#gonna rewatch fantasy high soon

[fizzytoo]

riz gukgak i miss you </3

[macdenlover]

My fucking god. There is so much to take apart.

This episode gave us a peak into Dennis’s mind and it’s the closest thing we’re gonna get to putting him under a microscope like a little bug and studying him in a lab. It isn’t what I expected from this episode but man oh man am i glad to have it. There’s a few things we need to establish first that’s gonna be the basis of my analysis. Dennis is angry, but he ultimately uses that anger to mask fear, pain, and every other emotion that he doesn’t allow himself to feel. Also, the entirety of the episode— every little detail was intentionally conjured by Dennis’s mind either consciously or subconsciously so none of it is off the table to dig into.

There’s two big things at play here— one, his desperate need for control; and two, his instinct to self sabotage. This episode did one hell of a job at showing how woven together the two are.

The essence of Dennis’s character is this impenetrable shell he’s built to protect the vulnerable part that sits at his core, and we finally got to see HOW he builds that shell piece by piece. This is the pressure-cooking of the diamond— if you apply enough pressure it’ll harden the shell.

Everything is thrown out of balance when Dennis learns about his high blood pressure, but what really bothers him about that is the inevitability of aging— something we’ve seen him be insecure about for many seasons. But what’s different about this episode is that while his usual fear of aging comes from vanity, this time it’s combined with Dennis being so afraid of the world around him changing and leaving him behind. This follows the thematic trajectory of this season— all the characters struggling to cope with inevitable change. 

A stress-free day at the beach is a pipe dream. Happiness is something so hopelessly distant from him that he builds a fantasy about chasing it while never getting there— sabotaging the plan because he either thinks it’s too impossible, something he doesn’t deserve, or both. This is not the first time we’ve seen this from him. In The Gang Saves The Day, the rest of the gang’s fantasies revolve around them finally getting their dream ending, while Dennis’s stuck out from the others as a barely comprehendible mess of his own misery. (I’m gonna rewatch this episode soon and give you a full breakdown of my thoughts). Dennis self sabotages in his own fantasies because he can’t imagine a reality where he is capable of getting what he wants. Dissatisfaction is something so permanent to him, and Dennis Takes a Mental health day is all about him trying to cling to things that are permanent to regain his sense of control. He is creating uncertainty in his own fantasy so that he can be certain about it. He is such a broken man and it is such a fucked up cycle— one thing continues feeding into the other. “The pin’s the key to the phone, the phone’s the key to the car.” 

The primary source of his frustration in this episode was the automated systems, which I think holds place to represent more than one thing. It’s a symbol of the changing world that he can’t control or escape from, but it also represents the parts of himself he’s fighting against. He forms systems in his life that are so methodical and complicated that it gets in the way of his ability to have real human connections. They went right on the nose with it in this ep by having him spelling out his own name as an acronym in a fit of rage. Subconscious Dennis’s d.e.n.n.i.s. system is fucking crazy. 

D- “Deliver me from this”

E - “Engage with human”

N - “Nightmare”

N - “NIGHTMARE”

I - “Is this real?”

S - “Somebody help me”

If you interpret this as his frustration with not only the state of the world but himself and his perpetual loneliness it gets incredibly heartbreaking. Guys I’m really tearing up here. 

His interactions with others in this episode also say so much about him and the inner conflicts he’s experiencing. He knows he establishes control by taking his frustration out on other people, but he simultaneously struggles with that making him a bad person. He yells at the customer service workers and then APOLOGIZES and reassures them that it’s not them who he’s really mad at. He doesn’t mean to take it out on them. (Potentially wild implications for Dennis woobifiers here.) He wants to take his frustration out on people who he believes deserve it, like the CEO. He gets to see himself as a hero in this story even if he’s miserable. If happiness is a pipe dream, he can settle for second best which is the rush he gets from taking his pain out on the guy who fucked him over. But he is simultaneously the person he spent his entire fantasy craving a real human connection with. He doesn’t know how to do that. It got weird and a little sexual (he definitely wanted to fuck that guy till the room stank). he is vindicated with violence at the end, which is ultimately what he will always resort to because it gives him the sense of power that desperately needs to make the frustration, vulnerability, and weakness go away (mentally AND physically). This is his cycle. 

I’m not sure Dennis could have an episode where he breaks down and cries and has a huge cathartic moment and then goes back to his regular self the next episode the way Mac and Charlie have. Dennis is a whole other can of worms. RCG are comfortable with exploring different sides to these characters as long as they are kept in a state of limbo for the length of the show, but letting Dennis openly express his feelings (even to himself) might make it impossible to come back from because this is literally the entire crux of his character. The last time he opened up emotionally he fled to another state only come back a year later more hostile and emotionally distant than ever. They had to put a hard reset on him after season 12 because they knew that version of him didn’t have longevity in the show. I WISH so fucking bad that they would explore the vulnerable parts of him more explicitly on the show but for now I will settle for being a little vulture and picking it out of the carcass of this season. 

[yutafrita]

AN ANGEL, MY ANGEL, AND ME- PT. 1

*ੈ♡⸝⸝🪐༘⋆❀*ੈ✩‧₊˚ * ੈ✩‧₊˚ * ੈ✩♡ ੈ♡⸝⸝🪐༘⋆❀*ੈ✩‧₊˚

Fallen Angel!Sungchan x Reader (she/her) Teaser // Preview // 1 // 2 // 3

[Feat.] Soyeon from (G)i-dle, Shotaro from Riize, and BoA

Chp. Word Count 5.7k Synopsis Finding out your best friend is a guardian angel is pretty mind numbing. It only gets worse when you find out a Fallen Angel has been hiding in your apartment for two years. You think your life can’t get any weirder, until you start lying about being married to keep your new job. Genre Low Fantasy, Romantic Comedy, Ridiculously Fluffy, some angst, fake dating Chapter Warnings Swearing, Food/ Eating, cops/ fictional police force, Catholic Religious imagery, HR interview violation

CHAPTER ONE- THE BLACK CAT CONSPIRACY

ੈ♡⸝⸝🪐༘⋆❀*ੈ✩‧₊˚ * ੈ✩‧₊˚ * ੈ✩♡ ੈ♡⸝⸝🪐༘⋆❀*ੈ✩‧₊˚

You uncomfortably picked at your cuticles, anxious by the lack of activity in your email. It had only been a week since you started applying for jobs, and yet already you had begun feeling discouraged. The candle you lit in your room a few hours ago filled your lungs with eucalypts, and you still had not been able to calm down. You knew the candle couldn’t exactly work miracles, but still! Your cat sat on your lap, and you quietly dusted off the cuticles that blemished his black fur.

“Sorry, Eerie,” you muttered. You scratched his ear delicately, and he leaned against your hand to show his forgiveness.

“Hey! I’m gonna order a pizza, do you want to split it?” your roommate walked in through your open door, plopping herself on your bed with her eyes on her phone. Your cat turned its head as if to glare at her before placing himself back down.

“Sure,” you responded dryly, still tugging at the loose cuticle. Soyeon looked up from her phone to see your bright computer screen.

“Not this again,” she grumbled. She stood up from your bed and kicked your chair away. Your cat leapt out from your lap and scampered to the corner of your room, hissing at your roommate.

“Hey! You scared Eerie!” you sat up to move her away but she was quick to close all of your computer tabs.

“You need to chill the fuck out. We still have a month left before graduation,” Soyeon reminded before snatching your hand to hold in front of your face, “you are out of cuticles,” she then tossed your hand down and turned her gaze to the cat that hissed at her, “and that cat is always scared.”

You sighed in defeat, “my brain knows objectively that you’re right, but can’t help it. I have to start paying back these student loans soon..”

“I’m ordering the pizza, and we’re watching something.”

You and Soyeon sat on the couch eating your pizza as Ouran High School Host Club played on your living room screen. Eerie sat next to you on the couch, cuddled up against your side as he seemingly watched the screen.

“How many times have we seen this show?” Soyeon asked. The pizza had long been finished, and the empty box sat in front of you on the coffee table, covering the extensive bridal and wedding magazines you had been taking notes on.

“I lost count after the seventh rewatch,” you shrugged, “I think Eerie’s seen it like four times at this point.”

“That cat is fucking weird,” she muttered this sentiment for the one millionth time since you brought the cat home.

“He’s just a little eccentric,” you defended. You scratched the cat behind the ears, and you felt him lean closely into your hand.

“He’s like… I swear he’s like a person,” Soyeon hissed.

“If he was, then he would have to pay his own pet rent.”

_____

“Remember your final exam will be cumulative,” your professor reminded your class the following morning. You rubbed your temples, hoping the motion would stifle the headache you were nursing to no avail. 

You were stuffing your backpack as the rest of the lecture hall emptied. You had another lecture in about two hours, so you weren’t in much of a rush all things considered. Running up through your mental to-do list, you figured you’d get some extra studying done before lecture, and afterwards you’d grab some more kitty litter. Leaving the hall, your pace was followed by someone you had only seen in class and never spoke to outside of that.

“Hey, do you get anything the professor has been going on about?” 

“Oh… yeah it’s a bit complicated.”

“My name’s Shotaro,” he smiled brightly despite his seeming distress. “I noticed you’re the only one the prof doesn’t call on, and I figure it’s because they know you know your stuff.”

He did have a point. In your undergrad years, you were a pretty intense student and always visited all of your professors' office hours. While you weren’t as obsessive as a graduate student, you still submitted all of your coursework on time with excellent grades.

“I’m y/n,” you nodded. There was an awkward pause before Shotaro asked the question you were dreading- if he could pick your brain before the next lecture.

Sitting next to him in the library, you sat for about an hour, the young man scooched a little closer to you than you would have liked.

“So, these two would be contrasting then, yeah?” he asked, pointing between two choices.

“Yep!” you nodded before glancing back at the time. “Ah, I’ve gotta go.”

You turned towards your backpack that sat between the two of you before glancing back up. In an attempt to help, Shotaro had shut your notebook and held it in his hand, extending it towards you. Maybe he was a bit strange, but he didn’t seem harmful, at least.

You returned home later that day, exhausted, the kitty litter bag heavy on your arm as you entered. 

You shut the door behind you, Eerie immediately wrapping himself around your ankles. You smiled, crouching down to pet the cat behind his ears. He seemed unbothered, continuing to rub his scent between your now outstretched hand and ankles.

“I didn’t see any animals today, buddy,” you chuckled. Eerie scrunched up his face as if to respond to you. You stood up, and made your way to your room with Eerie following closely behind you. You began the process of taking your laptop out so you could start up on more job applications when something slipped out of your backpack onto the floor of your room.

“Huh?” you frowned, bending down to pick it up only to hear Eerie hiss and scramble out of your room. “What the fuck?” you shook your head, picking up the small black string bag that you had no recollection of ever owning. Carefully undoing the string, you dropped its contents into your hand- a small, smooth, green and silver gemstone. You heard the front door open, but instead of greeting Soyeon you stayed in your room, holding the gemstone high above your head and towards the light to try and see if you could figure out what it was.

“Hey, why is that stupid cat cowering behind the couch?” Soyeon asked.

“I have no idea, this rock fell out of my bag and he-,” you looked over at Soyeon and froze. Your eyes widened, and your grip on the rock tightened in fear as you tried to make sense of the image of your best friend of several years before you.

“Hey, is everything okay?” she took a step towards you, and you hesitantly took a step back. Her white wings were protruding from her back and were massive- how could you have never seen something like this? No- was this even real?

You squeezed your eyes tightly shut before opening them. Nothing changed besides the worry on Soyeon’s face.

“Soyeon, what the fuck is that on your back?” you cried. You watched the wings expand slightly as if you had ruffled them with your words.

She glanced back, ignoring the wings before looking back at you. 

“What are you talking about?”

“Dude, you have fucking wings!” you yelled, waving the stone in your hand as if to gesture to the giant wings she had. Her eyes widened before she stepped forward as if to speak to you in a more hushed tone. You panicked, and rushed past her and out of your room and into the living room, hoping to put some distance between the two of you.

“How long have you had those things!? What the fuck is going on? Oh god I’m losing it,” you shut your eyes again, massaging your temples with an aggressive pressure as you tried to sift through your memories. You met Soyeon over ten years ago, and while she was more outgoing than you, and was always there for you, she had never had wings or seemed abnormal in any way. You had met her family for heaven’s sake! 

You opened your eyes again, now with your back to your couch as you sood your ground. Soyeon entered the space slowly, hands extended to show that she was no danger to you.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” her voice was soft, her head hanging low.

“I know that! I know you won’t hurt me, Soyeon! But what the fuck is going on?” you were a little insulted that she thought you were scared of her. You weren’t! You  were more shocked than anything else!

“Can… can I see that rock?” she squinted, and extended an open palm. Nervously, you took a small step forward. You heard Eerie hiss angrily behind the couch, so once you placed the gemstone in your roommates hand, you moved to dig the cat out from his hiding spot, the area between the wall and the couch.

“Seraphinite…” Soyeon muttered as you looked over the back of the couch. Eerie was shaking, his brown eyes staring up in fear as you went to reach out towards him before Soyeon sprung out next to you, grabbing the cat by his scruff and yanking him out of his crevice.

“Soyeon!” you shouted, going to take the cat out of her grasp before you watched in horror as she solved the gemstone between the cat's bared teeth. 

That was when, the cat you adopted over two years ago, transformed from a black cat into a man that was a foot taller than Soyeon and with dark, black wings.

“I knew it! I knew you weren’t a normal fucking cat!” Soyeon cheered, yanking the stone out of the mouth of the man that suddenly stood in your living room.

“I… I’m gonna be sick,” you muttered, leaning on the couch for support. 

“See? Now you spooked her,” the man spoke. You heard a thud before a set of small arms wrapped around you to help you sit down on the couch. Your stomach turned as you looked before the two beings now standing before you- Soyeon’s bright white wings absorbing most of the light in the room, and the being formerly known as Eerie the cat’s wings were pure black.

“Fuck off! I should have the troops called on your ass so I can collect the bounty,” she hissed. 

“Who the fuck are you?” you asked, trying to rack your brain for anytime Eerie seemed to, y’know, not be a cat.

“Well,” he sat down on the floor in front of you, as if he had been waiting to be asked, “I have a lot of names-.”

“Asshole,” Soyeon cut him off, earning a glare before he continued.

“But, you can call me Sungchan. I’m a fallen angel.”

“An-angel,” you repeated this word to test it out, still reeling. He nodded, reaching back to scratch a spot on his wings.

“He’s had a bounty on his head for three years… I never imagined you would have accidentally adopted a fallen angel disguising himself as a shelter cat.”

“She didn’t exactly adopt me from a shelter,” Sungchan spoke, and your eyes widened.

“Shut up! Don’t change the subject!” you jumped in. You had sort of found the black cat wandering on your college campus, and the cat had taken to following you around so much- and you were so lonely at the time. You told Soyeon you adopted Eerie from the shelter, but it was more like you adopted him directly off the streets. “Soyeon, are you an angel too?”

She nodded, “yes- but I’m not a fallen angel, I’m actually a guardian.”

“Oh, so original. Posing as a normal best friend,” Sungchan teased, earning a punch in the arm from Soyeon. 

You blinked, “you're my guardian angel?”

“Duh,” she chuckled.

You were reeling, placing a hand on your forehead as you tried to understand the goddamn nightmare occuring before your eyes.

“Oh my god, you’ve seen me change! And- and get out of the shower!” you shouted, leaping up from the couch. 

“Hey! Hey! I always looked away!” he defended, raising his hands in defense. 

“Why would you pretend to be my cat for so long? You ate cat food and pissed in a litter box,” you argued, now just irritated by the amount you’ve spent on cat litter for seemingly no reason.

“Listen, I don’t know why, but being around you has prevented people from catching me! Plus, I got free room and board,” he shrugged.

“Soyeon, you can’t sense other angels?” you asked, waving your hands wildly. For her being your guardian angel, you couldn’t fathom her not knowing about the fallen angel living as a cat with you this whole time.

“I normally can, I also can typically sense charms… I don’t know why I couldn’t sense him,” she seemed upset before adding, “I’m sorry I let you down.”

“Typical guardian,” Sungchan scoffed. You sent him a glare before softening your gaze to Soyeon.

“You didn’t let me down… maybe that charm was just stronger than usual.”

“It’s not, but like I said, being around you has made it so I don’t get noticed,” Sungchan jumped in. “You’re a bit of a freak for a human.”

“I am not a freak. I’m a grad student in a large amount of debt with apparently two angels for roommates.”

“That is pretty abnormal, though,” Soyeon frowned, “I’m gonna need to do some research.”

“At the library of Alexandria, right?” Sungchan stood up, and maneuvered to the kitchen as if he owned the space. “It was always too packed for my taste.”

“We’re kicking him out, right?” Soyeon asked the obvious question as Sungchan rifled through your pantry and took out your chips.

“Oh my god I thought Soyeon was the one eating all of my chips,” you groaned. While, on the one hand, it would make sense to kick the mooch to the curb, you couldn’t help but feel a little bad for the guy. “Who are you running from?”

“The troops are the cops for angels basically. I may have… tried to sell some ancient artifacts to humans,” Sungchan scratched the back of his neck before adding, “but I wouldn’t steal from you! I swear!” He continued munching on your chips then with a smile on his face.

“Yeah, I’m highly considering it,” you looked back at your roommate with a frown. The former cat jumped, leaving the chips in the kitchen before rushing back in front of you.

“Please let me stay! I can transform back into a cat and we can pretend like nothing ever happened!”

You and Soyeon both scoffed, crossing your arms.

“Please! I’ll… I’ll do the dishes! Neither of you two like doing those.”

“Hey, we’re both busy,” you defended.

“Plus, I don’t even need a new bed or anything! I can stay where I always sleep!”

“Which is on my bed, you perv!” You snapped, throwing the couch pillow at his head.

He caught it easily before continuing, “then I’ll sleep on the floor. Please! I’ve taken care of all the rodents and bugs that keep trying to come into this apartment!”

“I can’t knowingly harbor a fugitive,” Soyeon insisted, running her fingers through her hair. 

Sungchan looked at you with big, pleading eyes, his hands folded together in a prayer pose. You shut your eyes tightly, frustrated beyond belief. These past two years though, having a cat around really has made things less painful. Those late study nights where he would sit on your lap, the multiple failed first dates where he tried to never leave you alone. 

You already had to deal with the change of realizing Soyeon was not organically your best friend, you weren’t sure if you could handle job hunting on top of not having a third being around.

“Oh my god you’re gonna keep him.”

“What- does being my guardian angel mean you can read my mind?”

“No dumb ass it means I can read your face like a book,” she stood up and shoved a finger against Sungchan’s chest, “if you hurt her, I will call the troops on you so fast-.”

“Why would I want to hurt the only reason I’m not currently locked up?” he countered, furrowing his brows.

Soyeon loudly groaned before turning back to face you, “I… I’m sure you have a lot of other questions.”

“How come I can… see you both now?”

Soyeon extended her hand and placed the rock on your lap. “Seraphinite. It’s a rock that’s used to identify Angels… how did you even get this?”

“I bet it was that dude you were with earlier,” Sungchan muttered, his face downturned. 

“Dude… oh my god is that why you were trying to scent my legs when I got home?”

Soyeon slapped her forehead, muttering her frustrations before taking a deep breath. “Now, you’re going to see… all of the angels that co-exist on this plane of existence… unless…”

“Unless?”

“I… could wipe this from your brain,” she offered. You were frozen for a moment before you stood up, your eyes never wavering from Soyeon’s.

“You’ve done that before?”

“No! Oh my god, no never!” she stood up, grabbing your shoulders, “I swear, I never have. I just-.”

“I’m going to bed,” you broke from her grip, your feet padding on the floor quietly as Sungchan began laughing loudly at Soyeon.

You didn’t sleep much. Between the realization that Angels were real, that your best friend was not really the person you thought she was, and the fact that your cat was actually also an angel, you weren’t wired to sleep well if at all.

In the morning, you were greeted by a snoring Sungchan on the couch, and a note from Soyeon on the dining room counter.

“Giving you space. Love you bestie, and I am always there for you. Getting info, will be back asap,” you read aloud as your coffee heated up. You sighed, leaving the note on your counter as you continued mixing your coffee before starting your day.

“What are you doing today?” Sungchan’s voice made you jump, nearly dropping your mug.

“Ah! Fuck, I’m used to your bell so you don’t sneak up on me,” you defended, placing a hand on your chest to calm yourself down. “I’m going to class.”

“Take me with you!”

“Are you crazy?” you responded, taking a sip of your coffee in hopes that you’d regain some energy to deal with this.

“Please? The only time I’ve left this apartment is whenever you would take me to the vet! I promise I won’t draw any attention! Plus… your actual guardian angel isn’t here!” “I don’t need a guardian angel,” you spat.

“Fine, your best friend isn’t here. I’ll be the person you can talk to after class during lunch!” his eyes were wide and his wings were tucked closely to his body, as if he was trying to keep his energy and nerves bottled up. You didn’t understand the logistics, but it seemed that staying at your apartment was just as safe as being out and about with you. He was likely desperate to move around somehow.

“Fine… but I have a job interview after class, so I’m gonna have to bring you back here before that.”

He nodded excitedly, the restrictions seeming to have no weight on him at all. So, now you sat in the back of the full lecture hall with Sungchan, who wore a smile the whole time despite not knowing a single thing the professor said. You, however, were glaring at the several apparent guardian angels in the class. 

You learned that most Angels were blocked from human observation due to a charm that settled onto the world. Whenever anything atypical occurred (like, an angel knocking something over with their wings), the charm would make it so it appeared it was something normal. So, to the humans, the Angels appeared like any other average person. Sungchan explained that despite him being hunted down by several Angels, that being near you strengthened the charm enough that other Angels saw him as a normal human if they didn’t look too hard.

Convenient for him. Weird for you.

You were surprised to see that Shotaro was not one of the guardian angels in your class. Considering he was the only person physically close enough to you to drop the seraphinite in your bag, you expected him to also have those large, white, Angel wings. Instead, he seemed perfectly normal.

Lecture ended, and you sat still as everyone piled out of the class, all except for Shotaro who stared back at you two expectantly.

“So, you can see him now,” he had a bright grin, and you frowned.

“What the hell are you?” You asked, standing tall from your seat.

“Same thing as you,” was his reply before bounding out of the classroom.

“God dammit,” you muttered. You didn’t have time to chase after the weirdo- you needed to go back to your place to drop off Sungchan and change for your interview.

On your walk back, you decided to air some more of your questions.

“So, how come fallen angels are also just allowed to wander around?” you had noticed that while there were definitely a few more guardian angels around, there was still a substantial amount of fallen angels with their darkened wings wandering around without a second thought.

“Fallen Angels are all former Guardian Angels. They could at some point be forgiven and become Guardians again, but the only difference is that they don’t have a task directly from the man upstairs. Troops are technically Fallen Angels too, since they aren’t directly God’s task force, but rather are led by Saint George.”

“So, do most guardians assume Fallen Angels they see are Troops?”

“Yeah. Most Fallen Angels that choose to wander the surface are Troops, anyways,” he nodded. You were approaching your apartment complex now, mulling over this new found information.

“What kind of charm lets you turn into a cat, anyways?”

“What? You can believe in angels but not in witches and warlocks?”

You forced a groan, “of course.”

“Thanks again for taking me with you!” Sungchan chirped once you returned to your apartment. “And y’know… thanks for letting me stay with you.”

You stopped your path to your bedroom to glance back to Sungchan who was now perched on your couch.

“Don’t mention it.”

-----

You shifted uncomfortably in your seat. The slacks you wore had a wrinkle that you missed when ironing, and there was a small chip on your nails. You cleared your throat awkwardly, looking over your clean resume to hand to the interviewer. Your rings sat on your right hand, glistening in the overly bright office lights. The secretary was tapping away at his keyboard, and had hardly paid you any mind when you checked in fifteen minutes early for your interview. 

The secretary’s office line rang and he swiftly picked it up. You straightened your back when he glanced your way before he hung up the phone.

“Director Kwon will see you now,” he gestured to the large oak door behind him before returning to his work.

“Thanks,” your voice was soft as you passed his desk before entering the Editor-in-Chief of the largest bridal magazines office. The office walls were a soft pastel pink, all lined with different covers the magazine had printed during its one hundred years in existence. The fresh peonies scent was attributed to the several vases of the flowers in different colors and arrangements all organized throughout the space. Director Kwon’s desk, though, was a mess. It was filled with papers, magazines, and framed photos of what looked like her family.

“Welcome! Please, sit,” Director Kwon gestured to the emerald chairs directly in front of her glass desk. She turned her swivel chair to face you, and smiled. 

“Thank you for taking the time to meet with me,” you returned the smile, doing your best to keep calm before you stretched your hand, handing over your resume.

The interview went surprisingly well. Director Kwon was energetic, humorous, and was incredibly responsive to your answers and questions. Everything was perfect- until…

“Now, I know HR says I can’t ask this anymore,” her voice lowered, and you felt like you were being let in on a secret, “but, you don’t have the best wedding source from people who aren’t at least engaged,” she rolled her eyes before looking back. “So, honey, are you married?”

You panicked. You really wanted this job. Plus, they always say to fake it ‘til you make it, right? Without missing a beat you seamlessly moved a ring from your right hand onto your left ring finger.

“Is it obvious?” you giggled, lifting your hand to show Director Kwon the ring. She slapped the desk excitedly, writing down a note on your resume. You could pretend to be married- easy enough.

“What’s their name? Pretty gal like you needs to be with someone just as beautiful- I bet the wedding was gorgeous.”

Their name? You panicked. Fuck. You were backed into a corner of HR violations already- you couldn’t not reply. 

“S-Sungchan. My husband’s name is Sungchan,” you forced your smile, and in the silence you could not stop talking, “we met on a blind date two years ago and just decided on a whim to get married a few months back!”

The train ride back home after the interview was full of shame and regret. Why did you even respond? Director Kwon should not have ask you that, but fuck, you really wanted this job. Your feelings only festered when you got back home and smelled something burning in the kitchen. You threw your bag down, walking in to see Sungchan spraying the fire extinguisher at the inflamed pan on the stovetop. You stood in shock as he ran through the living room to open the windows to the night sky in an attempt to help the smoke dissipate after the flame died, then proceeded to rush in front you to explain everything.

“I left the tortillas on the stovetop just for a second… I was going to make you dinner… I’m so sorry!” he seemed like he was crying, and he was wailing in sorrow about his slight error. 

You sighed, “it’s okay, Sungchan.”

He wrapped you in a giant hug, his wings enveloping you too in the process. How was someone so soft and excitable a fallen Angel? Especially one that was on the run from people that wanted him locked up.

The following week was when you got the call that you got the job. You were so excited, and Sungchan seemed to be in incredibly high spirits for you. Sure, in the office you would have to pretend that a Fallen Angel/ your Former Cat/ your Current Roommate was your husband, but a little lie can't hurt, right?

______

You were finishing your breakfast as you texted Soyeon. Your messages weren’t going through as normal, and you were unsure at this point if she was even getting them. Defeated, you set your phone down and stared aimlessly ahead at the kitchen before a thud called your attention.

“Damn,” Sungchan muttered, now on the floor. He didn’t fit well on the couch, something you had been noticing as of late. He was tall already, and his large wings weren’t helping. While he could transform into a cat, you had learned that it wasn’t the most comfortable thing in the world. Begrudgingly, you got up from the counter and slightly nudged the angel with your foot.

“Go sleep on my bed. I’m about to leave for work,” you offered. It wasn’t like Sungchan had never slept on your bed before. In fact, when he was just Eerie to you, he usually slept either on the foot of your bed or under the sheets with you.

“Are you sure?” his voice was groggy, and he sat up with his eyes still shut.

“Of course,” you affirmed before checking the time on your phone. “I’ve gotta go, I’ll see you later. Are you gonna come with me to do groceries?”

“Of course,” he nodded before standing up and hobbling into your bedroom. 

Sungchan and you had formed a healthy routine. In the mornings, when you were still in school, you would quietly step out for class having already grabbed the lunch the man had put together for you. When you got back, you would either fully engage in questions with Sungchan, or run errands with him. He enjoyed sitting quietly in the same room as you, but since he hadn’t been able to speak to anyone for quite a while, he was elated to have your ear when you gave him the time.

Your job, however, was more convoluted than you had initially planned. As it turned out, your boss had disseminated the information that you were married to everyone- and the concept of marriage was the only thing your coworkers would speak about beyond actual job duties.

“Do you and Sungchan want to renew your vows?”

“Does Sungchan snore? My wife snores.”

“Do you and Sungchan want kids? Or lots of pets?”

Fuck! Doing your job would be a cinch if not for the constant lies and avoiding you had to do to get by. 

Sure- Sungchan was otherworldly attractive, but he was also an angel. Sungchan was also very sweet- but he was also likely terrified of being kicked to the curb and fed to the troops. 

You groaned to yourself, burying your face in your hands as you took the short train ride back home.You had been in this spiral since Soyeon left and since you started this job. You could really use your best friend- even if she was only your friend because she was your guardian angel.

“Do you think the character someone plays as in super smash brothers indicates what kind of person they are?” Sungchan asked as you both made your way through the grocery store isles together. He had taken to playing on your nintendo switch as well as leafing through your old psychology textbooks in his downtime and it was really showing.

“Um… I guess it depends on the smash game,” you mulled over, grabbing the bag of chips off the shelf. Sungchan was wrapped in an obnoxiously large coat despite the gross summer heat. It helps keep his wings more tightly pressed to his body and less likely to accidentally bump into something.

“They’re not all the same?” he was leaning against the cart, his head tilting as if this information never occurred to him.

“Yeah. Meta Knight was almost banned from competitive play for Super Smash Bros Brawl because he was way too overpowered.”

“... interesting,” he muttered, his gaze focused now on the ground beneath him as if he was mapping out a plan of action. You chuckled to yourself, moving ahead with the cart as Sungchan began asking you several questions about the differences in the smash franchise.

“... honey?” this voice made you freeze, although Sungchan continued speaking until he saw the fear in your eyes.

“Gr-Grandma,” you tried to keep your voice still, but your stutter gave you away.

“Honey, you look lovely,” she stated as if she did not just see you last week at your Mother’s place. Much to your dismay, she made eye contact with Sungchan and smiled sweetly, “and who is this… very tall young man?”

“Oh, it is you!” This new voice nearly brought you to your knees. No way. This had to be a sick joke- you were sure of it. There was no way this was both your grandma’s and boss’s grocery store of choice. This had to be an act of God themselves you felt- how else could this even happen?

“Boa, what are you doing here?” your grandmother spoke to your boss as if… as if they knew each other. 

“Are you okay?” Sungchan’s whisper unfroze you, and you met his gaze in terror, sending a look of puzzlement across his own face.

“D-Director Kwon,” you spat out, forcing a smile, “how do you know my grandmother?”

Director Kwon looked between you and your grandmother, and then chuckled to herself. “You two do look alike! Although, I don’t know why, but I thought you changed your last name.”

“Why would she do that? And how do you know my very sweet neighbor?” your grandma asked.

Neighbor. Fuck. Your Director was neighbors with your grandmother- good ones at that, it seemed. You were going to be sick at this revelation.

“I’m Sungchan!” his voice cutting through the wild tension made you nearly faint on the spot.

“Because of her husband here, of course!” Director Kwon stated. She said it. She said it. She said it to your grandma and now it was gonna get back to your Mom unless you denied and potentially risked your work. God- the labor violations kept adding up and there was nothing you could do about it.

“My sweet granddaughter isn’t married,” your grandma was raising her eyebrow at you, waiting for an answer. Director Kwon crossed her arms, staring at you for a response of any kind.

“Ah… did she not mention that there was no ceremony?” Sungchan scratched the back of his neck, feigning sheepishness. 

“Sweetheart… you weren’t even planning on telling your family?” your grandma interjected, and you immediately wanted to throw up.

“I’m so sorry ma’am, I wanted to be able to sing it from the rooftops, but we didn’t think it would be wise to announce such a thing so close to her cousin’s engagement. We wouldn’t want to steal the spotlight from her since she’s been trying to get married for sooo long,” Sungchan spoke so smoothly, that for a second even you believed it. You would talk on the phone pretty often with your mother, and oftentimes you did so with Eerie nearby- so of course he heard you gossiping about your cousin and her absolute hunt to be married.

“Y-yeah. You know how they can be,” you joked, hoping your grandma would buy it. 

“Oh my… I can’t wait until you do have your ceremony, I’ll get you in contact with my wedding planner,” Director Kwon interjected, leafing through her handbag before handing you a business card. “I’ll get going- I’ll see you Friday for the Barbeque!” she waved at your grandma before disappearing down the aisle.

“I hope you plan to tell your mother soon,” your grandma sighed before reaching forward and dusting off Sungchan’s shoulders, “I can’t wait to have you over young man. Welcome to the family.”

Continue? —> WHY DID I GET (fake) MARRIED?

Tag list!

@nini0620 @enhazen @cherriruto @deonuism @90s-belladonna @lesserahyuck

[idcbabyialreadylostmymind]

Bonds

Pairing- Ronal x f!reader

Warnings- wlw, oral sex, fingering, bondage, blindfolds, spanking, overstimulation, pussy spanking, not proofread

A/N- omg its been toooooo long since i last posted a fic but I’m gonna rewatch awotw hopefully get some motivation to write and i started a new Ethan fic so look out for that oh and the i started pt. 4 of Rebellion

⊱ ────── {⋅. ✯ .⋅} ────── ⊰

Ronal’s cool hands smooth over the curve of your back, shuddering as lust seeps from her fingertips and into your nerves. You were bare with your loincloth used as a blindfold tied around your head stripping you of your sight. Your hands and knees held you up with Ronal behind you, you don’t know what she’s gonna do or when she’s gonna do it your at her mercy. Her hands slide from your back to your ass spreading your cheeks apart, Ronal hummed pleasantly as she sees your arousal gleaming on your puffy pussy lips.

Suddenly, her breath fans onto you making you gasp as the cool air hits you. You twist your hips up making her ‘tsk’ before smacking your ass. “Stay still or do you want to be tied down?” She says and you could feel your cunt weep with need at the fantasy of her tying you down and using you up. “Naughty girl.” She growls flipping you onto your back, letting out a squeal of surprise as you feel her grip one of your ankle strapping you to something you couldn’t recognize with something your couldn’t describe, she did this to both of your legs before beginning her attack to your pussy.

Her tongue sucked your clit harshly before gliding up and down to your entrance, it felt like heaven as she twisted her long tongue to your entrance, your hands find there way to her head fingers twisting into her hair gripping as her teeth graze you clit and soothing it with her skillful muscle.

“F…fuck, R-ronal, right there.” Your back arches and your ankels strain against restraints as her fingers slide your sticky lips open showing your pleading cunt, spitting onto your clit she gives it rough strokes as her mouth glides over both your entrances. This new sensation sent overwhelming waves of ecstasy, and then you cum, you cum so hard your vision spots, suppressed high pitched moans escape your throat as she continues her assault the pleasure on the precipice of pain.

She removes her tongue from you as mover her fingers from your abused clit to your aching hole, slamming into you she scissors her fingers inside of you stretching you open. Slipping out of you she spits on your cunt before slapping your clit, the lubrication from her spit and your excitement making the sound so much more sinful.

Pain shoots through your pussy making tears pool in your eyes and leak into the blindfold, quickly soothing the pain she gently rubs your overused clit and you feel new waves of ecstasy tear though you making your toes curl in agony and your hands pull at Ronals hands but she never lets up.

The built pleasure and pain combine together and send you over the edge, your hoarse throat lets out a sreech as your body was overcome with incredible sensations. Your hands ball into fist, trying to grip onto somthing, your toes curl muscles straining against the confinement’s that have yet to come off.

And then as you come down from the sensational orgasm Ronal reaches for the makeshift blindfold untying it and sitting it down with your discarded top, she freed your ankles rubbing the sore ring from you straining against them and then doing the same to your wrist giving your hand a small kiss she looked at you as she cleaned you up. “You did good nìhona.” She told you and a blush creeped up your neck as she wrapped her long arms around you and you soon drifted to sleep.

⊱ ────── {⋅. ✯ .⋅} ────── ⊰

Nìhona- endearing sweetly

[quodekash]

guys jokezo just made out and now they have to share a bed together. just chew on that for a bit.

NO, DON'T GIVE ME THEM SITTING ON A BUS

GIVE ME WHAT HAPPENED WHEN THEY HAD TO SLEEP IN THE SAME FREAKING BED IMMEDIATELY AFTER THEY MADE OUT

👀

(they made out last night btw)

(just in case anyone forgot)

(and then they had to share a bed)

ass x7

also zo is fully just not doing anything lmao

everyone's pushing with all their might and zo is just 🧍‍♂️

FUIWEBSDGIOUVEWJBOGD

oh the desperate thigh grab

yeah, im with him on this, they need to talk about it. especially about how they had to slEEP IN THE SAME FREAKING BED AFTER THAT

welp. I guess joke's day was just ruined in a slap to the face disguised as a few words

AND THE WAY HE TAKES HIS HAND OFF ZO'S THIGH AFTER THAT????? OUCHHHH

I must say tho, this is really giving episode-6-of-bad-buddy

its very patpran-post-rooftop-kiss-core

the vibes be gay and yearning and very very sad

OKAY, THE MOTHER, FINALLY

a few things to say about her

1. she's gorgeous

2. DAMN she is SHORT

3. I was rewatching the first four episodes yesterday and today because I could, and I noticed in the first episode, zo asked his friends to not tag him in photos they took at the bar, because "I don't want my mum to see"

but my question is... why? he's just out drinking with friends, he's an adult, he's not being irresponsible or anything, so why doesn't he want her to see the photos?

is it something to do with what his mum thinks of him? is she overbearing? does she have high expectations of him? does she kinda suck?

she's probably lovely though, and ill end up adding her to my list-of-fictional-parents-to-get-adopted-by (it's a very long list)

I guess we shall find out today as the episode progresses

oh, honey, you're so queer

the amount of times ive done exactly this

she's so short its hilarious omg

also: ive decided I love his mum

she's so sweet

and neither of them know how to use a stove and I think that's so hilarious and endearing

HSDHSHFSHDHHS

(also: this scene is making me think of akkayan at aye's house having a meal with his mum and rhbgdhjgb)

he's putting two and two together

the few braincells he has that aren't dedicated to debating are whirring in his mind

I can practically hear his thoughts

"he kissed me back... he wants to talk about the kiss... we went on two dates together at his suggestion... he showed up at my house and charmed my mother... he says I have secret admirers..." cmon sweetie youre so close

"WAIT, DOES HE LIKE ME?" omg honeybun you did it!

or maybe he didn't do it

maybe he was still shuffling the pieces in his brain but hadn't put them together and then his mum said something and distracted him

either way: that was hilarious and I want to high five dunk for his acting there

HIGH EXPECTATIONS, I KNEW IT

still love her tho

high expectations suck but she seems wonderful so far (obviously my opinion will change if the circumstances do (like if it turns out she completely sucks) but for now she's made it to the adoption list)

brb, gonna go cry real quick

well now their thumbs are making out

you see, I understand the things he's saying. and I honestly agree with him. if I were ever somehow put in his position, id probably say the same things.

HOWEVER, I just want my bl boys to kiss again and be happy and together and I appreciate the realism over the usual fantasy kinda situation we go for in bls, but I just want them to kissssss

this is very good advice

I hope that jokezo kiss again this episode

also AAAGBRDHFKBG JENGPOK CRUMBS

YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHO'S LOSING THEIR MIND OVER JENGPOK AGAIN

BERIUFDJKGBEORPVFD

I LOVE THEM SO MUCH

SHUT UP

SHUT UP SHUT UP

IM NOT CRYING YOU'RE CRYING

FHEWSDGFVESDV

THIS IS TOO FUNNY

im gonna start crying soon

its so funny

help me

girl is worried

I know this is what jeng told you to do but is during debate club really the right moment

im so certain that she ships it

awwhhhhh

HE SAID IT

HE SAID THE THING

AAAAAAAAA

hell yeah

GOUERJLHDGOBIERVLDNF

AAAAAAAAAAA

IM SCREAMING

THATS IT??

THAT'S THE END OF THE EPISODE??

THEY DIDNT EVEN KISS

OR ADDRESS THE FACT THAT - and I can't stress this enough - THEY SLEPT IN THE SAME FREAKING BED AFTER FULL-ASS MAKING OUT

omg next episode is gonna be amazing

I can't wait

gekjrdsbfd I love them so much

im like 70% certain they're gonna kiss next episode so fingers crossed

ALSO NITA DEFINITELY SHIPS IT

anyway. that was good. I should go to sleep now

[daydream-believin]

keeper (1)

start here. next.

a/n: chronosphere. it’s called a chronosphere. lmao can you blame me. who wants to rewatch even a second of rott

taglist:

the first reset. everything was gonna be better. you’d fix all your mistakes and account for the mistakes of others. it would be all right after this.

jim was certain this time he could do it all. his muscles may not have the memories but his brain did. his body would follow soon enough. he’d be the ultimate human trollhunter. one who didn’t have to be taught how to fight or how to navigate troll culture. he could protect everyone he loved that much better. he was ready.

you, as mentioned before, were not.

you were terribly confused as to why you remembered everything. woke up in your lonely little bed in your old apartment like it was all a dream.

for agonizing moment, you let yourself believe that. sure, it would’ve been quite the convoluted dream, and the most vivid thing you’d ever imagined, but it could’ve been a dream.

you stared up at the ceiling, stuck in the moment. clutching the blanket to your chest. finding shapes in the popcorn. you had to get up. you had to go to work. but you couldn’t move.

if it was indeed a dream, then no one existed. or at least, your dream’s version of them. you knew their appearances, had seen everyone around town once or twice. so they existed. but your friends wouldn’t exist. as long as you lied there in your cozy bed bathed in fresh morning sunbeams, you wouldn’t forget any of them.

you had to do something.

your eyes drifted to a journal with a gold leaved trim in the bookcase you were using as a night table. one of those you buy bc it’s so pretty but when you bring it home you just add it to the growing stack of never-used journals. and there was a blue ballpoint pen conveniently lying on the floor.

you wrote it all down, every detail to the best of your memory. barbara’s talented brushstrokes, douxie’s gentle finger-picking melodies, jim’s opinions on how to cook lamb, douxie’s perpetually-tired but sparkling hazel eyes, claire’s curiosity about the magical world, douxie’s snark in the face of danger, nari’s careful plant cultivation, douxie’s contagious laughter—

okay so maybe you missed doux a lot already. only a few hours apart, but it already hurt.

it was worse actually, with the sick feeling that came with the assumption that you had just dreamt up the last few years of your life. not only was everyone gone, but you made it up as well. so desperate for connection that your own brain would cook up a story. make you some people to love.

a story with many many details. which was suspicious. and a lot of it didn’t make sense, but you supposed that was just dream logic at work.

that deep stabbing loneliness returned to you like a lover, ironically. so familiar, you didn’t know why you felt like it had ever left you. it was there all along, wasn’t it? so peculiar a feeling.

you looked around the apartment. you hadn’t been here in years, and everything was right where you left it. or maybe it was that you never moved it in the first place.

you glanced at the date on the calendar once again. something about it mocked you.

and you developed the inexplicable desire to prove it all just a fantasy.

you pulled a hoodie on and slipped on some shoes at your door, heading towards the beginning of it all. the bridge.

this would be good. you could go see that there was nothing there and calm down this nagging fear. this terrible deja vu. and move on.

except. there kanjigar lay, pile of gravel he was.

you gawked at the rubble. no amulet. jim had already passed through. you ignored the buzzing coming from your back pocket in favor of high-tailing it to the local public highschool.

you got about halfway there before you realized they would definitely not let you in. this is america. you can’t just do that these days.

you leaned against a nearby tree to regain your bearings. and decide what or where would be your next move. you couldn’t approach jim until he was out of school. you took a moment to hope he was smart enough to hide from the resident changelings a little better this time around.

unfortunately, you had a whole day to kill until the brat got out of school, and a lot of your usual haunts were off-limits. no horngazzle to get into trollmarket, no key to douxie’s apartment, and no key to the lakes’ house. barb probably wouldn’t appreciate a stranger knocking on her door and asking to have coffee with her (hard to catch up when she doesn’t fucking know you). you did have two options available, however. douxie’s bookshop and stuart’s electronics.

wasn’t even a competition. sorry stu. doux comes first.

the bookshop opened at 9:00. you may have just hung around the alley outside until douxie woke up. and. well. if some pebbles decided to magically hit his window of their own accord and speed up that waking process, that was their prerogative.

after doux flipped the sign, you waited exactly 32 seconds before charging in there. patience was never your strong suit, was it?

however, this gave you 0 seconds to think about what came next. fuck. uh.

it’s not like you can just open with “hi. i may or may not be in a time loop. i love you.”

do you love him? do you know him? would he think you’re crazy? is this guy even a wizard? or did you make all that up?

“…is there anything i can help you with?”

fuck. okay. so you’ve just been standing here in the middle of the bookstore, looking lost af.

“uh yeah i just—“

“looking for a book?”

okay there’s the shovel, “yeah! I— a book.”

you rubbed the back of your neck in embarrassment. off to a great start here.

“…” douxie was looking at you expectantly.

“uh,”

“the title?” he offered, “do you have the title?”

“OH,” you said a little too loudly, “the title. of course.”

the awkward silence was deafening, “so,” he furrowed his brows, “what is it?”

“yes! um…” you racked your brain for literally any book title that had ever existed. unfortunately, your brain tossed all that out along with every other piece of information you had once you stepped through those bookshop doors. “ssshh- GOBLINS!”

“goblins?”

“yeah, yeah, uh. goblins: a guide to infestation. that’s what i’m looking for.”

doux shifted on his feet, “okay. i think i have that,, in the back.”

you took this moment by yourself to mute your phone’s notifications. work wasn’t happy. you didn’t remember much about the job you were working like, two years ago, but you were sure they could suck it.

as douxie came back around and handed you the worn copy of the goblin-killing manual, you realized that this was definitely taken off his own personal shelf. because of course it was, it was a trollish book. whoopsie.

“so, you…” he let his hands linger on the book longer than necessary as he placed it in your hands, “got an infestation?”

you darted your eyes from his to the book, “uh, not at the moment. just. can’t hurt to be prepared i guess.”

you awkwardly chuckled.

“of course. so, uh, this one can only be a loan, if you can understand.”

“i do.”

“eh, what’s say a week?”

“sure.”

doux crossed to the door in front of you. he opened it, motioning his hand to gesture you out it.

“well, i’ll see you then.”

you took the cue, “yeah. you too!”

and after you walked out and down the street a ways, you remembered that you WERE SUPPOSED TO STAY THERE DUMBASS.

but it’s not like you can just walk back in there now.

ah. social convention has trapped you once again. maybe there’s something good at the coffee shop.

[potatoesandsunshine]

the tierlist trend seems kind of over... but i love ranking things :) here's the official anna potatoesandsunshine d20 opinions

told myself i wasn’t gonna write a whole long commentary about this but c’mon. that’s who i am.

💖BEST💖: to make it to this tier a season has to be either tailor-made for me specifically (the acofaf announcement made me feel like someone had seen my diary and it remains in my opinon The Best D20 Has Ever Been) or be something i never knew i needed. unsleeping city was one that i didn’t initially think i would care for (i’m just not super into urban fantasy) but it pretty quickly became a comfort food season for me. when i’m sick TUC 1 is what i put on. acoc and fhsy are a bit more complicated for me—those seasons are what got me really into the fandom side of d20 (writing fic, listening to fan music, etc) but pretty soon i realized hmm i don't really... enjoy the fandom side of this so much! so i hit the brakes on making fanwork pretty hard after those two, but they’re still two of the best seasons imo. 

Good ♥️: i like these! i rewatch episodes sometimes! i was surprised how much fun mentopolis was, but i fell in love with the season as it went on and i’m super happy it exists. we all know my eftbk feelings by now (it’s good but i wish it had a longer runway so we could have some more character development throughout). ravening war is tricky because it had some of the best character moments and dynamics for any season of d20 for me (i am the tragedy enjoyer! i love when a season makes me sad!) but the overarching illuminati plot just didn’t hit at all so that kept it out of the top tier. Mice & Murder Is The Most Underrated Season Of Dimension 20 And Everyone Should Watch It.

Had fun, won’t rewatch: what it says on the tin. if i finish a season it can’t make it into the bounced off tier, so even though i retroactively don’t super care for the seven i must’ve had a good enough time watching it in the moment. maybe the Hottest Take of this list is.... i think fh is more popular than is really warranted by virtue of being the first season. it’s good! it’s a good story! but i like fhsy so much more and i basically never go back and rewatch fh episodes. (DISCLAIMER fantasy high LIVE in brooklyn is my child and that episode should be carved out and stuck in the best tier. love it.)

Bounced off: also what it says on the tin. coffin run just didn’t catch my attention (might’ve been a me thing, sometimes if i’m not having a great time it’s harder to care about d20) and while i loved everyone on shriek week i had a tough time with the system. that one is worth a revisit when i have more time. aso and tuc2 are really tough for me 😔 it seems like people love aso so much and i’m happy for them but i tried to get into it probably six times, made it to episode two, and said “why am i watching this?” every time. i will never finish it. tuc2 felt even wilder to not connect to since i love tuc so much but i have a certain threshold for extended explanations of metaphysical concepts in the world and tuc2 blasts past that like every 20 minutes. tried maybe four times to watch the season (my best friend really likes it! she thinks i would!) but just couldn’t.

Active Hatred 🔪: tiny heist is the worst season of this show! i hate it! i can’t believe they had both jess ross and lily du and wasted them on this season!! (i was already sort of falling out of love with mcelroy content when this season came out, but this was what put my taz fandom in the grave)

Didn’t Watch (Yet): just haven’t gotten around to them 👍

[jeonqkooks]

ooo I love recommendations and hearing what other people like!! what’s your top kdramas?

I’ve not watched many, but the ones I’ve seen and loved are weightlighting fairy kim bok-joo, our beloved summer & hometown cha cha cha.

kdrama recs!

my ultimate faves, aka ones that i would rewatch:

goblin: if i had to pick a favorite it’d be goblin !!! so so good oh my god. the last episode took all of my tears……….

doom at your service: i’m not big on fantasy kdramas but this was so good (and also so sad)

strong girl bong soon: this has to be in my top !! it’s so cute and park bo young and park hyung sik have insane chemistry :((

descendants of the sun: it wasn’t one of the most popular dramas in all of asia in 2016 for no reason !! will always have a special place in my heart (if u ignore all the shit that went down between song joong ki and song hye kyo afterward lol)

hospital playlist: v cute and heartwarming !! 🥹

twenty five twenty one: a definite thumbs up!! v bittersweet tho

our beloved summer: even though i didn’t like yeon su that much, this was still a v good drama and i’m gonna have to rewatch it soon

crash landing on you: honestly i think the premise is kinda stupid 😭 but it’s entertaining and hyun bin + son ye jin are *chef’s kiss*

reply 1988: my favorite in the reply series (even though i didn’t love the ending). reply 1994 was pretty good too but major second lead syndrome :/

secret garden: one of hyun bin’s best dramas. also has one of the best kdrama soundtracks

hometown cha cha cha: very wholesome and comforting 💕

flower of evil: lee jun ki and moon chaewon’s chemistry is top notch. also lee jun ki is v hot in this 🫡

extraordinary attorney woo: v cute and refreshing. all the side characters are wholesome and it’s the first (i think) kdrama to feature an autistic lead character!

the moon that embraces the sun: i don’t watch a lot of period dramas but this was so good. kim soo hyun’s acting is always top tier

hi bye mama: 10 out of 10 would cry every episode. so freaking sad……

cafe minamdang: i’m watching this rn! it’s so funny, and seo in guk is fantastic in this

ones that i enjoyed but probably wouldn’t rewatch:

a business proposal: this was kinda overrated imo 😭

dream high: an oldie but a goodie!

uncontrollably fond

penthouse: only the first season is good. season 2 + 3 are freaking train wrecks

big mouth

mystic pop up bar

abyss

dinner mate

happiness

was it love?

the k2

the king: eternal monarch

something in the rain

dp

my name: super violent and gory…….. i highly advise you to consider this

weightlifting fairy kim bok joo: the first bit is cute! nam joo hyuk is v cute in this 🤤 but it was so slow for me asdfhkl

prison playbook

suspicious partner

navillera

when the camellia blooms

vagabond

kingdom

hyena

the silent sea

city hunter

my love from the star

fight for my way

my girlfriend is a gumiho

cinderella’s stepsister

a gentleman’s dignity

mouse

there’s a lot more on my to-watch list but these are the ones that i enjoyed the most. do you guys have any recs for me that aren’t on this list? 👀 i can’t live without kdramas if u can’t already tell haahah

[iztopher]

if you're still doing the writing wrapped: 4, 6, 10, 16, 27!!

yess!!

4. Favorite paragraph you wrote this year?

Graduation was heartening. The tattooing process, while painful, hurt less than her freshly-healed lightning strike from Nanghaithya. She looked at herself in the mirror: sword inked along her sternum, sheet music curling around her calves, and reminded herself they meant she had proven herself a hero. She found she had some faith in Rhen Darzon, Sword Singer, to save the world.

from with rhyme and reason!

6. Favorite sentence you wrote this year?

It was the blade Rhen wielded - she couldn't herself think of the Sword of Shadows as her sword, not when she would be returning it so soon and hopefully never have to hold it again - that sliced down Ahriman's chest and sucked in his horrible, shrieking soul.

also from with rhyme and reason! I like this sentence a lot because it turns out I enjoy writing violence LMAO

10. How did you help other writers this year? (i.e. leaving comments, reviews, borrowing books, beta reading, etc)

I beta'ed for a handful of people this year, which was really fun, and I tried to make a point to get back into the swing of leaving comments. still have some to leave, though...

16. Who was your favorite character to write?

it's always a 50/50 shot for me. this year, Galahad wins.

27. Which books, movies, etc, helped instruct your storytelling this year?

saying "I'm not sure" is such a copout answer but truly I am not sure. I enjoyed a LOT of new media this year but most of it is very different from the stories I've been telling, so while I'm sure it subconsciously influenced me all the same it was kind of all just soup to me and I can't separate it out.

I played Zero Escape ages ago, but I think the most interesting is that ZE definitely inspired part of with rhyme and reason. The idea of different timelines was very present in my mind writing that fic, and my thoughts on that in media are very heavily influenced by ZE. also watched russian doll this year so that was probably also knocking around in there

I started Black Sails last year, and I do think watching it & finishing it this year was a big part of my interest in writing more characters making decisions I actively disagree with. I watched this part last year, but as specific as it is I rewatched the one incredibly :( Flint & Miranda sex scene before writing YTSLTLM lmao. there was an emotional discomfort there that really spoke to me I guess

overall the type of media I like engaging with is leaning darker/unsettling/weird and unexplained - horror, drama, stuff about death, time loops & other time shenanigans, mysteries - but the type of writing I like MAKING is staying solidly in goofy high fantasy land and Aveyond fanfiction, so I'm not 100% sure how those are gonna end up being reconciled. I want to make a point in 2023 to keep engaging w/ stuff that's more of My Vibe as a creator, which to be fair I did this year, but mostly by replaying Aveyond and rewatching Galavant LOL and not by experiencing anything new.

[captainsspnanon]

C2E70 - Causatum - rewatch

Well, nothing like being unable to get onto tumblr after a CR episode because my ACCOUNT RANDOMLY GETS FUCKING TERMINATED. Here’s hoping that it comes back soon, I will not be pleased if I lose my 2014 account. (it’s back!)

In the meantime, LET’S HAVE YASHA DRAMA.

Oh no, Liam’s remote! OH NO I RECOGNIZE THE PROPS FOR THE SAM AD BIT

OH GOD Sam starting off with the bit, then immediately interrupting himself to say ‘you know what, I didn’t even look at what they sent me to read’

…*looks up causatum* oh hey that’s an actual word! It basically means ‘an effect’. That’s cool! It’s not a word I knew, and until now, I just never considered that it actually meant something versus some fantasy word.

Nope, I had no focus. So now I’m back again, day two of having no tumblr. I wouldn’t say I’m going through withdrawals, but I am NOT happy. Some quick googling it seems like tumblr support is a monday through friday thing, so the fact that I got termed early Saturday morning? *sigh* I am impatient. (shockingly, am back! Which you know. Because you are reading this)

I don’t even know how to verbalize my Fjord thoughts here. There’s a strong reluctance to tell the Bright Queen of their failure, at least with any sort of speed. From Talks, I know that he’s afraid they’d be thrown in jail, but there’s something tickling the back of my brain about not wanting to disappoint authority, not wanting to be seen as a failure even if nothing came of it, Vandran, insecurity, deception. I really wish I had the ability to take these jumbled thoughts and make coherent sense of it, because whether or not it’s accurate, it’s an interesting take.

For all the laughter at Caduceus apologizing for raising his voice, he actually was. He wasn’t shouting or anything, but he did raise his voice and was speaking with more firmness and passion than he typically does. It is also a great moment of him asking if anyone had the experience of NOT automatically assuming that they’re the bad guys, if anyone had the experience of being trusted, and the answer was essentially a resounding ‘no’. That, so much, is the core of the Mighty Nein, and it’s the reason that Caduceus ended up being such a wonderful fit.

(Something I thought of yesterday when of course I couldn’t post it, but another heavy theme of the M9 campaign ended up being cults. Caleb was in a cult, Jester was in/formed a cult, Fjord was tiptoeing around the Uk’otoa cult, Yasha was/is in a cult. Hell, you could make [barely] an argument that Beau was kinda in a cult because she was forced to join the cobalt soul against her will, even though it’s not a cult. [also I accidentally typed fjorced, what the hell me] Perhaps the same thin argument could be made for Nott being forced [I did fjorced again wtf] to join the goblin tribe for the period of time that she did.)

Ugh, Jester crying hits me so much harder than any other of Laura’s PCs, I think because she’s the most outwardly bubbly and high spirits. I also forgot that she had doubts about Yasha! I know for a fact that this is gonna be momentary but I think it’s very powerful that it’s there at all. Especially for those who are reacting more negatively (Fjord and Beau) it adds a level of validity to their feelings. If EVEN Jester thinks this!

Caduceus has been the best rock that this scene needed. Fjord never really goes head to head with Caduceus, but I think this is the most oppositional that he’ll be all campaign, and it is a fantastic interplay. Caduceus with his faith in Yasha versus Fjord with his history of betrayal from Sabien.

I really appreciate that when Matt narrates that the soldiers have been alerted by the Bright Queen to expect something, not just leaving them in the dark as Fjord feared, no one gives Fjord shit over it. There’s no ‘I told you so’s, there’s no ‘see?’, there’s not even subtle nudging. Everyone recognizes that it was a fully valid suspicion, and that there was no shame or harm in having it. PLUS they still work to subtly give more information via the whisper campaign, again validating Fjord (and Beau – just focusing on Fjord because he was more vocal about it).

Huh, it’s weird to hear Baphomet. Well, I guess it’s not a specific dnd thing, but I’d still expected something of an Exandrian equivalent. Then again, the gods and such do still occasionally get referred to by the 5e names in this campaign, so it’s not fully distancing themselves yet. (I’m sorry, Fey Realm may match with TLoVM, but I still replace it in my head with Feywild. Same with Shadow Realm and Shadowfell.)

I LOVE Matt’s “really” when Jester rolls a 21 for deception for Nancy McFancyPants. THAT is the agony of the DM right there, and it is GLORIOUS. Yes Matt, they do believe her. They believe her so well.

Is this the first mention of Eiselcross????? The ballista provide their own ammunition!!! THE FORESHADOWING!!! Ah, not the first mention, the first was a book from the Happy Fun Ball. But it didn’t have the foreshadowing!!

It always is interesting to see Caduceus have his small moments of pure intimidation. Someone comes up to the room when he’s casting Legend Lore? Even though the guy is already apologetic and ready to leave, he gives himself black eyes for a scary appearance, and then magically closes the door. On the one hand, it feels very out of character for Caduceus. On the other hand, I wonder if this is tricks that he would use with his siblings when he was feeling irritated or trying to prank them. In that mindset, the few times he uses these tricks makes a lot more sense, especially as they’re never actually harmful. I admit that I’ve struggled with Caduceus’s relationship with his siblings, specifically the trickster part of him, as we rarely get to see it in campaign. I feel like we only really saw it when he used the bone flute on his sister? But Taliesin has clearly kept it in his mind, as he mentions it a number of times on Talks. Though I suppose I’ll be discussing this more in an episode or two, judging by the episode titles.

Wonderful conversations between Jester and Beau, and then Beau and Caleb. Not much to say, aside from just well done for all, ouch for Liam with the lag, and very good character beats all around. Dives much more into Jester and Beau, very much appreciated, and lovely to see.

“Were you there in the cave?” “I’m never far” HITS SO MUCH DIFFERENT when you know that Sprinkle is the Traveler’s vessel at times. AAAA

I think Matt wanted this to be in a volcano even more than Jester, considering she made an offhand comment and he pushed it further. I wonder how much of Rumblecusp he had fleshed out at this point. Likely the forgetfulness and Vilya already, but was the volcano already there? Or did it get added because of this conversation? If he added it after, maybe that’s where he came up with the idea for what’shisface. Vokodo.

Caleb is 100% the reason why I love wizards as a class. The teleportation circle! Caleb checking the supplies! The beautiful description from Matt! Love it so much!

And I’m very pleased they acknowledge the moorbounders being left where they were. Goodbye kitties, I will love you forever.

Again, something I continuously wonder is how much of an NPC Matt has determined based off of player conversation. My thought process here is that the PCs are very thoroughly discussing how the Laughing Hand situation went, arguing for how they were responsible and how they were not. A lot of good points were brought up on either side, and it was not anything touched on lightly. With Matt listening to all of this, did he have a thought process of how the Bright Queen may think of it, and upon hearing the conversation, add that to how he thought she may react? With the discussions of how they couldn’t actually have been responsible, did that influence how Matt had her behave so supportively? Or did he always know that the Bright Queen would not see it as their fault, as long as they didn’t eff up presenting it to her. After all, he didn’t ask for persuasion when Caduceus was explaining what happened, only when he asked for permissions after. I know why we didn’t get Matt as frequently on Talks (or 4sd for c3), but this is why I itch for it. I’ve LOVE to get inside his brain for these things.

(I also love that the cast clearly forgot that they warned the BQ about Empire shenanigans, as I’d also forgotten it given how long it’s taken me to watch this, so the reminder here was appreciated)

Aaagh, the scene with the prisoner has an added level of tension to it because of the delay and difficulty caused by virtually streaming in. Liam doesn’t have good visual to see when someone is about to speak, and with the lag there’s overlapping talk which may have been a non-issue had he been present (not hearing Caduceus offering to assist, talking over Matt trying to speak at the Scourger). We still get a very powerful scene, but sadly I feel like a little bit of Caleb’s capacity for intimidation gets a little clipped with the disconnect. Too bad we never really get to find out why this woman had knowledge of Bren, as well as why she had the forearm scars but not the maze-like tattoos. Earlier in her training? Perhaps, but to have enough knowledge of Bren? I don’t think we ever find out what Trent may have communicated with his trainees about him, whether he maintained the ruse of being fully in control, or allowed them to know that Bren had escaped but could be lured back in?

I know Taliesin gets credit for being amazing with one-liners, but honestly – they all are. “Enjoy your mouthful of lies when the choke it out of you.” *chefs kiss*

Nott and Yeza’s relationship has just an interesting dynamic. I haven’t read her comic, so I don’t know how it’s portrayed there, but in campaign, Nott describes herself has having been bullied even as a halfling, and so gave a reasonable interpretation that she may have been more meek, with her life since getting killed and transformed causing her to become more outspoken. In her earlier interactions with Yeza, there was a meekness present – but honesty more of just a fear of being rejected. She spoke for him at times, but it was reasonable enough with him being fairly traumatized. However, we come to now. They’ve made the decision to send Yeza to Nicodranas, and Nott firmly and repeatedly shuts down any suggestion of him learning to swim, getting close to a boat, and repeatedly makes decisions on his behalf. Yeza doesn’t bristle at this and instead takes it fully in stride, as if this is the relationship dynamic that he’s already used to. Of course, much of this is the meta sense that Sam needs to make a lot of the decisions with Matt ‘yes and’ing, rather than Matt making any of the large decisions. Yeza is very much an NPC that is also a character prop. Anything Matt does with Yeza is going to be for having Sam make decisions with Nott, and Matt really isn’t going to do things with Yeza that are counter intuitive to the main storyline, or something that would attempt to pull agency away from Sam. I’m trying to remember, but I think all player created NPCs have that level of ‘character prop’, versus the DM created NPCs who can act in ways to spin the story. For this campaign, Marion is very supportive of anything Jester does and displays clear love and affection for her, Beau’s father is cool and distant, her mother is caring but weak, Caduceus’s family are all exactly as he describes, and the same for C1 and C3. Now, the player created NPCs aren’t all good and loving (see Beau’s family and Zeenoth, the twins’ father, Tary’s family, etc) but I don’t recall Matt pulling any big twists with any of them. If the player wrote in the backstory that the person was X, then Matt plays them as X. ….I’ve twisted myself in a circle here XD Going back to my original thought, I do adore the Nott and Yeza relationship as well as fully understand and appreciate criticism it has of being not entirely healthy. There is a strong passivity to Yeza that wouldn’t work for PC to PC relationship, but makes sense for a PC to player-created NPC relationship. The same is not true for a PC to DM-created NPC relationship such as Caleb/Essek, or Vax/Gilmore. Because those NPCs are more established and can grow as characters, whereas the player-created NPCs tend to be more set in their original description.

*reads that entire mess of a paragraph* …… I’m just going to not even touch that or try to make more sense of it, moving on. *reminds myself that this rewatch write up is to improve my writing abilities and improve my sense of critical analysis rather than just passively watching something I enjoy. I’m not trying to convince anyone of anything, just make sense of my own thoughts, and maybe find some other words than ‘interesting’ and ‘fascinating’.*

Wait what? Caleb intimated his past to Essek, who I thought KNEW from the first meeting with handing over the beacon, but didn’t? And then Essek asks if Caleb was a Scourger and Caleb says no but Essek clearly doesn’t believe him. I am genuinely surprised by this, because I had remembered it as Essek having known as of day one! I mean, I guess all the parallels and conversation in 97 on do still make sense if Essek only realized now, but it changes my perception of it a bit.

On the other hand, Caleb very clearly throws up some masks (that squinting smile!) while talking with Essek, while at the same time being very truthful about his feelings and request.

(I really do adore the moments where Liam has Caleb speak to himself, when it’s done quickly and effectively. Here is fantastic, back on the boat where he calls himself an asshole and starts copying spells, the bit in the tower where he goes to the memory room alone after showing everything else off. I think the only time that I wasn’t a huge fan of it was early on when Yasha, Jester, and Fjord get kidnapped, because I felt like the scene ran a bit too long. But I think every other instance worked well.)

Oh hey! We get the lore for Caduceus’s backstory! And I know from a highlight reel on youtube that this is the first aspect of Travis just completely missing the ‘Stone’ tie in XD My only singular problem with this lore is that Dust doesn’t feel like a last name. Clay? Yes. Stone? Yes. Dust??? ...don’t feel like it. Looking at a surname website (just a random one, I’m not spending time actually researching this), Dust as a last name in the US – just over 1,300. Clay? Almost 62,000. Stone – just over 203,000. So….that explains it, at least. ….*looks up my own last name* HA it doesn’t even show up, just offers variations.

Jester and Nott panic is the most common, but Jester and Beau panic is the most entertaining. Though I will make my minor Taliesin complaint here, Laura and Marisha specified that they were going up separately AND they were talking in whispers, and then Caduceus was just there for the conversation. Here, it’s played very humorously and works well. But Taliesin does this repeatedly (and I’m pretty sure unintentionally), I remember getting VERY pissed off at one point in C1 where Percy is interrupting a conversation between Vex and Vax when they’re on a completely different floor of a house. Each player has their own little things I nitpick, and unfortunately this is one of Taliesin’s that I’m not particularly fond of.

LOL Caleb/Liam trying to have a little scene with The Boys and everyone giving him shit. XDDD

DAIRON!!!! Cannot wait for 71! Though by the name I thought that was when they went to ……. OH I’m thinking of Family Shatters. That’s not until 96!!! Okay that makes way more sense.

Also, is this the episode where Travis dips his hand into his drink cup instead of his snack cup by mistake? I didn’t see him do it, but I also wasn’t checking heavily. *looks at youtube comments* Yes, it is! *watches it like three times in a row* odd, I remembered Matt seeing it, but it looks like he’s laughing at bottom table, not top table.

[harpyeda]

elinor fairmont from first kill and aelwyn abernant from fantasy high are the same character. which means elinor is my favorite first kill character

[primsycoldbottles]

ohhh yeah. im. im definitely experience a hyperfixation rn lol

[outerbankies]

new light outtake: just wanna be with you

rewatched high school musical today (we’re all quarantining—don’t judge) and remembered that at one point, i tried to incorporate troy’s romantic little hop thru the truck bed to open gabriella’s door for her into new light. it didn’t work but i found the draft today so here you go besties!

You’re in a funk for the rest of the boat ride, all the way up until Rafe drives you home. Your wrinkled dress sits bunched up in your lap, Rafe sneaking his hand under it to hold your knee on the way to your parents’ house.

He’d let you have your space on the boat after your talk, not pushing it anymore as the two of you tried to act normal around John B and Sarah. They seemed happy to play along, so the vibes weren’t completely ruined. Rafe had tried to show you all day he was there without being overbearing, refilled drinks and forehead kisses and light touches on your shoulders and lower back.

You’re exhausted in more than one way by the time he pulls into to your parents’ driveway. He hops out first and you wait patiently for him to come open your door as he always does, jumping out of your skin when you feel the entire truck move with the weight of your boyfriend hopping into the bed. You watch in the rear view mirror as he crosses over and hops out on your side, grinning ear to ear when he opens your door to your amused gaze.

“That was a little extra,” you giggle, handing him your things as you step down.

“Got you to smile,” he says proudly, a little out of breath.

You just roll your eyes, still smiling as you stand on your tippy toes to give him a peck.

He keeps a hand on your back as you both walk to the door, his touch doing little to settle the knots twisting in your stomach.

“What are you thinking about up here?” he says, rubbing a thumb across your temple as you stand on the front porch.

“He’s not just your father, he’s the man you’re going to work for—”

His groan cuts you off. “I really don’t like where this is going.”

“Can you at least think about it?” you ask.

“What? Think about what?” he says, eyes desperately scanning your face.

“I just want you to make sure you’re not throwing this wrench into your relationship with Ward and your professional future because of some high school fantasy.”

He reels back. “Fantasy? Y/n/n—”

“Just take a day—or a few? Please, for me.” It’s his weakness. He shuts his mouth, even though you can already hear a million reassurances falling off of his lips. You’re hurting him, and you can see it, feel it because you’re hurting yourself too, but it’s what you need to move past this.

“Okay,” he agrees, nodding his head up and down slowly. “Yeah.”

You grab his hand with your free one, stroking a thumb over his knuckles. “Thanks, RC.”

He pulls you into him one more time with an arm around your shoulders, long kisses pressed into your hair like promises. You place your hand where his heart should be, feeling it hammer against his chest. “I’ll talk to you… later?”

“Yep,” you nod, pulling yourself away from him to open your front door.

It’s not until you’re inside, watching from one of the sun room windows as he gets back in his truck, that you wonder if you’d just lost him.

You’re out the door and running down the driveway before you can think twice, coming around the front of his truck to stand on the ledge by the driver’s side. His window’s already rolled down for you. “I like you, so much. Okay?”

Rafe nods, letting you kiss his cheek. Small smile pulling on his lips when he grabs your neck to catch your lips in a kiss too. “I know. Like you too.”

Rafe keeps his hand secure on the back of your neck when you try to step down, keeping you in your spot. Your furrow your eyebrows at him. “I’m gonna talk to him.”

It’s not a question, or a suggestion. You just nod.

“Okay.”

He kisses you one more time, finally letting you step off the platform. “See you soon.”

[supercantaloupe]

on Aelwyn Abernant, the Reformed Villain Squad, and redeeming teenage antagonists

an analysis on antagonist character development in Fantasy High. spoilers through sophomore year and (mildly so) the most recent roll20 oneshot. essay under the cut bc i am very long winded

the turnaround with Aelwyn in s2 is handled so well  i cant get over it. she was such a major antagonist in the first season and just. despicable. she had no pathos. we hated this bitchy older sister who tried to kill Adaine and her friends and raise an evil dragon, and when she gets knocked on her ass and thrown in jail, we cheer.

and then s2 fucking starts saying “hey she’s in jail still if you’d like to look into that” and pursuing that thread ends up being almost as comedic an idea as it is a reluctant one; it’s also quickly shunted to the background as soon as more pressing leads present themselves, to the point where we almost forget about her until Adaine is kidnapped and then the first time you see her it’s just. viscerally upsetting.

she’s bad. she did evil. she got what she deserved.

but she already got what she deserved. last season.

she got her ass handed to her by a bunch of 14 year olds including her little sister (how embarrassing!). her plans were thwarted. she got punched in the face and made fun of. she already got her punishment.

it just……immediately registers as over-the-top Wrong to be told “hey, remember that antagonist you beat last season? she’s still being punished for that, except it’s way worse than just going to mumple.”

and there’s that reminder that like…this is a teenager. a child. who has been manipulated and abused. which is a really fascinating look at this character we used to see pretty much unilaterally as a one dimensional bitchy villain.

i mean we got a more in depth look at Penelope’s and Biz’s motivations in s1 (Penelope being the popular rich girl sorceress obviously hungry for power and the alllure of the high school clout that is being prom queen, but also we know that her having to turn on her best friend Sam Nightingale as part of the scheme was something she was reluctant and not happy to do; and Biz being that predatory incel creeper type dude besides just a nerd with computers and a lack of social graces). and they were as much willingly active in the plot as Aelwyn was. yet in s1 they really never do bother to explore Aelwyn’s motivations. i remember after watching s1 but before s2 that was one of my biggest lingering questions: why tf was Aelwyn involved?

well. she was manipulated and abused. her terrible parents raised her in an awful environment that conditioned her to Listen and Obey and Behave and Be Perfect, and then Kalina helped cinch the noose around her neck with threats and coersion into the KVS Kaper and the NMK crown debacle. she doesn’t freely choose any of it; she’s coerced, manipulated, abused.

and she already got justifiably punished for her bad actions in s1. the torture is almost literal overkill. it’s just……there’s this immediate turnaround in sympathy and view of the character. on first watch, it’s viscerally upsetting to see her getting so brutally punished for actions she already faced consequences for, and on rewatch, it makes your skin crawl to know she’s being tortured for terrible things she had little choice in carrying out. and tortured by some of the very same people who coerced her to behave terribly in the first place, to add insult to injury.

and it’s still fucking frustrating when they rescue her and her memory gets reset and she goes back to her parents because it’s like “well shit, she’s evil again, and we just wasted all that effort for nothing” but it’s also sad cause we know she’s running back to her abusers and she isn’t happy about it but doesn’t feel like she has a choice. and it’s sadder still that what eventually inevitably gets her to turn to good for good (i.e. away from her parents) is just. a full dissociative mental breakdown.

(but then she survives and it’s gonna be good!!! until Adaine dies in her fucking arms. which is. almost funny. she’s been through so much shit and that isn’t something that Brennan would have just. preplanned. like a written in plot point. no, that was just an unpredictable consequence of the battle. what a juicy fucking moment. she’s been through All That Shit™️ and has finally turned to fight for good and her sister just fully dies in front of her. yeowch)

and she turns out okay in the end. she comes out the other side alive and whole and supported by her sister and her friends, with the hope of a future and recovery. there is an acknowledgement that A) she can and will grow from her mistakes and damage, B) it’s going to be really hard, and C) the post-s2 one shots both prove that she’s doing okay now. hell, she has a whole squad now of other former-teenage-villains-turned-good-guys. she has friends now, Ragh and Zayn, with common ground, and a secret handshake and everything. they’ve all grown from the mistakes of their past into better, happier, healthier people

and about Zayn and Ragh. we’ve seen a lot of characters, protagonist and antagonist, teenage and adult, PC and NPC do some really fucked up shit and get punished for it. but why do they get happy endings? why are Aelwyn, Ragh, and Zayn the only members of the RVS and not someone else like Biz or Penelope or Dayne? 

well, the latter two are dead by then; but then again, Biz and Ragh were also killed by the Bad Kids in s1, and subsequently resurrected. (Zayn died too, but was neither killed nor revived at the Bad Kids’ hands, so i’ll get to him in a sec.) and there are plenty of adult antagonists the Bad Kids face who are killed and left that way by the Bad Kids without second thought: Johnny Spells, Coach Daybreak, Captain Wicklaw, the Abernant parents (presuming Arianwen doesn’t survive in the forest for very long, which i doubt). why do some characters get second chances while others don’t?

in the case of Zayn, his death was pretty much out of the Bad Kids’ hands, and they later found out he was manipulated by Daybreak into being bad anyway because of his sad living situation. he was a pretty minor antagonist in the scheme of things, and when we re-meet him as a ghost in the s1 epilogue, he’s pretty obviously remorseful for his actions. and dying seems like a steep enough punishment to me for the shit he did to contribute to the KVX caper; returning as a ghost, free from the trappings of his unfortunate living life, he now has the room and freedom to grow into a better person.

in the cases of Daybreak, Spells, Wicklaw, and the Abernant parents: these are bad people who should know better. these are fully grown adults who actively choose to do evil. whether they think it’s the right thing to do or not (in Daybreak’s case), whether they think it will benefit them and don’t care about anyone else (in the Abernants’ case), or whether they don’t care much at all and are just doing shit because they feel like it (in the cases of Spells and Wicklaw), these are all adults who consciously make the decision to do terrible things and hurt other people. of course Johnny Spells, who is generally a punk thief and thug, is not on the same level of bad as Angwyn, who kidnaps and tortures his own daughters for political gain, but the point remains. these fuckers should know better. they’re grown ups. they had their chances to be good and they chose not to heed them. their minds are set on bad actions and they are a continued danger to other people as long as they are alive. when they die, the Bad Kids do their damndest to make sure it stays that way.

now, in the cases of Penelope and Dayne: these are teenagers who actively chose to participate in an evil plot. Penelope, Dayne, and Biz were all fully cognizant of what they were doing trying to raise KVX back to his former power. why? well, to some extent, we can only speculate. i suspect Penelope was just one of those Regina George bitches who is rich and popular and powerful and obsessed with power and popularity within high school as if that’s the end-all-be-all of existence (which, like, when you’re currently in high school, is a somewhat understandable worldview i think). Dayne being her boyfriend and a musclehead jock probably falls into a similar line of thinking. they are actively and willingly trying to cause harm, and teenager or not, must be stopped. they’re killed, anyway, during the Climactic Battle™️ anyhow; it’s not like the Bad Kids were going to gain anything at that point by keeping them alive.

now, Biz: Biz is the creepy Nice Guy incel type, sees woman as a prize he deserves to win, yadda yadda. he does, like Penelope and Dayne, actively choose to help KVX. there might be something to be said about his motivation the Bad Kids discover after the arcade battle by detecting his thoughts (that being to upload the captured maidens from the palimpsests to “call the shots” himself) is an altered memory; whether this was his original motivation from the start or not, i’m not sure. but the Bad Kids do kill him – and then resurrect him for important, time-sensitive information. and they beat it out of him – he gets two of his fucking fingers blown off. and Riz reattaches them once they have their info, and they realize his memory is altered. of course, the Bad Kids don’t know at this point that the altered memory was something he, Penelope, and Aelwyn had planned and agreed on and done to themselves, but this points to something important in my opinion: the Bad Kids, and the narrative/show as a whole by extension, acknowledge that external manipulation affects how guilty someone is in a crime.

which brings us to Ragh. Ragh, introduced from episode 1 as the meathead jock. Ragh the archetypical one-dimensional high school bully. Ragh who works with the harvestmen in effort to (ostensibly) end the world/provoke international war. Ragh, whose low intelligence but high loyalty and internalized homophobia led him to be fully swayed and blindly led by his coach and captain, who have actively chosen to do evil. Ragh who is killed in combat by the Bad Kids and resurrected for information, not Daybreak. Ragh, who the Bad Kids realize was probably not aware of exactly what he was being made to do and how bad it really was. Ragh, who by their kindness in sparing his life and directing him on a better path, becomes a well-rounded character and an active ally to the Bad Kids during and after prom, an invaluable companion during their quest in sophomore year, and overall a really good friend and person. 

(it might also be worth considering the case of Jawbone here, too, who started out a very minor antagonist in a fight but ended up becoming a major NPC because the Bad Kids talked to him, found out he came from an unfortunate situation and set of circumstances, and showed him kindness in offering the school guidance counselor position, a kindness that isn’t really owed but given anyway and ends up changing his entire life for good.)

and then, Aelwyn, whose case is already discussed above. so, why is the RVS what it is, why them but not others?

if you’re familiar with Avatar: the Last Airbender, you’re probably familiar with Zuko’s character arc, and how it’s often lauded as a masterful example of developing a villain into a hero over the course of a narrative. what makes Zuko’s arc so well done and exceptional is that he starts out as a kid in a bad situation under the influence of bad adults seeking to do bad deeds, but he later realizes the error of those ways, actively removes himself from that situation despite the difficulty and danger in doing so, goes through a lot of shit and reflects on his past mistakes and learns from them, and then actively chooses to fight for good in the end with the help of close, trusted friends, found family. 

this, i believe, is the same in the case of Fantasy High and its treatment of the RVS. its members, like Zuko, are all teenagers who came from shitty situations and were manipulated by evil adults to do bad. they are punished for their bad actions, and they learn from their errors and mistakes. with the kindness and help of good people, friends and chosen family, they are able to escape their abusers and bad situations and grow into their own people. and they actively choose to improve themselves with that help and fight for good.

Fantasy High, through the arcs of Jawbone, Zayn, Ragh, and especially Aelwyn, asserts that it is not your fault if you come from a bad situation and are forced to behave badly as a result. it does not pretend that you are absolved of any responsibility for those actions; quite the opposite, as even though they were externally manipulated into their evil actions, all of those mentioned characters face tangible consequences for their actions and later express remorse for their mistakes. but Fantasy High also asserts that even if you have made great mistakes in your past, even if you came from a bad situation beyond your control, even if you were manipulated and abused, with care and love and support and a hell of a lot of work and effort, you can improve your situation and find good, happiness, peace, you can thrive. evil adults who should know better don’t get redeemed. teenagers who aren’t coerced but actively choose evil don’t get redeemed. but abused kids deserve another shot at happiness. with enough work, and some love and help along the way, they can get there, even from the lowest imaginable point, from rock fucking buttom. it’s possible. 

[gaybarbiegirl]

00s Barbie rewatch - The Barbie Diaries (2006)

I'm low key scared of rewatching this one

For context, I've only watched this movie one time in my life, right as it came out. I was so scared of the way the characters looked that I spent the whole movie on the verge of tears and asked my mom to give away the DVD as soon as it was over

In my defense, I was four

Here we go with the animation, I'm not sure I'm ready for this

Are there ghosts in her hair?

BLONDE RAQUELLE BLONDE RAQUELLE THIS IS CURSED

Wait what is this am I having a stroke?

This movie has narration? Since when?

WHAT IS THIS WHAT IS THIS WHAT IS THIS

We're less than 10 minutes into this movie and it already feels like the biggest fever dream I've ever had

"Tia is the hot intellectual one"? Does drummer girl have a crush?

Was that a sex joke?

Is Barbie gonna be having pink tinted strokes for the entire movie?

Barbie's taste in men is... questionable

Listen, I've always been a Raquelle apologist, but in this movie she's just getting on my nerves

That settles it, I ship Barbie's friends now

That dress is pretty ugly, honestly

That mall lady is way too intense. She's opening up about her high school days, calling three teenage girls she just met her sisters, and giving them free stuff from the store, all in the span of 5 minutes. I'm a little scared

Wait, what? Why does this one complimentary bracelet also come with a complimentary diary? That makes 0 sense

WHAT'S HAPPENING?? AM I HAVING A STROKE RIGHT NOW??

You know what, I'm starting to think four year old me had the right idea about this movie

Did we really need this chase sequence?

Yeah, this Barbie is a bad friend. She only talks about her own wishes and her own troubles, and her self deprecation makes her put down her friends as well as herself (like, constantly saying "we're nobody", "no one cares about us", etc.)

Kevin is creepy

The popular girls weren't that mean, actually

Why can't you just wait until the end of the class to reapply your lipgloss? It just seems like less work than coming up with a highlighter-lipgloss gadget, you know?

That poem is... not good

Once again, Barbie, please get a new taste in men

Why do people want this highlighter thing? Just wait 40 minutes to reapply, it's not a big deal

Wow, she's got her boots right on the bed

Barbie is that middle school kid who thinks they have superpowers because one time they blinked right before a thunder cracked during a storm

OK WHO WAS THAT MALL GIRL? She already gave me weird vibes before, now I'm actually concerned

Barbie's plan really is "I'm gonna stab my friends in the back so that I can befriend these new girls and then stab them in the back"

Honestly, I'm on the popular girls' side on this. Barbie was a huge jerk

HELP HELP HELP

Am I stroking out again?

Four year old me, sweetie, I'm so sorry I questioned your judgement, I'm so sorry

I don't really like Barbie in this movie. She's super self centered and has no self awareness

This speech came out of nowhere. She had no emotional moment where she realised she was wrong, you know?

"I just hope they find a way to forgive me" how about apologizing?

What makes you think that bracelet was lucky? It only ever brought you trouble

"Just to set the record straight, I do wash my clothes" oh my god Tia, what an icon

The friends were the best part of the movie

This animation was cursed enough when the characters were just walking around, I was not emotionally prepared to see them dancing

Their friendgroup is officially just two couples in a trench coat now (Tia x Courtney and Barbie x Kevin)

The bracelet and the diary were both really pointless

Final thoughts:

Ok, I have a confession here: I'm not a big fan of the Barbie as herself movies. Like, not at all. I think they lack most of the things I love about the other Barbie movies, like the magic, the whimsical feeling, the beautiful fantasy worlds, etc. I think my favorite Barbie as herself movies are Fashion Fairytale and Fairy Secret, and even then, I like them but I wouldn't say I love them, you know? So yeah, as you can imagine, this movie was also not my thing.

We had some good memes, and I liked the friend characters, but that's honestly all the praise I have. Other than that, the movie didn't really have a plot, their depiction of high school was really cliche, and the movie was full of elements that didn't make any sense and added nothing to the story. And all I have to say about the animation is thank god they only kept this style for one movie.

So yeah, I'm not really feeling this one. I understand why this movie had a sort of renaissance recently, because you can't deny the memes were good, but overall it's just not for me.

[unhingedandunwell]

Am doin’ things

P.S. if any of y’all watched fantasy high season 2 and have good adaine quotes(specifically from the scene in the nightmare forest) I’d appreciate it. I’m gonna rewatch it soon but still.