#and if you can find a closed caption version- pick that

[live-from-new-york-its]

honor among thieves was an incredible movie and I will be paying to see it again in theaters, as a tribute to my love for john francis daley

[asbealthgn]

(the thrilling conclusion. also posted on ao3! here's some art of the kitten i did. part 1, 2, 2.5, 3)

The Corroded Coffin fan base find out about Steve entirely by accident.

It starts, of course, with the kitten. After Eddie’s had her for a few days he decides to make an official post on his Instagram, which is a big deal because he normally just lets his PR people handle posting. All he normally does is post shit to his story, but the kitten deserves more formal recognition than that.

So he picks his favorite pictures of her (his camera roll is filled to the brim at this point) and posts them with the caption meet the light of my life, Lemon Verbena Deathclaw Goblikon Munson (Lemon for short). It’s like kicking a wasp’s nest, but, like, the good version: everyone and their dog shares the post to their stories, edits set to any number of Corroded Coffin’s hit songs are spread across TikTok, coffintwt is in an uproar.

Several hours later, Eddie posts a video to his story. He films Lemon on the couch and asks her, “Miss Lemon, how does it feel to be the best, most famous cat in the world?” She responds by meowing loudly and trying to bite his camera. Steve is sitting on the couch, so part of his thighs end up in the video.

Aside from having great thighs, the odd sliver of Steve’s legs or torso or arms showing up in various photographs and videos that Eddie puts on his story over the next few days does not draw a lot of attention from the Corroded Coffin fanbase. If Eddie were to guess, he would probably say they assume it’s just Eddie or one of his bandmates. It’s not until Eddie posts a video of Lemon trying to climb onto the couch on her own and Steve’s hands make an appearance steadying her that people take notice. More specifically, the Twitter account that’s dedicated to posting close-ups of the members of Corroded Coffin’s hands posts a screenshot of the video with the caption those hands do not belong to our boys.

From there, it becomes a wild source of controversy on Twitter as coffintwt tries to figure out for sure if those hands belong to anyone in the band. There’s a lot of back and forth, but ultimately they seem to agree that the original poster is The Authority on the matter. Then it becomes a game of going back through other pictures of Lemon and trying to figure out if the guy showing up the background of so many of them is also someone outside the band. A lot of screenshots start flying around with captions like none of the corroded boys would wear yellow or the rest of the band other than eddie were in LA when this one was posted and so on and so on. 

A consensus is reached: Eddie has been spending a lot of time with someone not in the band, quite possibly a boyfriend.

On a rainy Tuesday three weeks after they met, Eddie lays back on his couch with Steve laying on his chest and Lemon laying on his chest. “They’re onto you, Stevie,” Eddie says. 

“Who’s onto me?” Steve asks, not looking away from the basketball game on the TV. He’s terminally offline and has been blissfully unaware of the saga unfolding. 

“Twitter,” Eddie explains. “My fans have noticed you in the background in a lot of pictures of Lemon and they’ve started putting the pieces together.”

Steve scratches Lemon under her chin and she purrs happily. “Why are they looking at me instead of her?”

“Hell if I know,” Eddie says, reaching around Steve to rub Lemon’s head. “It’s not like you’re super drop-dead gorgeous or anything.”

Grinning, Steve turns his head to kiss Eddie. “Thanks, baby.”

Before Steve can turn his attention back to the game, Eddie hooks his finger under his chin to keep Steve’s eyes on him. “I have a question for you,” he says, “Well, two questions.”

“What’s up?” Steve asks. 

“First, do you want to be my boyfriend?” Eddie knows that three weeks is kind of ridiculously fast, but Steve has practically moved in already, spending all his free time here and sleeping in Eddie’s bed most nights. So Eddie’s not super worried about what his answer is going to be.

Sure enough, Steve smiles. “Yeah, I do,” he says. He kisses Eddie before asking, “What’s the second question?”

“Well, since you said yes, do you mind if I post something about us to stop the speculation?”

“I don’t mind,” Steve says, “But can I tell Robin first so she finds out from me?”

Eddie nods. “Yeah, of course. Do you want to go ov—?” But oh, Steve is already pulling out his phone and calling Robin. Okay then. 

“Hey, Robbie! Just wanted to let you know that Eddie’s my boyfriend now….No, he wasn’t already….Well, we hadn’t talked about it….Okay, that’s kinda mean….No, it’s okay….Yeah, Lemon is great! Do you want to talk to her?” Steve holds the phone up to the kitten and she bites the microphone. Steve puts the phone back to his ear. “That was her….Okay, I actually have to go. I just wanted to tell you….Bye, love you!”

Steve puts his phone back in his pocket and then grins at Eddie. “Alright, I’m ready.”

“If there’s one thing about you, baby, you’re a go-getter,” Eddie says, laughing. He gets his own phone out and holds it out to take a picture of them. Lemon, who is fascinated by phones, looks up at the camera as he snaps the photo. Perfect. 

Eddie posts the picture with the caption the rumors are true, Lemon has two dads. she gets her looks from Steve’s side. Then he puts his phone down and wraps his arms back around Steve. He can worry about his fans’ reaction later. Right now, he has other plans.

“What do you say, boyfriend?” he murmurs in Steve’s ear. “Should we go put Lemon in the bathtub?”

tagging: @nburkhardt @stargyles @csinnamon-fox @manda-panda-monium @silly-jellyghoty @lifeisnotsobadonceyoustopcaring @starquirk @lightwoodbanethings @dramaticwriter @adaed5 @freyaforestafay @roaringgoodshow @sherrylyn628 @stevesbipanic @stevethehairington @henderdads @artiststarme @softboisteve @gregre369 @korixae @kokoshka67 @swimmingbirdrunningrock @piningapple @iwouldsail @thesuninyaface @aftermidnightwriting @hamiltonsteele @brassreign @bitchysunflower @homosexual-having-tea @adelicioustragedy @trashpocket @dramaticwriter @eddiemunsonswife @blackpanzy @bitchysunflower @adelicioustragedy @thegingerrapunzel @overhillunderhill @beckkthewreck @glittergluekintsugi @elyondelannoy @somegirlsomewhere @pluto-pepsi @shinekocreator @goodomensgurl @savory-babby @blues-tunes @babyblender @221b1tch

(tagging is having issues so i'll tag the rest in a reply)

[sturn1olo-ffics]

“That’s The Way I Loved You”

- Chris Sturniolo x Fem Reader (she/her pronouns used)

- based off the song “The Way I Loved You” Taylor’s Version by Taylor Swift

- WARNINGS: kissing (making out ‼️), mentions of fighting/arguing, crying, break up but happy ending; NOT PROOFREAD

- ABOUT: Chris and y/n get into a huge fight over Instagram comments and she breaks up with him. A month after, y/n decides it’s time to put herself out there again. She finds a great guy, but he’s just not Chris. That’s when she realizes what she really wants.

“I miss screaming and fighting and kissing in the rain. And it’s 2am and I’m cursing your name. So in love that you act insane. And that’s the way I loved you.”

(Y/N’s POV)

I sat down on my couch after a long day and decided to open up my phone and check Instagram. My notifications were blowing up and I didn’t know why.

Chris posted a picture of you at dinner the night before with the caption: “My girl.”

You smile and feel butterflies swarm your stomach as you like the post and comment “Cringe 🤓” just joking around with him.

You check the comments, only to see hate comment after hate comment being left.

User332: “Bro she’s not even pretty”

y/nhater617: “why is he lowering his standards for her 💀”

User984: “i hope they break up soon fr”

————————————————————————————

{ iMESSAGE }

Chris: Hey you free tonight or ??

Y/n: You wanna come over?

Chris: Ok mind listener

Y/n: You mean mind reader 😭😭

Chris: Whatever. I’ll be there at 5

————————————————————————————

(Time passes)

Chris was over at my house. He was leaned up against my counter and I was sitting on the island across from him.

Scrolling through TikTok, I realize that this is a good time to tell him how I’ve been feeling about his Instagram comments.

“Hey, can we talk about something that’s been bothering me?” I said with a frown.

“Uh- yeah sure. What’s wrong?” Chris said worriedly as he stepped closer toward me.

“I just- you’re Instagram comments are always full of people hating on me… and I was just wondering if-” I started to say before he cut me off.

“Just ignore ‘em” he says in a nonchalant manner, like he didn’t care at all.

“Can you tell them to stop or at least turn your comments off?” I asked in response.

“What? No. I’m not turning my comments off on Instagram. And there’s nothing I can say that will actually get them to stop.” Chris said in a defensive, almost angry tone.

“Can you at least try?” I started to get fed up.

“Y/n. Not everything is going to be perfect just for you.” the words slipped out of his mouth.

“What?” I said, tears filling my eyes.

“Y/n, I meant that I just can’t do anything about it. What do you want me to do? Become a magic wizard and cast a spell on all these little girls to stop hating on you? Even if I could, I still wouldn’t care enough.” Chris yelled.

“Wouldn’t care enough?” I said softly, tears falling out my eyes and running down my cheeks.

“Y/n- it’s just this kinda stuff is what you have to deal with- it’s like character development. It’s a part of life- a part of my life at least-” he started to say before I slid off the counter and started to walk away.

“I’m also a part of your life. And if this is what it’s going to be like, then I don’t want to be anymore.” I said while opening up my front door, signaling him out.

“Y/n, what? You’re gonna break up with me over this?” he said quickly.

“I just can’t right now, Chris.” I responded as he walked out and I closed the door behind him.

I slid down the back of my door, salty tears rolling one after another out of my eyes.

We had gotten in fights before, screaming at each other even, but this one was final.

(ONE MONTH LATER)

I met a boy while I was at the grocery store. His name was Henry and he was really cute and seemed super sweet. We got each others numbers and started hanging out almost every day.

—————————————————————————————

{ iMESSAGE }

Henry: Hi!! I’ll pick you up at 6 if that’s okay?

Y/n: Sounds great! Can’t wait.

—————————————————————————————

But the truth is, I could wait.

He’s sensible and so incredible. And all my single friends are jealous. But something just felt off, every time we were together.

It’s been a month since me and Chris broke up, and I knew I wanted to put myself out there. So why did this superhero of a guy just not seem like enough?

I started to think about Chris more and more. Which is weird because I started to not care about the break up about a week after it happened. I always seemed to move on quickly for some reason.

I picked my phone up and shot Henry a quick text, asking him for a rain check.

It actually was pouring down raining outside, so I figured he wouldn’t question it.

I put on “10 Things I Hate About You” and plopped down on my couch with a bowl of popcorn and a Pepsi.

Pepsi was Chris’ favorite drink, and it grew on me over time as well.

“I hate it when you’re not around and the fact that you didn’t call. But mostly I hate the way I don’t hate you, not even close. Not even a little bit. Not even at all.” the TV starts to play as I tear up.

Chris.

All I could think about was Chris.

He flooded my mind.

But why?

I started to get up and make my way to the fridge to grab the container of strawberries I was craving, but noticed I had already eaten them all.

“Great.” I said to myself. I really wanted those strawberries.

There was a grocery store at the end of my street, so I knew I could just walk down there and grab some.

I gather my things in my purse, put my shoes on, and grab my umbrella because it’s practically storming.

I reached for the doorknob, but before I could grab it, 3 knocks sounded at my door.

“Bruh I asked him for a raincheck. No way Henry’s outside my door right now.” I thought to myself.

I turned the knob and opened my front door, only to find Chris standing there. Soaked head to toe from the rain.

“Hi” he said out of breath.

“Chris?” I was confused.

“I take it you’re about to go hang out with Henry” he said, turning around.

“No, actually… I cancelled on him.” I said sharply.

Chris turned around and stared at me.

“What are you doing here?” I asked him.

“I- I don’t know. One minute, I was playing Fortnite on Twitch. And the next I was putting my shoes on to come here. I think I just-” he was saying before I cut him off with a kiss.

He leaned into the kiss almost immediately. Both of us getting soaked from the rain. But we didn’t care. We just craved each other.

He pulled back and tilted his head to deepen the kiss. One hand on my waist, the other on my back pulling me impossibly closer to him.

The kiss lasted for what felt like an hour, but was really 30 seconds.

“I’ve missed you. I’ve missed us.” I said with a smile, looking into his beautiful blue eyes.

He smiled back and pulled me into a longing hug.

“How about we go inside and dry off huh?” he joked.

“That, and you need to help me figure out how to let Henry down nicely.” I laughed.

“I love you, y/n” he said pausing his footsteps.

My heart jumped. He had never said this before.

“I love you too, Chris” I said with a smile.

—————————————————————————————

A/n: Hey guys! Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed. I’m trying to make my fics better, so let me know what I could change. Also, let me know what you wanna see next.

Thank you for 80 notes on my last fic!!!

[misogynisticmediatournament]

I think the warrior cats and warriors in your submission list are the same thing,btw do you have reccomendations of like. anything that writes woman well

Ah, you might be right; I think I skimmed that entry's propaganda, and it was very specific to whatever series it was about without dropping the full series name, and I was like "Maybe this is Warrior Cats? I feel lazy, I'm not going to look heavily into it."

So, as a reminder: use the full but common name for the series! For example, Miraculous Ladybug (this seems to be the most common title despite being a shortened version), Warrior Cats, BBC Sherlock, etc. And check that you don't have a space after the title's entry, as that counts as a different entry than the title without the space when using the UNIQUE function in Google sheets (which is how I count the unique entries).

As for recommendations, this is hard because I watch a lot of trash, especially recently, but:

- You can never go wrong with Revolutionary Girl Utena. Note: this show (and start with the show, not the movie) has a lot of potentially triggering stuff, so check out those warnings before you start if you have any triggers at all. It uses the triggering stuff very well and to tell its story and explore its themes, not just for, like, titillation though. Indeed, it is, I would argue, necessary for the story and themes the show seeks to explore. It is legally free on Youtube in...I want to say 480p, and in better resolution on Crunchyroll and Funimation (yes, Funimation's site is still up; I find it superior to Crunchyroll's since it actually includes closed captions for dubs, although it doesn't include newer anime from after the two companies merged). Also, you want to watch the sub for this. I'm normally not one to say "the dub is bad" and stuff and be a purist about it—in fact I normally go to bat for dubs—but, uh... yeah, the dub is bad this time. Crispin Freeman and Dan Green are delightful in it though, I'll give it that.

- Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood uses its female characters well. Maybe it could be better, I've seen some people in these tournaments have beef with it, but it's a pretty perfectly told story, like solid A+, with a lot of really great female characters who I find very satisfying so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. This is on Crunchyroll, Hulu, and I believe Amazon Prime?

- Don't let the title fool you: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is a fantastic show with great female characters who are complex and human, have compelling arcs, and are vital to the story. The relationship between Rebecca and Paula is central to the show and SO good, especially as the show goes on. The title is because it explores the trope of the crazy ex-girlfriend in a very humanizing way, and the title/opening song even mentions how the title is a sexist term, but it's a lot more nuanced than that. Also, it's a musical with very good original songs every episode. But check trigger warnings for this show too though. The show is streaming on Netflix last I checked.

- Uhh... maybe the first two seasons of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic? It's a kid's show, but it's good. I haven't seen it in years and years though, so I don't know if I can still fully vouch for it. I believe it is streaming on Netflix?

- Revue Starlight? I haven't thought about it heavily, but I had no beef watching it. This is streaming on HiDive.

- I've heard good things about Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, but I can't vouch for it personally. It's streaming on Crunchyroll.

UPDATE: Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury is also legally on youtube!

Honestly, I know more imperfect shows that I'm satisfied with, like I give it a B+ to A- at least, but that I haven't thought heavily about than stuff where I'm like, "Oh, yeah, definitely, definitely, nothing I'd pick out there as a problem." For example, Baccano! is probably imperfect (as well as not streaming legally anywhere), but I don't remember being, like, struck by a bunch of problems there. So, I'm not the best for recs that I can give a 100% guarantee for.

[thefactsofthematter]

for the fic title game!

“i dream of you almost every night (hopefully i won’t wake up this time)

- @we-are-inevitable ✨

@we-are-inevitable i am taking this title very literally but i think you’re gonna like this one 😁

davey jacobs has a crush.

and it’s not that weird. okay? he’s not a creep or anything. he’s just a normal guy… with extreme social anxiety, who pretty much only talks to his parents and his therapist on the day-to-day, far too freaked out to interact with anyone else. he tries not to be too hard on himself about his social ineptness— he’s mentally ill, it’s a disability, and it’s not his fault— but he often finds himself frustrated with the situation.

he’s taking online university classes, he works from home doing simple stuff like data entry and surveys and typing captions/transcripts (so that he can just take jobs from a database and do them himself without needing to send pointless emails or make calls), and he rarely leaves his apartment. he’s been diagnosed with agoraphobia, among several other overlapping anxiety disorders. he truly wants to get better— he checks in with his therapist every single day and he’s genuinely making progress— but it’s hard.

a big step for him is that he’s started going out to get a coffee every morning. he mobile orders it from the shop on his block, so that he doesn’t need to talk to anyone, but he still gets to go pick it up himself. someday, he’ll try to move on to actually talking to the staff or buying a drink that isn’t black coffee, but he’s not quite there yet.

there’s this barista. jack, his handwritten name tag reads. he’s there every morning, looking utterly joyful— he seems to truly enjoy making good coffee and greeting people and pouring fancy latte art to impress everyone waiting for their drinks. he’s pretty, in a way that most people aren’t. he’s a normal-looking person, not necessarily a model or anything, but his confidence shines through so brightly that it makes it hard to look away from him. simply put, davey is awe-struck by this beautiful man.

he doesn’t talk to jack, doesn’t even quite make eye contact with him, but jack starts to recognize him. he never pushes davey to interact, but smiles at him as soon as he walks in and has his coffee ready and greets him with things like there he is! right on time! here’s the usual, dave— have an amazing day! and davey always catches himself thinking about jack on his way home. it doesn’t even make him nervous that jack notices him and talks to him, because he finds he sort of likes it.

and then he has a dream about jack. you see, in his dreams, davey isn’t so anxious— he can talk to people without his throat closing up, and he can go out and do things without the utter terror that tends to grip him when he deviates from his routine. it’s an escape from real life, and he often looks forward to living in that world for some brief relief. he has a dream where he decides to take his laptop to the coffee shop to sit there and work, and then jack comes over to talk to him, and they hit it off and exchange numbers.

the dreams don’t stop. almost every night, jack is there— or rather, this fantasy version of jack that davey’s lonely and anxious brain has invented. davey doesn’t actually know the guy past their daily customer-employee interactions, where jack has a one-sided conversation while davey forces a polite smile. in davey’s fictional world, though, they’re in love <3

there’s 2 ways this au could go from here. option one, davey tells his therapist, who helps him thoroughly unpack the unhealthy obsession and eventually, after that’s dealt with, encourages him to actually introduce himself to jack and see where real life takes him. it’s cute and sweet and it turns out they do make a very good pair.

option two (which i think you’ll like jac bc i know you love a toxic javid au) is that davey gets a little unhinged.

the obsession grows, and he doesn’t tell anyone about it. he finds jack’s social media, figures out where he lives and who he knows, and starts to piece together every bit of information that he can. it’s not like he’s going to use it for anything— that would be creepy. he’s obviously not a stalker or some kind of freak… he just likes jack. he likes knowing about him, likes seeing him every day, and loves seeing him in his dreams, where everything is coming together as realistically as possible. it’s not just at night anymore, no, he daydreams constantly about the life that he’s convinced he’s supposed to be living. if he weren’t such a shut-in, he’d be happy. he’d have jack. that’s how things should be.

i’ll leave it open to interpretation how far this goes— maybe the obsession fades and jack never finds out. maybe davey goes too far. he’s definitely not quite joe from you (which i haven’t watched but have heard enough about to know that this au is starting to have similar vibes) but he’s def got a creepy side to him. idk. i’m never actually going to write this, but i feel like it could make an interesting psychological horror kinda thing to go with this option 👀 feel free to use your imagination!!

[rigelmejo]

Its not much but its honest work ToT

Yesterday I read:

1 chapter of hanshe (I’m extensive reading, which is artificially easier than usual since I’ve read this before so even if I ‘forgot’ words, I honestly know them somewhere in my brain so they come back easily when reading)

2 chapters of Granting You a Dreamlike Life (eirenical’s translation reminded me ToT! Honestly if it weren’t for hanshe’s author’s writing being SUPER familiar to me, I think GYADL author actually writes a bit easier to read. The difficult part is the unrecognizable words I Actually have never studied before, unlike hanshe, so I have to put in a bit more effort to figure them out)

1 chapter of Journey to the West Vernacular. Easiest version I’ve ever read of this story, it feels like a graded reader. But has a slight style to it which makes it enjoyable. Easier to read than GYADL, but again hanshe is artificially easiest since somewhere in my brain I have all the words in it stored ToT.

0.5 chapters of ‘Liu Li’. So I had a link to Liu Li, Love and Redemption’s novel. Well. That link was apparently fanfic, I read a few paragraphs and oddly sects were being called businesses...then Ling Long said she got a job... then Sifeng showed up in a western style suit with GLASSES. And I was like yep this is definitely definitely the WRONG story lol. I actually have the print version of Liu Li in my house but its in a box right now ;-;. So yeah... I’ll need to go looking for this novel again lol, somehow I’d saved a fanfic last time I bookmarked it.

Honestly yes, I still just want to extensively read Guardian. But who knows when I’ll get the bravery to try that again. I also tried reading some japanese detective novels translated into Chinese (since that was what was popular in the section of a site i was browsing through). But um... seeing hanzi that represent japanese names just fried my brain way too much and I bailed after 1 paragraph. (Truly: I saw Tokyo written in hanzi in the first sentence, and my brain pronounced it the chinese hanzi way and it just hurt my brain to think about i don’t even know why).

Yesterday and today I listened to:

Final Fantasy VII lets play in japanese, I found a new lets player I like. She cosplays sometimes for them (for IX she dressed as zidane!) I used the closed captions on youtube so I had some japanese subs. It was artificially easier since I’ve played the game in english, so I could guess what words meant what. That said - I think that makes learning from it easier. I think that means if I just relaxed and watched a lets play of a game I’ve played, I’d pick up a lot of words from context that otherwise would be too difficult to learn as quickly. I know whenever I check out Kingdom Hearts cutscenes I can figure out words easy (cause I know that game by heart lol)

Midnight Diner condensed audio (I found a lot of japanese audio lately). I could catch bits and pieces of things said, which I honestly consider a success considering how hard it was to watch IN japanese only last time I tried. I did not follow what was going on, but just catching some bits of dialogue meaning was cool!

Final Fantasy X condensed audio. This is proof that (somehow) I could learn some new words from audio-only resources in japanese, specifically if they’re media I’m already familiar with. I know the scenes and characters SO well I have figured out a few words just now listening as I work. And I can tell what scene I’m hearing fairly easily (music cues and sound effects same as in english, actors have the same ‘vibe’ even though they’re japanese VAs), which makes guessing words easier since I know the topic. And then, I find recognizing words I ALREADY know easier (since I know the scene’s context I can expect them) - which is good review for me and helps improve my listening comprehension. Also I finally really hammered in soshite - and, dakara - because, oyaji - dad/pops, sekai - world, dekimasu - can! (also its so cute Lulu uses ‘anta’ when I’ve only otherwise heard anta used by yakuza in the Yakuza games ToT). Anyway just notes for me personally: I think its really cool to see that I can pick up NEW stuff and make improvements just listening to audio. Because I would have thought that ‘too hard’ to do at my level.

Alice in Wonderland in Japanese, read-listened in DuoReader app. Well. I did 5 pages. It was hard. I read a LOT of hiragana without kanji to help me as a crutch. Japanese and English have such different sentence structure that the english text did not help with comprehending the audio much lol. So I mostly followed the japanese text with the japanese audio. I do feel I learned some stuff. It was brain frying though. Although, I suppose, Listening Reading Method often does make me feel exhausted. Its a very intensive study method. 

Can you tell I’ve been listening to a lot of japanese?? Studying japanese feels so much like I’m jumping in an ocean and going ‘LETS SEE ALRIGHTY’ and then treading water randomly to see if I’ll float or find any islands or drown. But when I use reading resources (because I did jump into trying to read Alice in Wonderland in japanese yesterday with audio), I find myself so reliant on kanji (based on my hanzi knowledge) that it really hinders my ability to pick up new hiragana words. I find this whole past year I’ve been a lot more successful doing mainly audio focus on japanese. But audio focused lessons also mean a lot more unknowns unless I’m using full on english-japanese sentence audio.

[ageofnations]

Chamomile // drw // Pt.III

Summary: Danny often feels overshadowed by his best friends and bandmates. You, however, can't seem to get your mind off of him.

Paring: Danny x fem!reader

Word Count: ~2.8k

Warnings: talk of mental health, hangover symptoms (and medicine for such symptoms)

A/N: i never could find the actual interview i based this from, so i just came up with one of my own. PLZ remember that this is fictional and in no way how i think the boys actually treat Danny. thank you guys for all of your support <3

Serie s Masterlist

Part III

It seemed as if the concept of sleep was foreign to you tonight. Despite the protest of the others, you chose the couch. You were adamant that they sleep in their own beds, even through their slurred arguments. But because of their drunken states, they didn’t put up much of a fight.

Usually, you found it easy to sleep on the boys’ couch. You had done it so many times before that it seemed almost second nature to you. The curve of the cushions and the familiar fragrant scents brought comfort similar to that of a lullaby. Tonight was different though. You were restless and found it hard to keep your eyes closed for long. You went from too hot to too cold, comfortable to uncomfortable. You tossed and turned until you finally gave up completely on trying to fall asleep. You picked up your phone off the table beside the couch, deciding to pass the time with more social media.

One of your favorite hobbies was searching the hashtags related to the band and looking through the mountains of fanmade content. You loved seeing videos and pictures of old performances, especially from the earlier years of Greta Van Fleet. You sometimes shared funny memes with the boys and read through stories to see how the fictional versions of the boys matched with reality. You were just about to switch the social media platform you were investigating when you came across a portion of a written interview with Danny. You read the caption before anything.

“This makes me so sad for Danny,” it said, paired with various crying emojis. The comments and tags matched the nature of the caption.

You were curious as to what the fuss was all about, so you decide to read the screenshots yourself.

Interviewer: So you’ve been going for a while now, but do you ever still get nervous when going out on stage?

Danny: Absolutely. I’d like to say I’m lucky that I sit at the back of the stage. Josh, Jake, and Sam are closer to the fans than I am, so they don’t get to mask their nerves as much. I’ve come up with strategies and tactics to calm down if I ever need them though.

Interviewer: Have you ever needed to use those?

Danny: More often than not, yeah. I had to work really hard to get where I am today, and I’m still trying to improve. I came into the band known as the “replacement,” and some days, I still feel like my spot in the band is fragile. Like they’d kick me out if I messed up. That feeling on top of performing in front of thousands of fans is terrifying.

Interviewer: And would they? Kick you out?

Danny: We’ve grown to be brothers essentially, so I’d hope they wouldn’t. But I can only hope they keep me around as long as the band is around.

Interviewer: But you’re the only one who isn’t a biological brother right?

Danny: Yeah, which is why I feel so fragile in the band. They all have a special bond that I could never have. Kicking out a family member would be much harder than just a close friend. Everyday I’m thankful that I’m still in the band.

Interviewer: Are there any perks to not being a brother?

Danny: Yeah, I mean, I guess I have a form of leverage over them. I can call things out how they are and mediate when necessary. I help things go as smoothly as possible, and I’ve been given the role of the middle man. When it comes down to it, I feel like that’s why they keep me in.

That was all the snippet included. There were no links, no sources, no context. You locked your phone and set it back down on the table.

You felt sad. There was an indescribable pain in your chest that you could only attribute to sadness.

Danny had talked to you about his insecurities with his playing, especially during and after his injury, but he had never expressed something like this. Feeling like he was only still in the band as a peacemaker for the others? It hurt to even imagine him doubting himself that much. He was an amazing drummer and an even better person to be around. He mattered more than he would ever know.

You wondered if the others knew about what was said in this interview. If he didn’t mention it to you, you imagined he hadn’t talked to his band mates about how he was feeling. You didn’t know if you should ask him about it or if you should just act like you hadn’t seen the interview at all.

You felt a stray tear fall from your eye, but you quickly wiped it away. You didn’t realize that you had started crying, and honestly, you didn’t know why you were crying at all. You felt a little helpless in the situation and guilty that you hadn’t noticed any difference until today.

You sat up and brought your knees to your chest. Before you could continue to overthink what you had read, you heard shuffling in the kitchen behind you.

“Bip?” you heard Danny’s groggy voice call out from the darkness.

Your body went stiff, but you turned your head in response. You were thankful that he couldn’t see your tear-stained cheeks.

“Did I wake you?” he whispered. “I’m sorry, I just got thirsty.”

“No, you didn’t wake me, Danny,” you rasped back. His apology caused your guilt to flourish even more. “I can’t sleep.”

He turns on a dim light in the kitchen. It barely lit the room, but it was just enough to be able to barely see in the living room. You heard him turn on the faucet briefly to fill his glass with tap water. “Me neither.”

“Is something wrong?”

He takes a sip before answering with, “Just a long day.” He quietly walks to you. “Care if I sit with you for a bit?”

You weakly smile at him. “Of course not.”

Instead of sitting at the other edge of the couch, he sits on the cushion directly beside you. His body heat prickled your shoulder, and you could’ve swore he was leaning into you a bit. You sat in brief silence, not looking at one another, before you finally started a conversation to keep your mind from drifting to the interview.

“How’s Josh’s hand?”

He let out an airy laugh devoid of any humor. “He’s okay. It’s burnt, but nothing a little Neosporin can’t handle.”

You laugh but wince when you feel a throbbing pain in your head. You were mostly sober at this point, but all of the beers were starting to catch up to you. Danny glanced at you as soon as he heard the noise come out, and his eyes stopped at the table beside you. Earlier, he had set out two painkillers for you to take before you slept to avoid the hangover symptoms. You still hadn’t taken them.

“You really should take those, ya know,” he noted. You could sense the worry in his voice, but you tried to put that out of your mind.

“I’ll be okay,” you said with a smile as you massaged your temples.

“I know you will, but I want you to be okay now. Here.” He handed you the glass of water he had been sipping on. Once you grabbed it from him, he reached across you to the table. You blushed at the feeling of having him so close, draped across you.

He grabbed the two pills and held them out to you. “Please take them. I promise it’ll help. Especially in the morning.” His eyes dig into yours in his best endeavor to persuade you away from your stubbornness.

You took the pills from him and took them with a swig of water. The feeling of being taken care of and looked after was comforting, but you were also embarrassed from being babied.

“Thank you,” Danny said sweetly.

The blush you wore grew as you realized he had dropped his hand to rest right above your knee. You felt his hand twitch slightly once you noticed the placement, but he never moved away from you.

“Thanks, mom,” you tease in an attempt to lighten the nerves inside of you. You think it works until he laughs at the joke and pulls away right after giving a small squeeze. You watch his reaction, secretly proud that you somehow made him genuinely laugh through his sleep deprivation.

Once the laughter dies down, you settle back into silence. You can sense the tension in Danny’s body language. He focuses on his hands as he picks at his cuticles. He licks his lips and clears his throat nervously to prepare his next sentence.

“Thank you, for checking on me today.” His voice had lowered to a whisper again. “Both times, I guess. It felt nice to know someone noticed that something was wrong, but I’m sorry to make you worry.”

You were slightly shocked to hear the openness in his admission. He had seemed so closed-off all day that this was a bit of a change in pace.

“You don’t have to apologize, Danny. You’re my best friend.”

He cracked a smile at you. “And you’re mine.”

“You know you can talk to me, right?”

He nodded. “I know,” he breathed. “I appreciate you so much, Bip.”

He always sensed the times that using that nickname would make you smile. You ran your finger around the rim of his glass that you were still holding. This was another time you wished you knew what he was thinking. This moment didn’t feel completely platonic, but you didn’t want to be the one to bring it up and potentially ruin what friendship you did have.

But you couldn’t deny the obvious feelings blooming for him.

“Sometimes,” he started again, breaking you away from your thoughts. “-it’s a little hard to talk about how I’m feeling, ya know?”

Of course you knew. You knew with every fiber of your being how he was feeling, but you didn’t respond, egging him to go on.

“I’m so used to taking care of other people that it’s difficult to process when others want to take care of me,” he finished.

“The helper needs help too,” you say. “It takes practice to get used to it, but you do so much for me, for all of us. You’ve got to let us reciprocate that.”

You could almost see the gears turning in his head as your words soaked in. He nodded and took a deep breath.

You hesitated before asking. “Do you want to talk about what has been bothering you?” You felt the tension return, and you immediately regretted asking. “You don’t have to-“

“I need to,” he interrupted. He silently sorted through his thoughts, trying to come up with a sentence that described all of his emotions. You could tell he was trying to not talk himself out of the conversation completely. “I don’t feel like I’m part of the band.”

There it was. The thing that has been bothering him for God knows how long. It was finally in the open, and he needed to talk about it.

“W-what? Danny, they love you.”

“They say that, yeah. I just don’t feel it sometimes.” He shifted his concentration to a string that was loose on his shirt. “The guys get front stage, I sit in the back. Sometimes I don’t even get a light that shines on me.” He sighed. “When it comes to concert outfits, the designers rarely even ask for my input because people won’t see me as much. It’s depressing.”

You opened your mouth, but he wasn’t finished.

“I feel like I’m a manager more than anything. I mean…you saw them today in the studio. It’s like that all the time. I didn’t even get a say in anything today, but the only reason they stopped arguing is because I reminded them that they could just use their other riffs and melodies in future songs.” His breath faltered once he cut himself off, and you could hear the tears forming.

You reach over to grab one of his hands away from the string he had been distracting himself with and rested your clasped palms on his leg. It wasn’t until then that he looked up at you.

“Danny, you have got to talk to them about this. I don’t know when, or how, but you need to. I noticed the way they treated you today, and you don’t deserve that. But I also know that they probably don’t realize that what they’re doing is hurting you. They’d want you to speak up.” You end your words by squeezing his hand.

He rubbed his thumb against yours, choosing to forego a verbal response.

“You're their best friend. They would do anything for you, just as you’d do anything for them. They are so lucky to have you, Danny.” Sincerity was dominant in your voice as you corrected yourself. “We are so lucky to have you.”

You two sat, shoulders pressed together, hands clasped as one, for a few silent minutes. You felt at peace knowing that he felt comfortable confiding in you. His fingers being intertwined with yours made you feel connected to him, in more ways than you could describe.

“I- I don’t know what I’d do without you, Y/N.”

Of all things, that was not on the list of things you expected to hear come from him. You grin at him to try to mask the butterflies in your belly, which were growing every passing second. You hoped he didn’t take your silence as discomfort because that was far from what you were feeling.

He shifted beside you and started to stand from his place on the couch. The disappointment from the idea of him getting up made your blood run colder than it had been. You frowned to yourself, but quickly straightened your face.

“I could make some tea before I try to go lay back down. It might help the both of us go to sleep,” he chuckled.

And just as fast as your smile faded, it reappeared. He was back to the same ole Danny that cared so deeply for others.

“That sounds great, yeah.”

He started walking towards the kitchen, but he didn’t let go of your hand until he absolutely had to. You heard him laugh softly once your grasps were ripped from one another from the distance growing between you. While he started to make the tea, you thought to yourself, replaying the conversation in your mind while you patiently waited for him to return.

You had already started to drift in and out of sleep by the time he was done making the tea. He tried to lightly set the cup on the table beside you, but the soft clink made your eyes snap open fully.

“Looks like you don’t even need the tea anymore,” he taunts.

A laugh was forced out of you as you yawned. “And let all your hard work go to waste? Never.” You grabbed the cup and sipped away at the warm liquid. The drowsiness you were experiencing only escalated once the chamomile tea entered your system. You two carried on soft whispers of sleepy conversation until you had finished your beverages.

He took the cups to the sink and washed them as quietly as possible. You had rested your head on the back on the couch with heavy eyelids. He was wiping his hands as he hesitantly asked, “Do you…wanna sleep in my bed?”

You couldn’t hide the smile that crept onto your sleepy face. “As long as you’ll let me cuddle you like old times.”

“I don’t see how that benefits you, but I’m always down if you’re offering,” he shrugs and grabs the blanket you had been lying under. There was a baby pink tint on his cheeks that you couldn’t see. “Come on.”

Once you had transported your belongings to his room, you climbed under the warm comforter and blankets. He had turned on a fan, knowing that you slept best with white noise. As promised, he scooted as close to you as he could, his back flush against your chest. You brought one of your arms to rest under your head and play with his hair while the other arm was draped across his waist.

As you let your mind and body rest, you smiled at the familiarity of this position, having done this countless times before during sleepovers and movie nights at your apartment. Though, there was something different about it this time.

He was clutching the hand that you had placed over his belly.

————

>>>part IV

taglist (click here to join!): @gretavanflowerpower @joshkiszkas @teenagesublimefan @streamsofstardust @fireandsaltydogs @gretavanflipflop @kdarling1 @greta-van-chaos @stardustingold

thank you for reading <3

[skygent]

An Excerpt from Chapter 1 of Amity Blight: Powerful Witch, Awesome Girlfriend and Unintentional Samus Aran Cosplayer

Art by Sunati!

…

As the Blight family airship, The Profundity, flew through the clouds, Amity struggled to change into the strange undergarment her father insisted she needed to wear. The purple fabric was soft but seemed to radiate magic and was decorated with lavender accents and was so extensive it even had gloves for her hands and booties for her feet.

“Dad, what is this for again?”

“Think of it like a second skin, it’s supposed to protect you from whatever we may find out in Titan’s Shadow.” He explained from his cabin as the passenger carriage shook. “It’s your last line of defense in case your hazard suit is compromised. I call it a zero suit.”

As Amity zipped up the suit, she turned around and smiled at her old home away from home. When she was little her parents hated leaving her home with any kind of sitter when they went on business trips, so they had a small passenger cabin set up in what used to be the ship’s parlor.

It was a little spartan when it came to its features, with only a simple bed, bare metal walls, and a few teal-colored light rails above her bed and at its sides, to keep the Bandersnatch away of course.

It had been so long since her last trip on this ship that there was still an Azura plushie by the foot of the bed, right where her father had set it before carrying her back into the manor and tucking her into bed after they returned from a neighboring isle late one night.

A night that felt like it was a lifetime ago.

She smiled at the plush, remembering how her father had got it for her one day while out of the market with her mother before she picked up her scroll and took a picture of it for Luz.

Look, I found an old friend!

After a few minutes, her girlfriend answered.

Sooo cute! I love her, I’m glad you reunited!

A follow-up message quickly appeared.

How’s it going so far?

It’s fine. I was just getting changed. She typed with a grin before examining herself in the mirror and taking a picture of herself before sending it to Luz with the caption:

Bring your daughter to work day uniform. How do I look?

After a brief delay, she received her response.

Hnnng, like the most gorgeous witch on The Isles.

Amity blushed and turned to the side before she took another picture.

How about from this angle?

Her girlfriend’s response was immediate.

Amity please, I’m trying to study! this is torture!

The lavender-haired girl giggled as typed out a reply.

Am I distracting you? 😉

Luz replied with a gif of a small bird sweating profusely.

Y E S

Then came a follow-up message.

…can you bring that outfit on our trip?

Amity waited a few minutes before replying to that one, content to keep her beloved guessing.

Maybe I will…maybe I won’t…

Luz’s responses came flooding in, making Amity cackle.

THIS IS AWFUL

I'M GONNA DIIIIE

You killed meeee

The last message was accompanied by a black and white picture of Luz looking up at the sky with her tongue hanging out and her eyes closed with the words ‘RIP Luz Noceda’ written elaborate cursive.

Cause of death? Amity wondered.

Gay panic. Very tragic. Affects millions.

Amity snickered before she decided to deploy the coup de grace. She pulled up one leg and tucked it behind her as she raised one arm and made a v-shape with her fingers before closing one eye and taking the picture as her father knocked on the door.

“We’ll be landing soon. Make sure you put your hazard suit on as well.” He warned as Amity typed in a caption before sending the message.

Gotta go. study hard, love you! xoxo

Luz’s reply was a quick sketch of a chibified version of herself with a ghost leaving her body with the words you got it, babe, love you more! following the image.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/37879588/chapters/94590625

[cherryonigiri]

my divider tutorial

hey everyone! I’ve been seeing a lot of people asking about how to make text dividers + banners on my feed, thought I would just do a quick tutorial on how I make my stuff! 

link to banner tutorial here. 

For context - I don’t have photoshop, and I pretty much had zero experience in anything graphic/web design when I first started making these for my blog. I’ll be using free programs that are all accessible through a web browser, so there is no need for you to download any kind of software to do this!

Dividers: Photopea

photopea is free to use and it has a browser mode so you don’t need to download it to be able to use/edit photos! The only downside is that it won’t save projects after you close your tab. So you’ll need to make sure to download png/jpgs of anything you make in photopea onto your computer (which you’d need to do anyways to insert the banners into a tumblr post) before closing the tab.

1) go to photopea (photopea.com)

2) click File > New

3) Create a new project - for my dividers I usually use 520 px (horizontal) by 5 px (vertical). I also usually title my dividers, so if I need to reuse them (for a series/multiple creations) I can find them in my downloads/writing folder.

4) Pick you color

You should now see a white bar in your workspace. Click on the color picker tool. It’s the icon with two overlapping squares near the bottom of the tool bar on the left side of your screen

I usually just try to choose a color that matches the banner/aesthetic of my banner for the series/writing piece. Click “OK” when you’re happy with the color.

If you want to directly sample a color from a banner, you can use the sample/inkdrop tool in photopea. You can do this by opening your banner image in photopea (I’m using one of my banners as an example).

you can click on any part of your banner using the inkdrop tool (it automatically records it in the color picker tool) to sample that color, then switch back to your divider tab.

6) Fill your divider - go to the Edit Menu (upper left corner) > Fill 

Then fill your divider (I usually use 100% opacity and don’t really mess with the settings)

7) IMPORTANT: DOWNLOAD YOUR DIVIDER AS AN IMAGE (JPG recommended)

This is really important! Since photopea’s free version DOES NOT SAVE projects, make sure to download anything you’ve finished before closing the tab. I recommend downloading in JPG format, as tumblr now resizes png images/messes up the look on desktop for PNGs.

8) Add the banner to you post! 

I usually use the photo post option when using banners (Banner goes in the photo album part of the post, and the caption is my writing)

You can add the banner by clicking the camera button in the draft editor (press enter to create an empty line and you should be able to see it)

And then you’ll have the pretty line/text divider! 

Hope this helps if anyone needs it - if you need help with banners, I made a quick tutorial about using Canva + where to find images to use for banners!

[realcube]

randomly falling asleep with hq!! characters 💤

navi | masterlist | taglist 

thank you anon for this cute request!

characters: ushijima, tsukishima & yachi 

content warning: swearing, mentions of sexual assault 

thank you to anon for this cute request

wakatoshi ushijima

♡ he shows affection in his own...special way 😊

♡ by that, i mean that if you fall asleep while sitting next to him and he thinks you look cute, he’ll just stare (●__●)

♡ like deadass if he was anyone else, it’d be creepy as hell but he’s your bf so-

♡ he stares bc not only do you look precious, but he doesn’t want to touch you as he’s afraid that he might wake you up

♡ though, if you’re in public (like sitting next to him on the train) he might gently put his arm around your shoulders to make sure that onlookers know that you’re safe with him

♡ also, it only takes one time for him to catch on to your habit of disappearing and falling asleep in the most unconventional places and istg he is the BEST at guessing where you are - it’s a gift

♡ like he’ll arrive home and if you’re not there to immediately greet him with kisses, he’ll take a moment - let him boyfriend senses take over and walk him over to whatever room is giving him ✨(y/n) vibes✨, open the door and there is a 99% chance you are in that room sleeping 

♡ and he probably got it right first guess (which is a pretty big deal considering y’alls house resembles a sims fkn mansion made with motherload money)

♡ he’ll open the door to the storage cupboard to find you sleeping with the mr muscle spray and it’s such a shame bc he was going to be a clown and make a ‘why are you cheating on me?’ joke but you were in REM sleep 🙄

♡ or he’ll walk in to the conservatory and see you laying in the fetal position on the floor and that is the ONLY time he interferes with your sleep bc he doesn’t want you to fuck up your back 🥺

♡ like he has an obsession with your posture - like if you are slouched he will tell you to stand up straight or if you are sitting hunched in a chair, he’ll creep up behind you to start massaging your shoulders while fixing your posture 

♡ not to be rude though- just bc he cares

♡ also, he never questions how you end up falling asleep in the most random of places, he just goes with it 

♥　♡　♥　♡　♥　♡　♥

ushijima sighed as he hung up his jacket, realising that this was one of those days were you won’t come scurrying to the front door to greet him with kisses and instead he had to hunt through in search of you. although, it wasn’t much of a hunt considering his gut instinct said you’d be in the study room and there you were, cuddled up by the bookshelf. 

however, your back was hunched over in way that didn’t look to comfortable so ushijima thought it was his duty to transport you to somewhere that there was a lot more appropriate and fit for sleeping.

so he gently slipped one hand behind your back and the other under your knees to slowly pick you up and carry you to your shared bedroom. is efforts may have been in vain though as he noticed one of your lids flutter open out of the corner of his eye, “good afternoon, sweetheart.” he hummed, steadily shifting his hand from your back to the back of your head to tenderly caress your cheek with his thumb as you cuddled into his chest. “are you awake?”

“No.” you groaned.

“Shame, I was going to suggest going out for walk on the beach--”

“I’m awake! Let’s go!” 

kei tsukishima 

♡ he probably calls you lazy but he’s really just jealous of how well you can sleep

♡ coz he just lays in bed till 4AM staring at the ceiling 

♡ i imagine that if you were to fall asleep next to him in a crowded, bustling place - like on a train - he’d take off his headphones and clasp them over your ears so the loud announcements don’t wake you up  

♡ he doesn’t fall asleep on transport btw (not even planes) so don’t worry about missing your stop 

♡ though he’s not usually a fan of PDA, he’ll hold your hand without a second thought to lead you out the train when you’re still recovery from the post-sleep haze because of course he doesn’t want to lose you in the crowds of people or anything

♡ and if you have a cute lil sleepy face then he might take a picture but he’d probably edit the picture with snapchat or something and draw like a moustache on you, put a sarcastic caption or something then send it to you 

♡ (but he’d save an unedited version of the pic bc you’re adorable-)

♡ like tsukki leaves you on delivered most of the time on snapchat bc he believes if you have something important to say, you’ll just message him normally but the rare occasion you do get a snap from him, don’t get your hopes up bc there is a 99% it’s just something like a picture of you with a drawn on crown and the caption ‘sleeping beauty 🙄’ 

♡ ‘so you think i’m a beauty 🥺’

♡ then he leaves you on read

♡ he will not carry you under any circumstances in public btw

♡ and at home, if you were to fall asleep on the couch next to him while y’all were watching a movie, there’s a 50/50 that’d he carry you to bed 

♡ but if he doesn’t take you to bed, he’ll set down a pillow for you on the couch and shift you around so you were laying in a more comfortable position, then drape a blanket over you 

♡ in regards to when he comes back from work, you’re usually already asleep in bed - but there is one time that you were not in the bedroom, and he still teases you for it until this day 

♥　♡　♥　♡　♥　♡　♥

most of the time, you’re sound asleep in bed by the time gets home but tonight you weren’t - in fact, you were no where to be seen. he had searched everywhere, called your phone multiple time and he looked at your schedule, but it appeared as though you were supposed to home right now - so hours, he was sitting fretfully on the couch, contemplating calling the police.

however, all his distressed pacing really worked up an appetite so he poked his head into the pantry to grab a snack but his soul almost left his body when he noticed you laying on the floor, fast asleep, with the cat curled up in your arms. who he didn’t even noticed was missing lol

usually, he wouldn’t even think of waking you up but the rage and shock that shot through his body resulted in him barking out, “what the fuck?! what are you doing here?! i’ve been looking all over this damn house for you and--”

he was cut off by the cat springing out of your arms from the surprising sharpness of his voice and scurrying off, leaving you confused on the floor on the pantry, half asleep, wondering how you got here and why tsukishima was yelling at you? “hm? what’s wrong, sweetie?” you hummed, rubbing your eyes while tilting your head up to look at his tall, slender figure looming over you in the doorway.

as much as tsukishima wanted to stay mad at you, upon noticing how cute your bedhead was along with how soft your voice was, he quickly realised that there was no way he could continue yelling you. so instead, he scoffed and slowly kneeled down to sit next to you on the floor, looking at you with kind yet concerned eyes as he inquired, “why were you sleeping in the pantry?”

it took you a moment to try and remember but once you did, you blurted out, “oh, berry was having trouble sleeping.” yes your cat is called berry. don’t question it. her full name is strawberry tsukishima shortcake. “so i cuddled with her in her favourite sleeping spot and she slept like a baby. but i guess i did too.” yo chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of your neck. 

tsukishima mentally cursed you out as he was expecting a silly explanation but shit that’s cute. why does he lowkey want to join y’all next time?

hitoka yachi

♡ gsrbtrhryh she gets so flustered and nervous when you fall asleep with her

♡ and she always does tbh bc she has no idea what to do 

♡ like she thinks you look so precious and angelic so she really wants to take a picture and - if she thinks you’d be okay with it - she clicks a photo and probably sets it as her background or posts it on her private story

♡ she is just so head over heels for you tbh that everything you do just astounds her 

♡ she just stares at you like ◉_◉ for half an hour bc you are so beautiful then something inside her just prompts her to lean in and just *mwah* and at first she is quite satisfied bc she has expressed her affection 

♡ but then a few seconds later her soul just leaves her body and guilt just washes over her 

♡  ‘OMG I JUST ASSULTED MY OWN S/O’

♡ she feels horrible 

♡ this close 👌 to calling the police on herself

♡ when you wake up, prepare to be bombarded with her apologies 

♡ once you reassure that it’d fine bc it was just a lil peck on the cheek and she is your girlfriend after all, it brings her the slightest peace of mind

♡ so you peck her cheek while she is asleep to call it evens and that basically fixes it 

♡ but anyway, she is so careful around you when you sleep - like she will literally do the most just to ensure that she doesn’t interrupt your REM sleep

♡ however, that can lead to extremely sticky situations - like the first time you ever fell asleep around her 

♥　♡　♥　♡　♥　♡　♥

You were on the 5th movie of your barbie movie marathon when she looked over and noticed you had fallen asleep half way through, so she immediately paused it so the noise wouldn’t wake you up. This was the first time she had ever seen you sleep and she felt somewhat flattered that you felt safe enough around her to be vulnerable - even though, yachi never really considered herself to be a rather daunting or intimidating person.

she couldn’t help but just sit and admire you for a few minutes before realising that she should probably transport you to somewhere more comfortable as you were currently sitting next to her on the pink beanbag in her room. and although  it was kinda comfy, the preferable alternative - her bed - was only a few feet away.

so she knew what she had to do.

she hopped to her feet and before she did anything too hasty, she stretched to ensure that she wouldn’t pull a muscle while doing what she was about to try. she inhaled deeply before crouching down - instead of bending over as she remembered what coach ukai had told her, ‘lift with your legs!’ - then snaking her arms under your torso and knees.

then, she sprung back up and immediately rushed over to the bed as even though you weren’t too heavy, she was afraid that if she held you for too long, you’d wake up. so once she reach the foot of her bed, she tossed you on so your neck was being supported by her soft pillow and yanked her duvet over you. 

she gazed lovingly down at your cozy figure laying on her bed and she couldn’t help but smile.

[iturbide]

So, in the Spite Project we have Dimitri recovering in the Alliance during the time-skip, Claude even argues that while it is a selfish thing to do Dimitri should be selfish because the people have asked so much of him and he needs to heal to do good. Then we have the fix-it fic, where Edelgard has to go through a painful process of change where most of her friends and allies turn their backs on her for the sake of the world. I want to take you in good faith, but this feels a bit mean spirited.

So, I'm willing to take you on good faith here and try to explain this, because I really think that the issue is this: you seem to think that treating all characters fairly means treating them all the same way, rather than specifically addressing their individual needs. And this is not the fair way to handle them.

Think of it this way: you have two people that want to watch a movie in a language neither one speaks. How do you handle that? Do you find a version dubbed over in the language they do speak, or do you preserve the original language track and turn on subtitles? They both have their pros and cons -- it can be hard to keep up with subtitles sometimes, especially when they includes notes on cultural nuances, but dubbing can lose cultural nuance if there's no equivalent in the target language (and that's not getting into how different language tracks can have strikingly different levels of quality). So which one do you choose?

Whichever one you picked, you're going to make one of the two unhappy.

On the surface, the question of how to approach it is simply a matter of preference -- but it doesn't factor in the individual needs of the people that want to watch. One has an auditory processing issue, making it hard to catch everything; they need subtitles in order to follow the dialogue at all, and without them they're not going to enjoy the movie because they're not able to keep up. The other person, meanwhile, has difficulty looking at screens for long periods of time, so having to keep up with subtitles will give them a splitting headache; they need the dub so that they can disengage periodically and still be able to hear dialogue in a language they can understand, and with subs over the original language track they're either forced to risk a migraine or lose track of what's happening because they don't understand the spoken words.

(Arguably the most fair solution is "do captions over the dub" but a lot of movies don't do captions and subs, they do subs only, which means that there are going to be places where the subs and dub don't match and that in itself is jarring but that is not the point here.)

Now, you're concerned that it's mean-spirited for Dimitri in the Spite Project to be treated one way while Edelgard in the Pre-Timeskip is treated in another way. But my concern is that you're looking at them in these situations as though they have the exact same needs, and I do not feel that's the case. They are two very different people, from two very different backgrounds, with two very different kinds of trauma and associated trauma responses, not to mention the mental health component that's much more pronounced in Dimitri than it is in Edelgard. Because of that, what they need as individuals to address their trauma, learn to cope, and finally begin to heal, is going to be very different: therapy is not one-size-fits-all, and the first step is always admitting there's a problem (which is why therapy generally doesn't work on someone who doesn't think they need it, even if they arguably do).

Let's start with Dimitri. He is a young man who lost his mother before he really had a chance to know her. He gained a stepmother in Patricia and a close friend in Edelgard during her time in Faerghus, though the latter ended in a bittersweet parting as she had to return to the Empire. Two years later, at the age of 13, he lived through the Tragedy of Duscur where his father, his close friend and personal guard Glenn, and everyone else in the party was presumed dead (he understandably believes Patricia died but we learn that's not the case much later): he suffered not only physical trauma (burns and a likely concussion leading to his loss of taste/ageusia) but mental and emotional trauma (survivor's guilt and PTSD), exacerbated by the dismissal of his first-hand account that ultimately led to Duscur's effective destruction in retribution for the Tragedy. Two years after that at age 15, Dimitri's uncle Rufus -- acting regent of the Kingdom, since Dimitri was not legally of age to ascend the throne -- ordered him to put down a rebellion in the western territories, leading to his first arguable mental break where he ruthlessly cut down the rebel faction despite the minimal threat they posed; this in turn led to Felix calling him a beast and a boar and piling further guilt and shame onto the teenage prince.

There's also a cultural context to take into account: Dimitri has spent the past four years since his father's death not only burying his unaddressed trauma associated with Duscur, but getting rapidly brought up to speed on how to lead the Kingdom of Faerghus so that he can ascend the throne as soon as he comes of age. While there were certainly those who did not approve of Lambert and his policies, a far greater number loved him dearly, and Rufus is not a well-loved regent during his short term in charge. Dimitri has effectively been groomed to put his own needs and feelings second to those of his people because of this treatment: he was not believed when he tried to defend the people of Duscur, his trauma associated with the Tragedy went unaddressed in favor of preparing him to take over leadership, and when he finally shows signs of his own distress, he's criticized for it by someone who had once been a close friend. This has led him to repress everything negative within himself, speaking rarely if at all about his personal feelings or troubles until the pressure becomes so great that he can no longer hide it.

So, to sum it up: Dimitri has suffered a combination of physical, mental, and emotional trauma, all of which he has been conditioned to repress with the message that his personal needs are secondary to the needs of the Kingdom's people. This eventually manifests in attempts to satisfy the voices of those who died at Duscur by viciously eliminating Imperial forces with the ultimate goal of taking Edelgard's head: even the desires of the dead outweigh his considerations for his own life.

Then we have Edelgard. She is a young woman who was very close with her father, something we can glean from context cues in how she speaks of and to him in the secret coronation. When political unrest began brewing in the Empire, her uncle secreted her out of the country for several years, where she made a new friend in Dimitri before her uncle brought her back home to the Empire. Once there, her happy homecoming instead became a nightmare as she and her ten siblings were confined beneath Enbarr Palace and subjected to torturous experiments at the hands of Those Who Slither, bankrolled by the nobles who had stripped her father of his power and leaving him unable to help his children as they died one by one, leaving Edelgard as the sole survivor. Driven by her hatred of the three powers that led to the situation -- the nobles who wanted an unassailable pawn of an Emperor, the Twisted who conducted the experiments and therefore had her family's blood on their hands, and the Church of Seiros run by monsters whose societal system valued Crests over human lives -- she ultimately allied herself with the enemy faction that could grant her enough power to make the changes she believed needed to be made in order to change the system, fully intending to stab them in the back once her other goals had been achieved.

There is, again, a cultural context to consider here. The Empire and the Kingdom have some of the most toxic approaches to the Crest System that we see in the game, and it has ruined countless lives in both nations. Edelgard's own life has been destroyed in this way: she lost her siblings to the Great Nobles' desire to create a Major Crestbearer that they could put on the throne, and therefore has every reason to hate the Crest System crafted by the Church of Seiros to the point of wanting it razed to the ground: without that bias, there would have been no reason for her family to undergo those experiments, meaning her siblings would still be alive. Her trauma has left her determined to destroy the existing social systems, created by non-human forces, and replace them with something crafted by human hands -- and in her mind, there is no cost that outweighs the benefit of that ultimate goal.

So in summary: Edelgard has suffered a combination of physical, mental, and emotional trauma, all of which she has used to fuel a determination to change the world by undoing the influence of Crests and the Church of Seiros that enshrines them. This ultimately manifests in her seizing power in the Empire and ordering an attack on the Church, condemning those not from the Empire or who do not immediately ally with her as enemies, and conquering her way through the Leicester Alliance and the Kingdom of Fodlan based on her belief that her way is best for Fodlan.

Are there similarities between these two? Yes: they are both victims of extreme trauma, and neither of them have had that trauma addressed in the years following the events. But so many other factors, including their coping responses, are wildly different, such that if you tried to give them the same treatment only one would benefit.

Dimitri, who has constantly repressed his own needs for the sake of others, needs to have his health and personal feelings validated rather than shunted off to the side as less important than some other matter. He needs an opportunity to get out from under the pressures placed on him since Duscur, develop some healthy coping mechanisms, learn how to self-advocate and enforce personal boundaries, so that he can unpack and deal with the trauma he suffered. Now, if you tried to take this same validation approach with Edelgard, it would only further enforce her view that she is right in her belief that dragons are inhuman monsters that need to be eradicated and that the Church of Seiros needs to be wiped out and replaced: it would entrench her yet more deeply into what's already a toxic mindset, and make her more determined than ever to see it through regardless of the cost.

On the other hand, Edelgard's first issue is that she does not recognize that there's a flaw in her mindset. She wants to reform Fodlan, but by her own admission she's willing to drag people into a conflict they had no part in because in her view those sacrifices are necessary to achieve her goal. It's part of her trauma response, no doubt -- but it's also a very toxic one that needs to be confronted. The first thing that needs to be done with Edelgard is make her recognize that there is a problem: the flaws in her logic and her beliefs need to be highlighted, and she needs to be pushed to try to understand other people rather than locking herself in an echo chamber that's constantly reinforcing her beliefs. Challenging Edelgard is the first step toward making her realize that she needs to change -- but that same approach has already been used on Dimitri: arguably that's what Felix did with his confrontational response toward Dimitri's mental break...and it led to Dimitri further repressing his trauma out of guilt and shame.

I also don't understand the claim that I'm not treating Edelgard kindly in Pre-Timeskip. Edelgard makes a personal decision that directly and negatively affects the lives of her allies, and she suffers consequences for it: that's not unkind, it's a logical follow-through based on what she personally did. And at no point is she expelled from the group, either: she is confronted with the fact that her beliefs were wrong -- that her allies are not, in fact, thrilled to have their lives put on the line for her personal ambition, especially since she never told them what she'd been planning -- and then given every opportunity to learn from the mistake she made and try to repair the relationships her choices and actions damaged; in the end, because she personally puts the necessary work in, she is able to do so. This is exactly the same approach that I've taken with Grima in Askr: the only difference is that Grima erred toward self-isolation at the beginning and needed to be coaxed into interacting with others. They are well aware that they have committed atrocities that cannot be forgiven, and they do not seek forgiveness from those they harmed: they only seek to do better here with the opportunity they've been granted. Edelgard, too, has every opportunity to change and do better -- and the key factor is that she takes it, learning from her mistake, starting to open up more and listen to the people around her rather than making assumptions based on her personal beliefs.

So ultimately, you're right: I have taken very different approaches to helping Dimitri and Edelgard in these two stories -- because they are two different characters who require two different approaches when it comes to addressing and overcoming their traumas. There is no one-size-fits-all therapy, and so there can be no one-size-fits-all story mold for them. I'm simply doing the best I can, based on their individual character traits and personalities, to give them the opportunity to heal and grow.

[soonhoonsol]

Welcome to soonhoonsol’s gif tutorial!

As a nice anon asked me how I make my gifs, I thought it’d be cool to create an in-depth tutorial :) Perhaps this can help some others enter the gif-ing world too!

What we’ll be using for this tutorial:

Software: Bandicam, Avisynth, Photoshop CC 2018, Topaz Labs

File Format: .mp4

Operating System: Windows

Disclaimer: This is just my method. Every gif maker works differently and has different preferences. What works for me may not work for you, and that’s completely okay!

Let’s get into it!

1. Find the best quality video you can find

This really depends on the content you want to gif. For variety shows, music videos or photoshoots, any video of [1080p] should be sufficient. Try not to use anything below 720p.

For stage performances, fancams tend to have higher resolutions [1440p, 4k]. Use these if your computer can handle it. If not, usually 1080p works fine. The best option would be to download .ts files, which provide clearer and less grainy videos.

For Seventeen, you can get .ts files from The Rosebay on Twitter :)

2. Screen recording

As a Windows user, I don’t have a built-in screen recorder on my laptop. So, I use Bandicam, which is a free screen recording software. The only con to it is that it has a watermark.

To combat the watermark, I always have the boundary box a little bigger than the video itself so that I can crop it out of the gif.

This is what the recording would look like:

Just record the scene(s) that you want to gif so your video file doesn’t end up too large! Your recording should be in .mp4 format.

(You may use pure .ts files in Avisynth but it never worked well for me so I usually screen record the .ts video and move on)

You can find your recorded videos in Documents > Bandicam.

3. Avisynth

I followed THIS tutorial to download Avisynth. This software is really helpful if you want sharp and clear gifs! I recommend to follow the steps in the tutorial as the below method stems from it.

- Once you have downloaded it, open up your recorded video from Step 2 and watch it. Take note of the duration you want to gif. (e.g. from 00:01 to 00:05)

- Drag your video file into normalwebrange.bat. On Windows, you can find this in File Explorer > Local Disk (C:) > video. For other .bat files, you may check out THIS tutorial.

- In the pop-up box, key in the start time for your gif (e.g. 00:00:01). It has to be in hh:mm:ss format. Press “enter”.

- Key in the end timing and press “enter” again. A resizer should pop up in an Internet Browser. I found that Firefox works best for me.

- In the resizer, you may indicate the size of the gif you’d like to make. You can also click and drag the video to resize and frame it to your liking. You may refer to THIS post for Tumblr dashboard sizing.

(These are some common gif sizes for stage performances):

1 gif - 540px by 540px (square)

2 gifs - 268px by 350px

3 gifs - 177/178px by 250px

- Under “Preprocessor”, select “debilinear” for the second box. For the first box, you may pick between qtgmc 30 (same frame rate as video) or qtgmc 60 (doubles the frame rate; smoother).

- You will also see “fast” or “slow” options. These are just how long the video will take to render. “Fast” will give you slightly lower quality as compared to “slow”, but usually is good enough.

(You can see that his features are sharper and more defined in the “slow” gif as compared to the “fast” one.)

- Copy the code in the white box. Navigate to the scripting window (it should have popped up with the resizer) and paste the code at line 17. Type a “#” before qtgmc on the same line. This will prevent the software from lagging.

- Click on the inverted triangle at the bottom of the screen. Your video will now appear in the scripting window. Drag the slider to the intended starting point of your gif and press the “home” key on your keyboard.

- Drag the slider again to the intended ending point of your gif and press the “end” key on your keyboard. This blue area you see is the duration of your gif.

- On an empty line (I usually go to line 8), place your cursor there and click “Apply” in the mini pop-up window. Afterwards, remove the “#” from line 17.

- Go to File > Save or press Ctrl + S to save the code. Close the scripting window. The video renderer will pop up. When it’s done, it will automatically close by itself.

4. Using Photoshop and Topaz

I’m using my school license for Photoshop 2018, but if you don’t have that, there are plenty of cracked versions for free. I don’t have any to recommend though so I’m sorry about that :(

I followed THIS video tutorial to download Topaz plug-ins for free. I use Topaz DeNoise (the most helpful) and Clean, but you may use others if you’d like :)

Alright, let’s dive in to the steps!

- Open up Photoshop and go to File > Import > Video Frames to Layers.

- A pop-up will appear. You can find your deinterlaced Avisynth video in File Explorer > Local Disk (C:) > video > temp > video.avi. Follow the settings in the picture and click “OK”.

- Go to Window > Timeline to open up the timeline. You should be able to see your gif spread out in frames. If you press the play button, it should play like a video.

- (Quick optional step I learned from THIS tutorial) Go to Image > Canvas and set the Resample option to “Bicubic (smooth gradients)”.)

- Select the first frame of your gif in the timeline. Shift select the last frame. Go to Window > Layers. Shift select these layers as well.

- With everything selected, click the 3 lines at the top right corner of the timeline. Select “Convert to Video Timeline”.

- At the top of the screen, select Filter > Convert for Smart Filters. Your layers will condense into one layer. Don’t worry, your gif is fine.

- Now it’s time to sharpen the gifs. Go to Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen. Play around with the settings to your liking!

- If you’ve downloaded Topaz correctly, it should appear under Filter > Topaz Labs. If a pop-up asks you for an activation key, you may use THESE to activate it for free.

- Go to Filter > Topaz Labs > DeNoise and/or Clean and play with the settings until you’re satisfied.

5. Blurring

If your gifs have captions/logos that are distracting, you’d want to blur them out. Don’t be like 2018 me that blurred out the logo frame by frame; it’s very tiring. Instead, using this method from @scoupsy‘s tutorial, you’ll save lots of time.

- In the Layers tab (Windows > Layers), select the “New Layer” icon. It should be blank.

- Select the Brush tool. Make sure the “Hardness” setting is below 20%. This will blend the blurring nicely into the gif.

(For the sake of this tutorial, I will be blurring out the Bandicam logo to show you.)

- Paint over the captions/logos. Make sure this is on the blank layer!

- Duplicate (Right Click > Duplicate) the gif layer and drag it so that it’s on top of the blank layer.

- Right click on the duplicate layer and select “Create Clipping Mask”.

- Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and play around with the settings until you’re satisfied with the level of blurring. Click “OK”.

6. Flattening & Colouring

- Once you’re done with sharpening and/or blurring, click on the 3 lines on at the right corner of the video timeline and go to Convert Frames > Flatten Frames Into Clips.

- Topaz layers and blurring will take some time to render so you can just chill for now~

- When it’s done rendering, click again on the 3 lines and go to Convert Frames > Make Frames From Clips.

- Convert it back to the gif timeline by clicking on the 3-box icon at the bottom left of the timeline.

- Select the first frame of your gif. It must be the FIRST.

- Scroll to the top of the layers and select the layer at the top. Any other layers you add should be on top of this layer. VERY IMPORTANT!!

- In the Adjustments Tab (Window > Adjustments), there are many different things to play with. There’s a high chance you won’t use everything, but here’s a few of my favourites.

Levels - Adjust the brightness and contrast of your gif in depth.

Hue/Saturation - Useful for changing colours, or switching it to black and white.

Color Balance - Tweak the colours to your liking.

Colour Lookup - Comes with built-in LUTs that you can use as a preset. Great starting point for colouring. Saves time too. You can even download plug-ins for this. 11/10 tool.

Selective Colour - Adjust the vibrancy of specific colours.

- Colouring is completely up to the gifmaker. Go crazy go stupid :D

7. Exporting

We’re almost to the end!

- Set the timing for your gif.

If you used qtgmc30, the best timing would be 0.04s / 0.05s / 0.06s.

If you used qtgmc60, the best timing would be 0.02s / 0.03s / 0.04s.

- Once you’re satisfied with everything, go to File > Export > Save for Web (Legacy).

- Follow the settings in the picture below:

- Tumblr’s gif limit is 10mb per gif. Check the gif size at the bottom left of the pop-up window. Make sure it’s below 10mb; the smaller the better.

- Click “Save”. Choose where you’d like to save the gif.

- Done!

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

And that’s it! You’ve successfully made a gif! Good job you :D

I hope this tutorial was helpful! Please leave some feedback if it helped, or if you have other methods you’d like to share :)

Lastly, if you have any questions, feel free to send in an ask or DM me!! :)

Good luck and happy gif-ing :’D

[popculturebuffet]

Amphiba: True Colors Review or FINALLY THE  FINALE

We’re finally here all you happy people! Ten Months, 36 episodes, 20 half hours, a lot of gay subtext, a lot of bloodshed, and a lot of build up have lead us all here! One absolutely STUFFED finale: A trust is betrayed, a rebllion is had, a conquerer rises and NOTHING will ever be the same.. and yes htat’s thrown around a lot but this is one of those times where NOTHING WILL BE THE SAME. This is that kind of finale folks. 

But before I can get into all the juicy stuff you’ve been waiting for there’s a few things to discuss.. and the first is obviously the fact we had to wait three goddamn extra weeks to get here after spending all season leading up to this. 

You all know the story by now. Hell I even angirly ranted about it when it happened and rightfully so. But frankly the colossal delay is going to be such an integral and permeant part of this episode and this show’s history that not talking about it in this review would do it a diservice: So to recap: The finale was posted to air  May 1st, a weak after “The Dinner/Battle of the Bands”. I had it set in my schedule, it showed up in that month’s press release of Disney Channel Episodes, We were all ready to go with all the tight and intense build up leading up to this. 

Then the worst happened and Disney aburbtly, and with a funny face image trying to play it off as a joke annoucned via it’s animation twitter the episode would be delayed. Now in fairness to the twitter person there, they were PROBABLY trying to help massage a blow... but seriously dude, read the room next time.  Thankfully creator Matt Braly stepped in and explained it was technical delays. After what happened the next day I ASSUMED he was just trying to cover for them as it would turn out the episode was finished.. turns out, and I had to edit the review to reflect this the truth was somewhere in the middle. Edits were more discussed, likely due to the episodes very violent nature, and the episode was given a content warning. Given what happens.. I can’t blame Disney for wanting one or for thinking of editing it.. but canblamehtem for the “Things that could’ve been brought to my attention YESTERDAY’ nature of the edist and the insuing delay. 

I can also blame them for leaking the episode on ITUNES. Yeah if they were REALLY concenred abotu content then they would’ve held off longer and not brought this up five minutes before it aired, delaying the episode for many. Hell I DEFENEDED them in the original version of this, but they had MONTHS of this episode being in production to fucking say something. WHy do this five mintues before it’s finished? 

It just smacks of laziness and overly panicy stuff. A content warning would’ve been FINE. You ahve it for racisim on Disney Plus, just put one here and call it a day. You haven’t objected to the horrifying content in the series up to this point why start NOW.  And they STILL never apologized. For any of this. For the leak, for the delay, never properly explaining the delay (Matt didn’t either.. but given how twitchy comapnies can be about what their creators say, I can’t blame him for not wanting to clarify it was a post credit’s thing till closer to airtime), just in general not giving a shit abotu the kids or adults watching this. Just because kids watch thiis dosen’t me older kids don’t have social media, and it dosen’t mean teens don’t. If you want to pretend us adults watching this don’t exist.. fine. It sucks but I can’t do anything. But do not do this shit to kids and then not go to them. And again Matt could’ve.. but it’s not his fucking job. His job is to make a show, help make sure it gets to air and be a sweeheart. YOURS is to make sure things run smoothly and when their is a hickup,get your house in order. 

Matt shoudln’t of HAD to beg people not to watch it. Various va’s for the show shoudln’t of HAD to record funny messages.. it was appricated but it’s not thier job to prevent this from spreading. It’s yours. It’s yours to open your damn eyes and see adults and older teens watch this stuff too and to head that shit off. This incident is going to stick in my craw for god knows how long and ALMOST convinced me not to cover Owl House weekly (I still woud’ve likely done a review on each half of the season). I ended up renegeing on that and will be starting regular coverage of that in June and continuing coverage of this show whenever it returns.. but it was close. 

And it’s ultimately YOU GUYS that kept me hanging in there. It was thanks to a Disney show this blog exists in the first place, and contiunes to get the bulk of it’s viewers. It’s how I got my patreon, biggest fan and bfinacial backer Kev. I’ts why I can do what I love, talking about and analyzing stuff I enjoy and ocasionally loathe. You guys came back week after week for my ducktales reviews and stayed for Amphibia. I”m sure i’ll get even more for Owl House. It’s thanks to all of you I can keep going despite the hardships, the lack of patreons, the long nights, the weird sleep schedules. I wouldn’t of made it through 20 weeks of awesome tv without you. So for you, and for myself, i’ll hang in there but I expect better Disney. And i’m damn well gonna get it. So join me under the cut as the world turns upside down.. and there are a LOT of spoilers. Seriously if you want to wait for the tv airing do not go under the cut

So we open with a flashback to 8 months ago, the day all this began: Marcy was working in the library on her cram classes, getting texts from both Sasha, who was excited about Anne’s birthday, and her own father who wants her to come home right away as there’s something important they need to discuss. 

But before she can a book about the strange and what not naturally slips out and Mar-Mar can’t help but thumb through it.. and as you were no doubt dreading.. finds the box which is said in a large tv friendly caption to lead to other worlds. 

Naturally Marcie is intrigued and snaps a pick and heads home... and we cut to the END of that conversation as she tearfully runs out of the house , refusing to accept what they’ve told her and her dad coming off hella unsympathetic with his overly harsh tone, especially since we DO find out what he told her... and it’s a lot to put on her and a lot to just say “accept because I helped make you for all of two unsatisfying minutes. “ 

So while running away she passes the box.. and sets the events from both the show’s opening and the flashback from the last finale in motion. Marcy sent them here on purpose.

Yeah needless to say I DIDN’T see this coming. And it seems obvious in hindsight: Marcy being the one most desperate to keep thier friendship together, as we’ll see at it’s worst through this episode, her barely mentioning going home, and most tellingly the only things she talks about from earth were Anne, Sasha and her dorky intrests. All the things closest to the heart and that she’s most likely to make out with.. but while Anne brings up earth stuff every so often even after getting more screen time in Season 2b... Marcy NEVER talks about that kind of stuff. She has her girlfriends and a real life fantasy novel right here... but she DOSEN’T miss her parents or earth itself. And given her life was already shown to be as an outcast with only two people carring about her, three with her mom now we know, who never REALLY fit in and whose on friends very clearly didn’t share her intrests.. it probably made it all the more tempting: a real adventure, an escape from her problems, and a way to start over: become who she always PLAYED and not who she was. Everything just.. snaps into place with this revelation and makes Marcy an all the more heartbreaking character... even more so soon enough when we find out what her overall plan was. 

But that’s half an episode away: for now our party returns on Joe to Newtopia.. though clumsly. Marcy admits that they probably can’t fit more people on him. But with this our heroes are ready to finish this story and with a plan since obviously they can’t just walk into town with two wanted crminals: Marcy will present the box and THEN sasha and grime, who will cloak themselves to avoid attracting attentions, with literal cloaks Marcy hasn’t made a cloaking device yet, so hopefully they’ll get a pardon. 

Inside Sprig and Anne talk, with Sprig admitnig he’s sad this is the last adventure.. but Anne has hope. After all they have a way home now and that portal goes both ways. She can hop back any time and vice versa. This sin’t goodbye.. it’s just goodbye for now. And i’ts something I genuinely didn’t think of.. and not just because Andrias’ shady actions and Sasha and Grime’s machinations meant this was NEVER going to end well. 

Speaking of Sasha and Grime’s machinations those come to a head: As our heroes enter the castle, greeted by Lady Olivia, and we get our typical end of the RPG speech from the “Good” king.... Sasha swipes the box and Grime uses the hammer to knock everyone off ballance. The coup the two have been cooking up has come to pass. 

Anne and Marcy’s reactions.. are telling: Anne is utterly pissed at the betryal and done with Sasha and Marcy is begging both sides to stop as this was not how it was supposed to end. Sasha tries to use a box as a baranging chip, and plans to destroy it if Andrias dosen’t surrender despite destroying her way home. Given it’s implied her home life isn’t great either and she gets to rule an empire instead of a school, it’s easy to see why. 

Grime stops him from calling her bluff though by wacking him in the shins and then hodling him at hammer point to get the military of Newtopia to stand down while his covert Toad agents reveal themselves and runamuck. Grime has won. 

Anne meanwhile is livid, with Sasha not quite getting why MAYBE Anne would once again feel betrayed that once again Sasha is trying to do everything her way and once again lied to her and harmed innocent people. Anne breaks off their friendship which deeply uspets Marcy.. who weirldy. ISN’T trying to talk Sasha out of this. After all she gets what she wanted anyway. She IS upset when Sasha tries to send them home for defiance.. but the box dosen’t work for her and she simply has the guards escort our heroes and Olivia out till she can figure this out. 

Naturally though Anne, being pissed, heartbroken and pissed, and yes that was indeed intentional, HEADBUTTS the nearest guard and breaks them out, with the planatrs starting to fight back. Their still outnumbered.. but help arrives 

Or rather the Amphibia equilvent as both wolverines are busy with prep for the Hellfire Gala. Yes it’s General Yunan, who Lady Olivia cuts off probably not for the first time. Your lucky that’s one of her turn on’s lady.

So our heroes sneak out and head to Sals, while the Toads wreck up the town. Marcy... is of course desperate to fix things, but figures it’s easy. All they have to do is free the king, stop the rest of the army from arriving, their an hour away, and cementing grime’s foothold, get her girlfriends to reconcile and fix the inherent power imbalance so a rebellion doesn’t’ happen again. 

But Anne rouses them: They may be a goofus, a quick witted kid, an out of touch old man, a literal baby, am etaphorical baby, and a nerd.. but their a BADASS Goofus, kid, old man, babies and nerd... and two other ladies the toads actually know and respect. They’ve fought worse: Canibals, princess bride references, theater bandits, chicken elder gods, Poly’s addiction to angry mobs and paste pot pete and come back stronger each time. They can do this. They might only be 8 strangers, but together they can fuck up this shit. or to have a previously mentioned buddy of mine sum it up

So with that it’s time to split up gang: Marcy, Hop Pop and Olivia will go free the king using Hop Pop’s acting skills...which actually works despite Olvia’s doubts. Polly, Yunan and Frobo will put the hammer down and give them hell, taking out the toads in the city and drawing all of them away from the gate where Spriganne will trigger it thus saving the day. 

Meanwhile Sasha is feeling discontent. She got everything she wanted.. but she didn’t think about what to DO with all that power. At home she could do all sorts of things ruling a school but now she’s lost one of the loves of her life. Without Anne and Marcy i’ts just empty. Even Grime’s utterly heartfelt gift of an emerald sword, he knew she always wanted to duel wield that has a heron on it, a sign of how they met and a truly sweet gesture can’t cheer her up. So Grime suggests redecorating and the first thing to go is a sappy mural of Andrias and his subjects. What they find UNDER it though is horrifying.. and i’ts surprisingly not a bunch of spiders like you’d expect.. but a mural of Andrius as some sort of horrible king with an army of robot frogs like Frobo, with a LOT of frog, toad and newt skeletons piled up. Sasha and Grime are glad they dodged that bullet.. only to find Anne scaling the tower with Sprig, the two naturally going to stop them.

 The two try and turn the wheel, but can’t as there’s a doorstop... one they DEFINTELY saw earlier when looking out the window of Sal’s.

Regardless they send Polly for that.. and the rematch begins. Sasha TRIES talking to Anne.. but given she stabbed her in the back AGAIN for incredbly petty reasons, that’s not going to work and the two get one hell of a fight. Beautifully animated and rife with emotion as the two clash with Sasha DESPERATLY trying to get Anne to stop for a second and listen and Anne rightly refusing, while we watching know our hero winning will spell DOOM for this world despite her trying to do the right thing. Anna and Brenda’s acting here is just TOP notch. In any other episode this would be the best part of it.. but we’re only getting warmed up.

While they fight, we get a surprising and awesome bout I did not see coming: Sprig Vs Grime. And it gives me Spider-Man vs Kingpin vibes really: A rotund but still far more powerful opponent versus a smaller but quicker one. And that’s how even more shockingly, Sprig comes out the WINNER. While Grime has the hammer and more strength and skill... Sprig has speed and thus gets Grime to whack himself with it. Granted he can’t use the thing and comically spins around afterword.. but it proves Grime’s racist thoughts about frogs wrong and leaves Anne free to turn the wheel once she beats Sasha. The invasion is thwarted.

But naturally given the ooky spooky mural and the other hints of ominous shit like the watcher with a thousand eyes, this isn’t the end. Back at the throne room, with Sasha and Grime as prisoners Anne gives Andrias the box despite sasha begging her not to. But rather than send her home right away.. he has a history lesson for her first. And nothing good ever starts with someone delaying helping you to give a sinister history lesson let me tell you.

We find out the while truth: Amphibia was once a technological empire powered by the box, and prosperity SEEMINGLY reigned, and Andrias, much like our heroines, had two close friends, a toad and a frog. But one day they betrayed him, abandoning him and seemingly stealing the box , leaving his mechanical marvels powerless and Andrias bitter and angry. Hence the whole revenge ploy. 

In an unsurprising and invincible-esque twist, he reveals his ancestors were not explorers but CONQUERERS and he intends to finish their work, placing the box on a pedestal that turns his castle into a flying fortress glowing blue. It only gets worse from there: the castle’s awakening also activates factories around Amphibia similar to the one we saw back in “Fort in the Road” that gave us Frobo and it turns out their dark purpose.. is to create armies of unstoppable soldiers to secure his dominon.... and spread it to the other worlds. The reason he didn’t send the girls home is he figures correctly Anne and the others will try and stop him from TAKING it. 

So yeah Anne’s reaction is very naturally...

And despite being outgunned, outmanned, outnumbered and outplanned she plans to make an all out stand. She realizes that her own fight with Sasha only allowed something FAR WORSE to take hold. She’s not WRONG for fighting her, Sasha was being a shithead taking over and did so for flimsy and selfish reasons and she had no reason to listen to her.. but had she at least thought over giving him the box and not simply given it to him to spite her none of this would be happening. So she and the plantars get ready for round 2, with Sasha having her back this time, and Grime having Sasha’s. It’s a really sweet moment, showing Sasha has realized just how much her own greedy and controlling ambitions have cost her and that she’s brought about something far worse thorugh them, and is ready to make amends and Grime as always ready to stand by the only true family he has. 

But before the carnage can begin.. Marcy stops them... and then tearfully turns to Andrias “This wasn’t our deal!”. Andrias, now not having to play nice, dosen’t care and cruelly points out of course he did: He would’ve said whatever it took to get her to fill the box and she did it. He also hints at Marcy’s dark secret, with both girls wondering what the hell he’s on about.. but clearly starting to piece it together, with Andrias cruelly toying with Marcy to tell them before he does.. and barely gives her any time before going ahead with it anyway, knowing she’d be unable to. And with this we get the best line of the episode and Keith david’s best delivery.. and given he makes a fucking seven course meal of the entire second act, yeah that’s a high bar.

"Did it ever occur to you — Anne, Sasha — that one of you knew more than she was letting on? That one of you might've gotten you stranded in Amphibia... on purpose?"

The line itself hits like a sledgehammer. We knew for the full episode she did this on purpose.. but we also knew at some point it was clearly going to come out and hurt them both.. and to see someone Marcy clearly saw as a better replacement dad, someone she thought cared about her and was offering her her dreams for no gain on his end cruelly tell them clearly for his own amusment as he dosen’t remotely see them as a threat.. it’s utterly chilling as it is heartbreakiing and horrifying. 

Naturally Anne and Sasha are upset, Sasha a bit baffled and Anne just utterly broken by this: She’d already been betrayed TWICE by the other love of her life.. now MARCY had betrayed her.. and WORSE? 

And it only gets worse as Marcy heartbreakingly reveals her motivation and what this was really all about: Her dad announced he got a new job and they were moving a state away.. and like I said he’s a prick. Not for moving, that happens and it sucks but for having no freaking empathy about it. Maybe if he took a parenting class earth wouldn’t be on the cusp of a robot invasion. Marcy was about to loose her girls and was desperate.... so naturally Andrias claimed to simply want to take them all with him on his journeys, obviously leading out the conquest and likely genocide part, so they could go on and on FOREVER. And this whole thing gave Anne the plantars so it’s not all bad right? Right? But it’s clear she’s trying to desperatly lie to herself this was all okay as she’s been doing ever since she started this all 8 months ago and Anne pointing out she misses her family, something Marcy never considered given her own reasons for leaving and how Sasha likely dosen’t have a happy family life herself. 

This.. this is Haley Tju’s finest hour. She’s done good voice work before, especially in this series but here, with Marcy’s anguish, desperation and guilt all leaking out as she tries to get her girlfriend not to turn away from her. it’s all just amazing heartbreaking stuff and I salute her and the animation does her fine acting a service and shows every bit of pain in the poor girls face. 

Anne naturally does turn away a bit and Marcy cries.. but Anne quickly recovers... while she obviously isn’t entirely ready to forgive Marcy JUST yet, it’s clear she wasn’t thinking straight and did all of this out of desperation... and that the hulking dickbag who betrayed them all and is gloating about all of this manipulated her, preying on her desperation and anguish to finish his plan.  Marcy fucked up big time, no question.. but ANDRIAS is the true monster here, and if he’s not stopped this world she’s grown to love and the one she left behind will BURN. Anne may be many things: impulsive, kinda weird, easy to anger.. but she is over all that a HERO. And there’s a villian to stop

Andrias, while not seeing them as remotely a threat, does admit this will probably be fun and the fight begins, with our heroes, including Marcy, easily besting the Obsdian Swarm.. as i’m calling them now. It’s a cools equence.. but ultimately futile. Andrias is FAR more powerful than he’s let on with the box. And shows it off by destroying toad tower before coming at them with a fire sowrd, easily swatting them aside like flies. They try their best to fight back but it’s not much use, and Andrias NEARLY crushes polly to death under his fist. Yes a fucking child. What a dick. 

Frobo saves him... and sadly this is the end for our new friend as Andrias is mildly amused that one of his creations glitched.. then smashes him into robotic paste. Polly rightfully calls him a monster and his response is as chilling as it is wonderfully dickish: “Don’t worry, your next”. 

Thankfully though she got out of the way.. because she has LEGS now. It’s also why I keep saying 8 months, though it’s likely more like 9 given it took a month to get to newtopia: 

The prophecy has come true! And while she stumbles for a second Polly quickly proves she can really move, she has an attitude and she’s the fastest thing alive by grabbing the box seemingly winning.. except Andrias has sprig in his fist and is going to crush or drop him ulness she stops. And despite Sprig BEGGING his sister to let him go for the sake of everyone else, like any good hero she naturally puts the box back. 

Anne begs for him to let Sprig go since he got what he wanted and he’s her best friend in this or any world... but all this does is insprie Andrias to DROP HIM OUT A WINDOW, bitter over his own past and eager to torture her some more. This really shows off who Andrias REALLY is now the mask is off; a sadistic tyrannical bully who relishes in making his victims really squirm, revels in malevolence and is just so damn gleeful about it: Not to say BIll Cipher levels more of a cold, cruel enjoyment of things. 

As I said earlier Keith David makes a motherfucking Seven Course Meal out of the second half of this episode, utterly stealing the show now he can play Andrias as he truly is: not skulng in the shadows with ominus hints he’s evil or pretending to be nice, but instead as a sadistic brute who delights in suffering and wants nothing less than everything under his boothill. in short he’s an AWESOME antagonist and while Keith David has played TREMENDOUS villains before, this one will easily be his best if the writing holds. Andrias is Keith David at his fucking best and proves the Disney legend has EVEYRTHING left in the tank even as he approaches 70′s. Jesus I fucking love this man. 

So this causes anne to retreat into herself, leaving us in a black void as Anne remembers all the good times.. and goes MOTHERFUCKING SUPER SAYIAN. Well more accurately super sayian god super sayian, or blueper sayian if you will, but still i’ts a n utterly striking sequence and a clear direct shout out with Anne getting her powers the same way Goku did: loosing someone to an utterly cruel bastard. Same with Gohan’s upgrade to super sayian 2. It’s just a truly striking sequence as she powers up in a FULL rage, DEMANDNIG he give him back. 

Andrais is stunned, clearly knowing this was something she was capable of but thought she could no longer do as the box shoudlv’e drained her of the ablility, while Hop Pop and Grime wonder if this is a human thing. 

So Anne WAILS on the fucker, easily besting a shocked andrias despite his best attempts.. but she tires out and he swats her aside, gleefully noting she dosen’t know how to control it. Sprig turns out to be okay though. Marcy went and saved him while Anne was rippig Andrias asunder.. and then activates the box. Sasha and Grime hold him off while Anne makes a run for it with the plantars while Andrias gives out your standard villian big no. Anne and Fam make it... but Marcy is taking a sec.. and that second gets her GUTTED. Not an exageration or me being a smart ass like usual.. Andrias RAN HER THROUGH WITH HIS SWORD. 

His only response is “Look what you made me too and Anne and crew are warped away, unable to save her. 

So we end with our heroes landing somewhere and Sprig wondering where they are... where they are is on the top of a car on a busy Los Angeles Freeway... and in front of two very weirded out humans. Anne is home. 

So now for the part that wasn’t in the original release apparently: The teaser.. aka THE MOTHERFUCKING SEASON 3 OPENING. 

Hell. Yes. Just a few quick personal notes before we hit the wrap up: I love how the season will be on earth, a nice change of pace, how the Boonchuy’s have very clearly warmly welcomed the plantars, the expanded cast at the title card, and how Disney just let them go ALL out for this one. They’ve clearly stopped being cheap assholes when it comes to letting intro’s change or at the very least got this was the very end of the series and thus important enough to gussie up. But yes the end is nigh.. and probably not till late this year if this year AT ALL And I will return for it. Well return to doing this show anyway, i’m not going anywhere. They’ll have to pry this blog from my cold dead hands. 

Final Thoughts:

This episode is the series best so far. My only honest complaint is the Toad Invasion comes and goes really quickly and I question why it was crammed into half the episode. Don’t get me wrong, Andrias’ rise needed the full 10 minutes, but I question why we dind’t get an episode before this settingit up and THEN have it happen over half an episode, epsecially since we spent an entire episode on getting the other toad barons involved only for ONE of them to show up for all of five minutes. 

Otherwise though? Yeah no notes. The cast is at the top of their damn game, with Brenda Song, Hailey Tju and Keith Motherfucking David as the standouts, the animatoin is likewise, and it pays off a thing or two you wouldn’t expect like the acting episode. This is a truly outstanding finale, one that has now joined other all time faviorite season finales such as “You’re In Control”, “Reunited”, “The Crossroads of Destiny”, and “Moonvasion”. I will be watching this again when it comes to Disney Plus. Masterful stuff.

As for the season as a whole.. this was a great season. While it did start a bit rocky with the road trip arc, which I’m still not a huge fan of as I feel it mostly wasted an awesome idea of them going on a world spanning roadtrip with some fairly weak episodes, with the exception of standouts “Truckstop Polly” and “Wax Museum”. 

But once we got to Netwopia it got better, with better spotlight episodes, the pacing picking up and Marcy joining our merry crew. And it hit it’s peak with the second half of the season: the return to wartwood effortlessly combined slice of life with the compelling temple episodes. It was also a nice break before the utter hell that arrived in the finale, but still nicely lead up to said finale.  This season may of STARTED bumpy but it finished at it’s highest point and with one epic finale to go it’s only going to get better from here. 

As for this blog the same holds true: Review wise next week i’ll be taking a break from normal reviews to do a week’s worth of Goofy based content in time for his birthday, from shorts, to goof troop, to hosue of mouse, to an obscure special, all leading up to the Disney Classic A Goofy Movie. So stick around.

And if that dosen’t do it for you I have an ongoing retrospective on the story arcs of ducktales season 2, i’m nearing the end of one on Scott Pilgrim and in the middle of one of The Life and Times of Scrogoe McDuck. and if you prefer weekly reviews, as I mentioned earlier offhandidly i’ll be covering the Owl House! LIke Amphibia i’m starting with Season 2, but just like with this show i’m excited as all hell and hope you’ll join me. And if you need even more I have a patreon, patreon.com/popculturebuffet, where I have exclusive reviews if you choose to back me as well as exciting stretch goals, one of which down the line is reviewing season one of this very show. So join it and if not that’s okay too, either way.. it’s been a pleasure. 

[bounce-a-coin-off-your-witcher]

lip synch your way into my heart pt. 2

(Part One Here)

@PrissCilla: Is this the guy that your Party City video was about?

The unfamiliar user has attached a picture to their message and Geralt’s eyes widen in happy surprise when he realizes that it is, in fact, Party City Guy. The picture of Party City Guy is a ridiculously adorable candid; he’s reclining in an oversized rainbow beanbag chair, a large textbook sitting on his lap and his lip nestled sweetly between his teeth. 

Geralt wants to know what it feels like to nip at that same soft skin. Gods he wants that so badly; ever since the brunette had turned around and flashed that blindingly sweet grin in the aisle of his workplace. The guy had clearly recognized him from the way he’d blushed and gone silent, somehow even cuter then than he had been when smiling a moment before. Geralt had barely paid attention to the brand of costume blood he’d grabbed from the shelf; he was too distracted by the blue-eyed beauty behind the checkout counter.

He replies to the photo-message quickly. Maybe too quickly.

@whitehairdontcare: Yeah. I didn’t catch his name, unfortunately. Are you roommates or something?

@PrissCilla: Yeah, he’s my roomie. I’ll give you his Tik Tok handle but only if you swear on your follower count that you’re actually interested in him as a person and not just as a way to pass the time. I don’t care if you’re internet famous, he’s my best friend and I don’t want to see him hurt.

@PrissCilla: Also he has a huge celebrity crush on you already so it’s barely fair.

@whitehairdontcare: I swear that I have nothing but honest intentions. I think I fell in like at first sight at his job the other day. My name is Geralt, btw.

@PrissCilla: Oh he’s gonna love that line if you ever use it. He’s a huge sap. 

@PrissCilla: Alright, I trust you Geralt. You can find him at @buttercup-bard. 

After that message she sends a gif of RuPaul saying “And DON’T fuck it up!” He smiles a bit at that. If this is what Party City’s friends are like then he must be the coolest person on the fucking planet. 

@whitehairdontcare: Why’d he pick that name?

@PrissCilla: Ask him, fam. Later.

Geralt’s eyes flicker back up to the picture. He saves it to his camera roll without hesitation; Party City just looks so sweet. He’s so focused and intent and- and Geralt wants to know what it would be like to have that kind of intensity focused on him. He wants to mirror it back. He’s never really been the type to hit on strangers but this guy has him all kinds of fucked up.

This guy is...different. Special. Perhaps, though Geralt has no real proof at this point, this guy might even be perfect. 

---

Two days later, on his way to class, Jaskier opens Tik Tok and starts to scroll his For You Page as usual. There are a few funny dances and a few skits that make him half-smile in amusement; it wastes the time between locations effectively. He’s nearly all the way to campus when he comes across the latest video that @whitehairdontcare has posted. He bites back a squeak when he reads the caption: “POV: You’re the cute cashier from Party City and your car breaks down after our first date.”

How did he know? How did he know that the car mechanic video was Jaskier’s favorite? Really, though, this couldn’t be about Jaskier. Not even possible. Inconceivable. No way.

Except.

Except that he also had a private message waiting for him. From @whitehairdontcare. 

Holy fucking shit. 

Jaskier’s eyes roll back into his head and he collapses off the seat of the bus, unconscious.

---

Forty-five minutes and one short walk later and Jaskier has a bag of ice pressed to the sizable goose-egg on his forehead. According to the two girls who’d sprinkled water on his face to wake him up (and then accompanied him to the campus Health and Safety building behind the library) he’d dropped his phone, crumpled to the floor “like a sad puppet” and slid forward when the bus driver hit the brakes, slamming his head into the support pole in the center of the aisle. 

There would be a definite bruise and probably a raised bump for at least a week and a half according to the nurse on call. 

It wasn’t until the taller girl handed his phone back to him that Jaskier realized he’d never even read Mr. White Hair’s private message before his embarrassing little accident. With one hand still holding the ice against his injury and the other trembling against his phone screen, the anxious young man unlocked the device and opened Tik Tok once again. He tapped on the private message and focused on each individual word:

@whitehairdontcare: Hey Party City Guy, my name is Geralt. 

There’s a selfie. The influencer is flashing the peace sign, his long white hair pulled back into a messy bun, one eye closed in a frozen wink. Jaskier’s fingers barely manage to type out a shocked reply.

@buttercup-bard: Hello, Geralt. I’m Jaskier. No offense but...why are you talking to me?

@whitehairdontcare: You seemed nice? You’re cute? I like your hair? Do you need more reason cause I have more reasons.

Jaskier is utterly floored. No only did the popular Tik Tokker reply immediately but he’d replied with those answers. The college senior takes a few deep breaths to steady himself before snapping a quick selfie, ice and all. At least his smile is still charming, he hopes.

@buttercup-bard: I’m probably not quite as cute as you remember rn. Oops.

@whitehairdontcare: What happened?? Are you okay?

@buttercup-bard: It’s embarrassing. Maybe another time.

@whitehairdontcare: Maybe you could tell me on our date? I promise I’m not creepy. You were just so nice the other day even tho you were nervous or whatever.

Jaskier knows that if he’s going to hyperventilate, this is probably the best place to do it. The nurse is still less than fifty feet away and should push come to shove she can probably revive his stupid ass. Instead, though, he focuses on every modern retelling of Cinderella he’s ever seen. 

Gods, he thinks, smiling absently down at his phone screen where Mr. Whit- where Geralt is grinning up at him with that wink and that peace sign. My version is going to be so much better.

@buttercup-bard: Yeah, alright. Maybe I’ll tell you about how your Tik Tok made me pass out on a public bus...on our date. 

[theboywiththecuckooclockheart]

A few moments from “Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock” that don’t make sense unless you’ve read the book

One of my favorite things about the movie version of Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart is how they take Malzieu’s striking metaphors and vivid descriptions and turn them into seemingly ordinary moments that the characters don’t even seem to question. However, if you haven’t read the original novel, some of those moments might leave you more confused than intrigued. Not only that, but some of the details in the movie might seem to come out of nowhere without additional context.

Full disclosure, I will be sharing some characters and details from the novel that do not appear in the movie and while they aren’t spoilers, per say, if you would like to read them for yourself first I recommend that you do.

1. “Do you often sprout Italian ice cream cones?”

If you’ve seen the movie, you know what I’m talking about:

This interesting sight only lasts for a few seconds, and the “Italian ice cream cones” are gone once the camera pans around Jack. The presence of the purple swirls is only addressed by the characters in two lines, where Jack asks “Do often sprout Italian ice cream cones?” and Miss Acacia replies, “Only if I snack on spaghetti after midnight.” That little exchange is kind of funny in and of itself, but its origin in the novel is slightly less innocent.

In the book, when Jack first sees Miss Acacia singing in the town square, he thinks, “Her breasts resemble two meringues so exquisitely baked it would be rude not to eat them on the spot.” First of all, yikes. Second of all, double yikes when you realize these characters are both canonically ten years old. But, what I’m more curious about is how we go from “meringues” in the novel to “Italian cream cones” in the movie. 

When I think of French meringues, I think of crunchy and airy baked egg whites that I can’t imagine would survive holding ice cream. But, after some culinary sleuthing, I think the connection is made regarding the ice cream itself, particularly Italian meringue ice cream, which is the combination of Italian meringue and chilled whipped cream.

Clearly, the novel is 100% not for children, in this and other ways, but I think the adaptation of this moment in the movie is quite interesting, and perhaps may have struck French audiences a bit less shockingly.

2. Méliès’ hospital cart

When Jack visits Georges Méliès’ studio, he learns all about the illusionist’s lost love and the endless inventions he created to try to impress her. During the visit, Méliès explains, “One day, I was at a loose end so I chopped up two of her shelves and I fixed them to some wheels that I’d found on a cart from a hospital so that we could go gliding together in the moonlight.” I always find the delivery of that line to be rather comical; the way he brushes off the words “from a hospital” as if that won’t provoke any questions or concern.

But, readers of the novel know a bit more about who this mysterious fiancée of his was. Her name is Jehanne d’Ancy, and her presence in the original novel is actually quite important. Without saying too much about the alternate plot line of the book, she was a nurse that Méliès met at some point in his past, which very plainly explains the hospital cart.

During my research I was shocked and excited to discover that there may be even more to Méliès’ lost love. We all know that Georges Méliès was a real person, and it so happens that a French film actress by the name of Jehanne d’alcy [1] was the real Méliès’ second wife from 1925 until his death in 1938 [2]. That historical connection probably made me more excited than it should have, but there you go.

3. Brigitte Heim

If you were able to follow along with the wild and rapid lyrics of “King of the Ghost Train”, you may have picked up the line “When I went on the ghost train I met this old girl called ‘Brigitte Heim’...”. When I watched the movie for the first time, I didn’t even register that Jack said a name in that line and it never once dawned on me to turn on the closed captions to figure out what he said.

Of course, within the context of the lyrics of the song you can probably infer that the woman Jack met who “is scarier than the ghost train”, as the song goes, was the woman who literally emerged from a coffin when he first approached the fair attraction. I don’t think her name was ever mentioned directly outside of the song, except for the end credits, but the second time I watched the movie after having read the novel, I actually picked up on what he said in the song and it all made sense.

Also, the repeated theme in the song of paying for breakage or any other inconvenience as well as the lyric “Pay pay pay pay always pay” makes a bit more sense knowing how obsessed the Brigitte Heim in the novel was about profits, a character trait that wasn’t so heavily emphasized in the movie.

There are many, many more examples of the imagery, metaphors, and remarkable descriptions from the book making their way into the movie, but for the sake of keeping at least a few things for first-time readers and watchers to discover, I am not going to list them all out here.

I highly recommend, of course, that one reads the novel and watches the movie (and listens to the album, too) to get the full effect of the story and to truly appreciate the wild world of Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart.

_____________

All images and quotes are from the film Jack and Cuckoo-Clock Heart and the original novel by Mathias Malzieu.

Image credits:

Italian ice cream cones: Malzieu, Mathias and Stéphane Berla, directors. Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart. 2013.

Brigitte Heim: https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-134061/photos/detail/?cmediafile=21072582

Sources:

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehanne_D%27Alcy

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_M%C3%A9li%C3%A8s

[anothersievefistedfind]

Photo © by Andrea Cover

Fugazi, Sunset Station, San Antonio, TX USA 3/29/2002 (FLS #1020)

Not too long ago I posted my entry in relation to the first and definitely memorable Fugazi show in San Antonio, Texas on May 7, 1990 at the Cameo Theater.

It turns out the band played in San Antonio three more times over the years, twice at the Showcase Special Events Center (1993 and 1995) as well as once at the Sunset Station on their last tour to date in 2002 which is the concert documented here.

There’s some more backstory to this 2002 event in a piece “Keeping It Real” by Daniel Estrada in the San Antonio Current: 

“On tour behind its latest release, The Argument, Fugazi wanted desperately to make its way to San Antonio. Since Fugazi’s last show here six years ago, MacKaye lost touch with his San Antonio contact and could not secure a venue. After setting up the Austin show at Emo’s, MacKaye asked his correspondent there if he knew a potential San Antonio contact. After much research and deliberation, the correspondent gave MacKaye a phone number for Mark Fleming of the San Antonio band White Heat (former B-Side Project).

Fleming recalls: ‘I got home from work one day and the phone rang and it showed ‘unavailable’ on the caller ID. I usually don’t answer it because it’s usually telemarketers, but for some reason I answered it and the guy on the phone said… ‘My name’s Ian MacKaye from Fugazi’.’ To Fleming’s surprise, the phone call proved authentic and when asked if he could set up a venue with a couple of local acts to open the show, Fleming enthusiastically said he would.”

The recording leads the listener through some introductory remarks by the band, which includes them asking if anyone has been to the basketball game (the women’s Final Four is said to have been held at the neighboring Alamodome), laying out some ground rules for people to be on their best behavior and thanking everyone for having the band down again in San Antonio.

The band played 25 live songs in total on this occasion. Most of these are taken off of The Argument (6) and Red Medicine (5), followed by End Hits (4), Repeater (3), Furniture EP (2), 7 Songs EP (2), and with only one song each off of In on the Kill Taker, Steady Diet of Nothing and Margin Walker EP.

The show has some difficulty getting off the ground and gaining momentum due to safety concerns with people in the front getting injured due to people shoving forward, which gets addressed, and Ian calls out some people as rude and cowards as well for throwing drinks and stuff at the band from the balcony.

The performance itself feels rather hit-or-miss with some mistakes dotted around. The botched guitar play on Full Disclosure comes to mind, as well as Joe’s vocals on The Kill which are notably off (you can hear Joe apologize for the “disaster” after the song).

There are highlights as well though and I feel these include the set list flow on a number of occasions. Birthday Pony into Do You Like Me into a great version of Cashout (with some cool “sliding sounds” on the guitar intro) works well and Blueprint into Waiting Room into Burning (with some nice distortion on the vocals) shreds and is great fun! Also, it’s cool and revelatory to listen closely as the band picks up on Ian’s last guitar note that reverberates after Nightshop to go straight into Repeater.

The closing string of songs unfortunately misses coherence in my opinion which is accentuated by The Argument and Five Corporations being both incomplete and cut short. Furniture does not feel like a full-fledged set closer to me and rather surprisingly closes out the night.

To conclude it can be noted that the sound quality of the recording is really good (marked as “excellent” by the people at Dischord) once the mix settles and the volume levels balance out during the first couple of songs.

The set list:

1. Intro 2. Break 3. Number 5 4. Interlude 1 5. Sieve-Fisted Find 6. And The Same 7. Full Disclosure 8. Interlude 2 9. Birthday Pony 10. Do You Like Me 11. Cashout 12. Interlude 3 13. Oh 14. Long Division 15. The Kill 16. By You 17. Interlude 5 18. Blueprint 19. Waiting Room 20. Burning 21. Interlude 6 22. Back To Base 23. Downed City 24. Interlude 7 25. Closed Captioned 26. Nightshop 27. Repeater 28. Interlude 8 29. Arpeggiator 30. Argument 31. Five Corporations 32. Public Witness Program 33. Furniture 34. Outro