as Samsa's income is his worth to his family. ("so could the bravest of souls face me and bear the toll?") When Samsa's family discovers he is an insect, they are horrified. Samsa finds this reasonable as he also considers his form monstrous. It is another theme of the story being from his perspective that he has good faith in his family to the point of seeming either naive or to have a low self-esteem. Actions that are most easily justified as disgust and hatred are rationalized by him, despite acknowledging at points that his family was not as affectionate to him after they began relying on him for money, as well as acts of physical violence such as his father shoving him back into his room.

("those painful fights, fearful nights") This is an interesting thing to compare to Mafuyu's experience of being gaslit by their mother. They believe very strongly- because they were told- that everything their mother is doing is for them, their future, and is in their best interests. This prevents them from questioning her actions and sacrificing their own desires in a self-destructive manner, which is also something Samsa does. For instance, he hides himself with a bedsheet so his sister does not have to see him when she brings him food, despite him finding this uncomfortable. ("craving any smile or attention just from you") Samsa's sister is the only one who still shows affection towards him, as she is the one who brings him food, but eventually she too festers fear towards and dehumanizes him. By the end of the story, the entire family blames their despair on him becoming an insect and no longer believe he is Gregor Samsa. The most direct reference to the story in the lyrics is when his father throws apples at him and has to be stopped from killing him by his wife, Gregor's mother. He crawls back into his room and he is locked inside. ("i beg, don’t throw those rotten apples at my chest before they lock up, lock up samsa") This could best reference when Kaito says that Mafuyu's mother is killing their feelings or true identity. Additionally, Mafuyu's mother places all blame for Mafuyu's recent behavior on Kanade's influence. And as the family plans for their life after his death, Mafuyu's mother tells Kanade that she plans to convince Mafuyu to go back to doing what she wants, no matter how extreme she must be about it. ("if it all goes to plan, then, we’ll soon rejoice") In the end, Gregor Samsa stops eating, and dies of starvation. All the while, he still thinks fondly of his family and believes they are in the right for their treatment of him. Gregor Samsa is used to form a strong representation of the extent to which Mafuyu has been gaslit. ("so please don't tell me that you'll be giving up on reality, samsa") The biggest difference (other than the bug transformation) is that Mafuyu has people who still dearly care about them, and not just for what they can provide. While all of Gregor Samsa's family abandons him, the other members of Nightcord do not abandon Mafuyu. Mafuyu has a reason to live, and people to tell them that they do not deserve to be locked away. ("i know that brilliant light will shine as the clock strikes 25")

He could already hardly feel the decayed apple in his back or the inflamed area around it, which was entirely covered in white dust. He thought back of his family with emotion and love. If it was possible, he felt that he must go away even more strongly than his sister. He remained in this state of empty and peaceful rumination until he heard the clock tower strike three in the morning. He watched as it slowly began to get light everywhere outside the window too. Then, without his willing it, his head sank down completely, and his last breath flowed weakly from his nostrils (Franz Kafka).

[thebroccolination]

Be My Favorite - Intro

WELCOME TO KEY’S SUMMER FIXATION SERIES. \:D/

Hello! I’m Key, and I’ll be your Be My Favorite historian and enthusiast.

I’ve been really excited for Be My Favorite ever since the series was first announced in December of 2021. The premise grabbed me right away since I’m a big fan of time loops (please watch Triage if you haven’t already, I’d say it’s the strongest BL series to date), and Krist’s one of my favorite actors, so it was an instant five stars of anticipation for me. Then in September of 2022, Gawin (another favorite of mine) was cast, and I had a dream casting I think I might have joked about once. (So I did this, you’re welcome.)

Whoever cast Gawin, I’ll send you a basket of whatever you love and aren’t allergic to.

THE CASTING HISTORY

Be My Favorite had a rocky road to casting.

From what I’ve been able to follow, it was initially meant to be a KristSingto comeback vehicle. (Their last BL together was the SOTUS Our Skyy episode in 2018.) However, in 2022, Krist tentatively told fans at a fan meeting that Singto’s schedule didn’t work out with filming. Seeing as GMMTV didn’t want Krist acting in BL series without his brand partner, I think they knew Singto wasn’t planning to renew his contract, so they cast Mike instead. Personally, I was excited to see Krist step outside his comfort zone with a different actor, and he’s close to Mike, so I figured it’d be a good match. I was also happy for Singto, because he’s wanted more independence in his career. He’s into photography and directing, he’s made his own studio, formed his own fan club in Japan, etc. (I think it’s likely he and Krist will work together again, though. They’re still very close, they play video games online with their friends from university fairly regularly, and Singto went out of his way to organize a KristSingto concert in December of 2022 through his Japanese fan club. KS used to hold their GMMTV-sponsored concerts there annually before the pandemic, so I think it was both a “final chapter” to one part of their lives and evidence that they can collaborate again if they want to.)

I didn’t have strong feelings about Mike’s casting. I haven’t seen him in much, but I liked him in the teaser, and he’s already close to Krist, so I was on board. After seeing Singto improve through his series with other actors (something he might have had to fight for, but that’s pure speculation), I was just excited for Krist to get the same opportunities.

And then…Gawin. [seventeen sparkle emojis]

As I said on Twitter the day Gawin’s casting was announced, “I could not be more pleased and delighted that I’ve built a reputation for myself that makes people think, ‘Krist and Gawin? QUICKLY, LIGHT THE FIRES AND TELL KEY,’” because I woke up to not one but three separate friends letting me know about it.

I went from excited to feral in the four seconds it took my brain to go from, “This can’t be real,” to, “Finally, bizarre breaking news that isn’t actively traumatizing.”

Truly, I have to hand it to Krist, because he's wanted this project to do well from the start, and he's stuck with it and worked hard on it through potentially three scene partners. And he really seems to have grown and learned from Gawin, so good on him.

THE WRITER/DIRECTOR

My one worry was that I haven’t enjoyed most of Jittirain’s adaptations.

But then I found out that the director, Waa, directed The Gifted and also has screenwriting experience. Krist has worked with Waa before and speaks highly of his process. There are a lot of scenes in the first episode of BMF that seem very clean and well edited, so I have hope.

On top of that, I’ve also seen fans mention that Be My Favorite is “inspired by” Jittirain’s novel, not adapted from it, which I think is a crucial distinction. (I don’t know the source for that, but I want it to be true, so I’ll believe it for now.)

Krist has said that they changed a lot from the novel, and based on what I know, the first episode has already departed quite a bit, so I have put my faith in Waa.

POSTPRODUCTION

For many reasons, some series just get the short stick with the amount of postproduction and budget they get. Some series are still filming as they start airing, some have budget cuts during production, etc.

Filming for Be My Favorite began on November 19th, 2022 and wrapped two months ago on March 24th. That same day, Waa shared on Twitter that he’d be starting work on intense editing right away. That was a great sign to me. With filming complete and two months of postproduction, he was almost certainly able to do a cleaner job than if he’d had to struggle under continued filming and simultaneous editing while the show was airing.

Also, BMF definitely seems to have money behind it. For example, this upgrade from the trailer to the first episode. In the trailer, as Kawi makes his first trip to the past, there's a bright, swirling glow around him.

When the episode aired, the effect looked a lot cleaner and had scenes from future episodes woven in.

Also, I loved this transition shot with the blurry background, and the dandelion seed floating across the screen was a cute detail, since that's the flower in the time loop globe.

Little things like like this tells me they’ve had the time to do this series well, and that there's a lot of love and effort going into it.

THE ACTING COACH

This February, the acting coach for BMF did an interview (1 & 2) that I really enjoyed. She said she’ll be sharing a video of their workshop now that the series is airing, so I’m keeping an eye out for that.

THE ACTORS

Like I said, I love both of them. I first watched SOTUS and the Kiss series in 2020, so I became a fan of both right around the same time.

In April of 2022, I made a top ten list of what I thought were the best acting performances up to that point. Krist was on it, and so was Gawin. I admire both of them a lot, and I think they’ve both improved tremendously over the years.

Krist, from what I can tell through interviews, leans toward method acting. For example, in the scene I included on my list above, Arthit was apparently meant to cry a few lines later on, but Krist lost it earlier than scripted because in order to channel the emotion he needed for the scene, he imagined how he’d feel when Singto followed through with a long-time dream of studying overseas. It ended up one of their strongest scenes together because it was genuine.

Meanwhile, Gawin was interviewed in November of 2022, and while I think the whole interview is a great read, I wanted to emphasize this part:

“When I prepare for a role, I really have to dig into the story of the script,” [Gawin] explains. “Sometimes they do the last scenes of the series on the first day of being on set. So, you have to be really prepared with the entire story. You’ve got to know the whole thing, what emotions that character went through, and the changes with that character.” 

I think part of what makes Krist and Gawin a good combination is that they’re strong actors with different energies who might just have different ways of preparing for a role. I’d love to hear both of them talk in more detail about their processes, but it seems to me like Krist looks inward for personal experiences to connect with the character, and Gawin creates the character he’s playing based on research.

Another interesting point is that In that same interview, Gawin says he thinks Saifa from Enchanté most resembles his personality (easygoing, music lover, etc.), but he got his start as Mork from the Kiss series (attitude issues, perfect sasspot, etc.). Meanwhile, Krist had an easy link to his first major role, Arthit, in that he’d also been head hazer in university. So Krist started his career able to access a common point with his character, so that might’ve influenced his approach to future roles. Whereas Gawin started off with a character completely unlike himself, so he started from a place of more emotional detachment and probably a more research-oriented approach.

Also, they just seem to have connected on a personal level.

Working with someone so different gives actors the opportunity to learn from each other. When interviewed, Gawin said he and Krist discovered they have a lot in common, and it seems like they bonded over music and spent a lot of time on set singing together. (Their harmonizing is genuinely beautiful.)

Krist’s OST for the series is one of my favorites and Gawin has a ballad coming up later in the series, but I hope they give them a duet at some point. (It’d be a huge missed opportunity if they don’t.)

CATS???

One of the sponsors for the series is fucking Wiskas.

This could just be because Krist is their brand ambassador. (The man has four cats. He has an army to feed.)

OR there is a feline presence in the show. If this is true, I will die, because Triage, series of my soul, also had cats in it.

Listen, I will send TWO baskets of whatever Waa likes if he's enabled me to make the "if I had a nickel for every time there have been cats in a Thai BL time loop series, I'd have two nickels. It's not a lot but it's weird that it happened twice" joke.

CONCLUSION

Big fan! Love it all! (PLEASE CATS.)

I’ll leave this here as an introductory post, and I’ll make separate posts for my individual episode thoughts using #key watches bmf.

[daeyeol4you]

The Chay Rewatch

As part of my KP Rewatch, I’m going to be commenting on each episode and analyzing the different Chay scenes. He’s my favorite character, and I thought I’d put down my thoughts (as well as timestamps for his scenes) as a fun way to express that.

Episode 1

Our first glimpse of Chay as a character is the baby photo at the 17:24 mark when the camera pans over an old family photo – the next photo shown is Porsche and Porchay, much older – speaking to the role Porsche was forced to take on as a young child and the clear love between the two.

Time: 17:40- 19:28 - My favorite boi appears!!

Chay being the designated family nurse – he’s never the one hurt but he deals with every single hurt his family goes through, constantly shown that everyone is putting themselves at risk while he just sits there

Arthee saying “If not, Chay would’ve been hurt.” as if he and his gambling issues aren’t the direct cause of the financial troubles Porsche has that caused the rent/debt payments to be late – Porsche’s blind eye that he turns whenever someone close to him does something bad is wild to me, but I digress, this is about Chay

The look on Chay’s face during the whole conversation about paying Chai is very important as he’s clearly a witness to what happened off screen, but he stays silent even during an exchange where he definitely would have something to say. He silently reassures Porsche that he’s okay, but its like he’s biting his tongue because anything he’d say would cause an argument or burden Porsche.

One of the many times we see Chay completely shut down his natural reaction and feelings, something that happens a lot around Porsche. He’s usually so upfront about what he thinks, wants, and feels, so this moment of quiet self-censorship is very telling, to me at least, in how Chay tries to protect Porsche or lighten the load. Chay clearly feels a lot of guilt about how much he’s costing the family.

His first words: “Hia, I’m sorry.”

This whole scene is such an interesting intro because Chay is here to show exactly what Porsche is fighting for and what he has to lose. Without Chay, Porsche doesn’t join the mafia. Without Chay, Porsche doesn’t end up falling in love with Kinn.

Time: 25:45 – 17:18- the celebration pizza scene!

His Shirt: Today is a good day – the costumers really weren’t going for subtlety here

The costumers really like putting Chay in white, maybe to show his innocence or that he’s Porsche’s one light before he falls for Kinn.

Porsche getting to squish Chay’s face – hate to see others living your dream

Chay with the milk, I’m sorry I laughed

Porsche really still sees Chay as a baby – he will have a heart attack if he ever learns that Chay was drinking at a club and nearly took drugs

Time: 31:50 – 32:25 - The Call

Chay I love you, but why would you tell your brother this? I understand he called you, but my dude… just say you’re in the bathroom

shows a lot of Chay’s childishness alongside how unaware of the mafia world he is

His Outfit: Not really distinguishable, but I’m assuming its the same shirt from later on in the episode

Time: 42:53 – 43:33 - Post Disaster Chay

Chay cleaning up the records is honestly so sad. They’re not something he or Porsche would buy as Chay likes idols and Porsche doesn’t seem that interested in any form of art, and the record player looks like the one my dad has in his childhood bedroom (ie that shit old) which means that these are their parents’ records. Chay was barely a toddler when they died meaning he has no memories of them. Porsche, however, does and has elevated their parents to a near god-like status throughout Chay’s life to justify how he pushes Chay to succeed. Chay cleaning those records first when the rest of the house is a mess is him trying not to spare Porsche even just that tiny bit.

Also I wonder if Chay’s love for music stems from these records. Maybe Porsche put them on and said our parents loved these records so that Chay could at least share something with them.

Look, if I were Chay and my brother disappeared the night after saying hey was it Kinn’s people who destroyed the house? I would simply try to find out who Kinn was.

Chay’s outfit: I’ve seen other’s discussing this but the statue of Nike on his shirt continues the trend of the costumers choosing the weirdest thematic shirts to put Chay in.

Time: 48:06 – 54:58 The Beach Bar

Sidenote: all of the trinkets in this house are so thematically interesting

Nefertiti: She shows up in 2 different trinkets. There’s replica of the famous Nefertiti bust, and there’s a picture of the bust in the collage next to the computer. She’s one of the most famous queens in history and one of the most famous pieces of art from Egypt (honestly only beaten out by Tutankhamen’s gold funerary mask, Tutankhamun is also her son – read from this what you will). Korn later contemplates the queen piece as he states that all of the pieces are complete.

The white bird statue on the bookshelves: Nampueng is painting a white bird when she meets Porsche and Porchay (I think) and white birds symbolically usually signify freedom

The silver knight chess piece: this I’ve also seen commented on, but I genuinely think this is so important for Porsche’s role in Korn’s game. Porsche has the symbols of the most famous queen in Egyptian history and a knight chess piece so heavily connected to his home. Also silver is the same color as the Major Family's signet rings. I’m definitely going to keep an eye out for these going forward.

Chay’s Outfit: still in the Victoire de Samothrace shirt, and honestly this entire scene is full of so much history and antiquity in the set and costume design it has to be intentional right??

This whole scene is honestly the best brother scenes in the show, Apo and Barcode are the best at portraying fictional brothers. Chay’s judgmental looks whenever Porsche does something weird to make him laugh – that’s Barcode and Apo full stop.

On a serious note, this scene shows that Chay doesn’t always want to follow Porsche’s path, even though he eventually respects his brother and listens to him. He’s a teenager, and try as Porsche might, he’s not as naïve and innocent to the world as Porsche, who tends to only see the baby in his baby brother, would like. He knows that his schooling is causing a lot of trouble, and he’s trying to pull his own weight. Which Porsche sidesteps in the way only a parent with a crying kid can do.

Sidenote: Porsche refusing to move out of the house is very telling about his character. He was forced to grow up very quickly, but he’s holding onto the house and his parents’ ‘dreams’ (as if their parents didn’t want both their children to go to college and be happy) in a vaguely childish manner that isn’t talked about as much. He wants the life he couldn’t live, and since he can’t have that, he’ll hold on to the idea of it.

Chay’s cries way too many times throughout this series, and he makes me tear up a little bit every time. This scene in particular because its such a realistic scene. Barcode definitely draws a lot of himself up when filming these crying scenes which is why it hurts so much.

Chay Crying Counter: 1

“Don’t forget, you’re not alone in this. And you’re not the only one fighting.” – Chay is constantly bringing up how Porsche isn’t alone, how there are two of them in this family (pool confrontation speech anyone?), but I think this also says a lot about Chay’s character throughout the show. Often times, non-main characters (I’m not gonna say minor even though technically Chay’s screentime puts him closer to minor when compared to other characters) get treated like dolls who exist only to forward the main pairing’s story. Chay states right from the get go that he’s his own person not just an extension of Porsche. He’s fighting as well. He’s a driving part of this story too. (I may be getting a bit too passionate about this one quote, but c’mon! I love when characters assert their own autonomy within the narrative!)

Chay trying to involve himself in Porsche’s troubles (and the narrative), trying to get Porsche to let him in only to be gently shut down and then not so gently left behind. IDK I love analyzing the different Chay’s we get because like Kim & Wik, Chay has different personas that he puts on with different people. With Porsche, he’s the sweet, agreeable baby brother who has to live out their parents’ dreams. He gets good grades, and he goes to the university interview because that is what Porsche wants. And yet, the second he’s no longer in front of Porsche or where Porsche can keep an eye on him, he drops the mask and allows his real emotions to show (I’ll do more analysis as we get to later episodes because this is getting long)

Chay is so attentive to Porsche’s dreams. The beach bar is definitely something he’s pieced together from different things over the years. Porsche talks a lot, and Chay definitely listens. They’re like that Into the Spiderverse meme.

Chay how tf do you not have neck issues. His head is literally laying on his shoulder while he’s laying on the bed.

Not me also analyzing the jazz posters on his walls – Chay was definitely in the Jazz band in school which is why he needs guitar tutoring. He probably plays the saxophone. Most of the saxophone players I know are unhinged in fruity and delightful ways so this is a compliment.

Chay’s Outfit: His satin matching pajama set compels me even though it does not fit his character at all. They definitely realized he needed pajamas and stole something from the costume rack for the major family. They would wear satin pajamas (Kinn does wear satin pajamas I think at one point)

The first thing Chay does when he leaves his room is call for Porsche, somebody sedate me. But what was he trying to do? Was he trying to continue the conversation from the night before? Does Porsche normally wake him up for school? I need answers…

Chay reading the note breaks my heart because its so clear that Porsche is lying. The morning after Chay brings up them running away to run a beach bar and Porsche is suddenly going to an out of reach beach bar? Chay knows this is bull because Porsche would have said something the night before. Chay knows Porsche is doing something so bad that he feels the need to lie to Chay. The deep sigh Chay let’s out as he stares into the yard biting his lip (or pouting? Idk) shows that Chay isn’t fooled. He’s aware that Porsche is in deep shit, and he’s upset that Porsche has gone on his own to fix it. But Chay can’t outwardly express that because he’s spent his whole life being the perfect baby brother trying not to be a burden. So Chay just sits and sighs in his empty house away from the narrative his existence kickstarted (because Porsche would have never joined the family if he wasn’t so desperate to take care of Chay)

Chay is so interesting to me because he is so important to the plot as a whole, but he is constantly kept far away from the main plot. I saw someone say once that he’s in a completely different genre from the mafia story he’s a part of, and I agree.

Overall Chay Rating (Chrating): I give this episode an A- 

 It’s a great intro into Chay’s character by giving you a lot of setup for his character, particularly in relation to who he is around Porsche. There’s no Kim, but I like that we got introduced to Chay before his romantic interest comes onto screen. Chay’s styling this episode was cute, but not my favorite looks. This episode stockpiles Chay fans with lots of Chay screentime to survive the harsh winter (the episodes without him) coming for them. It’s not the best Chay episode, but its definitely up there.

[archivalofsins]

Let's talk about Caligula Effect 2 and Milgram again today~ Though this may not make much sense or be hard to follow. Because still sick so I'm just typing stuff honestly.

I really like Cocoa #QP. She reminds me a lot of Mahiru. I've also finished Doktor's fight. To be fair I might have been a bit over leveled for it. So, he went down pretty easy. Yet, that's not the only reason I'm here.

I'm actually here to discuss how people put themselves and others into boxes and how that's impacted Milgram. This is something discussed over the course of Gin Noto's character story. Mostly showcasing how sometimes not having an exact box to fit into can cause a person emotional distress or to feel alienated.

There's discussion to be had around how labels and boxes are a way for some to foster not only a sense of community but a sense of self. Tangent I feel that this is why Caligula Effect 2 is very hit and miss for me because most of the lessons in it are things I already know. Plus, the narrative can be a bit more on the nose and leading than it was in the first game.

Something that makes a bit of sense consider how the first one was received. However, I tend to like the first games and Milgram's way of letting the audience draw it's own conclusions. Being put in a position where one has to think for themselves, and they only have themselves to blame for the conclusions they've drawn is far more invigorating to me then having everything spelled out for me. All nice and neat.

Yet, even though Caligula Effect 2 is very heavy handed in my opinion and this makes the characters rather grating in certain areas. There were still things that I feel went over a lot of people's head. That I feel Yamanaka is striving to hone in on through Milgram.

That thing being bias and idolization. Because the player is with the Go Home Club and those are the characters who the player gets to know through character episodes the audience leaves Caligula Effect 2 feeling more sympathetic for the Go Home Club members while it's far easier to ostracize and other the musicians.

The Go Home Club members direct parallels. Even easier for one to downplay how the Go Home Club members threat these other people within the narrative because through playing you learn more about these characters and feel as though you have adequate explanations for their behavior and the times they do end up lashing out.

The Go Home Club members end up lashing out a lot. In very unjustified ways where it's clear that they are taking out anger they hold towards themselves and their own personal situations out on the musicians. Hell Kiriko, flat out admits she did this to the second musician we fight. The only redeemable thing in that encounter is the fact that Kiriko and Pandora are doing the same thing in that instance projecting personal issues on the other party.

However, this continues to be a consistent issue the Go Home Club Members have when encountering the musicians moving forward. The most egregious examples of this being Mu-kun and Gin Noto in my opinion because Gin just hates on this guy and trash talks all his dreams when the dude is genuinely curious about why we want to leave.

Something not really fixed in my opinion by the implication that Gin was a fan of their music or them later. Like the treatment Mu-kun faces is so undeserved that the plot literally pulls a Deus Ex Machina to have him forget the last seven days entirely. Because he's still rightfully mad and doesn't give a fuck about Gin's apology after everything that occurred.

Because people don't need to be nice to you after you take all your personal frustrations out on them. Turning this whole ass other person with feelings into an object for you to release your hate and anger out on for a cheap bit of a catharsis is dick behavior and no one has to accept and I'm sorry about that after it's done to them. Just because someone is having a bad time doesn't mean it's okay for them to make someone else's time bad.

Yet, this isn't really something I've heard discussed when it comes to Caligula Effect 2. No one has gone yeah that was a very rude way for them to consistently treat the musicians. In fact I've been streaming it and most of the stream I've been a bit on edge because I've been seeing these assholes do asshole things. Yet, I keep being told there will be something that will excuse it later you'll find out why it was actually okay they treated people like this later.

While every part of me is like yeah I don't think there's much that excuses this behavior. I don't think there's one damn infallible reason to treat another person struggling with their own things the way I've seen these people treat others. While the game is completely showcasing that it is not okay to treat others like this regardless of what you have going on.

Through characters like Sasara, Shota, and literally how most of the group reacts to Gin's behavior in the planetarium with the same distaste and drawing of attention to the change in attitude that was shown towards Mifue's behavior during the Sweet-P incident. Like why are you so mad this isn't like you.

Yet, again because people have grown to know these characters through playing the game benefit of the doubt is immediately extended to them and a us vs them mindset is formed. Giving off this feeling of how could you be sympathizing with the musicians. How could you feel this treatment is out of place? I mean it kind of is but they have their reasons.

Cool what if those reasons don't justify in anyway how they treat others and by extension themselves to me? What if it is my personal belief that regardless of what goes on in someone's life they shouldn't make whipping boys out of themselves and those around them. What if childishly I believe living this way is unhealthy and unproductive? What if it's not excusable to me to deny yourself and those around you happiness simply because you've taught yourself to hate yourself without measure for one reason or another.

What if for as much as I understand where the mentality is coming from I'm at a point where I recognize that is not an excuse for how that mentality impacted others and at points could have done irreversible harm if someone didn't intervene? Which it gets to that point a few times actually.

Well, that's when the bias that Caligula Effect 2 seeks to highlight comes in. This is highlighted first through the glorification and idolizations of the original go home club and μ by X. What can a person defend just because they have a good relationship with someone. Just because they're someone's kid. How willing are they to assume the worst of everyone around them because everybody is someone pulling down the name of their favorite person.

Is enough for them to not care for humans without even knowing much about them? Is it enough for them to break into someone's else's mundane everyday- Dragging that person back to reality because they need the help. Because they need to prove mom didn't cause this and the mean humans need to stop blaming her for everything. How much is it worth to crush someone else's dream? How far are people willing to go to get what they want and does it matter what they do to get there? Do the ends justify the means?

Possessing someone else's body without warning making it so if the one did that were to die that person would die too. None of that matters. Talking all this good shit about people she doesn't even know lauding them on high just because of what mommy told you. The first go home club members were good people- That's a funny thing to just say without any firsthand knowledge. Mommy said so and that's enough? She doesn't even know these heroes that saved the world and showed her mom the error of her ways or what it took to get to that point.

Yet, X created this silly fairy tale of grandeur and good intentions. How childish and gross. I hope she grows up one day~ Then we get to the root of the issue with Doktor-

"I'd care more about one of you being sad than a bunch of humans I barely know."

Ingroup bias. Or basic favoritism. People are more likely to be kinder to those they view as being on their side and do more for those they view as emotionally important. Sound familiar-

"“Throw down”, someone’s value cannot be the same as another. “Throw down” should choose between superiority or inferiority."

This person is more important simply because I will it to be so. I think it therefore it is. I feel that they're more important therefore they are. Of course they had their reason for behaving in this way. I know this person well enough to say it was justified. I know them well enough to know they're good/can be good.

I don't want to questions if they've just been good to me, if they could be wrong, if someone could be a victim to them. Because that would mean I don't know a good person when I see one that would mean I could be bias. That would mean I could forgive something unforgivable if it was just attached to a person I liked- Oh, well that's just Milgram isn't it?

That's just like Milgram except instead of holding your hand to that conclusion Yamanaka is watching you leap towards it willingly this time. Because bias hurts. Bias is inherently unempathetic. Because bias will always create an us against them scenario. A Go Home Club in oppossition to musicians. It's much easier for the human brain to frame those in direct oppossition to them as wrong regardless of how polite they're being about it. Regardless of if they're about to be physically assaulted in front of you. Hell even if they were on your own side but it turns out cutting them down happens to be an easier way to your goal.

It came up in one that we were crushing peoples dreams. That there were people who could only get their happiness in Mobius. That there were possibly hundreds of thousands of people who could not do the things they could do within here in the real world. Without much pause and completely recognizing this was the case the first go home club continued forward with what they wanted. Because the only thing worth crushing another's dreams is a dream of one's own. Fact is if anyone wants to go home they have to come to terms with the fact that the dreams of some of these people are things that are absolutely impossible in reality.

That sort of person would have to constantly spit in the faces of those who may want to stay here to do that. Spit in the faces of the people this world was made for even. Never once discussing how easy it is to face reality when a person has one to go back to at all and never touching on the people who may not. At least as far as I know right now that's not happening but it might. Again in one we talk about this tentatively and the go home club feels bad but ultimately decides to leave because it's what they want to do. However, their is recognition of our own desires conflicting with and ruining the wishes of others.

Because virtual or real the reality is when it comes to the wishes of others someone is always getting the short end of the stick. Because not everyone's wishes can come true. Sometimes one person's wish conflicts with another's. Because of this there can never be a world without regrets. Because sometimes one person's happiness can be another persons misfortune. That can be a regret in itself.

Yet, that doesn't mean we shouldn't strive towards what will make us happy. Just because things are like that doesn't give anyone the right to step on others and end their lives just because they were having such a hard time. That's not fair, that isn't right. Everyone is having a hard time what makes this hard time so different from anyone else's? What makes it forgivable.

The only thing that does is that feeling in people's chest that tells them that they know this person. That there's good in this person that they have their reasons. The reasons they've projected on them, the reasons they can sympathize with, the reasons that make it all make sense in their book. Yet, those reason come at the expense of someone else's good name, someone else's life. It comes at the expense of dehumanizing someone in the worst way making them out to be a problem that needed solving instead of a person that was deserving of the exact same consideration being shown to the people that hurt them.

No one is above bias and that's why sin isn't easy. Milgram shouldn't be easy. It's not meant to be easy. People aren't easy- Relationships not only to individuals but groups aren't easy. Because easy things are painful. Easy things ignore the intricacies of a situation that people are usually suffering under.

Easy puts the fault on individuals instead of systems. Easy says the Go Home Club Members and the Milgram characters had to repond how they did because life was hard on them. They didn't have a choice. Conveniently without ever touching on why life was hard, if it had to be, who made it that way, the services and systems that failed these people over and over. Because why change the way things have always been when one can just put it on the individual to save themselves and choose whether or not that's forgivable or not later. Why think about it any harder when we can wait for a crime to happen and then administer the punishment?

Let's keep it simple. Sure they couldn't hack in their environment but others could so they're the odd ones here. Let's just have the punishment fit the crime and if I can forgive I can forgive. No need to think more deeply of it. That's how this has always worked. That's how Milgram is. It's how people are giving excuses to those they biasely like and having no mercy for those they don't. Be more bias because that's the best way to make it hurt more.

None of this is meant to be easy. Honestly, if it is for anyone then chances are they just haven't thought about it enough. Because bias isn't all fun and games. When a person is bias the only thing that comes from it is pain regardless of how positively or negatively they view someone/something. There are boxes and there are cages bias is a cage that doesn't help anyone.

[teratonasti]

Hi I’m a whore for The Corinthian and couldn’t help myself when listening to my dance playlist, so have some club foreplay lmao also tagging @michaelmyersmalewife for dis

Reader is a trans guy, post top surgery; I also suggest listening to TRRST by IC3PEAK for this bc it was my main song for this lol

—————————————————————————————————————

There was a man staring at you.

Even through the foggy multicolored club you could feel his eyes, and when you find him you’re surprised that he ca see you through the deep, dark black glasses on his face. Slicked back blond hair, a deliciously sharp jaw and nose, and a smile that has you melting into the bar all fill your vision as you stare right back at him, seeing if he’d look away. Usually once you looked at your admirers, they acted like they’d been caught with their hand in the cookie jar and turn away, but not him.

He smiled again, tipping his head in an elegant nod, and you swallow thickly. He was interested, not even put off by the stare you fix him with. Hell, he seems even more interested as you continue to look in his direction. His gaze leaves when a little twink sidles up next to him and coos sweetness in his ear.

You have to fight the jealousy that runs through your blood, hot green replacing the normal red.

The feeling abates when you turn back to the bar and get a shot of something swet and fruity. It slides easy down your throat and warms you right up, just the way you like it. The feeling of your buzz settling in takes your attention, and the fuzziness of the room fogs your brain almost as much as the club. You almost miss the feeling of the man’s gaze on you, but a bitter reminder of the twink next to him has the sugary film on your tongue turn lemon sour.

“You mind if I get you a drink, handsome?”

The voice over your shoulder is deep and full of sin, curved in the vowels like any good Southern boy’s drawl, and it adds to the buzz under your skin. Your eyes meet themselves in the shine of his black glasses and your heart hammers when you recognize your admirer. The boy that had been glued to his side has vanished and one big hand rests on your lower back, his pinkie finger resting on your tailbone while the pointer flirts with the bottom curve of your rib cage. The thought of those fingers doing more than just resting on your back makes your head spin especially when he uses them to gently move you to the side so he can fit in between you and the bar.

“Saw you staring,” you manage to get out, tongue heavy from the alcohol and his closeness. Gods, he smells like a dream, all spicy and musky. He chuckles deep in his chest and it reminds you of dark chocolate.

“How could I not? Prettiest thing in this place is right here,” he purrs, smiling when you flush and reach out a hand to take the shot of vodka from him. It’s harsher than your sweet drink from before but helps you loosen up enough that you lean into him. Your forearm presses against his hip under his suit jacket and his hand is still on your lower back, but it’s slid to cup your hip as well.

Somehow, after another round of shots, you find yourself on the dancefloor, rolling your hips and holding your arms high in the air. The man, Corinthian he had whispered in your ear before he pulled you into the swarm of bodies, keeps you close against him. His lips are soft against your neck, one hand sliding up your chest. It rucks up your shirt but you don’t care if people see the scars on your chest before the fabric falls back down. The song’s climax builds as Corinthian’s hand finds the expanse of your neck, his fingers pressing soft against your thundering pulse. You tip your head back and he presses a kiss to your mouth.

His tongue flirts against your mouth, fingers adding pressure slowly until you open your mouth and let him taste the vodka on your tongue. He grunts softly when you roll your hips back into his, pulling away to growl in your ear, “We should go somewhere.”

Even though your head is spinning and you’re giggly, you nod and let him lead you to the exit, guiding you by the back of your neck like a stray kitten.

[fanficfanattic]

Word Game Wednesday! Some random words: cold, pillow, light, and work

I had something for each of these words. But pillow had a pretty generous concept outlined. So I finished that and published it. So now I only have snippets for three of the words 🤣

Cold

1. That a/b/o fic once again rearing it’s “ugly, ugly boy with bad hair” head.

“Everything Jamie’s got in his life, everything, he worked for. Poverty and starving, the cold, the exhaustion, havin to work harder than any of the other boys, hours on the pitch, hours studying, raising himself up, always digging deep enough to put one foot in front of the other no matter how hard it were. He did that. He got himself out of that life, and drug me out with both his hands. Fighting how his own da tried to drag him back into the dirt.

So if you think for one fucking second, that James Tartt rearing his ugly fucking mug again, is gonna stop Jamie from chasing down his dreams?

You’d be as dumb as James Tartt himself, or worse. But you don’t strike me as that. Optimist, yeah, but not a fool.

So, you worry about making it work here, at the club and on the pitch. And I’ll work out convincing this one to finally put his father in the dust behind him. Yeah?”

“Yeah, I can do that, Georgie. I’ve said more than once that Jamie’s a good kid. Just needed to be pointed in a bit better a direction. And I promise you, and Coach Beard there can attest, that once I’ve put my mind to something? I’ve never quit.”

“Jamie, neither. So I guess that means we’re gonna get it sorted.”

2. Family Curse Fic

“This so isn’t at all fair!” Georgie ends up shouting less than an hour after Richmond met her. Based on that hour, this didn’t seem terribly out of character.

“What isn’t, love?” The cheerful response from her husband is also no surprise. He had remained placid in the face of 60 straight minutes of shenanigans so far. With no sign of fatigue.

“I always dressed Jamie up in the cutest outfits on his birthday, for the pictures. And put him in the sweetest little jimjams that night so he’d look adorable when he started showing up for his future self! Now no one’s going to get to see either. I have no bloody clue what he wore the day after his birthday.”

“Aw, Mummy, it’s okay. I was always a sexy little lad. You could have put me in a carrier and I’d be well fit.”

“That’s true, gorgeous. But don’t think I missed that you’d still put on actual night clothes for your birthdays once you got older. And were dressing yourself. So you wouldn’t show up pantsless in just a shirt!”

It wasn’t until one of Jamie’s teammates, she wasn’t fully sure who was who yet, actually asked the question. That she realized why half the lads were laughing.

“…pantsless and in just a shirt?!”

“Yeah, cause I get cold upstairs but hot downstairs. There ain’t no way to tell when you’ll start showing up. Didn’t want to be in some lady’s bedroom and have me show up in half me glory.”

She patted his cheek consolingly while gently correcting him. “Don’t sell yourself short, baby, 3/4ths your glory that would be.” And she grinned, no longer so sad about the outfits, when her fully grown son giggled at her just the same as when he’d been just her wee little man.

Pillow

As I said, this prompt led me to finishing and posting Put Your Hand Up On My Hip. So thank you for that!

Light

1. Roy seeing Jamie have a nightmare.

He’s on his back, sheet twisted half under and around him. His face is shiny with sweat but the pale hallway light shows his skin as pallid. For a second Roy irrationally considers how pissed Jamie would be to see himself so obviously unsexy. Then gets his head back in the game.

2. S2 fic where Dani and Jamie start dating. Dani thought they’d be more sexual given how Jamie was on Lust Conquers All. And Jamie is trying to put more energy into it being a relationship because he doesn’t want to fuck things up. Some of the team thinks Jamie is just stringing Dani along and are gonna prove it.

Except once that comes to light, Jamie has a proper fucking meltdown about mind games and how he cannot allow himself to be treated that way anymore.

Then realizes he said all that in front of everyone, had just spouted off almost two years (and two decades) of insecurity, so bolts.

Work

1. And a fourth snippet from the platonic a/b/o fic.

When he stopped being out of his mind, he remembered a deeply seated feeling of being cared for. He got a rest day, and then was back to work. It was still new enough that when he walked in, conversation abruptly stopped. Before it just as suddenly turned on again.

He couldn’t stop himself from rolling his eyes but he also went straight over to Sam. There was that collective sense of everyone holding their breaths. He ignored them entirely this time.

When he got close enough, even as Sam started to say, “Hello, Jamie” and “Feeling better?” He dropped his forehead onto Sam’s boney shoulder.

“Wanted to thank ya. For helping me even though I’ve been a shit to you. It meant…means, a lot. To me.”

2. More from this concept where Jamie gives himself over as a hostage to protect Phoebe.

“…His alarm system was live, which we disengaged through her information. The food he’d prepared to cook for dinner last evening was out and spoiled. We found his phone, on but locked, beside the stove.

What we do not know, including where he is at present, is whether there was anyone else with him at home. The best way to discover that is to retrace his steps between leaving the game, and when he left his house last night.”

“Wait, you know he left his house last night but-”

“We have the time of his alarm code deactivating for him to leave, shortly followed by him reactivating it from his doorstep. We know the most likely reason for him to have left. But we do not know whether he had anyone with him at that time.”

They quickly work out that none of them had seen nor spoke to him at all the day before. Colin suggested the detective speak with Keeley, Jamie’s ex-girlfriend, when Roy cut in.

“Don’t bother with that. She was with me.” And the moment was slightly lightened by half the team going “ooooooh” and “ahhhhh”.

[somebucky]

Somebucky’s One Direction Masterlist

One Direction (Some are requests, and some are not.)

Venture below the line for my Fanfics, and Oneshots of One Direction.

Preferences of the Boys

You’re Latina

Cute Date

Phones

Missing Christmas

Wearing His Shirt

Cameras

“More than I do”

Fears

Music

Surprising You

Helper

You’re African American

Secrets

Flowers

Gym Together

You’re Beautiful

Cute Moments

Names

Children

Zayn

Go-Karts

Stressed

Necklace

Laryngitis

Harry’s Little Sister

Birthday

Seeing Him Perform

Pillow Pad

Curvy - Z

Louis

Trigger Warning - Depression

Six Flags

Meeting Fans

Flirt

Singing

The Conjuring

Butt-Dial

Beach Day

Break Up

Curvy - LT

Liam

BFF

Curvy - LP

Surprise

Paparazzi

Bowling

French

Niall

You’re Sick

Pranking The Boys

High School: Getting into Trouble

Zac Efron

Paps

The Flu

Best Song Ever

You’re my Tomboy

First Concert

Everything has Changed

Scary Movie

Bad Dream

Not Pretty

Can’t Wait

Tickle Monster

Meet the Family

Driving Me Crazy

Preschooler Trouble

Masquerade

Fans give you bracelets

Basketball/Kiss Cam

Learning Dutch/Flemish

Appendix

Prank

Haters

Proposal

Award Presenters

Spider

Cars

Big Brother Harry

He’s Sick

Your son and Niall

Crazy Boys

Cuddle Buddy

Sick at Christmas

Road Trip

Truly, Madly, Deeply

Club Caddy

Rumors

Too Perfect

Kids Coloring

Grumpy

Old Friends

Sick Kid

Home Again

Curvy - N

Harry

Tattoo

He’s just a friend

Disney

Curvy - H

Couple’s Shoot

Plus Size

The Date

Movie Night with the Family

Asthma

Something Great

Cake

Making him Jump

High School: The Office

Fort Styles

Signing

Backstage

He talks to your Dad

Marcel -BSE

Nightmare

Cousin’s Wedding

High School

Scared to Love again

Punk

My Family

Everything

Black Friday Shopping

Getting Married

Meeting Daniel Radcliffe.

Wedding

Happy Birthday

Double Date

Drunk

Date Night Plans

Snowfall

Neighbors

Working Out

Move in

Couple Name

Our Tree

The Hate

Play Fighting

Cake Making

Beautiful Face

Story of My Life

Jealousy

Cheesy Jokes

Meet the grandparents

It’s a girl

I choose you

Food Poisoning

Going to State

Note:

This page can be found under the url: https://somebucky.tumblr.com/somebuckywrites  and under the tag on my page #somebucky. You can also find all my writing on Ao3 under the pseud somebucky.

This tag is on all of my writings, so if you want to come back to my masterlist easily or find another work by me, just click the somebucky tag at each work, search my page or all of tumblr for the tag. :)

[portwellbabes]

what the hsmtmts characters would do after their senior year of hs !!

nini - she would not go on to college and instead continue writing songs with jamie, she is a low-key artist at first but becomes a popular public figure within 2-3 years🙌🏼

ricky - to be honest i don’t know!! i don’t think he knows yet either so he’d probably go to community college for two years to figure his life and career out. tbh he would not have a career in theatre, though he would continue playing guitar and writing songs as a hobby🎸

ej - oh he would find his calling in directing/producing!! a film studies major with a minor in neurobiology because my man is an overachiever with a 4.3 gpa so OF COURSE he’s a STEM minor. in my head, he interns with corbin as an assistant director for an upcoming project 🎞🎥

gina - dance major PERIOD (i really don’t need to explain this) she wouldn’t go onto broadway, but instead pursue acting on sitcoms and become a hollywood icon. she would also do modeling for a while before her big break 🌟

ashlyn - i would assume she’d be a music theory major? definitely something songwriting related though, she would write songs and musicals in her free time at college and join a baking club😉

big red - he’d do community college or a state college with a business/sales degree while working the pizza shop for a couple years but later go on to do an MBA🍕

kourtney - OH she’d be a social justice major with an emphasis on women studies because she’s an ACTIVIST queen who would fight for feminism💘

carlos - definitely some sort of dance program, but he’d focus on choreo instead of performing; he’d also dream of directing a musical someday and would definitely ask ej for advice later on🕺

seb - sebastian PIANO GOD matthew-smith would go on to be a theater arts major in Juilliard FS and become a broadway legend (he gives off very jordan fisher energy) oh and he’d stay close to carlos! 🎹

maddox - biochemistry or biotechnology major because she seems really smart and driven (plus she’s a natural techie!) and she gives off very STEM vibes i should know LOL. yeah i honestly don’t see her with a career in theatre 🧬

jet - tbh this dude would be a communications major or something idk LOL nothing too intense; he would do the bare minimum and live his life out in college while taking a bunch of elective classes to find his calling🍾

this is just what i thought our wildcats would do post-graduation based on the people i’ve met in college. lmk if you agree/disagree!!

[ladykatibeth]

@blue-b-bro Nadja analysis you say……...

So Nadja is very interesting in that she’s a character who clearly often thinks of herself as the most….I don’t know, normal? Reasonable? One of the three but frankly she can be just as silly.

I think one kind of ND trait she has is she gets fixated on things and she is the least quick to change her mind.

Like, for example, getting with the same reincarnated person life after life even when they keep getting beheaded.

She’s holds grudges and biases for a long time, werewolves, witches, etc

She can be very cautious and once she’s decided something is dangerous or bad she literally spits on it, she’s the most concerned with maintaining a fierce/competent image. Like the anxiety about the orgy or the way she conducts herself in the vampiric counsel.

She’s very concerned for physical safety, for herself and her small group, but her fear response tends towards fight, like with Guillermo becoming a slayer, the way she is at the trial, she’s the most concerned about witches and ghosts, she's very distrustful.

This works in the other direction though too, once you’re in, you’re in, she forgives Laszlo super quickly, same with Nandor even after she learned he destroyed her village it was a one off fight, she gets very upset when her friends are upset, and Laszlo and Nandor have any easy time getting her support (aside from things like evil cursed hats) by asking nicely.

(Or if she personally finds it cool extremely enthusiastic support—see her with Laszlos lawyering)

She's the second most antiquated, she often thinks of romance in old fashioned terms (kill something for me) and will put on a kind of….maiden? act? sometimes to flirt. This doesn't come through as much though since she rarely interacts with humans.

Nadja is also sort of bad at reading things socially, she takes a long time to realize the rat pack aren’t long lost friends excited to see her, she can be awkward without realizing, like when she gives the night club idea, shes more likely to read a neutral statement as offensive.

She sometimes overestimates her ability and can be over confident, she thinks of herself as a lot less silly than she is. She’s super intense emotionally speaking, she’s very excited ;D and she’s very mad

>;( and she’s very distressed D; she’s rarely neutral.

Once she starts feeling stifled she switches to a new dream, she has patterns of major enthusiasm and focuses a ton of energy on her goals until she gets bored and decides to let it run down while she goes and gets excited about something else.

She’s a very business oriented thinker! She’ll occasionally be pulled into an artistic thing by Laszlo but generally speaking she cares about organization and running things above all else. If Nadja is doing something on her own it’s either single person focused or management.

I don’t know exactly what this adds up too but those are my thoughts.

[babovens]

MP100 Theatre Kid AU

More theatre things because tech week starts today help. I’m living out my dreams of being a tech kid because they’re amazing and so so funny, but you’d never know because they’re always behind the scenes. (Also they’re the ones who hold the snack stash so go to them for the Cheetos kids).

Character sheets for Shigeo and Teru.

Shou Suzuki: Tech/Stage Management

Background:

Shou spent much of his early childhood going to his father’s show rehearsals. He went to so many that he quickly developed a musical talent that far surpassed his classmates.

Once Touichirou learned this, he immediately began teaching Shou how to sing.

He didn’t have lots of times to be a kid, his father whisking him away to rehearsals when his classmates were out having fun.

Even worse, his father was teaching him in a traditional, classical manner. Making him learn music standards he didn’t connect with.

He also never liked the actors he worked with, but he could never pinpoint why.

Even so, he never hated singing.

He knew his father did musical theatre shows because “they’re the quickest way to make the money I need for my own projects,” but he had never seen one until…

He snuck into watch one of his father’s musicals: Little Shop of Horrors.

It was so different from anything he had been learning before. It was brash, it was hilarious, it was loud, it was dark.

He was obsessed.

Not just with the music, but with the tech.

How did they match up the lightning and the thunder? How did the scenes change so fast from the dentist office to the flower shop? How on earth did they make that giant plant move?

He snuck backstage to see the mastermind behind all the special effects: Serizawa. After the show, Serizawa gave Shou a tour of the set, making his interest skyrocket.

Shou announced that night at dinner that he wanted to learn how to tech a show.

Touichirou made it clear he didn’t support this decision. Anyone can learn the skill to tech. Not everyone is born with musical talent like his, and it would be a waste if he was “only behind the scenes.”

It was then that Shou realized why he hated being in the shows his father directed.

It had nothing to do with the music and everything to do with the entitlement of the actors he worked with.

The way they all fought with each other, the way they blamed their own mistakes on other people, the way they dismissed the back stage crew as if they weren’t the reason they had mics and a set to perform on.

That was the final nail in the coffin, and he went to learn how to tech a show at Black Vinegar.

Where he met his mortal enemy: Teruki Hanazawa.

The kid his father replaced him with.

Basically if Teru was in Claw Theatre edition

Characteristics:

Tech Kid™

Jack of all trades (Costumes, lighting, sound, set, stage management).

Has a particular interest for pyrotechnics on stage

The type to sing horribly on purpose despite his talent (this drives Teru crazy).

Believes in the theatre ghost and fights with him at least once a week (Dimple).

Ultimate snack stash in the PAC despite the “no food or drink” sign. “Do as I say, not as I do.”

The telepathy club takes full advantage of his snacks (and it’s how he recruits them to be his tech crew).

Checks the stage lights every night before a show at Ritsu’s request. (Shou doesn’t mind one bit).

Has the funniest names for his lighting cues (throw back to Shrek the Musical where the cue name for the dragon eating Farquad was literally named “OOP he “faquin” dead” abdkfhslajs)

Not afraid to call out actors who gossip and put down others Teru

He means well, but this makes his confidence turn into arrogance. (“I’m the reason you even have a show.”)

A bit of a control freak.

Specialty: Punk/Rock/Mega-Musicals

[pangolinheart]

FFXIVWrite 2023 DAY 12 - DOWDY

Rhiki, Thancred, and Tataru go on a shopping trip!

I took this prompt in the direction of "generally unfashionable" and used it to vent my and Rhiki's shared sentiments about the design of Tank armor. I can almost always count on the gear designers for award winning mmorpg final fantasy xiv to disappoint me.

Rating: General Genre: Fluff, humor Characters: Tataru Taru, Thancred Waters, Z'rhiki Irhi (Warrior of Light) Word Count: 1,330 Content Warnings: None

“Oh, this is cute!” Z’rhiki held up one sleeve of the jacket to turn it on its hanger towards Tataru. “I love all of the orange parts! Ooh! And the waist is adjustable. And I think this scarf is actually attached….”

Tataru giggled as she watched Rhiki whirl around the shop excitedly. “I think it would suit you!”

“Right?” Rhiki beamed. It had been too long since she had gone shopping with friends – it felt like a lifetime ago. Recently she had been either busy, or trapped somewhere without a particularly expansive market. Sharlayan had very few redeeming qualities (at least in her opinion) – the food was bad, the people were rude, everyone was always reading or studying – but it did have a marketplace, stocked with enough wares that one could pass the time perusing them.

“I’m not sure how practical the color is,” Thancred pointed out. She had been a bit surprised that he had offered to come with them, but it seemed that even he had tired of sifting through dusty tomes with the rest of the Scion’s book club.

Rhiki rolled her eyes. “What do you know about practical color schemes. You wear white and then stand in spattering range of whatever you’re fighting!”

Their chatter must have drawn the attention of the shopkeeper, because all three noticed him hovering before Thancred could marshal up a witty retort. Seeing that he had caught the attention of potential customers, the middle-aged elezen gestured towards the jacket that Rhiki was still holding.

“Ah, this is from one of our latest collections: Moonward. It was inspired by the designer’s dreams of soaring through the stars. And I can assure you, it is very practical – every piece has been carefully tested for its durability in battle – not that you couldn’t wear it for fashion’s sake, of course. This jacket, for example, is perfect for hunters and ranged fighters. It’s warm enough for even snowy climes, it offers enough padding to protect you from the typical hazards of the unforgiving wilderness as well as any brief scuffles you may find yourself in, but is also flexible enough to allow for a wide range of motion, such as the drawing of a longbow’s string! Should the color not be to your tastes, we offer a range of dyed colors!”

Rhiki had returned to examining the jacket as the man spoke. “How do you think it would hold up against more than a ‘brief scuffle?’ Or if you were… closer to the action? Like with a sword?”

The shopkeeper’s pleasant, well-trained smile faded. “Not well, I’m afraid. I couldn’t recommend it for a swordsman. While the padding will protect from rugged environments and the occasional glancing blow, it isn’t enough to stop a swinging blade.”

“I see,”

Seeing her smile fade, the man quickly added, “However, I do have a set from the same collection that would serve you better in close-quarters combat.”

Tataru nudged Rhiki’s leg with an elbow, but looked towards the shopeeper “Oh, do you? We’d love to see it!”

Rhiki nodded along, hope in her heart.

“Wonderful, right this way, please.”

He led the trio past displays of richly colored textiles and dyes, weaving past mannequins draped in scholarly robes, towards the back of the shop.

“Naturally, Sharlayan doesn’t produce many warriors, but knowledge is knowledge and knowledge of armor is no different, so we try to keep some sturdier fare in stock. It’s greatly appreciated by the huntsmen who visit Sharlayan to accept or turn in bounties, many of whom seek more challenging prey than the usual game animal,.” the older man prattled as he walked. Tataru either listened, or made a good show of pretending to listen, and Rhiki tried to do the same, only pausing to look at a few items before taking quicker steps to catch up. Thancred, for his part, looked uninterested, his eyes listlessly roaming the shop.

“Here we are! The Moonward Fending Set! I expect you will find it well-suited, pardon the pun, to your needs.” He came to a stop in front of a row of mannequins lining the furthest wall from the entrance, and extended one arm in a flourishing motion.

“Ah.” Was all Rhiki said, the disappointment setting in almost immediately. Adorning the mannequin the shopkeeper had indicated was a heavy, silver cuirass with spiked pauldrons and a straight blue cape dangling behind it, apparently attached somewhere to the back of the collar. It wore matching flat-heeled sabatons that extended all the way up the leg before disappearing beneath the bottom edge of the chest piece. For reasons she couldn’t understand (certainly not fashion) there was no metal plating covering the arm, just a pauldron on the shoulder and a gauntlet that extended partway up the forearm. Between the two was only the white of the mannequin’s arm and two thin gold wires that crossed paths connecting them. At least there was a narrow golden belt slung across the waist so one was able to tell where the waist was supposed to be.

“Well, it certainly looks more… functional.” Thancred pointed out.

Functional? It doesn’t even protect your arms! She wanted to snap at him, but held her tongue. She didn’t want to offend the gentleman who was clearly trying to be helpful. There was no helping the forlorn look on her face as she stared up at the set, though.

She pondered what could possibly connect this design with the jacket she had been examining earlier to form a “collection”. They looked like they had been designed on different planets by two people who had never met nor spoken to each other.

Seeing her crestfallen expression, Tataru offered, “Maybe it will look better if you try it on?”

“Oh, yes,” The shopkeeper hastily tacked on. “Seeing it on oneself makes a world of difference! If you’ll step behind one of those curtains, I’ll see if I can find a set that might fit you!”

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

“Well?” Z’rhiki said, stepping out from behind the curtain. Her tone was flat. She already knew how she looked.

Tataru looked her up and down, eyebrows drawn together in sympathy. “It’s not… that bad.” She tried to comfort her.

To her surprise, the curtain next to her rustled, and Thancred stepped out, having heard the snippet of conversation. He looked to her, then to Tataru.

“Tataru, I understand wanting to spare a friend’s feelings, but don’t lie to the poor woman.” He chided, though his eyes twinkled with amusement.

Tataru scowled at him. “Don’t listen to him, Rhiki. It’s not like it’s awful.”

She groaned loudly.

“You know, I don’t think it looks half bad on me.” Thancred said, examining himself.

Rhiki took a moment to actually look at him, gaze combing over the details of the armor.

“UGH! You’re right!” She lamented. Whereas the pauldrons perched awkwardly on either side of her, their spikes getting caught in her peripheral vision when she moved her eyes from side to side, on him they accentuated the strong line of his shoulders. The cape that only drew attention to her diminutive stature looked downright heroic hanging behind him. With the more defined muscle tone of his biceps and forearms, she could almost see what the designer might have been intending when constructing the outfit. On her the exposed skin just looked… silly. The light, shining silver even matched his hair. Damn him.

He smirked, and she found herself grumbling, “Shut up, Thancred,” despite the fact that he hadn’t actually said anything.

He laughed, but reached over to pat her on the shoulder, carefully avoiding the pauldron’s thorny protrusion. “Never fear, we’ll find something that fits you one of these days.” His self-satisfied grin flickered back to life. “Or, if we don’t, you can at least take heart in the fact that you can use the time the enemy spends laughing at you to catch them off guard!”

“Thancred!” Tataru scolded as Rhiki stormed back behind the curtain.

[radiation-run]

I’ve seen a lot of posts about Eddie in 6x11 and I also wanna share my take on his absence 🥺

Eddie fought tooth and nail to keep Christopher. Hen called it a “nasty custody battle,” meaning Eddie used up all his time, energy, and resources on the case.

Without Carla (“red tape’s worst nightmare”) Eddie struggled through all the paperwork and “bureaucratic mess” and failed to get the government assistance he needed.

Without Bobby there to nurture a family environment, Eddie didn’t have any support system in place. Captain Righetti forbade Eddie from bringing Christopher to the station and both Chimney and Hen referred to him as “Diaz” showing that their relationship was strictly professional. (Cue Buck’s insistence on using nicknames!)

Financially, Eddie was, without a doubt, at a disadvantage. The salary of a firefighter is lower than that of a petroleum engineer, and the cost of living in LA is much higher than in El Paso.

Here’s what I think could’ve made the custody battle go from bad to worse:

One way we’ve seen Eddie make money is through underground fighting. It wouldn’t be hard to believe that he might’ve joined a fight club to earn money quickly and “blow off steam.” Following a similar storyline to 3x08 where Bobby finds out Eddie’s been fighting, Captain Righetti also finds out. But unlike Bobby who directs him to therapy, Righetti takes disciplinary action, possibly leading the court to believe he’s mentally unfit to parent Christopher.

Now to tie this into Buck’s coma dream:

Everything Buck experiences in his dream is something he has either imagined, envisioned, or experienced before. After waking up from his coma, Buck tells Bobby about his dream. Everyone was different except for Hen. His brother was alive and his parents showered him with love—things Buck has imagined/envisioned before. The others were things he has experienced—Chimney pre-Madney, Maddie’s marriage to Doug, and Bobby’s life during his relapse.

What we, and Buck, have never seen/experienced is Eddie’s life pre-Christopher. Ever since Buck learned in 2x02 that Eddie is a dad, it’s been Eddie AND Chris. A package deal. Eddie Begins 3x15 starts off with Christopher’s birth and really drives home the fact that Chris is Eddie’s life. The Eddie we all know began with Christopher.

Earlier in Buck’s dream, he asks Daniel if coma dreams are possible. Daniel’s response is that he doesn’t know—because Daniel is actually just Buck’s subconscious. Buck doesn’t know the answer, therefore Daniel doesn’t know either.

To me, Eddie’s complete absence in Buck’s dream is due to the fact that Buck cannot imagine Eddie without Christopher. He can’t even begin to fathom the thought of it, so it’s easier to just not think about it.

The first memory to physically manifest itself (Ferris wheel) was that of Buck protecting Christopher during the tsunami. At the back of his mind, he still thinks about Eddie and Chris relatively unprompted.

Buck seeing dream Christopher ask for help finding his dad was Buck’s subconscious trying to fix things. Same with Chimney inviting him to help convince Maddie to leave Doug. Buck really only stops to talk to his parents because that’s not something he can fix. He’s making peace with it now that he’s come to the realization that Bobby is his true parent.

So what happened to dream Eddie? My absolute downer of a take is that Eddie, after eventually having lost hope of ever getting Christopher back, suffered a breakdown like in 5b but this time, he was alone and without anyone to break the door down.

Thanks for reading! 🥺💖

repost since tumblr finally fixed my account 😭

[squeiky]

BEASTARS PARALLELS

Volumes used: 10-13 (with slight mentions of volumes before.)

WARNING: Images are edited to fit the book that I (myself) was reading. Since I've been reading the VIZ media books, Its come to my attention that the translations very are different online than it is here. Thus, I've concluded I must translate it all, in order for my points to come arose clearly.

Reminder: Click for better quality, or if you want to read it.

First parallel, is the "I love herbivores/I love carnivores" moment between Legoshi and Louis. Even funnier is that, it seem seems Legoshi is the reason, and Ibuki is the realization.

Also, in my book, When Ibuki ask if his freind is more important to him than the Shishigumi, Louis mentions that both the Shishigumi and Legoshi are both equally important to him. Which is a lot, considering that a parallel drawn within the manga itself is Louis comparing Ibuki to his father.

With the Shishigumi being basically family to him, its astonishing that Legoshi is on the exact same level of importance.

Another note, is that before this interaction and declaration about herbivores, Legoshi was thinking of Haru.

Unironically, Louis made a "eat me" joke to Legoshi, which (atleast in my book) is similar to the "how would I taste?" joke Haru made. This joke was duiring Louis's dream of Haru, before being waken up by Ibuki. This was after Legoshi thought of Haru, though.

Second parallel between the "dreams" and "nightmares" of Louis and Haru. Unsurprisingly both herbivores, that of which he keeps having repetitive dreams/nightmares about.

Weirdly enough, Legoshi agonizes about both of them. Unable to control what he's dreaming about, and slightly suffering because of it. Albeit, different levels of agony.

^goes with Juno and her realization, but eh

Third parallel with Riz vs Legoshi and Louis as the Moth.

In my book, during the fight with Riz (the last panel before he turned into a illusion of moths), Legoshi says "Isn't that right, Moth?", which was within the page that Legoshi was reminiscing over the Moth. Here, instead of a Moth, its Louis. Instead of Riz, its a bunch of drug dealers. Yet, its still the same concept of: for the sake of herbivores.

Of which both battles, he has the enemy surrender.

Also, Legoshi visualizes Louis similarly to how he did the Moth, which... weirdly enough, have both entered his body. Both the Moth and Louis visuals motivate him, and both Moth and Louis teach Legoshi something that he later carries on. (In my book, while conversing with Louis- before eating his leg- he tells him, "That's not all I remember. A lot has happened to us over the past year.//Louis, thanks to you I didn't become a monster.".

Moth and Louis both teach him, or help him in some way. They also motivate him during his fights for justice. They are also both were consumed by him (although Louis is still alive, of course.) Oh, and they were both dreamed about (as the Moth interaction took place when he was knocked out).

Forth parallel is this Louis and Legoshi scene with Juno and Haru's.

(My book for this scene is unavailable, so a direct translation cannot be made. That's why I don't have a picture.)

The scene at the gardening club where Juno calls Haru "cute" and interacts with Haru, realizing why carnivores can never "win" against herbivores

It's not an exact parallel between the two wolves, but its interesting that scenes like this take place in locations where hthe two are alone and simply enjoying anothers company.

The difference being while Juno rejects her emotions towards Haru in fear of ending up "wrapped around her finger" like Louis and Legoshi", Legoshi ends up admitting his emotions towards herbivores, fulling embracing them. (Louis does the whole, "I know." thing too, its great.)

One detail added are the soft hexagons and the dotty gradients that appear in the room. The soft geometric shapes only appear when he's thinking of Louis (see the soft triangles during his "reminiscing over getting high" scene), when he's admitting something deep/personal and when Louis sits next to him/ when they have a nice heart-to-heart.

It's not a parallel, but its a detail I noticed and wanted to bring up.

Thats all for now.

(I'm still learning about Yahya and Gosha, but I can see parallels between the two and Louis and Legoshi. The difference is that I don't think Louis has a grudge against Legohsi for wanting to date haru and stuff. They're not important to this post yet, but I'll bring it up.)

[bengiyo]

My School President Ep 2 Stray Thoughts

Last week got off to a great start with what might be the best BL premiere I've ever seen from GMMTV. This has raised my expectations considerably. I was thrilled with the editing choices and the quality of the sound mixing. I'm also really enjoying the leads so far. I'm going to keep calling this show Lovesick 2.0, and I mean that with total affection.

Gemini is doing a great job with his eyes and time Tinn sees Gun for the first time in an interaction, especially when he's surprised. His eyes go wide like he wants to take all of him in, and then you see his throat tighten like he knows he needs to hold back. Once he settles, he's so considered about how he talks to him.

"You'll do anything? Then you must be my boyfriend." I see you, Lovesick 2.0.

Oh no it was a dream, but I did enjoy the effect of it all. Also fun to see an actress wearing the boys' school uniform. I wonder if Tinn saw Lovesick and that's why he's dreaming of that scenario.

Excited to see the beginning of the show from Tinn's perspective. It's refreshing to know that his crush has been burning for a long time.

His friend called Tinn out for simping too hard. I felt that.

This use of flashback is so well done. I complain sometimes about reusing footage, but taking us back to the scene where the music boys were looking for a club to show Tinn failing to flirt with Gun is 👌.

Oh no, Tinn went and started a beauty routine to attract Gun and it was overshadowed by that fight.

The Scrabble board currently reads, "KISS, TENDERNESS, MOMENTS, and COMPROMISE." Also, I hope they don't get sued for using an actual Scrabble board in this show.

The large text on screen is a stylistic choice we're seeing everywhere lately and I'm not exactly keen on it.

I like Tinn's friend, Tiw. I think the actor is Mark?

What was the direction for this scene? "Okay, we're about to add a new roadblock to the romance. When we take the instruments, everyone make sure to step on the rose on the way out. Then, Aou, you better kick the shit out of it."

Tinn really was about to take his shot at the "Be my boyfriend" line. I love him.

Gemini and Fourth are really solid together. Glad to see new actors are getting cultivated in the post-Nadao world.

Okay, but I wanna hear about the orchestra club going all the way to the Netherlands.

This is peak baby gay behavior. Sad because your parents are working on your birthday, and so you end up at a sweets cafe. The owner's attractive son brings you a tasty treat and then sings a lonely song well. You fall in love with him and never get over it, rearranging your life to get closer to him.

Tiwson coming in at the end of the year and fighting with everything he has for the NAMGOONG BEST BOY AWARD.

I'm enjoying BL including more scenes at home and getting the cast out of uniforms. It probably also lets them put them in tank tops and show off their bodies.

Tinn's dad has a secret guitar. OMG

Yes, let's make this handoff of the guitar as complicated as possible. Of course it worked. This is BL.

Tiwson saving the bit is another point on his campaign for best boy. Also glad Gun isn't clueless.

Noo don't hint about a special rule and then cutaway.

These boys have been up there for four hours? It's time to go.

Okay, they processed the bi'jesus out of Gemini's voice there. Goddamn.

I do like the choice to sing the song that made him fall for Gun.

Yes, Tinn is helping purely for business reasons. You'll have to work closely together, maybe late at night, and maybe he'll have to sleep over in the only bed.

More obstacles next week, but we're getting baited by a kiss I'm sure won't happen.

[first-and-last-neocount]

Thank you @coldestcaress for the tag!

Relationship status: ...it's complicated? But actually though. XD He's very cute and very shy, I asked him out and he wants to hang out as friends for now and see how it goes... We're kind of inhabiting a nebulous grey area now, but it's fine, I love spending time with him either way so I'm just rolling with it lol.

Favorite color: purple and blue. To the surprise of no one who's looked at my blog. Purple wins by a veeeery slim margin if I'm forced to pick.

Three favorite foods: pepperoni pizza, chicken quesadillas, and Nanaimo bars (desserts are food, don't @ me XD)

Song stuck in my head: Song Of Fire by Nickelback

Dream trip: I want so, so badly to see Petra in person. I've been fascinated with it since I was a kid, and I really hope that someday I'm able to afford a trip to Jordan to actually stand in front of Al-Khazneh.

Time: 11:07

Anything I really want rn: $500k. Nothing else. Pretty much everything wrong with my life would be fixed by that one lump sum, because all of my problems (other than, y'know, trauma) are direct results of me and my mom trying and failing to climb our way out of the financial hole someone else dug us into.

Last song: Silent Majority by Nickelback (can you tell I have been listening to Feed The Machine on a loop all morning? ROFL)

Last movie: went to a retro supper club that has a dine-in theatre with the Not-Boyfriend and saw Labyrinth two weeks ago. It was my... seventh? time seeing it, but his first, so I got to watch his reactions to that fabulous film in real time. :D

Currently watching: The Dragon Prince (I haven't forgotten, I've just been busy, lol) and Golden Kamuy (I know it's been like five months Potato but I swear I'm still going to pick it up again, I haven't abandoned it I've just been very distracted XD)

Currently reading: The Subtle Knife (starting it today on my lunch break in fact), Caliban's War (god The Expanse is so goooood), and since I finished my last non-fiction read last week I'll also be starting something in that category (considering They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children, even though reading Shake Hands With The Devil fucked me up for weeks, because I'm a glutton for punishment).

Currently craving: well, now that I've mentioned them, a Nanaimo bar!

Tagging @theobscurepotato @straysinfiltrator @peregrinealpha and anyone else who feels like jumping in!