#but there is stuff with Elizabeth that would be cool to look at in relation to Kairi

[miramelindamusings]

Thanks for the info for possibilities about Namine's role in your Kairi Protag AU. I think that Namine could be a clone of Kairi made by the Organization, like Riku Replica.

On another note, what do you think Kairi would wear in the Pirates of the Caribbean world? Pirate wise.

That’s a neat idea! I’d love to hear more if you feel comfortable sharing! In terms of POTC, I actually started a re-watch to get in the headspace to draw something since it’s been a very long time that I’ve seen them! Kairi’s outfits are so pink in KH2 and KH3 so I tried to incorporate the purples and yellow from KH1 for some of the designs. While KH2 didn’t have Sora wear anything special, I couldn’t resist atleast sketching something out for Kairi. I can’t wait to draw something more concrete in the future (particularly exploring interactions with Elizabeth Swann!). Until then, here are my brainstormy sketches! Thank you for the ask!

[ilikethisacompletelynormalamount]

Halfway through their Actors on Actors conversation, Brie Larson and Andrew Scott discover something they have in common: Neither of them is a trained actor. Larson brings up the subject almost hesitantly, to explain why she has difficulty talking about her craft. “I didn’t go to school for it,” she says. “No! I didn’t either!” Scott replies. Excitedly, Larson says: “I knew I liked you!”

Despite any self-professed deficiencies about discussing acting, Larson and Scott insightfully talk about how they each got their start at a young age, and then dive into their current television projects: his remake of “Ripley” on Netflix and her Apple TV+ limited series “Lessons in Chemistry,” which Larson also developed as an executive producer. Both shows originate from books — Patricia Highsmith’s classic thriller and Bonnie Garmus’ 2022 bestseller, respectively — and though their characters are very different (Tom Ripley is a grifter turned murderer; Elizabeth Zott is a thwarted physicist), both stand apart from society, looking in from the outside...

RIPLEY LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY ACTORS ON ACTORS

BY KATE AURTHUR

ANDREW Scott & BRIE Larson

ANDREW SCOTT: I was reading that you were shy as a kid.

BRIE LARSON: Not anymore. I’m totally fine now. I’m totally confident and cool.

SCOTT: I really related to you when I was reading that, because that’s why I started as a kid. I think there’s a slight myth about actors — that they’re very outgoing or sort of precocious. So did you ask to start acting?

LARSON: Yeah. My parents were chiropractors, and I was super shy. I wouldn’t let it go. Of course, it’s changed the course of my life in so many ways. But at a time when I was so shy and had such a hard time expressing myself, at 6 years old, I was basically given, like, “OK, here’s a script for how you have a conversation.” The actual fiber of how I understand how to have pleasant conversations with people is based upon weekly acting sessions.

SCOTT: I used to go to these drama classes on a Saturday, and I would be fully shaking before you go in. And then you’d have to get up in front of your other 7-, 8-year-olds, and do an improvisation, or say a poem or something. I don’t feel like it’s an overstatement to say that I think it’s completely changed my life — not just my career. I had a really bad lisp when I was a kid, so I had to do elocution lessons. I had to go, “He sees seashells by the seashore,” and I just completely got rid of it.

Do you feel shy now?

LARSON: I had to face myself in so many different ways; that’s part of the thing that I actually seek now. I mean, I’m so grateful that I had so much rejection growing up. It’s wild! I very much had a slow burn in my career. I’d get close to things, so I knew that I had something, but I wasn’t booking, or I’d book one job a year or something — just enough to give me hope. It gave me so much experience so that when I was given the opportunities, I was truly ready for it. I never had a time on set where I was like, “Oh, gosh. This is bigger than what I understand.” It was always, like, well paced.

SCOTT: Absolutely. People who get an awful lot of scrutiny at an early age, I think, find it harder to experiment a little bit. So it’s good that I was unemployed for so long.

LARSON: It turns out I’m so happy that it seemed like it wasn’t working out for me! Look at us now! But, yeah, when I was stalking you online, I was like, “Wow, it feels similar.”

SCOTT: Just to wrap that shyness thing up, somebody said a really brilliant thing to me, which was, like, “There’s nothing wrong with being shy. Be shy. It’s a nice thing you go a little bit red.”

LARSON: I blush very easily. It’s horrible.

SCOTT: So “Lessons in Chemistry.”

LARSON: Let’s talk about our shows.

SCOTT: She’s singular, but it’s not shyness. She’s actually quite forthright. It’s beautiful stuff. And you’ve been involved with it for …?

LARSON: I think it took two years. Maybe longer. But I think it was about two years when we started working on it to then actually filming it.

SCOTT: Are you so proud of this?

LARSON: Yeah, I think so. I’m proud of what we achieved in the time that we did. I don’t have a connection to when it goes out in the world; it just feels like then it’s not about me anymore — it’s just images and feelings. I am proud of how much we said in the show. I felt like we got a lot in it, and a really amazing group of people that worked on it. And I loved playing her.

SCOTT: Were you looking at the edit and all that kind of stuff?

LARSON: All the time. And nonstop.

SCOTT: Did you find that you were able to …

LARSON: … detach? You have to. I’m just like, “Of course I didn’t do it all right.”

SCOTT: I think there’s maybe a fear that people are going to say, “We need another close-up of me, please.”

LARSON: I felt very committed to finding what things weren’t working. Especially with a character that I also felt was very different from me, and how little she emotionally expresses.

SCOTT: I love that about it.

LARSON: I struggled with it a lot, and I felt very lost with it. I am just very used to my understanding of when something’s working — when it feels very true and I’m just in it. And I would be in it with her, but I felt like the part of me that would want to cry, for example, was being pushed. She’s always twisting the knot inside, and won’t give it to anybody.

When you’re playing Tom Ripley, what does it feel like to lie when he’s lying?

SCOTT: Well, I tried to make him lie as little as he could get away with, so that he lies in order to get himself out of a situation. And he murders to get himself out of a situation. He’s not bloodthirsty. I mean, he could have not murdered, I suppose.

LARSON: Yeah.

SCOTT: We all make that decision.

LARSON: Yeah, no, it’s a choice you make every day.

SCOTT: I suppose any of those things about him being a liar or sociopath, I found unhelpful. The kind of stuff that Tom Ripley, I suppose, is famous for as an iconic literary character — “Is he a psychopath?” or “Is he a murderer?” or whatever. But the murder-y parts — we shot it for nearly a year, and they only took up a few weeks.

LARSON: He’s mostly not murdering. I have a question about playing a character that has existed in many different iterations and forms. I feel like you have experience with that, because you do theater as well. Do you have the same approach every time, in terms of researching and watching previous versions of it? Or do you just block it out?

SCOTT: Absolutely, I block it. Because, No. 1, I adored the film “The Talented Mr. Ripley” — the Minghella movie with Matt Damon and Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow and all those amazing people. But mercifully, I hadn’t seen it in a very long time. One of the first conversations I had with Steven Zaillian, our writer-director, was “Why?” And he had such a singular vision for it. He wanted it a very particular way. I was worried that I was too old and blah, blah, blah — I had just a very specific idea that was based on the film.

I had to remind myself that that film was also a reiteration of something: There was another version with Alain Delon before. There were loads of different ones. So it has been reinterpreted a lot. And I feel like it’s very important that he said, “We want to age the characters up.” And he was talking about this very particular kind of noirish black-and-white vision that he had. And that made me feel very comfortable. And I always think that it’s important, because it happens in the theater so much — if it was a Shakespeare character, thousands of people have played one character. I always find that really interesting. I think the response, I suppose, is to be respectful, but not too reverent. What’s the point of doing it if you’re going to do it exactly the same way? So I didn’t look.

LARSON: What do you think about some sort of Ripley universe — into the Ripley-verse? Just all the Ripleys.

SCOTT: Like Marvel? Sort of like the Fantastic Four? Is that a thing? Oh, and they all get together?

LARSON: Yeah, Ripleys together. I’m just curious. I got a couple studios interested, so I just …

SCOTT: You do? So kind of you! You make things happen. Are you not tired? You’ve been setting up projects for me? God, you’re kind.

LARSON: No, I’m writing a part for myself as well.

SCOTT: You’d be a good Tom Ripley! 

[starlightshadowsworld]

Im watching Animeirl’s guess the week video where they ask a bunch of anime related questions to figure out who in this group isn’t an anime fan.

And I thought it’d be fun to write my answers to the questions.

What anime/manga power would you like to have?

Finral’s spacial magic from Black Clover. Make myself little portals here and there to travel through. It’d be pretty useful especially considering I may have fucked up my knee.

If you had to daily wear one characters costumes what would it be?

Probably the hardest one because man do I not want to wear a school uniform for the rest of my life.

I’d say Elizabeth Midford from Black Butler. Specifically her outfit from Book of Atlantic I love that dress and shows. And she kicks ass in it so it’s a win.

If you had to pick one character to bring to a deserted island for a year, who would it be?

Kunikida from Bungou stray dogs. That man is prepared for anything and probably has a plan for this in his notebook.

And most of the supplies we’d need I think he’d be able to make in his notebook. I think he’d be good company and end can both trade stories.

Name a favourite anime fight scene.

Mereoleona Vermillion vs Rhaya from Black Clover. One of the hypest fights I’ve ever witnessed. He thinks he can win automatically because he has copy magic and Mereoleona just smirks and says bet.

Name a side character who deserves their own spin off show.

Mitsuya Takahashi from Tokyo Revengers. Specifically set after Toman broke up.

Mitsuya went from captain of a gang division to successful fashion designer. All the while carrying the broken dreams of the friends he lost. Not to mention he’s one of the few founding members of Toman left and I’d absolutely watch a show about him.

What is your favourite character nickname?

The moniker given to Bsd Beast’s Atsushi Nakajima, The White Reaper.

Do you have any anime complaints?

I’m only saying one and keeping it brief. I hate when I’m watching a show and there’s incredible and compelling female characters. And they lose that strength to chase after the main character.

So capable and strong but oh they’ve joined the good guys or became the love interest so now they can’t do shit. I’m aware it’s not just an anime thing but it definitely happens.

Looking at you, various Yugioh spin offs.

If you had to fight an anime character and go all out, who are you fighting?

Fyodor Dostoyevsky from Bungou Stray Dogs. I’d probably lose because he’d have some plan but until that kicks in, ima kick his ass. I don’t need to survive this or kill him I just wanna ruin his day.

Sub vs Dub?

I usually watch stuff in sub because of how much dubs can leave out, especially if I’m watching something where the details are important.

But I’m not really bothered, I’ve watched shows in dub and others in sub. I’ll just pick whichever I feel like. If I’ve seen a clip of it I’ll usually just pick if that clips in sub or dub.

And depending on how…obsessed I am I might watch it in both.

Do you have a favourite anime weapon?

Admittedly I don’t know of many weapons in anime and while it does piss me off, it’s objectively cool.

And that’s the divine blade ‘in the presence of the rain’ aka Amenogozen from Bungou stray dogs. It’s a literal space time sword and I have to respect that.

[theleotorrio]

Hi there! A, F, M, and U for the ask game? If you don't mind 😊

Hey, friend!!

Thank you for the ask, I don't mind at all and will try my best :)

A - Ships you currently like a lot. (They don't have to be OTPs because not everyone has OTPs.) Friendships, pairings, threesomes, etc. are allowed.

Currently I am for some reason obsessed with Nikola & Nigel and Nigel & Helen friendships. I think they'd have a really fun dynamic.

Also I had a fallback to the Jane/Lisbon ship from The Mentalist, that slow burn romance is just really great. And then the usual Helen Nikola in any way honestly, I love their friendship, I like them as a couple, just those two having a choke hold on me.

F - What's the longest you've ever been in a fandom?

Gosh I am not sure. For most of the time I was never really active in fandoms because people scare me but I've been looking at fandom stuff for some fandoms for as long as like 14 years, which is long. But actively engaging in stuff, probably 5 years with the Sanders Sides Fandom.

M - Name a character that you'd like to have for a friend.

Many of them. I'd create my own small, perfect friend group. But probably George Karim from Lockwood and Co. He's a great cook and we can nerd out together about conspiracy theories and discuss comics and mangas.

U - Three favourite characters from three different fandoms, and why they're your favourites.

Uuh, I like this one a lot!!!!

Firstly Levi Ackerman from Attack on Titan. He's my favourite because I relate to him a lot and I like how he is written as such a closed off yet so deeply emotional character who no matter what the world throws at him will get back up and try to find something new worth living for. I do find this sad yet inspiring at the same time, also I love that he loves tea a lot. I think he is simply written amazingly but also tragically, which makes him such a cool character!!

Secondly Lucy Carlyle from Lockwood and Co. She's my favourite because even though she is insanely powerful, she is so humble about it and has such a good heart for justice and wanting to make things right while being incredibly grumpy. I find it really endearing.

And then I have to put Nikola on here. He's hillarious even if troublesome and I like how he does have his serious moments and still wants to believe in the good of humanity even if it keeps failing him and I just really enjoy the balance he is written with.

I don't like that I could only put three on here, but honarable mentions would be teresa Lisbon(The Mentalist), Elizabeth Weir(Stargate Atlantis) and Raine Whispers (The Owl House)

Thank you, those were a lot of fun!! Sorry, this got a bit long.

[egipci]

would like to hear more thoughts about fem!sam and deanjohn!

hmmm I don't really have super complex or coherent thoughts about fem!sam + j/d other than I think it could really interesting! I tend to see so much more fem!dean on my dash (both w/m!sam or f!sam) but never really f!S/m!D (this is just how my dash skews, I don't know if that's necessarily representative of spn fandom at large)--- and also I think a genderswap would be as interesting in context of Sam's character as it is for Dean's (I don't really care for the tired "female-coded" discussion all that much --- I mean this in the sense of "imagine if everything stayed the same but also Sam is a girl").

The J/D part of things adds a layer that I find really compelling, obviously informed by certain ideas I have about how pre-series world operates and my strong John-is-Dean's-first-love convictions, etc. I think Sam being a girl would simultaneously add a greater degree of protectiveness on John's and Dean's end that would also potentially translate to more softness from John, in some ways, and more anxiety re: her leaving, and obviously an even stronger sense of obligation on Dean’s side — but I think there would also be a more profound distance along gender lines. (I also have some very strong, and seemingly fringe beliefs, about how m/m j/d on the whole would be MUCH more palatable and easier for John than John/Deanna ever could be -- but that's for a different conversation -- and this extends even to s/d where Dean does reciprocate, because fucking his baby sister is orders of magnitude more terrible than fucking his baby brother) and Sam being a girl would amplify 1. the angst/bitterness of why is my otherwise straight brother more into Dad than he is into me (this recalls some gender-related anxieties from Elizabeth Smart’s By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept that I find really moving); 2. the forcefulness of Sam’s advances towards Dean, if that’s something that happens; and 3. the victim-blaming/lack of sympathy/understanding Sam would feel towards Dean and his dogged loyalty to Dad, because obviously he’s a cool manly dude and it should be much easier for him to assert himself or resist or think for himself vis-a-vis her own gendered experience etc.

And this is also really fascinating in relation to J/D from John’s pov. It seems to me that even with girl Sam who (maybe) looks like her mom and acts like her mom did back in the day with the assertiveness and the desire to escape her family and all the affection John holds for her independently as his daughter, it would still be Dean he fucks (or however close they get to that), in part because of the gender stuff mentioned above, but also because it’s Dean, and that sort of thing is only really possible with Dean and in the context of their relationship (tho I suppose this depends entirely on what you think the j/d relationship is about and John’s motivations and rationale are.)

So, anyway, it’s cool interesting stuff! Someone should write this!

[mono-chrono]

Ilu. Info dump about something you like. The bee swarm is listening 🐝

oh boy where do i start

i have OPTIONS. Most of them are video game lore.

gonna be honest, i used to be able to spout every scrap of fact about the zelda series. Middle school my beloved/beloathed

buuuuut seeing as this blog is slowly turning into a fnaf blog lets just talk about that one and why i absolutely do not like the idea of vanny and vanessa being the same person

Reason 1. I'm probably just butthurt that my theory before the game's release wasn't really substantiated. They were just being so heavy handed and obvious about the fact that Vanny and Vanessa were the same (that. goddamn. freddy voice line in lasertag. it bugs me) I THOUGHT IT HAD TO BE A RED HERRING. And, like, surely I wasn't the only one

We don't really know what the original story would have been, but in the trailers it looked like Vanessa was going to help us, voice lines and all. It would have been a cool story if she was trying to both help and hurt Gregory, but again, I don't see it happening

Reason 2: LOST AND FOUND. Seriously. Guys. Why the hell would Vanessa record herself talking at a random child, threatening to call the cops, then edit it and smash cut to her being in a bunny suit. What would be the point. This is stupid for so many reasons, mainly, that would do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to help her plans! If they were the same person, why try to make an enemy out of both of them? Why not make Vanessa look good if the plan to kill Gregory in there didn't work, and why make the video AT ALL?????

Reason 3: Non lore related things. Things like having different voice actors, having completely different models with different heights and shapes, THAT STUFF

Reason 4: The tapes. Okay, me covering my hate but begrudging acceptance of SOME Gregbot theories will have to wait for some other time, but personally, I don't think that Greggy m'boy is patient 46. I also don't think Vanessa is. Vanessa has her own tapes, separate from patient 46 (if they were the same person, it would definitely be listed as the same patient, even if it is some alter ego), and we get some physical descriptors from both. One sits comfortably in the chair, one looks uncomfortable. One likes the flowers and the light, one doesn't.

And the backstory. People will often say that Vanessa doesn't have a dad named Bill, there wasn't an insane, traumatizing custody battle that drove her mom to do something even more traumatic, that it was all an act. I don't buy that. People say that because they think patient 46 is Vanessa, but the pure response that we hear Vanessa say in that therapist's tapes, that doesn't sound like acting. And if it is, give Vanessa a gig as an actress, because that would have to be a damn good and convincing performance, especially against a licensed therapist.

Now, you may all be saying that the writing in this game makes no sense anyway, which is fair! It totally doesn't! I could probably create a bottomless pit from all the plotholes it has, but there are conscious decisions made. The models and voice actors, who had to read the lines for the final draft of the game. Both of the voice actresses had multiple rolls, and while it would be unfair to take one and give it to another, it would make sense if they were the same characters.

So who is Vanny? Patient 46? My guess would be the Reluctant Follower from Help Wanted. Doing the bidding of PeePaw, watching, perhaps even tormenting Vanessa. I do think Vanessa is related to the Aftons (possible theories on that are complicated, though i may well point out that she has the same voice actress as Elizabeth and i do have my ✨opinions✨ on it), and that's mainly because of HOW Vanessa got hired, but I digress.

One last thing, while im as tired as everyone else about PeePaw, I wanna touch a little bit on the upper management. People often say Vanessa got her job from someone on high speeding through the process for her specifically, and say that it was Afton. Then, I would ask, HOW? My dude has been a rotting corpse for well over 30 years at this point and the company was left to it's co-owner Henry, who gave a badass speech then promptly died, so that leaves one question;

Who the fuck hired Vanessa?

[the-firebird69]

Chus & Ceballos - Black Rock City [Official Music Video]

They do this music every time as the intro and when would think they knew it was there cuz I keep saying burning Man and it's terribly ridiculous and the intro music is played as we said every single burning Man and pretty much for like half a day then they start playing other songs and they play it again and they like it it's electro and it's famous and he got a song played once and they thought it was really intense so they had the artist come and she was real pleased find out it was you and said no way and I said that's a weapon that I told him at that Tony is a weapon the one right there and it can be activated at this time it's just that we were at risk I said yeah people die there still and it's by Mary and she said no and she told people and they said who in the after it's mostly Max and the we're heavy hitters and against them and helps you guys grow I'll stop over too but I know if it's my dad did and he flew s***** Chitty bang bang out and I don't deserve it and Queen Elizabeth II was riding it and I told her to bring a bunch of rags here shirt and the other side and they stuffed him in his dad didn't have time to fix it was cool and she said oh no and they started talking about it it's really the flavor of it and they went nuts and said you were glad you're here and she said I'm kind of related a little and she's a Mac and he says they're trying to hit people there it's not a good idea to go there and he says possibly not you can be further away from it though so they got a little upset and they figured out that they're out in the computer is doing it and they're looking for people who are maxed but interested in there sad and said they can't help this and they got it but this is the intro music and yeah they play it every time over and over and it is awesome vital and goddess wife and I said it was us. There's a few things going on I can announce

-we have a party here and no we have a party that's out of order it's the trumps and they're leaving and they are upset their fleet is out and they have to get out of here they have other fleets and they're trying to get them going and they're going to try and do that tonight I guess if they don't they're just going to sit there getting hit and the last 1.5 billion is under attack and a lot of people want to be so damn onrry. His other news

-we have a whole bunch of people who need out of here it's happening everyday and they're dangerous and they won't stop with it and he says we know about it and let's do something so we're going to go ahead and do something and spend too long today and too many and we'll have to keep doing it and maintenance cuz other stuff too

-we have a tired little boy here and he tried to eat a lot of ham and he did but he's hoping to work and we think it will and we need to get him to rest pretty soon tonight and sleep

-there's a lot of battles going on in space it's going to take a while bja is going to battle the pseudo empire if he can get over there but it looks like Trump is trying to form up on Mars and he is probably not going to make it and he has like four billion or five billion chips and already the pseudo empire has 5 billion trumps are the same 4 billion to 5 billion but he's got to heat them all up and get them all out he's trying to do it from the apartment he's not supposed to be in and he can't tell if they're receiving and stuff like that

There's a huge argument between himself and his people and they're telling them to shut up and get off the radio and stop telling people why we're doing and he's saying no they're going to listen tonight I mean he will you hear them talking about what they're going to do she does not comply he's going to get hurt

-it's a couple other things going on that are really big this this guy Trump has been trying to mess with his social security and he is the acting director and supposedly he's a good guy at least he's telling some people that and we are intercepting him and huge forces have moved up there from the pseudo empire us the Max and foreigners and miscellaneous and bja and we're all taking him down these are higher ups in the DC area they have access codes and safeties and what they arranged and everything for probably 50% of the remaining stashes and cash systems and entrance systems. It's on okay they're going to get polished off and stopped and people are sick of your abuse the tire being abused by them and they're tired of their stupid mouth and their dumb talk and the sick and tired of seeing them moving around and saying we understand we heard you and say they're big when they're very small right now they're 3% that's not big off Island that's very small my comparison to what they were they are about 1/7 the size of what they were or about 14% instead of 100%, and yeah you're stupid you're not doing well you're not doing anything you're pissing people off and boy you rude dumb m************ so we're going to take you out I can't stand you this is some idiot stuff and he said it's kind of hard to deal with but I'm pretty sure they're just really stupid and it turned out to be true and they're kind of mean and wicked on top and they say a lot of stuff another thing to announce

-people are forming up on their walls in their areas and they're going after them and say he hired him to do the job it's not his fault and these people are morons saying they're Giants running around telling people and they haven't done anything except screw up and had someone else do it and the Trump said the trumps are fighting the Max and the max of pulverizing them and they don't get anywhere so now it's going to be them disappearing already there around 2.8% and it's because of their proximity to Giants the fact that they're holding it down and away from people and that they also know about Dave and his best friend and a computer guy in salt point to him that he has information or worse and it's going on right now and the numbers of these guys keeps reducing. 2.8% is very small they're losing people very fast and they're not going to be around for much longer really at the rates are going it's like 1% a day and with no fleet they'll have a lot less power and people are chasing down all their small ships and they're going to New Zealand the ships that are protecting New Zealand are going to be vulnerable as most of them are going to Mars and we'll update you in a moment

Bitol and Goddess wife

Olympus

[jolienjoyswriting]

Attune Your Ears (The Rewrite), Ch. II

Chapter 2 of 2 for "Attune Your Ears (The Rewrite)," an Essence of Ragnarok story. Previous version available here.

Eliza's true intentions are revealed.

Word count: 2,736 – Character count: 15,728 Drafted: March 18th, 2023 Revised: March 19th, 2023 –

Yeah, this still ends how you think it does.  I'm not apologizing. Also, negative character traits, oh my gooo–

Joseph Lithius, Elizabeth Armstrong, "Essence of Ragnarok" series, and related characters and concepts created by and © Jo Li KMC

[ ↶ Prev. Story | ← Prev. Chapter | Next Chapter → | Next Story ↷ ]

    It had been about a month since Eliza first asked Joseph to join her at home.  Since that time, they had been meeting a couple of days on the weekends to… "become acquainted".

    At first, it just seemed like a weird "bird" thing.  He would sit down and let Eliza sit near or on him.  She would chirp or whistle a little as she stroked one of his ears, then once he was relaxed, she would lean up and "preen" the other with her beak.  Sometimes, though… things didn't go according to plan.     Over time, the fox started to develop a lot of small nicks and things along his ears from where she had "slipped".  There were a couple of healed spots where she had drawn blood, too.  She hated hurting him like that…  Not only did it make her feel incredibly guilty, but she seemed to have a clinical fear of the red stuff!  It still worked in her favor, though, as her fox friend would immediately pull her in and comfort her.  It wasn't something she planned for, much less intended for him to do… but she greatly appreciated that it was his instinct to do that.  He gave pretty good hugs…

    Through trial by fire, Eliza began to figure out the secrets of a good "ear preen".  She would run the edge of her beak along the edge of his ear at a perpendicular angle, making sure not to move forward or backward… just "sideways".  She still managed to cut loose some finer fur, here and there, but overall… it just made Joseph feel good.  And that made her feel good.  That was her end goal the whole time… learning how to "groom" his ears and make him smile.  However… during their latest meeting, Joseph stopped her.  When she leaned back and looked at his face… she realized why.  He was blushing pretty hard…

    "Liz…" he sighed, unable to look at her.  "Liz, when… when you rub my ear, it feels so nice…  Your feathers are so soft and your fingers are so warm…  Plus, you're a lot more gentle than Kris is."     The bird smiled, blushing a little.  She never knew how to handle compliments.     "B-but… when you start running your beak over my ears…"     The fox sighed again before glancing up.     "Okay…  Don't… take this the wrong way, but… it feels nice.  Like… really nice.  As in… it feels really… really… nice.  Do… do you get my meaning?"     Eliza stared at him for several seconds, seemingly oblivious.     "What I mean is…"     Then… slowly, the bird leaned in…     "H-hey, wait."     And she started using her beak on his ear.     "Nnn… nnn…"     Which, once again, caused a reaction…

    The warm blush grew under the fox's fur as he held onto Eliza's midsection.  His breathing slowed and became heavier…  One ear was delicately rubbed and tickled by her hand while the other was under constant assault by her sharp, cool beak.  She was breathing into his ear, too… seemingly on purpose.     He wanted to stop her again.  But at the same time… he kind of didn't.

    "L-Liz…  Ah… haa…"

    The fox squirmed and shifted beneath the friendly falcon in his lap.  It didn't seem like she wasn't going out of her way to tease him.  He wasn't sure she even realized what she was doing…  Even when his hands started to roam along her back and slide down her fanned tail feathers… it didn't seem like Eliza had any plans to stop preening his ear.  He knew he should have stopped her…  He knew what might happen if she kept playing with his ears like that…  However… the rational side of his brain had become clouded by all the good feelings.  It felt incredible.  It was addicting…!  He wanted her to keep going… no matter what.

    "I…  I…  L-Liz…!  I…!"     Joseph panted hard and his body trembled.  He pulled the bird closer as she nibbled on his left ear.     "Liz…  Liz…!"     His eyes shakily opened and he tried to focus on a random spot on the wall.  His body was on auto-pilot as his brain came back online.  However, even if he'd wanted to stop things… it was far too late.     "Liii– aaaugh…!!"     The fox threw his head back, passionately crying his friend's name.  At least, he tried to.  As his head went backward… Eliza's sharp beak cut a swath through the chocolate fur and tender flesh on the back of his ear.  The sound he made was somewhere between pain and… and pleasure.     All at once, the bird realized what happened.  She leaned back, covering her beak and staring in wide-eyed… curiosity.  She watched him spasm… heard him groan… and witnessed the effects of what she had done to the young fox.  She should have felt ashamed, knowing what she'd done.  However, behind those feathered hands of hers… was a big, proud smile.

    She had accomplished… exactly… what she had set out to do from the first day.

    As the fox began to calm down, Eliza relaxed her face.  She feigned innocence, gingerly reaching up to stroke the ear she had been nibbling on… only to genuinely wince back.  She'd felt something warm, wet, and sticky.     Joseph's eyes shot open, his head clearing in an instant.  He was quick to notice his friend violently wiping her hand on his shirt.  When he looked up, he noticed an expression of near-hysteria on her face.  He was pretty sure he'd heard her scream, too, but it didn't seem like she was making any noise, anymore.  Her mouth just hung open and she desperately tried to wipe something off her hand.  It didn't take him long to figure out what was going on…

    Eliza was having a panic attack.

    "Liz," he said with a slight pant.  "L-Liz, hey.  Look at me."     The girl continued to hyperventilate, scraping her hand against his freshly-stained white T-shirt.  She'd gotten blood on it… which absolutely did not help her situation.     "Elizabeth," he called again, keeping his voice calm.     She pawed at him a couple more times, clearly not paying attention.     "Elizabeth," he repeated more firmly.     She shuddered before finally looking at him.     "Look here," he told her.  "Focus on my eyes."     Her gaze started to look elsewhere…     "No-no," Joseph said, gently tapping her cheek.  "Over here."     She shivered… and slowly, she started to look back his way.     "Right into my eyes, Liz…" he whispered with a smile.  "Just my eyes."     The girl shakily nodded before letting her eyes lock onto his.     "Now… stay focused on my eyes.  I'm going to carry you into the bathroom.  Okay?"     She nodded a little more… before outright burying her face against his collarbone.     "Wuh– o-okay, that works, too…  Eh heh…"

    With some difficulty, Joseph gently picked the bird up, carrying her bridal-style into the rear of the house.  Once they were there, slowly but surely, he managed to wash the blood off her hand.  With that done, he made sure she was okay, then he politely asked if she would stay outside for a minute.  She briefly tightened her grip on him before calming.  She then closed her eyes and carefully left the bathroom, closing the door behind her.  It wasn't long after that Joseph came back out, sans shirt and with a large kind of bandage over his entire ear.

    "Thanks for being patient," he sighed, offering a comforting smile.  "You did good…"     She couldn't return the smile.  She just looked worried…     "Don't worry…" the fox whispered, gently cupping her shoulder.  "I'll grab my dirty shirt when I leave."     When she shook her head, Joseph tilted his.     "What's wrong?" he asked.     She gestured upward.     "What?  Oh, my ear?"  The fox laughed.  "Liz, I'm fine.  Just a little tender.  I'll heal!"     Though he was smiling… Eliza couldn't stop fretting.     "It's fine, Liz," he reassured her with a grin.  "You can stop wringing your hands and giving me that look.  Besides… the beak injuries make me look cool."     For some reason, that finally got the girl to smile.     "There's a pretty bird!  Heh, I like seeing you smile…"     He reached over, gently stroking one of her white, feathery cheeks.     "It makes me happy."     His smile warmed as she leaned in, cupping his hand with hers and rubbing her cheek against it.  That feeling didn't last long, though, as it reminded him of what they were doing before she had her panic attack…     "Liz?"  When she looked up, he quietly told her… "We… we should talk about earlier…"

    The mood was tense as Joseph sat on one side of the futon in the living room.  Eliza had joined him on the other side.  Neither of them could really look at the other…     "Liz?"     Until the former spoke up, anyway.

    "Liz…" he began, looking right at her.  "Liz, did… does… does what we did… c-count as 'cheating'…?"     The hazel-eyed bird blinked a couple of times.  That clearly wasn't the question she'd expected him to ask!     "I… I know you probably…  I-I mean, you were just having fun, right?  You didn't mean to actually… y-you know…"  He blushed hard, looking down and folding his ears before shakily whispering the words, "S-set me off…"     Eliza kept calm.  She felt guilty about pushing him so far…  Proud, but guilty…  And yet, that sweet, innocent fox had given her the perfect escape!  She was home free!     "Liz…?"     So… why, then…?     "Er… L– Liz…?"     Why… didn't she take it?

    Joseph blushed harder than ever.  Without a noise, that pretty bird had shuffled over and leaned into him.  She nuzzled his shoulder with her cool beak and gently stroked a hand over his chest, quietly chirping…  It was pretty obvious what she was trying to tell him.     "So… it was on purpose…"     He looked away, spitting a curse.  He was hoping that wasn't the case…     "You knew what was going on the whole time… but you just kept on pushing…"     When his tone changed, Eliza leaned back and looked at him.  The fox looked… conflicted.  Again, not something she was expecting.

    "Liz…"     He sighed, removing his glasses and rubbing his eyes.     "Liz," he repeated as if she wasn't listening.  "Liz… I… I have a girlfriend…  You two are friends.  You can't– huh?  What?"     Eliza was shaking her head.     "What?" he asked.  "O-oh, right.  You two aren't…"     When she nodded, he just sighed more, shaking his head.     "Look," he started again, "my point is that… you know… there's… like… boundaries and stuff?  And… and stuff!  There should be, and…"     The fox shook his head again before putting his glasses back on.     "Void Below… if Kris knew what we just did…"     He laughed a little… then he sighed even more.     "You know what the worst part about all this is, Liz?"     The bird offered a look of curiosity.     "The worst part is…"  He weakly smiled before admitting to her… "I don't feel bad about it.  Not even a little."     Again, Eliza was wide-eyed.  She… really… did not expect that.

    "D-don't get me wrong!" Joseph cried, startling the bird.  "I'm pretty sure I just cheated on my girlfriend by letting you do… what you did…  B-but at the same time, it's like… I guess it could be m… much worse?"     Eliza gestured over to him, prompting the fox to expand on that.     "We could've… you know…"  He sheepishly grinned as he suggested… "H-had… sex?"     And once again… the bird was wide-eyed with surprise.  And embarrassment!  She became very flustered very quickly, hiding her blushing face behind her hands… only to peek at the fox through her fingers.     "I-I know!" he laughed.  "Crazy idea, right?  You and me… having actual sex?"     He laughed… paused… then looked down, biting his lip.     "What a… a crazy… s-stupid idea…"     And it was at that point… that Eliza became fully invested in the conversation.

    "I… I'm a good boyfriend," Joseph continued, talking to the floor.  "I love my girlfriend with all my heart!  She's warm and… well, she can be warm.  And she can be cuddly, too!  I guess I…  Gods Above… I don't know what I'm saying."     The fox sighed more deeply than before.     "Look, forget I said anything…  I'm just still high from the… the 'nibbling'…  I'm perfectly happy with my girlfriend!  She's everything I… could…"     He trailed off, looking up.  Eliza had leaned back in.     "I… um…"     The girl had her hand on his cheek and she was looking right into his eyes.     "L… Liz?"     She raised her other hand, two fingers pointing at his eyes.  She then turned them around, pointing at her eyes.     "Liz…"  The fox quietly chuckled.  "I'm not having a panic attack…  I'm… having a guilt attack.  I… don't wanna be disloyal to Kris."     Eliza didn't make a sound.  She just leaned in and rubbed the front of her beak to his nose, keeping her eyes locked onto his.     "How… how do you do that?" he whispered with a blush.     She nuzzled his nose with her beak a little more and stroked his cheek.  He could see her smiling, too.     "How do you say so much without saying anything…?"     The bird cocked her head, asking a question without saying a word.     "And… why are your caramel eyes so pretty…?"

    Eliza blushed a little, herself, as Joseph brought his hands to her cheeks.  Slowly, she closed her eyes.  A smile came back to the corners of her mouth as he nuzzled her beak, and her blush warmed more as his cool nose touched her face.  When she was pulled into a hug, though, she pulled inward and hugged back with all her might.  He was such a precious, innocent thing…  It was making her feel guilty about what she'd done.  But… she loved being so close to him.  He was fun to cuddle with.

    "I've decided."

    An unknown amount of time had passed since the pair embraced.  The fog of warm feelings slowly lifted and Eliza leaned back, curiously looking at her friend.

    "I've decided…" he repeated.  "I've decided that what we did… probably pushes me into the 'cheating man-whore' kind of boyfriend."     Eliza recoiled at that, silently gasping and covering her beak.  She was about to make another gesture when…     "And I'm… I'm okay with that."     Joseph reached up, gently pulling her hands away from her beak.     "I'm okay with it," he continued with a genuine smile, "because we didn't do anything truly 'cheaty'.  All you did was play with my ears a little…  It's not your fault my ears are that kind of 'sensitive'."     When he winked, Eliza silently giggled and smiled.     "I don't regret letting you do that," he continued.  "It felt nice… and up until the point a completely unrelated thing happened–"     The bird immediately looked at her fox friend's bandaged ear and frowned.     "– we were both having a really good time!"     She looked back, offering a somewhat awkward smile.     "Honestly, if I'd met you sooner…"     Joseph looked down, lowering their hands to the futon cushion.     "Well… maybe you and I could have become closer than we are now."     He looked back up, smiling.     "I bet you'd be a kick-ass girlfriend, Liz…"     She brought a hand up, covering her beak as she soundlessly laughed and looked away.  She was blushing, too.  As much as they flustered her, she did appreciate his kind words.     "I wonder if Lan or Los…"  He hummed.  "Eh, nah, that's none of my business."     When he noticed his friend blushing a little more, he just grinned and wagged his tail.     "Threesome…" he lewdly whispered.     That was too much for the poor girl.  She pulled her other hand back and hid her face with both of them, harshly shaking her head.  She had no idea that "innocent" and "precious" fox could suggest such a thing!  In a way, though… it kind of made her appreciate him more.

    "Well… I should probably be going…"

    Eliza moved her hands…  Joseph had stood, but he was still looking her way with a smile.  When she smiled back, he smiled even more and wagged his tail again.     "Before I go, through…"     The bird got to her feet as the fox paused and looked down.  What was on his mind?     "I was thinking…  You made me feel good…"     When he slowly looked back up, Eliza noticed… his eyes were half-closed – even more so than usual – and he was wearing a rather… suggestive grin…     "Maybe… I could return the favor, sometime…?"

[deardragonbook]

Those really weird dream sequences and when are they good?

I used to think that almost all dream sequences in books were bad. I don’t recall what books I was reading at the time but I specifically recall them being just a bunch of nonsense. 

Until one day, I read one that didn’t only entice me, but I read it three times in a row. Why the desperation? Because it was telling me something. Although what it was telling me wasn’t essential, just foreshadowing and food for theories, I just wanted to know. No. I needed to know. 

So, bad dream sequences are the ones that don’t serve a purpose. It’s just a bunch of shocking imagery for the sake of it, because you need some excitement but the next action scene is too far away. 

Or because you have a cool image in your head and you think despite it’s lack of relation to the story it will entice your reader regardless. Perhaps you like other people’s dream sequences and don’t know what you like about them. 

For me, a good dream sequence tells you something, perhaps gives you some important details about a characters past, perhaps some insight on their emotional state, it tells us about what they’re worried about, it’s tell us what they’re scared of. 

I think the most important thing is to know what you’re trying to express before writing the sequence. Choose the essential details and then mix in some less-esential but in no way irrelevant ones. 

Let’s use an example from my writing, spoilers ahead for Act 1 of Oppida Institute for Reformation (obviously, slight spoilers, it’s available for free in the link at the bottom of the post if you’d like to read it and then come back!): 

Slumber came fast, but it was not pleasant. She found herself in the Institute, her arm was hurting, why was her arm hurting? She looked down at it to see it was bleeding. Why was it bleeding? She turned her arm over, but couldn't find where the blood came from. She hummed and began to walk towards the exit.

She knew this building. She hated it. But she knew it. She reached the familiar door, pushed. Nothing, it wouldn't budge. She hummed again and wondered off to find a window. But there were none.

She was tired. So she headed upstairs, towards her room, she needed somewhere to sleep. The building had been empty up until now, but when she entered the hallway with the rooms it was full. There was a child at every door.

They were younger than Elizabeth. She didn't know who any of them were, they didn't have names, but she somehow knew they were from the Institute.

They looked at her. Or past her? No. Definitely at her.

"Hello?" she couldn't hear her own voice, but they reacted to it by tilting their heads.

She didn't know who they were, until it dawned on her, they were the children who she hadn't got to in time. She looked at them closer. They all had cuffs on their wrists. The cuffs she'd worn when thrown into the carriage.

She looked down at the ground, it wasn't stone anymore but wood. She looked back up, the walls were wood, the doors to the rooms were now all like the exit to the carriage. The ground began to move and she lost her balance falling to the ground.

She heard banging, it was the sound of her banging on the exit of the carriage.

She gasped for breath. Before waking up in a cold sweat in her bed at the orphanage. She was crying. She was crying loudly.

Thankfully her room mate was missing, nobody noticed.

Okay, so what was the goal with this scene? Context for those who haven’t read the story: Act 1 consists of Elizabeth infiltrating what is believed to be an abusive institution to find evidence. She finds this evidence but is promptly found out and nearly “shipped off” in a wooden carriage fighting for survival. 

She is rescued before anything truly bad can happen to her. However, she’s shown to be quite stressed and her attitude towards the adults in charge further hint that the events are having a larger impact than she wants them to know about. However, this is the moment where all readers should realize how deep the trauma runs. 

Prior to writing the sequence, I knew I needed to show the Institute, the carriage and the children. The Institute being the origin of the trauma, the carriage being the overflow and the children being her largest regret. The children who came before her, who she didn’t arrive in time to save. 

Okay, so three things to work with. What about the other details? Where do they come from? Let’s take a look by listing them: 

-Pain/bleeding in her arm: this a quick early hint at what’s to come for those who read the chapters in order. In the carriage she banged her shoulder and in extension her arm against the wooden door. Although not stated because of the adrenaline and the lack of relative importance, this is something painful and damaging. This is also foreshadowing to the next chapter where she is taken down with an odd amount of ease, partly due to exhaustion from this nightmare, but also partly due to invisible injuries needing recovery. 

-Locked door and no windows: obviously representing the feeling of being trapped that she had while living there. 

-Being tired and heading to her old room: it shows how despite being back home, she still holds that instinct from the time she was there. 

-The building being empty except for children: after she found evidence obviously the building was emptied, employees were arrested, children returned to safe homes. But in Elizabeth’s mind, it’ll never be fully empty, for it still holds those children who weren’t allowed to ever go home. 

-The children standing at the doors: this is a throwback to this exact thing happening at the Institute. 

-The children being younger than Elizabeth: This one is interesting because in the actual story, it’s mentioned that Elizabeth’s the same age as most of the attendants. Why make them younger here? Because Elizabeth perceives them as such. She’s an apprentice, a guard to be, responsible, mature. They’re children that need protecting. It’s her job to protect them. Just like an older kid to a younger child. 

(Plus children are always spookier). 

-Not being sure about where they are looking: Who’s to blame for them not making it? They look past her, at the real culprits, but ultimately Elizabeth still blames herself so they’re eyes return to her. 

-Not being able to hear her own voice: This is just something that happens (to me) often in dreams. And that’s another thing you can incorporate into dream sequences, actual realistic things from dreams, it can help sell and seal the scene. It also adds to the spooky factor and makes the wooden noise coming up later stronger and more impactful. 

-The sudden recognition: Another thing stolen from my actual dreams. I often am confused as to who people are until my brain fills me in on the story it’s trying to tell. 

Obviously I don’t expect anybody to pick up on all of these details, especially not to this extent. I expect some are obvious, while some are near impossible. I expect there are details I did not add on purpose but people will over read, or read differently. But the point is, there are details, there are layers. There’s nothing wrong with readers giving stuff their own twist!

Plus, nothing is added in just for the visual affects or to sound spooky. There is thought behind these random details. 

Another thing to note about this scene is the point of view and the pacing. Usually I’m a lot more to the point with my writing, asking questions and giving a lot of opinion create a slower pace I’m not always a fan off. But this is a different plane, mixing up the pacing and showing a lot more of Elizabeth’s feelings helps separate it from the real world. 

It helps set the tone and more importantly, it allows for more impact in the final scene. 

The final scene, the climax of the dream sequence, the whole place turning to wood, the noise and the feeling of the ground moving. It’s an example of a scene that uses the senses, only missing smell here. But we don’t usually experience things so vividly in dreams, right? Well, that’s why she wakes up. That’s why it’s the climax. 

I think it also helps to think of every dream sequence as it’s own little story, with it’s introduction, midpoint and climax. You can also consider them as little chapters if you’re going to have several, but be careful with overusing dream sequences! Especially if you do like I do and mix up the pace, if a reader enjoys your writing style, having that style change often may be frustrating. 

Anyways, I hope this made sense. I don’t know if using an example from a story few of you will have read is a good idea because a lot of the details won’t make sense on their own, but it’s something I had easy access to and actually knew everything about. 

Did it work for you? Would you rather I try to make something up next time? Feel free to tell me, I aim to imrpove, as we all do. 

As usual,  check out my socials and book here. Also, my Wattpad is in there, so if you enjoyed this small extract from Opida’s Institute for Reformation, you can read twenty three chapters of it for free! Plus a new chapter every Tuesday. 

What’s your favorite dream sequence from a book you’ve read? 

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Michael in the Mainstream: WandaVision

I love Wanda Maximoff, AKA Scarlet Witch. I’m not sure how apparent that is, but just in general I love comic book characters who use magic, and Wanda is probably my favorite (or at least tied with DC’s Zatanna). Sadly, I never really felt like the MCU did her any justice. She debuted in the worst Avengers movie, her brother was killed before they could showcase a meaningful relationship, and then her next appearances had her speedrunning a relationship with Vision. She definitely got some great moments in Infinity War and Endgame, but she felt woefully underutilized. The same could be said of her boyfriend Vision, who had it even worse than her, because he gets killed in Infinity War and is basically forgotten about after that, with nary a mention in Endgame. These are two fantastic characters, and the MCU just didn’t handle them well at all, and they felt like a complete waste that it was really hard to care about.

Thank god for WandaVision.

This show really did something incredible. It made me care so much about two characters I wished I could have cared about before, and become incredibly invested in their relationship. Wanda and Vision get much-needed spotlight and character development and end up becoming two of the best and most fleshed-out characters in the whole franchise, and it’s amazing they waited so long to do this. Wouldn’t it have been better if we cared so much about them before?

The show has three core elements that help make it great: its characters, its themes, and its presentation. The characters are the big one; Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany really get their time to shine, and both of them manage to do great things with their characters, characters who until now felt more like background characters than actual Avengers. Their relationship is so cute, so wholesome, but with an undercurrent of something a bit sadder that ties in with the show’s themes, and then when they have children things become even more sweet with that dark undercurrent still running strong. Aside from them, the standout of the cast would have to be nosy neighbor Agnes played by Kathryn Hahn… or I should say, the show’s villain, Agatha Harkness, a magic-siphoning witch who’s exploiting Wanda’s fragile emotional state to gain the ultimate power. She’s an actual well-executed twist villain, which is quite a feat for modern Disney, and she’s just as fun and campy as you’d hope an evil witch would be, complete with her very own ridiculous villain song that has her winking at the camera and proudly gloating about killing puppies. It’s delightfully cartoonish. Other standouts include Evan Peters as ‘Pietro,’ in a hilarious and clever bit of meta casting that leads to a dick joke (which might be one of the funniest twists in the MCU) and the return of the greatest Ant-Man supporting character Jimmy Woo. Even Darcy, the absolute worst part of the first two Thor films, manages to return and be tolerable.

The presentation is a big selling point, and what helps the story feel so fresh and unique. Each episode is an affectionate take on a different decade’s sitcoms, starting really oldschool and eventually working all the way up to more modern fare. Interspersed throughout these episodes are some rather entertaining fake commercials which harken to elements of Wanda’s life, and a couple of later ones even act as some heavy foreshadowing for future revelations. The different camera techniques, colors, and whatnot really help sell this fantastical sitcom world Wanda created, though I have to say it is a bit of a shame they couldn’t integrate this style more into the climax, even if there are story reasons for it. It was just such a cool and fun concept, it’s a shame it had to be resolved before the climactic finale.

The themes, though, are what really make this show shine. This show is essentially about a woman dealing with grief. Wanda has lost the man she loves, she has lost her brother, and she’s struggling to find her way in the world. As a coping mechanism, she creates a fantasy world and refuses to face reality, burying her emotions and refusing to move on, instead clinging to the happy concepts that might have been. It really is fantastic as a character study of Wanda, giving her a remarkable amount of depth. I found myself relating to a lot of the themes on display; as someone with depression who has had my fair share of painful experiences, I could empathize with Wanda to a degree. Sure, the person I loved was never murdered by Thanos, but I’ve experienced with grief before. It’s really great stuff they’re working with here.

Unfortunately, as good as all these things are, the show isn’t 100% perfect. The biggest issue is when the show switches focus from the interesting stuff inside of Wanda’s sitcom world to more standard MCU stuff outside. Sure, it’s fun to hang out with Jimmy Woo, the greatest character ever, but a lot of the stuff out there just isn’t engaging and some things just aren’t really elaborated on too much. It’s certainly not awful, but between some really confusing twists with Monica Rambeau (who is a good character otherwise and one I want to see more of) and the extremely boring, 2/10 on Psycho Analysis villain Hayward, there’s really not much here that can even hope to compare to the events unfolding in Wanda’s life. The best things from the outside are flashbacks, such as when Monica returned from being snapped or when we get to see Wanda visiting Vision’s corpse in government lockup, which is one of the most tearjerking moments in the show.

There’s also how the swerve into the standard “Big Marvel action” isn’t exactly graceful. After a great episode where Agatha goes back through Wanda’s life, giving even more insight to Wanda as a character and showing us a lot of fascinating moments, we get into the grand finale which feels like what you’d see in a movie theater, for better or for worse. Now I’m a real slut for crazy witch duels between hot women, and this certainly delivers on that front, but there’s so much other crap going on and it really is weird to think how this show about a superhero woman learning to handle her grief somehow became a big, epic showdown that wouldn’t look out of place in a Harry Potter film. I don’t hate this finale as much as some people do, but it definitely feels like the weakest episode overall (which isn’t too bad, since it’s still good, just not really what I would have liked to see).

WandaVision is the sort of thing I want to see more from the MCU going forward. It’s fresh, it’s interesting, it doesn’t take a standard route for the most part, and it utilizes characters who never got a fair shake in interesting and creative ways. Most importantly, it’s very weird and very comic booky, which is something the MCU was lacking for much of its first ten years (save for the films Gunn and Waititi made). I’m sure not everyone is going to find this to be their cup of tea, and it’s easy to grow bored of the cuts away from Wanda to the more cliché affairs outside of her sitcom bubble, but this is definitely a rich and rewarding show that engages with some heavier topics in an easy-to-digest and enjoyable way. Hopefully we’ll see more creativity like this going forward.

[aprxl-showers]

klance x pirates of the caribbean

bc apparently when i'm upset i listen to newsies live and think up weird klance aus

in my head this could go one of two ways:

keith and lance as will and elizabeth

keith and lance as jack and will (i'll explain later)

a lot more under the cut bc i got a bit carried away...

if it follows the canon love story i picture lance as will and keith as elizabeth. (i could see it the other way around bc keith could be the orphan pirate boy but i’ve written too much to go back now).

when they were young, keith was on a ship with his father and he spots lance on a piece of driftwood. they save him ofc and keith spots a jewel necklace around lance's neck. he takes it and later has it fused in the hilt of his mother's knife that is now his.

keith hates being the governor's son with a passion. he hates the formality of it and how restrictive it is. lance is the weaponsmaster's apprentice (that's how he gets good with a gun) and he is always under appreciated! give this guy some recignition!

anyway, he has been silently pining for keith for ages. little does he know, keith kind of likes him too. a lot of mutual pining has been going on for longer than either can recall.

anyhoo, pirates invade the town and kidnap keith. he puts up a fight but in the end he's outnumbered and taken aboard the ship as leverage. he says his surname is mcclain bc it's on his mind. wink wonk. captain of the evil pirates is zarkon and when the pirates who kidnapped keith hand him the knife he realises it is the jewel that can break their spell. since keith uses lance's surname, he also thinks it is keith's blood they need to finish the ritual since lance's family are the one's who sent the jewel away with lance. but it's not. obvs.

lance, after saving a baby, watches keith get taken in horror and tries to call out but is knocked out before he can act. once he's awake he hears that there's a pirate who was caught in the dungeon. that's allura. yes, eccentric captain allura is a choice i am making.

lance manages to break her out of jail, thinking she is one of the evil pirates and he can persuade her to help him. she is not but decides to help him anyway in an attempt to retrieve her ship 'the voltron' from zarkon. the two of them go off on a quest to save keith.

meanwhile, hunk and pidge are guarding keith. they are new recruits to zarkon's crew after their other crew threw pidge out when they discovered she was a girl (silly pirate superstitions). hunk went with her. they are easily persuaded to help keith bc zarkon's a meanie and promise that they'll help him out when they make it to land.

lance and allura arrive on an island and find coran who is allura's closest friend and ally. shiro is also there. he has a peg arm (is that a thing? idk it's a weird mechanism but it does the trick). coran explains that the ship keith is on is cursed and they will be going to the mysterious isle of daibazaal to break the curse.

they get there and watch zarkon attempt to break the curse using the jewel (which he pried out of the blade) and keith's blood. nah, it don't work. they still turn into creepy looking skeletons in the moonlight. damn. he threatens keith and then all hell breaks loose bc lance shoots him. it would have definitely killed zarkon but he can't die bc... the whole undead thing, and in doing so all lance does is reveal their position. they fight a bit, as you do. keith gets hold of a sword and kills three evil pirates in about five seconds. lance falls a little bit in love with him.

in the midst of the battle, lance makes a deal with zarkon that he will stay if keith and the others can go (this now includes hunk and pidge bc they helped keith get free). lance is stripped of visible weapons and zarkon agrees to break the curse immediately. lance cuts his hand and drops the jewel into the chest.

then he grabs keith's jewel-less knife from where it lies beside the chest. zarkon, distracted, doesn't notice until the blade is buried in his gut. he dies. keith and the rest act immediately and kill any other pirates who don't surrender. keith kills an evil pirate about to shoot lance.

they return keith in exchange for allura, coran, shiro, pidge, hunk and lance's pardon. keith expresses his wish not to be governor in the future and allura invites them on 'the voltron' ship with her since she reclaimed it from zarkon. keith and lance then have a moment where they thank each other for saving each other's life. keith thanks lance for coming after him and lance confesses. it's all very sappy and they kiss for ages.

OR

lance is still will. i stand by everything i said about him in the previous version. his parents caused the curse to endure and sent him off. but instead of keith finding him, it's allura. she's the governor's (in this case, alfor's) daughter. she takes the jewel and keeps it as a necklace. lance and allura are more like besties but they're not really allowed to see each other because of their differing classes.

keith arrives and escapes the navy. hides in weaponsmaster’s shop. lance tries to fight him but he’s not as good with a sword as he is with a gun. lots of sassy banter where lance is tryna be noble and keith doesn’t care for it.

anyway, we sort of know what happens. allura gets kidnapped and uses lance's surname bc they had a conversation beforehand. lance stresses, hears about a pirate they captured, assumes it's one of the evil ones he can persuade to help him.

but instead he gets keith who he met earlier. in the time they’ve been apart he’s got himself landed in the dungeon. and he’s notoriously one of the most stubborn, grumy pirate captains in all the seven seas.

he's overall unimpressed with lance as a person and with his plan, only agreeing when he realises he might be able to get his ship, this time called 'the red lion', back. lance decides he's going to prove himself to keith. he doesn't know why he's so offended by a pirate's opinion but he just is. hmmm...

they pick up shiro and coran, pidge and hunk promise to help allura out yada yada yada and they start making their way towards the island.

they run into lotor and his crew (acxa, ezor, zethrid etc) who are unrelated to zarkon and that whole... thing but they're your typical pirates and they want their stuff. which is annoying af bc allura is missing and they have somewhere to be thank you very much.

they put up a good fight. lance has plenty of opportunities to impress keith with his pistol skills. consider keith very impressed and mildly enamoured. but he doesn't do feelings so he stuffs them down inside him as you do. they win and move on. afterwards keith asks lance where he learned those moves and lance tells him stories of his time in the weaponsmaster's workshop. they bond.

they get to the island and find allura. they fight and keith and lance save each other's backs too many times to count. lance has a revelation (inconveniently mid battle) that he actually really likes this. this is fun. this is exciting.

then keith fucks up. he says that he'll hand lance over if zarkon gives him his ship back. lance is fucking fuming and feeling very betrayed and hurt bc he actually felt like he was getting somewhere with keith. keith gets what he deserves though bc zarkon dumps him and allura on an island and takes lance away.

while they're on the island allura knocks some sense into him regarding his life generally and lance specifically. she tells him loads of cute lance-as-a-teenager stories and keith feels awful. he helps her light a signal fire using some rum he has on his person.

they spot the ship alfor sent to find allura. they persuade them to go to where lance and the rest of the crew is. keith tries to act like he's on zarkon's side when they get back to the cave and then he takes one of the cursed jewels so he's now immortal. aha! while this is happening allura has infiltrated zarkon's ship, 'the red lion', so shiro, coran, pidge and hunk can be freed.

allura then frees lance from where they were keeping him in the hull. lance runs to where keith is. they share a look. keith cuts his hand and throws the jewel to lance who does the same and drops it into the water. the curse is broken. keith goes to grab zarkon's sword so he can kill him but zarkon grabs him by the throat. lance shoots zarkon in the side before keith can pass out. he runs to keith who has collapsed. keith apologises and thanks him and promises not to betray him again. lance laughs, says he better not and helps him up.

they return allura safely in exchange for their pardon. keith asks lance to join the crew of 'the red lion' and gives him loads of reasons that are really just disguised compliments. safe to say lance kisses him senseless and they run away together, sailing off into the sunset. bc. klance. there's got to be a sunset somewhere.

hope you liked my what-were-meant-to-be-headcanons-but-just-became-plot-summaries!! i promise i’ll post some general pirate voltron headcanons unrelated to this au at some point. i wrote a pirate au piece for klance au month on my ao3 so some might be related to that?

if you want to send asks or whatever that would be cool - even if they're just random ideas for the au or changes/additions to the plot. i also might write little snippets for this at some point (i’ll tag them under ‘kl potc au’ like this post) bc i'm suddenly crazy invested so if you have any scenes from this you want (from version 1 or 2 or any scene in the plethora of potc movies) send a message and i'll probably get around to it :))

[ducavalentinos]

Thoughts on Ancient Rome historians Tom Holland, Emma Southon and Anthony Barrett? BTW, being as you are a Barrett fan do you think there is any historian who can top/reach Barrett's level?

Hm, Holland is cool, I've read some of his stuff, his latest work (which I have to finish btw) Dominion, is very interesting. I just feel like his writing, or better saying, his methodology follows the traditional history of things, and his perspective is mainly focused on our present and our modern standards looking back into the past and the actions of those in the past, I understand that is a common way for historians to write history, I get why, but it's not my thing, it's not how I approach or like to read history, you know. Also, he is one of those writers where you have to be extra careful, because he likes mixing his personal opinions/assumptions and claim it as a "truth", even though it lacks evidence. You can't take everything he says at face value, you need to check the sources and see if it matches with what he says and so on, but overall his work is ok, as far as I've read it. Southon is...complicated. I don't want to sound too harsh, and I will give it to her that she was honest enough to say at the preface of her Agrippina, that the history contained there is her own personal interpretation of the primary sources about Agrippina, iirc she does basically admit it's not the truth, it's her truth, which you know, earns a few points from me, given I come from the Borgia historical literature circle, and that kind of honesty is not to be found (to see them doing a similar preface as Southon did would surprise me, for sure), so at least we go into the book knowing this is Agrippina’s life through the lens of Southon and how she interpreted it was like, which it’s valid and I respect her right in doing so, but I don’t agree with it. Her bias in favour of Agrippina is evident in every single page, which makes her work incredibly messy, and for me, it went right next to Elizabeth Lev's book about Caterina Sforza, on how NOT to write a historical biography. It was kind of impossible for me not to see the parallels in their approach, actually. Starting with the book titles, which already tells you you're not getting a bio, you're getting a love letter of these authors towards their fave. And then, of course there's a huge effort to always make their fave look good and everyone else around them, bad. And because the subjects are women, you have the additional emotions, or protectiveness that comes with that, they are not alone in this, but they do take things to an extreme. They use and abuse of the feminist narrative/pov of patriarchy, of the relations between men and women ( men are evil, women are always oppressed and victims by the men around them, etc), so under this light, the only reason their faves fell from power was because of misogny, the only reason they were badmouthed (or acquired a bad reputation in history) is also because of misogyny, that’s the go-to answer to everything in these women’s lives. They never did anything wrong, they didn’t had any flaws. Their ambition which it’s presented as a terrible flaw in men, in them it’s an admirable quality. The means which they may have taken to hold on to power, or achieve power, is not worthy of any negative assessments. The documented ruthlessness (which equalled or surpassed many of their male comtemporaries) either also lacks any judgement, or it gets a completely different one, where suddenly the killing of rivals, of innocent girls who posed no threat to them, nor had anything to do with their father’ actions, is not presented as cruel, as sadistic, it’s not tyranny. It’s presented as necessary and justified according to their rationale. It receives all the proper contextualization of the times mixed with a high dose of whitewashing. But when these actions come from men they don't care for and/or who were the opponents of these women, well, then it is a testament of their cruelty, their tyranny, their misogyny.  The double standards, the blindspots, the molding information to fit personal narratives, is always present when it comes these authors. There's a lot of unrestrained passion going on wherever you have a female author and a female historical figure, I have noticed over time, sometimes it happens with male authors, too, esp. with their male faves, and it's equally embarrassing, but I often find this trend with female authors, and sadly, Southon is not exception here. I was excited to read her book, I tried to give it a chance, Agrippina has few biographies about her, but it was insupportable. I get that she loves Agrippina, I do, too. She was a fascinating woman, and I do think she is innocent on some accusations, I do think she was slandered (as powerful people often were) by some contemporaries about some things. But this approach I just mentioned? the simplistic blaming of everything on one person, one thing, one reason, the putting of the historical figure on a pedestal where they are always right, they are always virtuous, always the victim, is not realistic and it gets odd fast. It doesn’t stick when you look at the material and you think about it critically, and it often leads to dishonesty and unfairness, and it fails to truly make us understand, as much as we can, the lives of these people from the past, so yeah, in a nutshell: I’m not a fan of her work, lol. Now Barrett, on the other hand, guess it’s not secret I am a fan of his 👀😂. Idk anon, but I hope so, because I think history needs historians like him, it’s not that his methodology, his approach to history are irreproachable, nothing and no one is, there’s some things I disagree with him, or that I find are not well supported, but the way he tries to be objective, to be balanced when dealing with historical women like Livia Drusilla and Agrippina, where it’s so easy to fall on cliches narratives, the way he tries to separate myths from facts, fiction from history, the way he is careful around rumours, with the primary sources, too, and how he often warns the reader about it, the way he meticulously exposes the documentation, the research, all of that in my view, are the fundamental elements for any proper historical work, let alone, a biography. Yes, it might make it dull, it might make not accessible to everyone, but I don’t think that should be the highest goal anyways. The highest goal should be try to recreate, as much as it is possible, these historical figures’ lives and the events that happened (while acknowledging the mysteries, the uncertainties, and the things we will never know. We may try to fill out these gaps with assumptions or hypothesis, but it should be made clear that that's what they are), in a just, humane and honest manner. Not just to the historical figure as the subject, because often that’s the easy part, but also to those around them and the times they lived in, which proves to be more diffcult for many historians. Barrett, for the most part, does all of this really well, and it’s why I like his works so much, or why I’m a fan dsjdsjd. Thoughts on...ask meme

[astralhugs]

Hi! May i request the RFA + Saeran reacting to an MC that is too stressed bc of school/work so she starts crying? ♡

I’ve added bonuses bcs yall seemed to enjoy it and its also an apology for taking too long TT enjoy~~

masterlist

requests : open

YOOSUNG

* omgomg he understands

* HE RELATED TO YOU SO MUCH

* You’d both usually study together, take breakd together.

* It wasn’t too bad.

* Well...until final exams were coming up and Yoosung’s finished sooner before yours even started

* So you didn’t wanna bother him anymore.

* Third day of studying accounting and you passed out on the desk 🤩

* Yoosung was awake in the middle of the night, getting water when he saw you weren’t in bed.

* He checked on the desk to see you, asleep on the desk with some notes and reviews scattered around.

* He also saw some dried up tears probably from a few hours ago due to stress.

* He gently picks you up, checking the clock.

* 1.37 AM.

* The next morning, he woke up extra early to give you breakfast in bed.

* When you were about to leave, he would kiss you for good luck.

* Will help you when you have some problems during studying!

* Would even stop playing LOLOL just to help you study!!

Bonus (since most of yall loved these~) :

MC! Wahh! I can’t believe you made it this far! You did your best this school year, I believe in you okay? I can’t help you study all the time but I’m always cheering on for you~ All the best!! ♡

ZEN

* he was a good student up until middle school

* so whenever you needed help with a problem uhh he feels bad but he can’t solve it either.

* Unless its like language or a reading comprehension then he’s good at those!!

* A few days before your presentation, about some character analysis that you were still reviewing and ZEN had just gotten a new role.

* Did I mention its a major character role?

* You didn’t want to distract him so...you decided to try studying on your own.

* It was until you got too stressed out about it and started crying.

* You weren’t able to memorize it and had to look at the slides all the time.

* Zen finished his practice when he came back to see you with teary eyes, in a dark room, your laptop with full brightness.

* Zen immediately turned on the lights, worried your eyes would get hurt.

* He saw your eyes were still puffy and immediately held you in his arms.

* “Babe, you could’ve asked me...I would’ve made time for you.” he softly whispered.

* He lets you cool down for a while and asks you with a soft voice to show him your presentation.

* He started to read through it and realized what was wrong with it.

* He started to explain, little by little. Not wanting to stress you out again

* Rewards you with little kisses, be it on the lips or on the neck idk

* Its relaxing studying with him.

BONUS : Babe! <3 why are you stressed out? TT Oh! You’re studying? Take it easy~ I know exams can be important, especially during this time but please make sure to take care of yourself! Drink water and eat, okay? Love youuu mwah mwah mwah

JAEHEE

*empty i’ll write hers soon once i know what to write for her*

BONUS : Oh dear...are you still up studying? MC, I’m working late tonight so I can’t help you but I hope you’ve eaten and have been taking care of yourself well! Please know I’ll support you even from the C&R Building to my place and always will!

JUMIN

* He’s smart.

* Like high IQ smart

* Its canon

* Anyways, he saw that you were struggling with your business classes.

* One day, you were finishing up your graphs when Elizabeth got on top of it and scratched it.

* Tearing the paper apart.

* You widened your eyes, you were too tired to scold Elizabeth so you just sat there and shut down for a while until Jumin came home.

* He saw Elizabeth in the front door looking bad and poiting her paws at you.

* Jumin saw you, sitting down, staring at a torn paper and immediately saw what happened.

* He placed Elizabeth on the couch and went up to you and hugged you from behind.

* From there, you started crying.

* “I-i worked so hard on it, I’m not blaming Elizabeth but-“

* “My love, don’t worry. I’ll help you, okay?” he said in his calming voice.

* Starts from scratch with him again.

* It was easy for him because 1. he’s the ceo in line 2. he has a high IQ 3. hes a business man? tf?

* Very relaxing to study with him, though its not often, he’d try to make time to teach you<3

* Won’t yell at you if you get it wrong.

* Rewards you like kisses and ruffling your hair everytime you get an answer correct.

BONUS :

Its you. I’ll be running late tonight, Assistant Kang needed a few more files finalized before showing them to my meeting tomorrow so I won’t be able to come home early tonight. If you’re studying, please be sure to drink and eat somethinf healthy. I’ve asked Mrs. Kim, our maid to watch Elizabeth to watch her to make sure your work won’t be destroyed so I hope that helped. I’ll see you soon, my love. Wait for me.

707

* ANOTHER SMARTY

* Idk if it was mentioned but I remembered reading somewhere he had a high IQ

* WELL

* Your compsci class was teaching you how to code with C++

* You struggled with ‘HELLO WORLD!’

* Well...Saeyoung and Saeran just reunited so...you obviously didn’t want to bother both of them.

* Saeyoung was peeking around to check if you were eating when he saw your laptop, opened with C++ on it.

* “MC! Where did you learn how to hack?” he asks cheerfully.

* You turned around, tears in your eyes, “Why can’t I do it?”

* Saeyoung was shocked, he saw the piles of papers and the textbook.

* He smiled, while holding your hand tightly, grabbing a chair and sitting down next to you.

* He scanned through your code and immediately saw the error.

* He fixed it for you and taught you the basics.

* Dropped some easy hacking materials for you to impress your peers.

* Would definitely have a study session together! All three (four if Vandy wants to join) once every two weeks.

* Saeran would read the textbooks his brother would give to him and try explaining it to you while Saeyoung does the computer stuff.

* Studying with the choi twins? I’d like that.

BONUS :

DUNNNNNNN! Is my precious MC sad??? :((((, O-oh no, I didn’t mean to make you more sad! Ahh I’m not making this easier for you huh? MC, I hate seeing you sad...even if its just from a screen. Studying may be a bit hard. I was there. But I will always support and love you. Even if we are from different universes so take care, okay? :>

SAERAN

* OOO BIOLOGYYY

* You were learning about flower languages and you knew Saeran was good at it...while you weren’t.

* So you decide to ask him for help.

* Well...that day, he was in a bad mood but wanted to calm down so he thought teaching and reviewing with you would calm him down a bit.

* Well it for sure didn’t buddy.

* You showed him the book and he scanned through them.

* “How do you not get this? Are you dumb? An airhead?”

* Ever since he stopped drinking the elixir, he never really said those words to you so...it was kinda painful for you to hear that.

* He saw the tears in your eyes and regretted what he said.

* He snapped out of it and immediately held you tight in his embrace, “I’m sorry I’m sorry....” he mumbled, stroking your back gently.

* Tries not to get mad when you get it wrong.

* Would secretly put candy under your book everytime you get a question correct.

* “Princess, is that a candy you placed under your book?” he secretly placed it there.

BONUS :

Ah. Don’t ever think of yourself as an airhead when you’re studying! You’ll feel better when you don’t do that! Whenever I scold you...scold me back! Don’t just accept it and cry- hhh, please take good care of yourself even when you’re studying. I um...I love you okaythisisembarassingbyeee

OMGMGMFKFKF IM SORRY I ANSWERED TO THIS SO LATEEEE I JUST FINISHED SCHOOL LIKE TWO WEEKS AGO AND FOUND INSPO TODAY TT SO SORRY

requests : open~

have a great week guys <3

[lovemesomesurveys]

So the 90's were a crazy time for us growing up! Lets start with Music.. Were You A Fan Of? The Backstreet Boys The Spice Girls STEPS No Doubt N*Sync Oasis Weezer The Vengaboys TLC Destiny's Child Hanson FIVE Madonna B*Witched S Club 7 M2M 98 Degrees Ricky Martin Sonique Sugar Ray Billie Piper Vitamin C Play

What about 90's Movies.. Were you a Fan of...

Clueless Jurassic Park Pulp Fiction Titanic Home Alone The Lion King Pretty Woman 10 Things I Hate About You Empire Records Space Jam Dumb and Dumber Aladdin Wayne's World Ace Ventura American Pie Hocus Pocus Matilda She's All That Bring It On The Craft Cruel Intentions Never Been Kissed Jawbreaker Spice World Can'y Hardly Wait I Know What You Did Last Summer Romy and Michele's High School Reunion Drive Me Crazy

90's TOYS, Did you have or want these?

YoYo Play-Doh Super Soaker Betty Spaghetty Gameboy Colour Tamogotchi Bop It Furby Moon Shoes Hit Clips Mouse Trap Koosh Balls Sky Dancers Slammer Whammers Spice Girls Dolls Slime Etch a Sketch Easy Bake Oven Pokemon Trading Card Game Littlest Pet Shop Street Sharks Mighty Max Sylvian Families Beanie Babies Silly Putty Brain Warp Atari Jaguar Groovy Girls Nintendo 64 Magic Mitt Slinkies Polly Pocket Poo-Chi Rainbow Brite GakSplat Doodle Bear Skip It Trolls

How About 90's Fashion.. What did you think of...

Crop Tops I was just a kid in the 90s, that wasn’t my style. I also remember thinking I didn’t want to show my stomach. Studded Belts I had one in the 2000s. Scrunchies Loved ‘em. Still do. Butterfly Clips Loved those as well and still do. Chokers I don’t like things around my neck like that. Plaid, Pleated Mini Skirts Not my style, personally, but I liked some of the looks. Slip Dresses I didn’t wear stuff like that. Long, Leather Jacket Blazers Didn’t wear ‘em, but they’re cool. You look badass in a leather jacket haha. Chain Belts Not my thing. Boob Tubes Is that the same as a tube top? Not a fan. Hip Hugger Jeans Again, I didn’t wear that stuff as a kid but that was the popular style and I probably liked it when seeing celebrities wear them and whatnot. Camo Pants Nah. Mood Rings Those were cool. Scarf Tops Definitely not my style. Bandanas I didn’t wear them. Crushed Velvet Nah. Platform Sneakers I thought they were kinda cool. Spaghetti Straps Cute. Corsets Not my thing. Pedal Pushers I wore ‘em. Were you a fan of these 90's Television Shows Spongebob Square Pants Animaniacs Dexters Laboratory Hey Arnold Power Puff Girls Barbie Rocko's Modern Life Batman Ren and Stimpy Ed, Edd and Eddy Johnny Bravo Sesame Street Arthur Ducktales Doug Catdog Angry Beavers As Told By Ginger Tiny Toon Adventures Looney Tunes Aaahhh! Real Monsters Talespin Daria Beavis and Butthead The Wild Thornberrys King Of The Hill Futurama Digimon Pokemon Captain Planet The Simpsons Cow and Chicken Blinky Bill Rugrats Sylvester and Tweety Sonic The Hedgehog Dragontales Clifford The Dog Random 90's things. Thoughts on... Checkered Kitchenware Nostalgic Every restaurant had that it seemed. Cartoon Character Coffee Mugs and Cookie Jars Cute, I like stuff like that. Celestial Prints around the house Nah. Lava Lamps I had one; I thought they were cool. Candle Holders I don’t really have any thoughts on that. Coca Cola Tins Or that. Blonde Wood Furniture I don’t know what that is. Tape Decks Discmans to play music It was the cool thing at the time. Oversized Headphones They hurt my ears. Cd's (Singles) I loved CDs back in the day. Pastel coloured plates Cute. A fancy dish for the butter Nice. A Miracle Mop Elizabeth Taylors 'White Diamonds' in your mothers room I don’t think she wore that. Picture frames that were also photo albums Cool. a fancy decorative plate that sat in the kitchen and no one was to use it We didn’t have one. topiaries It’s pretty cool what you can make out of shrubs and trees. a basket for the mail Useful? crazy patterned bed sheets Fun. an ab isolater your parents kept in a spare room or the shed Didn’t have one. McDonalds collector cups and disney figurines Loved those. We still have a lot of ours. slime time on nickelodeon I always wanted to get slimed as a kid. MTV actually had music The good ol’ days. I loved watching TRL.

video hits on television Good times. bath oil beads Didn’t use ‘em. overalls and doc martens I liked overalls. super mario Loved Super Mario. Still do. bubble beeper I didn’t have one. nokia brick mobile phones Didn’t have one either. Man, we’ve come a long way with cellphones. pogos bangles I liked those. mary kate and ashley olsen I was a huge fan, I watched all their stuff and had all their movies on VHS. glow worms hair crimper machine It was cool at the time. I styled my hair for picture day in elementary school one year. hair straighteners Liked those as well. clarissa explains it all I liked it. barbie happy meal toys Those were fun to get. I was obsessed with Barbies. gel and glitter pens Loved those. animal shaped erasers Those and scented ones were fun to have. echo microphones puppy surprise (the dog toys that had puppies in its belly) I had one, such a freaky thing. Goosebumps novels I was obsessed with Goosebumps. My Little Pony Wasn’t into that. 

Baby Born Dolls I don’t think I had one. Barbie Dolls ObSESSED. I had to have everything and would play for hours and hours everyday. Crayola Mini Stampers Cool. Snake on mobile Nokias I think I might have played before. Carebears Cute, I liked Carebears. Still do. I find myself relating to Grumpy Bear nowadays, ha.

[rantheon]

the bakarina anime is done! it’s just a drop in the ocean that is the otome isekai genre so these are some recs + what you need to know about them. i just listed most of my favs otherwise it’d be too long :p

in no particular order. includes some non-isekai ones too. needless to say most of these aren’t completed yet

my next life as a villainess: all routes lead to doom

using this to plug that there’s more bakarina content in the form of light novels, manga and 3 spin-offs

an observation record of my fiancee - a self-proclaimed villainess

told in the pov of prince cecil, whose fiancee bertia straight up tells him she’s a villainess of an otome game from her past life

if you ever wonder what jeord from bakarina might be thinking half the time, this is probably close. cecil is the same kind of prince who initially finds things bored and predictable until they met the mc

the things cecil would get up to for bertia? hoo boy

also the way the mangaka draws hair is addicting to look at

the villainess cecilia silvie doesn’t want to die so she decided to crossdress

the title speaks for itself~ after remembering an otome game she played in her past life, cecil (previously cecilia) is now the one capturing the hearts of the academy ladies instead

it’s fairly new so there’s not much of it yet :c but it’s pretty interesting

the original otome game had a whole rpg combat system going on and i’m hyped to see how it’s gonna lead the story

the Angelique vibes are strong in this one

the villainess wants to marry a commoner

isabella used to play an otome game in a past life, but she was really only interested in a side character named ursch. and then one day she finds him in her mansion garden

her past life self is such a mood - i too have 100% otome games in hopes of side characters getting hidden routes but alas

definitely deserves the ‘video game’ tag. isabella can see status screens and character stats/skills etc, and all the gacha rewards and grinding transferred over after her reincarnation. she’s the isekai female protag we’ve always wanted

seriously the main ship is too op for their own good aha

deathbound duke’s daughter

in a past life, erika only managed to finish 2.5/7 scenarios of an otome game thanks to an unlucky encounter with knife-kun. with the different flags of her impending doom approaching, she takes things into her own hands years before the game events start

very fantasy-oriented (the most on this list) and pretty action-packed, once you get past the game exposition in the first 3? chapters

the world building is brilliant, from the hafan mages to the aurelian alchemists, and there’s beasts and wands and spells and dnd stuff sprinkled in

the cast has quite interesting dynamics and interwoven plotlines, and they’re all dorky in their way :>

beware of the villainess

melissa remembers a novel from her past life and desperately tries to cut off contact with the male leads, but they still make her life hell & she rages

she’s just so done with everyone and you can’t help but relate to her

definitely the funniest on this list XD melissa and her reactions takes the cake but even the shit characters are hilarious in their own way

there’s also a lot of parodies to memes etc & best of all, there’s cussing. all the shits and fucks. a whole lot of it

it’s great

death is the only ending for the villainess

penelope wakes up as the villainess from a game she’d been playing in her past life, only right now it's on the hardest difficulty where death is literally everywhere. thus she tries, well, not dying

what’s cool about this is that penelope has access to the original game system. she can see menus, choice options etc. the male leads even have affection percentages floating above their heads :> which is always cool to see (and what i’m a sucker for)

but it’s definitely one of the darker ones on this list. iirc there’s depictions of violence, abuse, drugs and then some. just a fair warning

the daughter of albert house wishes for ruin

upon realizing that she’s the villainess from a past-life otome game, mary decides to stay as one. chaos ensues

i love this manga so much, everyone is so quirky and there’s something to laugh about on almost every page. the story almost feels self-aware of itself and just lets the characters do whatever. like ride bikes

addie is so cute ;o;

it’s definitely something everyone should experience

i’m a villainess daughter so i’m going to keep the last boss

one of the finished ones!

post-annulment, aileen pulls a Lisa Tepes and asks the demon king claude to marry her. he refuses. hijinks ensues

mostly on the fantasy side, as it builds on the world of the monsters

the cast is pretty fun! aileen’s smart, funny and pretty competent in her own right. plus she and claude are positively adorable together

milady just wants to relax

post-annulment, ronia decides to open a cafe in the countryside. it later becomes the frequent hangout of a beastmen mercenary group, who are intensely feared by the townsfolk

well... beastmen. that’s all you need to know /wink

okay, that aside, it’s just as chill as the title suggests. ronia slowly makes friends she can trust, and the beastmen find a second home in the only cafe that’s willing to accept them. it’s pretty wholesome

the banished villainess! living the leisurely life of a nun making revolutionary food

despite actively trying to change her ‘villainess from a past-life otome game’ fate since childhood, elizabeth gets annulled, her noble title stripped, and is sent to a church in a neighboring kingdom. she enjoys it more than expected, despite the appearance of the ever watchful leonid

there’s plenty of 21st-century food like sandwiches, cotton candy leonid’s muscles <3

the entire cast is lovable, and can chris get an f for all the heart attacks leonid keep giving him

seduce the villain’s father

yereninovica (or just yerenica) realizes that she’s in the world of a novel she read in her past life, but as the aunt of said novel’s mc. after thwarting a kidnapping that’s basically the mc’s origin story, she takes it upon herself to also prevent the tragic death of emperor belgoat

a bit different since it switches the roles around (side character x side character) and goes into the “parent generation” of the original work

there’s also an interesting bit where the world seems to recognize her as a hijacker, and where that takes her, we’ll see in due time :o:

plus the way yeni habitually calls him ‘father’ cracks me up every time

transferred to another world but i’m the savior of an otome game

after a ritual gone wrong, “yamada tarou” (fake name) is stuck in the world of an otome game. the only way back is with a magical ring, normally obtained after becoming the lover of one of the male leads. he of course says no i’m going adventuring but the game doesn’t like that

it’s absolutely hilarious - the leads treat our mc like a heroine, and there’s a lot of otome tropes that are called out on/parodied. like the seiyuus’ names oh my god

tarou’s reactions are great and his appraisal skill is the funniest thing alive

endo and kobayashi’s live commentary on the villainess

in modern japan, endo and kobayashi start their playthrough of an otome game, which becomes a bit glitchy and odd. they discover that siegward, a male lead in the game, can hear what they’re saying. they use this chance to finally give lisolette a happier ending

much of the story’s focus is on the characters slowly warming up to lisolette, and a bit on endo/kobayashi’s irl relationship. despite being the primary drive of the story, lisolette herself hardly moves the plot - if you know what i mean

regardless it’s undeniably adorable

tearmoon empire

no isekai, more of time travel? chronoskimming?

mia wakes up 10 years in the past after being sentenced to death. now afraid of guillotine-kun, she strives to solve the issues in her kingdom that had previously led to her doom

a bit similar to bakarina in terms of concept: avoid death flags, unknowingly recruits the people she meets into her little saintess cult. the misinterpretation is very strong, and in brilliantly funny ways

it has really fun narration ngl especially in the light novel

of course, i’ll claim palimony!

to prepare for her annulment, yulia starts scheming recording her fiance’s meetups with the heroine to use as evidence. if you’re gonna lose a suitor, might as well get some money out of it, right? along the way she gets involved with rudonik, one of the male leads

no reincarnation. rather than an otome game, the villainess story comes from a book written by a side character, and the “heroine” just decided to play it out in real life

the cast together is a riot, and it’s entertaining to watch yulia only think in profits and every connection she can make to achieve it

the villainess’ slow prison life began with her broken engagement

no isekai, just a plain old villainess

post-annulment, rachel is sentenced to imprisonment. which she enjoys and is thoroughly, hilariously prepared for

everyone’s a little afraid of rachel and for good reason. it’s better to find out yourself through the LN or manga, but let’s just say that even the king doesn’t want to deal with her XD

the holy grail of eris

now this one is interesting, putting the villainess trope into a mystery ghost story. that said, no isekai either

our innocent heroine constance attends a party and encounters scarlet, an executed villainess from ten years ago. a body possession and some public embarrassment later, they decide to team up to solve the mystery that might be behind scarlet’s death

i mean, ghost villainess? sign me up

+ some honorable mentions

i favor the villainess (the heroine goes for the villainess- girls? girls? yes)

a bellicose lady got reincarnated (a delinquent reincarnates as a heroine; what a concept :o unfortunately there’s not a lot of english content for it yet)

it seems i got reincarnated into a yandere otome game (i like that the mc actively makes it so that game can’t ever happen the way it should; plus, yanderes are always interesting to study)

inso’s law (modern isekai, and quite cute!)

the reincarnated young lady aims to be an adventurer / holy guardian tiger (similar to deathbound duke’s daughter in that there’s more of a focus on the fantasy aspect)

expecting to fall into ruin, i aim to become a blacksmith (so far the only one with a shounen tag that i like; its main charm is probably the cast and their interactions with each other eliza best girl)

since i’ve reincarnated as the villainess’ father i’ll shower my wife and daughter with love (big big wholesome vibes)

level 99 villainous daughter (severely op lady who takes no shit from the people looking down at her, and regularly thinks about blowing up the academy within the first 4 chapters? hell yeah)

may i please just ask one last thing? (post-annulment, the mc literally punches everyone in the room; it’s great)

this is getting long now oops

edit: i also made a visual-friendly personally-tagged-by-me bookshelf here!

[sesamie]

i read your carrd and i saw that you like these two other bands, mates of state and guster, can you tell me a little more about them?

ANON THIS ASK MADE MY DAY THANK YOU SO MUCH LETS GO

okay so Mates of State. they're a band ive liked since i was maybe eight or nine years old? i was into this youtube comedy group called Studio C at the time (which has its own fun connection to Tally Hall but i’ll save that for another post ahah!!) and for a period of time the Studio C themesong was “I Want To Run” by Mates of State and they reference Mates in a few of their videos. Mates of State even recorded two songs for them (which i wont link here cause i don't rlly want to support Studio C cause looking back a lot of their videos are in really poor taste and being more knowledgeable these days i’d rather not spread their stuff anymore)!! anyways me being young & impressionable with regards to music (this was around the same time that i obsessively listened to Dinosaurchestra because i thought the album cover looked neat. i knew nothing of the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny, honest. my favorite song back then was Archaeopteryx) i immediately got really into Mates of State!

so they're a husband/wife duo that met in 1997 and were both playing guitar in a four-part band called Vosotros before splitting and forming their own band which we know today as Mates of State. Kori Gardner sings and plays organ, piano, synth (etc), and Jason Hammel sings and handles drums & percussion!

their albums are: My Solo Project (2000, re-released w a different label in 2003), Our Constant Concern (2002), Team Boo (2003), Bring It Back (2006), Re-Arrange Us (2008), Crushes (The Covers Mixtape) (2010), Mountaintops (2011) and their most recent release is the EP You’re Going To Make It (2015). there’s also an unreleased mates album called Greats that was supposed to be released in 2015! 

my favorite albums of their are Bring it Back and Mountaintops, and my favorite songs of theirs are: These Days, Hoarding It For Home, Think Long, Punchlines, Running Out, Get Better, You Are Free, Great Dane, Palomino, Change, Mistakes, These Days, Staring Contest, and Goods (which i found out recently is actually their most popular song!!)

some fun facts about them are: - they have two kids, Magnolia and June Elizabeth, who they actually toured with and and Kori kept a blog about touring with two kids (which i have yet to read!). - they opened for The Postal Service’s last ever show!! - they were in a movie, which they also made the soundtrack for! - there’s also a documentary about them from 2004 (around the recording of Team Boo) that you can watch on youtube!! -also, in this Tally Hall video, they make a cameo except they forgot to turn on the mic!! (i think about this everyday. why did it have to be Mates of State that they forgot the mic for!!) ----- okay so now for Guster! i’ll admit i don’t know a whole lot about Guster, but i have been listening to them my entire life. they’re my mom’s favorite band, but somehow i’ve managed to distance them from her enough to enjoy them!!

they’re from Boston and have been around since 1991. the members are Ryan Miller, Adam Gardner (no relation to Kori Gardner at least not that i’ve found!!), Brian Rosenworcel, and Luke Reynolds, and this guy named Joe Pisapia was in the band at one point as well. they met in college and were originally named “Gus” but when another artist called Gus signed with a major record company, they had to change the name to Guster!! 

their albums are: Parachute (1994), Goldfly (1997), Lost and Gone Forever (1999), Keep It Together (2003), Ganging Up On The Sun (2006), Easy Wonderful (2010), Evermotion (2015), and Look Alive (2019)!! they’ve also made a few things for fun like “The Meowstro Sings - Guster’s Keep It Together” which is all the tracks from Keep It Together but the vocals are replaced with cat meows. it’s pretty great.

my favorite album of theirs is Easy Wonderful (NO question on this one. actually i really love all of them except for the first two and the most recent one, but if i HAD to pick a favorite it would be Easy Wonderful) and a few of my favorite songs of theirs are: Two Points For Honesty, Come Downstairs and Say Hello (this one is a fan favorite!), Two At A Time, Days (a Keep It Together bonus track), Manifest Destiny, Empire State, Dear Valentine, Do You Love me, On the Ocean, What You Call Love, Well (a favorite favorite), Lost At Sea, and Simple Machine!!

they’re also pretty well known for humor in their live shows. (sidebar: in 2007, they toured with Tally Hall! this is where the possibility that i’ve seen Tally Hall live comes from, because i was born in 2006 and at that time my mom was still taking me and my brother to concerts which did include Guster soooooo!!!!) anyways, their live shows are almost always humorous, with a few highlights (lifted almost directly from the wikipedia page i’m looking at right now lol) being:

- originally, they opened their own shows as “The Peace Soldiers” a redneck-looking band. later, they opened for themselves in costume as a jam band called “Trippin’ Balls”. - the drummer Brian Rosenworcel (also known as the ~THUNDERGOD~), not known for his vocals, sometimes gets up to the microphone and sings silly covers!! (remind you of anyone?) - at the end of “Airport Song”, the audience throws ping pong balls at the stage because in the studio recording there’s audio of a table tennis game in the background!! (i’ve gotten to participate in this. not at an actual Guster show, but still it was really fun!) - during a show in 2001 (i think? it might have been 2002) they started the show with an empty stage and then played “The Price Is Right” music with a voiceover calling each of them down to the stage!! they had been hidden in the audience the whole time and walked down to the stage like game show contestants!!! - they also do these “dumpster shows” which is a reference to the time they got held up for a concert because of a blizzard and decided to improvise and play an acoustic set in front of a city dumpster instead! oh also, Guster has a spot in the Tally Hall Out Boy Cinematic Universe (THOBCU) because they toured with Tally Tall in 2007! another fun fact is that Adam Gardner went to the Pingry school, which you might recognize!! he graduated from the Pingry school ten years before Andrew Horowitz did, but it’s still cool!! -----

that’s about all i can think of for both these bands right now, but if you have any more questions feel free to ask!!