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anyroads · 2 years

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OK you know what, if we're gonna talk about Bake Off then fuck it, let's do this.

It used to be this wholesome, lovely show! We used to watch it for the bakers! And the learning! And the light banter and occasional bit of coy innuendo! What happened?

Channel 4 happened. When they bought the show they made a number of changes, most of them Not Good™️. Not just in the sense of them resulting in a lot of 😬 and 🫠 moments, but in the sense of how they changed the show's purpose, atmosphere, and brand.

Look, I know most people are just like, "whatever, it's just a baking show," and yeah, sure. But it's one of the UK's most successful TV exports, and where it once shifted the tone of reality competition to being wholesome and supportive of contestants, it's since moved towards creating tension at the contestants' cost. So aside from the fact that most people watching it signed up to watch a nice show, it has also shifted the goalposts of what that even means. And that, lovelies and gentlefolk, is some bullshit.

I decided to break my rant analysis into four main parts: theme weeks, the hosts, the judges, and the bakers. Let's get to it!

Theme Weeks:

If you watch Bake Off, you know the show's always had a specific theme for each week. The staples that come up in most seasons are:

cake

biscuit

bread

pudding/dessert

pastry

patisserie

Less common but consistent are things like caramel and chocolate week.

Then there are the fun episodes! When GBBO was on the BBC, this started out with things tea week, tarts, pies, tray bakes, basically little tangents still focused on emphasizing specific baking skills. In Series 6 (still on the BBC) they had their first nation-focused theme week with French week -- fairly innocuous given that a lot of patisserie is French, France and England share much more culture than either cares to admit [Norman Flag dot gif], and it was a nice change from watching Paul make the bakers do recipes that involved boiling things while talking about how wonderful boiled doughs are (are they, Paul? Are they?).

The show kept mixing it up with innocuous themes like advanced dough and alternative ingredients weeks, European cakes, Victorian week, batter week, and botanical week. And while it was frustrating to watch Paul Hollywood mispronounce things like the Hungarian Dobos Torta and lecture bakers on babka when he clearly knew nothing about it (or about Jewish baking in general, go off Past Me), the show's general attitude was that the judges had their own opinions, which were separate from the immutable facts around the chemistry of baking (more on this later) and shouldn't affect how bakers are judged.

After the show moved to Channel 4, the number of themed weeks increased and more of them focused on specific countries. In 6 seasons on the BBC, there were only two country-focused theme weeks, and in 5 seasons on Channel 4 there have been five. And while they've also had themes like vegan baking, roaring 20s, the 1980s, spice week, etc. the show has really started to go hard on exoticizing other cultures in outright disrespectful and racist ways. There's been Italian and Danish week, German, Japanese (it wasn't, it was East Asian week), and now Mexican week (which doesn't touch on interspersed Jewish bakes that didn't get a theme week, like versions of bagels and babka set as technical challenges that were borderline hate crimes and mansplained by a guy who has no idea how to make either and once wrote in a cookbook that challah was traditionally eaten during Passover). Each time the hosts played up the theme with racist bits and jokes that can be used as evidence in court if your case is "why should shows with scripted content have a professional writing staff."

Which touches on other issues the show has now...

The Hosts:

When GBBO was on the BBC, the show was hosted by ✨Mel Giedroyc✨ and ✨Sue Perkins✨. They encouraged the bakers! They'd hold stuff for them sometimes! They were interested in them! If a baker had a breakdown, they would start singing copyrighted material to render the footage unusable! When the show moved to Channel 4, they left, though I'm not unconvinced that Channel 4 offered them impossible to accept contracts to force them out so they could rebrand the show. They replaced them with Sandy Toksvig and Noel Fielding. Sandy was a lovely host in the vein of Mel and Sue, and she and Noel had a relatively sweet rapport, but she left a few seasons ago and was replaced by Matt Lucas.

Noel Fielding is mostly known for his quirky brand of comedy, a sort of British Zooey Deschanel who's goth from the neck up, an upperclass British gay divorcee from the neck down, and basically an early 60s Beatle re: trousers. Matt Lucas has almost definitely never watched a single episode of GBBO and his most redeeming quality is his thinly veiled contempt for Paul Hollywood.

The two treat the baking tent as their personal playground. Far from the supportive attitude of Mel and Sue, they tend to get in the bakers' way during the most stressful moments, especially when they try to do hilarious "comedy" bits (I can't not put that in quotes) like Noel's talking wooden spoon thing, or Matt talking over Noel to do time calls. During theme weeks like Japanese and Mexican week, they do culture-specific bits that are both racist ("just Juan joke" and "is Mexico a real place?") and unsurprising, given that both Matt and Noel did blackface on their respective sketch shows and absolutely could and should have known better because it was already the current fucking century.

All this to say, there's now a separation between the bakers and the hosts, as if they're on different shows. The hosts are doing their own thing and the bakers are doing GBBO. The show has gotten meaner to the bakers, and the hosts aren't there to support them anymore, they're just there to be comic relief. Because when you refocus your show on stressing the bakers the fuck out, you need a forced laugh I guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

The Judges:

First of all, a sincere congratulations to Paul Hollywood who managed to squeeze I jUsT cAmE bAcK fRoM mExIcO aNd YeT sTiLL pRoNoUnCe PiCo De GaLLo As 'PiKa De KaLLa' and I aM aN eXpErT oN s'MoReS wHiCh aRe MaDe WiTh DiGeStiVe BiScUiTs AcCoRdiNg tO mE, aN eXpErT oN s'MoReS, just two in a giant pile of astoundingly wrong hot takes, into a short enough time span that they all aired within Liz Truss's term as Prime Minister. A true man of accomplishments.

In the interest of fairness, I need to preface this with a disclaimer that, due to the fact that I've been watching Bake Off for most of its run, I'm biased. Specifically, I can't stand Paul Hollywood's smarmy, classist, egomaniac ass because he's proven time and again he's more interested in looking smart than actually knowing what he's talking about. Since the show moved to Channel 4, they've changed the occasional handshake Paul would give bakers to the HoLlYwOoD hAnDsHaKe™️. It's gone from being an emphasis of someone's skill to a goal, a reward, and one that emphasizes the judges' place above the bakers.

The judges used to function as teachers, imparting their skills and insights to the bakers. When the show was on the BBC, the voiceover leading to a judging would focus on the bakers' work being finished, saying how it will now be evaluated based on their skill and how well they met the brief. The voiceovers now, on Channel 4, focus on the judging (literally saying something along the lines of, "the bakers will now be judged by Prue and Paul"). There is a clear distinction Channel 4's producers have made, to mark that the show is now about whether or not the judges approve, not whether the brief was understood and executed well. On the BBC, it was irrelevant whether the judges liked a particular flavor, as long as the bake was well-made. Now, the bakers are expected to know the judges tastes and cater to them, which is frankly bullshit. A judge doesn't have to like a flavor to know whether or not it was executed well, ie. is it carrying a bake and was it meant to etc.

The judges have been turned into a brand. Cynically, Channel 4 knows that by building them up and focusing the show more on them, they can exploit their image more for profit. In the process, they've become much more biased and their own biases have come out as well. Most recently in the flaming dumpster fire that was Mexican Week, Paul Hollywood tried to intimidate a baker by telling them he had just gotten back from Mexico (which must have been a fruitful learning trip if he couldn't even learn how to pronounce pico de gallo correctly). Where do I even start with this? Here's an amateur baker from England (the show specifically casts middle and lower middle class bakers for the most part??) who likely can't afford trips to Mexico, who lives in a country with incredibly limited access to Mexican cuisine, who is expected not only to understand the cooking and baking traditions of a completely different culture but to do so well enough to play with it and do something creative with it. On top of which, one of the judges is now using his privilege of traveling halfway around the world as some kind of leverage, as if this were a bar that any amateur British baker could clear.

Prue, meanwhile, has openly asserted her biases against cultural flavors and textures, prioritizing her own personal preferences over them, as if they were in any way relevant to the skills and knowledge necessary to execute the tasks she sets to the bakers. She has also been consistently elitist, criticizing bakers for choices they made that were clearly informed by their experiences within income brackets that are too low and foreign for Prue to comprehend. She once had a go at a baker on a Christmas special because his Christmas dinner themed bake didn't have a turkey, even though it was clear from the stories he shared of his own Christmases that his family likely couldn't afford one. "It's not really Christmas dinner without a turkey," Prue said into the camera angrily while sitting on a chair made of live orphans and telling the ghost of Christmas Future to come back when he had another museum gift shop necklace for her to round out her collection.

The show is no longer about which baker has the best skills. It's become about which mortal can appease the gods of Mount Olympus, ie. the judges.

The Bakers:

Remember when the show was about them? Channel 4 doesn't! Because this is a reality competition show, the bakers are chosen both based on their skills, as well as cast-ability. They're cast as characters, distinct from each other, from different areas, age groups, ethnicities. All of them are amateurs. All of them are middle or lower middle class. They've ranged from college students to supermarket cashiers to prison wardens to scientists.

Something I noticed when the show moved to Channel 4 is that the baker who goes home in the first week is always wildly behind the rest in skills. I have no proof of this other than my eyeballs and deductive reasoning skills, but I think that Channel 4 deliberately casts a ringer each season who they think will be an easy send-off in the first week, just to get the audience's feet wet.

Anyway, like I said, this show used to be about the bakers - about them building skills and learning, and having walked into the tent with a self-taught foundation and understanding of the processes and chemical reactions involved in baking. When the show was on the BBC, the end of each round had some (often brief) moments of tension - will they finish in time? Will they get their bakes on the plate before time is up? Did they forget to add sugar to their batter and only remember at the last minute? In the end, they usually managed to finish and we'd all breathe a sigh of relief and think, yeah! You go, Bakers Who I'm Rooting For!

Now, on Channel 4, the end of round drama has been stretched to be so much longer that they've composed extra music for it. The bakers often seem out of their depth, whether because the instructions for the technical challenge are too vague (bake a lemon meringue pie??? As if anyone in the UK under the age of 60 has had one in the last decade???), or because they were expected to bake something that required a more than a basic foundation they weren't told of. Often it seems like they just aren't given enough time, a tactic used by reality competition shows to manipulate contestants into giving the cameras more dramatic content. On top of all this, the hosts get in their way, instead of helping them plate their bakes. As has been pointed out before, when everyone fails the challenge, the real failure lies with whoever set it.

In conclusion:

The show no longer exists to teach the bakers - and the audience - skills or knowledge. It now manipulates contestants for dramatic effect and prioritizes showing conflict over wholesome content. Channel 4 sees the bakers as social media content they can churn out season after season, and don't care about them because in a few months there'll be a new batch to exploit. Meanwhile, the judges are also out of their depth, co-opting recipes from other cultures and butchering them horrendously, while the camera gives them nothing but status as they hold bakers to the expectation that they learn how to make things very much the wrong way. If you saw any of the tweets about Mexican or Japanese week, or read my post on how Paul Hollywood isn't allowed to go near babka ever again, you'll understand.

So what would fix all this? Scrap the current judges and the hosts altogether. Bring back Mel and Sue, and replace the judges with expert bakers who have a love of their craft and want to share it with others. The draw of GBBO used to be its warmth and comfort - if Channel 4 isn't going to start its own version of Master Chef For Bakers, then it needs to stop trying to find a balance of how it can insert that vibe into GBBO. It can't. That's not a thing. Stop trying.

#GBBO #paul hollywood #prue leith #the great british bake off

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mollysunder · 1 year

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Lunari Heritage in Zaun

This is gonna be a reach, but from the little we've seen of Vi and Jinx's mom and younger Silco, I'd guess they were both from the same ethnic group.

In a place like Zaun, where the people are left with scraps, any piece of jewelry sticks out. Vi's mom and Silco are both wearing similar pieces of jewelry. Silco's bracelet could likely be fitted as a necklace since it twice wraps over his wrist. Neither are wearing anything of high quality, but the necklace and bracelet in their respective pictures seem decently maintained if not worn. That's when I thought, these are probably heirlooms.

In fact they looked pretty similar too, but in smaller scale of the princess's own pendants. I wouldn't bring this up if it weren't for the fact that Piltovans prioritize elaborate art-deco aesthetics, the more elaborately geometric the better (Councilor Shoola). So you would assume even the simplest jewelry would be a square pendant or a straight line. But no, big plain circles, and then I remembered we saw that before, on the princess Ambessa killed. Big bronze circles.

And when we look at young Vi , you notice that she's wearing jewelry too. A simple necklace with a green (it looks green) gem. And I realized that the princess's necklace was also adorned green gems.

I'm pulling from scraps, but it's interesting that small things these Zaunites have to adorn themselves (though not for long with the time skips) are similar versions if not simpler version's of the princess's.

At first I thought this meant that many of the cast were actually of Ionian descent. But then in the Princess's scene a thought kept coming back to me, "Why is Mel wearing purple?". Mel, a skilled diplomat from a young age, typically wears the main colors of the nations she hosts and is hosted by. White for Piltover, Black for Noxus (Ambessa), and always with her signature accents of gold. So if Mel followed her mother to Ionia ,where green is a culturally significant color, why purple? It's because Mel and Ambessa weren't in Ionia, they were in Targon fighting the Lunari.

The Lunari are Rakkor tribal people in the Targonian region who worship the moon, and are persecuted for it by the Solari, the religious order that worships the sun. While technically Mt. Targon is influenced by Mt. Olympus and Greek mythology aesthetic, that's more the case for the Solari. Overtime the Lunari aesthetic has been mixed it's originally nomadic culture with East Asian influences. The prominent colors of the Lunari happen to be turquoise, silver, black and purple. It was such a little thing to remember but it made me see connections I hadn't thought about.

Suddenly everything starts to connect. The bronze coins represent the 3 moons that exist in Arcane's Runeterra. How do we know there are 3 moons, because the Valdiani piece Jinx stole was depicting their planet. In the Valdiani there are 3 orbits circling the Earth, meaning 3 moons (or satelites). Now the engraving on the gold of the princess's necklace makes sense, because it's supposed to resemble the gates at the peak of Mt. Targon. The pendant itself is shaped like the mountain with the gates fitted at the top.

Frankly, it works for the Princess to have been Lunari and waves of descendants of the Lunari to arrive in Piltover and end up in Zaun. In Arcane, Piltover was created as a safe haven to escape the Rune Wars 200 years from the start of the show. Even after the Rune Wars ended the shipping port has likely seen waves of migrant labor and refugees from the ongoing crisis that occur in Runeterra (*cough*Noxus*cough*). It's likely that many of the current generation of Zaunites are of mixed heritage of the various fleeing people's.

It creates a whole new dynamic of the ways in which Piltover's laws, their Ethos, strips the people of Zaun from their identity and reducing them to tools for the mines. Magic is inherently a part of religious ceremonies and religion in general in Runeterra, especially for the Lunari. How do you practice your religion in a place that has banned the means by which it's conducted? There must have been more people like the Lunari who didn't have a problem with their magic, their problem was that they were being persecuted.

The remnants of family keepsakes brought over as communities fled were clung to as best as possible especially as they had to let go of part their spiritual identity. But even that doesn't seem to have lasted either. Vi doesn't keep her necklace, her mother is dead, so lost is her necklace, and we never see Silco wear his bracelet. They could have been stolen, or at best, hidden for safe keeping, maybe Enforcers get suspicious at the hint of mysticism and suddenly they want to talk.

Finally, maybe a little less related, it is interesting how prominent Piltovans and Zaunites take on day and night aspects. The sun shines over Piltover at their best, begins to set at times of uncertainty. While in the cover of night with moon above, the strongest Zaunites strike hardest. One more thing, it is interesting how Arcane's Jinx has taken on darker tones of purple rather than stick with neon pink. I always have to go back and look at a reference to remember that her pants are purple-er than I recall.

Update: I wanted to include that the large doodle Jinx made on her cup actually looks similar to the Lunari's sigil. And the sigil remains on the cup into the timeskip, also the center moon is made smaller within the crescent like in the necklace. I also noticed Jinx's cup later has more violent bomb imagery around it.

Update 2: With the final season approaching I'm noticing this is getting some attention again. I would like to say that if I could write this from scratch again I'd say it's more likely the princess is from Ionia now, which doesn't up end the Lunari theory.

Previous League canon confirms the Lunari faith does have ties to Ionia. A good portion of the Lunari are Ionian in descent, and Diana, their aspect of the moon (essentially their demigod), currently lives in Ionia. League even created skinline for Ionians blood moon worshippers, an edgy offshoot of the Lunari faith. It's all very interesting and a bit complicated because Riot loves to drop plot points in the lore and never come back. I'll try to clean something up for a longer explanation later. What's crazy is the Medardas are still the aggressors because Noxians and Solarians, which the Medardas are both, terrorize Ionians and Lunaris respectively.

#arcane #lunari #zaun #silco #vi arcane #jinx arcane #mel medarda #there's a lot to think about #for everyone including mel #piltover #arcane theory #arcane meta #arcane speculation #thank goodness i wrote this before i discovered the blood moon aspect or i would have writtern something WAY longer

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scrunkalicious · 1 month

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More general Arcane thoughtz bc I NEED to get these out and also I want more Arcane mootz,,,

This post has NO LEAKZ!!!! I HATE THE LEAKZ. all stuff either from s1 or official s2 teaserz 😇😇😇

The one that made me want to make this post in the first place!!! ARE. ARE WE JUST GONNA IGNORE THE FACT THAT JAYCE OWNZ AN INSTRUMENT AND CAN PROLLY PLAY IT????

It lookz similar to maybe what a guitar would be in this world perhapz......

I guess he picked it up on the side of science, it lookz like one of the only non-science thingz in his room, so itz probably some sort of side hobby

I think he still knowz how to play it and hasn't brushed the skill off to the side, judging by how the instrument is very visible and right next to his bed

Maybe Viktor or Mel knowz he can play it?

Jayce Talis should drop a CRAYZEE album plz 🥶🥶🥶

OOOHHH WAIT MAYBE THATZ WHY HE ACTUALLY SEEMED INVESTED IN THE PERFORMANCE IN EPISODE 5..... BC HE PLAYZ AN INSTRUMENT

Speaking of music!!!!!! Absolutely love Ray Chen and his work in Arcane, he came to my state a while back but I sadly missed the concert ☹️☹️

RAY CHEN CAMEO HUZZAH!!!!

Asian ppl exist in the Arcane world no wauy.......

I love how instrumentz look in Arcane!!! So exquisite,,

Hez definitely playing a violin, perhapz the giant horn looking thing attached is to help resonate the sound and make it louder, kind of in place for a small microphone

I wonder if Piltover has like, a city orchestra, judging by how art is so important in the place they probably love their music as well

I alwayz wonder how Sky also got into Piltover bc shez from the Undercity like Viktor!

I don't think therez and actual rule at the Piltover Academy saying you can go if you're from the Undercity. I guess it's just whoever can afford (or sneak in) is in, or perhapz therez sponsorz and scholarshipz.

Either she followed Viktor in sneaking in, her parentz sent her there, or Viktor reached out to her and asked her to be his assistant and she never actually went thru the Academy (or she did the Academy and then he asked her).

I'm heavily betting on the fact that Viktor asked her to be his assistant himself bc it seemz too coincidental to have the scientist from Zaun have his assistant also be from there

In the S2 teaser trailer thing, Caitlyn sayz "I will lead a strike team into Zaun..."

When will Piltover decide that the Undercity is now separate from them? I'm guessing maybe Ambessa had to do with making the decision.

Maybe pretty soon after the bomb??

HEY GIRL. WHATZ YO MAKEUP ROUTINE....

The lil gold spotz on her skin are 100% makeup, seeing as her flashback version doesn't have them

I don't think the gold thing on her back is makeup, so what is it fam...

MEL MEDARDA ALIVE IN S2 PLEAAASSEEE IM A MEL TRUTHER <33333

How was the Academy (?) building just NOT affected by the bomb 😭😭

I am CONSTANTLY wondering if the Academy building is part of the government council building, or if I'm tweaking and they're separate.

In the Ekko & Heimer clip Ekko tellz him "Don't you essentially own this place?" and I thought he was talking abt the Academy bc Heimer is the Dean of the Academy.

SOMEONE HELP...........HELP ME FIGURE THIS SHI OUT......

okay yeah im a big sky x elora shipper now i think they should kiss

yeah i already made a post abt them but. more arcane yuri is needed......

i think itd be like sky seez her and sayz "i dont think our bossez like each other very much" and elora is like "damn" and then they stare at each other n then itz like that one tumblr meme pic of two ppl making out yk

this image is fire!!!!! gonna be focusing on ambessa and a lil bit of cait. where is my one mutal that likez ambessa.......

What is the thing on Cait'z back?? I literlly have no other wordz what is that thing

HEEEYY AMBESSA

HER NEW HAIR HELLO??? GOURGOYS.....

Is it just me or does her new hairstyle kinda look like the sun? Or a sun symbol?

chat is this bc the Medarda symbol is the sun (if i remeber correctly) or bc Ambessa will be leading Piltover thru the war and sun symbol bc shez helping them see another day if that makez sense

sorry everyone he was gonna be here either way

I love seeing ppl hc him either as just "Eastern European" (which ig isn't hc harry lloyd said his accent was that but whatever) or go all out I loooveee seeing ppl say hez Russian or Czech (my personal hc) or Polish or whatever I think I even saw Croation once!! even tho hez not German i love using the "nooo little german boy" meme w him bc like nooooo little german boy dont confuse everyone w ur ethnicity!!!

my boyfirned......ouuugggghhhouugghghkhjgkhjgsdkhjsdbfygfvynvfgfvyu

hey fortiche. could ya do me a favor and like. show every single place where viktor has a mole thatd be rlly cool.....

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jensensitive · 4 months

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When or what are you doing when you feel like you're being the most true version of yourself? […] Jared: Good question, [to jensen] do you have an immediate answer? [jensen shrugs expansively] [jared answers] Jensen: Uh, so I take the kids to school every morning. After I drop them off, there's about a twelve minute drive from the school back to my house, where I can do or say or play or sing anything I want. And-- windows up, of course. Cause I don't need to pull to a stoplight with the windows down while I'm like "So, tell me what you want, what you really really want!" [laughter] S'just not a good look for me. But with those windows up? Me and those Spice Girls are gettin after it. Jared: Are you Ginger? Posh Spice? Jensen: Oh, Mel B all day. Jared: Mel B, alright. Scary? Isn't she Scary? Jensen: yeah, cause I married a Scary Spice, so. Jared: Fair enough. Jensen: Shit, I'm gonna hear that one, aren't I? Um, no it's uh, yeah, I think when you can be just free and you can find the space where you can do that and you have those moments, to yourself to just do what you want to do in that moment and nobody's yknow-- I mean it's like the whole thing, what is it, dance like nobody's watching. When you get those moments, that really speaks to-- that really fuels your soul.

[njcon24]

#njcon24 #jensen ackles #jensen24 #i just like him #jensen and music

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zombholic · 1 year

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HE’S SO LUCKY — abby anderson

summary — reader has an undying love for her best friend abby, who only has eyes for owen.

description — poc fem!reader, angsty, three-way love, listen to your sad romantic playlist, actually just listen to enchanted by taylor swift.

authors note — yall sorry this was a little long but im listening to sad songs and i had to make this 😔 NOT PROOF READ !!

— 🎧　　 ◦ ✺ 　 📽　 ⟢ —

Your eyes scanned the aquarium seeing all your friends gathered up together for Manny’s birthday, he loved to go all out for his parties that not even an outbreak can stop him. You sat next to Leah on the floor with your back pressed up against the table as everyone was huddled up together in a circle on a cold winter night, all of you had snuck out of base to come here.

“I’m fucking twenty-five pendejos!” Manny drunkenly raised his beer in the air, slurring on his words having everyone cheer for him, beer bottles clanking together as splashes of beer fell. “Who’s gonna carry his ass back to base when he’s blacked out” you commented earning a couple of laughs from your friends.

Leah managed to find a record player with a couple of old school vinyls, the music playing in the back softly. Your eyes always seemed to wander back to Abby, you couldn’t lie, you were in love with the girl but there was nothing you could do, she was always going to have eyes for Owen even if Mel was carrying his child.

You saw the way she laughed a little too hard as his stupid jokes, her blue eyes glistening every time she looked at him, God, it disgusted you. Feeling your face heat up, jealousy consumed your insides as you burned holes into Owen’s stupid face “You’re making it obvious Y/n.” Leah nudged your side, blinking a few times before seeping back into reality, a heavy sigh fell from your lungs, leaning your head against the desk rolling it over to Leah who was fiddling around with her polaroid camera.

“What does she see in that thing.” your doe eyes rolled in annoyance hearing his stupid laugh over and over again “If you were straight you would understand, say cheese.” She lifted her camera to her eyes taking a quick off guard picture of you “Leah, I wasn’t ready!” you laughed pushing her shoulder softly “Hey, take a picture with us!” Mel waved her hand motioning to bring you guys over to them.

You two made your way over to the other side, you sat down beside Abby “Hey, take a picture of Me and Y/n.” Abby spoke up, wrapping her arm around your shoulder, you head leaned against her shoulder with a smile on your face as Leah snapped the picture. The frame slowly coming out before she handed it over to Abby.

“We look good together” She giggled looking over at you with her beautiful, enchanting blue eyes. You looked up at her through your lashes looking away quickly catching yourself stare at her for a bit too long. Scooting a little bit away from her you brought your knees up to your chest feeling cold from the air leaking through the cracks.

Everyone knew you were madly in love with the blonde, how could they not? they way you looked at her was not a look you gave anyone else, everyone you ever met has told you how intimidating you are, your demeanor scaring off people. You knew you were a little cold towards others but these people had your heart but nothing like how Abby did and yet she was the only one who was so clueless.

“Y/n, take any interest in anyone? it’s like you refuse to let loose.” Owen half drunkenly spoke up, he knew about your feelings towards Abby as well and he loved to take advantage of that. “No, too busy trying to fight for my life rather than getting girls pregnant.” Your snark remark has everyone hollering, “She got your ass Pendejo!” Manny laughing so hard you swore he was gonna pass out from lack of oxygen.

You saw Abby tense up from what you said, you knew she was upset over the fact Owen had gotten his girlfriend pregnant. After a couple of rounds of drinking you felt your body shoot up with confidence, you found yourself getting a little touchy with Abby, your hands would go from playing with her braid to rubbing her back. Abby couldn’t care less, she never felt uncomfortable around you quite honestly she loved the attention you were giving her since Owen was too busy making out with Mel.

“Abs, can I talk to you?” your hand ran up to the back of her neck softly rubbing it for her to look at you “Yeah, what’s wrong? want me to take you back to base?” Concern filled her face, brow’s farrowed together. “No, I— follow me.” Standing up you walked through the doors to the other side of the aquarium, Abby trailing right behind you.

“What did you wanna—“ She saw tears falling down your sweet face, rushing to cup your face in her calloused hands “Why are you crying hun?” You sniffled rolling your eyes at her “Stop doing that Abs.” You spoke barely above a whisper, avoiding eye contact with her. “Doing what Y/nn? hey, look at me.” Her eyes soften, so worried about the girl who she saw as a close friend, you looked up at her with your tear filled doe eyes.

Grabbing her face you pulled her into a kiss, your lips smashing against her soft ones. Pulling away you realized what you did, you just jeopardized the only thing that mattered to you so much, both of your eyes widened at your actions. “I— oh fuck, I’m so fucking sorry Abby.” Before she could even say anything you had ran out the doors, running back to base with tear streaming down your face endlessly, the ache in your heart had you sobbing out in pain.

Why him? why not me?

— 🎧　　 ◦ ✺ 　 📽　 ⟢ —

#lesbian #lgbtq #wlw #the last of us ii #the last of us #tlou #abby anderson #tlou2 #abby anderson imagine #abby anderson x reader #abby anderson drabble #abby x fem!reader #abby the last of us #abby x you #abby x reader #abby tlou #angst #forbidden love

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albinokittens300 · 20 days

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THE TRAILER MAN. THAT WAS WILD.

Okay beginning with some things we notably DID NOT SEE:

-Viktor or Mel. Like not a single frame of them. I saw someone found that some version of Jayce was in there, shown by his cuff with the gem on it. But no Mel or Viktor. Interesting. I don't think Viktor and Mel fans should worry...just be hype because they are keeping whatever spoiler-y thing they are involved with a secret. At least with Viktor. There is a slim chance still of Mel being dead but. Not huge. I am sure anything they could share of her would be spoiler riddled as well, so they aren't.

NOW ON TO WHAT WE DID SEE-

-JINX GOT A NEW LOOK. I LOVE IT SO MUCH. HER FACEPAINT. THE CUT SHORT HAIR. The veil (?) thingy. Man she looks AWESOME. Was genuinely wondering if she'd get a new look and am SO Happy about it.

-MY BOY EKKO! SO much Ekko in this. More Ekko than I expected, but I am so thoroughly here for it. Him on his hoverborad, and getting caught by Vi was just *cheifs kiss*. He also seems to have some kind of Piltover-like outfit change too? I mean we know he goes there at some point this season by the shared clip...so makes sense. I am LOVEING the manbun look on him too.

-Oh yes not to mention he's been PAINTED UP Jinx style. Like...she really isn't subtle is she XD? The scene where is is talking about letting things go to move forward you can also see in the corner Jinx's blue hair. And that is on top of that sentiment really making sense for him to say to Jinx.

-It does make me curious why they wove that in with a shot of something happening to Heimerdinger though...is something gonna happen to the small fluffly old man? Maybe. The trailer is out to maybe make us think so.

-Vi looks to be having he worst time for most of this trailer. Which isn't a shock, from what we've heard. But her in from of the mirror hurt me so bad. Can I just hug her? I feel like hugging her. There is a bit of hope seeing her working with Ekko, that lifted my heart a little.

-VI V. WARRICK (probably VANDER) AHHH I AM NOT READY HELP.

-Cait, my girl, I hope you get through this revenge phase quickly please. I love you, I get your feelings. Talking about ripping laughs out of peoples throats is not the best approach to dealing with these things.

-That said cooperation between Caitlyn and Ambessa is...interesting. Very interesting. Makes sense with the 'you will have vengeance' line. But am very curious the way that will play out and how long Caitlyn is gonna take to catch on that working with Noxus might not be the best thing ever. Cause yea I do think that partnership isn't gonna last long.

In general, I am so hyped up. I want Novemeber to be here like yesterday.

#Arcane Season 2 #Jinx #Ekko #Vi #caitlyn kiramman #Rambling #Timebomb #because of obvious reasons XD #A post JUST like that is incoming eventually

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waywardangel-wilds · 6 months

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Putting this here so I don't lose it. I think this would be fun to rework into a longer version for ao3.

I had an idea (I wrote this on my phone, forgive all the random mistakes):

Catnip asked me to help her out with training. I didn’t mind, she’s never been the best at snares. Plus, it was time with her. But, as usual, the merchant got priority. I hadn’t been all that excited about teaching boy wonder, I’m still not that thrilled, but I can be nice. That’s what Katniss likes now right? She likes ‘em nice.

Anyway, whatever. Today’s the first day. I told Ma’ I’d be late from hunting so I could help Katniss out. She took the Quarter Quell announcement really hard. I did too, obviously. Every Sunday’s gonna be a long day, but it’s for the best. We gotta get Katniss home for good this time, no strings.

I’m just walking up the Victors Village hill when I spot her. She’s sulking on her front steps, covered in sweat. My mouth goes dry. She looks really good. She doesn’t notice me though, she’s too busy glaring at Mellark who’s standing in front of her.

“That wasn’t your best time.” I don’t think I’ve ever heard him talk to her like that before. Guess I got used to the sappy stuff, like everybody else.

“I’m not doing that again,” Katniss snaps. She’s glaring at him as if she wants him to drop dead. I’m surprised he doesn’t.

“You’re beating that time,” he starts saying as he shucks off his sweaty shirt to use it like a towel “tomorrow.”

Katniss doesn’t say anything in return. She stands up and walks past him, making sure to knock into him with her shoulder.

Peeta turns to stare after her, “that’s gonna cost you another twenty minutes, you know.”

She flips him the bird, but doesn’t bother sticking around. She keeps walking in my direction, “Gale!”

“Hey,” I smile. She nods at me. “You ready?”

“Yeah, yeah. Where’s Haymitch?” The last half of her sentence she directs to the guy behind her.

“Probably passed out somewhere by the fence,” he snorts, taking a long drink from a bottle of water. He thankfully pulls the shirt back on. “I’ll get him, get started.”

Katniss rolls her eyes but lets Peeta leave without saying anything else. She crosses her arms, “come on, let’s practice in the house.”

I’m expecting her to head to her place, but she walks past it, going down the street towards some other house I’ve never been to.

“Where are we going?” I ask. “Haymitch’s?”

“Peeta’s. No Prim or mom, plus it’s clean.” She answers. She jogs up the steps and pushes the door open, “come on!” She says when I don’t follow right away.

Great, now I have to be in his house. “I’m right here.”

“Layouts the same, put your stuff in the living room,” She jogs towards the kitchen and I follow her at a slower pace.

I watch her turn on the tap and stick her face into the water, splashing the sweat off and taking a long drink. “What?” She asks once she catches me staring.

“Nothing,” I shake my head. I wander over to the kitchen window, looking around for anything… interesting.

“Ugh, he sucks!” Katniss whines behind me. I turn around and find her digging through Mellark’s fridge. “There’s nothing worth eating in here,” She opens the fridge wider so I can see all the vegetables in there. “Not even bread.”

I make a noncommittal sound, “yeah”

Some noise from the front door interrupts us. “Katniss!” Mellark.

“Crap.” She closes the fridge and grabs my wrist, yanking me into the living room. “I’m in here!”

“Walk,” I hear Mellark snaps at someone. Probably Abernathy.

Katniss plops herself down on a couch and I put my bag on the coffee table. Haymitch and Mellark come into the room. Mellark shoves the older man in front of him.

“Don’t make me shank you,” Abernathy groans halfheartedly and drops himself into the spare cushion next to Katniss.

“I’d love to see you try,” Mellark scoffs, side stepping around the couch. “You can’t even see straight.”

“Don’t tempt me.”

“Let’s just start,” Mellark says curtly.

“Would you quit being such an asshole?” Katniss says, but Mellark just stares at her, arms crossed with and a blank expression. “Show us what you brought, Gale.”

I glance at all of them, clear my throat and pull open my bag, kneeling down on the floor once I’ve got the wire and rope on the table. “We’ll start with the basics,” I say.

I start off showing them some easy traps, simple knots. Mellark crouches nearby to get a better look, accidentally knocking against Katniss’s knee. She leans forward to have a better look too, but she knows this stuff. While Mellark is frowning down at my fingers she picks up some spare wire and slowly arranges the trap. It’s a small thing, good enough to catch a curious rabbit, if you’ve got a branch nearby. Mellark turns to look at what she’s doing, reaching out to put a hand on her wrist to slow down her movements.

I watch him, frowning. Katniss doesn’t seem to notice he’s touching her at all, and honestly, I don’t think he noticed he did it either.

I brush it off and glance at Abernathy to see how he’s doing. I raise my eyebrows when I realize he’s snoozing against the couch, not a care in the world.

“Yeah that’s good,” Katniss says, picking up the loop Mellark made to inspect it. “We should probably practice setting these outside so you can see how they actually work.”

“Hm,” Peeta says dismissively. “Show me something else,” he nods, directing the words towards me.

I can tell that Katniss is bothered by his attitude, but if Mellark notices he doesn’t seem to care. It sucks to see it gets to her, but I’m glad there doesn’t seem to be anything going on between them.

I spend some time showing him a basic wire snare. I can tell Katniss checked out a while ago, she isn’t looking my way. She’s picking at some of the string in front of her without really seeing it. Mellark is paying me very close attention, so I’m surprised when he suddenly jumps up.

“You’re hungry,” he says.

“What? Oh yeah.” Katniss puts a hand to her stomach. “I’ll go back home-“

“No, come on.” Mellark motions for her to follow him into the kitchen but she stays put.

“Don’t bother, I’m sure there’s food at the house.”

“Come,” Mellark takes her hand and pulls her after him.

“I don’t need you feeding me,” Katniss grumbles but she goes along with him anyway, a small smile she hides from him tugging at her mouth.

I show up at the same time the week after that. I don’t find them outside though. I walk over to Mellark’s house again and find Haymitch drinking moonshine on the porch.

“Where is she?” I ask.

“Good morning, how are you?” Haymitch says sarcastically. “She’s inside with the boy. Might as well give em a few minutes if you value your peace.”

“What?”

“They’re fightin’. I don’t know a whole lot, but even I know when to leave something alone.” He chuckles and takes another drink. “Don’t tell em you saw me drinking!”

I ignore him and keep walking past him. You can’t hear any yelling or anything else that sounds like a fight so I push the door open and walk over to the living room.

“Catnip..?” The question dies in my mouth.

“Ugh, get off!” Katniss is struggling, trying to kick out Mellark’s legs from behind her but missing. The guy’s got her arms held behind her back, half on top of her one the ground.

“You can get out if you do it like I taught you,” he shifts his grip to compensate for her struggling. “Come on, go for the weak spots.”

“Get off of her man,” I take a step into the living room, dropping my bag to the ground along the way. “She told you to get off!”

“Gale, it’s fine,” Katniss blows some of the hair out of her face and looks in my direction. “I can figure this out, give me a sec.”

“You can wait over there, if you want.” Mellark nods towards the couch without looking at me, he’s too focused on Katniss. “Go for the leg for real this time.”

“Don’t tell me what to do!” Katniss snaps and keeps trying to pull her arms free. Mellark’s grip doesn’t budge. I stay standing close by. “Gale, it’s really fine. Go outside if you want, we’ll be done in a minute.”

“I’m gonna stay here.”

Mellark ignores me. “You’re already dead. You think anyone in the arena’s gonna give you this much slack? Huh? Kick!”

“Shut up!” Katniss puts all her force into throwing her shoulder back, knocking Mellark backwards. She tries to crawl away from him in the confusion, but he catches her right away, crawling on top of her and locking her wrists down with his elbows.

“What’re you gonna do now?”

“Ugh!” She tries to pull her hands free but it’s futile. Mellark shifts his weight from one hip to the other. Katniss’s feet scramble against the floor but find no purchase.

“Think it through, how do you get out?” Mellark asks, staring down at her. Katniss moves her head around, trying to get her bangs out of her face but Mellark smooths the hair back with a free hand. “Come on, stay cool. You can figure this out.”

Katniss is frowning. She looks beyond pissed. She gets one of her feet flat on the ground and uses all her strength to buck at him with her hips. Mellark merely shifts his weight again and slams hers back down to the ground.

“Damn, buy me dinner first.”

“That,” Katniss’s expression breaks and she laughs. “That’s not funny!”

“It’s a little funny,” Mellark heaves himself backwards and off of her, settling onto his knees. He offers Katniss a hand to pull her up. “We can try again some other time.”

“Fine,” once she’s seated she busied herself with fixing her messed up braid. Mellark steps past me and out of the room.

“Sorry that took so long,” Katniss is saying. “Peeta really wants me to do well at close combat.”

“Yeah, that’s what this is.” I can tell my expression is bitter because Katniss’s smile drops. “Let’s just get started.”

“Who the fuck sold to you??” We both hear Mellark shouting from the porch. “Tell me! What the hell did I say, Haymitch?!”

Katniss cringes but hops up to her feet. She starts rearranging the furniture. It had been moved to make space for their little wrestling match. “Haymitch was drinking again?”

“Yup,” I say.

“That sucks. Just when we got him in a better mood he goes and blows it.” She shakes her head.

Anyway I spent wayy longer than I intended writing this! Hope you liked it!

#fanfic #everlark #the hunger games #peeta mellark #katniss everdeen

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bluestrawberrybunny · 2 months

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Before I turn in for the night (should have done so 3 hours ago but shush), have another Schmigadoon AU doodle dump but it’s focused on Schmicago!

Schmicago was definitely a lot darker than Schmigadoon, that’s for sure. Two of these jokes will make absolutely no sense if you haven’t seen the show (and won’t until the end of the Schmicago fic which ain’t coming for a bit).

Close ups and text translations under the cut

Jenny: The name’s Jenny Banks, Darlings.

Mr. Puzzles: Hi Jenny

Mario: Hello!

SMG3 and SMG4: Betsy???

Topher: Hiya Roomie!

SMG3: DANNY??!

Topher: No..? My name’s Topher.

Topher: Who’s Danny??

SMG3: WTF??

SMG4: My… what a… lovely butcher knife you have there…

SMG4: I feel good about this!

SMG3: SMG4… they are feeding the children to BUTCHER and sell them as MEAT

For context because I find it funny, SMG4 is testing out his matchmaking skills so he can get Mario and Mr. Puzzles together and he got the Butcher Dooley and the caretaker of the orphans in town Miss Codwell together. Let’s just say they decided to take care of their problems of not having enough meat to sell and stay in business and too many children to care for with a… singular solution… (they did this in the actual show, I am not joking. The song Good Enough to Eat is literally about that plan)

SMG3: I didn’t even kill her

Don’t you just hate it when you happen upon a body but it’s the 1920’s and the cops want an easy fix so they arrest you instead of the actual killer? Me too.

Anyway, have SMG3 in jail. It’s basically gonna get like the Lawsuit Arc/WOTFI 2022 Rap but SMG3 is on trial and SMG4 is attempting to clear his name while also trying to set up Mario and Mr. Puzzles so they can get the hell out of dodge.

This song slaps. My favorite in this entire season, I listen to it so often. SMG3 accidentally becoming a “cult” leader and Mr. Puzzles becoming the star of the show (he’s wearing sequins, which is why he’s sparkly in the doodle), but both realize that this is just some sick twisted versions of their desires from fame. SMG3 has a bunch of people always around him and who do exactly what he says without question to the point where they can’t even take care of themselves in his absence and Mr. Puzzles being bombarded with fans constantly in the street.

Was gonna add another doodle of Mario being tied up in a wedding dress, but oh well. (That’s right. Mario takes Mel’s spot with that main conflict at the end of the season).

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blood-starved-beast · 5 months

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IIRC part of Hades's curse in the first game is that he would never have a heir no?

So I've been thinking about this, and thinking about the direction Melinoe's arc might go in the final full-fledged game and hm. At the start of the game, pre-character development Melinoe seems like the perfect heir. Diligent, hard-working, conscientious, task-oriented in a way Zagreus never was. Hades 1 Hades would dreamed for Zagreus to be like her here.

And yet it never happened. Chronos takes over not after Melinoe is born, and she's raised far away from the House and its norms (I wonder then, since Mel is aware of the Family Curse that this is the reason why she blames herself for the demise of the House). She works hard to restore that, but she does it at the cost of her own well-being and who she Is as a person.

And that's the kicker I think. There's a lot of evidence - convos between Melinoe and others - that highlight how much she doesn't have a life. Eris is constantly pointing out how ~ boring ~ she is and trying to get her to "enjoy life" albeit in Eris's own terms and ways. Heck, even Hercules warns her against Olympus and even her Father (even if it's projection on his part), suggesting her task might not be what's cranked up to be.

So I wonder. Melinoe is the Goddess of Nightmares and Ghosts in the myths yes, but also she's associated with invoking Madness. We see a little bit of that in her repeatedly giving Chronos no peace (I wonder if defeating him for real would involve getting into his nightmares. I mean, Hypnos is asleep for a reason right?). But also she's described as being a beast apparition with many forms, a way for people to communicate with the dead. That seems to tie her more to the Surface in a way.

Anyways, what I'm saying is, I think her arc is gonna go in the direction of her relaxing her stance on her Mission. Taking and enjoying herself. But cause of circumstances, she returns home, but it's not the same. She's not a member of the House structure in a way that matters, Time cannot be stopped, things cannot be the way it was before. She's gonna stick to what she knows, stick to the Crossroads and Hecate and maybe fighting Chronos to keep him down and up to the surface all the time, maybe causing her own version of chaos and doing it cause she enjoys it, or wants to, not just cause it's expected of her. So maybe she drives everyone insane or sows mayhem cause of it so what.

Basically

#Melinoe #hades 2 #hades II #hades II spoilers #I mean you don't feel drawn like a moth to a flame to Strife Incarnate unless you're a little Fucked in the Head yourself you know?#and how Eris despite her childishness is actually very perceptive and keeps goading her/pushing her. not giving up is what I'm saying #Mel is Mel that wouldn't change but I do think her perspective will #let her enjoy the Surface world and exploration out there #speculation

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nat-20s · 9 months

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OKAY SO when 15 says he's got nobody I, like many other people, immediately was like "Girl just last episode we established that you have a whole fuckin family you can visit whenever you want" which is somewhat true BUT. I think it's heavily implied that a: when 14 regenerates he won't become some other version of The Doctor but rather it'll be a wacky loop scenario where he'll turn into 15 and b: the 14 is going to spend his life with the Nobles + kin. Which means most likely that 15 appears pretty shortly after he's likely outlived his family. And with outliving his family he's also outlived the slow path life he got to build for himself as 14. So, yes, there's a joy and excitement to going back to being The Doctor TM, traveling and helping and doing their damnedest to make the universe a little better, a little kinder, and YES 15 can go still see the people he loves (and we know from the trailer he's gonna hang out AT LEAST with Mel and Rose Noble again), but it makes perfect sense that there would be a bittersweetness a sense of loss to his adventures, and I think Ncuti so far is capturing that balance perfectly.

#dw spoilers #doctor who #fifteenth doctor

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einsatzzz · 4 days

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Songs associated with Kurumi, Kana and Yui BUT It’s vocaloid songs 🫵🏻🫵🏻🫵🏻🫵🏻🫵🏻

MEL!!! 💜✨ SDBFJSBDHSBDFHBSDF IM VERY PREPARED FOR THIS!!! 🫵🏻🫵🏻🫵🏻🫵🏻🫵🏻

We already know we're both vocaloid fans so this is the fastest clear for an ask I've done lmao It's also fun going through their playlist too! (Going through some of their songs while knowing the lore and going "That's so fucked up 🥹💖") Anyway, I'm also including other links for eng tl, if their voice claim sang it and for other notable versions!

You can treat this as a song recommendation list too, because I soaked my brain on all of these each at some point before. I can guarantee, all of them are bangers! (if you don't already know them hahaha)

🎀Kurumi

Metamo Re:born (pr\sk ver.)

KING (subbed)

Sorry for Being So Cute (可愛くてごめん) (honey\works ver.)

Darling Dance (subbed, cover)

Want You Bad (voice claim cover)

IDSmile (pr\sk ver., voice claim ver.)

lower one's eyes (pr\sk ver, voice claim ver., eng cover)

Venom (pr\sk cover, voice claim cover)

🍎Kana

Reborn (再生) (pr\sk ver., voice claim ver.)

QUEEN (subbed, eng cover)

Bad Apple!! ft. SEKAI (subbed, og ver.)*

Phony (subbed, voice claim cover)

Demon Lord (subbed, cover)

Empurple (pr\sk ver.)

The Good Child and the Fox Spirit (イイコと妖狐) (cover)

Hop! Step! Instant Death! A Happiness Dance Death-Trap (ホップ！ステップ！即死！シアワセダンスデストラップ) (subbed, metal cover)

🤖Yui

Literary Nonsense (ナンセンス文学) (eve ver., voice claim cover)

ENVY BABY (eng subs, pr\sk cover)

Genius Rock (天才ロック) (cover)

Samsa (pr\sk ver.)

●utlaws (㋰責任集合体)

Solitary Hide & Seek Envy (独りんぼエンヴィー) (subbed, cover)

Scum of the Earth (ド屑) (pr\sk ver., cover)

Love ka? (ラブカ？) (pr\sk cover, voice claim cover)

*Bad Apple!! is really a Tou\hou song, but since pr\sk made a version with Miku in it, I thought "Why not?" *King = Kurumi, Queen = Kana, and their favorite clown, Yui. Thank you, Kan\aria my King 👑✨ *These are a lot but they're all carefully, specially and specifically hand-picked for them ehehehe

I was only gonna do five each, but then I just kept adding and going "It would be a shame to not include this one and this one too and also this--". Then, I managed to stop myself, because damn that's already 24 songs. Also, yes, there are more, even on the duo department (KanaRumi, YuiRumi, YuiKana).

If you want more details on how some songs here relate to the respective character or want more vocaloid songs related to them, feel free to ask hahaha 🤣🤣😳😳🥰🥰

#khr #khre #khr oc #oc #oniyanagi #oc ask #ninomiya kurumi #ninomiya kanako #yorimitsu yui #me and sou are so normal about vocaloid! very normal and not insane at all!#between knrm; kana has more vocaloid songs i think? then krm has more non-vocaloid ones (tho majority of them are still jp songs anyway)#if i messed up some of the links here pls lmk too so i can fix it!

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mejcinta · 9 months

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Honestly, I think you’re in denial of who Alys is gonna be in the show. It’s clear at least to me that they’re definitely going for a more villainous/nefarious route with her. Think like Mel but like, just way more sinister. Some version of Daelys is gonna happen in S2; I fully believe part of the reason Nettles was cut was so that she and Daemon would have an interesting dynamic in place of Daemon/Nettles in the book. I’m intrigued by the idea of putting them together.

As for Aemond, I really doubt he’s going to have the same relationship with Alys as he does in the books, especially if they end up doing the whole Aemond/Helaena love affair. Show Aemond is far more complex and developed than his book counterpart is, and if they truly do give him Daeron characteristics, then there’s no way he’d willingly just abandon his family in favorite of some random Strong bastard woman who claims to be a “witch”.

Make no mistake. I am not deluded at all or closed to the idea that Alys might turn out darker, or that Alysmond will be a complex and unsettling dynamic. I've spoken about this angle of them a couple of times.

However, your "Aemond is Daeron's replacement" as well as the Aemond/Helaena stuff, along with dragging Alys as a character in the mud makes me very aware what your motive is.

And all these are tired, repeated points from people that don't care about the tapestry of the story at all or character complexity , but rather headcanons that can only breathe and thrive where they belong. In their dreams.

Also, I'm pretty sure Nettles' dynamic with Daemon will be canon compliant.

#shippy discourse #anon

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toomanystoriessolittletime · 1 year

Text

Counting Stars

Summary: Maria tries to warn Mel about Joel, but she's not having it. Ellie reflects on her bond with Mel. Joel finally asks Mel out on a date.

Pairing: Joel Miller x Melanie Summer

Wordcount: 2.8k

Rating: T

Warnings: Soulmate AU, Angst, Pregnancy, slowish burn, changing POV's, feelings

follow @toomanystoriessolittletime-fics to get notified for updates

Counting Stars Masterlist

✨three✨

Maria Miller was a strong woman, of course she was. She was seen as the strong leader and one of the founders of this community and even though the town had a council, it was her opinion that seemed to count the most.

She also very much disliked her brother-in-law.

Something even Mel noticed out of the handful of times she had met the woman.

And while she did not know exactly why Maria wasn’t Joel’s biggest fan, she was really not gonna let someone talk shit about the man who saved her life and had become one of the most important persons in her life.

“How much do you know about him?” Maria was walking next to Mel as she took the little walk from her house towards the school to pick Ellie up. It seemed like she appeared out of thin air as soon as Mel stepped out of the door.

Ellie very much hated school and thought it was stupid to learn about anything that had to do with numbers.

Something Mel could very much understand (she hated maths with a passion) but bribed her into going (and staying) in school with the promise of teaching her some more about everything that was growing in their wild little garden seemed to work on her.

Ellie was fascinated to learn about how resourceful plants could be for all kinds of things. Something Mel had learned since she was a child from her parents.

Mel looked at Maria from her side, a frown coming to her face.

“I know that he’s kind to me, that he saved my life and I know that he’s a good father to Ellie,” Mel said after a while, seeing Maria nod.

“So you know nothing about him really?” she said and Mell rolled her eyes and stopped walking.

“Look, I know you don’t like him. And whatever reason you have for it, that is your problem.”

“You don’t know what he has done…”

“You’re right. I don’t. But for one, we all have done things we’re not proud of since the outbreak. Whoever says they didn’t is lying. And second… If I want to know more about Joel and what he has done, I will ask him myself. I appreciate your concern and I am sure you think it’s coming from a good place, but your opinion of whatever you think of him is clouding your judgement.”

She sighed.

“I only want to look out for you and your child…”

“Thank you, but I did not ask you for that. And if you’ll excuse me, I have somewhere to be,” Mel said, before she turned away from her and continued her walk towards the school.

Not for the first time she asked herself what it was that made Maria think so lowly of Joel Miller. Yes, Mel did not know much about him. But she knew he was a protector who would do everything to protect the people he loved, no matter the costs.

Mel knew that it had been him and his brother for a long time after the outbreak, so she was sure there were some things both of the Miller brothers had done for the sake of survival that they weren’t proud of.

But since the outbreak the world was either kill or be killed.

And even though she could see in his eyes that the things he had done haunted him, a big part of her was relieved he had done those things.

Otherwise she would maybe have never met him.

Ellie was waiting for Mel in front of the school.

She still did not understand why she had to learn maths when she could help otherwise in town, but deep down she knew the people around her only wanted her best.

Things between Joel and her were still tense. She knew that he did not tell her the truth when he talked about Salt Lake City. In her mind she had a version of what must have happened, but not knowing was slowly driving her insane.

Joel was the one person who she had learned to trust. The one person who became family, even though she never had one before.

She knew whatever he had done, he had done for a reason.

And maybe if he had told her the truth, she wouldn’t be so angry and hurt towards him.

And then there was Mel.

She had just been there ever since Salt Lake city and as dumb as it sounded, Ellie felt a connection with her she had never felt before. She could talk to her about everything and the weirdest part was, Mel listened to her.

For the longest time she felt like nobody listened to her.

But Mel did.

A part of her allowed herself to imagine that this was what it was like when she had a mother. Someone who lov… liked her as she was and accepted her with every little thing that came with her.

She had never felt like she belonged anywhere, but she felt like she belonged with Mel. And yeah, Joel too. Because of course she knew that these two were soulmates, she wasn’t stupid or blind.

She saw the scars. She saw the tattoo.

And she saw how they made eyes at each other which to be honest was a little disgusting, but at the same time it made her happy. Because Mel (and yeah, Joel too) deserved to be happy.

“How was school?” Mel asked with a grin.

Ellie made a face and shrugged.

“Still don’t see the point.”

“Made any friends?” Mel asked. Ellie shook her head slowly but Mel could see the blush rising to the teenagers cheeks. She chose not to tease her, only winked before they both started to walk towards the cantine.

“What did Maria want from you?” Ellie asked, making Mel sigh.

“It was about Joel, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

Ellie stopped walking, looking up at Mel.

“She tried to warn me about him too when we first got here. Something about what he did after the outbreak that she blamed him for….” Mel held her hand up.

“I am going to talk about it with Joel directly. It should be him telling me about everything,” Mel said. Ellie nodded, before they continued to walk.

“Let’s hope he tells one of us the truth for a change…” she mumbled under her breath, hearing Mel sigh, before she felt an arm around her shoulder. Ellie looked up at Mel.

“You know he loves you right?” Mel asked. Ellie groaned.

“I know you hate talking about feelings and stuff, but believe me he does. And sometimes when we love someone, we do things that do not seem to make sense to anyone else. Because we want to protect the people that we love.”

“He lied to me,” Ellie whispered.

“Did you ask him why?” Mel asked. Ellie shook her head.

“While I can not tell you why he lied, just know that whatever he did to get you out of there alive? I would have done the same thing. The fireflies might have had good intentions in the beginning but…” her hand came down to rub over her belly as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, “trust me when I say, they became just as bad as FEDRA with time.”

It was late when Joel came home. They ran into some raiders on Patrol and then did a longer round than their usual route to make sure they got rid of everyone.

He was tired and sweaty and he just wanted a shower and sleep. He was also craving a Big Mac but that would probably never happen again.

But as soon as Joel walked into his house he saw her.

Mel.

She had fallen asleep on the couch, Ellie’s head in her lap. Mel had the remote still in one of her hands, her other hand in Ellie’s hair. The TV still on in the background.

A rare smile sneaked to his lips as he leaned against the wall, his arms crossed in front of his chest as he watched the two people that had become his whole world being safe and sound in his home.

It was getting harder for Joel to not give into his feelings.

He loved before, but that was nothing in comparison to how he felt about Mel.

He missed her as soon as he walked out of the door in the morning. Hell, he missed her when she walked out of the room. He wanted to touch her, to hold her. He wanted to know everything about her and how she had survived these last years.

He just wanted her.

He wanted to be the reason for those little dreamy smiles he caught on her face sometimes. He didn’t know that he already was the reason for most of them.

It was moments like this that he wanted to have a camera to take a picture.

Ellie mumbled in her sleep and with a fond smile he stepped towards the couch, carefully picking her up to carry her upstairs. She spread out like a starfish on her bed as soon as he had laid her down, sighing contently. He chuckled to himself, pulling the blanket over her, before he walked out of her room, closing the door behind him.

Things with Ellie were still tense, but they were making progress.

He arranged for everything they needed to turn the garage into her new room for next week and he was looking forward to spending some more time with her.

Joel would also tell her the truth.

He knew she knew he lied to her about what happened in Salt Lake City. He hoped she would understand he only did this to protect her. And him.

He wouldn’t be able to survive losing Ellie.

Not after she single handedly healed him on their journey across the states.

He went into his room to take his work clothes off and change into sweatpants and a shirt before he went downstairs again.

Mel was still sleeping on the couch.

Joel just looked at her while he thought about trying to carry her to her bed too, but before he came to a decision her eyes fluttered open with a groan, one of her hands rubbing over her belly.

“Stop using my bladder as a trampoline,” she grunted and Joel’s lips twitched into a smile. She kept rubbing over her swollen belly before she frowned, probably realising Ellie was missing and looked up to see Joel.

“Hi,” she smiled tiredly.

“Hey,” he hummed back, walking over to her. He sat down next to her, leaving some space between them.

“When did you come back?” she asked.

“Couple minutes ago.”

She frowned again.

“How late is it?”

“Just after 11pm. We…. We ran into some raiders…” he said and her eyes widened.

“Are you okay?” her hand reached over, touching his cheek and then his chest and shoulders as if to check for injuries. He nodded.

“I’m okay. We took care of them. They aren’t gonna bother anyone ever again,” he said quietly. She breathed out, relief on her face. The hint of a smile was on her lips as she looked at him.

Mel knew she was still touching Joel. She knew that she probably had been touching him for longer than was normal. Yet she couldn’t bring herself to let go, her fingers carefully coming up to rub over the scar on his temple. His eyes fluttered closed as he released a long breath.

Even though a big part of herself was in denial of… well of everything, she could not deny how she felt about the man, her soulmate, in front of her.

She never really believed in soulmates. She was only in her late teens during the outbreak and she had never once met someone who actually met her soulmate. It seemed to be a myth. Something so rare that it had taken her a while to get used to the thought that all those scars that showed up on her body on the day she turned 21 were not of her doing, but of someone else’s.

Mel never really allowed herself to dream about her soulmate.

Yet the knowledge that somewhere on this cursed planet, someone was out there (and alive, because she knew that if her soulmate would happen to die, the scars would disappear) that the universe deemed perfect for her, was what made her keep going through all the shit she was put through.

She knew she loved Joel without even knowing who he was.

But know that she knew?

How could she not love him?

“One day you have to tell me what gave us this scar,” she whispered before she could stop herself, his eyes blinking open. Slowly his hand came up, his fingers carefully touching the scar on her temple that he put there. He swallowed harshly, his tongue wetting his lip to play over the guilt he was feeling.

“One day,” he promised, and her eyes softened.

“Why did you fall asleep on the couch?” he asked, his fingers brushing over her cheek. She sighed.

“I had a nightmare and Ellie insisted we had to watch the Simpsons to make me forget about it.”

Joel snorted. He put his hand on top of hers on his face until she let go to take his hand.

“You wanna tell me about your nightmare?” he asked.

“One day,” she whispered with a sad smile. He nodded, bringing their joined hands up to kiss the back of hers.

She yawned in the next moment, both of them chuckling.

“Joel…” she began, before her eyes widened, bringing their joined hands to the side of her belly where Joel gasped as he felt the kick against his hand. He kept looking at Mel as memories he hadn’t allowed himself to think about for a long time came back to his mind. The first time he felt Sarah kick inside his ex-wife’s belly. The first time he heard Sarah cry. The first time she fell asleep in his arms….

He didn’t even realise that he was crying until he felt her fingers brush his tears away while he kept his hand on her belly.

He took a deep, shuddering breath.

“You okay?” she asked quietly. He gulped, but nodded.

“Maybe…. Maybe tomorrow we could…. Go out and talk?” he asked. He was surprised by the fact that he wanted to tell her. He wanted to tell her everything. He wanted her to know every single part of him.

And while he felt scared to be judged or turned away before, a part of him knew that she would understand him and the things he did.

A smile sneaked to her lips.

“Are you asking me out on a date, Joel Miller?” she teased and his lips twitched into a small grin.

“I guess I am,” he nodded.

She got on her tiptoes, her hands coming to rest on his chest, to keep balance, her lips softly pressing against his cheek.

“I’d love to go out and talk with you, Joel,” she whispered.

He let his head fall down, his forehead resting against hers.

“Good. That’s…. That’s good,” he mumbled. Her lips were so close. He could just lean in and….

“Hate to ruin this moment but I gotta pee,” she sighed and Joel chuckled. He took her hand again and led her to her bedroom, kissing her forehead outside of her door.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he hummed.

Mel nodded.

“I can’t wait to get to know you Joel Miller.”

He huffed.

“Let’s see if you still feel like that after you know everything,” Joel joked.

“I will. The universe has plans for us Joel. Do you think it would have finally put us together, if whatever we did to get here would change how we feel about each other?” she asked.

She gave him an encouraging smile.

“Good Night, Joel,” she squeezed his hands before she turned away and walked into her room.

He looked after her before he went to his room and finally took the shower he had been looking forward to when he came home.

And for the first time in a long time, he fell asleep looking forward to the next day.

#my fic #Joel Miller #Joel Miller x OFC #Pedro Pascal #fanfiction #fanfic #fan fiction #tlou fanfiction #Pedro pascal fanfiction

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