#family who commits crime together sticks together

[alicentral]

This is a response to a hotd critical post about the "favouritism towards Greens in screen time ratio", and I think it's so interesting how team black also feel like they're being fucked over by the showrunners when, to me, it's blindingly obvious that it's the other way round.

Not only are the show runners villainising the greens, not the blacks, they've also gone out of their way to make the blacks seem like the badass heroes who can do no wrong, and this is the root of the problem for both team black and team green. It oversimplifies the dance and goes against the themes and message of the whole book, rendering the characters either inconsistent, one-dimensional, and worst of all, flat and boring.

Lets start off with the greens. The argument that the showrunners are "gagging on the greens" doesn't hold up when we actually think about it for more than 2 seconds.

With the source material of hotd being a fictional history book with different biases and perspectives (emphasis on different perspectives), the showrunners have cherry picked what to adapt, and have chosen to take the worst of the greens as the objective truth and erase their good moments as "green propaganda". The main example that comes to mind is aegon. Plenty of other people have talked about this in depth before, but in f&b, aegon raping a girl was a rumour spread by mushroom, a narrator with a clear black bias who wasn't even in kings landing at the time. There was no reason in adapting this rumour other than to demonise aegon, and by extension, team green. The way the scene is framed, it is clear that it was never about dyana, how the rape affected her mentally, emotionally, socially, physically. For a supposedly feminist show, dyana's rape was a throwaway scene, it never had any impact on the story further. So what was the point of the scene other than to tell the audience "look at what a monster aegon is. How can you support someone like that?" And it works.

You can see on social media, any time there's something vaguely positive about the greens, you have hoards of people comment "yeah but he's a rapist" "how can you support a rapist?", etc. It forces you to side with team black. Later in the show, the audience gets to know that aegon's dick burst "like a sausage". Why would the audience need to know this? Aegon's mutilated dick is presented as "karma" for dyana and is only meant to humiliate him. And again, after this revelation, so many people on social media were making fun of his "burnt sausage". They've made a laughingstock of aegon, and as the figurehead of team green, it's clear that we're not meant to side with team green.

Furthermore, in bastardising, and sometimes, even completely erasing the relationships between team green, the showrunners have dehumanised them and made them irredeemable villains, because, again, we were never meant to side with those who "usurped the rightful queen".

The loyalty and commitment the greens had to one another made them such compelling characters and heavily shaped their central motivations and actions. Aegon only took the crown to protect his family. Aemond, after rooks rest, never called himself a king, only lord protecter even though he knows he would've made a better king than aegon. Daeron torched the riverlands to get to his mother and sister and sacked bitterbridge as revenge for his nephew. Helaena offered up her life for her son, and chose to sacrifice maelor because she knew he wouldn't understand what was happening. Their actions may not be necessarily good (and in daeron's case, actually happen to be war crimes), and their motivations may be morally grey, but they're understandable, they're sympathetic, seeing as it was out of love and loyalty, something that 21st century society can relate to. Without these complex and compelling ties, the audience is left asking why would the greens stick together if they all seemingly can't stand each other? Why fight for aegon if he doesn't even seem to care for them? What was the point in having the crown then? As a result, the characterisations feel one-dimensional (helaena being reduced to being just an "innocent" amidst her bloodthirsty family) or inconsistent (alicent. just her entire story arc. it could've been interesting if done right, but alas, no such luck), or rushed (suddenly aemond wants to be king in his own right after defending his brother's claim at storms end).

This isn't to say that team green are perfect, far from it, but the close emotional ties and relationships could've been used to elevate the internal conflicts in the show. We could've had complex characters who aren't necessarily good, but they're family and they stick together despite their personal grievances.

And this isn't even mentioning their bonds with their dragons. Where was vhagar roaring when aemond's eye was cut out? Aegon and sunfyre had the closest bond between dragon and human and that was given to rhaenyra in the show and where is dreamfyre?

One last thing on the greens, they are presented as incompetent and not equipped to rule, which is meant to show how it would be oh so much better if rhaenyra was on the throne. Criston parading meleys' head is framed as stupid as meleys was "a beloved dragon", ignoring the fact that she murdered hundreds of smallfolk at the coronation. Alicent is presented as stupid for thinking that after rooks rest, the small council would appoint her the queen, aegon in the small council was meant to be laughed at. Of course, this begs the question, if the greens were meant to be a mess of a faction with only 3 functioning dragons and now 2 effective dragon riders, how did they hold out against the blacks for so long? It's clear that the showrunners haven't thought this through.

So yeah, i don't really understand what this person was trying to say when they say that the showrunners are "gagging on the greens" when they are demonised, humiliated and stripped of compassion. I would like to say here, nothing i've said about the greens here is new to team green fans, and so many more people have gone into more depth about this.

Lets move onto the blacks. In a conflict where no side was meant to be in the right (who has the right to rule is a beast for another day), where there were no winners, only losers, where a dynastic dispute almost tore down the entire aforementioned dynasty, the blacks are framed as the heroes, the side the audience should root for. If they come off as villainised to the audience, i don't think it was done on purpose.

Opposite to the greens, they're mistakes and flaws are glossed over. I think this is the main reason why team black falls flat as opposed to lack of screen time, which i don't really want to count.

An important example of this is blood and cheese. In f&b, blood and cheese was a horrific event which drove queen helaena mad and, importantly, was meant to murder one of aegon and helaena's sons in revenge for lucerys. A son for a son. It was always meant to be jaehaerys. By making blood and cheese all one big mistake in the show, with aemond as the real target and oops, we can't find him so jaehaerys will do, team black and rhaenyra can't be held accountable for the murder of an innocent 6 year old boy. Moreover, the fact that rhaenyra never knew or sanctioned the murder, and it was all daemon going rogue, rhaenyra is even further removed from the horrific murder of a child, because, of course, our heroine can't be responsible for anything bad, she's meant to be the one in the right!

Furthermore, condal and hess try to force the smallfolk's love of rhaenyra during the dance, contrary to the book, which serves to uphold rhaenyra's right to the throne and show how team black are the right side. During the blockade on kings landing, the smallfolk conveniently forget that she's the one causing the blockade when she sends food through (showing that she could've done that at any time). The cheering for rhaenyra and the riot makes no sense, as again, she was the one who caused the blockade in the first place.

The introduction of the prophecy also is only meant to justify any "wrong" rhaenyra and team black do. The death of the dragonseeds and the smallfolk were all in the name of a prophecy so it's ok. And this is the thing which infuriates me the most, because the prophecy could've been a fascinating aspect of team black's motivations if framed right. The idea of committing atrocities in the name of a believed divine, higher purpose could've been used to expand upon team black's character growth and internal conflict vis a vis the knights templar and the crusades. How do they feel about this? Are they even aware of what they're doing? Alas, the show itself buys into the prophecy, buys into the divine purpose and suddenly, the atrocities aren't presented as "that bad" anyways. All of that to say, the show has never intentionally villainised team black.

So we've established that as the heroes, team black can't do anything wrong, and if they do, it's for a higher purpose, so it's alright. Team black's "emotions and conflicts are made secondary" not to "disposable filler scenes of Greens", but to themselves, or rather, to rhaenyra and her right to rule. So many team black scenes were used to uplift rhaenyra to show how she is the rightful queen. The main two examples of this that stick out to me is baela rebuking jace when he rightfully questions rhaenyra's decisions and daemon's whole harrenhal arc, which serves as his redemption and so he can reaffirm his commitment to rhaenyra's right to rule. Of course it's going to be "a bore" if the main characters, the ones we're meant to be cheering haven't got anything going for them except for cheering on rhaenyra.

There's no character interaction, no character growth, no real internal conflict because from the beginning, team black has been presented as in the right and can do no wrong, so there's no room to grow, no room to develop, not because of lack of screen time. When character development almost breaks through (see: jace questioning rhaenyra), it's quickly quashed, because the audience needs to be reminded that rhaenyra is always right. There's a clear good and bad side that the show is trying to force, which doesn't work in this setting because it reinforces the idea of the divine right of kings, the idea that one person, one family is superior to all others, and that person is rhaenyra here. It undermines the idea that no one was in the right for the atrocities they committed. No one can be justified and that fundamentally, these are not good people, they're interesting characters (or could've been interesting characters), but they're not good people.

So why? Why are the blacks presented as the good side and the greens presented as evil? It all comes down to the fact that the showrunners have propagated the idea that the dance is about a woman's struggle to rule in the face of misogyny, rather than the decline of house targaryen due to their belief in targaryen exceptionalism or the consequences of the pursuit of power. Sure, feminism and misogyny is one aspect of the dance, but it's not a major driving factor. The showrunners have backed themselves into a corner here, because they trying to portray the dance through a modern feminist lens, and so they believe that they can't write women being flawed or evil, and so we get the free, liberated good side and the "misogynistic", conservative bad side.

So in conclusion, it is clear that the showrunners aren't villainising the blacks as this person believes, but the greens. In doing this, they've made a clear cut good and bad side which works to the detriment of both team black and team green. It leads team green's characterisation to be inconsistent and one-dimensional and it chokes team black from having character growth.

Listen, i don't know if team black truly have less screen time than team green, but if they do, it's not the reason why team black falls flat.

[dovveri]

misunderstandings

bachelorette masterlist - part 1 ▸ part 2 ▸ part 3 ▸ part 4 ▸ part 6 ▸ part 7

synopsis: y/n watches the most recent episode of the bachelorette and is met with something she doesn’t like. sana also seems to be angry for whatever reason and it builds up into a big argument at the end of the night.

warnings: sex! overstimulation, fingering, scissoring, oral sex, degradation, choking, cursing

w/c: 7.1k

a/n: soooo sorry for the delay this will probs be my last update for a while bcs finals season is driving me up a wall (if u see me post another story or part its bcs im actually not studying and u should yell at me for it) i lwk hate the pacing of this chapter i feel like its everywhere but hey! we got some smut!

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the backlash wonsik gets online is more than satisfactory. apparently, with all the evidence piled up against him, he would most likely be sent away for the rest of his life. which is disgusting to think about, how much crime do you have to commit to get a life sentence? you try to shake those thoughts as you watch the most recent episode with the leftover contestants while sana’s on her individual date as usual. it was tradition now, even more so as the pool of contestants gets smaller and smaller.

after your day off, things had gotten right back to normal.

sana went on a solo date with jacky. good thing it was jacky too because they had the famous ‘conquer a fear’ date. who knew big, australian jacky was afraid of balloons. and in typical bachelorette fashion, producers came up with a romantic hot air balloon date for 5am in the morning.

costume designers had rushed into your room at 4am, turning on all the lights and pulling sana from your arms, not even casting you a second look now that they were used to seeing the both of you cuddled up and naked most of the time they had to come in and dress you.

you were barely conscious as they ran around frantically, pulling the covers over your head and groaning a little, trying to make yourself go back to sleep.

you’re sure sana didn’t feel the best either from the little grumbles and whines you can hear faintly as she struggles to keep her eyes open while makeup artists dab eyeshadow on her eyelids.

soon enough they're off and you drift back into sleep, only to be awoken a few hours later so you can get dressed and attend the group date for the day.

that was also pretty fun. everything was meant to be high-adrenaline, facing your fears, all that sort of stuff today. so the team had booked out a big amusement park and you all had free rein. it was also good because it meant you had a little bit more freedom, not everyone had to stick together so people ended up splitting naturally when they wanted to do different rides and you had even managed to sneak sana away from the cameras for a quick make out session in the toilets.

it was a pretty great day and would make for a nice and light episode after the mayhem that happened with wonsik. there was a rose ceremony as always but this time, only 2 people were eliminated. unfortunately you had to say goodbye to dae and nayeon, sana did say it was getting harder and harder to eliminate people because as the more time goes on, the closer you get, and when there's less people in the house, it also facilitates closer relationships. she had to eliminate those two simply because she felt her romantic connection with them wasn't as strong as it was with some of the other contestants. it was rough but that's showbiz.

after 2 more eliminations tonight, it would officially be the quarter finals meaning it would be time for sana to meet all of her last 4 contestants' families and close ones.

currently, you're enjoying an afternoon tea at the contestants' house. as usual, sana was on a solo date with jiwon but there wouldn't be a group date today because there wasn't enough time to film it. instead, the both of you were allowed a little sleep in after yesterday's rude 4am awakening, and a little more time in the afternoon to dress up before the rose ceremony tonight.

the episode had just finished with jacky and sana's date. jacky still won't go near a balloon and he's probably developed a fear of heights on top of that too now but at least it looked pretty on television.

you had teased him when the episode showed him nervously walking around and inspecting the hot air balloon before sana had to basically yank him into the basket. he had his eyes shut tight the entire time, holding on to sana for dear life while they ascended. it was a little cute when sana finally managed to get him to peek his eyes open once they reached their highest altitude, just in time to catch the sunrise, and in exchange for getting over his fear and not backing out of this date with her, she gave him a rose and kissed him on the cheek.

you heard afterwards from eunji that as soon as they touched back down he had jumped out of the basket and laid face down in the grass for about half an hour, just getting used to the feeling of being on the ground again.

they had caught a bit of him on the floor doing exactly that which was pretty hilarious because sana was crouched next to him, poking him and trying to get him to sit up but he just groaned and mumbled something incomprehensibly in response, his rose still clutched tight in his hand, stretched out in front of him.

they cut it off there though, maybe a little for jacky's reputation but you all knew how long he was there for.

after a short break where they show a few scenes of silly occurrences inside the house with the other contestants, and then finding out everyone was invited on the group date that day, except for jacky who was invited but ended up taking the rest of the day off to recuperate and basically laid in bed in the medical office, even skipping the rose ceremony since he already got his rose.

they shot everyone in the car on the way to the amusement park, asking the contestants what they thought was going to happen, if anyone was scared, trying to pull a few comedic clips together, all the anticipation scenes the audience needed to be excited for the date.

eventually, everyone's in the middle of the amusement park with sana and yourself waiting for them in casual clothes. you shift a little as you recall the way you had her gasping into your mouth and your hand up the blue polo shirt she’s wearing on screen only 20 minutes after the introduction and everyone had split off.

in the meantime, while the cameras were running around frantically trying to find sana, they had filled in the gaps with clips of the other contestants, you laugh when momo is practically dragged onto a rollercoaster by jihyo and jun, she’s kicking and screaming but they manage to strap her in and gesture for the roller coaster attendant to go. its one of those really fast ones where it goes from 0 to 100 in seconds so the force pushes all of them back against the seats, poor momo barely has the time to blink and then its over. she’s gasping with her eyes clenched shut while the other two are laughing and pulling her off and along to the next ride.

it’s great being able to watch what happened when you weren’t on screen, and also what sana was up to when you weren’t with her.

you laugh when they show all the contestants clambering onto the carousel, you had all taken some group pictures and some of them were more than silly.

eventually, you get to the rose ceremony, and just as you were on the night, your breath is taken away again with sana in a stunning red dress. she really nailed being on camera, her face was one that was meant to be on screen.

the night starts merrily, everyone's more of a family now, you’re all happy to drink and talk together, and it wasn’t so competitive to get time with sana anymore because there were less contestants.

you frown a little though when the camera shifts to sana and jihyo, they’re sitting very close in one of the more private rooms inside the house.

jihyo’s playing a joke and sana’s laughing, a little flushed, probably from the alcohol as she slaps jihyo’s arm lightheartedly. jihyo preens at the attention, grabbing another drink and offering it to sana who accepts it gratefully and takes a sip.

she hums in satisfaction before speaking up, “so you never did tell me how you broke up with that gym rat…”

jihyo’s laughing a little nervously, twiddling her thumbs a little, “right yeah… i just realised that i made the wrong decision. i was caught up in the newness of everything with him but after that got old, i realised i still loved-“

sana’s eyebrows are shooting up, she’s setting down her drink and clearing her throat.

“sorry.” jihyo flashes an apologetic look over at sana, but sana shakes her head.

“no no it’s okay. be as honest as you can, please. we’re both here because we’re looking for a relationship right? can’t do that if we have any skeletons still in the closet.”

jihyo’s smiling gratefully and then continuing, “he wasn’t it for me. that’s why i broke up with him. i’m sorry for the way i treated you sana, you didn’t deserve that, you never did anything wrong in our relationship and i never really gave you a reason to why we broke up. i hoped by coming on here i may be able to win back a second chance.”

sana hums again, taking a moment to think while jihyo nervously looks at her with wide eyes.

“jihyo… you hurt me a lot when you left.”

“i know! and i’m so so sorry for that! i never want to do that to you again, all i’m asking for is another chance sana.”

she’s shuffling closer, grabbing sana’s hands tightly and imploring with her eyes.

sana looks down at their hands together, taking a breath before looking back up, "look... i'm not going to lie to you... i never really did get over you completely."

what?

"and i wouldn't have kept you in here for this long if i wasn't curious about what you had to say and if i wasn't ready to give you a second chance."

what the actual fuck?

"it wouldn't be fair though. to the other contestants, y'know? if they knew you had a head start. and i admit i was avoiding you a little because i wanted to even the playing field and get to know everyone else first before revisiting this." she makes a gesture with her hands, signaling between the two of them. "so its nice to finally be able to sit down and get a clear answer about what happened in the past."

jihyo looks more and more hopeful as sana goes on, your hands only get tighter around the fabric of your pants. sana didn't tell you about this conversation last night. sana hasn't mentioned anything jihyo related. whenever you ask, she's always managed to change the conversation or misdirect you with the promise of sex. was this why? is this how she really felt about jihyo? did she think you would disapprove? well you do disapprove but that was besides the point.

all of the other contestants don't seem too shocked with this news. it's not too surprising though because they've all lived with jihyo and the one thing they all have in common is sana so there's no doubt they've all discussed each other's feelings for sana, and jihyo probably told them their history as well.

you're fuming though. you can't believe sana didn't tell you something this important. that you're finding this out along with the rest of the country when you were meant to be her best friend here, the one person who was supposed to know everything before everyone.

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the rest of the afternoon goes by in a blur. you can vaguely tell when someone comes up to you and tries to initiate or bring you into the conversation but your mind is swirling with information about sana and jihyo, their past interactions, whether you could decipher any of sana's feelings from observing her.

eventually, it's time for the rose ceremony again and you're still in your head about everything you thought you knew happened yesterday.

you have half the mind to pull sana aside and ask her about it but when you meet sana's eyes, she squints a little and looks away quickly with signs of a pout in her lip.

the night continues like this, the two of you stealing glances at each other only when you think the other isn't looking. when sana starts pulling jihyo aside though, you don't care if she sees the look of disbelief on your face, she doesn't seem to notice anyway, all cozied up to jihyo.

you're averting your head again and downing the rest of your drink in one gulp.

when it's time to read out who gets a rose and who's going home, you're stiff standing next to sana, she's purposely avoiding your gaze as well. the tension between you two was so thick jiwon had come up and asked if something had happened between you two. and technically nothing did happen so you don't really know why sana seems to be angry with you when you were the one who was hurt by yesterday's episode.

the ceremony is brief, you have to say goodbye to jun, and eunji unfortunately but you can barely give them a proper hug as you stare at jihyo who's now made the final four.

after your goodbyes you quickly make your way towards the car, tapping your foot impatiently while waiting for sana to finish saying her goodbyes so you could both go home.

unfortunately, that takes another 20 minutes and you're just about to tell the driver to leave without her when she's sliding into the car, still avoiding your gaze and sitting on the opposite end of the car. normally she's all over you, needing affection after a big day but now you're pretty sure if she moved any further away she'd be falling out the window.

that was fine though. it’s not like you wanted to have an argument with her while the driver could hear you anyway.

the car’s pulling in and she’s opening her door and stalking inside the house without even a second glance towards you.

what the fuck? why was she mad at you now?

you feel almost childish copying her actions and making sure to slam the door on the way in, but if she was acting like this for no reason that only infuriated you more.

you find her in the kitchen, tapping her foot impatiently and waiting for you to come in.

once you’re standing on opposite sides of the counter, you cross your arms and still. she’s leaning on the counter with her hands, staring you down. there was no way you were going to be the first to break. she was the one who had some explaining to do right now, not you.

sana's stubborn as well though, lips pursed and not backing down.

it goes on like this for a few minutes before you finally break, raising an eyebrow and asking coldly, "so do you have anything you want to say to me sana?"

sana scoffs, the tips of her ears red, "do you have anything you want to say y/n?"

"what? no! i don't even know why you're being like this right now! i'm the one who's been left in the dark here."

"oh you're the one who's been left in the dark huh? unbelievable that you're still lying to my face about this. is that how you really feel about her?"

"excuse me?! it doesn't matter how i feel about her! the whole issue is how you've been dealing with this situation!"

sana sneers, your voices getting louder and louder trying to top each other, "this again? seriously y/n? i'm my own person and i'm allowed to have opinions on who i like and who i don't like! if she's being weird or sneaky or whatever i'm going to call her out on it!"

you scoff, "yeah right. like you called her out on it last night? and tonight as well i bet. why did you take so long saying your goodbyes huh?"

sana goes beet red and you think you've got her, "what?! what are you talking about?! and i stayed behind to say proper goodbyes to everyone! not like you apparently who couldn't care less, you barely talked to anyone tonight, when jun, and eunji, who was one of your closest friends here right?! when they had to leave you didn't even look them in the eye when they hugged you!"

"riiiiiiiiiight and you expect me to believe that? you weren't cuddling up and getting a quickie in before you had to go right?"

"what?! what are you talking about y/n?! quickie- what?"

"with jihyo! you stayed behind to talk to her didn't you!?"

"what?! well yeah i did but what does jihyo have to do with any of this?"

"what?! i've been talking about jihyo this whole time what do you mean?"

she's slipping something out of her suit pocket and sliding it across the counter to you. your phone.

"are you fucking serious y/n? you've been talking about jihyo this whole time? what the fuck? why the fuck are you suddenly bringing her up? you're the one who's been going behind my back getting all flirty and friendly with miyeon! after you told me you were just friends?! calling each other babe and sweetie and honey in your texts, how the fuck did you even get her number anyway? how long have you been talking to her huh? how long have you been fucking me while talking to someone else?"

you're scrambling for your phone, unlocking it and scrolling to your messages with miyeon. fuck. sana must have read everything. you don't even remember leaving your phone behind but it must have been with her since the morning. you scroll down the texts and see the most recent messages miyeon has texted you today and you find that sana has been replying to her.

"are you serious sana?! why the fuck did you go through my phone?"

sana turns her head at that, pouting a little, "i didn't mean to! she just kept on texting and i thought it must have been something important if your phone kept going off so i just went in to make sure everything was okay! how was i supposed to know you were basically sexting her behind my back!?"

"we were not sexting oh my god sana! miyeon is my friend we're just friends!"

"why have you been keeping this from me then?! you must like her or something then don't you?!"

"what?! no! and don't talk to me about keeping secrets right now sana!"

"what secrets have i kept from you?!"

"hello?!" you're waving your hands around frantically, "the whole jihyo situation?! why didn't you tell me you never got over her?"

"i never got over- what?!"

"you said so last night! on national fucking television! don't play dumb with me right now sana, and don't try and change the topic on me!"

"i never said that! are you being serious right now? jihyo and i split and it took me a while but you were there for it all! you saw me at my lowest and you helped build me back up! i am over her!"

"why is she in the final four then?"

"oh my god y/n you cannot seriously still be talking about jihyo! i'm over her! the producers wanted her to make it to the final four because they thought they could add some drama in during the home visits or whatever! jihyo and i talked about it last night and i told her why she was still here because i didn't want to keep leading her on! that's why i stayed for longer after the rose ceremony, i just wanted to check on her and make sure she was okay with all of this because i still care about her! i loved her at one point in my life!"

"that's not what i saw in last night's episode!"

"what?!"

"yeah! you and jihyo were all close and snuggly and she told you she still loved you and you said you were going to give her a second chance!"

"y/n i never said any of that." the rage has lifted slightly now, replaced with confusion.

you're breathing heavily, tired from arguing, you and sana had more fights these few weeks that you've been filming than you've had your entire lives together.

you tap out of your messaging app, going to tiktok and searching up last night's bachelorette episode, scrolling past all the funny jacky moments and amusement park shorts, trying to find the part where jihyo and sana were talking. someone had to have posted about it.

"are you serious right now? are you fucking texting miyeon while we're talking?"

"what?! no! sana i told you miyeon and i are just friends! i'm trying to find a clip of you and jihyo last night to show you what i'm talking about!" you find one then and quickly hold it out for sana to see.

she watches the clip replay a few times while you wait defiantly.

after the seventh replay you take your phone back, sighing when you think she has nothing to say for herself.

“y/n…”

“want to explain yourself now? anything else you wanna divulge while you’re at it?”

“what? no y/n i didn’t say any of that. they edited that together. i didn’t say any of that to jihyo i promise.”

you look at her in confusion, looking back to your phone, and then back to her.

“i did pull jihyo aside and we did talk but i never told her that i didn't get over her. y/n you have to believe me baby i- i can call the producers right now, they'll clear everything up." she's reaching for her phone, but the immense relief that she doesn't still have feelings for jihyo washes over you and brings you to action. moving around the counter and taking her phone from her and wrapping her in a hug.

she stills against you, and you're both surprised when you feel your own tears falling down your face, the tension of the night finally getting to you.

"y/n..."

"i'm sorry. i'm sorry i do believe you. this all seems so silly now i hate when we fight. i overreacted with the whole jihyo thing and it could've been solved so easily if i'd just talked to you instead of..."

sana softens against you, wrapping her arms around your waist and carding a hand through your hair. "it's okay baby. i'll talk to the producers tomorrow and make sure they don't pull anything like that again. and after the home visits i promise jihyo is the one who'll be going home."

you sniffle a little, "you don't have to do that for me sana. i swear i was just being..."

"hmm?"

"i don't know i'm tired sana. can we go to bed?"

she hums against you, pulling you both towards the bathroom for your nighttime routines. once you're done, you're climbing into sana's bed and picking up your phone again, scrolling back to your messages with miyeon while waiting for sana to finish her routine and join you.

y/n: heyy sorry i just got my phone back, sana's had it the last few hours because i left it behind so if i seemed weird over text it's because she was messaging you

miyeon: oh it's okay! i did think you sounded a bit off but i just chalked it up to u not feeling well or something. was sana mad when she found out we were texting?

y/n: 😂 how did you know?

miyeon: well i was on the receiving end of her jealousy when she texted me today so that was one clue 😂

y/n: jealousy?

suddenly your phone starts vibrating and miyeon's name flashes across the screen. you pick up hesitantly, "hello?"

"y/n! hey! it's good to actually hear your voice again!"

you chuckle a little, "you too princess. what's up?"

"nothing really, i just wanted to see where your head's at with sana now."

"what do you mean?"

"remember the conversation we had the night i got kicked out? while you were drunk?"

you squint a little, shuffling around in the sheets, "kinda... why?"

"i noticed the way you looked at her, the way you talked about her, even on the first night i think the reason why no one suspected that you weren't just a regular contestant was because i thought, we all thought you also felt the same way we did for sana."

"w-what?"

"you might not have realised it... but i think you were beginning to see it when filming started. do you get jealous when you see sana with the other contestants?"

"i- well- i mean i kinda just thought i was friend jealous though. or like that i just wanted the best for her which was why i was so harsh on contestants in the beginning."

"the way you talk about her over text sounds like its more than that y/n."

"i don't- what- i'm not jealous-"

you barely register that sana's finished with her routine now, sliding into bed next to you and cuddling up immediately. "what are you jealous about?"

you freeze, looking at her like you've been caught with your hand in the cookie jar in the middle of the night.

"is that sana?" you're broken out of it quickly when you hear miyeon's voice over the phone.

sana bristles though, moving away from you and frowning, "are you on the phone with miyeon?"

"i- yeah-"

sana's snatching the phone out of your hand instantly, bringing it up to her ear and speaking into the microphone with a cold sneer, "yes this is sana. can i help you?"

you can't hear miyeon respond but the way sana's speaking sends a lightning rod of arousal down your spine. your mind is still hazy with what miyeon's suggested, and you're thinking about how you hated seeing sana kiss wonsik, how blinded you felt when you thought sana still liked jihyo, what could this mean? how long have you liked sana for? has it always been this way?

you don't realise that sana's features have become less defensive as she talks to miyeon, almost apologetic even when she settles back down next to you, humming in response to something miyeon's said over the phone. she's within proximity again that you can make out miyeon's voice.

"-but i hope you've been doing well and taking care of yourself with all the craziness that comes along with filming."

"yeah thank you miyeon. really. and again i'm so sorry for all the misunderstandings and i hope you know that eliminating you was definitely a mistake and it was very short-sighted of me but i'm glad that we've finally had a chance to talk where i'm not completely hostile to you."

you can hear the airy giggle of miyeon over the phone, "of course! all the best with the rest of the season sana. maybe we'll see each other on the other side."

sana smiles, "definitely. goodnight miyeon!"

she hangs up and hands your phone back to you, going right back to cuddling as if nothing had happened.

you're trying to pick out what part of that conversation that you overheard bothered you when it hits. "eliminating miyeon was a mistake?" was this the jealousy again?

"weren't you the one saying that?" sana raises an eyebrow at you, brushing her fingers over your side.

"well- i-"

she's giggling now, "i'm just kidding. miyeon just put to rest everything that was on my mind so i have nothing to worry about. i'm sorry for overreacting when i found out you were texting her. you're allowed to have friends, sorry i was trying to micromanage that."

"what was on your mind?"

"hmm y'know... you mostly."

you whine, hitting her lightly while she laughs at you.

"she told me you were just friends and she never meant to make it seem like it was anything else. she also helped me... come to terms with a few things so i'm actually very grateful for that."

"what things?"

"so many questions y/n. are you worried i'm about to steal her away from you?" sana teases.

"what? no! stop teasing-"

she grins, poking your cheek, "i'm keeping that to myself for now okay? i'll probably tell you one day. just not today."

"why not?"

"just because." she smiles, "now let's sleep."

you grumble a little, confused at what miyeon could have told sana, confused with what miyeon told you. there was one thing you did want to test out though...

you lean in quickly and capture sana's lips, taking her a little by surprise but she's quick to reciprocate, closing her eyes and kissing you back.

you're aggressive, climbing on top of her quickly and licking into her. you're trying to figure out if kissing her made you feel anything more. anything that could clue you in on your true feelings for her.

she's breaking away from you panting though, pushing you back slightly when you try to chase after her again, "woah y/n baby baby slow down- what's got you all in a rush?"

your eyes are dark as you look down at her, friends don't normally feel like the world would end if they stopped kissing right? you needed to be back on her, in her, needed to feel her around you, needed to taste her, needed to memorise every single sound she made, you needed her. that was more than just lust right?

"just- just need you please-" you're leaning back in, almost begging.

"no- no y/n stop. tell me what's going on, you're not normally like this."

you groan, head falling to her shoulder, slumping against her. "something stupid miyeon said..." you mumble into her shoulder.

"what did she say?"

you huff against her, "that i had feelings for you."

you hear the gasp sana lets out, her hands at your waist tightening their hold and you groan into her, grinding down a little at the feeling.

she stills you though, hands sliding down to grip your hips, "stop that." her voice is harsh, and you're reminded of the way she talked to miyeon over the phone, all cold and annoyed. it only makes you drip more at the tone of her voice and you whimper a little.

"do you?"

"do i what?" you're distracted, wanting only to kiss her again.

"do you have feelings for me?"

you sigh, "don't know- that's what i'm trying to figure out."

"how are you trying to figure it out?"

"kissing you. touching you. seeing if all of it made me feel something more."

"something more?"

"i don't know. something other than horny."

sana hums before finally loosening her grip. "okay. try it. just promise me you'll tell me what you think afterwards?"

you're quick to latch onto her lips again, mumbling yes and thank you into her.

she bucks her hips up against you and you moan. she was finally giving into her feelings and letting you do what you wanted, expressing herself freely.

“can you- mmf- can you-“

“what what is it baby? what do you need?”

“can you- be mad at me?”

she’s kissing down your neck, nipping slightly as you grind down into her, “i’m not mad at you. we talked about this just then baby.”

“no- i need- can you pretend to be mad?”

she’s licking up to your ear, “i don’t understand baby. can you elaborate?”

“f-fuck sana- can you- just imagine i did like miyeon and i wanted to fuck her-“

you’re scared you said the wrong thing and ruined the mood when she stills under you. then all of a sudden she’s rolling you over and straddling your hips, lips and teeth back at the sensitive parts on your neck. “you like it when i’m mad?”

“g-god yes sana please-“

“whore. you want me to mark you up? make sure everyone knows your mine? mine to ruin?”

“yes yes sana please-“

you moan when you feel her sucking at your collarbone, intending on doing exactly that.

"off." her hands are at the bottom of your shirt tugging, and you scramble up, almost knocking your forehead against hers in haste, you'd laugh but you were so pent up you couldn't think about anything other than her fucking you all night long.

her hands are cold when she slides them up your stomach, cupping your tits and you shiver at the feeling.

"trying to piss me off on purpose bringing up her name into this hm? after we just made up too." she squeezes and you gasp into her, nipples hard against her palms as she runs a thumb over the tip.

"think my pretty baby's going to come for anyone else?" she circles a nipple leaving you twitching, "i'm going to ruin you so that everytime you even come close to coming in the future, you'll only be able to think about me."

she's licking a trail down the middle of your chest, before sucking marks into the sides of your breasts, avoiding your nipples, only tracing them lightly with the tip of her thumb.

you're squirming around under her, begging and crying, eyes clenched shut, hand drifting down towards your folds, trying to alleviate some of the pressure that's built up.

she snatches your hand quickly and pins it above your head, "don't even fucking think about it."

you whine under her, trying to pull away from her grip but she has you completely under her control.

"don't do that baby. you asked for this didn't you? you're going to be a good girl and take it now." her lips come back down on your other tit, sucking and licking again, you're grinding up into nothing, stuck with the feeling of your own sticky arousal.

"p-please sana need- please- more-"

"what do you need baby? this?" she takes a nipple into her mouth then, sucking gently and flicking over it with her tongue, then popping it out of her mouth, "or this?" a hand trails lower, thumbing the waistband of your pyjama bottoms. "maybe this?" a knee comes up then, pressing right where you need her most and you’re moaning against her.

"g-god sana- fuck- all- all of it- god i need all of it-"

"be more specific sweetie. you can do it. c'mon now."

"f-fuck need you to fuck me like you said you would. need to feel your fingers inside me, your mouth wrapped around my clit, your hands gripping my ass so hard it'll leave behind handprints. just need you sana please- please-"

"mmm that's a good girl. begging for me like the slut you are. because you were so pretty i'll give you that. but you gotta talk me through it okay? if you stop i'll stop and i'm going to go fuck myself in your bed and leave you here for the rest of the night."

you whimper, nodding your head.

"words baby."

"yes, yes yes god please just-"

she smirks and then she's back at your nipples, fully sucking on them now and pulling your bottoms off along with your panties, immediately swiping a finger through your wetness. the sudden change from feeling nothing to feeling everything be stimulated was almost too much but also exactly what you needed.

"god sana please- inside- need you inside."

she's pushing one finger in and you feel yourself clench around her, already so close, desperate for her. suddenly you're remembering your actual task, but before you can formulate another thought she's pulling out and thrusting back in with another finger.

"god you're so wet for me baby. how long have you been thinking about this hm?"

"i- fuck- i'm never not thinking about you sana."

sana hums, keeping a slow, languid pace, "is that helping with your little mission tonight?"

"i- w- fuck sana faster please-"

"answer the question first."

"f-fuck i- i don't know- i c-can't think- please-"

she's pulling out and removing herself from you so that none of your skin is touching anymore.

"now? now can you think?"

"sana please fuck- yes! yes it's helping everything is helping please just need you back-" you're making grabby hands at her, trying to pull her back so you can feel her against you again.

she obliges, pushing back into you and humming, "that's a good girl."

"thank you- god sana- thank you- mm fuck thank you-" you're babbling, barely making sense when she speeds up, curling her fingers inside you just the way she knows you like, and rubbing her thumb along your clit each thrust inside.

soon enough, you're coming around her, her name and curses spilling out of your mouth but she's not done. she's crawling down your body, marking almost every inch of skin she can get her mouth on, and then latching onto your clit and sucking, fingers still pounding into you.

"f-fuck! sana! 's too much! f-fuck-"

she only hums against you, the vibrations against your clit only tightening the coil in your belly once more and the overstimulation is too much and you feel yourself coming again.

she's pulling out and you think she's finished but she flips you onto your stomach, slipping a pillow under you to lift your ass up, hands gripping the cheeks and spreading them apart, just like how you had begged her to. but then her fingers are prodding at your entrance again and she slides in, and this angle is so much deeper and you cry out, muffled against the sheets, trying to squirm away from her but she's got your ass right where she wants you.

she's leaning down, pushing in and out of you again, you can feel her chest against your back, the fact that she's still wearing her top fleetingly crosses your mind but you can still feel her hardened nipples against your skin, you arch back into her.

"my baby's not done yet. you're going to give me another one. and another one. until you've finished your little experiment right?"

you're sobbing into the sheets, the delightful mixture of pleasure and pain running through your body, your hyperaware of every single movement, every single place your skin touches, every breath she takes as she ruts her fingers into you.

you feel your third orgasm coming up when a hand is snaking a way back up your body, pinching roughly at your nipples before closing around your throat. you gulp and clench even harder around her fingers when she squeezes her hand lightly, moaning your approval.

"yeah? you like that slut?"

"y-yes o-oh god fuck- sana- fuck-"

she's squeezing tighter now and the pressure is perfect, the lightheadedness from the cutoff of oxygen combined with the overstimulation and you're coming again, thrashing into her as she releases you slowly, heaving in air as specks of black dot your vision.

you feel almost numb when she slides the pillow out from under you, turning you slightly so she can kiss you gently, and you moan at the taste of yourself on her tongue.

she's slipping a leg between yours when you realise that she's taken off her bottoms, and you gasp when the feeling of her wetness glides against your clit.

you whimper against her lips, "sana..."

"shhhh baby one more."

you're helpless against her, whining and pushing yourself into her, relishing the way her breath catches and she moans when your clits drag along each other. she's got one hand at your tit again, pinching a nipple and you need to feel more of her so you slide a hand up her top, grasping at her breast and moaning when she rocks against you just a little harder at the feeling.

your lips never leave each other, even when you're so blissed out you're just panting into her mouth, rutting against her. you're not even thinking straight when you mumble the words, slurred together and mixed with curses, but sana still catches it. "i love you."

she stops immediately, leaving you humping her like a dog, panting into her wondering why she's stopped.

she's gripping your hips, stilling you, eyes wide, "what did you just say?"

"i love you sana fuck- please- please let me come again please-"

her eyes study you, half-dazed, and then suddenly she's rutting against you again, your hands tighten around her tits just to be able to hold onto something because she's pushing against you and you're so close and her hands are basically moving your hips against hers without you even doing anything, she's moaning into your mouth, caught in her own pleasure and it's all too much when you feel her tighten her legs around you, coming with a whine and shaking, you come again, eyes closing and feeling the wave of pleasure wash over your body, twitching lightly against her in the aftershock.

when you pull apart your legs are sticky and filthy and hers aren't much better, stained with your essence, you can't even open your eyes, just letting her plant light kisses across your face and neck, holding her against you and learning to breathe again.

when she kisses your eyelids you manage to peek open, staring at her in wonder.

"did you mean it?" her eyebrows are slightly furrowed, hair sticking to her forehead, bottom lip protruding a little in a pout.

you were overcome with pleasure and overstimulation, but you remember everything you said. "i did. i love you. i'm sorry it took this long to realise it."

she sighs, eyes tearing up, "i love you too idiot."

"what about the season?"

"we'll figure that out later. let me clean you up and we can cuddle and sleep?"

you hum, whining when she leaves you to grab a damp towel, missing her warmth already. it felt painful to be without her. every second you spent apart, you were thinking about her, you can't help but laugh at how stupid you've been. you've been in love with sana for the better half of your life, you were determined to make it up to her. to show her just how much you loved her. just how much you needed her in your life.

you smile happily when she comes back, bringing her into a sweet kiss and letting her wipe at your legs. you were so, utterly, in love with her, and you finally realised it.

[anonymouspuzzler]

you know what? fuck you (heartbreak gulch's my own guys)

(@heartbreakgulch courtesy of the inimitable @strangegutz & collaborators, also miscellaneous Thoughts under the cut bc it's my blog no one can stop me the doors have closed behind you)

HEARTBREAKER BULKHEAD:

Probably does not have superpowers anymore but still came from a family of considerable influence and was under pressure to inherit, pressure which he very much Broke Under.

Turned to a life of crime, definitely got in over his head with it, and essentially got rescued by Eddie, who he is Utterly Obsessed With And Heartsick For.

Has spent literal years as one of Eddie's attack dogs and generally jumping through hoops for him for Whatever Scraps Of Affection He Can Get, though he's still kind of squeamish around Literal Murder and thus tends to be assigned to supply runs and such most of the time.

Amateur mechanic and car enthusiast. Probably did a lot of McGyver-ass fixes around the Gulch-slash-generally assisted Ami til Davey was recruited.

Speaking of, was still the guy who recruited-slash-rescued Davey. They fell for each other hard and are in a committed relationship now, which has helped Buck take a little bit of a healthier step back with whatever the hell he and Eddie have going on (and helped him be a little less jealous and curmudgeonly about the Hot Young Things In Town, ie Zeki and Felix).

Absolutely not prepared to be a guardian to Minnie which has led his and Eddie's whole Relationship to enter a fun new stage of "hey man can I ask you for parenting advice nothing weird"

HEARTBREAKER DYNAMO:

Pretty similar backstory to the Villain-Coded version. Civilian turned criminal, lost his arm when he got in over his head on a job and Buck rescued him.

Has a bunch of different prosthetics he swaps out for different purposes, ie. one for combat, one to use for mechanic work, a kinda general use/everyday one, etc. That said, he goes without a lot to make sure he's prepared for a situation where he doesn't have access/one breaks or fails on a job/etc.

An alarmingly good recruit; I feel like originally Eddie kind of let him stick around as a kind of "gift" to Buck, but now that he's actually got him on jobs he's become a real rising star. Real good in a scrap and is a little more flexible with his moral lines in the sand compared to Buck. Outside of that he works with Ami a lot doing mechanics and repairs - probably interested in learning CompanDroid maintenance/repair but figures it'd be skeevy for him to push that point too much.

He and Eddie have a complicated relationship I think. They'd be kinda suspicious/distrusting of each other but also have a LOT of similarities and work really well together. To say nothing of their respective relationships with Buck.

I don't think he's Trying to Uncle the younger recruits in the Gulch but he definitely Does. He likes White a lot. He and Ami would also definitely get along really well. He is being The Bigger Man and Mature Adult and not giving Felix a wedgie no matter how badly he wants to

HEARTBREAKER(?) MINNIE:

From the same family of prominence as Buck and is currently very much on the run after a failed attempt to kill her own dad.

Extremely a city kid and is Not necessarily adapting well to Middle Of Nowhere Self Sustained Living.

Knew Of Buck but never met him before this so his whole Life and Little Criminal Commune featuring Multiple Guys He's Got SOMETHING Going On With is. it's a lot

Would like to do some crime actually but is A) still a little traumatized and adjusting to the whole Situation and B) 13 Whole Real Human Years Old.

Fascinated by Zeki's whole deal and his work but I think they would absolutely bring out the worst in each other they would fight so much. Autism to autism hostility

Having a very complicated response to White and Ami wherein she thinks they're SO cool but interacting with them at any length would make her realize Things About Herself that she's not consciously ready to confront so just like. Imagine being White and looking over your shoulder and that 13 year old is just Intensely Staring At You Unblinking from around a corner and as soon as she realizes you've seen her she turns around and runs off as fast as she can directly into a wall

Zarita absolutely hitting that Cool Just Slightly Older Kid niche for her.

[prettygirlstothefloor]

a messy review of TTPD

okay i need to preface this that i have the credentials to be able to speak my mind on her. i've been a fan since 2006. i've been a fan since i was 11 so don't get your panties in a bunch.

i think this album is messy. the production is the only thing i can really praise about it. the lead up to it and now the full release has just been so unbelievably messy. i'm going to make a continue reading for the people who still have yet to listen where i won't spoil it for you. PS. i do get mean in this. so if you're not wanting to hear critiques and criticism and taking that in, please scroll.

EDIT: this was pre-anthology release. so this is just based on the original 16 song release.

SPOILERS AHEAD

i am fully aware she is allowed to go through the grieving process of her breakup with joe. i respect that whole heartedly. i completely understand having someone in your life for such a big chunk and for them to be gone and feeling lost and alone and angry. what i don't like at all is essentially telling us in this album that she couldn't handle joe having severe depression. obviously i don't know everything that went down but it seems as though he didn't want to get married until he felt mentally better. and as someone who is also in the same boat as him, i also wouldn't want to fully commit to marriage until i felt like i could give them 100%. and if that's his biggest crime, being too depressed, then that's a her problem. being depressed is not all "haha relatable".

now onto... that man... i did not expect 90% of this album to be about him. i've only hated two people in my life. one being a family member of mine. the other, him (i will not be saying his name because he does not deserve it). the way she spent so much of this album talking about how she will defend him with her life. girl i am begging you to get up off the ground. it felt like a backstab from her in "but daddy, i love him" where she's basically saying fuck everyone for ruining a relationship i wanted. the reason no one wanted her with him is because he's a racist, misogynistic, homophobic asshole. i am aware he supports queer rights but it seems like he only cares about queer rights and the safety of queer people when it involves white queer people (ie. what happened in dubai and malaysia). i'm almost confident she cheated on joe with him while her and joe were still together. i'm sorry to taylor that i care about BIPOC and queer people's rights than making a racist white man happy.

joe truly got the short end of the stick here. he has been treated so horribly this past year by swifties who made up rumors about him just to make taylor seem like the good guy and the only thing this album told me was she was the villain in all of this. i hope joe has a good support system around him and i hope he's able to get any mental health help he needs. i do also think that taylor desperately needs a therapist as well. she is very adament about not having one and just using her mom and her friends but she needs an outside source to really listen and give her advice that isn't "yes man"-ing her all day long.

anyways, like i said at the beginning of this post, i enjoyed the production. my favorite songs were fortnight and who's afraid of little old me. it's gonna take time for me to enjoy this album outside of its messiness. i did enjoy midnights btw. so it's definitely not the sound i don't like it's just everything surrounding it.

70/100

[ingoodjesst]

i watched "godzilla minus one", and it was pretty solid for my first time watching a godzilla movie!! beyond enjoying the action that effectively conveyed the sheer scale and impact of godzilla's movement and destruction, i found the themes engaging too. we see (non-blood) families form and repair their homes and heal, we see ex-navy try to disarm the destructive weapons they set, and we see koichi shikishima the ex-kamikaze pilot grapple with his ptsd and survivor's guilt.

the fact godzilla was predominantly an allegory for the trauma of war was an interesting take, though of course the trauma of nuclear warfare persists as a motif. but the theme that most stood out to me was the challenge to this cultural idea that dying for a cause is somehow noble rather than just dying.

when shikishima returns to (the rubble of) his home, he is immediately admonished by sumiko for deserting his duty to die and returning dishonorably. he then struggles with his cowardice over and over again, afraid of making emotional connections when he resists letting noriko into his life, rejects akiko calling him "dad", and - during a traumatic episode - even briefly denies the fact that he's alive at all. but when faced with the consequences of suppressing his trauma until it - godzilla - arrives larger and more destructive than before, he finally begins to open up. i particularly liked the sequence of shots during the scene where shikishima confesses the burdens he's been carrying to her. it transitions from individual shot/reverse-shots of the two, to sharing a frame, to finally being in focus together as they manage to connect for the first time.

in the process of fighting godzilla, shikishima realizes the "honorable" answer is not to die for vengeance, but to face your remorse head on while choosing to live. because in a way, choosing to die would still be running away from the struggle of accepting your past and fighting for a brighter future. rather than dying and evading the consequences thereafter (as the japanese government demanded), it is braver to embrace the inherent value of human life, including your own, and whatever comes with it.

even the fact that [spoilers] godzilla is defeated but not annihilated reflects the reality that trauma usually sticks around, able to flare up again; it's just that you learn how to carry it with you, especially with the support of the community and family around you.

i just really love that the story subverts the setup that shikishima should finish his internal war by sacrificing himself as he "should've" in the actual war. instead, through ingenuity and camaraderie, the real triumph is learning to honor the fallen not by mindlessly throwing away his life for those who perished, but by deliberately, collectively paving a future for those who survive.

all that said, i do find it possibly convenient that the story sidesteps the issue of what japan was actually fighting for in ww2 and the atrocities committed by the japanese empire. the movie does take care to distinguish between the japanese government and the private citizens who take up the fight against godzilla. it helps for sure, since it allows our cast to criticize the government's decisions. however, i can't help but wonder if that still makes the historical narrative seem a bit too clean, especially when the veterans claim this time they can make a difference, when uh... idk if helping japan actually win the war would've been the BEST...?? generously, that might not have been their exact intended meaning, but it does feel oddly framed lol. also how lucky is it that seemingly none of the veterans who volunteer are complicit in any of the countless war crimes committed by the japanese army lol

also the women in this film mostly exist in maternal or literal child roles to support the men's growth lol and it's a shame their stories don't get equal examination, but at least the emotional vulnerability still feels real and i called her surviving and we take those bc i woulda been EVEN MADDER OTHERWISE ok !!!!!

besides those issues, i would hardly say the film is difficult to predict - it's fairly straightforward and even the setup for its subversions is not too hard to catch. but i don't think that made it necessarily less compelling or the themes less resonant. it's hard not to appreciate how the movie wants you to see the value in life and believe in the future. because no matter what pain you may carry, you don't have to confront it alone.

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Gale Reviews: Miraculous: Ladybug & Chat Noir. The Movie

Welp I finally got the miraculous Movie so now I get to review it.

So For this review, I plan viewing this SOLELY on the movie. I will not be judging it completely based on the show. This is Zag's take. (The view on who did it better will be for another Post)

(Thanks @knightsweeties for the picture)

How I will be reviewing it.

Plot

Characters

Lesson

Animation

Music (Because yes, this is a Musical and should be judged)

Final Thoughts.

________________________________________________________

Plot

So its pretty simple. A villain named Hawkmoth appears that wants to use the power of the butterfly miraculous to get the two miraculous he needs to attain his goal. But two heroes will rise in order to fight him, Ladybug and Chat noir. We will see another take on the show that inspired the movie. A new world for Ladybug and Chat noir.

Overall, this movie's plot is pretty generic, its not going to be winning anything for originality. BUT it sticks to the script and does everything it needs to do to set up Ladybug and Chat noir's respective character arcs and setting up one heck of a final confrontation with hawkmoth. The emotional drama is there and mostly hits the points it needs to. And while not everything got a laugh out of me, some things did.

It also ties up a good amount of loose ends while leaving Sequel bait.

For the most part. 7/10 for non-fans

9/10 for fans.

Its engaging enough and does what it needs to do.

______________________________________________________________

Characters:

Marinette: She is likable and you do enjoy seeing her on screen when she starts getting confident. I do think the pacing of the movie does impact her a bit, but its never to the point where its unbelievable. Also as Ladybug, her banter with Chat noir is top notch. There is some really good chemistry there. That being said, I find it harder to believe that she fell in love with Adrien over chat noir. But its a nit pick.

Adrien: I admit it took a bit for me to actually like this adrien, but I think thats intentional. Chat noir starts out arrogant and annoying, while Adrien starts shut off and quiet. He is a boy mourning the loss of his mother and his father is so distant that he seems gone to. But then he meets Ladybug, he sees this girl and how incredible she is. He finds someone he can relate to and his heart opens. Its beautiful seeing him fall in love with her and pull out all the stops opening up to her. He even gets to confront his father. Its quite a biting scene. I must say this maybe my favorite iteration of Adrien. (Careless whisper is the only song he listens to.) I do wish he was in it a bit more as adrien, but its not that bad.

Gabriel: I dont know how they did it, but they managed to make Gabriel sympathetic. Showing the lengths he is going, how lost he is, the survivor's guilt he has. He blames himself and wants to bring his family back together again. And Hawkmoth they made wacky and yet TERRIFYING. And we see this especially in the finale and the moment we think he wins, he sees his son. He sees it was Adrien, the one thing left in his life that he wants to protect him. This is a gabriel that deserves some sympathy but doesnt shy away from the fact he committed crimes.

Alya and Nino: Now they are both not in this as much as the actual show, but they are great supports and some of the changes done to both of them are wonderful. Alya being supportive of Marinette, Nino being such a bro to adrien while also simping for Alya (Chef's kiss). I do wish Nino and Adrien's meeting but their friendship is good.

Chloé: This chloé is exactly what she needs to be. A bully character but never so excessive that it detracts from the plot. She is spoiled and she is probably the funniest character. (For those that know the show, think Season 1 chloé with a dash of season 2) I think they got a different english VA for her, and honestly it works.

Plagg and Tikki: I found Plagg a bit annoying with the fart jokes, but outside of that he is pretty similar to his canon counterpart. Tikki on the other hand SHINES in this movie. This is what I wanted from Tikki, motivational, curious, fun loving. this is what I picture with the kwami of Creativity.

Fu: He is the mysterious old man character. He plays it well, though he is hardly in the movie. But at least he actually shows up for Ladybug and Chat noir almost right away, instead of just hiding.

The other characters play their roles and there are some funny bits, the akumatized villains are fun and play their role. Lady Magician and the Mime are both phenomenal.

Also the Gargoyle, I feel so bad for him. He wins the award for most Tragic akumatization.

Overall Solid 8.5/10

I do wish we got more Alya and Nino, and less fart jokes from Plagg

____________________________________________________________

Lesson

There are 3 lessons to take away from this movie.

The first one "Stronger together"

Having help and working with those around us can help us grow, we have to be willing to let others in and help us be our best selves.

The second is "Believe in yourself"

Marinette's main character arc is coming to terms with what she can do and finding the inner strength that she always had, even without powers. (Done better than a chunk of films these days)

The Third lesson, "Power of Love"

It was love that helped stop Hawkmoth, it was love that helped chat noir and ladybug overcome their weaknesses and fix paris. It was even love that helped them at the very end.

That being said... the execution on all of the lessons was not perfect, the first one sort of fell off by the end, but the second one and third lesson still applied. There could be some work but I still enjoyed it.

6/10

___________________________________________________________

Animation:

The Animation looks great, the character designs look great, and while I was originally iffy on them, after seeing it I must say the designs work.

The Lighting in itself if Heavenly to say the least. Whoever was in charge of the lighting needs to be given a deep tissue massage and a raise.

It does feel a bit Disney for my personal taste but I cant complain with how crisp the fights look. Great Choreography and it really sells the intensity of the scenes. The details and call backs, the foreshadowing.

Its solid animation, I would say that it is missing a few bits to really make it stand out, some sort of Stylization. But outside of that. Its good.

The scenes that they want to focus on look great, the imagination bits are grandiose. There was care put into this and not just a cheap cash grab.

9/10

_______________________________________________________

The Music

This movie is a musical, very disney-sque.

And as a courteous, I listened to the songs in French and english. I know the english VA's arent the one's singing. And I have to say, it feels SO WEIRD for Marinette in the english dub. But Its not that bad. I think the French one is just more consistent sounding. But english and french both sound fine. Also Chat noir's VA isnt singing, but I think the singing voice for him fits him a bit closer but the french is still the best. "My Lady" is a great song for Chat noir.

The songs are fine, nothing that really blew me away, but they were fun. "I believed in me" fits Marinette well as an opening song.

Tikki's rapping in english is surprisingly decent. But SO WEIRD.

But Gabriel's singing voice, THAT through me off.

Villain song 101. Love it in the english dub. "Chaos Reigns"

But the song "Stronger together." That hit me. The duet in both iterations are great.

The Background music always seems to fit the mood... Except Careless whisper (But that was always used in amusing ways). The BG should be praised

7.5/10

_____________________________________________________________

Final Thoughts

Overall, if I had to rate it objectively, without knowing the show or series. 7/10. Nothing ground breaking but its a good film in itself, its entertaining and fun, and it has some good moments. Pacing is a bit all over but it’s under 2 hours so it’s more of a pick your battles thing

If I had to rate this as the Show fan that I am and my personal enjoyment.

8/10

It does nearly everything I wanted it to do, and added to flair and changes.

Now not everything is perfect, since limited time to tell a story. But its coherent and cuts some of the bloat that was a problem in the OG series. Now some things I enjoyed were also cut though.

I like how it isnt a 1 for 1, it changes some things and gives a fresh tale.

Now which one is better I will address in another post

[countrymusiclover]

43 - The People of King's Landing

Part 44

The Lion Knight and Dragon Princess

Tags- just send an ask to be added @cdragons @kmc1989 @starkleila @noirrose21-blog @lover-of-books-and-tea

Vaella’s pov

The small boat of food rocked back and forth with Arya and I sitting across the other in utter silence. I hadn’t gotten much time to speak and learn what had happened to the young Stark girl. Tapping my fingers on my knees with a black cloak hanging over my shoulders I broke the silence. “Arya, can I ask why you want to kill Cersei? I’ve heard why but I figured I should hear your side as well.”

“Joffrey and her beheaded my father in this city after they said he was falsely accused of a crime he did not commit. Her family killed my mother and brother Robb and hurt my sister Sansa. She needs to be removed from the Iron Throne.”

Nodding my head I eyed the smaller sword she was carrying compared to the one I had attached to my hip. “Who gave you your sword? Does it have a name?”

“Jon gave it to me before he went to the Wall. My sister has her own needles and I have this one. So it’s called Needle. What about yours?” She pointed her index finger at my sword.

“Rhaella, after my mother. Thankfully I’ve never had to use it yet since the day Jaime gave it to me.”

Arya made a scowled face. “Do you truly love him, the Kingslayer?”

“I owe him my life. When we first met each other we somehow found a way to simply see the other person regardless of what their station was. He’s the father of my children and a good husband compared to what people think.”

The youngest Stark girl stared at me. “Why did he kill The Mad King, your father?”

“To save the population of King's Landing and avoid bloodshed. The exact same thing we are doing now against Cersei Lannister.” I brushed hair behind my ear glancing forward seeing we were getting close to the docks of the fish shipping area. “We’re here. Remember what I told you.”

Arya resighted the words exactly. “Stick to your back and don’t kill anyone but Cersei unless we get ambushed.”

“Exactly, young Stark.” I muttered, reaching behind my head and throwing the hood over my face. I didn’t need everyone in the city to recognize my silver hair except for two people that could help with our plan to get the city's food destroyed. Once we had tied the boat ropes onto some stable ground we got off the small boat and began our walk up the hill. There weren't too many houses this far away at the water's edge making it easy to knock on the first door that we came to. Knocking three times on the wooden door it creaked open with me muttering into the barely lit darkness. “And the dragons roared as one.”

“Princess Vaella, it’s you. I had begun to fear the worst when you hadn’t come to pay me for the food I provide you weekly at Jack’s tavern.” Nallie with her light brown hair that had some gray stands in it peaked her head out from around the door noticing Arya standing behind me. “Who’s your friend, my princess?”

Looking out the corner of my eye I introduced the pair quickly knowing we needed to get to the secret passageways before sunrise. “Her name is Arya. I’m sorry to say we don’t have time to chat. I need you to transport this food into the city streets and say it’s from Vaella and Daenerys Targaryen, the last living dragons.”

“You’ve brought us smallfolk food?” Nallia asked with a pleased smile on her face.

Grasping one of her hands in mine I smiled back thankful that I had lived like them once to see how life outside the Keep truly was. Cersei thought wrong, these people aren’t your enemy. They are what give you power more than wearing a crown on your head. “I have not forgotten my subjects unlike Queen Cersei has. You help me hold the realm together. Can you do what I ask of you now?”

“Of course, my princess.” Nallia gave me a curtsy before Arya and I quickly left her sneaking through the streets until I found the back door to the tavern I knew quite well.

We didn’t utter a word while we made our way through the underground passageways. I was rather proud of myself that I was able to still remember all of these without a map. Pushing two uneven stones forward the secret passage door in front of me clicked open allowing me to slowly enter inside and see we were in the large room that had a painted map drawing out across the whole floor.

“Where do we go from here? Where’s the Queen?” Arya began looking around the room, keeping one hand on her small sword.

Slowly shifting my gaze across the room I could picture myself when I was younger running through the halls with Jaime and my brother Rhaegar when we were coming back from being on the city streets below and it was late at night. “Arya, I’m gonna go find her on my own.”

“What! No way in hell. You asked me to come with you to kill the Queen. I’m going to kill her even if you are now chickening out.” She snapped at me trying to move around me until I snagged her wrist.

“You will get to kill her like you’ve wanted I swear to you. But you can’t come with me for that to be accomplished. You must hide in the shadows until I bring her back into this area. She needs to be alone for you to be able to kill her. Do you understand me, young Stark?”

She blinked through some angry tears but nodded her head slowly yes. “I’ll follow your instructions, Vaella.”

I released her wrist heading around one of the pillars and up the nearest staircase that would lead to the Red Keep tower that overlooked the entire city. I used to go up there to watch the sunset but now I am going to face the woman who could be just as mad as my father was. Pausing in front of the open doorway I wrapped my fingers around the sword handle, finding the Lannister lioness standing in front of the large open windows overlooking the city. “Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. You must be proud of yourself.”

“The Mad King's Whore of a daughter. I didn’t expect you to be so stupid as to come try and kill me all by yourself while I hold all the power in the realm.” Cersei slowly turned on her heels until she was facing me.

“I’m not here to kill you, Cersei.” I pushed the door closed, not removing my gaze away from her vengeful green eyes. I stood next to the table keeping my distance from her and not removing my weapon. “But I can say for absolute certainty your reign ends today.”

Rhaegar’s pov

Stormfly’s wings slowly flapped while I had my sister riding her own dragon right beside me. My mothers loyal houses riders were on their own dragons flying a few feet away from us so that we were all spread out in the skies above Kings Landing. Amethyst, my mothers dragon, was hiding behind the Red Keep in the woods in case mother needed to ride her.

My aunt Daenerys dives down to the watery ground and when she got close to the ships she blew them apart with heavy dragon fire. “That’s our signal. Go, go!” I hollered to the other dragon riders beside me before diving down towards the water.

My twin sister soared down beside me destroying two ships at once. The other noble houses of Valyria did their best to destroy some ships at the same time. We definitely had the advantage of coming in at nightfall before the sun had risen above the water so they didn’t see us coming.

Tucking the reins of Stormfly she made a loud noise I clutched the reins giving her a command in high Valyrian. “Dracarys, Stormfly!” She opened her mouth wide and destroyed five ships in one hit.

“Rhaegar, what are those things?” Luciya flew over to me pointing her index finger to some men on a ship getting what looks to be a very large crossbow loaded and aimed up towards our army of dragons.

Lord Waters and his dragon drudged a large spear that was fired up in the sky at them that had come from the crossbow altering the group. “Those blasted things can kill us!”

“Argh!” I groaned, yanking Stormfly’s reins where she avoided the multiple amount of spears coming up at us not needing to get hit.

“Rhaegar!”

Whipping my head around, I recognize my sister's voice behind me screaming out. Shireen’s leg had gotten hit by one of the spears causing her to begin falling towards the water. “Luciya, no!” Her dragon's wings wrapped around her small body doing her best to secure her body before they crashed into one of the buildings creating large rubble from the collision.

[swanmaids]

No but here’s how Turgon and Aredhel doing cannibalism together on the ice actually makes sense and explains some of their later actions ok let’s go 🫡🥩

• They’re out of supplies, there’s no game to be found and Turgon isn’t gonna let his baby girl starve out there (this is some time after Elenwe’s death). They’re also surrounded by dead bodies that freeze instead of rotting.

• after a lot of discussion the brother and sister (who were already close before this) agree that Aredhel will butcher one of the corpses and Turgon will cook the meat and they’ll feed it together to Idril.

• Except shouldn’t they eat some themselves, to make sure Idril knows it’s ok? And they’ve already cut up the body, it would go to waste otherwise… and they’re hungry….

• yellowjackets_bacchanal_scene.mov except there’s also a toddler involved.

• Fingolfin and Fingon, on the other hand, would actually rather starve than do this. Fingon especially can’t bear to break another taboo, being a kinslayer already. They can’t help but feel disgusted with Turgon and Aredhel’s actions, and they can’t hide it either.

• Aredhel and Turgon get more codependent and stick together more than the other Nolofinweans. This is why they’re willing to lock themselves away from the rest of their family, and why Aredhel after saying she’ll go to visit Fingon, doesn’t.

• They’re not the only members of the host to do cannibalism however. Many of the non-nobility were forced to resort to eating corpse-meat to survive, and actually they admire that Turgon is willing to go to any length to save his daughter, and that he doesn’t hold himself above his people and is willing to do the same as they are. This is partly why he picks up so many followers, including people who used to follow his father.

• Turgon and Aredhel have conflicting opinions towards the Feanorians after this. Aredhel is closer to forgiveness, because she feels like she’s committed a similar crime now. Whereas Turgon becomes even more of a hater because he’s furious that he and especially Idril was put in that position in the first place.

[maxverstappensflatbrim]

Show Me Yours | Matty Healy [11]

chapter eleven, act two: anobrain

masterlist

April 7th 2013

America is kind of borning.

They’d been touring for months, meeting boring people at even more boring places. 

Everything is the same, everyone feels entitled to correct you as if you’re not speaking the right language.

And if Tommie hears the question, ‘you live a whale?’ one more time, she’s going to commit a very violent crime.

But they’ve left America now, which they’re all a little glad about. Having a break back home for a couple weeks with their families before their next round of gigs.

Tommies in their apartment, alone with everyone else at their families homes.

George has gone on a weekend trip with his sisters, Ross has met up with his brother for the weekend, Matty’s with his father and Adam’s gone to his father’s side of the family.

He did invite Tommie but she felt a little awkward since she doesn’t really know them.

Not that she’s been completely alone, she spent a couple days with her aunt before she had to get back to work. So instead of staying in her house moping around in self-pity Tommie decided to mop around in self-pity in her own flat.

It’s time like these that she feels alone.

She’s surrounded by people, the most people she ever has been yet she feels completely alone.

She misses her mother a lot, and she debates flying out to France to see her grandparents for a couple days.

She misses her brother, who she had to leave behind when she left.

When she left things went bad quickly with her dad, and if she didn’t have Matty she’s sure she never would have had the courage to do it.

Her father had seen them driving out of the village and stopped them, trying to physically pull her from the car until Matty got out and shoved him away.

They could both smell the alcohol on his breath, he was drunk, and that’s what hurt the most. The fact that she knew he wouldn’t have cared if he was sober hurt more than him showing up drunk, again.

Matty had turned to her as they left, his hand on the gear stick moving to grip her own hand.

He said a few simple words that made her close her eyes and look away, ‘how long has he hit you for?’

She didn’t pretend like she didn’t know what he was talking about, and she didn't beat around the bush. She simply looked down and told him the truth. ‘All my life.’

She watched as he rubbed a hand across his jaw to hide the way he clenched it, only to regrip her hand and say, ‘you did the right thing.’

But now as she sits in her bedroom, staring at the only picture she has of her brother which is them side by side outside his mother’s house in matching WRU jerseys, she wonders if she did.

If she did do the right thing.

She left him behind.

Of course, she never would have if he wasn’t safe. But her father never hit him, in all his twelve years of life.

She just wasn’t good enough. He wanted a son, that’s why she pushed herself into football and boxing and other sports she hated.

She loved hockey in school but wouldn’t play, not when he said the sport was too ‘girlish’.

She pretended she didn’t like sitcoms, acted as if WWE was her favourite thing to watch just so they could spend time together. 

The truth was that she wasn’t a son, like he wanted, and she never would be.

That’s why she wasn’t safe.

But JJ Fern was a son, and for that her father wouldn’t harm a hair on his head.

She misses Millie.

Her childhood dog died just two years before she officially joined the band.

She misses her baby sister who is too young to even remember who she is now.

She misses her mother.

She’s so lost in her own thoughts she doesn’t hear the door go, or the distant shout of her name.

It’s not until she hears a soft ‘hey’ as the bed dips that she snaps out of it, looking over to the fluffy hair beside her.

“Roddy?” She places the picture face down beside her and turns to look at him, “Thought you were introducing your dad to Gemma again today.”

“No.” He purses his lips, “I broke up with her.”

“Why?”

He shrugs, “Thought we could go back to how it was, but we can’t.”

“It’s only been three months, Matty.”

He shrugs his shoulders, leaning his head on her shoulder, “I don’t know, I’ve been on tour, and I feel like nothings coming of it. Doesn’t matter,” He shrugs, “It’s over.”

“You okay?”

“It didn’t hurt,” He mutters, “Don’t feel like anything has changed. I’m more annoyed that she still has the book.”

It takes her a second to realise but when she does she clips the back of his head and he pulls away with a groan, “What was that for?”

“I said you could borrow it, that book is the start of this band.”

“We were a band-”

“You know what I mean.”

He mutters an apology, falling back to lie on her bed, “What are you doing here anyway? It's your birthday tomorrow.”

“I know.”

“And you're travelling up in the morning?”

He shakes his head, “Not going up.”

“Why?”

He moves so he’s lying with his head beside her and wraps his arms around her waist, head awkwardly angled to lean on her thighs.

“Wanted to spend the day down here, with you.”

“Why?”

He huffs, “Don’t want one of Mum’s extravagant parties showing the world I’m getting old.”

She giggles, “You’re twenty four, Roddy.”

“Oh, God.” He groans loudly, burying his curly head into her stomach.

She laughs, holding his head to her, running her fingers through the back of his head, he turns so he’s lying sideways on the bed, legs hanging off the end with his head in her lap.

“What do you want to do for your birthday?” She asks, “I’m not as good with things like that as you are, so you’ll have to guide me.”

He shrugs, “Been wanting to see that new film that came out few months ago, Inside Llewyn Davis? Wanna go?”

“Sure, is it still in the pictures?”

He shrugs, “One of my old school mates works in the local picture house, I’ll message him, see if he can do a special viewing just for us.”

“No,” She shakes her head, “I’ll message him, send me his number, I’ll sort it.”

⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡ ⋆

April 8th 2013

Matty chuckles to himself, wrapped in hoodies and zip up jackets, sunglasses on his head, as he watches Tommie dig through her bag to get all the sweets she’d bought in Tesco beforehand.

“Why didn’t you just buy them here? Save time?”

“I ain’t paying that price for sweets when I can get ‘em cheaper with my club card.”

“Right,” He says, pursing his lips to hide his smile, “Sorry.”

She sits back opening them all and putting them in the cup holders so they can get to them better.

“Shh it’s starting.” He mutters and she rolls her eyes as if she had been talking.

She reaches over to push his glasses off his head and he smacks her hand away when they land on the bridge of his nose, making it difficult for him to see the screen.

“Stop it.” He mutters to her quietly.

She giggles but he grabs her hand, holding it in his lap as he pushes the glasses back on top of his head.

She grins to herself scooching over to be closer to him and resting her head on his shoulders, “What’s-”

He lifts his hand, covering her mouth as he shushes her once more.

⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡ ⋆

Matty walks slowly beside her on solid ground, one hand in his pocket the other stretched out just behind her back as she walks along the flat rail, her arms stretched out to keep her balance.

“Don’t fall.”

“I’ve got it.”

“Why are we here again?” He questions, holding both hands out when she gets to the end of the rail, she grabs his hands using him to jump down on the floor then tugs him up the biggest ramp, gripping the edge so she can pull herself up and helping him when he loses his footing.

“Isn’t it my birthday?” He asks, “If I remember correctly it was you who said I could choose.”

She shrugs, “Fine, guess you don’t want the weed I stole from George’s stash.” She says holding the little baggie up between them and shaking it in his face.

He goes to grab it but she snatches it back, “Uh, uh.”

“Come on, you gonna take it away from me on my day?”

“No, I’m gonna roll one for you.”

He snorts and she shoves him in the side, “What? I’ve seen you guys do it loads, I can do it.”

“Okay.”

She side eyes him and he looks away trying not to laugh as he watches her struggle right away.

“Come here.” He says, feeling slightly bad.

He takes it from her, rolling one joint for them to share and pockets the rest, ignoring the look she sends his way.

He takes a lighter from his pocket but she quickly scrambles for her bag, “Wait, I have to give you your birthday present.”

She takes a small awfully wrapped box, he can tell she’d done it in a rush, then hands it over.

“Happy Birthday, Roddy.”

He unwraps it, the joint now tucked securely behind his ear, holding back his curly hair with it.

“What is it?”

“Just open it, god, you’re so impatient.” She laughs to herself watching carefully as his fingers rip open the paper.

He smiles to himself as he brings it out of the box, rubbing his thumb along the engraving of the zippo lighter.

‘You look so cool x’

He smiles, using the new lighter to light up the joint and puffs the smoke into her face once he’s done.

“Thank you. I love it.”

“Of course you do, I got it.” She grins, plucking the weed from his mouth.

Matty watches her carefully, as she places it between her lips and inhales, much better than her first time a few months ago.

He smiles, and when she turns to look at him, dimples showing, eyes slightly gazed over he lets his head fall to rest on her shoulder.

Satisfying his urge to kiss her with another long drag on the joint.

taglist

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@sofaritsalrightt

@julezs-bl0g

-let me know if you want to be added :)

[dynamic-k]

hi i'm supposed to be doing latin homework but oh well XD

I don't have that many questions left that aren't too direct to the plot.

ok, I think I have a new one???

Has Chosen ever thought about doing villainous actions??

What about Dark?? Like- what if Alan was right???

Of course he wasnt, Chosen would never do that... right?

idk i think i can imagine him snapping and having a villain arc.

Probably in the fight with Primal. Maybe she went too far and actually stabbed him? Ballista and the others weren't fast enough to stop her. Primal what is it with you and stabbing people I swear-

But then the others come seconds [haha what have you done to me Scarlett] later and then Dark sees Cho nearly dead.

Dark goes feral, and Vics like oh god not again.

Second goes to heal him, and Ballista.. yea I dunno about Ballista :'D

I think if Chosen were to have a villain arc, Second and Ballista would have to be removed from the plot. They're too nice-

Dark and Chosen just committing crime while the other villains just stare and think: "what on earth- Hey! THATS MY JOB!!!"

And then plot twist the villains have to work together to become heroes and stop them.

How the turns have tabled XD

wait i this is actually so far off my original question wot happened

Well, thanks for reading listening to me ramble and good morning/night/whatever,

-R

SS!Chosen thinking about villainy?! :O

WHat an iDeaA! Stick, no- He's very very heroic at heart, really and truly.

Cho dislikes harming people, and mostly uses his powers to trap, headlock, restrain, or take out of commission. UNLESS somebody hurt his family. XD Or, you know. Really-hard-to-defeat villain. He can get riled up, but he's mostly a quiet figure who has a heart for people's wellbeing and safety.

He's an AWESOME babysitter, he's protective, caring and loyal, and sticks [*silly grin*] his neck out for others' sake on a regular basis.

Even if Chosen did snap and get greatly upset, he isn't going to take it out on anyone. He tends to either grow very tense and grit his teeth and take on a dangerous tone of voice, lashing out with words rather than violence... ORRRR he leaves and calms down elsewhere. He isn't one to resort to reflexive violence.

SS!Dark. He is much the same way, although he might leave and go take it out on a pillow. Dark has the self-control to not punch someone, even if they're being really rude or insensitive to something and deliberating riling him up. He isn't going to do much aside from glaring or very hilarious and Dark-styled clever comebacks... although I suppose it is also possible he may knock the offending stick's lights out, no real harm done.

Dark has had nightmares of himself doing more than violent things, and it's not something he ever wants to come to fruition, or be made a reality. He's a careful stick, despite his reckless abandon. Oxymoronic, I know, but we did talk about how precautionary his designing of the button-bots' functions was. And even as careless as doing a surgery on himself sounds, he WAS steady and watchful in the process. He thought things through and understood the gravity of the situation he was about to do.

What is it with Primal and stabbing people- XD

She has always held a bit of a high and uncontrollable temper, only milded and mitigated to near nil or none when Ballista is around, seeming to sooth any and all violent reflexes by his presence alone. Primal loves Ballista dearly and is quite protective of him, in a similar manner to how protective the Beckers are-

So of course, the temper worsened to dangerously high levels when Ballista was in jail. :D /smile-of-"I-Love-Angst" insanity, hehe

Plus, knives and sharp things are some of the easiest projectiles for her to conjure up. Ease of summoning, plus "first-thing-she-thought-of"ness, not to mention that when you think of throwing or send-flying an object at another, it's usually an arrow or something just as sharp. TECHNICALLY, she only really stabbed Vic- She only tried to stab Chosen, which is saying a lot since this was all shortly after she felt sick to her stomach due to "killing" Vic, in her perspective.

To be fair, she was a little out of it. The serum she'd taken was meant for Vic and Vic only, and was having quite the adverse effect on her thinking and her health as a whole. Ballista was still in jail to her knowledge, Chosen was in her way ONCE AGAIN, and she was DONE. She snapped there, and for once, instead of merely paining the eldest Ladybug brother, she actually wanted to full-on drive something sharp into him so that he would not bother her.

Primal did not want to kill him, she had enough clarity of mind to decide this, but she knows where to aim her weapons so that Chosen will be weakened by injuries, but not on the verge of death. She wanted to disable him, but not fatally. She was not adverse to the sight of his blood, in fact, she was paying attention to it so she didn't overstep, even as hard as she was fighting.

There is also the adrenaline factor, and the rush that the serum granted her. It was a miracle she had enough sense to make decisions like not killing Chosen, when her mind is fuzzed by energy that her body isn't used to having, the pounding of her heart and code resonating through her ears but easily ignored because she's on top of the world and nothing can stop her.

Stick. I feel like I could have done better with Arc One, I really do. Sure, a lot say that it's really good, and I don't disagree with that, but... I see a LOOOTTTTT of room for improvement and structuring when I look back at it. HENCE! I want Arc Two to help fill in those missing spots Arc One lacked!! Might be why I'm taking so long to decide things, and probably contributing to the hiatus somewhat.

Overthinking everything... Timeline plotting for the plot on a diagram with mixed results of success...

...

ANYwaY-

| But then the others come seconds [haha what have you done to me Scarlett] later and then Dark sees Cho nearly dead. |

:D PUNS! :D

XD Nice notions, although I know even without the existence of Ballista and Second, even with the two sweeties gone, Chosen would still be a hero. It's interesting to think about how his villain arc would go, but we kinda already saw a taste on that in canon what with all the terrorism and destruction of sites. I know Canon!Chosen didn't kill anyone since that is exactly what worried him with Dark's whole Virabot scheme, but he DID help destroy a lot of homes at first.

Prettyyyy villainy.

SS!Chosen, thoughhhh- ehhh, nope. He good.

PLOT TWIST THE VILLAINS HAVE TO HERO AGAINST VILLAIN-CHOSEN- XD HELp- That would be hilarious-

HOW THE TURNS HAVE TABLED INDEED- sticks i love saying that so much- XD

....Anyway- I will go and answer those other two asks in my inbox-

:3 Might be slow today, I'm currently at my shift, but there was a slow moment so- I got this one done. U v U

I LOVE this. Rambles are epic.

[traumatizedjaguar]

Why people need to stop being obsessed with Johnny Depp:

JD defends film director Roman Polanski in 2010 interview about Roman Polanski's arrest in 1977 and 2009.

Here is what we know about Roman Polanski from 2010 and years before:

In 1977, Roman Polanski was arrested for raping 13-year-old Samantha Geimer in Hollywood.

Roman Polanski arrest in 2009

Y'all wanna keep supporting a rapist who defends rapists? What about when JD lied to the police about his 15 year old daughter, Lily-Rose at the time, dating a 23 year old man by the name of Ash Stymest?

We're still ignoring the fact that JD dated Winona Ryder when she was 17, in her own words, while he was 25/26 years old.

He has a history of ignoring child rape, minors dating adults, and defending child rapists.

Want me to go over all the close friends he has?

And the abuse/murder accusations against his friends by their ex-wives and CHILDREN? You can literally just google search it but since I have to do all the work:

His best friend Marilyn Manson abused:

Esmé Bianco

Evan Rachel Wood

Ashley Morgan Smithline

His best friend Beatles member Paul McCartney abused two of his exes, Heather Mills and Linda:

Here's some articles and interviews. One of the victims was painted as a liar, a gold-digger, bullied and told misogynistic things which is typical that victims go through "revenge" by their abusers and labeled these things. Other members of the Beatles were also extremely abusive to their partners, John Lennon admitted to it in a PlayBoy magazine and interview. Abusers stick with abusers.

His close friend, Keith Richards, was accused of sex crimes.

Damien Echols was accused of murdering three 8 year old boys with evidence presented in court which is why he was arrested, convicted and served time.

Johnny Depp raised money to pay for tests and legal fees for Damien Echols and preached publicly that Damien Echols was innocent. Johnny Depp and Damien Echols became close because of JD's ongoing support for him, and Echols stated, "We’ve grown to love him [Johnny Depp] dearly. He’s become like a brother to me.” Echols and Depp both got matching tattoos together.

 Greg Ellis, incarcerated 5 times for making threats to his ex-wife and their children.

There was violent stalking Greg Ellis committed, he lost visitation rights to his children, and was violent to his family in which his ex-wife and children accused him of abuse. In 2003, he worked in another movie with JD, 3 movies in total with JD and they knew each other well. JD also wrote a forward to Greg Ellis's book, The Respondent, stated he sided with Greg Ellis, said Ellis deserves to tell his side of the story, and in JD's own words exactly said as, “If you’re trapped in the dungeon that is the family court system, The Respondent should be your constant companion."

Johnny Depp has about 100 best friends, but you can go do your own deep-diving research into each of his close friends or people he actively supports and gets along with.

[cj-the-writer-puppy]

"Bear vs. Human/Man"

I love the sediment behind the movement of "Bear vs. Man" when talking about sexual assault.

However I don't love the exclusion of those of us who were assaulted by women.

Statically men are not only more likely to commit the crime, but also commit it more violently.

But we all know women commit the crime as well.

At age 11 I was raped by a women. She was a close family-friend, in fact she was my older brother's girlfriend at the time. I'd choose the bear over her.

The bear won't slip a roofie into my drink.

The bear won't come onto me when I'm passed out because of the drug.

The bear won't take my pants off and pull my shirt up.

I won't wake up to the bear on top of me, forcibly penetrating me with a strap on.

The bear won't stick a needle into my leg, injecting with me with god knows what drug.

The bear won't pull her phone out and take a picture of me, as I go in and out of consciousness.

A women did all of those things to me.

While we trend the support of Sexual assault victims, don't forget the lesser known/mentioned victims nor the lesser mentioned perpetrators. In a time like this we all need to band together to stop the epidemic of sexual assault. Remember that it could be your mom, sister, aunt, grandma, dad, brother, uncle, grandpa, cousins, your partner, your girlfriend, your boyfriend, it can happen to anyone. The assaulter can be anyone as well. Evil knows no bounds, it knows no gender, it knows no sexuality, it knows no discrimination. Believe and support victims no matter their gender, sexuality, race, no matter who assaulted them. Support victims period.

[dialovers-translations]

Diabolik Lovers CHAOS LINEAGE ー Subaru [02]

Monologue

After releasing me from my cell,

Subaru-kun firmly grabbed hold of my arm,

before walking straight ahead.

Azusa-kun and Kou-kun followed suit,

sticking to either side of me

as if they were watching my every move. 

I felt like a seized outlaw who had committed a crime,

and whom they could not let escape under any circumstances.

I can’t believe Subaru-kun is treating me like this,

when we’re supposed to be a couple.

I can feel the back of my eyes burning. 

Like I was ready to burst into tears of sadness any second now.

All of it felt like a bad dream.

ー The scene starts in the hallway of the Violet Manor

Subaru: Why are you shaky in your step? Can’t you walk straight?

*Rustle*

Yui: ...Ugh.

( His grip on my arm is painful...Even though Subaru-kun is a little rough around the edges, he’s supposed to be incredibly kind deep down.

( I can’t believe he’s pulling onto my arm so violently, practically dragging me along...This isn’t like him. )

( He really does not remember me in the slightest. )

...Uhm, where are we going exactly?

Kou: Weren’t you listening to us earlier? We told you that Carla-kun wants to see you, remember?

Azusa: The living room...Carla is waiting...

Subaru: Why bother askin’ in the first place? It’s not like you have any other choice but to obey us.

Yui: ...

( Perhaps he’s right. But I don’t care what the topic is, I just want to talk to Subaru-kun... )

Azusa: ...Huh?

I smell...something sweet. Eve, it’s coming from you...

Yui: ...Eh? Me?

Kou: You’re right! This sweet, delicious scent is most definitely coming from your blood, isn’t it?

For it to be so noticeable...Subaru-kun, did you perhaps!?

Azusa: Did you drink her blood...? Carla will get mad at you, if you do things without his permission...

Subaru: Like I give a damn ‘bout that.

Kou: You’re so stubborn, Subaru-kun~

Subaru: Shut the fuck up! I’m doing the bare minimum to help that dude become the Supreme Overlord. 

Like I’m gonna let him dictate my whole life to me.

Yui: ( Seems like Azusa-kun and Kou-kun are pretty loyal to Carla-san. )

( But the same can’t be said about Subaru-kun. )

( Also, I wonder if Carla-san actually thinks of Vampires as his brothers? )

( I just can’t imagine a Founder such as himself letting that pass. )

( But if they’ve been living together as brothers...I guess it wouldn’t feel odd to him. )

( Even if it’s just one person, I wish there was someone who also realized that something is off about this situationーー )

ー The scene shifts to the living room

Kou: Carla-kun. I’ve brought Subaru-kun and Eve with me.

Carla: Yes. Go ahead and take a seat over there. I have something to talk about.

*Rustle*

Yui: ( They really are interacting like normal brothers would. Which means Carla-san’s memories are messed up as well. )

Carla: Well then, our House has successfully claimed Eve, who shall be our clue to discovering the path to becoming the Supreme Overlord. 

However, simply taking her in has not made us any wiser on how exactly to achieve this. 

I doubt the other Houses will give up on getting their hands on her until someone has officially risen the throne.

We will definitely be attacked from the outside. Do not let your guard down and give the opponent a chance to take advantage of this.

Kou: Roger! Leave it to us!

Laito: We won’t let anyone have her.

Carla: Very well. Be cautious of the other Houses’ movements and heed my every order. 

I shall not allow any acts of defiance to ensure our victory over the other Houses.

Kou: We know. Nobody’s going to go against your orders.

Laito: It’s a pain, but I guess it can’t be helped. I’ll help out so I can reap some of the benefits as well.

Azusa: Besides...We don’t want to lose any family members...

Subaru: I don’t care as long as we can put an end to this ridiculous fight. I’ll help out until that happens.

Carla: Hmph. ...It seems that each of you have your own thoughts on the situation, but as long as you are willing to act as my pawns, I shall not complain.

Until I become the Supreme Overlord.

Kou: So, how are we going to tackle this concretely? Eve is here with us now, but do you think you’ll be able to become Supreme Overlord?

Do you feel like...a sudden increase in your power? Or as if an ingenious plan is going to spark inside your head...?

Carla: ... I have not experienced such developments. To be quite frank, I have yet to come up with a way.

Laito: Ah, I see. You sounded very confident, so I figured you at least had some sort of clue.

Carla: Not in the slightest. Hence, there is something I would like to ask you, Eve.

Yui: Me...?

Carla: One night has passed since you have been in our possession. However, I have not experienced any changes.

Could it be that there are other conditions aside from claiming you?

Yui: Conditions to become Supreme Overlord, you mean?

Carla: If anything comes to mind, I want you to share them with me.

If you make a foolish attempt to hide such information from me, I shall not show any mercy, not even to you.

Yui: No way...

( He says all these things, but I don’t know anything either. )

( However, this doesn’t seem like the right moment to admit that. )

Carla: ...

*Thud*

Yui: U-Uhm...Is something the matter, Carla-san?

( He suddenly got up from his seat and is stepping towards me...I wonder what has gotten into him? )

Carla: ...Keep still.

*Thud*

*Rustle*

Yui: ...Wha...!?

Kou: Eh~? You’re so bold, Carla-kun~

Laito: What suddenly got you into the mood~?

Carla: Woman, show me your shoulder.

Yui: Eh!? Cut it out, please! Carla-san!

Carla: ...What do we have here? 

Yui: ( Ah, there’s still a mark from when Subaru-kun sucked my blood inside the prison cell... )

( He’ll realize that somebody fed off me...! )

Carla: I was wondering why you were smelling so strongly this whole time, but this explains it.

Where did this bite mark come from?

Yui: Well...

ー Carla steps back

Carla: Who sucked Eve’s blood without my permission?

Laito: It wasn’t me. I’ve been here with you this whole time, remember?

Kou: ...

Azusa: ...

Yui: ( The mood got really tense because of Carla’s intimidating aura. )

( I wonder what will happen if he finds out that it was Subaru-kun who sucked my blood...? )

Subaru: ...Haah. I’m the one who did it.

Yui: ( Eh? Subaru-kun admitted it to him...!? )

Carla: So it was you. You acted of your own accord, did you not?

Subaru: There was food right in front of me so I dug in. I don’t see why I’d need your permission for those kinds of things.

Carla: No, you do. As long as Eve can serve as the key to becoming the Supreme Overlord, I cannot allow you to do with her as you please.

Subaru: Che, buzz off...

Azusa: Acting without permission will lead to conflict...Brothers should try to get along...

Laito: I didn’t expect Subaru-kun, our little late bloomer, to be the first one to take a bite out of Eve~

Kou: Well, I can imagine it’d be difficult to hold back after smelling this sweet scent. Still, he didn’t even try to hold back.

Carla: ...Her scent, you say? I have to agree that her blood has a unique fragrance to it which normal blood does not have.

Eve’s blood, huh? 

Could it be that it is her special blood which will lead to becoming the Supreme Overlord?

Yui: I don’t know anything...

Carla: That is not an issue. I simply have to try everything I can.

ー Carla approaches once more

Carla: Take your blood for example, all I have to do is suck it to test my theory.

Yui: Suck, don’t tell me...!? P-Please stop!

*Rustle*

Carla: Do not make a fuss. No matter how hard you try to fight back, you stand no chance against me. Hah...Nnh...

ー Carla bites her

Yui: ...Uu...

( It hurts...He’s forcibly sinking his fangs into my body while keeping me restrained...! )

Ow...Sto...

Subaru: Oi, wait, Carla.

Yui: ( Eh? Subaru-kun...? )

Selection

→ Is he trying to save me? (♡)

Yui: ( Did he try to save me, perhaps? )

Subaru: Should you be doin’ this? She seems to be in a lot of pain.

Don’t you think that maybe you won’t be able to become Supreme Overlord if she hates you?

Yui: ( Subaru-kun’s memories have been altered right now, so he doesn’t know the real reason why. )

( But could he be trying to get Carla-san to let go of me...? )

( Perhaps his feelings for me still remain somewhere deep down, even though he doesn’t remember...? )

→ Does he consider me his own prey? (🖤)

Yui: ( Did he try to stop Carla-san just now? )

( But I guess he only did so because he thinks of me as his own prey? )

Subaru: Don’t make us sit through this bullshit. If you wanna suck her blood, go get a room. 

Yui: ( Subaru-kun still gets upset from watching someone suck my blood. )

( I guess I can take that as a sign that some of his feelings for me still remain, right? )

Carla: ...Guh.

What is the issue with this blood? It is simply revolting.

Yui: Eh...?

Carla: Subaru. I cannot comprehend that you could stomach this.

Subaru: Haah? Is it that bad?

Carla: Yes, it is. I did not expect Eve’s blood to taste this foul. I have lost interest.

Yui: ( Right. My blood tastes disgusting to a Founder like Carla-san, because it hasn’t been purified. )

Kou: I see, it tastes bad, huh? Then it only seems less likely to lead us to a clue to becoming the Supreme Overlord, right?

Carla: ...No, I’d argue the exact opposite.

Laito: The opposite?

Carla: I believe that this foul taste is a sign that Eve is not quite ready.

Will the path towards becoming the Supreme Overlord open once her blood has fully ripened...?

Yui: ( Eh? Is that how it works...? )

Laito: So we have to ripen her blood? In that case, how about allowing her freedom?

Carla: Why?

Laito: If you want to make her blood more delicious, you shouldn’t lock her up down in the dungeon.

I’m pretty sure that if you cause too much stress, it’ll negatively effect a girl’s body in various ways.

We’ve got plenty of empty rooms, so why not give her more of a warm welcome?

Carla: ...I see. We will need Eve’s cooperation to unlock the path to becoming Supreme Overlord sooner or later.

I doubt we will see much improvement if we keep her imprisoned in the dungeon under Subaru’s supervision forever.

Kou: Hmー In other words, you’ll be able to become Supreme Overlord once her blood becomes delicious?

Azusa: Will it taste better once ripened...?

Subaru: ...I didn’t think her blood tasted that bad though.

Laito: Maybe you just don’t have a sense of taste?

Subaru: Hah!? As if!

Kou: In that case, we’ll give her blood a taste as well. Then we’ll know the answer, right?

Laito: Besides, if we all suck her blood together, it might just trigger something.

Azusa: If that’ll improve the taste of her blood...I’ll help out as well...

Yui: ( This seems to be heading into a dangerous direction. At this rate... )

Carla: ...Very well.

At present, we do not have any notable clues.

If it can take us even one step closer to the title of Supreme Overlord, I shall give all of you permission to have her blood.

Yui: No way! That’s not up to you to decide...!

Carla: The stimulation it provides might trigger some kind of change within her.

Laito: I see, so we can suck her blood as well, right? The scent has been so intense this whole time, I can’t resist it~ 

Kou: How generous of you, Carla-kun.

Azusa: Aren’t you happy, Eve...? I’m sure your blood will turn out delicious this way...

Subaru: ...

Yui: No way...

Please wait, Carla-san. I’m not the Eve you all think I am...

Carla: Silence. I never asked for your opinion.

Yui: ...!?

Carla: However, as we discussed earlier, you will now be treated with the utmost of care.

You lot must be careful about how you behave around her as well. By no means must you spoil her blood in any way.

Kou: Roger.

Laito: Gotcha~ I’ll follow that rule.

Azusa: Yeah...I’ll do as you say...

Subaru: ...Che...

Carla: Eve, you no longer need to return to your cell. I shall give you one of the spare rooms.

You can spend your time there from here on out. It should be a vast improvement in terms of comfort.

Yui: Carla-san...

Carla: Subaru. Escort Eve to an empty room.

Subaru: Yeah.

Oi, follow me.

Yui: ...

ー The scene shifts to the hallway

Yui: ( I’m glad that I’ve been released from my cell but I can’t genuinely be happy about the situation... )

Uhm, Subaru-kun...? Do you really not remember me at all?

Subaru: Lay it off already. How many times do I have to tell you that I don’t know you!?

Yui: But...You don’t mind that other people will suck my blood?

I don’t want anyone but you biting me. 

Doesn’t it make you feel a little uncomfortable? If that’s the case, then those are your true...

*THUD*

Subaru: Shut up!

Yui: Eek...!

*Rustle*

Subaru: Stop making all those assumptions. Didn’t you hear me when I told you to lay it off?

Or maybe I need to punch some sense into you?

In that case, I wouldn’t mind suckin’ you dry right here, right now?

Yui: ( He’s whispering in my ear...! )

Subaru: That’ll shut you up and I’ll no longer have to deal with Carla actin’ like he’s the shit all the time.

Yui: ...

Subaru: What’s the matter? Are you that scared, you can’t even talk anymore?

Yui: ...You won’t do that. Not you.

Subaru: Hah?

Yui: I know. You always throw around violent threats like that, but deep down, you’re more kind than anyone else.

That’s why you definitely wouldn’t do something so horrible.

Subaru: What kind of nonsense are you spoutin’...?

Yui: ( It isn’t nonsense! Remember who you really are...! )

...

Subaru: ...Fuck.

Listen carefully, you are Eve. Nothing more than that.

Yui: ( Subaru-kun... )

( I’m not Eve. I don’t know about this whole ‘Supreme Overlord’ thing. )

( I wonder if I’ll have to continue living like this, being targeted by everyone, without even knowing why exactly...? )

( Even if I try to reach out for help, it doesn’t seem like anyone here will be on my side. )

( Not even Subaru-kun, who has always been my most reliable ally, will even look at me right now. )

( Subaru-kun, have you truly forgotten about your real brothers and the fact that we’re dating...? )

ーー TO BE CONTINUED ーー

[mycological-mariner]

wanna talk about your OCs I would love to hear about your OCs who are they 👀

Oh dear. Sorry I forgot I hadn’t posted this it was in my drafts lol Doing my historical OCs because, well. I wanna and I feel like if I delved into any of my fantasy/sci-fi ones we’d be here ages

Fred Norefleet.

Of all the naval and broadly maritime ocs I have conjured over the years, he’s the most pathetic. By god is he trying his best, but he has continuously come up short in everything he’s done. He tries so hard and his life until recently was just other folk deciding what he was gonna be for him. He’s silent unless spoken to, tends to miss the forest for the trees, stares at you really intently when you’re talking, wishes more than anything to disappear into the background and his first words were probably “I’m sorry.”

That being said, he’s deeply loyal and supports his sisters and uncle financially with his wages. He’s a prime navigator and very detail-oriented, a team player and quite sneaky when need be and might actually make a lieutenant if he didn’t have a spine made from celery. He’s also quite sensitive about his lack of any formal education, receiving the good chunk of it when he became a midshipman. Quite protective, especially after the wreck as a kid. Became a bit of a chronic helper and control freak after that. Absolutely shit at fighting but an excellent sailor. Once dug shot out of his own hip, made it into a coin and carved a ship on it to give to his Friend. He’s that kind of person. He’s trans.

Morwenna Norefleet.

If Fred’s first words were “I’m sorry” then Morrie’s were “WASSON MATE.” The older of the twins by a minute, she and Fred were stuck together like glue until he went away to sea. She taught herself to read by studying the Bible and writes regularly to her brother. As both of them swapped names and gender, they’re quite close. She wants to open her own public house and inn or at least buy one (all the papers in Fred’s name of course). She’s a total flirt, especially with the out of town tinners and any “foreign” sailors (upcountry), even though she’s never settled down what with the whole trans thing. Morwenna embroiders very intricate flowers and landscapes. She once tried to do a ship for her uncle and it was less of a ship than it was a box with sticks. When Fred wouldn’t speak after his shipwreck and time spent stranded when they were 11, she felt really hurt. Especially when he went away to sea the same year, she was really lonely and would often sit in the St Juliot’s graveyard and cry privately. Nowadays she’s alright! Constantly worrying about her brother but also, she’s looking after her other sisters and their children and her uncle and working in an inn and working in the pilchard cellar. Her hevva cakes are amazing. She’s the strongest person in this family, has a deeply rooted sense of self and has boundless self confidence without ever being arrogant. Community and family are what’s important to her most of all, she teaches what she knows of Cornish to her little family members and teaches them to write and read and once hit one unruly patron so hard he woke up crying.

Callum Tredwen.

A mess. Is actively being hunted down by his own brother, is an ex-navy lieutenant, a mutineer and now smuggler. He’s on a suicide mission. He’s a lesbian and has an extremely doomed and unspoken relationship with his first mate. He’s probably committed multiple war crimes, he took a 21-year old doctor hostage and kidnapped him. He ought to be dead but he just won’t die. He’s a dick. An asshole. He’s all the confidence of Morwenna but without any compassion for others (lies, he does, he just rarely acts on it), the anxieties of Fred without any of the perspective. He hits first to avoid ever being hit himself. He refuses to let himself be loved or taken care of. He’s gotten his dearest friends killed and his own self maimed. This man wants blood and he’s going to get it, whether it’s his own or someone else’s. It’s been years and his gender is still “eeeeh.” The 2nd messiest fucker.

[cattywxmpus]

APPLICATION.

( michael cimino, male, he/him ). welcome to westworld, SEBASTIAN ‘BASH’ AMATO. you have been programmed to look like you are TWENTY-FOUR years old, and to operate as a PICKPOCKET in the park. you have a bit of a reputation as the ARTFUL DODGER, and are programmed to be PLAYFUL and ADAPTABLE, but also RECKLESS and NEEDY. sometimes, people say you remind them of JJ MAYBANK (OUTER BANKS), HUCKLEBERRY FINN (ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN), TIM RIGGINS (FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS). if you had to describe yourself in a few words, it would be “STUPID THINGS HAVE GOOD OUTCOMES ALL THE TIME. I WANNA LIVE NOT JUST SURVIVE.” it is rumoured that you – A HOMELESS VAGABOND WHOSE MOTHER GAVE HIM TO THE RANCH AS A TEENAGER TO PAY OFF A DEBT WHERE HE WORKED FOR AWHILE THEN RAN AWAY. HE HAS BEEN TAKEN UNDER THE WING OF AN OUTLAW WHO IS THE CLOSEST THING HE’S EVER HAD TO A PARENT. A CRAFTY PERSON WHO COMMITS MINOR CRIMES, DEFTLY EVADES OBSTACLES AND THE LAW, IS CONSTANTLY COMING UP WITH WAYS TO GET OUT OF DIFFICULT SITUATIONS CAUSED BY RECKLESS ADVENTURES AND THE IMPULSIVE (ALSO CONSTANT) NEED TO HAVE A GOOD TIME. we hope you can entertain the guests!

GENERAL.

full name: sebastian gabriel amato

nicknames: bash, zebby, baz

gender / pronouns: cis male, he/him

age / birthday: twenty-four, dec 2nd

orientation: pansexual

occupation: pickpocket

location: sweetwater

faceclaim: michael cimino

strengths: funny, clever, adaptable, playful, adventurous

weaknesses: reckless, needy, impulsive, rebellious, obnoxious

character inspo: jj maybank (outer banks), carl gallagher (shameless), huckleberry finn, tim riggins (friday night lights), jasper fahey (shadow & bone), jesse pinkman (breaking bad), jayne cobb (firefly), charlie kelly (always sunny), aladdin (aladdin)

pinterest: coming soon

playlist: coming soon

BIOGRAPHY.

programmed originally to be the child of one of the working families on the ranch, reprogrammed later after several accidents in which his parents, him, and/or the ranch was wiped out and he was given a new narrative in the current storyline which has been consistent several years or more now.

born to a poor family, bash doesn't remember either of his parents very well. he was sold to the ranch at a young age to pay off a debt where they raised him up to work for them.

bash wasn't too keen on sticking around the ranch as he got older, not a fan of the constant monotonous work day in and day out even though they provided decent food and shelter.

at a young age he ran off and ended up on the streets of sweetwater, doing whatever he could to survive day to day by pickpocketing guests and residents and committing other petty crimes.

he was taken under the wing of an outlaw who is the closest thing to a parent he's ever known and is incredibly loyal to them

they have a close friendship with another pickpocket who they grew up with and have remained best friends with as long as they can remember.

QUICK CONNECTIONS.

friends, they can be hosts, employees, guests you name it

crushes and people he flirts with

people who've caught him or turned him in for stealing

those he's stole from

regular guests who like to go on adventures

those he annoys for the fun of it all

rivals either in law or crime or personality

HEADCANONS.

is best friends with the other pickpocket josie, they spent a lot of years together and often work together to bring in more loot - they have a special spot they meet up if they ever get seperated

when he first got to the ranch it was matteo hernandez that took it upon himself to look after him in an effort to give him some stability, later lux joined in - after he died and lux disappeared, bash ran off, unwilling to stay there on his own and not knowing how to process the emotions that came with those events

has a special place he meets up with lux as often as they can

doesn't like to sleep alone and is scared of the dark but he'd never admit either out loud

[cherryrockpops]

BOLD the FACTS

RULES: BOLD what applies to your OC I was tagged by @elvenbeard

OC: Nicolas B

ıllıllı Personal ıllıllı

Nicky never had a personal bank account, he couldn't apply for one unless he registered himself as a citizen. Nick is technically classified as an illegal citizen, but having an anonymous ID is beneficial to his work. He had set up a system where he could earn eddies into a cache, and his bills and payments would come from that cashe instead of actually banking that money into his pocket. He never went to school and learned everything about cars, tech, weapons etc. from working under an apprenticeship.

Financial: wealthy / moderate / poor / in poverty Medical: fit / moderate / sickly / disabled / disadvantaged / non-applicable Class or Caste: upper / middle / working / unsure / other Education: qualified / unqualified / studying / other Criminal Record: yes, for major crimes / yes, for minor crimes / no / has committed crimes, but not caught yet / yes, but charges were dismissed

ıllıllı Family ıllıllı

Nicolas was taken in when he was just an infant by the Bakker clan, but was later abandoned and outcast at the age of 13. He never personally knew his parents, aside what the clan had told him, and he was never close with the clan at all due to the mistreatment he received for being a Raffen bastard.

Children: had a child or children / has no children / wants children* Relationship with Family: close with sibling(s) / not close with sibling(s) / has no siblings / sibling(s) is deceased Affiliation: orphaned / abandoned / adopted / disowned** / raised by birth parent(s) / not applicable

ıllıllı Traits & Tendencies ıllıllı

This one was a little trickier for me to settle on, since some depend on the situation. On a professional level, Nicky knows how to play his cards and plans for most worst case scenarios. He has to considering he does his work solo and he has no backup. On a personal level, Nicky is extremely private about his life. It takes a long time for him to open up to someone and most of those times he doesn't stick around for that long. Nicky takes crafting orders on the regular, but he's his own boss for efficiency and quality. The faithful/loyal ended up being the hardest for me to settle on, since on the one hand, Nicky has honor with his work and shows kindness to those who show it to him. However, trusting someone to the point where he can put faith in them to NOT fuck him over is incredibly difficult when one lives behind a mask.

♦ extroverted / introverted / in-between ♦ disorganized / organized / in-between ♦ close-minded / open-minded / in-between ♦ calm / anxious / in-between / highly contextual ♦ disagreeable / agreeable / in-between ♦ cautious / reckless / in-between / highly contextual ♦ patient / impatient / in-between ♦ outspoken / reserved / in-between / highly contextual ♦ leader / follower / in-between ♦ empathetic / vicious bastard / in-between ♦ optimistic / pessimistic / in-between ♦ traditional / modern / in-between ♦ hard-working / lazy / in-between ♦ cultured / uncultured / in-between / unknown ♦ loyal / disloyal / in-between / unknown ♦ faithful / unfaithful / in-between / unknown

[[Skipping Beliefs since for a one-shot answer; Nicky doesn't have faith in any higher power. Closest non-existent being he could believe in is Lady Luck. He enjoys bar stories of Alien abductions and whatnot, but he doesn't sit around wondering about that stuff, even when high.]]

ıllıllı Sexuality & Romance ıllıllı

Finding romance or getting sexual gratification isn't a big thing for Nicky. He's too much of a workaholic to ever settle into a social mingle. That isn't to say he's a virgin though. Sometimes he would accept someone's advances if Nick was either curious or could gain from it, but he doesn't tie sex and love together. Nick didn't grow up with love in his life and has deep rooted trauma which makes it hard for him to make romantic connections.

Sexuality: heterosexual / homosexual / bisexual / asexual / pansexual Sex: sex-repulsed / sex neutral / sex favorable / naive and clueless Romance: romance repulsed / romance neutral / romance favorable / naive and clueless / romance suspicious Sexually: adventurous / experienced / naive / inexperienced / curious Potential Sexual Partners: male / female / agender / other / none / all Potential Romantic Partners: male / female / agender / other / none / all

ıllıllı Abilities ıllıllı

Nick is all about using as little physical effort as possible when it comes to combat. Daemons and quick hacks all the way. If he had to use a weapon, he prefers ones he only needs to shoot once with, like snipers or power revolvers. However, even though he couldn't punch someone well, Nick has excellent acrobatic/parkour skills. Since it was mentioned earlier that he never got an education, writing is a lost skill on Nick. He can type fine, read text, decorate a fancy cake, but hand writing is a foreign concept.

Combat Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor/ none Literacy Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none Artistic Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none Technical Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

ıllıllı Habits ıllıllı

Nicky would drink if he's feeling anxious or wants to celebrate, otherwise he's more than fine with a sweet lemonade or ice tea. He tried a cigarette once, but hated the flavor and they way it made his lungs feel, so he never smoked again after that. If he wants a high, he takes edibles over a joint. Nicky is a snacker and has a bad sweet tooth, yet thanks to his overclocked brain, high metabolism and his parkour, he doesn't gain the calories. Gambling comes in many forms, and Nick does pool hustle from time to time if he needs the scratch, but it's mainly for the fun of screwing the other party over and seeing their faces when they lose.

Drinking Alcohol: never / special occasions / rarely / sometimes / frequently / alcoholic / former borderline alcoholic turned sober Smoking: tried it / trying to quit / quit / never / rarely / sometimes / frequently / chain-smoker Recreational Drugs: tried some / never / special occasions / sometimes / frequently / addict Medicinal Drugs: never / no longer needs medication / some medication needed / frequently / to excess Unhealthy Food: never / special occasions / rarely / sometimes / frequently / binge eater Splurge Spending: never / sometimes / frequently / shopaholic Gambling: never / rarely / sometimes / frequently / compulsive gamble