#for some reason I found the opening intros very cool

[avelera]

It makes me sad when I see posts by people who are enjoying the Interview with the Vampire show but say they've decided not to even try to read the books.

To be clear, it's fine to just not want to read the books, there's plenty of reasons the books might not be everyone's bag, and one reason is that people might just want to enjoy the show without spoilers or the source material muddling the experience.

But I just want to clarify a few points that people might be hung up on with regards to reading the books in case they've decided not to on false premises:

Anne Rice was not homophobic or otherwise anti-sex or against queer relationships for her characters - those are lies, lies, and damned lies. Anne Rice was a queer writer before being queer-- much less writing about it--was cool (to say the least). She more or less defined herself as nonbinary before there was terminology for it, her son is gay, and she left the Catholic Church the second time because they wouldn't accept him (even though the Catholic Church had basically become her life at that point after her husband died, which is a long complicated story). She also wrote tons of erotica, specifically bdsm erotica, which was also very queer. She would not be horrified by the queerness of the show.

Anne Rice was anti-fanfic - Yes, she was. Yes, she was one of the most aggressive authors against fanfic (though she softened later). But just to be clear, she had a legal reason for it. I was one of the people most heartbroken in the early '00s by her aggressive take down of fanfic over the years but even then, I always understood why she did it, she reasonably believed she had to be aggressive in order to defend her copyright. You can dislike her for it but she wasn't just hating on fanfic for the sake of it, the early internet was extremely muddy when it came to the legality around fanfic and copyright and as an early adopter of the internet, she was very concerned on that front specifically.

The books are not poorly written/not fun to read - Look, your mileage may obviously vary, and many have found flaws in her writing (IWTV in particular is probably the slowest read of the bunch) but Anne Rice wasn't a NYT Bestseller on basically every single one of her books for no reason. Her style is easy to read, fun, engaging, and often darkly beautiful and deeply empathetic. She basically defined the modern vampire genre and modern supernatural gothic romance for the last 50 years, I mean she dominated the genre. Don't take an out of context excerpt of the opening of The Vampire Lestat sounding like "My Immortal" as an indication of anything. (The whole point of that intro is that Lestat is supposed to sound like a self-obsessed drama queen in the opening pages, that's the conceit of the book and introduces him as a self-centered unreliable narrator, which she then plays with to great effect. It's actually rather deftly handled how she introduced Lestat as a POV character with that introduction. As a writer, I will defend that introduction as actually genius.)

Anne Rice wasn't perfect, to say the least. And the books might not be everyone's cup of tea, she was often dealing with transgressive topics and probably held many ideas or presented many concepts decades ago that would be side-eyed today.

But they're bestsellers for a reason and she's an era-defining author for a reason. The show is doing some interesting stuff with modernizing and deconstructing the books but the rich material they have to do it with comes from the books.

At the very least, I suggest trying out "The Vampire Lestat" and then "Queen of the Damned" which I think are two of her best and will go a long way to informing how audiences view the show and what's coming next.

[undercover-monsterlover]

Author's Note

I tried to make this appropriately disgusting considering it's a zombie, so there are some gross descriptions, be warned. Also, this is literally my very first try at smut, so give me a little slack lol. Sort of a long intro, sorry, the spice starts at around the eleventh paragraph.

Urbex YouTube videos had finally gotten to you, and you finally decided that it was worth the risk to go check out that abandoned sanitarium a few towns away. You got a cool new outfit comprised of green military pants, a black tank top and old bomber jacket from a thiftstore. If you were gonna do this you might as well dedicate yourself to the aesthetic right?

Which is also partially why you decided to go at night, the other reason being you thought you'd be less likely to be caught at night. Caught by who, you didn't know, you didn't think anybody cared enough about the old place to guard it. You weren't able to find out if anyone even still owned the land, or if it was really abandoned. You knew it was originally used as a tuberculosis "treatment" center forever ago, and had been used by the government for something after that, but you didn't research too far into it. You hoped leaving it a little mysterious would make it even cooler to explore.

The headlights of your car illuminated the face of the old building as you pulled into the driveway, if it could even be called that anymore, it was mostly just a slight gravel path between the trees. You parked in front of the building, took a flashlight from one of the giant pockets in your military pants, and stepped inside, past the dilapidated old doors. The lobby was small, with only a round desk and a few cabinets. A sanitarium didn't really need a welcoming introduction, you supposed, unnecessary given it's purpose.

The cabinets were empty, probably cleared out when the last residents left, so you quickly moved on from the lobby. A hallway to the left thankfully was lined with patient rooms. Each one had walls covered in chipping paint, revealing the grey cement structure, a wire bed frame, and a set of drawers, but little else besides dust and debris. So far, no great mystery to discover, or ghostly apparitions like in the videos.

Not yet disheartened, you moved on to the next hallway. Again, it was lined with only patient rooms, a group bathroom with curtained showers and toilets, and nothing else. Again, you turned the corner. This time, it led to another similar looking hallway, but also, a flight of stairs leading down. A quick shine of the flashlight assures you it was nothing but the same, so you chose the stairs.

At the end of the flight was a door, unlike the wooden ones of the patient rooms. This one was metal, had no window to see inside, but thankfully, was unlocked. You took the handle and pushed, but felt some resistance. Confused, you pushed against it, grunting with the effort, finally gaining a big enough gap to just barely squeeze though. The other side revealed the cause of your difficulties. A large set of drawers, all full to bursting with papers and files. Why would someone push a drawer in front of the door? Seems a little counter-intuitive seeing as it was unlocked anyways...

Emboldened by the first shining ray of intrigue, you walked the cement hallway the door had led into, before it opened up into a larger corridor with more of those large, thick metal doors. The first door you tried was locked, but the second seemed unlocked, though stuck shut due to rust. You thought to try and force it open, but as soon as your fingers found a grip, a groaning, whining sound echoed in our in the corridor.

Startled, you your heart beat quickly and you poked your head outside the door. The sound, you supposed, had come from another, narrower hallway on the opposite side of the corridor. Steeling yourself, and assuming you'd just find a raccoon or cat or something, you entered the dark hallway.

This hallways was lined by cells. Dark, rusty metal bars, lined up one after another, each cell separated by a thing wall of cement. You shined your flashlight ahead, and you heart sunk as you saw a hand curling around one of he bars up ahead. Nobody could possibly still be alive in one of these cells, it had been years since it had been used for anything.

But you got your explanation once you willed your feet to step closer. There, in the cell, one good eye reflecting back the light of the flashlight, was something you could really only describe as a zombie.

Purplish, yellow, waxy skin, hanging loosely on the arms of the monster, the hands almost black with necrosis. The right side of the face looked almost skeletal, the rotting skin stuck so tight to the bone you could almost see the shape of his teeth through his cheek. The still working eye looked almost too small to fill the eye cavity, either it had shriveled as it aged, or the eye socket had lost fatty flesh. The left side of his face however, was bloated, purplish and disgusting, it looked like it would feel spongy to the touch. His eye was swelled up and shut, but you could see something pulsing, squirming underneath it, and your stomach turned as you realized it had to be maggots.

It groaned softly, much quieter than you had heard before. It must have heard you enter, was that first groan to get your attention? You could do nothing but stare at it, holding your flashlight to illuminate it's awful face. It was wearing a light paper like shirt that had essentially fused into it's rotting skin at the shoulders, the paper disintegrating into the puffy skin on one side.

It groaned again, and you took a panicked step back as it's arms slowly stretched out from behind the bars. Its shoulders pressed against the bars as it almost desperately stretched it's arms towards you, making grabbing, groping motions with it's hands. You wondered what it was trying to do, grab you to pull you in and bite you, or was it just attracted to the light of the flashlight? But, as you looked at it, you realized it's one working eye was fixed firmly on your chest. Oh God, could this shambling structure of oozing meat possibly still have urges like that?

It's blackened hands were making rather unmistakable motions though. A shiver ran up your spine. This certainly cast everything in a new light. A little bit of you even felt some sympathy for it. This mindless creature has been stuck in the dark with unattainable wants for who knows how long. I mean, what I'd you maybe gave it just a little...satisfaction? I mean, it didn't seem violent and, you did feel bad for it...

You took a step forward, and it made another groaning noise, sounding excited. You took another step closer. It's finger strained towards you. One more step and- god. It spared no formalities, it's hands roughly cupping, then squeezing your breasts. And opened again, and squeezed again, and again, desperately palming your chest over your tank top.

You stood still, half intrigued on a scientific level, half intrigued on a deeper level. It's hands thoughtlessly mashed at your breasts, though the feeling wasn't entirely unpleasant for you. You leaned into its hands to give it a little more tractions. It pulled against your shirt for a moment, but unable to rip it, gave up and went back to just groping.

A shudder ran through you as one of it's fingers ran over your now hard nipple, and you felt blush rise to your cheeks. Well, it had been trying to get your shirt off, you might as well give it what it wants, it's not like it could hurt anything. And really, didn't the poor thing deserve just a little indulgence?

You stepped back to toss your jacket on the ground, and it made a frustrated whining sound, though it lost its tone somewhere in its throat and it came out as a strangled gurgle. But, as you took off your shirt, and unhooked your bra, it resumed its groping motions towards you. Neatly folding your shirt, and placing it on your jacket, you returned to your position.

Once again, it's hands mercilessly grabbed at your breasts, squishing them together, then apart, all with renewed vigor due to feeling your bare skin. One of it's thumbs again unintentionally flicked over your nipple, and the following jolt of arousal was hard to ignore.

It's groping pace increased, and it pressed it's whole body against the bars of it's cell. More and more provoked, it's hips began pressing against the bars. Then they pulled back, and slammed against them, desperately jumping against the bars, as if the little bit of its brain that was still functioning made the conclusion that if it was feeling boobs, obviously sex was coming next.

Your heart rate increased, and through the sensations of the groping, you wondered if it could even still have sex. God. Now you had to find out, didn't you, curious as you were. Almost sighing, you reluctantly stepped closer to the cell, and the zombie excitedly gurgled, now able to run a hand over your shoulder or neck, and weirdly affectionately caress your face before going back to squeezing your tits.

You stepped closer, letting your hand drift down towards it's waist, and unzipping the dirty, threadbare pants it had one. Presented with the bulge against it's underwear, you asked yourself a question. Were you mentally prepared for the reality of seeing a zombies dick? The only answer thrown forward from the back of your mind was a loud, resounding, yes. Hardening yourself, you pulled it's underwear down, and it's hard dick lolled out of it's pants, a rotting purple colour, oozing something you hoped to god was just pre-cum from its tip.

You wondered how it even had any blood flow to get hard, but then again, how was this dead thing even moving at all? Taking a breath, you wrapped your hand around the cold, hard appendage and hoped to god the skin wouldn't just slough off when you pulled. Thankfully, one little stroke proved it was still intact enough.

The same motion also ceases the distracting groping motion on your breasts. Your hand still wrapped around it's dick, you looked at its face, now much closer to yours, but still behind bars. It's mouth was now half open, the brown teeth and bloated purple tongue on full display. Gurgling sounds emenated from it's mouth.

You gave its dick another experimental tug, and it made a sharp, satisfied grunting noise. Another stroke, and it's hands went back to your chest, though a little slower. Just a few minutes ago, you had asked yourself the question am I prepared to see a zombies dick. You now needed to ask yourself a far more intense question. Were you ready, prepared, and willing to put a rotting, oozing dick of a dead creature inside you.

Yes?

Alright then.

Taking a breath, you unzipped your own pants, neatly folded them, placing them on top of your shirt and jacket, quickly followed by your underwear. Goosebumps sprouted up on your bare skin, the cold air of the basement wrapping around you.

You gave the zombie's dick a few more strokes, the twitching tip an unnatural reddish colour, but nonetheless, you turned around. You nearly jumped when you felt the things clammy hands on your ass, playing with it with the same fervour as it had your chest. You waddle backwards a little closer, thankful nobody was here to see this, probably in miles. Its hands settled on your waist.

You backed up more, and when you just barely felt the cold tip against your labia, the monster hands tightened on your waist, and slammed you back onto it's cock with no warning.

You let out a loud gasp, as it immediately set forth on a brutal pace of thrusts. You brought a hand to your mouth to stifle your gasps as your body shook with each impact of it's hips against you ass. It felt more like a toy or object was being shoved inside of you repeatedly thank a dick. It was cold, hard, and long, and the icy feeling let you easily feel each sensation withing you. Still, the novelty of the feeling was arousing none the less. Its pace only increased as it continued, slamming you mercilessly against it's dick and the bars of it's cell. It's hands were right around your waist like a vice, you were sure you'd have bruises on both your ass and you waist tomorrow.

You knew you were getting excited by the way it's cock easily pushed in an out with each thrust, you were getting wet, and the effect was like lube even on the uneven, undead cock. The temperature of it's dick was slowly reaching an equilibrium with your vagina, warmed up by the movement and your body heat. However you were still acutely aware that the member thrusting and pulsing inside you not from something living. The dissonance only made you wetter.

You moved a shaking hand lower, your middle finger finding your clit, and rubbing in slow circles. This added stimulation made your legs shake, but you knew even if your knees gave out the grip of the zombie would keep you upright.

The creature showed no sign of slowing down or finishing yet, so you did your best to brace yourself against the bars, trying to give yourself a little cushion from the cold steel with on hand, the other still swiping over your clit. The creature's pace was more erratic now, still as fast, but with stuttering breaks between each thrust. It was getting close. You knew whatever semen had been marinating inside it for this long had to be far too rotten to be safe to have inside you, but god, you couldn't move now, you could feel yourself getting closer as well. The tight, hot feeling in your core only got better as the monster kept going. Just a little longer, just a little longer, just-

You groaned as you came, your pussy clenching around the dick of the zombie, pulsing with aftershocks. You just barely overcame the post-orgasm haze to realize you needed to get off of it, now. Your hands moved to clutch it's hands, still wrapped around your waist as it pumped, trying to rip them off of you. With a final effort you succeeded, falling forward, but managing to catch yourself with your hands before you face-planted into the floor.

Shaking, you heard the zombie let out a loud groan, as something cold splattered onto your backside. Standing up, your reached a hand behind you to wipe it off. Grabbing your flashlight to shine it at your hand, you saw the cum was yellow, chunky, and thick, as if coagulated. Thank God it hadn't came inside.

Giving yourself a moment to recuperate, you eventually turned to look at the monster again. It was still humping mindlessly between the bars, but at a more leisurely pace, it's dick now soft again. With a satisfied sigh, you began to pull your clothes on again, reminding yourself to get tested for std's, and really every other disease as soon as possible.

[cadilver]

intro post :)

this is cadilver!

they/he. nicknames are cool (cad/caddie/whatever)

they're a normal Point with normal Hobbies and a very normal Not Too Dangerous World that is Hospitable to Visitors. Definitely! they don't know why Cyalm Named it Night of Nightmares it's just a Graveyard and a Haunted Mansion and a Catacombs with no Nightmares to be found Anywhere not even in their Vault. um. well they might be Lying about That but it's really not your Business anyway.

// will be the ooc marker for this blog. and yeah cad talks like That (not in 3rd person) and the Capitalizations are worse when he's nervous/lying.

Asks are open! I'll probably make/write stuff even if no one asks anything, but hey why not.

run by @p7agu3 btw

Lore/Design/Backstory infodump below (may contain spoilers, if i end up actually doing anything with this storytelling wise)

cadilver is a portmanteau of "cadaver" and "silver". his aspects include, predictably, metal and general undead shenanigans, though he was also really into Halloween for backstory reasons when he was. alive? (complicated) so that carried over as well. he gets to join the holiday gang (compale and arrolin). stuff happens :) that i may write about proper if i get the motivation

his true form symbol is a concentric cloverleaf pattern, in the orientation associated with metal jewelry and not highways. mostly cause i thought it looked cool and not for deeper meaning. their normal symbol is more. interpretable. it's his prepoint's 'eyes', yes, but also infinity, cool sunglasses, ouroborous, venn diagram. you can really go crazy with it. it's mostly just them big ol eyes.

oh yeah! prepoint lore. i haven't fully decided how much of the p7v plague lore i want to use for him (some of it is insane and wouldn't fit AF well) but what's definitely sticking is the facts that he was undead (if cyalm can pointify a robot then reanimating a reanimated corpse is light work. also, name), cavorted around in a plague doctor costume, was powerful enough to at least hold out against cyalm in a fight, and [definitely something i wanna reveal later].

interestingly, they're more "alive" now than they were before, having a complete kinda-organic body, fully functional senses, and the capability to experience emotion normally. cyalm did some witchery fr. on the downside they just "die" as a extreme stress response now. like a possum. apparently that's called "thanatosis", which is a really good word. usually it takes specific triggers to set him off that badly.

cad's world is functionally the 9th because ixol has been pretty much exiled from the Emporium. the two have never met (cad was Pointified later), and (probably) won't meet until AF2's events. ixol has yet to draw the message or their symbol on the walls to indicate their location. the other points knew ixol somewhat but unanimously (some more reluctantly than others) agreed to exile them once they started hearing voices.

the world is called Night of Nightmares (double reference lol) and is located in the same area as Battery Canyon, maybe on the right side.

[disappointingcabbage]

TDP Season 6 Episode 1 live reaction, spoilers under the cut

Who is this man crying?

What the fuck it’s Aaravos

Ok so Aaravos showing actual emotion was not on my 2024 bingo card

Genuinely why does his crying sound autotuned

There’s another startouched elf??? Who is she?????

Why is the intro still Viren getting statued??? He’s dead

Oh ok his statue got disintegrated

Yup he’s dead

Terry my beloved

O h n o he’s gonna find viren’s body

Bro why are you sobbing over this racist motherfucker

WAIT WHAT

HE’S ALIVE ????? WHY IS HE ALIVE????

oh no Claudia’s covered in blood

NOOO THE LITTLE MOTH GREMLIN SHE DID THE SACRIFICE

Oh damn Viren is fully redemption arcing and he has Regrets

“No parent wants their child to suffer for them” first of all tell that to Soren. Atone for your bullshit. Second of all you’ve clearly never met my mother

Ah shit Aaravos convinced Claudia to let him out

Viren’s actually putting his foot down and saying no. I never would have predicted this pre-s5 but now it makes total sense and I love that the writers are sticking with his character development

Oh ew this show is actually going to get me to like Viren I hate that

He’s going to Katolis to turn himself in. Based tbh.

Claudia what the fuck though like girlie your whole point of everything was to get your dad back and he’s fine now why are you still going along with Aaravos

Oof her voice acting in this scene is incredible though

Also she’s still missing that leg. I hope she gets either a cool prosthetic or an even cooler mobility aid.

Soren has opening blindfolded for some reason. The reason is either going to be A Secret Meeting for Very Not Good Ominous Reasons or something very funny

Based on the tone of the scene I’m assuming it’s the funny option

LMAO LORD BREADSANDWICH SOREN I LOVE YOU

Oh it’s just a season 5 recap in the high mage’s office

Oooh they’re deciding what to do with aaravos’s prison

I get he’s on the high council and all but why is Barius here???

Callum wants to destroy the prison, Opeli wants to assemble a multi-kingdom task force to protect it, and Barius wants to hide it

I’m with Callum or Barius tbh, the multi kingdom task force idea exposes too many people to potentially be manipulated by aaravos.

However, hiding it means that it can be found probably and exposes everyone who already knows about it to Aaravos, and destroying it runs the risk of freeing him accidentally.

Soren with the LOTR reference 💀

Rayla has the same issues as me with destroying it

Ezran has decided to hide it in katolis, smart choice

oh no, Zym’s sad about Zubeia

Callum wants to visit this ancient faction of skywing elves for info on A) yeeting the pearl out of existence and B) un-coining Rayla’s family (please let them out)

Callum is right to be afraid of aaravos manipulating him tbh

Awww one of the baitlings sleeps in Callum’s bed

Oh god aaravos nightmares oh FUCK WHY ARE YOU SLEEPWALKING

what the fuck what the fuck whY IS HE IN THE PEAR WHAT WAS THAT IMAGE OF AARAVOS YEETING THE PEARL F E A R

Rayla do NOT dismiss Callum’s concerns like that

“I have an idea” *fucking sprints away to enact said idea without elaborating* peak autism moment

I’m sorry, you want to stop aaravos with the power of pastries?

“Sometimes I wonder where my mom is too” SOBBING

awwwww bait has a little four poster bed that’s so cute

AHDIEJXIEKF BARIUS DID AN “is it real or is it cake” WITH A FUCKING PEARL DECOY IM WHEEZING

Ooh anti spell blankie

“I have my blankie 😎” Callum I would die for you

Soren and zym are going on a quest to find Zubeia and Callum and Rayla are going to see the Celestial Elves but more importantly, each questing squad is taking a baby bait with them!!

If the one going with Soren isn’t Hat I will be very disappointed

Claudia why are you ominously standing over Terry and trauma dumping

Claudia what are you doing with the staff

Claudia no please don’t hurt him if you hurt him it’s transphobic

Oh ok she’s just walking her toxic ass out of the relationship cool

Terry don’t wait for her she doesn’t deserve it

[silentstaresfanficandfanart]

I never wrote an intro so here!

I'm SilentStares but you can call me Silent, Sil, Stare, or Star (i think star is nice and suits me well!) I write fanfiction and draw fanart for a few different fandoms. I'm also silentstares on ao3

you may call me your highness, but i'll accept she/her too. I'm just really cool and I think i deserve to be a pretty princess sometimes!

I am troublingly fond of the worst characters, and I won't stop writing isekai and you can't make me.

I write crack but like, with all my heart. I take it seriously. I will make and have made Keito Hasumi from enstars into a magical girl , and I will take it 100% seriously.

Please feel free to send asks and chat at me! Especially if you for some strange reason want to talk about fanfiction with me or decide that for some reason you might actually want to ask a question of one of my oc's! Or just do something to them- I personally enjoy microwaving them. Im here in hopes of interacting with other fans and goofs not to sit here ALONE and SAD so please do say something to me i assure you I won't be annoyed it's just a tad lonesome here if no one talks :<

Top activities i do: fanfiction, drawing, and programming

~linkies!~

current games available: Hateshinai Umi Aquarium,friends and furntasy

available for free on Itch.io!

Original works:

Halcyon (superhero story about a villain who'd do anything to save his hero!)

Now available to read for free! Please just tell me what you think after that's all I ask <3 I really hope you'll give it a chance, its a lot more similar to magical girl stories than regular superhero stories, and if you like theater-loving villains with the power of LOVE (no really that's his power-) with a flair for the dramatic and bunny girls who really need therapy, and a setting where thanks to my weird magic system that dictates how powers are given, the power of love is one of the scariest powers of all, youll LOVE this, also if you like found family and other things like that youll really love it <3

Do mind the trigger warnings though

also official Halcyon tumblr here

mermay marine biologist dating sim aka hateshinai umi aquarium(in progress)

Friends and Furntasy: a furry game where you make your own character and go on adventures with a cast of strange characters to interact with and perhaps,become close to~? owo (though the dating sim aspects are going to be more of a bonus feature and not the focus of the game)

open to comissions but i dont know how to pull that off very well yet

[rebeccathenaturalist]

Well, it's been a whirlwind few days! Thursday I went on the weekly phenology walk at Audubon Trails Nature Center in Rolla, MO. It's the last one of the year, and we were seeing if there were still any wildflowers in bloom in spite of the freeze a few nights before. We did find a scant few Asteraceae with open flowers, but for the most part everything was done for the year. It was a really good experience getting to wander the trails with someone who knows the local flora really well; I'm still playing catch-up on learning (and remembering) native prairie plants in this area, and since they happen every Thursday morning during the growing season, I'm going to make sure and attend whenever I'm in town.

Thursday afternoon I officially taught my first in-person class in Rolla with my basic mushroom foraging intro at the Rolla Public Library. I checked out SO MANY BOOKS from that library as a kid, and so it was basically coming full circle to be able to teach there. I had an awesome audience that packed the room, got some great questions, and really appreciated the support that library staff gave me throughout the entire process. I'm already brainstorming what I want to teach when I head back to this area next spring.

Friday I got to spend immersed in planty goodness at the Missouri Botanical Symposium. I had actually registered last year but ended up not feeling good at the last moment so I had to miss out. Totally worth the entire trip this year, though! There were some really great talks (I especially enjoyed the one on the interplay of geology and plant life in Missouri karst fens), and I even made some good connections and new friends! I am SUCH an introvert that it can be tough for me to go around introducing myself in a room where I don't know anyone, but luckily a friendly extrovert latched onto me and helped me meet some really cool people. (Also, pro tip: having art supplies out and in use makes for a great conversation starter, and if you bring enough for others to use you can have a little science illustration party at your table!)

Saturday I peeled myself out of bed early yet again for a very good reason--I got to lead a lichen hike at Audubon Trails! It sort of felt like cramming for a test because while the basic biology of lichens is the same everywhere, I'm not as familiar with local species here as I am back home in the PNW. So I visited the site a few times on this visit to look for cool lichens and try to get them down to at least a genus level, if not species. Again, really great turnout for the hike--people were having a great time, lots of excellent questions and discoveries along the way. And there were two kids from the Rolla Outdoor Collaborative School on site who were not only THE best guides to the trails there, but they found and showed off some cool stuff (including lichens, AND fuzzy oak galls!) The next generation of naturalists is already well on their way to helping others connect with the great outdoors, which does my heart good.

I gotta start driving back west tomorrow; I have classes in Portland next weekend. So today is being lazy, doing laundry, and helping my folks with a few more things around the house. It's been another great visit here, though, and I'm already making plans for next year. I'm going to try to schedule a couple of classes along the way for my spring trip; since I'll likely be taking I-70 since 80 is sketchy even in April, I'm probably looking at Salt Lake City and Denver for venues. I'm open to suggestions if anyone knows of a bookstore, library, nature center, or similar who might like to host a wandering naturalist infodumping about ecology for a couple of hours!

[shinygoku]

Rubber Soul (1965)

I've been looking forward to this one! It's arguably the point where the band shifts from Consistently Good to Consistently GREAT, and also where some point to as being their apex. While that may seem premature, given what will soon follow, there may be truth in these takes, and I know this album harbours absolutely amazing numbers. Interestingly, the US release actually modified the track listing to be Acoustic Only, which results in some people's preferred version, but I disagree as it means one of my Top Favs is cut (and it goes against the Band's Intent lol). I'm only covering the Original UK Canon for the albums, except for [spoilers lol] MMT and when I gather singles together.

The famous serendipitous distorted image! It's sure conveying A Mood, though I can't say it's a favourite of mine. But I can say that it's possibly the cover I've seen the most, as the music classroom at school had it on the wall among several other non-Beatles records, though I persistently misread the title as "Rubber Soup" instead due to the placement lmao

SIDE ONE

Drive My Car: A bodacious and unique opener here, their first song with a Female Protagonist (if via a Male POV character)! Now only that, but one with ambition and confidence, which really makes this song fun. Even as a Car Disliker, I'm fully on board with the high energy and witty lyrics, and there's something infectious about Beep Beep, M-Beep Beep YEAH! The new Red Album version makes the instruments clearer like the cowbell and tambourine, and it's such a strong first song for this collection~

Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown): The famous Sitar debut! This one's narrative gives it a bit of infamy too, as it seems to be another tale of misread signals, but this one with a somewhat shocking twist at the end! Still, the music is very good even with iffy implications lmao. I also dig the waltz timing and clever description of the scenery.

You Won't See Me: I sometimes get this confused with I'm Looking Through You, as they're both Paul songs with pretty much the same jist. However, I'd call this one the weaker of the two. That's not to say it's bad, but the pessimist vibe and the song seemingly losing energy as it progresses make it less of a bop than the sister song, to me at least.

Nowhere Man: I would like to tentatively claim this song as my Favourite of The Beatle's whole catalog. For one thing, it's their first Original that is NOT about love/sex/"dancing" lmao, which makes it more relatable on top of an already empathetic tale. Hmm... the songs John writes quickly after an art block are real easy to relate to for some reason! ^^;; - The Electric instruments meant the song was omitted from the US version of RS, as they were going for an acoustic only feel. Some people think that was a cool idea, but if it comes at the cost of Nowhere Man, I can't agree!! And of course, while the song is another one of John's autobiographical #mood tunes, the use of this in Yellow Submarine as Jeremy's leitmotif and that gorgeous, lovely animated sequence help this one stick in the noggin even more. I always look forward to hearing it~

But anyway, the music itself has SUCH a beautiful distinct feel to it too, the spoken word intro before the Twang of electric guitar kicks it off! The simple but steady driving bass and drums with beautiful little rolls periodically, the way the song repeats and goes back on itself~ I appreciate how the narrator does offer a little bit of reassurance, too... the Nowhere Man might be going in circles, but there's still hope and potential aid to be found...! Opportunity lies in front of you as long as you can find a path!

Think For Yourself: Here's George's moody number for the album! The buzzing bassy twangs offset by the jingle of what I presume is a tambourine, to match his disinterested lyrics about rejecting someone too keen on hearing his take on things. It's solid and distinct but we still have a ways to go before Peak George (at least, those are my own thoughts, dohoho).

The Word: Hmmm.... this kinda feels like a beta test for what would later become All You Need Is Love, albeit with a decidedly different backing music flavour. Unfortunately the lyrics aren't doing it for me, somehow it feels more repetitive and a bit droning, even though (like AYNIL) it's sending a positive message and psychedelic vibe.

Michelle: I love this one, it's so warm and quite sweet. I'm bad at French so the small amount sprinkled in here sounds convincing enough, I think he's saying something like "My Beauty" "[something something] Very Good Combination" and other such phrases. There's a curious atmosphere, like Paul's already kind of come to terms with the inevitable failure due to the language barrier, but he's indulging in a fun what-if daydream. The loud guitar twangs and gentle pace really sound lovely too~ (Note: Upon googletranslating the French I was a bit off lmao)

SIDE TWO

What Goes On: I want to like this song. I want to enjoy so bad, but I'm afraid I'm struggling to. The backing music is great, and the story being told is solid (if in a Beatles For Sale type scenario lol), but the title getting drawn out over and over kind of irk me. Maybe cause that's where the Harmonies get put instead in a better part of the song? I'm a certified Ringo enjoyer but this doesn't seem to be highlighting his strengths the way previous and future songs do.

Girl: I'm not into ASMR so the part where John goes right up to the mic to suck in air doesn't please me at all! XD;; The rest is fine, I like the gentle guitar rhythm, and the lyrics are clever, but when I keep cringing away from the speakers, it does rather affect my enjoyment of a song.

I'm Looking Through You: Hey, it's the sister song to You Won't See Me! I think this one is a bit stronger. I'm also inclined to wonder if Paul's recurring vagueblogging in song form about his dissatisfaction about his relationship to Jane Asher raised any red flags? I mean damn, twice in one album?! And again in the next one? Still, this one has groovy backing tunes and memorable lines, which YWSM lacked to me.

In My Life: This is another favourite for me! And yet again John's autobiographical lean makes a banger lol. This one is ambiguously framed, it's easy enough to see as Romantic but with how much the past people alluded to, I feel like it makes a better memorial song than the many Lover type numbers they've done. And of course, I must remark on the sped up piano/harpsichord(?) bridge/middle eight (???), as that really gives this already more unique song another serving of special sauce~

Wait: This has suuuuch a great backing instrumental, and the vocals and lyrics ain't bad either~ This feels like (yet) another case where a perfectly good, solid song got overshadowed by the competition, and if it were a non-Beatles release it may've topped charts...! Not to say it's the best of the album or even a favourite, but it's Solid! According to youtube comments, this was actually rejected from the Help! sessions?! If true then that only reinforces my point about how odd the perception is, though it's also possible that they did some improving in the time passing lmao

If I Needed Someone: This one is fine too! I don't have as much to say though, the lyrics are a bit wishy-washy but I can't fault the "Aaaaaaaahhhhhh" harmonies or steady drums :>

Run For Your Life: Oooouuugggghhhhhhhhhhhhh 😬 Isn’t it a shame when an incredible instrumental is tied to awful misogynistic words?! [AVGN Voice] What a shitload of fuck! What were they THINKING!? - Before I heard it I knew there was at least 1 incredibly iffy line, but that was wrong, it's the WHOLE damn thing!

I don't wanna come across as the Purity Culture type, who thinks there isn't room for Le Problematique aspects in art, but the entire song leaves not just a bad taste in the mouth, but it also kneecaps the album at the last hurdle. Rubber Soul is close to a no-skips album for me but this is a bummer. And it could have been amazing if it was less aggressive and unambiguously threatening. Homaging an Elvis line in a way that makes me wanna avoid Elvis songs too. Woopieeee. I know John came to regret this one, and again I emphasise it coulda been great if they didn't pick a shitty gimmick for the Words.

CONCLUSION

Best 3: Drive My Car, Nowhere Man, In My Life

Blurst 3: You Won't See Me, The Word, Run For Your Life

If Help! was the band hitting their stride, Rubber Soul is where they really pick up on speed! Almost every song is either fun, clever, beautiful or just plain catchy, and the ones I'm less into personally remain very strong. I still lament Run For Your Life and find the YWSM/ILTY twins a bit more of a drag, but they aren't numbers where I scramble to avoid the songs as a whole either. And on the other side of the coin are a few I'd call my faves!! In fact, this might just be my favourite album as a whole - if not in the entire release catalog, then absolutely So Far, but time will tell...! So, overall I must brand this album Amazing, while trying to keep in mind the next few that are similar quality but with different flavours, but one at a time XD;;

🪲🪲🪲🪲

The next collection keeps coming around, having some of the most beloved and iconic numbers within and being more of a twirl into the Psychodelic. Revolver shall rotate into position in due time~

[nicsnort]

Gravita Anima (part 5)

Nightcrawler/Fem!OC/Quicksilver Long-form romance and drama fic. Find all the chapters over on Ao3.

Intro (with link to full story) First Previous

Fuck. There were more than Elle had expected. While it was nowhere near the 10000 that some had predicted it was closer to 8000. With far more counter-protesters than she had predicted. Not her counter-protesters. Not the prepared ones. Oh, no. 2000 untrained, nearly unruly, wanna-be gooddoers that did not realize the harm they were actually doing. The sizes of the two protests were far closer in number than was comfortable. About 5500 anti-mutantists and 2500 counter-protesters.

Elle had been running along the front lines where the two protests were starting to meet for the past 2 hours. And she was starting to tire. Incidents kept popping up...she wondered...Iceman or Bobby had tweeted that photo at her. Perhaps she should slide into his DMs and ask them to come if they weren’t aware already. If they had gone to the Smithsonian museum first thing in the morning they might not be…

Then another incident popped up and she was off again.

Being dressed in a nondescript outfit of jeans, a blue t-shirt, and a grey hoodie Elle was able to slip back and forth between the two sides. Her powers only added extra protection as she turned the perception of everyone away from her. Right now she was just a nameless face in the crowd. She had just calmed the tensions between two very beefy anti-mutantists and a few college-aged girls when she felt the buzz in her pocket.

She looked at it expecting to see another alert of a situation down the line but instead saw it was from Lucy. “Near front but constantly moving.” Elle typed back hurriedly.

She saw her Twitter app and opened it quickly. She found the mention of the photo from Bobby and clicked on his name. Damn. Private DMs only. Should she risk at-ing him? Would the X-men make it better or worse?

Before she could decide, another alert sent her heading back towards the end of the crowd. Slipping into the counter-protester side to perhaps run into Lucy.

“All of you back off,” Elle said, not a few minutes later, stepping between those that were screaming at each other. “There is no reason to shout, protest without engaging with each other.”

“Not when this mutie lover keeps trying to take away my rights!”

“Not when this fascist keeps putting his hand on his gun!”

They bickered back and forth shooting off the list of complaints that were just insults and over-the-top rhetoric. Elle was tired, so tired, she was starting to lose control of her own emotions and with that her powers. She slipped up and made the perception that these people had of her change into an intimidating authority figure. “Enough! You! Kelly is about to speak, move towards the center and listen! And You! Move back! Away from the dividing line! Or I’ll call the police over here and have you both arrested for agitation! You aren't even supposed to have guns here buddy so move on!”

Although it was not her intent it got the job done. The group immediately split apart moving away from each other. Once she was sure they had all dispersed she slipped into the crowd of counter-protesters. A hand touched her shoulder and she whipped around quickly, still on edge, only to see Lucy’s familiar face under a black wig.

“There you are!” Lucy exhaled her relief. “I don’t think we should stay here.” Had this been planned by the Senator? Had he expected this, hoped for it? It was a chilling thought, as icy a thought to cool her off in the heat of the crowd and day. She looked around, noticing how there seemed to be louder voices than normal. “There are more cops and people than…”

Elle had just been about to reply that she had to say that she couldn’t leave but a break would be nice when a deafening roar rang across the crowd. She could feel the blood drain from her face. No. No. No!

The crowd buffeted the pair this way and that separating them. This might turn into a stampede. Taking a deep breath Elle tried to center herself but a running man’s elbow whacked her square in the back of the head. Off-balance the next couple of hits sent her tumbling to the ground. Someone grabbed her and helped her up before continuing to run. She couldn’t see Lucy anymore. She must have been pulled away by the crowd.

The crowd around her was nearly gone, however, and now she could see what they were running from. A large man with bulging muscles, a mane of blonde hair, and massive fangs was tearing up a light post.

“Sabertooth,” she muttered in recognition, “the Brotherhood.”

Elle whipped out her phone, miraculous still in her hand, and opened the Twitter app. Hurriedly, she typed out a message to Iceman/Bobby. ‘Brotherhood at protest! Help!!!!  Saverthoth outsid Smith’ 

She had to cut the misspelled message off there as she saw a pillar of fire rise up in the distance. Pyro too! Sending the message she instantly switched her phone to camera mode and began filming live. Sabertooth had finally freed the light post from its roots and tossed it at the retreating crowd.

At the edge of the crowd looking for her friend - wig and sunglasses askew - Lucy saw the lamp post flying at her. She gasped and, without thinking twice, held her hand up. Black ooze flew from her lips and eyes and out towards the light post. The ooze shifted into a solid wall in front of herself and another woman standing there, stopping the post from hitting them. 

She dropped her hand, feeling heavy and weary already -- she hadn’t found time to truly eat yesterday, not really. She felt tired already. Lucy cursed out loud. “Where are the fucking X-men?!” She snarled, more upset with herself than them. This meant they would have to stay...she would have to stay and protect anyone nearby. Pyro and Sabertooth were easily trying to disrupt things...and playing right into the Senator’s hands.

Elle stepped back as the lamp post came in her direction but black goo people stopped it.

“Oh Lucy, thank god,” she exclaimed the camera still focused on Sabertooth.

“Elle,” she sighed in relief and touched her friend’s arm, “you need to leave. Unless you can persuade them to submit, you’re at risk for attack and exposure.” 

“I’m at risk? No, you are. Get out of here Lucy, they won’t even perceive me. I contacted the X-men if they didn’t already know! I need to record them trying to help, it is the only chance this has a way of being salvaged.”

Elle’s eyes flashed to the entrance of the Smithsonian only a hundred feet away. If they had gone there today hopefully they’d be out soon. Assuming they hadn’t been a part of the crowd already. Was that blue? Please let that be blue she saw running out the doors.

“I’m disguised, no one will be able to--” In the midst of her reassurance, Lucy heard a sharp whistle -- the sound of an object flying through the air. Lucy looked up and cursed loudly, holding her hands up and giving a sharp squeak when the air-borne bench slammed into her wall of black void that stood between her, Elle, and the bench. The bench fell to the floor and the wall fell to the ground, ooze once more.

Panting, she looked at her friend. “Move -- we’ve been noticed!” God only knew who else was recording, but right now it seemed that Sabertooth had zeroed in on them. That wasn’t good. Neither of them was trained for any sort of combat beyond basic self-defense.

This was all going horribly wrong -- or horribly right, if she knew the Senator. Lucy stepped forward and, snarling, circled her hands to form a ball. The black ooze reformed from the ground and became a ball between her hands. There were sirens, firetrucks...Pyro was doing some damage. She wondered briefly if avoiding loss of human life would save the mutants in this last-protest bill standing.

Lucy threw the ball towards Sabertooth with a shout, smiling when, instead of catching the ball of void like the man thought he would, it split in two. The two darted towards his wrist and, with her guidance, wrapped around them before they fell to the floor, dragging the monster of a man down with them. Sabertooth was, for the moment, effectively chained to the ground. He roared in protest, the sound making her ears hurt from being within range.

She spun around to shout something at Elle but instead saw...a blue-gray smoke cloud where she had once stood. The scent of sulfur covered the scent of other burning material, distracting Lucy for a moment. A moment was all that was needed for a flaming sign to slam against her, sending her tumbling forward. The wig was on fire, sending the revolting scent of some sort of hair and plastic burning to fill her nostrils. Lucy landed on her back and yanked the wig off, pushing away and crawling back from it. That was all it took to loosen her control on Sabertooth’s ‘chains’ though, releasing him. She felt very little energy left in her reserve. 

Lucy stood, her blond braids coming loose from the style she had had to hide under the wig. She looked around, looking for Elle, unaware that a certain blue tail had wrapped around her, and teleported her away, away enough into safety. She tried to call forth more of the dark energy in her, the stuff from nightmares, but...there was none left. When the woman looked back towards the Brotherhood members, she felt a sharp sense of fear. Something was flying towards her and before she could raise her arms in defense, it hit her and sent her flying through the air and sprawling on the ground. When gravity finally released her from the tailspin, her vision spun wildly. She closed her eyes feeling sick and mouthed the word ‘help’, but easily gave into the darkness.

Out on the National Mall, the X-men had arrived. The group had heard of the protest outside during their tour of the museum and had just been getting lunch when Bobby had seen Elle’s hurried tweet. Now outside they were assessing the situation. First task: protect the civilians, get them away from the Brotherhood.

Wolverine had disappeared on one of his bike trips so was not with them this trip. Leaving Hank as the main muscle. Across the lawn, Beast saw Sabertooth toss a garbage can at an unknown mutant. Getting to all fours Hank launched himself with inhuman speed across the lawn to tackle Sabertooth as he approached the now unconscious woman. His suit tore at the strain and even more so as Sabertooth ripped into it with his claws.

Suddenly Hank saw Rogue’s hands-on Sabertooth’s head and the truer beast sank unconscious to the ground. “You’re bleeding Beast,” she told him and indeed he was. Great scratches were on his arms and back from Sabertooth’s claws.

“I am fine Rogue, I will help take care of civilians. Find Magneto, he has to be around here somewhere.”

Rogue gave a nod and Hank headed towards the unconscious woman. “Well, this certainly explains a lot, Miss Ansell,” he said to himself, picking her off the ground. “Let’s get you to a medic.”

______

Next

Fanfic Masterlist

[golbrocklovely]

sam and colby hell week review

finally sat down to write out all of my thoughts on hell week. i'm gonna break down each video, how i feel about them, rate them, and whether or not i would watch them again.

i also did one for last year so if you wanna see that, here it is.

i'm gonna also do some rankings and maybe a bit of comparison to last years, and what i would love for them to do in the future.

idk if this is gonna be super long or what, but feel free to skip around or just read the ending lol

yorktown hospital: major positives of this video - the group that snc went with. i love nate and seth, and i think all of them together works so well. i think the backstory of this place is horrendous and breaks my heart to hear about all of the terrible things that happened. what i did find funny was that this was the way snc found out that the organized religion can be sinful lol like… did they not know that the church can be corrupt, or did they know and were just surprised? either way, i thought it was kinda funny. the jump-scares throughout this video (at least in the intro/history portion) were not my favorite but it's fine. they definitely put their all into this first video, that's for sure. i think this video was the beginning of showing that snc, for some reason or another, were gonna really be hamming up their comedy bits in these videos. i'm not sure why they felt the need to really go all in on the jokes. i think for this one it was… okay? but as you'll see later in my reviews, i don't think it flies most times. and i think this is the first instance of them (sort of) being told to leave. the stuff that they caught in the chapel, both the first time and the estes method time, was very interesting and creepy. ngl, chapels/churches creep me out… idk why.

so before i started writing my review i watched two witches react to this video, and they talked about trickster spirits playing around with snc a lot in this video. and honestly, i kinda feel like that's the case in some way or another. they also pointed out that sam always go for the darker questions like "are you here to harm us", "are you evil", shit like that. and i never noticed it before until now. and this will also be the umpteenth time i say this but sam, please, for the love of god… STOP TRYING TO CONNECT EVERYTHING IN THE MOMENT.

the hallway investigation was cute, if not a bit dramatic. and the solo investigations were interesting as well. especially with nate and seth and the fogging of the camera??? that was kinda creepy. overall, while they didn't get a shit ton of evidence, i think the general vibe of the video fit well for hell week, especially the start of it.

rating: 4/5

would i rewatch: sure :)

~~~~~~~

mcraven mansion: going into this video, i wasn't exactly excited. mostly bc i wasn't happy about the collab. like, i get that they were on todd and brett's podcast, but what do they have to do with ghost hunting? this kinda feels like a last minute type of deal, like they were supposed to film with someone else but things fell thru. maybe i'm wrong about that tho lol but, surprisingly, this video was pretty okay. i didn't getting annoyed as much as i thought i was going to. this was the shortest video of hell week, and it honestly felt like it too. but at the same time, it kinda dragged a bit as well. also, i'm trying to be more open about ppl randomly being psychic around them, bc i myself also get weird feelings from time to time and i know what it's like to be seen as crazy for experiencing what i have. however, it's really hard to take ppl seriously when they say things all of sudden. especially when it comes out of no where OR they're someone that's never had a paranormal experience before. evidence wise, i don't remember them getting a whole bunch. the door opening, that was kinda spooky. the rempod going off like crazy was also pretty cool. OH THE HOURGLASS. that was very interesting. they should do that more often, especially if they feel like a place or a room is trapped in a time period. and the connection between that opened spirit box section and the tour guide... now THAT is something i would love for snc to do (when they get an editor that can just do their whole video lol) bc if they could back thru their evidence later and either connected it to some history they didn't know or what, i think that would add a whole new level to their videos. honestly, going back thru this video, i didn't realize how much i liked it. but something about it felt really rushed or weird to me. it has potential, but not enough follow-thru. also gotta add it: the phone falling out of brett's pocket was not paranormal lmao

rating: 3/5

would i rewatch: maybe.

~~~~~~~

myrtles plantation: this video, highkey, was such a let down. i think the previous two were so good, especially for beginning hell week videos, and i expected this one to be a bit more solid. i had never heard of this place, so idk how haunted or not haunted it is. but i just feel like… nothing happened. i went into the video one way and came out the other side the same. i just feel very meh about this video overall.

the tour guide was very much… a tour guide lol idk how else to describe it, but she felt like someone trying to sell you on the place being spooky. and a side tangent, how come a lot of these videos don't have outros? or like, them talking about their night stay? very strange to leave out key details like that idk. the group that they were with, nate and amanda… yeah. i guess it worked. i'm always happy to see nate. and amanda is okay occasionally. this time around she wasn't up to her usual antics so i can appreciate that.

the reenactment…. why in god's green earth did snc do that, let alone leave it in? bc fun fact, they literally had a talk with their team before the video was posted about not including it. and i would love to know why no one thought to tell them that maybe it wasn't the most respectful thing to do. not only that, but it wasn't funny. so like… 0-2 there boys. the crystal that amanda gave colby was sweet, but knowing him he's not gonna use it to actually hone in his abilities. and the evil eye bracelets don't technically protect from evil spirits, just made mojo sent to you by humans, but it can't hurt you to have it so whatever. so the investigation itself was… fine, i guess. nothing too crazy. when they split off alone, that was where it got a bit interesting. sam was terrified, which always raises a red flag in me. bc while he can be jumpy or repeating "ooooh mmmyyy goooodddd" a lot, that doesn't mean he's scared. so when he actually is, it's a bit startling to me. the estes method with nate and amanda was actually pretty cool, i think that's where a lot of the evidence they got was the most compelling. and this is also the start of colby's audio being cut off. this happens like two or three more times and it makes no sense to me. idk if it's their camera (which is very possible) or if it's the ghosts, but either way, something doesn't want their conversation with colby to be known.

and the estes method with them all tied up around amanda was weird… but not in a paranormal way lol

rating: 2/5

would i rewatch: no :)

~~~~~~~

trans-allegheny: i liked this video a lot, both when i first watched it and rewatching to do this review. michelle was a great addition to the video. and while she was a bit jumpy, it honestly didn't bother me. i did find it funny that michelle is a badass compared to all the boys, yet she was freaked out the whole time. as for the investigation, again, this was one that fell a little flat, but i don't think it was snc's fault completely. for whatever reason, the ghosts were just not fucking around with them or their vibe. i know the hide and seek game wasn't exactly the best thing for them to do, or the hopscotch trigger event they pulled later, but i don't think they were super disrespectful to the spirits. but the voice they caught saying lily on camera and not in the evp recorder was very compelling. honestly that part was creepy as hell to me. the estes method with michelle... eh. i get she was scared, but this was the only time her jumping got a bit too much for me. also, it's interesting how whoever they were talking to didn't want them there at all. it kinda felt as if some bigger spirit wasn't allowing them to talk to who was actually there. it could be that or the spirits for whatever reason felt disrespected by them.

the hopscotch thing was.......... a thing. why do i have a sneaking suspicion that sam came up with this trigger event lol the hide and seek game was an interesting concept, i guess. props to michelle for hiding bc i would have said absolutely fuck no baby to snc. that voice box that they used towards the end was somehow way creepier than anything else in the video. i think cutting out the radio static makes whatever voices that do come thru all the more scarier. overall, while this video did feel like a filler, i wasn't upset about it. i think it was right on the line of fully fun investigation and filler.

rating: 3.5/5

would i rewatch: yeah

~~~~~~~

old washoe club: so by this point in hell week, i want the scariest, the creepiest, the overall terrifying-est videos snc can give us. halloween is approaching and i want to be spooked. and this video was… not that. i said earlier it was a bit of grower on me, and i can see myself liking it later down the line. and i do think that's the case to some degree. like i said earlier, i watched two witches react to their videos, and this was one of them. so now watching it for a third time just to do this review is not exactly sitting well with me since i still have the same reactions as i did before.

the place itself, honestly, doesn't seem haunted to me. maybe residual energy, sure, but nothing actually demonic or scary. or so i thought for the most part. when kris got scratched, that was really freaky. part of me is bit skeptical, bc i feel like it could have been her (bc snc saying "oh she can't even reach that part" is not believable to me lol all she had to do was stand up straight and i'm sure she could have) but i'll take their word for it that it wasn't her and it was something there that did that. i'm surprised at how well composed she was for this entire video. honestly, when she's not around celina, she does better with paranormal in my opinion. that's not a rag on celina, just an observation i have lol

i will say the only two places that gave me bad vibes was the crypt and the red room. the crypt was pretty weird, and the flashlight literally moving, plus turning on and off like four times while doing so, was very intriguing. and of course it would pick colby. but what i thought was interesting was that, yet again, the audio for him cut out. part of me, again, thinks it might be the camera. i know they have two nightvision cameras, so i wonder if one of them is busted. but then another part of me is like "they've used both before in other videos (literally even the previous one) and it didn't glitch on them that time so… what gives?" but i think my favorite part of the whole video was colby saying "i felt an innocent presence with me". now THAT'S the shit i'm talking about !!! seriously, colby does stuff like that, and it just makes me more excited to see his path going forward with the paranormal.

as for the rest of the video, it was fine. the trigger event this time around didn't feel insulting, so that's nice i guess. and personally, i'm starting to think that little kid spirits just don't exist. nothing they were getting on the spirit box/ovilus was child related. the sls stuff they got was kinda interesting, but also just felt like a glitch to me. but they should pull out that device more often. i think the crystal ball part was a bit… obtuse? like, i get it. they want to do something to open up their psychic abilities, but… maybe read up on it more and not just go out and buy a crystal ball lol and kris standing in that room by herself - props to her. you can just tell she was freaking out and was scared out of her mind. but she remanded decently calm.

rating: a very soft 3/5

would i rewatch: not for a while lol but yeah at some point

~~~~~~~

bell witch cave: i'm gonna say what everyone else is thinking - this should have been the finale. at least, it feels like a finale type of video to me. nonetheless, i think this was their best investigation by far. i think it was on par with the conjuring which is why it also felt like it should have been the finale. the team they were with - fantastic. love the four of them. i think collectively snc always get the craziest stuff with seth and josh (minus the pine barrens which i think is snc's worst video to date, tied with crescent hotel, but feel free to disagree). also, just noticed this now rewatching it, but when they're in the cabin and snc tell josh and seth that they plan to not use equipment first, josh and seth tell them they call that "quiet-game shit" which... is highkey hilarious for some reason lol so the knocking, while it is pretty scary (and probably scarier in the moment), i always wonder if it's just the old ass houses they are in doing that. it's hard for me to wrap my head around a spirit being so strong enough to kill a man, but not strong enough to appear and speak, but instead resorts to knocks? idk. but regardless, i think them being freaked out is what freaked me out the most. bc you can tell when they're all genuinely scared versus hamming it up for the cameras.

but i have to note, that colby saying "in 2021, when we did queen mary, it almost feels like time didn't even go by at all and we're in like the ship for some reason." ....can someone check on him? please? bc that's a bit concerning. but also i need him to elaborate on that thought. do you mean that time feels a bit frozen to you? or was it just in the queen mary itself? or is it even now? bc all of those questions don't exactly lead to the same conclusions.

them using an actual witch to cleanse themselves.... round of applause for finally doing what we've been telling you for FUCKING YEARS TO DO. the onvoy glitching a bunch was pretty interesting, but i still have some issues with that device. but either way, it was confusing as to why that was happening. the cave itself was very spooky. something about this was way more creepier than even the catacombs they went to last year. something about the energy of that place is off. all of them going in and taking polaroids was actually a pretty interesting idea. and i think the execution was awesome and kinda terrifying. the fact that the camera just wasn't taking pics of colby..... immediate chills for me. also sam being that scared, again, spooks me more just bc of how serious he gets. both of their polaroids were weird as hell. it honestly looks like to me that there's a figure behind colby, but it's hard to tell bc of how warped the pic became. seth and josh hearings voices was freaky too. and you could tell they were legitimately scared by them. but i find it interesting that seth and josh's photos weren't all that weird looking. the final part was a bit all over the place, again - probably bc sam likes to connect everything together in the moment instead of just... letting it happen naturally, but i think the conclusion was overall pretty well.

rating: 5/5

would i rewatch: yes

~~~~~~~

winchester mystery house: i think a lot of us were kinda going into this video not excited, bc we know the dynamic kris and celina have. i know i wasn't excited about this video, and especially bc it got uploaded so late that it basically was on halloween, so i wanted something scary. conjuring level.

that's not what we got, but i was pleasantly surprised by this video.

but i do gotta talk about the negatives: the medium, the one present with them, was… idk. something about her felt fake. sorry. especially when she honed in on celina and said "oh you see dead ppl" which like…. what a convo starter. also telling her she needs to love herself and see herself the way others do or whatever. that was sweet, i'll give you that. but like, maybe don't include in the video, boys. it's not connected to the investigation so move it along.

the guides this time weren't as annoying as the last time, if i remember correctly. they didn't seem to be trying to get you to believe the place is haunted, just that there have been some strange stuff going on. i will say tho, this house to me has not a single spirit in it. idk what it is, but nothing about this house feels haunted at all. it feels peaceful in a way, but not haunted. also when they talk about the doors that lead to no where or the stairs that do that, all i can think is there was an earthquake there. shit that once existed does not anymore. maybe that's why shit doesn't make sense layout wise. especially the one door that leads to the outside. clearly there used to be a deck there that isn't there now.

i think this time around the empathy that they have for sarah is a really nice change of pace. i don't think last time they were disrespectful, more so that they just believed that hype of the legend of her being a crazy woman.

the numerology, while i know some of you don't believe it, is what (to me) saved this video from being ass. i think regardless of how you feel about it, it's very intriguing to see how the numbers relate to snc. kris and celina's, gonna be honest, i don't know them well enough to really say one way or another. but snc's numbers are the most interesting to me. so sam's being the guide makes perfect sense, i think. would i say he's colby's guide? maybe yes maybe no. i think sam definitely helps colby a lot figure out what he truly wants to do and has directed him down a really good path in life. i think they mesh well together in a lot of ways. and i think sam's more logical/cynical side gets balanced out by colby's more positive/dream-like side. sam said it once before, that his favorite attribute about colby is his smile bc he always just makes everyone else happy and that is 1000% RIGHT. as for colby's number, i mean… is it suprising to anyone? seriously, i recommend you read up on number 11s and see how much really connects with colby bc highkey some are just spot on.

if anyone wants to know mine, i'm a 2 :)

but back to the investigation portion - while i don't know how much i believe in celina's abilities, i do think she definitely feels things regardless. and that in itself kinda proves she has some ability. i think evidence wise, they didn't catch all that much. the voice they heard, them seeing things possibly, celina following who she thought was sarah… it was sort of compelling, sort of meh. again, the thing that stood out to me was the numerology stuff.

and as for them going thru the house on their own, the audio cutting off on colby AGAIN is insane to me. how is that possible??? and sam being fucking terrified for some reason was really strange to me. his spirits were high all night, but the moment he thought he saw something, he was about ready to shit himself. i'm concerned for him and the way he jumps from borderline cold towards the paranormal to scared shitless. he should really work on finding a middle ground and centering himself when he does get scared.

rating: 3/5

would i rewatch: possibly, but most likely only for the numerology stuff

~~~~~~~

overall rating of hell week: 3.5/5

wouldn't you believe it: i'm basically giving the same rating to hell week as i did last year. bc i realized this half-way thru hell week - both seasons of hell week are like any other season of snc. they just give it a better title. bc think about it, take last year's hell week. everyone i've come across has said that last years was so much better. if that's the case, take out the conjuring finale….. is it really better than what we got this year? bc i don't think so. i think both are on par with one another. hell technically, i did the average score for both hell weeks and this one ranked higher, but by like .01 percent. so that's what i mean. both hell weeks are fine. but they aren't spectacular. snc have a better chance of filming a one off scary-ass video than they do planning to film a scary video.

to quote myself from an ask not too long ago: i honestly feel like both hell weeks were average at best. the only reason the first one felt crazy was bc it was first. also, snc hadn’t been doing all paranormal last year. they started 2021 out with 25x25, then stopped bc it wasn’t gaining views, did paranormal for a hot minute, went to chernobyl, and then did hell week. there had been a long enough pause between content, and i think them going back to the conjuring, alone, added to hell week feeling special. but in reality… it was basically the precursor to what they ended up doing this year. it just felt cooler back then.

here are some things that i would love for snc to do in the future, for both hell week and any other seasons they plan to do:

please, for the love of god, stop freaking out so much. take it down even one notch, and i swear the content will be better.

sam, stop talking over every estes method. stop trying to connect everything WHILE it's happening. do that later, or when the estes method is over.

colby, go to a psychic or witch or something and start reading up on your abilities. i NEED you to be more empathic lol

do at least one investigation per season solo. if you want someone with you in the beginning, sure. but go alone, with just the two of you. bc that content is fire regardless of what you get.

use the sls camera more.

if you can find a way to let us hear what the spirit box is saying during an estes method, that would be awesome.

find a way to go back thru videos after you've filmed them and see if things are connected that you didn't realize before.

maybe tone down the hyping up of every video bc then it ends up being a let down when it isn't the best

if you do hell week again, you gotta post the videos from creepiest to scariest bc otherwise it just ends up feeling a bit mish-mashed

there's probably other stuff i could add, but i'll just let them focus on this lol (as if they'll ever see it)

i genuinely enjoyed hell week, and i'm excited to see what the future holds for snc. i don't see them getting worse, so everything can only go up from here.

ranking of the videos

bell witch cave

yorktown hospital

trans-allegheny

winchester mystery house

washoe club

mcraven mansion

myrtles plantation

[soonie-doongie-and-dori]

Rock-star thoughts

Ok, so. Rockstar came out. And it was, as expected, awesome. I have so many thoughts about the comeback, a lot of which are *incoherent screaming*. But, I also wanted to write about what I thought of the songs overall. So, enjoy the word vomit <3

Megaverse

I've said it once, I'll say it again; the first tracks on skz albums always go HARD.

Absolutely in love with the beginning- Felix singing in french, and I'm in love with Bangchan's verse, it reminds me of the 'break the wall' ateez fanchant for some reason

This is the ultimate hype song, very much following in the footsteps of it's predecessor Hall of Fame

Lalalala

This title track ROCKED (pun intended)

Often, I find that I like the b-sides of skz albums far more than the title track; which really frustrates me, but Lalalala did NOT disappoint. It is the epitome of what a title track should be, since it represents skz so well; unapologetically loud and fun

I absolutely love the wordplay in this album; La means happiness but it also sounds like rock buts it's also la in the sense of lalala. I'm an absolute sucker for wordplay, and this made me feel so happy.

Another hype song, it embodies it's message so well; even though negative emotions exist, joy always comes out on top

I loved the pirate concept of the mv, but I would have absolutely lost my shit if the mv was an actual rock star concept. But pirate skz is also pretty cool

Blind Spot

Our genius Quokka did it again guys

But seriously, I'm absolutely in love with this song. It's my favourite, I'm absolutely addicted to it

This song is Mixtape 2/Behind the Light pt 2. I can't explain myself, it just is. (If you don't remember it, go listen to it!! fr one of the most underrated skz songs)

Bloody hell, I love "Shining, we are the champions,Trying to make a difference" It's truly so good

The opening instrumentals are NO JOKE, they're short but they are so vital to the song

I also love the imagery of a 'Blind Spot' in the song, like it's a part of them that we don't see. I really want to write an entire essay on this song. I might.

Comflex

WORDPLAY AGAIN, 3racha are fucking genius

It's exactly what it says on the label, a(nother) hype song, this one about embracing your flaws & insecurities and being proud of them

It's a self love song, in the most skz way possible. Reminds me of the meme of someone yelling 'HYDRATE OR DIEDRATE' while throwing water bottles at people

If Youtiful was skz telling us that they love us, Comflex is skz screaming at us to love ourselves

Flex your complexes guys!

Cover Me

When I first saw the credits for this song, I screamed a little. I've been waiting for a song written by Hyunjin since he talked about getting into songwriting in the 5-star intro. I was so disappointed when I saw that none of the 5-star songs had Hyunjin as a writer, because I was so sure that one would be there, and then I forgot all about it, so Cover Me hit me like a brick to the face

This song quite literally feels like a warm blanket covering you

Something I found really interesting; I'm usually pretty good at figuring out who is singing when, but damn did this song stump me. It's probably because it was a mainly vocal song, unlike most of skz's songs, but it's still interesting

In a similar vein, FELIX USED HIS MIDDLE REGISTER! Don't get me wrong, I love Felix's deep voice as much as the next simp, but I loved Deep end because it gave Felix a chance to explore range other than the deep voice he always gets handed in songs. I was praying for some songs to allow Felix to use his mid-upper range and I was hopeful when I saw the intro, and Cover Me delivered. I love Hyunjin so much for this

Leave

Skz's latest break up song! Reminds me of Ex

Being honest, I didn't find much special about this song, but it is genuinely a pretty good song

But, the angst is quite nice and it's an excellent song to sob to

Overall

Skz just outdoes themselves every time. I'd describe this album as very evenly split between Head-banging hype songs and ugly crying songs. If they'd have swapped Blind Spot and Comflex, the album would literally be 3 songs of pure hype followed by 3 songs that you're sobbing to. Skz continues to display their range by giving us whiplash with every album. I'm so, so in love with this comeback. The rock ver of lalalala was also a pure genius idea, it brings the album together so well, and it's just plain fun

[pbandjesse]

Today was a much better day. It was very busy but it was a lot better. Emotionally physically. And it wasn't as hot which I think helped.

I slept okay last night but it was not enough sleep and I woke up very dizzy. Thankfully halfway through the day I started to feel more like myself. But I was just a zombie. I was honestly a little worried about driving. But James got me up and I got dressed and I was okay. I just was a little unsettled by everything and just wanted to get to work so I could close my eyes. Driving was really tough.

But James sent me off with instructions to be safe and I wouldn't have a terrible drive. I was just so tired. And a little worried that I was struggling to keep my eyes open so much.

But I made it to camp at 7:55. And I went right to arts and crafts. There wasn't a time for me to set up but I did what I needed to do and I laid in my hammock and just scrolled on my phone for a bit. I was so tired. Honestly I probably should have closed my eyes but I was afraid that I would fall asleep and not wake up. So I just enjoyed being in my hammock and how nice and cool it was.

And it was pretty cool. I was able to wear my button-down shirt that I like to wear at camp and I would be in a better mood once the kids got to me. I did take a little walk to use the bathroom and just stayed in my spaces today.

I was not going to cry today. I was going to have a nice day. And I did have a nice day. The kids were also wonderful. So far I have just had excellent group after excellent group. And that is awesome.

I had my pioneer boys in woodland boys in the morning and they were super fun. It was funny seeing what they decided to make. The older the kids get the more awkward I feel when giving my instructions but I tried very hard to stay on script and make all my same jokes. Nurse Joan and Mirren were there for my intro and they had not seen my spiel and speech before. And they got to hear about the seven things we don't talk about at camp. Officially it is I think five things but we always say "These are the things we don't talk about at camp. 1. People you like. 2. People you don't like. 3. Politics. 4. Prayer. 5. Payment. 6. Profanity. (And then I added) 7. Private parts one. And 8. Private parts too. Which got a huge laugh every time.

I was having a great morning though and it was nice to be able to work on my knitting and hang out with the kids and talk and just feel like things were a little bit more normal.

I would get a lot of feedback about things that were and we're not working in the schedule. Honestly everyone just feels like there's too many programs. And I don't disagree it's a lot. And there's not enough just open free time and I think that we really should consider having some of the unit programs be optional because we are just overloading these kids. But not even just the children the kids. The counselors the kids. Because they're all like 17 18 19 20. There are ones that are older but there are so many of them that are just exhausted. And it's only day two. We feel two weeks in and it's less than 48 hours since Camp started. It's too much and I really hope that we can figure something out for next week.

So after my second program I went to the office with my watermelon and cornbread to eat my lunch while I tried to start working that out. First thing figured out that youth camp has no feel time at all. Oops. So I found three spots where they could have it over the week. And then I would work on just thinking about how we could cut some programs to consolidate and give us some wiggle room. And I thought I might have some ideas for later so I would just work on that best I could for that hour and then ate my lunch and just tried to remain positive.

I did not drink enough water today. I really should have brought my new purple mug with me because that for some reason is really helping me drink water. But I remained hydrated still even if it wasn't with straight water. And it wasn't as hot so it didn't feel as crazy imperative. But I know I will feel better if I drink more water.

The afternoon was a lot because I had four programs in a row back to back to back. But because the kids have been so good and they really like this project it was super easy and calm for me. I had my two day camps, then I had the oldest girls, and then I had horse camp. And it was just such a nice time.

Day camptown was very funny because all they wanted to do was make projects about brands and companies. Like one child made a Tesla cyber truck and two girls made Sephora and one made Ulta. I also had McDonald's, a Burger King, a Walmart, and a Target. It was very funny. And everyone just seemed really like it. I also just really enjoyed talking to the counselors and I was having just a really nice day.

The oldest girls were super easy and they wanted to paint and make bracelets and hang out and I was totally fine with that. And we were just chilling having a nice time. And then when horses came up they were so sweet and they did the project that I planned and seemed to really like it. A lot of kids have left their work behind because I'm going to put them all together to make a big mural tapestry thing and I think that that will be very cool for them to see some of their work all put together and hung up. Honestly I would love to hang it somewhere else besides the art building mostly cuz I'm running out of wall space but I'll figure something out. Even if it has to go in the rafters.

At the end of horse camps program I was so excited that we were all going to the pool. It wasn't really hot enough that I wanted to fully fully swim. Mostly cuz I didn't want to wash my hair. But I would leave them and run down to peeps to get changed. Callie had decorated her side a little bit more and it looks very sweet. She put a whole bunch of stuff on our bookshelf and it just looks so lived in and I love it. It did remind me that I forgot to bring another pillow. But I will be fine tonight I'm sure. Maybe tomorrow I'll go and figure out procuring another pillow. But I quickly got changed and filled my little shower bag and went to the pool.

I will put on sunscreen once I got down there and Katerina made a big fuss about how good it smelled. Because I only use one brand of spray sunscreen and it smells like toasted coconuts and it's beautiful. And then I went and sat in the cove and just enjoyed watching the kids and being in the water even if I wasn't swimming swimming. I was just really happy.

Eventually though I decided to go and sit with some adults. And chatted with Mirren and a couple other people that are new that I don't have their names down yet all the way. But everyone seemed like they were in a good mood and were willing to talk to me about changes in the schedule and things that could be better and I just have to keep reminding everyone but also myself that I have no emotional ties to these programs. They are not arts and crafts. And if they change that's okay. And I am totally down with changing them I just need people to tell me what they want changed and what we're going to do. I want everyone to have a really good summer. That's all I ever want. So hopefully we can figure out a better way as we move forward.

I would go and take a shower and put my mostly dirty clothes back on so I could walk back to my cabin. I got changed once I got down here and felt really nice. I laid down for a half an hour and watched a video and then it was time for dinner.

I wasn't entirely sure how dinner was running this year and it looks like they're doing a girls line and a boy's line which I think is really funny. But I'm glad they have a plan. I joined Blanche's group because I didn't know what we were doing. And we had enchiladas for dinner and it was really good. I would take my enchilada vegetarian meal and get sour cream and more cheese and some lettuce and then I went to go sit down by the pioneer fire pit where there's a picnic table because I decided that wall I am a little lonely sometimes I really do enjoy my own company and I really just wanted to sit and eat alone and not have to pretend that I wanted to hold a conversation because it's entirely too loud in the lodge and I just wasn't feeling it. Not saying that I don't want to hang out with people because I love hanging out with my friends and coworkers here but I definitely needed some time alone after how crazy today was.

Tony would come down and chat with me for a moment but mostly I was left alone. I read my book a little bit. I scrolled on my phone a little bit. And when I finished eating I went back up to tell the chefs how much I liked it. I had a really silly conversation with one of them and we were standing there in Charlotte's like hey I heard we're having tres leches for dinner and I was like excuse me that's one of my favorite cakes. And we were like you're spoiling us You're going to make us fat. And he goes well you know what they say fat and happy. And he's right. I'm just really excited that's so far the food has been excellent at every meal and I don't feel like I have to cry at lunch.

I would go back to the office after that though and after a quick stop over to chat with Tony again about some ideas I had for consolidating the schedule I would go and talk to alexian Heather. I insisted on giving both of them a hug because I felt like we all needed the support in that moment. And then I spent like an hour going over the schedule and I moved some stuff around and I think that I've made some positive changes and I'm hoping that everyone can look at it and give some feedback or make some decisions before I make any other major changes. I think that we're going in a good direction but we are definitely figuring it out as we go.

Finally though I decided that I had to be done for the night. Around 7:50 I walked up to arts and crafts and filled up my water and got a snack and came down to my cabin.

I think I probably would have enjoyed the evening program tonight. They had someone come in with big lizards. But I just could not focus on that and I think that me working in the office made more sense. And now I'm just enjoying sitting down by the pond and CJ is not here yet. She's going to come back around 10:00 apparently. It's her birthday today and I'm glad that she took the day off because she deserves that. And I'm just going to go and watch a documentary and eat my little snack of caramel rice cakes. And drink some water.

I hope you are all drinking water. Being better than me. And I hope you sleep really good tonight. Tomorrow is one of my shorter days and I hope that it is really nice. And I hope that you all have a great day. Even if it rains. I hope that you feel really good. Good night everybody.

[unsleepingtales]

MENTOPOLIS REACTIONS EPISODE ONE

Here we go babeyyyyyy. (this is so long. you have been warned.)

Right off the bat the cc says (cool opening noir music) and I'm in love

Mind of a scientist ok!!

brainstorm I'm dying already

HE'S BEEN HERE THE WHOLE TIME <3<3

I'm so excited for Hank Green in the dome guys

Also I love that Hank gets to show just how big a dropout fan he is here

I love that they hacked the system by hiring the people who wrote the original system lmao

God the table is SO COOL

Oh god is this gonna be corrupt

It would be so cool to see theoretically moral 'people' have to deal with being the mental functions of a not necessarily 'moral' person

closeups on the buildings this is SO cool

Dome antics AND light antics??? We're being so spoiled this season <3

First episodes are usually one of my favorites in any given season because I love getting introduced to the characters and watching a story get set up and this looks to be no different

I love the custom office scene for Trapp is there going to be a unique backdrop on the dome for each intro??

Brennan found a list of slang terms for detectives somewhere and decided to have a good time huh

A rubbery kinda guy

Tropes!

I for one LOVE the puns

Siobhan is gonna kill it as a femme fatale I can already tell

They're being so dramatic I love them I love this so much

ooh okay different time system? That's really interesting I wonder why like is it just because the scale is smaller or is there some larger reason within the world logic?

"I understand the sequence of the words you've said, I don't understand how it involves me just yet" FELT

ooh that's a cool feat

what the fuck are you two talking about

they have a mayor?

Does stuff being in the newspaper mean that it comes to the attention of the big guy?

(nat one sound) I love that that's a normal caption <3

Halving mechanic my beloved!! King Solomon that shit

(sad, New York accent) me every day of my goddamn life

is one of god's own children a real saying that I've just never heard in my life

Brennan was just waiting for Danielle to ask what their name was and I'm so glad he was able to slip it in even though she didn't

Norrel Ojiccle I'm gonna lose my mind

The clunk means failure :D

Entirely unrelated but I can't wait for merch of this season I just know it's gonna slap

so many reporters, just one fact checker. so real.

Ooh okay so A probably has ties to a rich/powerful family but left to make her own way

So when an attention being goes somewhere it actually calls the big guy's attention to it? Like if A went to the red light district it wouldn't matter if she reported it or not, the very fact of her being there would do something?

"I heard you say a lotta words there but deep down I really don't wanna pay attention" FELT

Also the word play of he doesn't want to pay her. Because she's A Tension.

Also I didn't write it before but. I think there's more going on with her name than just being a play on attention. Tension means something else. We've gotten clues that the Pulse family has impact on the big guy's actions, implying that they have something to do with the circulatory system, I'm thinking something similar could be going on and that the ties A has could be to a musculatory family? Idk maybe I'm clowning.

(making those sounds you make right before sneezing) cc writers I love you

I was prepared to have mild distaste for this character I was not prepared to be charmed

I love that the names in the red light district all seem to be things that feel good or are a luxury or connect to a physical pleasure trigger in the body I think that's neat

Dan Fucks and Donny Urges. Man.

Ohohoho intrusive thoughts. Oh boy.

The lighting on Brennan's eyes as he said that lmaooo

That one time a barber whispered in your ear. Is this just like a universal experience.

It's not sexual. It's also not not sexual. (being satisfied) it's nooOt sexuAl

oh my GOD oxytocin being hot chocolate but also oxytocin being outlawed because the big guy is lonely and touch starved

I silence with my arms. Also my gun, if necessary. I love you.

Why is he vaguely french

The big guy doesn't DESERVE pleasure???

Deserve.

Hmm.

(saying "yeah" back and forth in increasingly horny ways)

(Hank trying to control his laughter and himself)

(weirdly tense mouth sounds)

They're all so delighted by what's happening this is wonderful

Nobody's allowed to feel good until the job is done this is such neurodivergent guilt shit. This is gonna nerf me I think.

You're telling me that the giant hitman has bad sneak? Unbelievable.

Tropes!

I am once again begging for posters of the dome art. Please. Like retro style travel posters.

oh he's good at this. he's really good at this.

fuck why was that kind of hot.

(Brennan silently laughing in terror and awe) me too babe meee toooo

He can use sharp instead of slick 'cause he's Menacing another cool feat!!

Also yeah that is menacing

I don't think Brennan was prepared to be that flustered and honestly besties neither was I

Hank's satisfied little smirk <3

Trapp so fed up and simultaneously delighted with the puns

But what happens when he's hyperfixated on something that is of no use to the main ambitions of the big guy? What happens to him then?

He's so prepared for it to be a pun

He feels a feeling that he does not know and is not comfortable with. I was so right when I said the audhd rep (explicit or otherwise) would nerf me in the emotions.

Ooh I just noticed on the map it looks like the university is in the red light district? Fascinating.

"Would a good guy do a bad thing?" oh my GOD??

I gave him all the facts and he made a choice KIDDO

He put the papers out of order on purpose?

(old timey speech music)

And all of this makes sense!

Bonjour, hello- Oh well I don't speak that!

"Please reconsider" reconsider what?? Just the illegality of it? Or did he get rejected for a job or smth? I feel like I'm overthinking this.

OOH STAT BREAKDOWN LOVE IT

Are they gonna alternate spellings of his name because if so that's hilarious

My MORTAL ENEMY (referring to a child that was introduced as small, too small, and whose character sheet refers to him as teeny tiny.)

We need lore on the Fakename family please

Oh of course they know each other!

Does that imply that Imelda is somewhat related to intrusive thoughts?

They also know each other!

Babe what are you saying

Notably slightly shinier than most rocks!

It's very satisfying to me that Conrad's stat dice are in descending order.

Wayward interests...

That's not what a superlative is?

OKAY I'M GLAD HE AGREES WITH ME

I love him

The wayward interests are past hyperfixations?? Or maybe interests that were deemed unhelpful?

They both know so many facts this is going to be a wonderful season

I like when it is very clearly explained thank you

What are youuuuu

List of Lists kid <3

Oh my god magic kid. I'm gonna cry.

Key??

Okay so she has an insane amount of power.

Cousins! Ok!

A also has a key! Noted!

Is this kid about to get shot

oh GOD WHAT

Oh what have you done

I loved that so much cannot wait for next week <3

[pogidoow]

Frozen Creative Notes Volume 2 Part 1 | Chapter songs edition

Volume 1 | Chapter Titles edition

Some more extra content for the few readers who actually listen to the chapter songs or songs I sneak into the story.

Spoilers ahead up to chapter 15 so read at your own risk!

Chapter 1 Song | Firestarter by The Prodigy: The Prodigy is one of my all time favorite bands so it was only right to start the story off by making one of their songs an intro to Frost as a character. The moment Firestarter came on, I thought "this is Frost" because it foreshadows her personality and temper, along with the past she's known for, and hints that she's bringing that trouble with her. Additionally, I found it cool that there's a "Hey" repeating throughout the song. It's like she's greeting the TF141 as she joins the team, saying "Hey, I've arrived to complicate your lives."

2. Chapter 2 Song | it’s ok, you’re ok by Bonjr: although, it's an instrumental song, the title is relevant as it's what the officer says to little Frost once he finds her ("It's ok, you're ok. You're safe."). It's the first bit of comfort she ever receives from another person.

3. Chapter 3 Song | Conspiracy by Paramore: Frost finds out that the team lied and knew about Doberman before her transfer. Then, Price went behind her back and invited Keegan to join them on the mission. At this point, she still doesn't trust the team and realizes that the power she had as a solo operator is now fading. She begins to understand that she depends on the decisions of the team.

4. Chapter 4 song | Arrow by Surf Curse: This song is about what's going on inside Frost's head. It's the first time readers get a glimpse of her vulnerability, the way she deals with all the trauma she carries with her, and how bad she is at understanding her own emotions.

5. Chapter 5 Song | Night out by Radiator Hospital: Oopsie. This was just straight foreshadowing of what happens to Sergeant Bo.

6. Chapter 6 Song | It's All So Incredibly Loud by Glass Animals: We're inside Frost's head again. She's struggling with the loss of Bo and her guilt.

7. Chapter 7 Song | Tears by Boy Harsher: History repeats itself. Price asks Frost to join Las Cuchillas again. The song focuses on her discomfort at the thought of going back and foreshadows the origin of her knife throwing skills ("follow the knife").

8. Chapter 8 Song | Knife Prty by Deftones: Once again, a simple play on words. Frost takes on the members of Las Cuchillas, stealth-style with knives. The song foreshadows Frost's successful initiation and Carmen's pining for Frost in the following chapters.

9. Chapter 9 Song | Ese Hombre by LA INDIA: I fucking adore this song. Basically, the whole song is about a horrible man the singer is in a relationship with. She spits at his face, devours him. It's iconic. BUT although she hates him, he is still her man. This is how Carmen sees Frost. Frost has done her wrong, but she's still her Cocaina.

How can you not love it? She goes off lmao.

10. Chapter 10 Song | Reckoner by Radiohead: Aww this one. This one makes me siiiick. We're in Soap's head now... That sweet idiot. Soap risks his life to see and check on Frost while she's out with Las Cuchillas. The main reason for this song choice is the melody. It's as if I'm listening to Soap's desperation to save Frost in a form of a melody, how his thoughts and his heart tear at his helplessness. There's also this very simple line that perfectly explains his need to protect Frost at that very moment:

11. Chapter 11 Song | Summer Again by The Wytches: Frost loses Carmen. The grief is too much for her. She decides to leave. The whole song is just... just listen to it. It's an incredible musical depiction of vulnerability and pain. I feel like someone is tearing my heart open when I listen to it.

First line: Frost never got to tell Carmen how much she actually did care about her, second line: Frost is sitting on the floor with Carmen's body in her lap, third line: Frost decides to run away

12. Chapter 12 Song | Bad Timing by dEUS: Pretty self-explanatory. Frost comes back, only to find Soap and Jazz in her room. We all remember this one. Ouch.

13. Chapter 13 Song | You Do Something To Me by Paul Weller: The team goes on a team building trip. She's still in denial, but Frost realizes she has some kind of feelings for Soap since she is bothered by Jazz and they have a brief tense moment after the volleyball match. Beautiful song.

14. Chapter 14 Song | Vale by Maribou State: Frost starts pining for Soap, badly. She's barely holding herself together next to him, especially on the beach after the kayaking accident. The song shows Frost's internal vulnerability, excitement and realization that she does in fact, feel him.

15. Chapter 15 Song | Die On A Rope by The Distillers: Love the energy of this song and thought it would be awesome for an action-packed chapter. Also, a pretty literal play on words. Ghost and Frost are stuck on a cliff. Ghost urges her to jump to him but she's reluctant to do it. Will she jump? Will they die on a rope if she does?

---

That's it for Part 1. Let me know if you'd like Part 2!

[saebaragi]

ranking nine percent's to the nines album just because

this was so hard to rank omg

#7: RULEBREAKER

first of all, sorry i didnt put the music video, is cuz this is focused on the song, the music video is distracting ok! i was surprised myself that i ranked this #7, i love rulebreaker very much and i'm sure she would be higher here if zhengting had more lines. just kidding (or not), i'm obssessed with rulebreaker, i mean it, don't get me wrong, the only reason shes last is cuz the other songs are just that good. i think rulebreaker is really special and the perfect title track for their debut

#6: GOOD THINGS

this one also surprised me while i was making the rank! i ove good things, shes so sprecious i don't know what i would do with my life if she didnt existed! i love my nine vocalists!! my boys can sing!!!

#5: EI喔EI喔

i think this one is c-fans favourite cuz shes the only one i can still listen to on spotify cuz i found this account that shares songs that are popular on douyin. if thats the care, i see their vision, ei oh ei oh is a great song with a refreshing summer vibe that is just so adictive and mesmerizing

#4: 离不开

talking about songs with distracting music videos, this one is so emotional... is a shame zhengting doesnt have more lines, i'm convinced iqiyi hatewd giving my boy lines, but is whatever ig, shes a really good ballad and i love her

#3: 一起跳舞吧

i have no words to describe my feelings for this one, shes iconic, shes exciting, shes fun, i used to put her on my alarm when i had to wake up early for therapy and it was really cool to wake up to so much good energy

#2: I NEED A DOCTOR

best ballad in the world, queen of the iconic bridges, miss mesmerizing music video, really, i could have putted the mv here but lets not lose focus i can talk abou i need a doctor musicvideo some other time, for now lets talk about how geniously she was constructed, xukun's intro edited like that starts the song already very heavenly, then we have yanjun's beautiful voice right after????? urgh shes (i need a doctor) is historic!!! and dont even let me get started on the brigde, is just too good, sometimes i can't believe this song is real

#1: 了不起的9%

friends and non-friends HER!!!!! as the name of the song implies, this is nine percent being extraordinary, this is nine percent being amazing, this is nine percent showing what they were here for!! i'm very addicted to justin and zhangjing's voices in here, and zhengting opening the brigde is always a promising formula. i love listening to her at the gym cuz it makes me forget that i actually hate the gym and also she never fails to give me a energy boost

[breaking news!] i think we as a society were so much better with nine percent, like, 2018-2019 was the best years of my life, you think is a coincidence? i don't think so. even if iqiyi was kinda homophobic for not giving them more songs i stilll treasure this 7 little ones with my whole being and i'm happy and proud of my 9 boys for all they accomplished since then (and if i wake up in the middle of the night wanting to scream and cry "nine percent pls come back to me" that's like, unrelated)

[dontcrybecauseitsoverr]

update

Im about to graduate omggg, as usual, no one knows about this tumblr in my life, so that’s cool. Kaylee can know idc lol. But, somethings in  my life just don’t add up. I have a gf who I do love, and adore and all of this, but man our communication sucks, on her end, she just doesn’t text me or snap me for hours sometimes… for no reason lol, but snap score goes up but she doesn’t reply? Hurts a bit, I don’t feel like a priority in her life, she isn’t open with me about things, I have to fight to get answers out of her, and she just doesn’t tell me stuff. We’ve been dating for 5 months! Like what! Lol! I just don’t get it.so like what do i do...were not going to see each other for the entire summer. this is my longest relationship, as yall know they dont go too hot lololol. so many posts on here about gf’s and shit, i would be ruined if anyone found this, but this name is not associated to anything else of mine, unless someone like reverse searched the image, who knows. this is just my thoughts as they are thought of on paper, im sitting here listening to taylor swift, deciding about big things in my life. im going to maine for the summer month and a half or so, either i can have all the sex up there with my ex, a threesome, my bff cas who ive all fucked before lol, so thats funny. BUT, 3 months without her :L i wont even be able to see her at allll her dads a dick. i swear to god if we aren’t able to FT like 1-2 times a week, that is really gonna take a hit. theres no reason to not be able to ft me with airpods in, and all this shit, like come onnnnn do u really not want to talk to me. i just feel like this is going to end up in a text break up, i really dont want it. but shes stuck with me and my quirks and issues for 5 months! thats a long time! so who knows, i want it to work but it just may get so unberable at some point, im gona talk with her tho at least. also i just was reading up about how the brain processes near death experiences, and how wack the gamma rays are or something. and i recalled the time in senior year, when my friend was driving and making a turn into school across a busy road. (two years later a family of 4 got killed in the crash, actually by someone i knew in the dmv auto club, he went to jail, my friends and i did the math on the car crash - guy was going 125 mph when he hit them. 1 girl survived out of the family of 4. terrible) but, a car was really going fast coming towards us, and i thought it was gonna clip us, and i was in the backseat, i swear i had a marvel intro style play in front of my eyes, just flashing through life events, i couldnt even see the car coming per say, just the images that i cared about most in my life. and then we passed...and it was like nothing happened. this got off topic, but so do all my other posts. i just dont know what to do. she failed out of her student teaching this semester, and i felt i was at cause, but i dont think so. she said her mom was very upset with her, after the school stuff, and failing the driving test. but all she does all day is sit and watch tvvvvvv mannnnnn, ive tried so hard to get her to do things, and be productive and get her out of the dorm because i know what that life is like, failing out, and having no prospect, because ive been there so many times. ive been to 4 colleges! and she just doesn’t want to involve me, or just seems like she cares about me. i want it to work, i mean god, what breaking up for a month and a half just for a crazy sex summer? seems like an issue to meee lolol. not really looking forward to maine, but gotta do whatcha gotta do. fucking hell i graduate in 10 days what the hell its taken so many years im just numb to it i feel, everyone else cares way more than i do, and its gonna be a shame to try and express happiness and joy when im more just like thank god lol. anyway thats my late night talk i guess, lol goodnight?

[porter-pumpkim]

Amphibia Owl house crossover AU,

Blights of Amphibia

so, an AU I came up with, not an original concept but eh I find it fun,

for some reason the box is on the boiling isles, maybe Leif thought both herself and the box would blend in better so she could hide the thing and it would just get lost in the magic artifacts.

later in the story the box is found by the blight siblings, most likely Edric and Emara rummaging around the night market, possibly even sold to them by Eda. (This comes from that scene in knock knock knockin on hootys door, where the calamity box makes a cameo appearance on one of Eda's shelves in the background right before the Luz and Amity boat ride)

Edric and Emara take the box home with them, showing their cool find to amity, most likely cause of the "cool gems" on it, meanwhile Amity protests on where they even got it, but the twins brush her off and open it, BOOM! cue intro!

Surprisingly our main character is Edric! who got the calamity gem of heart, and landed near Wartwood, shocked, frightened, and yet surprisingly free feeling, this lovable idiot wanders the woods accidentally horrifying frogs and damaging his self-esteem until one of his traps accidentally catches Sprig. Cue the first episode!

During the story of this AU Edric is adopted by the Plantars and quickly becomes Sprig and Pollys chaotic magical older brother, to Hop pops annoyance. most of the episodes are probably Edric causing problems on purpose, getting himself in trouble, and having to fix it.

Also, I'm pretty sure Edric is goanna be best friends with One eyed Wally.

As for Amity and Emara.

Amity landed near Toad tower. becoming the gem of strength, it took some serious effort on the toads end to try and capture her due to her abomination magic, which the toads had never seen before, and where quick to inform Captain Grime about. Grime was incredibly curious of Amity's power, and what Amity even was, questioning her on if any more like her where out there, and finding out there where when he found Edric's shoe near Wartwood, still amity is stubborn and won't admit any information on her siblings.

Similar to Sasha, Amity used her experience with social manipulation on the toads to put them on her side, although her approach included less sugarcoating and a bit more aggression in her tone and words, she wasn't as successful as Sasha, but she at least had Percy and Braddock on her side.

The day the herons' attacked amity was quick to fight them, scrounging any materials she could for some sloppily put together abomination goo. Amity's skills in combat, her power, and formerly shown ruthless and cunning nature impressed Captain grime, and he decided to convince Amity to help defeat the herons, and after the battle offered her a position as his lieutenant in the toad army, to rule over Frog valley with almost ultimate power, and of course, being raised in a household where power and rank are everything, amity agrees, and joins the toad army.

While in the toad army amity goes even further down the rabbit hole of living up to expectations she would rather not in the name of keeping her rank than she was in the series, as she's changed her success strategy from purely academic, to military, still using emotional manipulation and other tactics when needed, but also using her abominations to scare frogs and toads into submission.

Emara ended up in Newtopia as the gem of wit.

Emara was also very stunned and confused after opening the box and suddenly landing in what appeared to be some kingdom entirely different from the boiling isles, as everyone appeared to be weird demons as far as she was concerned, not a witch in sight.

something that stung even more was that as soon as the residence of Netopia saw her, they started screaming about her being a hideous monster. Emara tried to explain herself to those who found her, but now she sounded like a monster that hit its head too hard and was a little nuts. A representative of Newtopia, Lady Olivia, was sent to check up on the commotion caused by this strange newcomer, claiming the king wanted to see her, understandably, Emara was worried, but figured eh, why not? if things went wrong enough, she could just poof out with some illusions.

Emara and Andiras don't really have the same click as Andrias and Marcy, though Emaras sarcastic and whitty nature does slightly remind him of how Leif was before everything went wrong and she touched the box, leading him to still have a connection with her, although a different one, he is also interested in her power, as Emara probably set up some illusions during their meeting, no doubt a selling point Andrias used in convincing the core she could be useful to them if kept alive.

During Emaras stay she was excited by having what seemed to be true freedom for once, although not being a great bridge builder like Marcy, she probably took up any adventures and jobs that seemed exiting, most likely ending up on the war ship with General Yunnan, fighting the giant snake, and dealing with the creepy cult, possibly even getting her own variant of Joe Sparrow, completely unaware of Andrias's bigger plans for her, and her siblings when she finds them.

I do want to draw more of or make comics of this AU when i have time, but I really wanted to just talk about it first, I still have some arks to work out, such as if any of the siblings knew what the box would do, or some of the character arks, plus what happens when they go back to the boiling isles, especially when it comes to Edric trying to find a place for the Plantars without Odalia kicking them out.