#he is super vague but mentions he maybe felt someone in his life was special

[cerealmonster15]

ok solomon make up ur mind about the damn ocean lol

[long post sorry i stacked pictures]

^student id says he dislikes the ocean, right?

summer fireworks frenzy item, he says he hates summer lol, which isnt really about the ocean but theyre often associated

^shoutout to @ Syam on youtube bc i knew he mentioned it in the Pearls and Beach event but didnt have screenshots of specifically this solomon dialogue i needed, where he says hes specifically not fond of the ocean!!!

but i DID have this from my own screenshots of that same event:

hes not fond of the ocean or summer, but he does in fact know how to talk to sea creatures, for some reason lol. i think this comes up again in another recent event or two with fish but idr which / the point’s the same basically [even tho this is a dolphin but whatever fjdlskfd]

and then in the devilgram, solomon’s box, in the fourth part, if you ask him to tell you something he’s never told anyone -

hes like yea i published a fish book bc i know a lot about them. huh????

and THEN in the bonus story piece in HARD MODE lesson 45, solomon gives us this

i mean, at the end there he starts letting his feelings for MC take over the convo lol, but still, hes speaking so fondly of the ocean here. i guess the dude changed his mind at some point in his many centuries of life lmao. also ive read both here and in my own googling that it’s probs referencing the actual bible guys solomon and asmodeus throwing each other into the sea or whatever lolol

anyway solomons VA likes fish

and hes gonna be the next one to throw solomon back into the ocean or whatever

[ethanesimp]

AMAMI PER SEMPRE // E.T.

Pairing: Ethan Torchio x Fem! Reader

Summary: Ethan isn’t the brightest—or the best—when it comes to surprises, so his attempt at proposing to you causes a few misunderstandings...

Word Count: 2.8k

Warnings: Swearing, a tiny tiny mention of death, some angst, other than that it’s pure fluff and me projecting my obsession with old books onto the reader.

Request: Ethan planning to propose and acting super nervous and strange (a bit angsty bc the reader doesn’t know what’s happening) and ending in pure fluff.

Masterlist // Taglist link in bio

A/N: After more than a year of stepping foot into a bookstore for *cough* obvious reasons, I got to go to one yesterday. While looking at some second-hand books I had an idea that I decided to combine with @kawaiiwxnnabe​’s lovely request to bring you this. I hope you enjoy! <3 

Ethan had been mindlessly listening to Damiano sing Amandoti when the thought of marrying you first seriously crossed his mind. It had been a thing he’d thought of countless times ever since he started dating you, but it had never remained with as much intensity as it had that time. 

Damiano, who had noticed his friend’s face illuminate all of a sudden, had a talk with him that once and for all convinced Ethan that it was the right time and you were the right person. He didn’t sleep at all that night because he couldn’t stop thinking about what would be the perfect way to propose to you. It was no secret to him—or anyone who knew you—that you were a hopeless romantic. 

There was nothing that made you happier than simple and small details that came from the heart. That was the reason why you had developed an affinity towards old books. Not only did they have a particular and special scent that reminded you of vanilla and chocolate, but some had the luck—as you liked to call it—of being embellished by notes on margins or dedications on covers. Whether they were about love, sorrow, or maybe even hate, they still showed a small glimpse into the life of the person who had once owned it. Those notes told a story that would prevail even long after they were gone from the earth. 

Ever since he had noticed that small obsession of yours, Ethan had tried to help you expand your treasured collection by bringing you back books he found at antique stores from every country the band played in. 

During a visit to Spain after he initially had his stirring thought, Ethan took the chance to visit one of the second-hand shops he’d found during a night stroll with Victoria, who had disappeared into a bakery. His main goal was to find something different from the usual books he brought back for you. 

After he walked into the store and vaguely told the old lady at the counter about his idea in the best Spanish he could muster, she smiled warmly at him and guided him to the very back of the tiny shop where a beautiful and worn out bookshelf sat in all its glory, filled with as many books as it could hold. 

He immediately started searching around for the perfect book, but it proved to be harder than he initially thought it’d be. After searching around for more than an hour, all he had found was a collection of Edgar Allan Poe’s tales and poems with a heartbreaking note to someone’s dead lover. While it had almost brought him to tears and was a special thing he’d buy to give to you later, it wasn’t exactly the best thing to help him carry out his plan.   

Victoria walked into the shop when he was about to give up and, fully aware of his plan, started looking around without saying a word to him. They both searched around the messy piles of books for something. It didn’t take long for her to stumble across three books held together by a lilac satin ribbon. 

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. All three contained a note on the very first page right under the title, but the last one stood out above the other two because, according to his basic knowledge of Spanish, it ended with the very question he wanted to ask ¿Quieres casarte conmigo? Or ‘Will you marry me?’. He bought all three of them after a huge smile and a thumbs up from Victoria.  

What he hadn’t expected was for them to remain hidden in a drawer he knew you never opened underneath piles of clothes. Ever since he came back from their small trip to Spain, Ethan had tried to ask the question about six times, but always ended up choking on his words and saying something else. In fact, the first time he ever tried, Ethan chickened out at the last second and ended up giving you the Edgar Allan Poe anthology instead.

You were still none the wiser to his plan even after he’d asked about your opinion on marriage a few times. Anyone would’ve probably caught up with what was going on already, but you were always so busy with things happening around you that you didn’t connect his awkward and nervous attitude with his questions.

You didn’t start giving his actions a second thought until one night… You had been cooped up in your office all day working on a new project you were supposed to present to your boss by the end of the week when you suddenly felt the urge to get up and walk around the house.

Ethan was casually sitting on the couch as he whispered unintelligible words into his phone. You supposed he was on a call with a friend or maybe his manager and was trying to be quiet to avoid disturbing you, but then he hung up the call with a panicked expression the moment he noticed you. After that, you started thinking back on the way he had been behaving ever since he returned and it all raised the suspicion that there was something strange going on. 

It didn’t get any better when he kept on acting weird. Simple things that he had allowed you to do, like using his phone to take pictures because it had a better camera than yours, now seemed to make him almost mad. He’d even snapped at you once when you tried to grab it to take a picture with him. Even if Ethan had apologized right away, it still didn’t calm you down, especially because he had gone as far as to change the password on it.

It almost felt like he was walking on eggshells around you and you didn’t like it one bit. Your relationship had always been about honesty and worked because of constant communication. Everything was just so strange that your mind couldn’t help but think of the worst.

You were an imaginative person who never had any difficulties when it came to envisioning things clearly. Unfortunately, that also applied to every negative thought that crossed your mind, so it wasn’t hard for you to start coming up with the worst explanations as to why he was acting so suspicious. It didn’t help much that he had been busier than normal because the band was wrapping up on their latest album, so you hadn’t had the opportunity to sit down and voice all your concerns, to ask if something was going on and if there was a way to fix it. 

The morning of your anniversary, you’d finally had enough. You had woken up, expecting to feel Ethan’s arm tightly wrapped around your waist and to receive a shower of kisses the moment he noticed you were awake, but no. There was no Ethan and the side of his bed was already neatly made.

Your disappointment only grew when he wasn’t in the kitchen or his small studio where he had his drums. You doubted he was in the house at all. 

It was a thing that wouldn’t have affected you much had he done it any other time, but with everything that had been going on as of late, you could only fear the worst. So, without being able to control yourself, you started making the worst conclusions. You’d always been fully aware that he loved you, but all the signs undoubtedly pointed at him meeting someone new… And maybe he was going to leave you for them as well… during your anniversary.

That was all you needed to break into tears. You climbed back into bed and cried for what seemed to be hours. Even since you got together, you had thought of him as your person, your forever. The thought of him leaving you broke your heart into tiny pieces.

Ethan arrived home only a few minutes after you’d buried yourself underneath all the blankets and cried out all your worries. When he was about to open the door to your bedroom, he stopped. Were you crying? 

He stood there in complete silence for a few seconds until he was more than sure that you were, in fact, crying. Ethan rushed inside and he felt his heart break at the sight of you looking so heartbroken, and it didn’t get any better when he heard a whimper come out of your mouth at the sight of him. You cuddled deeper into the bedsheets and turned away from him.

Ethan sat on your side of the bed and, as delicately as possible, he cupped your face into his warm hands and wiped your tears with his thumbs, “Amore,” He said in a quiet voice, “Hey, what’s wrong?”

You tried to turn away from him, but his grip on your face stopped you from doing so. You placed one of your hands on top of his and gave it a firm squeeze. No part of you was ready to have that conversation with him because that was going to be it and you were going to have to watch him leave…

So, with a lot of courage, you spoke the first words that came to mind, “You know, i-it’s okay if you’ve found someone else,” You caressed his cheek softly as more tears started spilling down your face, “You can tell me if you have.”

His eyebrows furrowed at your words and the only thing he could do was shake his head no, “What? Found someone else? What would make you say such a thing dolcezza?”

Then, before you could even answer, realization hit him like a ton of bricks and he felt like the stupidest living being on the face of the Earth. He pinched his nose and sighed, annoyed at himself.

“Fuck… I’m so fucking stupid. Please don’t ever think of something like that. I was just… I-I,” Clueless as to what to say, Ethan pressed his lips against yours to kiss you slowly, hoping it spoke more than his words ever could. He could still taste a trace of the salty tears that had fallen on your lips and he couldn’t help but shed a few of his own at the thought that he’d been the one to make you cry.

After pulling away, Ethan pressed his forehead to yours and brushed his nose against yours while his arms held you as close as possible, “Will you close your eyes for just a second, amore mio? I promise everything will make so much sense soon.”

You nodded and kept your eyes closed as you felt him get up from the bed. You heard him open and close a few drawers, and look around for something for a while before he sat back on the bed. Ethan grabbed your hands in his and slowly slipped the three small books into your grasp.

You opened his eyes after a small sound of approval from him and smiled when you saw the three old books held together by a ribbon and the pretty pink rose that had been carefully been slipped into the first book and the ribbon.

You gently removed the flower and placed it on your side. Then you undid the simple knot and picked up the first book, “Wuthering Heights?” You questioned.

He nodded, “Yeah… At least I think that’s it. I hope I didn’t bring back some sketchy book or some shit,” Ethan scratched his neck and you giggled as you opened it on the first page. Your fingers brushed over the letters neatly written down in fountain pen.  

After clearing your throat, you started reading the first dedication out loud. Since your Spanish wasn’t exactly the best either, you had to pause every once in a while to translate all the words, “May 17, 1850… My dearest Helena, I hope this book reaches you in great condition, being apart from you is one of the hardest challenges I have ever had to face, one of the most painful as well. I hope you can find me in between these pages as you read and remember how much I love you, remember how much I long to be back in your arms and kiss your lips. Sincerely, Alejandro.”

You closed it and placed it back on the bed before opening the second book and doing the same thing with the third, “January 24, 1855. Carolina, nothing I’ve ever experienced has gotten close to being as terrible as not having you in my arms. Apologies are overdue… long overdue. Words have never been my strongest suit, yet I still hope I can coherently express just how much I love you, all of you. I’m afraid I’m already too late since you will soon be betrothed to someone else and there will be nothing I can do by then.

 “Still, I hope with everything in my being that this arrives sooner so you’re aware of how sorry I am. I hope you remember that I would do anything you asked without a single complaint just to watch that lovely smile I adore so much appear on your face. If you ever come back to me, I promise with every fiber of my being, and I’ll be dammed if I don’t keep my promise, that I will leave everything behind and escape with you. Anywhere, any time. So with that, I ask a question that will hopefully have a yes as an answer. Will you marry me? With love, Javier.”

Before you could close it, Ethan stopped you and timidly asked for you to open the book on the very last page. You did it and looked back at him with confusion at the sight of his writing on the page, “Read this one out loud for me. Will you Y/N?” You nodded and mumbled a small ‘of course’ before clearing your throat to get rid of the knot that had formed. 

“October 21, 2025… Y/N, my one true love, I’ve always hoped to make a gesture that will remind you of your treasured books. I’ve never been one great with words spoken out loud, so I sought inspiration from those before me who were just as in love with someone as I am with you. Ever since I met you I dreamt of one day settling down with you, of having our small home in the countryside as you’ve always dreamed of. Maybe even doing some of those cloying gestures people seem to do in fiction and dedicate to you the most beautiful love poems I lay eyes on. 

“I’ve wondered for a while how I could ever take the step that would bring me closer to that goal, yet every time I try, words seem to get stuck in my throat with no way out and I end up in square one all over again. It is with this note that I hope to finally take a step in the right direction because I know you’re it for me. You’re my person, my forever, and there’s nothing I would love more than to share my life with you. Sei la mia migliore amica e il mio unico vero amore. Ti chiedo di accettare il mio amore, il mio nome e tutto quello che sono.” (You are my best friend and my one true love. I ask you to accept my love, my name, and everything I am.)

When your eyes spotted the four words that followed, you slowly lowered the book, “Will you marry me?” You both said at the same time, although yours sounded more like an unintelligible mumble. Only then did you notice him down on one knee right in front of you. He held a velvet box with one of the most beautiful rings sitting inside of it 

A hand went to cover your mouth as tears started falling down your face. This time, happy and free of worry. You could only nod repeatedly, overcome with pure joy as your heart swelled with love.

He slowly slid the ring into your finger and grabbed your face to kiss you once again, “I’m so sorry I made you think something else was going on. I just kept backtracking every time I tried to tell you. Not because I was regretting the decision but because I didn’t want to lose you.”

You shook your head as a silent way of saying it was alright and brushed his hair back with your fingers, “The important thing is that you’ve done it and you’re not going to lose me, no matter how hard you try. I’ll always be right here because I love you and I’ll always be yours.”

[beneathstarryskies]

I sincerely loved that Madara SFW post (even though I wasn't the one who requested it) 🥰🥰 I'm really just... curious about either Itachi's or Indra's SFW habits 👀 would it be possible to have that alphabet post on either one (of your choice, of course!) Thank you so muuuuch!!!

A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

Itachi is very affectionate in private, but not so much in public. In public he will always hold your hand, and soothe his thumb along your knuckles. That’s as far as it goes though, he’ll be a blushing mess if you kiss him in public. When you’re together at home, he will kiss you sweetly every chance he gets. He always wants to have his hands on you somehow. Itachi loves playing with your hair and nuzzling into it to (discreetly) sniff you.

B = Best friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?)

Itachi would be a very good best friend, but he’s definitely the best friend who won’t admit that’s what’s going on. He acts like it’s just a coincidence that he’s always the first person to offer support when you need help or that he wants to hang out a lot. He’ll get a bit embarrassed when someone points out the closeness between you.

C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

There’s nothing he loves more than holding you in his arms. He’s not even picky about the position. He will just pull you as close as he can in whatever position is comfy for you both, usually hooking his legs around your to keep you close.

He prefers to be the big spoon because he likes to feel protective of you. However, at times he wants to be held close. He’ll curl up against your chest, and might accidentally let out a purring sound if you start playing with his hair.

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

Itachi loves the idea of settling down, and certainly daydreams about it a lot. He’s just not super invested in the idea, because he doesn’t see why anyone would want to settle down with him with his past. That being said, he’d make an excellent husband. He cooks and cleans, and is very good at it. Most of the time he’ll take care of all the chores without you asking, and if you express feeling guilty he’ll give some vague reply like “it’s the least I could do.”

E = Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

Itachi is at his core a very kind man, but he’s also pragmatic. He’ll break things off as smoothly as possible, going above and beyond to spare your feelings. He doesn’t want you to despair too much over him.

F = Fiance(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

Itachi has no issue at all with commitment. He is more than open to being with you for the rest of his life, but he would keep those feelings close to his chest. Itachi would want to play it safe, especially at first. He’d likely have those strong feelings for you very early on (because nobody simps like an Uchiha.)

G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

Itachi is extremely gentle with you, especially physically. Sometimes when he reaches out to touch you, it’s as though he’s scared you’ll break or disappear like a mirage. He gets better with this as you become more comfortable with your relationship, but he’s always going to maintain a certain tenderness.

Emotionally, he’s similarly careful in how he handles you. Although at times when he tries to offer advice, he can come off as harsh. He’ll always make sure you know these aren’t his intentions. Usually he is right in his advice.

H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?)

Itachi gives very warm, intimate hugs. One hand will rest on your lower back while the other is between your shoulders. His face will nuzzle against you. You can literally feel him just relax in your arms. He loves hugs, and wants them a lot.

I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?)

He’s going to want to say it very quickly, but he’ll keep it to himself for a long time. Definitely Itachi would develop a deep love for you very quickly. He’s gonna wait for you to say it first, most likely.

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?)

Itachi isn’t a very jealous person. He wouldn’t be with you if he didn’t trust you implicitly. Sometimes if he feels insecure, it can present itself as jealousy. He’ll get to thinking about how you deserve someone with less emotional baggage, and then maybe see you with a friend and it just burns him up inside. As soon as you look at him and your eyes light up with love and adoration, he’ll forget all about it though.

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

Itachi is a very slow, precise, but very passionate kisser. Every kiss on your mouth is an attempt to channel all of his feelings for you through the gesture. He is very prone to kissing you anywhere his lips can reach. His favorite place to kiss you (besides your lips) is your forehead or temple. Just a sweet kiss to remind you that he’s there for you always. When holding his hand, he’ll often lift your hand to kiss your hand, sometimes even taking the time to kiss each of your fingertips.

Itachi likes being kissed anywhere. He’s just so grateful for your love, but is also a little bit needy. He wants to be peppered in kisses everywhere. His lips, his whole face, chest, hands, all of it. He just craves affection.

L = Little ones (How are they around children?)

A little awkward at first, but he warms up pretty quickly. He is very careful with children and treats them with a lot of gentleness. He doesn’t want to repeat the mistakes he made with Sasuke.

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)

Itachi is always going to be awake first. If it’s not too early in the morning, he’ll usually curl himself into you for some lazy snuggles. He’ll wake you up by peppering soft kisses on your face.

If he wakes up very early (maybe because of a nightmare) he’ll usually sneak away. He’ll have coffee and breakfast ready for you when he wakes up. The two of you will talk over breakfast, sometimes he’ll tell you about what has him up so early. Usually, he prefers to listen to you talk about what your plans are for the day.

N = Night (How are nights spent with them?)

Itachi adores quiet nights with you. He’s happy just to be around you even if you’re both doing your own things. He likes to lay on the sofa with his head in your lap while he reads, and your fingers twirl through his hair while you either read along with him or watch television.

O = Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

It will take Itachi a while to reveal things about himself. He wants to know he can trust you completely before he begins opening up to you. That being said he will take his time revealing things to you. Preferring to open up a little at a time so as to not bog you down with too much at once.

P = Patience (How easily angered are they?)

He’s not very easily angered, especially not with you. Itachi is more likely to pull the whole “not mad, but disappointed.” If he is angry with you, he does tend to fall into the silent treatment. Not so much as a way to punish you, rather to avoid saying things he might regret.

Q = Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)

Itachi remembers everything.

R = Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

The first time you kissed him. It was sort of out of the blue. When you pulled away your cheeks were so flushed and your eyes were blown so wide while you stammered out an apology. He just pulls you back in for another kiss, because he finally knew that you cared for him as much as he did you.

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

He is very protective, and would die for you without question. However, he doesn’t want you protecting him. He would never allow you to put yourself in harm’s way for him.

T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

He would put a lot of effort into planning out romantic dates to celebrate special occasions. He will be as extravagant as possible for every single date, anniversary, and birthday. But Itachi is also in it for everyday things as well. You truly are partners in life.

U = Ugly (What would be some bad habits of theirs?)

Itachi’s worst habit is drawing into himself when he feels overwhelmed or depressed. He’ll pull away from you and isolate himself. Sometimes even recoiling if you try to reach out. He requires a lot of patience and understanding with this.

V = Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?)

He’s not overly vain about anything except his hair. He takes very good care of it, and is very proud of how healthy it is.

W = Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?)

Absolutely. Itachi felt so hopeless before you came into his life. The thought of losing you is enough to drive him insane.

X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them.)

Itachi is a wonderful cook, and loves to prepare meals for you. He also sees it as a way of taking care of you, and he is very nurturing.

Y = Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)

Itachi likes things being clean and tidy. He wouldn’t like the house being overly messy. He will happily help you keep things clean if you’re not good at it.

Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habits of theirs?)

Itachi has terrible sleep habits. He often will go long periods without sleep to avoid his nightmares, and then when he does finally sleep he just crashes anywhere out of exhaustion. You’ve found him a lot on the couch or even sitting at the kitchen table with his head down.

[neverdoingmuch]

now hear me out,,, an au where lan wangji is an editor who works for an erotica publisher and wei wuxian is essentially chuck tingle. (also lwj writes romance novels on the side)

wei wuxian didn’t plan to write erotica he wants to make that really clear, he was actually studying like biomed or something equally “oh wow my parents can brag to the other parents about this”

but, as frequently happens in wwx’s life, he got drunk with nhs, like really drunk and they woke up the next morning with a laptop on the floor beside them and loose paper strewn everywhere

they don’t really remember what they were doing or thinking last night but they’ve both drawn a bunch of really shitty and weird porn (the less said about the anthropomorphic version of wen chao’s pet turtle the better) and wei wuxian has like 20,000 words of an erotica story on his laptop

when he starts reading it, at first he’s like haha what the fuck this is so weird but then it turned out to be really good??? and nhs blushed at some of the ~sexy~ scenes so that’s how wwx knew he was writing the good stuff

anyway they’re sitting there, eating their hangover food and wei wuxian goes so uh my story was good right? and nhs is like yeah it was, top stuff i would buy it and wei wuxian goes what if i actually wrote it,,, haha just kidding,,,,, unless?

and in his defence he doesn’t actually write anything for the story for another like three months but then he finds himself in the middle of exam season and he’s like fuck it stress relief let’s write some erotica

he finishes the book and his exams (which he does well in but whatever) and then spends his summer holidays editing the book

when he comes back, he slaps down a paper copy on nhs’ desk and is like i finished it. nhs, thinking he meant his latest lab write up, opens it up to a random page and starts reading it out loud which was a Mistake

he trails off mid-sentence, and whips around to glare at wwx with all the wrath he can muster. it’s raunchy nhs says and just read it wwx tells him so nhs does

like 2 hours later nhs turns to him and says if it wasnt for you and the librarian staring at me the whole time i definitely would’ve felt something and wwx is like so it’s good? and nhs is like fuck yeah it is but i dont get what you want from me?

pretty much wwx passed out after exams, slept for like 20 hours and then woke up and went i should publish this and decided that nhs should draw the cover art.

nhs agrees of course and a month later wwx self-publishes bc there’s no way he can walk into a publishing house with his porn and not just combust on the spot and he decides to go by the name yiling patriarch

wwx clicks the final button to upload the fic and nhs just toasts him and goes yknow what,, this is the closest you’ve ever gotten to having sex and i’m proud of you

wei wuxian is the man who guarded his first kiss for the first twenty years of his life for someone special,,,, wwx definitely wants his first time to be special and there’s no way he’s putting out for someone he doesn’t think is important & despite having dated before, he’s never gotten close enough to someone to go yeah let’s do it so our boy is still a virgin

so wwx’s entire erotica writing inspiration comes from porn, nhs’ way too in-depth answers as to how his latest date went and uh more porn

wwx blusters about a bit bc how is he meant to respond to that and nhs is like maybe you’ll finally move on from reading those trashy romance novels and read something more exciting and wwx is like how dare you call them trashy!! hanguang-jun is a master of the romance novels!! he understands the heart in a way that no other person has ever!! 

and nhs just chugs a bunch of wine and is like yeah hon okay, do you still blush when the main characters hold hands? and wwx is like no! of course not! (it’s a lie, he blushes a lot)

so nothing really happens with the book at first and wwx forgets about it for the most part but then he wakes up one morning and he’s got an extra like RMB 1000 (i dont actually know much about currency so it’s roughly $200 if my quick interneting is legit)

wwx is like wtf? and once he finds out it’s from his novel he’s doubly like wtf? but then he finds out that someone had purchased his book and did a dramatic reading on youtube bc wwx decided that regular erotica was boring and decided to make it satirical or whatever and people loved it??

he’s got nothing better to do so he just goes hm yeah remember that Author i dated who had an “incredible idea that would absolutely amaze The Critics and helped explore his own convoluted mind” let’s make something of that and he writes another book kinda mocking that idea in a very horny way.

he publishes it and someone writes a review of his two books on their blog and now he’s actually starting to get popular - he’s got more money from those two books than he did by working at the local cafe for the whole week

wwx is poor and broke and semi-disowned anyway by this point so he goes fuck it and spends every moment he’s not studying writing erotica. 

he publishes another like five books by the time the year is out (i know the maths isnt working here but this is a book world where wwx can just do that via the power of loneliness and friends who egg you on)

also?? he varies his books. some of them are porn parody things a la chuck tingle and some of them are genuine porn and one book was just him writing a recipe book but making it sound as horny as possible

by the time he’s published his like 8th book or so he starts getting reviews that are critiquing his book and most of them boil down to the fact that he needs an editor or something 

he ends up asking nhs for help and he’s like oh sweet my brother’s boyfriend works for a publisher who does that sort of thing

cloud recesses actually specialises in erotica and i hate the idea that lqr has spent years reading and editing erotica but sacrifices must be made

(side note that i know nothing about the writing or publishing process so pls don’t judge me too harshly)

wwx goes in with his latest manuscript and ends up arriving like ten minutes late, he rushes into the room sweaty and hot, takes one look at the guy sitting on the other side of the desk, flushes an even brighter red and runs back out of the room. he checks the plaque on the door and walks back in slowly and goes hm i didnt expect you to be so hot

cue lan wangji

lwj has always enjoyed being an editor. what do editor do specifically? idk? edit? regardless, he enjoys it. 

while most of the time he’s happy working from this side of things he also likes writing

lwj fucks. he deserves it tbh. but, while he’s had a tonne of one night stands and fuckbuddies, he’s never actually dated someone. so the fact that he’s writing romance novels under the pseudonym hanguang-jun makes his friend jzx laugh a lot

he tried writing porn once and he just couldn’t do it. it was always too clinical or vague and lacked any actual passion bc he was always going oh okay mc sucks a dick but the guy i slept with last week was like a 6.4/10 when it came to sucking dick so maybe mc should also be bad at it or whatever and it just ends up falling apart,,,, but romance he can do

as an editor lwj has pretty high standards for good erotica but he’s really found himself enjoying yiling patriarch’s work even though he’s clearly just been editing himself so when the guy sent cloud recesses an email asking whether they’d be interested in his latest book lwj was ecstatic. 

he also didnt expect wwx to be so hot

anyway,,, we now get to enjoy a week of lwj thinking that wwx is super hot but even more annoying and then him deciding that annoying is hot and now wwx is just absolutely amazing and wwx is just panicking the entire time 

i want my publisher to rail me so hard wwx texts nhs and nhs just responds has he read the bdsm scene with the alien who has a tentacle dick and a knot yet? and wwx is like no??? nhs just goes shame, it will give him so ideas for if you ever grow a backbone and just ask him out

they publish one book together and nothing happened between them the entire time other than yearning and horniness,, of the heart and body. 

when wwx realises this means that he won’t get to see lwj again he immediately writes a new book and like a month later he’s back in lwj’s office, lying on his couch while whining about the cafeteria prices at university

lwj is very enamoured by the fact that wwx is writing erotica and studying biomed bc wow

they do this for like another three books and wwx’s eroticas evolve from here’s a dinosaur man fucking a politician while a mary sue watches on to be like here’s a dinosaur man with black hair and golden eyes and a stern look to his face fucking a politician while a mary sue watches on

and hanguang-jun’s latest book?? i dont want to say that this au’s version of wangxian is hanguang-jun finally finding inspiration to write porn (his muse is wwx of course) and writing the most amazing porn with feelings and plot novel ever,, but it is. 

wwx read it five times in the first week and when nhs finally tried to read it he was like uhhh wwx are you a narcissist, the love interest is exactly like you? and wwx is like ??? no???? he’s nothing like me??

anyway one day wwx gets called into lxc’s office and lxc is like so i’ve read your latest book (not the dinosaur man, a serious one with like normal people and not overly humorous thank fuck but still full of lwj yearning) and wwx is like okay? and lxc goes yes, see i was worried that you didn’t care very much for my brother but after reading your book i’m not so sure and wwx gets the weirdest shovel talk ever which is interspersed with like compliments for his porn writing skills

anyway lxc accidentally mentions that lwj writes books too and before he can take it back wwx is like who??? and lxc is like are you fucking stupid?? you told lwj to his face that you loved his books,,, he broke his theme of tender romance to write kinky sex with a character that’s a lot like you and wwx is like .,,,,,,,,, hanguang-jun??? HANGUANG-JUN???!!

lxc barely manages to confirm it before wwx is sprinting out of his office and across to find lwj.

regretfully for everyone else, lwj is in the lobby so thirty people get to hear it when wwx comes in and shouts LAN ZHAN!! back then, i really wanted write porn about you! ... i think i have actually? but i want to write porn about you and i want to be able to do the research to make it accurate! and i also want to go on dates and hold hands and feed each other food! and i love you a lot! 

lwj is dying inside bc his brother’s bf is there, his uncle is currently waiting for the elevators and a whole bunch of staff are also there but also wwx likes him??? dinosaur man was lwj??

he goes over and they make out for a really long time right there in the middle of the lobby but no one wants to get between them when they’ve been pining for so long

after that they start dating and they do all the romantic stuff but also,, let’s just say that the next book wwx publishes is a lot more creative than all of his previous books

and they become some writing power couple with horniness of the heart and body and sometimes wwx will be like hey lwj i don’t really know how the logistics of this sex scene will work and lwj will be like we could try it out ourselves? and wwx just pats him on the head and is like im sorry but you dont have enough dicks for it to work ),: better luck next time

[danteinthedevildom]

A Royal Pajama Party “Analysis” - Part 3 (of 7) 

Unlike the previous two posts - which were fairly length - this one is a little less of a formal analysis and more of a “holy shit this man’s so fucking cute” ramble. It’s significantly shorter; I would have actually compiled these together with the previous post if Tumblr wasn’t so awful with its image-per-post limit. 

It continues with Diavolo and MC watching a movie together, and once again leads into more Story Key-locked content. So, here is your cursory spoiler warning!

Picking up from the previous post, the movie Diavolo picks to watch with you is a black and white Human World film. A few thoughts come to mind on this.

One: He picked a movie specifically because he wanted to watch it with you. Not just anyone in general, or even just a human in general - specifically you. He spends a lot of time thinking about and noting down things he wants to do with you. 

This, to begin with, is just... impossibly sweet. He’s never had a friend before, so he’s never had someone to think about when he’s looking at things he enjoys. Even the closest demons to him don’t generally like humouring him with his more playful whims. 

Now, however? He has you. Someone willing to spend time with him. Suddenly, he has someone utterly receptive to the things he loves; someone happy enough to listen, someone who might enjoy them just as much as he does. 

We’ve all done it before, after all. As soon as we know someone’s happy to listen to you ramble about something, we take note of things we think they might like so we can share it with them and (potentially) get them into it as well. Make it a bonding experience, because we like the thing and we like them, so why not mix the two? That’s how you deepen a friendship, after all. 

It’s such a normal, human thing for Diavolo to do. He’s sincerely just happy to have you there; to finally have someone he can pick out likes to share with. Just a passing thought - “Oh, MC might like that, I’ll have to save it for our sleepover” - that speaks a thousand words to how often (how casually, naturally, easily) he thinks about you. 

But it’s also a bit more than that. Because while this is just about the movie, we’ve already seen Diavolo admit he’s quite literally written out a list of activities he wants to do with you. 

How long is that list? What sort of things has he got written down? We’ve been given a small glimpse at the list for this Devilgram, but it really is just a small glimpse. How many times has Diavolo seen something that has immediately pinged in his brain as “things I need to do with/show MC”?

(How many things has he never felt comfortable or happy showing anyone else before? 

How many times has he tried to share his interests, only for them to be rejected?)

Two: It’s Human World media. Diavolo’s only recently (in the main game) gotten to see the Human World properly, and considering this is black and white, I’d say it’s fairly old. At the latest? Maybe a hundred years old at this point. 

That’s (possibly) at least 100 years Diavolo’s been consuming Human World media. 

The fact that he’s remembered it this long, too - for you to appear, and him to want to share it with you - either means it’s something he watches frequently, or it’s something that made a big impression on him.  

Diavolo’s infatuated with the Human World, that much we already knew; one of his Homescreen interactions is about wanting to see the sunset, and another mentions how he hasn’t been to the Human World (either at all, or often). It’s something he wants to see more - something that excites him in a very boyish, childish way. Like a kid going on holiday to Disney World after seeing it on TV a thousand times. 

But this isn’t a recent infatuation. The movie (potentially) proves this. Even before the Exchange Programme - before he met you - he’s held this infatuation with humanity. It’s not just about peace; there’s something about the Human World that draws Diavolo in. 

There’s more evidence of this in a later post, so I’ll go over this a bit more then. For now, however... 

We can say with certainty that Diavolo wasn’t kidding when he said the Exchange Programme has been a dream of his for some time. It makes me wonder just how far back he wanted to unite the Three Realms, and why; whether he started with interest in the Celestial Realm or the Human World, and whether or not he hoped the Exchange would branch out his social contacts (considering we already know that demons don’t tend to spend time with him, and Diavolo is horrendously lonely). 

(As an aside: the fact that he’s seemingly so infatuated with the Human World makes it even more special for him to share this movie with you. This is something he adores, something that’s affected him so much, he’s dedicated his life to improving relations across the Three Realms - and he wants you to experience it, too.)

Three: A bit more of a joking point, admittedly. Boy really said “I’ve been wanting to watch this movie with you that I love that also happens to be related to the Human World” with the same vibe as Ariel seeing the Prince for the first time and realising he could tell her what all the crap she’s been collecting is for. 

I just... love the idea that his logic is “well, MC is human. This movie was made in the Human World. Ergo, this is the most appropriate movie to watch with MC for our super special sleepover!”

He’s so determined for everything to be perfect... I wonder if this movie was his immediate choice - something he’s always known from the start he’d do with you first the moment he could - or if he debated over several movies for the longest time, trying to come up with the best possible choice. 

Adorable ramble time!

He’s good, in that he won’t make you do anything you don’t want to - you’re always given the choice of how close you want to be to Diavolo, and if you want to nope out of vaguely (or even overtly) romantic situations even at the last minute - but when given the chance? He will get as close to you as possible. 

He’ll have you sit right next to him, pressed arm-to-arm, thigh-to-thigh. He’ll thread his fingers through yours, and rest your joined hands on your lap. And he’ll savour every moment, because this isn’t something he gets often, if at all. 

That comment - “your hand is so warm...” - has such a sense of awe to it. He’s finally close enough to you to say that you’re warm. He’s finally reached this pinnacle of contact that he’s always wanted - and look at him! He’s so happy! He’s so, genuinely, wonderfully happy to be this close to you. 

He’s been wanting to watch the movie with you for at least months, if not a few years (timeline depending), and he finally has the time to show you this thing he’s genuinely excited for you to see  - and it is totally blown out of the water by the fact you’re snuggled up to him, holding his hand. 

That’s how special you are to him. That’s how special this moment is for him. 

There’s something so sweet - and yet so heartbreaking - at seeing the damn Prince of the Devildom get so flustered over asking to hold your hand. I know that the OM demons aren’t always depicted as your typical demons, and a few of them are fairly sex-shy, but there’s just... something about this scene that hits different. 

He’s so tentative, so hopeful, to be able to hold your hand. He’s so shy about it, too. And, yes, some of that is absolutely him fretting over ruining the evening by asking - fretting over chasing you off if he’s too touchy, when you’re already doing so much just by staying as long as you have - but some of it has to be him not knowing if that’s an okay thing to ask for. Wanting to get closer, but not knowing if it’s appropriate. 

I have a lot of feelings about this scene. It’s just... whether you see it as romantic or not, he’s so happy. He’s so happy just to have you there. He’s so happy you’re humouring him. He’s so happy you’re letting him do these very simple things. 

He’s so lonely. And you just make all of that go away. 

This is actually more of a silly thing, but I just wanted to note that - the Devildom has fucking Jenga and it’s called The Demonic Tower. 

I’m also still not over this for a slightly sadder reason. This is another one of the things that Diavolo wanted to do with you - another activity on his list. And it’s playing fucking Jenga.

He knew/knows so few people and has such little free time, something as simple as Jenga is riveting entertainment for him. 

He’s played so few board games in his life, he actually thought it was worthwhile to write down as something he absolutely had to do with you for your special, rare night of shared time spent together. 

There are so many normal, plain, boring, everyday life experiences he’s never done, and every new thing he presents just hits harder than the last. 

+++

And that concludes our (slightly shorter) part 3! Once again, thank you for making it this far. Hopefully the slightly lighter post was alright- 

Next post, we’re going to skip ahead a bit. The game of Jenga itself is mostly just fun, so there’s no need to focus on it specifically. What is important, however, is the next activity - and what Diavolo does based on certain choices. 

So, if you’d like, head on over to part 4!

[nightmarenoise]

Some thoughts on TMNT 2012

I finished watching the entirety of the TMNT 2012 series a while ago and boy, do I have some thoughts™. First of all though, the following is going to be my opinions and you’re free to disagree with them. If you feel like attacking me for expressing these opinions though, I’m just going to have to ask you to take a minute and consider that you are about to be a bitch online over an eight year old children’s animated show, and that maybe you should find something else to base your entire identity around. Secondly, I don’t hate the show, not by any means. It was fine. It was fine. It was fine, you guys. I wouldn’t have watched it otherwise. I watched usually about half a season per day because I have too much time on my hands but if I do more than 13 episodes, my puny brain will implode. That being said, I understand that the binge watching might have affected my judgement, because having to wait for a new episode to air each week hits different, I know. Still, I came home after work each day, cozied up in bed and watched 13 episodes of turtle shenanigans before going to sleep and my sleep schedule has never been better. But I digress. Also, I will compare 2012 to Rise, because that’s the only other TMNT show I’ve seen and because this is my post and I want to and it’s only initially.

I feel like the main difference between Rise and 2012 is that Rise is a character-driven show, while 2012 is ultimately plot-driven.

Why do things in Rise happen? Because a character wants something (the boys want to buy their dad a nw robe, April wants to spend a normal day with her new friend, etc, those are just from the top of my head). The motivations are ultimately mundane, and then the story goes from there.

Why do things in 2012 happen? Because the plot said so. Sure, the characters grow and change, but they’re ultimately vehicles for the plot. We don’t really take a minute to let the characters breathe. Usually, things happen because the Turtles saw something on patrol and they’re on patrol because they know the plot is waiting out there to get them.

The show starts with April’s dad being kidnapped by the Krang (/Kraang? It’s unclear) and April herself being spared this presumably gruesome fate because Donnie saved her at the last second. She then goes on to live with an aunt we never see.

We also don’t see much of how this affects April at first. Sure, she is shown to be sad and wanting to get her father back, but the episode ends on the Turtles leaving her at her aunt’s place and then we’re done for the day. Hell, the next time we see April, she just casually drops by their place to show Mikey how to make online friends.

Maybe that’s just me being overly criticial, but I could have done with more time between those moments, showing her coming to terms with things, her normal day-to-day live, or heck, even just going to the lair for the first time.

But we don’t get that because plot has to happen.

April isn’t the only character who suffers from that, but I feel like it affects her the most.

The writers seem to have learned their lesson, because when April loses her dad for the second time, to mutation this time around, she blames the Turtles (which isn’t wrong) and then doesn’t talk to them for a month while presumably going back to her aunt, who I suppose never asks any questions. She only goes back to talking to them when Casey tells her a similar story and she realizes something something, hurting someone without meaning to. Which is fine, but it’s also not really, because it implies April being rightfully upset isn’t valid, because the Turtles didn’t mean to mutate her dad and it was an accident, but it feels like it tone polices someone for experiencing a loss and not letting her take some time for herself to come to terms with that.

But y'know we need her, in part because she’s The Special, but most importantly, so one of the most tedious love subplots can happen.

I know they explained April’s specialness as her being a human/Krang mutant and the Krang needing her unique brain to mutate the entire planet because …reasons. Except for when they later attack New Yok and then don’t need her for that anymore. On that note, I do not understand Krang’s plan at all. Time passes faster in their dimension and they’re kind of at war with the Triceratons and have trouble with the Utrom, so they want to leave (even though the Triceratons are clearly also in our universe, so why not pick a different dimension to take over entirely? There’s established to be ten) and mutate a planet to take over. This is all well and good, except they’ve been at it for about seven million years? Krang takes credit for creating the first humans with mutagen and it’s been mentioned that they steered human evolution to the point where they could create a human/Krang hybrid, such as April. But why did they only have one? They lost track of her when her dad and her fled to New York City, wouldn’t it have been more convenient to have more mutants to do their vague mutant stuff they require by the plot to take over the planet?

Even if we assume that this first mutation means that the first humans didn’t surface between seven and five million years ago, humans haven’t evolved that much in the last couple thousand years. Why wait so long? It must have been billions of years for the Krang.

I know it’s a cartoon and stuff, but they could have easily removed that problem by cutting the line about Krang taking credit for human evolution and for the Krang having been with us for thousands of years. It just creates problems.

Speaking of problematic, the romantic subplots. So, Leo wants to bang his sister, Donnie is creepily obsessed with the first human girl he’s ever met and Mikey is such a good boy, he gets two love interests, because one isn’t enough for all the love and goodness contained in orange boy. I still think it’s weird because all of these love interests are humans, but I gradually got over that. I managed to think about this without physically convulsing for ten whole minutes, for starts.

Okay, so Donnie/April is just bad. The writing and the execution are bad. The characters are fine, I love Donnie, even though he focuses way too much of his time and attention on obsessing over April, but I can let that go on account of him being a teen dealing with his very first ever crush. April though  is frequently made to be a callous bitch who knows of his feelings and leads him on when she wants something, but pushes him away at all other times. I vividly remember the time New York was overrun by Krang and April helped Donnie bandage his injured arm and he was about to confess his feelings to her and she pulled too tight to get him to stop. Instead of being up front about it or just telling him that she either liked him or not or that now just wasn’t the time to focus on romance - all of which super valid in their own right. Rip the bandaid off, girl. None of them look especially good coming out of this.

It gets worse considering that after seasons of back and forth and even introducing Casey to give us a love triangle, everyone’s favorite thing in media and April redeeming herself by also being That Way to Casey and by redeeming I mean informing us that she just isn’t really fit for a relationship because she is very toxic in handling them, the whole thing is just kind of dropped forever. There’s no payoff. We spent so much time watching Donnie agonize over this, get worse, then get over his stalker-ish tendencies and get rewarded with a kiss and then nothing ever happens. They don’t even have a conversation about their feelings. The show tries to make it seem like there’s a special connection between April and Donnie because she kills him and then feels bad and brings him back, but, no. That’s not how any of that works. Ultimately this whole thing feels like a huge and infuriating waste of time. Fourth place. And that’s a kindness.

Leo and Karai get third place, mainly because of the incest. Neither of them is as toxic over this subplot and it also has the common decency of not taking up that much time, but it’s still weird. I don’t have much to say here. I guess it was dropped in the end, but maybe also not, but at least there weren’t 30 episodes about Leo agonizing over Karai while she was being weird and also she had her own thing going on and felt like a more fleshed out character than April despite getting less screen time. Third place.

Mikey gets silver because while he’s flirting with two human girls, they both seem to be exclusively into it and also he’s much more mature about dealing with it than his supposedly intelligent brother. Get this. Mikey, being mature at something. None of these ships are confirmed, but it’s a nice change of pace.

Raph takes gold because he fell in love with a girl after she beat the crap out of him and nothing is more valid than that.

Okay, the plot feels kind of rushed, in that they’re confessing undying love after kissing twice, but one, they’re teens and two, this is just the best we’re going to get out of this show.

Casey, well.

Casey exists. He doesn’t add all that much to the story. He has a delightful dynamic with Raph, coming in just after Slash confronted him with his worst traits and then reinforcing the “be a vigilante and do good”-angle and that’s nice. Outside of that though, he tries to hit on April, he hits things with his hockey sticks and I guess he has a family he cares about that we never see. Oops.

I’m very ambivalent about Splinter. I do get him and he’s a good sensei, but kind of a lousy father? Sure, his entire life went up in flames quite spectacularly, but as soon as he realizes his daughter is alive, he often seems to prioritize getting her back over the lives of the four sons he actually raised and spent the last fifteen years with? Also, he’s a dick to Mikey? He gets better later and then he dies. Hm.

Mikey wasn’t as annoying as I feared, going in. He was still stupid, but he had his moments. I also didn’t find him as funny as some of the writers probably hoped, but he was fine. He’s a good boy who deserved better every step of the way, but his brothers and Splinter are kind of not nice to him despite him being just as capable as his brothers. Neither is the show, often making him the butt of a joke or downplaying his achievements (producing super-retro mutagen, saving all his brothers from parasite wasps and the one time he saved the city from cannibal pizza it was treated like a “it was all a dream or was it” and nobody believed him). He doesn’t get a lot of development, but he’s the goodest boy.

Raph again surprised me. He arguably underwent the most development, dealing with his many demons and getting a grip on his temper. This was especially apparent in the Northampton arc when he did chores without complaint and helped Leo train.

Leo on the other hand, started as the leader of the team and ended the story as the de-facto leader of the family and also he was stronger now. I don’t know. Being a leader was his defining trait from start to finish and while he agonized over that, he wasn’t allowed much development outside of that. His first meeting with Karai introduced this subplot about him wanting to be irresponsible and do his own thing, but that was quickly dropped and never brought up again. I liked him best when he was being a dork over his favorite TV show or that time he went to space and on his first outing tried to hit on an alien lady. I would have liked to see more of that Leo, because that Leo was actually interesting.

Donnie, I don’t know. Most of his time was poured into the world’s worst romantic subplot and outside of that he had some traits, but he was mostly there so he could analyze things, develop antivenoms at the drop of a hat, finally create a retromutagen and build 152 vehicles. I like Donnie, but there isn’t much to talk about that isn’t directly tied to April. Except maybe how he promised to turn Timothy back into a human and then never did, even though we keep seeing his frozen remains in the back of the lab. For shame, Donnie. For shame.

To the show’s credit, a lot of the mutants looked horrifying and creepy. They had a tight grip on that horror vibe and it was great. They maintained a balance of comedy and horror and while it wasn’t great, it was a nice reprieve.

I hated Shredder and I know I was supposed to, but I will never get over what a petty bitch he was.

The thing that hit me the hardest was probably the destruction of Earth at the end of season 3. I was legitimately upset about that, so that’s probably a good thing. But when five minutes into the next episode Scrooge McDoctor Who did some timey whimey bullshit to reverse it, I was not any less upset. Make of that what you will. (No, I’ll explain, I felt cheated and it was cheap and annoying. Just when you think the show has some balls, it pulls a “sike” and then flips back to the status quo, usually). The space arc was simultaneously interesting and also not, with a lot of predictable plot threads, but at least we got more locations  than the same two nocturnal New York streets all the time.

The ending though was super weird. The other turtles then went into space and probably died or some shit, because they never show up again and also the Fugitoid’s head is alive in orbit, but whatever, no time for that because we have to go back, for the 50th time, to the Foot!

The plot has no time to unfold because the plot needs to happen.

Do you ever think the writers squabbled a lot? It kind of feels like a lot of them wanted to do their own thing and then someone else meddled with that and then we got a patchwork of unconnected threads, left loose and dangling.

I was surprised when we got some buildup to April’s growing dependence on her alien crystal and even one episode dealing with its powers before we got to the episode dealing with the crystal’s effects on her. That sort of nuanced pacing was new. I was also initially very sure that this subplot would only find its payoff in the season finale or half season finale, like most other plot threads usually did, but no, it got its own separate episode.

Yes, they went all Dark Phoenix, but the ending was super anticlimactic, because April killed Donnie and then someone reminded her of it and she felt bad, so she stopped being possessed by evil. They fucked up on the home stretch, but they tried.

I never liked the time travel episodes with Renet much, they felt weirdly intrusive and adding nothing new to the plot. It felt like the first one only happened so we could meet Tang Shen before she died and that didn’t add a whole lot of anything. It confirmed things we already knew and introduced Mikey’s love interest and that was that.

The show tried to do a thing about anti-mutant racism once, but it sure is a good thing that the only people racist against mutants were the mafia, so we don’t have to worry about making a nuanced take here. They could have done something really interesting, but then went for simple black-and-white-morality instead.

My favorite episode was when the boys played Dungeons and Dragons with a sparrow mutant.

The worst part of the show though was its fifth season. First it seemed like it would just continue from where the fourth season had left off with Shredder being revived - because like a good villain, or herpes, Shredder always comes back - by the worst looking dragon I have ever seen in my entire life, but then that arc surprisingly ended after four episodes, shocking me to my core. Almost as shocking as Donnie almost killing a guy, but then deciding not do at the very last second. Again, feels like they could have done more here, but then they didn’t.

The fifth season started with two arcs that seemed to tie up loose plot threads, like Shredder’s revival and the bug alien guy I could have sworn died when he was yeeted out of an airlock coming back to enact his grim revenge, all so Raph’s girlfriend could live on the same planet as him and then never appear on the show ever again. Also Mikey died and his brothers were sad for five seconds before going about their business and then he came back with superpowers and then he conveniently lost them at the end of the episode, because the plot doesn’t have time for things that are emotional or interesting. Then there was that time the writers were like “What if we made Yojimbo, but with anthropromorphic animals and also the turtles are there” and it existed and the Turtles added very few things to the story and then went back to their dimension and never talked about it ever again. Or the time they said “what if we made Mad Max and also everything was terrible” and so they did and Leo became a hulked up war criminal but everyone forgave him because he wasn’t himself but immediately snapped out of it after seeing his brothers and Raphael was on steroids and Donnie became a robot in what I assume was a reference to the comics where he died and became a robot and also Donnie ended up being the only one whose body died, but considering what became of his brothers, he was probably the best off? And Raph had amnesia just so he could say he had amnesia and it didn’t actually factor into the plot once because he immediately recognized Mikey. I don’t know, I hated that special.

But at least it gave me emotions. The best part of the “that time travel demon is back and trying to monster mash” arc was when I remembered that I could browse tumblr on my phone while it was on and then I didn’t bore myself to death and also didn’t miss anything of value.

The series finale was fine. Nothing to write home about, but perfectly fine, even though the show threw an awful lot of shade at the 1987 version.

I feel like the most jarring thing about the fifth season was that the show spent four seasons going out of its way to present itself as something with a cohesive narrative and a plot that goes on and on and then we get these disjointed stories, some of which have absolutely nothing to do with the story at all. Just the writers throwing some idea at a wall to see what sticks because they either didn’t have any ideas anymore, or too many, but the end result wasn’t great and I’ll recommend newcomers to stop after the fourth season, because for real.

Tiger Claw existed and he was infuriatingly capable and powerful and then his sister chopped off his arm and then he got a robot arm and that was it forever. I don’t know, some episodes felt more pointless than others, but some managed to be fun or interesting and some just added something they thought was fun and it ended up never mattering again. 

Some characters disappeared randomly, like the dove guy and I don’t care enough to ask what happened there.

Karai’s mutation being reversed off-screen was super bizarre. Sure, her being able to change at will as metal as heck, but it felt weird and incomplete and like I missed an episode. Maybe I did. It was also infuriating how her venom was a plot point in one episode and never brought up again after that.

Outside of that, I don’t have much insight to offer. Other people already exlained how the fight scenes, while nice, are not very accurate, especially the bo staff moves, or how the show is very dark, not in tone, but in actual absence of light and lots of greyscales or how most characters have singular traits rather than fleshed out personalities, especially the supporting cast. How there isn’t a lot of diversity in the human characters and how figure-hugging a lot of April’s and Karai’s clothing is (shoutout to April’s yellow shirt, it’s uncomfortable to look at, cheers) or how the female characters are frequently damselled.

I liked when the animation added personality to the characters because the writing sure didn’t think it had time for that.

All in all, it’s a mixed bag for me. It’s a fine show to watch if you have the time and it’s not all bad and I can see why people enjoy it, but it’s not for me. I liked some episodes enough to watch again, but I feel like in nine out of ten cases, I’ll opt to rewatch Rise instead because it has more of what I personally like, but I won’t think less of you if you enjoyed this version of the show. I’m not telling people that one version of the Turtles is superior to the other, just that I think it’s important to take off those rose-colored glasses and be critical of the things you consume every now and again.

But if you prefer plot-driven shows that can be surprisingly dark, you might enjoy this. Or you could watch Avatar, because it has that as well as three-dimensional characters and better worldbuilding.

Thank you for reading my way-too-long thoughts about an animated kid’s show.

[askaceattorney]

Dear Inferno,

Essay?  You just said the magic word.

Trucy’s a bit of a lengthy character to unpack, but I’ll see what I can pull out of my hat.

Trucy Wright, CEO, magic extraordinaire, and maiden of mystery, formerly Trucy Gramarye, the 8-year-old prodigy magician.  She’s the kind of character who never forgets to smile (that’s part of her creed, in fact), and always has a magic trick up her sleeve.  Or her magic panties, in this case.

This optimism and charm of hers do a lot to make her likable, both as the second non-Maya assistant in the series and as a side character who provides some comedy relief for the agency when morale is low.

But interestingly enough, this isn’t the sort of character she’s introduced as.

Trucy’s first “magic act” is to appear out of nowhere as Apollo is trying to contemplate how his boss suddenly became a murder suspect.  Rather than offering a smile and an encouraging message, she decides to play the role of a mysterious fortuneteller.

If I didn’t know who was saying this, I might think it was a Toad from Super Mario Bros. 3.

So far, all she is to Apollo (and us) is a mysterious messenger trying to help her father...until he realizes just who her father is.

This presents a new mystery for Apollo (and for us): How did a young magician wind up in the custody of an ex-lawyer?  And on top of that, why was a locket with her picture in the possession of a shady drifter...and why did Phoenix feel the need to take it from his dead body?

Unfortunately, Phoenix is just as cryptic as Trucy in her debut game, but it’s far from the end of Apollo’s interaction with them.

After two months of coping with the loss of his first position as an attorney and considering Phoenix’s offer to work at the legendary Wright & Co. Law Offices, Apollo finally shows up there to discover that it not only went through a name chance, but now has it’s own CEO -- the same mysterious girl he ran into before!

Before he knows it, he’s being interviewed for the Wright Talent Agency by a magician whose energetic and professional attitude completely contradicts her father’s calm, laid-back personality.  It isn’t until his misunderstanding is cleared up that she finally introduces herself:

It’s here that we also hear Trucy’s theme, “Child of Magic,” for the first time, which does a great job of conveying the sort of delightful, peppy aura Trucy creates just by being herself.  Speaking of which, Apollo gets to “enjoy” a bunch more of her optimism as she explains her and Phoenix’s current situation.  According to her, the former law office was converted into an agency for acquiring talented individuals.

She also describes what might be her most important role in Phoenix’s life, whether she knows it or not.

And so she did.  She may not have actually cooked for him (or maybe she did, we don’t know), but she did provide Phoenix, a well-respected lawyer who’d just been cheated out of his badge, with exactly what he needed at the time: a reason to keep going.  It’s hard to imagine what his life would’ve been like without her making her entrance into it, so to speak, but because of her, he was compelled to pull himself together, find a job, and begin to move on from one of the darkest moments of his life.  In short, Trucy became a light in his darkness.  Pretty impressive for an 8-year-old, huh?

We’ll get to that in due time, though.  The next thing we learn about Trucy comes from her Daddy, and once again, it’s pretty vague.

What could this “talent” of hers be?  Besides being a talented magician and motivator, that is?  We don’t find that out until after she’s spent some time as Apollo’s investigating assistant.

Thus she officially becomes Apollo’s “Maya,” a role she fills remarkably well, being just as cute, perky, annoying, and naive as Maya ever was.

Every good lawyer needs one of those, after all.

Then, when Apollo finally gets his first *cough* normal case, we get to see what Trucy’s capable of in the courtroom.  ...Well, after a quick diversion.

Has Professor Layton gone rogue and joined the mafia?  Nope, it’s just one of Trucy’s best tricks -- the Amazing Mr. Hat!

Not even going to ask how that works.

After this hilarious sideshow, Trucy reveals what her special “talent” is, and how it can help Apollo.

For the first time in the series, we have a courtroom mechanic that doesn’t involve pressing someone, presenting evidence, or asking the right questions -- instead we get to use a brand-new technique to slow time down and spot witnesses’ nervous habits when they tell lies, and our young magician friend is just the one to introduce it to us (much like Pearl introduced the Psyche-Lock mechanic to Phoenix).

She apparently knows about Apollo’s “perceive” ability from Phoenix, but how does she happen to have the same gift herself?  That remains a mystery until we learn about her past, which doesn’t happen until near the end of the game.

Thankfully, we aren’t playing the game here, so we can just skip ahead to that part.

During the third case, Trucy’s real father, Zak Gramarye, is given a brief mention, but all we learn about him is that he’s a magician who once belonged to Troupe Gramarye.  Who is he today, though?

It turns out his identity is none other than Shadi Smith, the card-playing drifter who was murdered by Kristoph (and the one partly responsible for Phoenix’s disbarment).  We could get into his *ah-HEM* wonderful fathering technique, but the important thing here is what we learn from him about Trucy and Apollo’s gift.

Whatever this strange ability is, it’s apparently hereditary, passed down from Trucy’s mother.  Also, as Phoenix deduces, Apollo shares this ability because, shocker of shockers, the two of them share the same mother, Thalassa Gramarye.

Who’d have thunk it?  Not even Phoenix, even though he’s a good thunker.

Speaking of Phoenix, let’s go back to his first meeting with young Trucy.

When she first entered his life, she was a famous magician’s daughter whose first “performance” was to help him escape a Guilty verdict.  She of course didn’t know at the time how long it would be before she saw him again, or the lawyer she was talking to would soon be replacing him.  It’s here, by the way, that we learn we she gets her charming grin from.

And then...tragedy.

With her father missing and no living relatives to take care of her, Trucy’s future looks even bleaker than Phoenix’s (which is saying a lot).  Thankfully, he offers to let her stay with him until her father comes back, and does his best to help her feel comfortable.  Luckily for both of them, her father already gave her some advice.

Then comes the big switcheroo.  As mentioned before, Trucy provided Phoenix with a reason to keep going after losing his job, but when we see how it actually took place, it becomes clear that she took it a step further than that -- she practically led him forward by the hand.

This makes me wonder something: could her vigorous encouragement have reminded Phoenix of another young woman who came into his life just after a tragedy occurred?

Maybe it’s just speculation, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Maya had crossed his mind.  He even told Trucy she could call him “Nick” if she wanted to.  If nothing else, that provided some serious heartfelt nostalgia.

One other thing I loved about AJ: AA is how it showed Trucy’s more fragile side near the end.  Things worked out pretty well for her after the ordeal with her father, but that doesn’t mean she felt no emotion about it.

We’ll never know how much of her sadness is due to her father’s death and how much is due to his sudden disappearance, but at least we’re given a chance to see her being less magical and more human.

And finally, let us fast-forward past Trucy’s adoption, her accidental reunion with her half-brother, and her antics in the courtroom to the final (and in my opinion, the best) big moment for her: The Magical Turnabout.  Here we get to see, through the magic of animation and voice-overs, how expertly Trucy performs and how confidently she speaks for the first time.

But just when things seem to be going better than ever for her and the new Troupe Gramarye...

What a way to go, huh?

Thankfully, that situation was an imaginary one (and she came out on top, as always), but then a real disaster occurs.

She’s lucky enough to have Apollo and Athena there to help her, but she’s left to wonder if Mr. Reus’s death was due to a fatal accident on her part.  If so, it would be a devastating blow to her magic career, besides destroying Troupe Gramarye’s reputation after it had just made a recovery.  Luckily, there’s one person who doesn’t believe she could make such a mistake, and who can see through her fake smile.

Then we get one more glimpse of Trucy’s human side, but for a completely different reason: Apollo’s faith in her performing ability, even as she struggles to believe in herself.

Unlike her previous crying scene, this one is more bittersweet than sad.  Having faith in your friends might be a cliche, but it’s moments like this when you see just how much it matters.

Things go from bad to worse when she suddenly finds herself in the Accused of Murder Club while her Daddy’s out of the country, but like always, the truth comes out in the end.  But here’s what I love most about this case: Trucy herself gets to play a role in proving her innocence, simply by doing what she does best: performing magic!

Besides giving her defense team new evidence to work with, her trick completely turns the room around.  Even Apollo couldn’t detect the sword switch with his kinetic vision.  Not bad for an impromptu performance, huh?

And if that wasn’t beautiful enough, the judge himself asks Trucy a favor before announcing a verdict:

Looks like she’s officially earned the title, hasn’t she?

So with all this in mind, what’s the best way to describe Trucy?  She’s a great magician, a strong motivator, a bringer of joy and encouragement to those around her, a comedy relief when one is needed, and...  Oh yeah, I forgot -- it turns out she’s also a bit of a sadist.

Sort of a weird character quirk for Capcom to give her, in my opinion, but not too hard to believe, I guess.

But most importantly, she’s a true entertainer, much like her old Daddy, and someone who knows how to smile even in the darkest of times and who has an eye (two, in fact) for the truth, much like her new Daddy.  You could say she represents the best of both worlds.

You’re still a jerk, though, Zak.

-The Co-Mod

[buckyreaderrecs]

So Far Away: Chapter 5/?

Summary:  Bucky Barnes doing what he does best. Saving. Loving. In this particular case, the object of both is you. (Bonus: Bucky Barnes happy, healing, doing really well!) 

First chapter in series. Previous chapter. 

Chapter 5:  It’s time to find your family.

Pairing: Bucky Barnes/Reader Characters: Bucky Barnes, F.R.I.D.A.Y., Cecilia Reyes Additional tags: mostly canon compliant (Infinity War and Endgame didn’t happen, Stark Tower still exists),  she/her pronouns, more tags/characters to be added with future chapters, hero Bucky Barnes, canon typical violence, warzone/disaster zone setting, Alpine the cat, other Marvel characters mentioned but not central to the plot,  Warnings: possible triggers for anxiety and PTSD, major triggers for death of loved ones and grief, chapter 5 only possible trigger for food

Note: Please heed the warnings for this chapter; it’s a bit intense. As always, I’d love to know what you think. xo Rhi

So Far Away Chapter 5/?

The first night you'd spent at Stark Tower was forgettable in the sense that you had completely forgotten most of it. Vaguely, there was a bath, and Bucky, then bed. That was pretty much it though. So, it wasn't like the day after needed to do anything particularly special to be considered memorable. And yet, it was.

As Bucky put all the Mexican food trash into the paper Ubereats bag, you flicked through channels on television.

"Have you seen this?" you asked, stopping on Atlantis: The Lost Empire.

"I know, I know! I don't know shit about anything, but in my defence, I've been busy helpin' to save the world since I've been… good," Bucky replied, highly defensive but also still in good humour.

"Um… I just meant, 'cause it's a super underrated Disney movie. And nobody's seen it, like Hercules," you told him, holding back a grin.

"Oh… Sorry. Sam's always yelling at me," he explained, throwing the Ubereats bag in the bin and walking back over the couch from the kitchenette.

"About movies?"

"About everything," he said, rubbing his face. "He's cut up about me missing, like, all of hip-hop."

It made you laugh, which motivated Bucky to continue his bitching about Sam Wilson. "And! He thinks me and Steve should have more 'refined taste' in everything." He used air quotation marks, which Natasha Romanoff had taught him to use, much to the dismay of Steve. ("Captain America.")

"Refined taste?"

"Yeah, basically he loses it when he we like anythin' he thinks is bad. Like…" Bucky cycled through his list of favourite things. "The Fast and the Furious movies."

An image flashed in your mind of Steve and Bucky, completely decked out in their respective gear, marathoning the films, cheering at every car stunt and use of the NOS button. It made you smile, genuinely happy.

Bucky continues, "They ain't my favourite or anythin', but they're fun, ya know? He's probably just upset that whenever we get in car races it's mostly someone trying to kill us,"

"I guess that's… fair, but he's… The Falcon… that's super cool?"

Bucky grinned, but quickly shook his head. "Don't ever tell him you said that, okay? Never tell Sam you think he's cool,"

"Is it like feeding Gremlins after midnight?" you asked.

"I watched that one! And, yeah. It's exactly like that,"

"But it's not like you guys don't get to see cool things… and be cool,"

"I guess… We're used to it?" Bucky thought for a second or two, wriggled into the couch and rested his arm along the back of it. You turned to face him, legs crossed and entirely attentive. "Before the war I loved reading about what new gadgets were comin' out. Used to drag Steve to anything with tech stuff. But then, Hydra. I wasn't really conscious enough to realise I was in the future," he told you, chuckling a little to himself like it was funny. It was so nonchalant that it shocked you a little. He hadn't stuttered saying their name, or shifted to a darker mood. "Whenever I got re-programmed, I was re-trained too. Whatever advancements they made, I learnt. Meant when Shuri fixed my head up, I wasn't that inept. Got it a lot easier than Steve that way,"

"Just movies and T.V. and stuff that you missed then?" you asked, feeling like you needed to keep him talking because you'd never heard anything so goddamn interesting.

"Yeah. Hydra didn't exactly have a Netflix subscription for me," he said. You said nothing. "That was a joke. You can laugh," Bucky told you, softly nudging your knee.

"I don't know how you joke about it," you said honestly.

He shrugged. "You'll joke about all this too, one day," he replied.

No. No, I won't.

Bucky saw the conflict flash across you face.

"It's not like there isn't things that still blow my mind… Wakanda, for one," he continued, pulling you from your thoughts.

"Is it as cool as it looks on T.V.?"

"Cooler. It's gotta be one of my favourite places. And when I met Wanda… She thought I was a bit of a meatball. Never met anyone with powers like hers, you know? She's amazing. And Vision. Still don't really get what he's about,"

"So, you are friends with Wanda Maximoff but you think Vin Diesel is cool?" you asked, affronted.

Bucky laughed. "No. I think the cars are cool. The stunts! Vin Diesel seems like a jerk."

Another image flashed. Someone in the world, Vin Diesel, knowing that The Winter Soldier thought he was a bit of jerk.

Bucky watched you laugh.

"Come on, then. What's this one about?" he asked, turning back to the television.

"Atlantis-"

"Underwater city? I'm in."

That's about where you realised that Bucky Barnes was a massive nerd.

It took Bucky ten minutes to tell you that you needed to keep warm, putting the knitted blanket over you. It took twenty to have him scoot closer to you, his arm still on the back of the couch, behind your head. About half an hour in, Bucky said, "Yeah, this is better than Snow White. I love this little mole guy."

Bucky was watching, listening for any signs that the lack of conversation had given you time to think, to spiral. But, it hadn't. Atlantis was a comfort movie for you, a distraction. He could see you smile and frown along with the characters.

"It was pretty obvious that this was gonna happen," Bucky said at the high point of the plot twist. He was aiming for a reaction. You looked at him fast and dramatic. "I'm good at picking the bad guys. Kinda my job."

At the rolling of the credits, Bucky asked, "Ice cream?"

As he put a collection of Ben and Jerry's on the counter top, Bucky caught himself in a sudden realisation. He was keeping you busy. Eventually, you'd notice, or the day would carry on and bedtime would come; the quietness between 'goodnight' and sleep would crush you, pushing from you anxiety and grief. But first, Bucky thought, ice cream.

"Half Baked," you said. Bucky handed you the pint and a spoon.

You watched him open the Strawberry Cheesecake, Cherry Garcia, and Urban Bourbon. "Variety is the spice of life," he said grinning, his voice a strange mocking tone, like he was parroting someone you'd never met.

"I genuinely don't know where all that food goes,"

"In here," he answered, lifting his shirt and patting his tummy.

"Yeah, but like, do you have one of those trash compactor things that mooshes it all down super small?"

Bucky laughed. "Maybe. Who knows what's going on inside 'ere."

You were sitting on a bar stool, leaning against the kitchenette's counter. Bucky put the spoons in the dishwasher and the uneaten ice cream away. He liked things in their place, you noted.

"So," he said, too casually. It felt, correctly, like a lead up. "How are you feeling?"

"Full," you answered, honest, but also not really.

Bucky looked at you, nodded. "What else?"

You dropped your gaze, breaking eye contact. A nervousness grew in you, the gatekeeper to all the bad. It was telling you to flee - answering the question wouldn't be nice. You could tell that Bucky wouldn't change the subject though. He could wait in that silence all day for you to speak.

"I…" you began. "I don't know. There's just… a lot,"

"Yeah. That makes sense. There is a lot… Probably good to start telling me about it." When you said nothing to that, he added, "Or someone else. We can-"

"I feel guilty," you blurted out, partly to stop him suggesting you talk to anyone else, partly because the gate was opening and the guilt as behind it in abundance. Bucky nodded like he already knew what you were going to say, and what you meant. "I… I'm here. Where I'm more than safe," you said, looking around at the suite. "But I haven't done anything to deserve it-" Bucky went to say something but stopped himself. "I'm not the most hurt, or the most useful person to save or anything like that. And then, I haven’t even looked-" That was it. The tears began to stream down your face, heavy and hot. You could feel them pooling in your shirt somewhere. The sentence you started was lost, completely drowned out by sobs.

Bucky remained composed. He fetched tissues from the bathroom, took it upon himself to clear your face, ready for the next wave. It arrived immediately. "Come 'ere," he said, pulling you into him. There would be wetness and snot all over his hoodie when you would eventually move, but you didn’t think of that in the moment and Bucky really didn’t care. He stood between your legs, rocking you gently on the stool for a minute before you spoke again.

"I haven't even looked for anybody," you said, so softly and so painfully that even priests in confessional booths would have hung their heads.

"How could you?" Bucky asked.

During the time before his head was really put back together, that is what everyone did with him. They challenged Bucky's questions, forced logic on him, rending much of the harmful conclusions he'd drawn about himself incorrect. It was a good strategy and he'd learned it well.

You half shrugged and kept crying. A cycle had begun in your mind. You were crying because you felt guilty, but that made you feel selfish and stupid. You thought you should be crying for other people. All of that, of course, made you feel more guilty, starting the cycle all over again. But maybe that cycle was easier to loop on than any real feelings of grief and loss.

"When were ya meant to have time to find people? Couldn't do it in the refuge centre. Too much goin’ on. And your hand was smashed, probably killin' you. And like Doc said - in shock," he said, paused, waited for a response.

Bucky's hands were moving up and down your back with enough pressure to calm you sobs into softer hiccups and sniffles.

"Yeah?" Bucky prompted. You nodded and shrugged simultaneously. "Okay, so, couldn't have done it on the way here or last night. You were exhausted. Could hardly keep yourself upright. Ain't much use to anybody like that."

You covered your nose with a tissue and sat up. Even if he didn't care, you didn't want him to see you with a face covered in snot. Bucky had the tact to look away while he continued. You listened as you wiped your face clean.

"This morning, whisked ya away to Medical. Then force fed you some food. And now, we're here. So, if you're asking me, darlin', not too sure when you think you were meant to do all this people finding, you know?"

Bucky could see it in your face that you knew he was right. When you nodded, saying, "I guess," he felt completely victorious.

You drank the glass of water Bucky poured for you, then took a breath in, two, three, out, two, three.

"Okay," you said, voice almost normal.

"Okay," he repeated in solidarity.

"Can we find them now?"

…

The room was definitely not for civilians, but nobody stopped Bucky from walking in with you. It was a buzzing hub of activity and urgency. Voices spoke fast, people moved faster.

"It's kind of like a command centre," Bucky tried to explain. "Whenever there's a threat, we have a response team that do… I guess what would happen if there was an earthquake or somethin'. Search and rescue. Coordinating relief."

You nodded and stayed close to Bucky's side, not wanting to get in anyone's way.

"Sergeant Barnes," a very tired woman greeted.

"Hey. I'm really sorry to-"

"No time for that. What can we do for you?" she cut him off.

"Finding people that were in the attack zone," he replied.

"Everything we know, F.R.I.D.A.Y. knows. Integrated systems. Find a computer, preferably not in here, and ask her. Anything else?"

"No. Thank-" but she was gone.

Bucky hooked an arm around your waist and walked you back to the elevator.

"She was amazing," you said.

Bucky grinned. "Never met her before, but yeah, lot of people like that around here."

On a floor of the tower that was much calmer, Bucky and you sat in what you supposed was some sort of crazy high-tech boardroom.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y.?"

"James,"

"Oh, it's James now?"

"Yes. How can I be of assistance?"

The first step was making a list of everyone you knew who lived or worked in the part of D.C. that was affected. You named them, confirmed through social media accounts and DMV records.

"Do you guys have access to, like, everything?" you asked Bucky.

"Probably shouldn't answer that," Bucky replied, winking.

Step two was all F.R.I.D.A.Y. "I work fast, but I'd like to check my work, Y/N," she told you.

"If you can, can you check with-" Bucky went to ask.

"First responder reports?" F.R.I.D.A.Y. asked.

"Must be the day for being cut off by women smarter than me, huh?"

"I could be mistaken, James, but isn't that every day?"

Bucky laughed, looked at you for back up, but saw you staring at screen in front of you. The list of names.

Once you'd actually made it, you realised there were likely less people to find than you first though. Your housemate, Lucas, was a bike courier. He may have been out of the zone, 50/50 chance. Elizabeth, your best friend, lived on the next block over. She was home when the attack happened. You were watching her Instagram live; she was feeding her pet snake, Salem. Then, the girls at the hole in the wall café you worked at, Glory. You didn't know who was shift, so you listed all five.

There were more, but felt like naming everyone you knew would be greedy somehow. Bucky said, when you were ready, you could look through the list of the deceased. Even hearing the phrase made you feel sick though.

"Do you want to wait here?" Bucky asked.

You turned to him, ran your hands through your hair. "I don't know… I can't…" but whatever you couldn’t, you couldn’t even articulate.

Bucky nodded. "How about we get some fresh air? When we get back, F.R.I.D.A.Y. will have something for us?"

…

Out on the street, everything was loud. The whole back-in-reality thing really took you off guard. Seeing the city from the top of the Tower was different to this.

"I got ya," Bucky said, coming to walk right by your side. You looked over at him, and he offered his hand. You immediately accepted.

As you walked by multiple cafés, you wondered if Bucky had a favourite, or maybe there was a secret superhero club behind a hidden door in an inconspicuous bodega or Chinese restaurant. Alas, earwax - no such luck. Bucky held the door of a standard looking café open.

The guy behind the coffee machine nodded. "Buck,"

"Hey, Gee,"

"Seen ya's all on the news. Everyone okay?" Gee the barista asked, the genuine concern evident in his tone and expression.

"Ah, yeah. You know - nothing they can't handle," Bucky replied; you suspected it was the party line.

"Good, good. What can we get for ya then?"

"Don't worry about it, bud. I'll jump in line."

Gee shook his head and smiled as Bucky took his place in the queue to order. "You wanna grab a table? Or wait with me?" he asked you.

"Stay," you replied, stepping closer to him.

While you held your body in a way that shielded your broken bones from people's paths, it was easy being close to Bucky. He was probably very accustomed to being around the injured, so never accidentally hit the cast. You were grateful.

Bucky reached out and curled hair behind your ears, then leaned in to kiss the top of your nose. It was intimate, and brought solace. It was also very public; as he moved away, started greeting the girl at the counter, you realised there were more than a few pairs of eyes on you. Turning from the room, you stood closer to Bucky and listened to their conversation.

"You know I can't tell you that," Bucky said, leaning against the counter like he owned it.

"But, like, it's over, right? We won?"

"Tiff, would I be standing here if there was something else I could be doing?"

Tiff nodded, made a face like she'd been let in on a state secret. "Hmmm," she pondered for a second. Then, with pep, "So, the usual then? For one of Earth's mightiest heroes?"

Bucky rolled his eyes at her. "I hate you," he joked before looking at you. "What will it be?"

You hadn't really thought as far as ordering. Already feeling self-conscious and spaced out, the burning in your cheeks was getting hotter.

"Thinking maybe a pot of tea to share?" Bucky suggested, casual, but also sending you a quick wink - he was saving you again.

"Tea's great," you said.

After ordering, Bucky chose a couple of oversized armchairs by the window to sit in. He let you breathe, let you stare through the glass and people watch for a long time. He answered messages on his phone, checked in with Steve while you daydreamed. So deep in thought, or maybe just completely zoned out, you didn't even notice Bucky had made a call, or that the pot of tea had been placed on the small table between you.

Bucky said your name, but you failed to move. He reached out, tapped a knuckle against your knee. You gasped, felt your heart skip a beat.

"Sorry!" he said immediately. "Didn’t mean to scare you…"

"No, it's alright. I'm just… um,"

"You're alright, darlin'. How do you take your tea?"

It was a simple enough question, but you looked down at the table like it was all alien.

"Maybe you can make your own," Bucky said, pushing the tea tray closer to you. "Give you something to focus on. Bring you back down to earth."

…

Although you were hardly touching your tea or the cookies the staff brought over as a gift, Bucky let you sit for much longer than what anyone normally would. It was starting to get dark, the café closing around you, when you finally seemed to become aware of the rest of the world again.

"Oh. Should we go?"

"Sure," Bucky replied, standing and holding his hand out again.

After thanking everyone, you were out in the city, walking back to the Tower.

The silence that existed between you and Bucky was a comfortable one, but the closer you got to your destination, the more nervous you felt. Something in your mind snapped, told you to try to be normal. So, you started to talk. Fast. And a lot.

"Do you all go there? Like, the Avengers? It was nice. They really like you. The cookies were good-"

Bucky cut in, stopping you more than actually wanting to answer. "It's easier to go to the same places. The novelty of us eventually wears off," he told you.

"Yeah, people don't really stop staring, do they? Must get tiring, having everyone watch you all the time. And treat you different." You internally begged yourself to shut the fuck up.

"Guess I don't really know what 'normal' would be… Don't like people giving me free stuff all the time though. Don't need it. Not really a skip-the-line type of guy," he said.

You wondered how much charity he needed after Steve brought him back into the fold. Instead of asking about that, you thankfully went with, "Must be nice sometimes though?"

Bucky thought for a second. It was one of the changes in personality he experienced after Hydra. Bucky in the 30s and early 40s was a little bit of an attention seeker, a true lover of the limelight. Not so much anymore. He thought of you then - how you'd considered him to be a hero, and how you had needed him. How you still needed him.

"Maybe there's a couple perks."

You nodded, went quiet again. Bucky noticed that you switched between that frantic, almost manic state and scary quiet a fair bit. He rolled with it, a little notorious for the odd mood swing himself.

It was in the elevator of Stark Tower that you started to get jittery. The palms of your hands started to sweat, but Bucky didn't let go. He also tried to not seem like all of his attention was fixated on you, but it was. When he took you back to his suite, rather than the crazy high-tech boardroom, he thought about explaining why, but figured it wasn't one of the main things on your mind.

Sitting on the couch in the same place you'd eaten burritos for brunch, you pulled the knitted blanket back over yourself.

"Ready?" Bucky asked, sitting down next to you and putting a glass of water and box of tissues on the coffee table. You nodded. "F.R.I.D.A.Y., how'd you go?"

You felt sick, real deep down in your stomach. It was a pushing force, making you hot and uncomfortable. Suddenly, the blanket was too heavy and you pushed it away with a weird anger.

Bucky wanted to hold you, but he knew the sensation of feeling trapped by grief. He gave you space and braced himself for what was about to hit you.

"I'm not sure what the best order to deliver this is," F.R.I.D.A.Y. admitted. She knew the limits of her programmed humanity, and it was probably the most impressive thing about her.

"Good news first," Bucky said.

"I've located Lucas and Elizabeth. Lucas is currently residing in an apartment just outside the affected zone. It belongs to a Jacob Short,"

"That's his boyfriend's dad," you said, nodding to yourself. Lucas was safe.

"Elizabeth is currently admitted to Howard University Hospital. She has a broken clavicle and humerus, and damage to the glenohumeral joint - all to her right side. She is in stable condition."

You breathed out hard, then took a tissue to your face. You'd not even noticed that you'd started to cry.

"Glory was destroyed," F.R.I.D.A.Y. continued.

That's when you looked up from the patch of floor you'd been staring at. On the screen of the television, F.R.I.D.A.Y. had been showing you relevant things - the Facebook status geotagging Lucas at his boyfriend's family home, the rental agreement that showed who lived at that address, Elizabeth's medical records, even security footage of her in the hospital.

You shouldn't have looked up.

For a moment, Bucky didn't understand why your breathing had all but stopped. Average people don't get a slideshow to accompany their bad news. He looked at the screen. A photo, then another, showed the entire building Glory was a part of reduced to rubble.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y., maybe we don't need the show with the tell," Bucky said.

"No!" you yelled. "I need to see."

If there was information, visual or verbal, you needed it.

"I logged into WorkForce using your credentials to view the roster. Two people were working at the time of the attacks: Carly Underwood and Ellie Gilbert," F.R.I.D.A.Y. told you. Before she said it, you knew it. "I'm sorry, Y/N. Both have been put on the list of deceased. Carly has been identified officially. Ellie is pending, but using our facial recognition and matching, I can confirm it's her."

You stood up, ripping the hoodie you were wearing off. If it was too hot before, now you felt like you were made of lava.

Bucky watched you start to pace. Your expression was alarmingly flat.

"The rest of your co-workers are safe. Only a Tara Constantine was in the affected area. She was on a bus moved to safety by Peter Parker."

There was footage taken from somebody's phone of Spiderman saving bus and carloads of people.

"I used your social media accounts to create an index of known people. As far as I can tell, you do not directly know anyone else on the list of deceased."

The phrase was still making you feel sick.

Bucky mistook that as F.R.I.D.A.Y. being finished. He thanked her, asked her to keep him updated if anything changed.

"Sorry, Sergeant. There's more."

Both you and Bucky went still. What else could there be?

"Your parents, Y/N,"

"They live on the other side of the city. Probably worried about me, right?" You turned to the screen, expected to see a worried Facebook posted asking if anyone had seen you. How could telling them you were safe not be your first thought? Stupid. Selfish.

On the screen was a grainy traffic cam photo of your parents driving. It was time and date stamped.

"They're fine," you said.

"Y/N, I'm sorry… Your parents aren't on the list of deceased-"

"Yeah, because they're fine!"

Suddenly, you remembered you did call them. You were still in the refuge centre, and it took you an hour to find someone with a phone willing to share. First, you called your dad, but it went straight to voicemail. Your mum didn't pick up. Only a month before, they'd had the landline switched off. How did you forget calling?

"But using street surveillance, I tracked their car into the affected zone. They got caught in the attack-"

"No. No. They hate that part of town. I didn't even move in that long ago and they already hate it. There's no reason for them to be there," you said, angry. No reason… except you.

"I checked through unidentified photographs-" she tried to continue, her voice noticeably more robotic than Bucky had ever heard it. He was grateful to have her then.

"The what?" you asked, confused and flustered and still feeling so fucking sick.

Bucky sighed, figured he should explain that one. "It's the same as natural disasters… When they find bodies, move them to try to identify them, they make a catalogue of photos to help. F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s saying she checked through them,"

"So? They're fine,"

"Our facial recognition and matching have a 100% accuracy record, but… I could be wrong," F.R.I.D.A.Y. said.

Bucky knew she wasn't, and was discomforted by her attempt at gentleness.

"Wrong about what?" you spat, already knowing.

"I believe your parents have passed away,"

"Show me," you said.

"Y/N, I-" from Bucky.

"Show me!" you yelled, moving to the screen, standing so close you swore you could feel the electricity buzzing from it.

The photographs from traffic cams were still up, static. You stared them down, waiting.

Bucky walked to you, stood behind you, held his breath.

F.R.I.D.A.Y. didn't speak again. She showed you all the photos of your parents she had found to base her conclusion on. The reach of her skills became apparent and terrifying. There was no way she and everything she could do, was legal. As photos from private accounts, devices, and websites flashed up, along with dozens from the DMV and work place IDs, you felt all the heat you'd brewed up drain from you.

Your body began to meltdown - you needed to pee, your mouth went dry, and earaches formed out of nowhere. It felt like you were being stabbed in the lower back. None of it made sense.

The screen went still again.

"Show me," you said once more.

Two overexposed photographs appeared on screen. Both were framed similarly - head shots of undeniably dead people. Also undeniable was the fact that they were the corpses of your parents.

"Turn it off," Bucky said.

The screen went black but you didn't look away. As long as you stayed there staring, the image wouldn't fade. You could see them in your mind. You could see the indent in your father's head, skull visible. You could see the blood on your mother’s face. Tape held their eyelids closed.

"Y/N," Bucky whispered, standing close. He waited for a response. Time was ticking by excruciatingly slowly. "Y/N, I'm gonna help you to bed," he said, but you flinched, so he stopped moving towards you. "Okay… That's okay. You can stay-" but before he could end the sentence with 'here,' you screamed out a guttural cry that mutated into sobbing.

Very quickly for Bucky then, time sped up again. It was moving too fast though. Your legs gave up, and he caught you only just before hitting the floor. You crawled out of his arms, along the floor, dry heaving between sobs and yelped of pain as you ignored the fact one hand was crushed. In the couple of seconds it took him to work out if you were going to throw up, you did. You puked all the Mexican and tea you'd had, then continued to crawl, making it close enough to a wall that you could lay on your side and lean against it.

Bucky knelt in front of you, tried to pull your hair into the tie that was usually around his wrist. Once successful, he went to retrieve a cold, wet wash cloth. He wiped your face but gave up when the sobbing seemed to get louder. He could make out words sometimes. For the most part, there was nothing coherent in your mind to articulate. You curled up into a ball, switching between deep sobs and outright screams.

Eventually, it all subsided into an even crying but you stayed in a tight ball. Bucky sat beside you, pressed close enough that he could feel each movement you made. After hours, once you'd gone quiet, Bucky whispered, "I'm gonna look after you, Y/N. Promise."

Chapter 6 coming soon...

Tag list for So Far Away: @animegirlgeeky @howthehellisbucky @dumbubblegum @chipilerendi 

Tag list for all my work: @bubbabarnes @browngirlmagic @lookalivefrosty @aynaraxas @vibraniumwitch @the--sad--hatter @fairislesheets (of course it doesn’t let me tag you! I’ll message you)

Tag lists are open - message me to be added. 

[chasseurdeloup-retired]

Pour Some Salt on Me || Matty and Kaden

TIMING: Present LOCATION: Soul on the Rocks PARTIES: @likeamattoutofhell and @chasseurdeloup SUMMARY: Matty meets Kaden at the bar and deals with some of his baggage. AKA: Did someone order a Margarita? Extra salty?

It wasn’t often that Kaden spent a free night at a bar that wasn’t the Silver Bullet but he was always up for something new and different. Plus, for all he knew, he could be walking into a prime opportunity for hunting. Not to mention, he could always use a few more drinks to deal with everything that had happened in the past week. Mimes. Wings. Banshees. Werewolves. It was too much. He could use a normal night. The bar was loud. Very loud. It was going to take a lot for him to concentrate on any conversation and not get overwhelmed. He took a deep breath. It’d be fine, as long as he was prepared. He saw a guy at the bar, pretty sure on the end he was supposed to meet him. “You Matty?” he asked. “Kaden. Aka that guy whose dog found a fucking head the other week.” He almost added ‘not a mime-fucker’ but then he thought better of reminding anyone of that before needed. “How’s it going?

So. This had been a day, hadn’t it? Or, well. A night. But, at least some shit didn’t change. Soul on the Rocks was still standing, and nobody gave a crap how you came. Which was good, given that Matty looked a little like a half-drowned poodle, his hair still damp and curling, crazily, from his make-do shower at the pool. Whatever it took. Bit into his budget a little - man, everything cost more, these days - but he was two rounds into the special, and had enough left over for a few more. Solid. He’d just raised a hand for another when some… guy, sleek, sharp-faced, dropped onto the stool next-door. Kaden? Right. Maybe into mimes? According to the internet, but. Couldn’t believe everything you read, duh. “Yeah, that’s - yeah.” The vibes, on this poor bastard. “It’s… going, alright.” Why not shoot the shit? There was plenty of it. “Pipes in my place are, uh. Under reconstruction? Got real messed up last week, full of something fucked, I don’t know. At least the neighbors aren’t, you know, weirder than usual.” Which had been saying something, alright. But he’d draw a line, sure, at suddenly taking up miming. At other people. In the hallway. Matty shrugged, vaguely. “Same shit, different day, around here. How about you, man? What’s up?”

Kaden raised a brow and gave the guy a one over. “I can see that.” The guy looked rough, alright. Soaked and a little bedraggled. “Bad pipes, huh? What happened? Do you live anywhere near the funeral home by chance?” He almost asked if it was vampires or necrophages since that always seemed to be the cause of leaky pipes in buildings. Occasionally pixies. Usually dead things. But he thought better of it. That joke only landed in a hunter bar, really. He waved down the bartender and ordered a beer, wasn’t sure he trusted the liquor to be drinkable let alone mid shelf. “I’m alright. Less severed heads in my life so that’s been good.” A lot more wings and banshees and death but it was fine. He was fine. Everything was fine. He gulped down a sizable portion of his drink. “I mean, yeah. It’s been a fucking week. Got attacked by the wo-- an animal in the woods the other night. Nearly fucking died. So I’m sure yours is going better than that. Least I hope so.”

Funeral home? Matty frowned, faintly, not sure what that was supposed to mean. “Don’t think so?” Hopefully that was a no. Not somewhere he needed, or wanted, to hang around. With actual corpses. “Just some shithole, you know what it’s like.” Fuck, it was a shame you couldn’t smoke in bars anymore. Still had some of that good weed, from Margot, kicking around. And he was itching for something, anything. Matty gave the bartender a seriously grateful nod as the next Moscow mule landed, shaking off a sudden, cold shiver. A bad one. God, he’d have to get ahold of Felix. Soon.

But. A couple drinks wouldn’t hurt, and the company probably wouldn’t. Jury was out, as of yet.

“Solid.” Less body parts flying around in general, the better, yeah? Elbow up on the scratched-to-shit counter, he took a long, needsome drink, hearing Kaden out. The wo-what? His head tilted, there, doing some wo-wondering. Not too much. His week. Where to start? With the waiting to find out if a couple super scary motherfuckers were going to duke it out to the death over at Hanging Rock, come the weekend? Hanging around a psychotic old-ass leech with fancy tastes? Getting thrown out of a tree by a bloodsucking... monkey, with iron teeth, or some shit? No, thanks. “Oh, totally.” Matty tossed off a tired sorta smile, and raised his glass. “Here’s to - death-defying, huh? Life goes on.” Close enough. “The hell were you doing in the woods, anyway? Nothing but crazy and mosquitoes out there, seriously…”

Kaden nodded at his current companion’s words. “Ah, not related to that then. Nevermind. But yeah, I do know how that goes. Surprised I don’t live in a complete dump here, but I got paid a little more than I’m used to when I took the job at Animal Control.” Out of the sheer desperation they had to fill the position. He felt a chill run through him before taking another sip of his beer. Strange, was the door open or something? He looked back but that was stuoid, it wasn't even that cold out anymore. Odd. Must have imagined it. Or the beer was just really cold.

“To deth-defying.” Kaden raised his glass in a toast and gave a small nod. And a wince as he lifted his arm. Side still hurt, he almost forgot, despite toasting his near death. “I was camping. Didn’t want to stay in my apartment any longer.” He gave a shrug. The details weren’t ones he was ready to dig up so soon. Or share in a bar. At least not this sober. “I’m also in animal control so I’m there a lot anyway. Got attacked by an animal.” Explaining what it was seemed unnecessary. Most people accepted “animal” right off the bat, anyway. “You ever had any near death experiences?

Lauren Langley couldn’t stand to watch this any more, this fraternizing with supernaturals that her son kept indulging in. He'd made his choice to turn away from his duty. He didn’t even do a basic check on this man to see the glaringly obvious. The man at the bar was obviously undead. Kaden should have been able to listen and hear the hollow emptiness where his heart should be beating. And yet he sat there, toasting, making small talk. Disgusting. Disgraceful. She could no longer contain the anger raging inside of her. She pushed out her power, let her anger extend outwards and the lights started to flicker, the sound cutting in and out, as she floated towards the man in question, standing between him and her son, glaring daggers at him that she knew he could see, the blood sucking filth that he was.

Animal Control. Okay, then. Matty’s eyebrows slid upwards, but, hey. Whatever paid the bills. Not like he could talk. “Well, hey. Nice.” Did he want to know about… dogcatching, or whatever this guy got up to? Not exactly, but - he’d always been curious. “Seems like a rough gig. Especially in this town, fuck...” Christ knew what kinda freaky shit Kaden had to deal with, on top of bears, and cougars, and rabid raccoons. Had to feel a little sorry for him, yeah?

Cheers, anyway. To camping, too, sure. Whatever the dude was into. “Cool, yeah. I get that, man. Space. Nice thing to have.” Matty drank. And twitched, as the electricity fritzed. Weird. He blinked, throwing an uncertain glance over the rest of the Rocks, watching as the jukebox glimmered in and out, the static sneering into his too-sharp ears. Near death. With a shook-out laugh, Matty turned back to try and field that one  - only to find some lady. Some ghost lady, all silvery; more substantial than most, though. Nobody he knew. Right? No. He was pretty sure. But that stare. The grin was staggering away from him, on its last legs.  “A… a couple…” Leaning back on his stool, Matty cleared his throat. Took another drink. “Animals, yeah.” He was stumbling, quailing under those eyes. Maybe they weren’t, you know, familiar, but. If looks could murder. Violently. “Maybe we oughta take this outside?” Matty winced, suddenly, sliding to his feet. Ghosts got stuck to places, didn’t they? “Just, seems we’ve got some… fucky wiring, in here. I mean, this joint’s probably a total fire-trap…”

Kaden froze, glass at his lips, as the electricity cut in and out. For half a second he wondered if this was just a result of shoddy wiring. This bar wasn’t exactly high end or upscale. But the shocked looks and startled reactions from everyone around him gave him the feeling this wasn’t a typical occurrence. Putain. He really wanted a night off from the supernatural. Didn’t look like he was going to get it. It seemed like his present drinking buddy was looking through him or around him. Hard to say for sure, but it didn’t seem like his eyes were meeting his. Hmm, maybe his near death experiences were a hell of a lot worse than Kaden’s. Shit, might have hit a nerve. “You alright?” he asked, brow raised as the guy started to freak out. “Yeah, I noticed.” Kaden glanced around the place, didn’t see anything else strange, but there was a bit of a cold spot as he stood to follow. “I’m guessing this isn’t normal for here. Got any better suggestions?” Bullet was out so he supposed it was another night at Dell’s. He shrugged as they headed outside, could be worse.

He wasn’t going to get away so easily. Lauren knew he saw her; he must know her feelings as well. Or at least sensed them. And she hadn’t even spoken yet. “Leaving so soon, vampire?” she asked, smirk on her face. “I wasn’t finished here.” Her voice was laced with venom, but it was still and even all the same, cold and poisonous at the same time. Once again, she pulled into her anger and used it to send the unused glasses from the bar exploding out in every direction, but most of the glasses aimed at the vampire. Unfortunately, her son, too. But he could tolerate the pain. And maybe it would give him a hint to either leave this loathsome creature or, better yet, kill it. She disappeared a moment and then flashed back in front of the vampire, spectral face inches from his. “My son may not put a stake through your heart. He’s gone soft, you see, but I sure will. Better yet, I’ll make sure he does.”  

“Me? I’m good, yeah, just...” Haunted. “Honestly, I…” Matty trailed off, a shudder creeping down the back of his neck, all the way. That kind, he realized, now. He’d met his fair share of ghosts. Or, well, his unfair share, depending on how you looked at it. This one was - well, bad fuckin’ vibes, all over, was what she was. Why the hell was the vampire thing her problem? Matty tried to pin his attention down to Kaden, hurriedly tugging his ratty denim jacket on. They’d just fuck off, and he’d try the Rocks again… in a week. Or two. A month from now. Oh, that would blow.

Not as hard as the fuckin’ rain of glass that shattered over them. Matty had heard them rattling just in time to turn, barely soon enough to drop, shoving Kaden by the shoulder, turning his back into a storm of smashing tumblers and sharp edges. Ears ringing, hands shaking - bleeding, somewhere, he could smell it already - Matty gasped out of it, and pushed away across the sticky, glittering floor as the ghost gathered in front of him, face to face. Son? His eyes ticked to Kaden, quick. Back. Yeah, around the eyes, he could see it. Just his fuckin’ luck. Getting in the middle of some kinda family drama.

Wait. Wait, wait. Gone soft? Too soft for staking. Shit. Slayer family drama? Just his fuckin’ luck.

“Listen, I don’t - I don’t know you, or him, or… what your problem is, I...” What he did know, was salt. Salt for ghosts. How, specifically, not so sure. But the salt would be behind the bar - he’d downed enough tequila here to know. Behind the bar, where he was going, fast.

“Shit!” Kaden shouted as he saw the glasses rumble. He raised his hands to shield his head and found himself shoved down out of the way of the oncoming onslaught of glass. White hot pain from his side flashed through him as he twisted and ducked. After the deafening crashes of glass came the screams as patrons started bolting for any exit they could find. Couldn’t blame them. As Kaden stood up straight, his brow furrowed, another wince of a pain, and yeah that was definitely blood dripping along his hands. Fuck. “You o--” He started to ask his drinking buddy as he tried to evaluate the extent of his wounds. Minimal, thankfully. But his words cut short as the other man started speaking to the air.  

“Who are you talking to?” Kaden asked, brows furrowed, and stomach sinking. He had a feeling he fucking knew who the hell it was he was talking to. Putain. Also that meant this guy could see ghosts. Well that narrowed it down a little. Medium maybe? Zombie? Wait what was he going for behind the bar? Shit, time to pull a knife out, just in case. He grabbed a standard blade first but started rummaging in his pockets. Had to have an iron one on him somewhere.

“Oh, how cute. The bloodsucker found the salt,” Lauren smiled and shook her head, arms crossed in front of her incorporeal body. “Do you really think that will stop me?”  Lauren disappeared and sprung back next to Matty’s left, voice slithering right into his ear. “I need you to tell my son something, you filthy animated corpse. Before you turn to dust.” She vanished again and reappeared on his other side, eyes fixed on Kaden even though he couldn’t see her as she spit more venom into the vampire’s ear. “Tell him he should have been better. And that he’s all but proven he’s no son of mine.” Her visage was gone one more for the moment. With a loud crash, half the tables in the bar burst, sending drinks and food tumbling to the floor and wood shards flying in every direction. If that wasn’t a hint for her disgrace of a son, nothing would be.

Shit. Pawing around behind the counter, Matty was doing his best to think, clearly, with blood on the air. Human blood. He’d eaten earlier, but - pig, or something, whatever Nic had drained into those juiceboxes. Not enough to keep the good stuff from being distracting. “Uh…” He stammered, hearing Kaden. Asking a totally sensible kinda question, in the middle of something not sensible at all. There - pinch-bowls of salt. A couple went spilling onto the counter as Matty flinched, that chilling, creeping not-breath riding up his spine again, that hiss an itch across the back of his neck. Tell him.

Oh, this cow could eat it.

“Fuck off, Jesus!” He rasped, flinging a handful of the stuff. Where she’d been, anyway. God, usually ghosts were chill. Why’d he have to wind up drinking with some hunter who had poltergeist-grade baggage? Snatching up another desperate handful of salt, Matty glanced Kaden’s way. Or, almost. Everything went to shit, before he got a good look at the guy. Again. Worse. The back-mirror splintered and sheeted apart as pieces of table and chair stabbed through, into the wall, quivering furiously. “Your mom!” Shouting over the noise, Matty cowered behind the bar, panting hard and panicky from where he’d hit the dirt. “I swear, man - that’s what she says...” Why she felt the need to let him know, well. That, Matty sure as shit couldn’t answer.

Kaden was still fumbling for anything iron when the tables exploded. He dropped down and ducked, once again using his arms to shield himself. Fucking shit. This had to be an angry spirit, right? Shit, he was so far out of his depths here.

He shot up at the man’s words. “My mom?” His brow creased and he looked around, as if he’d be able to see her. “Putain de merde!” he grumbled, rolling his eyes. He had a feeling that was the case. He really wished it wasn’t. Fucking fuck. “Circle yourself in salt!” he shouted

Wait. Did that mean?

No. That. No. It couldn’t be.

As soon as her son froze, Lauren knew he’d figured it out. She’d hoped that he would, maybe a little sooner, but her faith in him had waned. “Do it, mon petitou. Do it.” She whispered in his ear as if he could hear him. All she needed was for him to stake one measly vampire and then she could move on. Maybe.

Kaden shook off his stupor as he felt a chill creep down his spine. There’d be time to evaluate this later. Right now he needed a plan. And to figure out how to stop this. “Want to tell me why the fuck you can see ghosts?” he shouted to Matty. “And why my mother is pissed as shit at you. And me. But you seem like the cause here, too.”

Lauren could feel the rage building up inside her again. Why was he talking? Why wasn't he acting? She threw back her spectral head and screamed, pushing her anger out to shatter all the glass and windows. It lashed out and added more scrapes and cuts to her son’s body. She didn’t care anymore if her son bled. Maybe then this vampire would show its true nature and Kaden would remember that he was meant to fight monsters, not protect them.

Circle of salt. Right. Ghosts, couldn’t cross. Only, then he would be stuck, here, in deep with Langley, who - who, whatever he might be, had shit going on that Matty wanted fuck all to do with, frankly. No offense to the dude, just. No. Kicking some of the wreckage aside, Matty scrambled to draw that circle out, wincing as his supply ran a bit thin. It’d be enough, right? Maybe. He’d stretch it. Did he want to tell Kaden why he saw ghosts? Like hell, if Mama Langley’s hate-on said anything about how she’d raised her son. “It’s, uh - genetic!” Matty shouted back, a little frayed about it. Seemed to work for Nora. Though, Nora was a pretty shit standard for what totally normal people would believe. Obviously. Fuck.

The hot, spattery smell of blood sharpened up, suddenly, tugging at Matty’s teeth until his jaw ached. “I don’t know, man! Maybe she’s just a raging bitch?!” No, the guy didn’t need to hear what mommy dearest was going on about. He shook his head, woozy - a sluggish lick of dark blood dribbled down the side of his cheek, dead and cold. And tried to fix that fucking circle.

Kaden was getting fucking sick of playing duck and cover with a poltergiest. The wounds probably wouldn’t take too long to heal but it still stung. In more ways than one. “Genetic?” Had to be a medium then. Why the fuck was she so mad about a medium? Then his mind jumped to Blanche. Whatever it was, it had to do with her, right? And certainly Regan. There was no doubt there. Fuck. They had to get out of here, but he knew damn well his mother would follow him if they just cut and ran. He had no iron on him. And funny enough, rock bars weren’t exactly filled with it. He looked around on the floor, between the shattered tables and fallen plates, he saw something. A fucking margarita glass. Rimmed with salt. Plastic. Never been so happy to be at a cheap fucking bar. He grabbed it and started swinging it wildly, wielding it like a weapon. “When you see her disappear, fucking run!” he shouted, whirling around the room and waving the salt rimmed glass around.

The hell was Kaden up to? Peeking out around the counter corner, Matty strained to keep his boots in the circle and his eyes on the action. Which was something to see, for fuckin’ sure: Langley, swinging like a drunk playing pinata. Right across his shrieking-mad mom, the spiderwebby substance of her rending apart. And not coming back. For a beat, Matty couldn’t believe it. But, he didn’t have to. Unfrozen, he lurched alive and out - the shattered front window, the shortest path to away from all this. Stumbling wildly into the parking lot, Matty hit the asphalt at a sprint, with a skitter of glass, and didn’t stop. Not until he was far, far away from the blood, and that mess of a bar, and Kaden Langley’s totally batshit mommy issues.

[bangtanxm]

Bookclub; March Highlight

This month’s theme was “The Darkness Within” asking for our bookclub members to find the most angstiest and darkest stories to recommend for this month. These are our our monthly fanfic recommendations from our bangtanxm; bookclub!

In the following you find a list of fics we recommend and reviewed this month. Please support these amazing authors! With every monthly recommendation, there is also a drabble game that everyone can participate in. You’ll find the masterlist at the end of the reviews. Happy Reading!

BOOKCLUB; recommendations

PS. As this theme involves a lot of triggering topics, we’d like to emphasize to thoroughly read the disclaimers on each story. Thank you.

TEMPTATION written by linzeigh

— Summary; Yoongi and Jimin are priests. Jin, Taehyung, and Jungkook are hungry. — Disclaimer; pwp, demons, nsfw-content

bookclub; review

“AAAAARRHHHHH. This was so incredible. I feel like no matter what I say, it will not do this masterpiece justice. It's so sinful and forbidden, but oh how it feels so right! The gradual revelation of Jimin and Yoongi’s mutual lust for each other was masterfully written. And fuck, I love the demon trio of Jin, JK and Tae. Their interactions and teasing brought a surprisingly bright mood to the fic, and I giggled several times at JK and Tae’s bickering. The concept of them feeding of sexual tension and being able to read Jimin and Yoongi’s mind was really interesting. The blasphemy was so shocking (and surprisingly intriguing), and I kept thinking damn how far is the author gonna take it, and oh lord very very far indeed. This is a must-read for anyone who likes explicit and dark fics!!” [@tinysweetscrown]

“This fic is so good. It is lengthy, for one, which is so admirable and amazing considering it’s largely smut. Smut can be so hard to write such big fics of and keep it fresh and interesting, but this author was able to do so. They were able to really take their time with each character and it felt fresh and interesting, without being slow or repetitive which is such an awesome accomplishment. I love the small details that were added in, the fact that they didn’t bleed, probably didn’t need to breathe, were super strong, etc. – it really added to the depth of the characters themselves, which is something that is often left out of smut fics. Also the entire subject/plot. Though blasphemous in some ways, it was handled really really well and I think kind of brushed on some very important topics (like being gay and religious). Overall just a stunning piece of fiction that I will be coming back to again and again for a reread.” [anon]

THE PERFECT ILLUSION written by @softjeon​ & @cassiavioletblue​

— Summary; He was the perfect illusion. The getaway for anyone who didn’t want to face reality. And yet, there was something in his eyes, something vulnerable and hopeful as if he was dying for someone to see through him, to care for him enough to look behind the mask and draw out the real Jimin. And Namjoon couldn’t wait to do exactly that. — Disclaimer; mentioning of abusive behavior

bookclub; review

“this is...just wow.... the story is so interesting and unique, the writing is beautiful, the characters are so on point. Ive only read the first chapter so far and i just know this is going to be one of my classics. The universe is so well constructed, the characters very nuanced in such a short amount of time... You can see the research that went into the geisha world, and it's paying off into what i feel is a masterpiece.” [anon]

"I already had an admiration and love for geisha culture and craft so seeing this story come out the first time just made me so excited!! Granted it has darker thematic tones to it, I loved how Jimins character was so well embodied that it stuck with me even after I read it. Also Jungkook as the maiko liSTEN I GREW SO PROTECTIVE OF HIM THROUGHOUT THE STORY. That build up of his mizuage made me want to take him away to somewhere and Namjoon and Yoongi were just the best, most complimentary characters to each of them. Jimin needed someone soft and kind like Namjoon while Jungkook needed someone sort of protective and a little cheeky like Yoongi. Their dynamics just worked so freaking well and you can always count on Jey and Cat to have just the right amount of angst mixed with fluff cause damn it HURT for a while reading this but the relief of it all was so welcoming. I can't rec this fic enough honestly, the characters, the settings in the teahouse are so beautiful and I LOVE authors who aren't scared to make a member into an antagonistic character cause it added so much flavour to the chemistry OOF just well done it was so nice reminiscing with this fic again!!!” [anon]

“I read The Perfect Illusion originally as it came out. It is just as enjoyable the second time through. It was such an interesting and stunning piece, I felt. The real shining star was the slow burn aspect of it, I think, even more so than the angst or abuse aspects. The slow sort of build of romance between Joon and Jimin was really beautiful, especially with the constant looming danger of what they were doing. The gravity of it was revealed in a really slow, measured manner that I think really helped the reader feel that sense of urgency as the fic went on and we – like Namjoon, learned more and more about the situation than we’d known before. The disgust of what was being done to Jimin and JK and the other dancers was enough to roll one’s stomach, but it was done in such a way that it worked well with the fic. It wasn’t there just for shock value; everything seemed to have a purpose and a point and it wove together in a really fitting and gorgeously heartbreaking and bittersweet tale overall.”  [anon] 

SING FOR ME written by Trilluvium

— Summary; When Jimin set out to find Earthshine in order to save his mother, he’d been ready to give up his life. Earthshine’s keeper, however, was interested in taking more from Jimin than just his life. — Disclaimer; non-con, tentacles, rape

bookclub; review

“Just wow. Okay, so this fic is so beautifully done. There is nonconsent, yes, it’s dark, yes, but it’s so much more than that. Particularly because of the ending, which is so bittersweet – Jimin’s choice. But my thinking is, vaguely hopeful? Maybe things will turn around? But that’s just me. Either way – the real shining star in this fic is the descriptive writing. The author does such a good job of writing in a very clear and detailed manner that a lot of folks just can’t accomplish without it dragging the fic down. It feels far heavier in description than dialogue, which I think fits it perfectly. The author was able to perfectly describe this absolutely beautiful fantasy realm in which the characters are, as well as the inhuman aspects of the characters. The description left me breathless – I wasn’t distracted, struggling to imagine what a, b, or c looked like – the author painted this amazing, film quality scene in my head. And because of that, I was able to focus fully on the dialogue and action of the characters.”  [anon]

WHISPERING SHADOWS written by @jooniesmind​

— Summary; It’s an already tough ability, that becomes borderline impossible, when you’re scared of ghosts. And Jimin was like that. — Disclaimer; angst, ghosts, mentioning of death

bookclub; review

“This is an excellent start to what could be a really sad, beautiful fic! The descriptions used are really stunning, painting a lovely picture (and a sad one). I’d love to see what would happen if JK came back, or even just following poor terrified-of-ghosts Jimin through his life, doing his job in whatever way he can manage. I’d love to learn more about how it works, what he does (and doesn’t do) and meet other ghosts he’s had to tangle with. And other whisperers! How it works and what makes them have the ability, etcetera. There’s such a whole rich world here that I think the author really began to develop in a beautiful way.” [anon]

“this story just hits you right in the feels. the author does a great job of putting so much emotion in a little one-shot that i’m just in awe at how they’ve done it. it is perfect!” [anon]

The Chaos Theory (Love Me Now) written by leanmeancuisine

— Summary; Jeon Jungkook, Prince of the South Korean Royal Pack and CEO of the largest conglomerate in the world, was thought to be following his father’s footsteps in becoming a Purebred Alpha. Oh, how wrong was that. Freshly presented at 18, Jungkook is discovered to be a Genus—a rare and one of a kind type of wolf that has more than one special gene. — Disclaimer; ABO Dynamics, mentioning of suicide, depression, kidnapping, poly-relationship

bookclub; review

“So I read this entire wip in one sitting. And then had to lay down and sleep on it before writing this. That’s how damn good this fic is. I was absolutely blown away. The style of writing is unbelievably well done. The author was able to really create this whole world and species, essentially, borrowing from some of the more traditional tropes but changing it into something very unique and creative. It feels so entirely fresh and interesting, weaving both very well handled traumas and angst in with softer, gentler bits that give the fic a level of depth and beauty that I haven’t seen in a very long time. All of the characters are so beautifully developed; I honestly can’t think of one I prefer more than the other of the ones that we have met so far. I’m so incredibly curious about the remaining members, as well as how Jin will blend with the rest of the group as things progress. I look forward to many updates!” [anon]

“ALRIGHT DAMN what a ride and im only prologue + 1st ch in! the introduction to jungkook's is honestly so good, and the author describes the scenes so perfectly its like we're there with jungkook, annoyed at the world. These two chapters definitely got my attention and i have a feeling ill be binging this in a near future. I can't wait to see how the author develop the other boys, how they'll introduce them... im getting excited now” [anon]

MONSTER UNDER THE BED written by Born2beSad

— Summary; Namjoon’s new apartment came with a little more than he was expecting… …luckily for him and his nighttime visitor, he’s into it. — Disclaimer; tentacles pwp, monsters,

bookclub; review

“This is such an interesting twist on the tentacle genre! I loved jimin and Joon's dynamic, although definitely wrong...but in a universe with monster under the beds i don't think that matters. Jimin as a character was weirdly endearing, and you can't help yourself from feeling sorry for him and his loneliness, and relieved he found Joon. And well, Joon is leaving his best life, so props to him for sticking around. The writing was impeccable, will definitely be going through the authors fics in a near future” [anon]

“I'm a lil bit of a newbie with tentacle porn reading wise and def haven't tried it writing wise but THIS WAS THE SHIIITTTT I LOVED IT SO MUCH (and lowkey highkey brought out a small tentacle porn interest of mine i didn't know i had oop) just the way Namjoon loved it and wanted it I could feel it in my freaking bones and maybe even related to him a littejnerighs i mean it was JIMIN HOW COULD YOU NOT and i loved the sprinkles of fluff in there it really brought a nice relief from the hot, heavy and body tingling smut embedded into it gdfoegg this was so good, such a hot way to depict a monster under the bed concept and the author did it so well also really inspired to dive into this territory of storytelling cause i'm 0.0 intrGUED” [anon]

“So, so good. Many of your general tentacle fics tie so deeply with nonconsent or dubious consent at best. Which is entirely fine, but sometimes it’s so nice to see something refreshing and new, and this fits the bill. While still brimming with great imagery and really well written smut, it also injects a supply of sweet fluff and near domesticity to the situation. Rather than being the ‘boy gets taken against his will by sex crazed monster’ – the relationship is symbiotic, allowing a give and take; even if it is largely physical in nature. I think that sheds such a fun light on the tentacle monster trope. This is one of those fics that I would really enjoy seeing another chapter or two, additional shenanigans that the two get up to with or without smut. Further, I love the descriptors used in the fic, I feel like it painted a really lovely visual that helped the reader really dive into it.” [anon]

“This fic....whew! It is really something! I don't read tentacle stuff and I'm not a fan of bottom!Namjoon but I wanted to read something different for this month. It's a great balance of fluff and smut with how the ending turns out; it's not rape or non-con either, since Namjoon is a huge monster lover lol I can just imagine him with a whole collection of monster dildos. The writing is wonderful too. The way the author set up the beginning without giving things away until maybe halfway through is really well done. Like, you already know Namjoon's going to consent but (at least for me) not in a way you expected. Jimin being a cute, friendly monster who isn't afraid to show his devilish side too <3 I seriously reccomend this to people who like tentacle porn. Maybe even people who don't read it often like me” [anon]

“This was such a surprisingly sweet and fluffy tentacle fic. I love the author's description of Jimin’s duality; the mixture between his sweet pretty features and his black demon tentacles, really feels so believe haha. The ending was so lovely and really put a smile on my face!” [@tinysweetscrown​]

INTO THE WOODS written by bugarungus

— Summary; Seokjin wakes up to find he’s been kidnapped by some nature nymphs and their pet. — Disclaimer; tentacle pwp, fae & farieis, dubious consent

bookclub; review

“Oh my, I was completely immersed in this beautiful little universe, the author created. Everything about this fic is so lovely and stunning - from the descriptions of Jin’s everyday life before he meets the nymphs to the actual smut. I loved the bickering between Jimin, Tae and Yoongi, because it truly felt like a “brotherly” relationship. Also the fact that they each were a different “type” of nymph, and especially Tae’s protectiveness of LeeAnn, was so interesting and funny to read. This fic really strikes a perfect balance between a dirty smutty plot with dubious consent without it being too vulgar and uncomfortable to read!” [@tinysweetscrown]

“Wowowowow. Honestly this fic blew me away. There was so much going on but it was all so clear and well written, just… Perfection. The descriptions were so clean and clear and visually stimulating, it was easy to picture exactly what was happening. This is something so hard to do sometimes, especially in smut with more than two people, and this one was four and a plant! I wanted to know more about the nymphs, and their plant – the backstory bet would be so fascinating and amazing. There was so much subtle romance between the nymphs, and even being dubious consent, I feel like that oozed into Jin as well – opening up the idea that the future isn’t going to be questionable. Kind of a happy ending even with a smidge of the darker/dubious consent that laced through it. I think also, the relationship between the nymphs was just really fun. Despite the alternate universe, the characters felt really true to the actual group members. Their personalities matched up great and I didn’t find myself wondering if x would actually say that, do that, etcetera. It’s amazing when you can keep things true to ‘life’ but put them into this awesome fantasy world. Just so, so well done.” [anon]

NICE THINGS written by @kimlinebiased​

— Summary; Namjoon is clumsy, even with others’ hearts. — Disclaimer; smut

bookclub; review

“This was such a sweet and wholesome fic! I especially enjoyed Namjoon's letter to Yoongi. I felt like the description of how Namjoon and Yoongi are different really fit so well with at least how I see them irl! Also the call back in the end to "this is why we can't have nice things" tied the whole fic so nicely together and left me all warm and fuzzy :)" [@tinysweetscrown]

“Nice things is such a sweet story, even with the angst thrown into it, you can feel the love yoongi and namjoon have for each other. It make the angst hurt even more, and wraps things up in cute ending. The smut if soft and just right for the story, and you just find yourself rooting for the characters to make it work, and also to pls wrap namjoon in bubble wrap...”[anon]

“A blend of angst and smut, it's really well done. I don't read a lot of canon/idol stuff nor do I write it much, but I decided I'd give it a read. Considering it's Dean writing, I wasn't disappointed haha Namjoon and Yoongi have a really nice relationship and Yoongi's reluctance to get back with Namjoon makes sense given how Namjoon broke his heart. The smut at the end is A+ too.” [anon]

DEVILS HAND by @softjeon​ & @cassiavioletblue​

— Summary; There had been rumors, but in the end it was not really a secret that Namjoon loved delicate and beautiful things. Especially when it came down to his lovers and his castle. It was decorated with lot of flowing, long blue curtains, colorful paintings in every room, rows of marble columns leading along every aisle. There was a large garden surrounding the palace, which was by far Jungkook’s favorite place to be – next to the king’s bedroom. — Disclaimer; alcohol, abusive relationships, abusive behavior, (sexual) violence, major character death

bookclub; review

“This fic….. ruined me… When I first started reading it, I was immediately intrigued, because I had no idea where the fic was going! I was so captivated by it, and I HAD TO finish it, but holy fuck I needed like a good day to digest it. The universe the authors created was absolutely beautiful and so well-described that I feel like I, days later, still have a clear image in my head of what the scenes look like - as if I’d seen a movie. The ending was absolutely devastating and painful and awful (but like in a good way) and im so conflicted about the whole thing…………” [@tinysweetscrown]

“alright so another masterpiece by the incredible duo! The dynamic in this story are amazingly complex and layered, the characters interesting and their motives are well thought out.. You can't help but have your stomach tied in a knot after the first chapter, anticipation making you nervous. There's this general feeling that shit will hit the fan and it won't be pretty... beautifully written, bravo!” [anon]

“How. Dare. You. Omg, I just reread this fic and ughhhh the ending breaks my heart every time! I've never hated Namjoon in a fic before. Even when I've made him an asshole, I didn't hate him. But here...he's just such a dick and Jungkook is such a sweetheart looking to please the man he loves. It's such a sad story because Jungkook is a rabbit surrounded by vipers (Taehyung being the only good one imo). I definitely rec it to anyone who wants a good angsty read. I do say mind the triggers though, since it's not for everyone. The writing is beautiful, sets a good pace, and gives detail without going overboard. Jey and Cat really get you inside the character's feelings while delivering really steamy smut scenes.” [anon]

“The Devil’s Hand was such a sad, dark story for all involved. I don’t often read major character death because it makes me so sad, but I think it was really fitting for this fic. There was no winning for JK, and the end really solidified that lesson of not knowing what you have until it’s gone. The relationship between Taehyung and Jungkook was one of my favorite parts of the entire fic. They had such a well-developed friendship and I think that Tae really embodied the person that JK deserved, in a weird way. Though they were only friends, he was loving and trusting and would do anything for JK, even at the risk of his own life. The contrast between how Tae treated him versus Namjoon, even versus Hoseok – it was so stark and telling in terms of the fic and the deeper meanings. I think overall the fic was heart wrenching and so, so sad, but such an excellent piece that really cuts the reader to the bone. “ [anon]

The Drabble-Game; MASTERLIST

— prompt; “Sometimes the darkness is too big to keep inside.”  

Thank you to everyone who participated! Stay tuned for the next theme of the month to participate! 

THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENED written by @chimknj​

— summary; Jimin was in the room when Hoseok walked in. Only one of them would get out of it alive.

EAT THE RICH (BECAUSE THEY’RE ROTUND AND DELICIOUS) written by @kimlinebiased​

— summary; Jungkook had a mission. That mission may involve killing people and burying the bodies. It’s going great… Until the bodies go missing.

— Join the Bookclub here! — official post — faq

[cookiedoughmeagain]

Haven DVD commentaries; 5.13 - Chosen

Commentary with Gabrielle Stanton and Matt McGuiness (and another brief appearance by Assistant Josh) [Josh’s surname isn’t mentioned in any of these but from a brief googling I assume this is Josh Brandon]

MMG: Welcome to the commentary for the final episode of season five, the name of which escapes me right now GS: It’s called Chosen. It’s been, how many months since we shot this? MMG: Oh, seven or eight months maybe. GS: Yeah so we might just fall silent, like; Wow I forgot about this! MMG: I’m already mesmerised by how good our show looks. I really think it looks so good. We’re picking up here directly after the last episode, and this is a real jaw dropping moment [Charlotte revealing that she’s Mara’s mother] GS: We’re kind of hoping that no one saw this coming. If all went well no one did. I know Adam certainly didn’t see it coming. MMG: This was fun for us with Adam Copeland because, fans will know that Adam was a wrestler, and we’ve sort of watching him matriculate as an actor on Haven. And now, I remember saying to him that he was going to get to do all sorts of new and interesting things. I never said to him that he was going to get to find out that the woman you’re sleeping with comes from another dimension. GS: No. We said ‘love interest’ but then I think we kept it a little vague after that. MMG: And we didn’t tell him what was going to happen with his love interest. And he played it great.

[On screen Charlotte is talking about microscopes as a metaphor for this world and hers being different and separate] MMG: There’s one of the two microscopes. I was not thrilled with those microscope choices. Put them a little closer together, perhaps. We were not there for this episode. A lot of times we go up to Canada when we shoot these, which is super fun. It’s like going to camp, seeing everybody and running around, but for this episode we were furiously writing. GS: I think we were already writing the premiere of the next season. MMG: Yeah, so we couldn’t go up. GS: I thought Laura [as Charlotte] played this whole thing very well. MMG: She was great.

[As we see Duke deep in thought outside the Gull] GS: Oh this was kind of cool. Obviously finales often set up a whole bunch of stuff for the up coming season, but this finale in particular set up a lot of stuff to come back to in the next season. MMG: I really like this scene. This is one of those scenes that I like because it manages to be horrific and kind of gory in a way, but  if you are twisted like I am, it sort of makes me giggle a little bit too. My buddy Chris makes his own Kaluha. GS: I didn’t even know you could. MMG: It’s very easy to make GS: What’s in it? MMG: I don’t know. But he makes Kaluha and I drink it. Happily. [As stuff starts exploding] GS: I thought the effects were really good here. MMG: Yeah this scene came out great. [As the guy explodes] MMG: That effect was a little odd, but it still worked out great. GS: A little over the top but still kind of awesome. [As Duke’s line about needing to see a doctor ] MMG: And Eric delivered this line well.

MMG: And here’s our lovely theme music, I love it. My kids sing it. Well, hum along to it

[Credits on screen: Editor - Thorben Bieger] MMG: This was edited by Thorben. His name is Thorben and I wrote an episode of Haven back in season three and there was a guy in it named Thor [pronounced Tor], which was a shortened version of Thorben. And I remember people saying that wasn’t a real name, no one’s named Thorben, that’s ridiculous. And I thought, well our editor is named Thorben.

[Gloria making a scene in the hospital to cover for Duke] GS: I love Gloria. Let’s do the Gloria spin off. MMG: Jayne Eastwood loves this kind of stuff. She was great here.

[As Duke arrives to talk to Charlotte] MMG: This is another cool moment, this episode was full of cool moments. GS: Well it’s cool because everyone knows something that the other person doesn’t know, in every scene MMG: Right. There’s a lot of secrets. And look how great Laura looks with her hair down. GS: I know, I was so happy when we brought it down. The second we were going to change her from a doctor to Audrey’s mother, we were like; bring the hair down! [Charlotte to Duke; Remove your shirt please.] GS: And the fans go wild. [As we see the handprints on Duke] GS: And even wilder. Can I say, that little handprint right on his butt, we were told that was very important that that was there.

GS: Oh this is a cool scene coming up [Audrey and Mara talking in the bronco]. How did they shoot it, was there special effects, or? MMG: This was a cool scene. But no, I think they just shot over … well let’s see but I’m pretty sure they used Lydia our stunt double. GS: So they didn’t do any split screen MMG: I don’t think so. This kind of stuff is so fun for Emily, and this was a really good Mara performance. And the dialogue in this scene is fantastic, really it’s clever. GS: Wait, didn’t you write this episode? MMG: Yes I did. GS: Ah ha, that explains it.

MMG: Can you turn it up Josh, I can barely hear … Oh, I had the wrong - OK that’s better. Don’t laugh like I did something wrong. GS: No, no! The technology is all new to us. We have new exciting technology for this year’s commentary.

[Mara talking to Audrey] MMG: There is an homage in this scene, a line of dialogue from a very famous science fiction show; “make the Troubles look like a square dance.” GS: Oh I remember you telling me what it was at the time …

MMG: Oh this scene [with the kids on the boat] was great as well. The name John-John [the school kid] came from a top ranked ASP surfer named John-John Florence, who is nothing like that kid but I just liked the name John-John. Am I going to get sued for that? GS: I don’t think so. Because you said they’re not alike. MMG: Yeah I just like the name. GS: This turned out really well too [the kids trapped in the boat as it starts to fill with water]. We were kind of nervous trying to picture how it was going to turn out. You know, when you write on the page ‘and suddenly the boat is being crushed by ropes’ you’re kind of wondering exactly how it’s going to work. [The teacher on screen; I am so fired] MMG: That was an ad lib right there.

[Dave justifying his daytime drinking; The sun’s past the yardarm] MMG: That is lifted from my friend Danna. She’s from Maine and she always says that; the sun’s past the yardarm. Which means the sun’s past the little thing that sticks out on the mast, so it’s five o’clock. GS: It’s five o’clock somewhere. And if I had visions like that, I’d be drinking too.

[Nathan and Audrey talking outside the bronco as she nurses her head where Mara hit her] GS: Where did they shoot this? This is right near Nicky’s, in Chester I think. MMG: Sure looks like it. But I think we’re trying to hide where … Oh yeah! We are trying to hide where it is because, I remember this was a production nightmare, it was supposed to be right outside of the lab because Audrey goes in talk to Charlotte at the end of this scene. This was a very tricky piece of production right here.p

[Audrey talking to Mara in the lab] MMG: This was an interesting scene because we really wanted Audrey, someone who’s been looking for her mother for her entire life, to connect with this woman somehow. But it was hard. GS: But it’s a nice setup, for everything that happens in our next season.

*gap in the commentary as they are both silent for a while* GS: Josh is like, please say something guys. Alright, you would think after doing four years of these we would be in some way better at them. MMG: You know what? You can hate yourself, but I refuse to live my life that way. I think we’ve been doing great at this. GS: I don’t think there are supposed to be these big stretches of dead air. My problem is I don’t watch the commentaries on other DVDs, even shows I love, just because doing that makes me feel like I’m being pulled out of it like the universe doesn’t really exist. But I should because then maybe I’d be better at these. MMG: Sometimes I just get sucked into the scene and I just start watching the show.

MMG: It is interesting to contemplate Charlotte as Audrey’s mother, and you start thinking; there is a vague, sort of passing resemblance there in an odd kind of way. GS: There is. The nose, and the eyes are similar.

MMG: I like the giant card catalogue in the back of this office [the Herald]. I always expect them to open it up and pull out a dewey decimal system card or something. GS: This was always one of my favourite sets. It seems the most Haven. And also the Gull but that was always such a nightmare to shoot in. [Duke, to Vince: If you know where an open thinny is, then you are going to tell me right now. Or I am going to beat you to death. With him.] GS: I really like that line. MMG: I got grief for that line. People felt Duke was being a bully or something. GS: Ah, they could take Duke down if they wanted to. They put up with him.

[The location with the boat full of school kids] MMG: That’s North West Cove, is it not? GS: I think it is. Up by the Grey Gull where all the lobster traps are. That had to be a terrible job [for the actors playing the school kids in the water-filled boat]. I’m sure that water was not super MMG: Oh yeah there were some tough local kids who just got drenched all day, I suspect.

[Charlotte explaining the merge-Audrey-with-Mara plan to Nathan] MMG: I like this scene. GS: Nathan’s like; WHAT? MMG: Look how great our show looks. No it really does. Maybe it’s this computer? I just think it looks great. GS: No, it does. It’s that grey rainy weather that’s so difficult to shoot in but looks great on screen. MMG: This is bad news for Nathan. GS: And I think what’s so surprising to him is that Audrey’s going along with it.

MMG: What’s with Audrey’s jacket with the American flag on the arm? Has she borrowed that? GS: Is that her cop jacket? No, I think that’s just a random jacket. MMG: This was very emotionally tricky bit [Audrey convincing Nathan to let Charlotte do the merge thing]. I’m now having total ‘PTSD’ on writing this episode becuase it was very, very challenging. Actually, Josh just looked at me, we could tell a funny story about Josh right now. My recollection is, I was struggling with the idea that Nathan’s motivation in an earlier draft was basically to let Audrey go. And that made it very hard to sort of keep him driving, and have these moments. But it was Josh’s suggestion, and it plays out in this scene, where he basically gives the ‘stay alive and I will find you and I will bring you back’ speech. Do I have that right Josh? Josh: Yep. GS: Nathan is nothing if not determined. MMG: And diligent. It’s called love, don’t hate it. GS: I could never hate love. If these two weren’t made for each other, who are.

MMG: Ah, the Cape Rouge. Which isn’t at the bottom of the ocean any more I don’t think. They floated it. GS: The actual boat, that we used for the exterior shots, sank. The hull finally rusted out and it hit the bottom. Fortunately where it was, the water wasn’t too deep so I don’t think the entire thing ever went entirely under.

MMG: That was a slightly confusing cut. We went from Duke in his boat, to the kids in the sinking boat - like woah Duke, there’s kids drowning in the bottom of your boat.

[Mara coming to talk to a chained up Duke in the hold of the Rouge] MMG: This was one of those scenes that comes out in a way that’s not exactly how you’d imagined. But I like it. GS: These two actually could have lived happily ever after too, in a different universe. MMG: For sure. We miss Mara. GS: She was a great character. You loved to hate her. MMG: I liked to write her. She was fun. GS: Yes, super fun to write. Characters who are a little darker or have more of an edge are always (for me at least) more fun to write. A little more complicated. That’s why Duke was always really fun to write. MMG: Yep

[Charlotte and Dwight’s conversation] GS: I thought Adam did a great job in this scene. MMG: Yeah. His last line’s good, because he’s very vulnerable.

GS: This was such a tricky episode, because we had to have our Trouble of the week, but I always felt that no one was caring about anything except what was going on with Charlotte and Mara and Audrey. MMG: This was a very difficult episode, and I’m now remembering. It was terrible. I remember we all squeezed into Adam Higg’s, what was that room in his apartment building. GS: Oh the conference room in his building. Why were we in there? Josh: The plumbing went out. GS: Oh that’s right. The plumbing went out here and one of our writer’s lived just up the block so we all went and took over his apartment building. MMG: Which had a giant fish tank. GS: And a really nice pool. Really nice apartment building.

[Nathan finding Gloria emptying the Gull of its alcohol] MMG: This was another scene that didn’t come out exactly as I had imagined it. But Jayne Eastwood is just a delight. I slow danced with Jayne at the wrap party. It was very, very fun, but I’m going to stop that story right there.

MMG: This was hard for Emily. God, there were so many vectors in this. Because she also had to be getting sick in this sequence too. That was tricky, she had a lot going on.

[As the Troubled guy is talking to his daughter trapped in the boat and telling her how much he loves her] MMG: I have three daughters, so I always like to write this kind of stuff. By that I don’t mean drowning them. But you get to use someone else as a mouthpiece to write little speeches to your kids.

MMG: Ah, the seaplane. This was going to be a boat, and then we changed it to a seaplane.

[As Charlotte is confirming to Audrey that merging with Mara will effectively mean she dies] MMG: Oh my god, there were so many tricky scenes in this episode. Explaining so much stuff. GS: I think Emily loved playing Mara. MMG: She did. She’s having a great time. And this is our goodbye to Mara, sadly. And these were Charlotte’s first little hints about “Dad” in this scene I think. Both actresses do a great job here. It’s tricky stuff here.

[As Duke and Nathan meet at the seaplane place] MMG: There’s a LOT going on between these two here GS: In one draft didn’t they take swings at each other here? MMG: I don’t know. That should have been stung with music right there, that Duke’s plan was to kill Mara. And there’s Duke once again being slightly noble; doesn’t want to explode in Haven, wants to go and explode in the void.

[As the wind starts blowing stuff over by Duke and Nathan] GS: I remember we had so many discussions about what this was going to look like. MMG: This didn’t come out exactly as we’d imagined either. We’d imagined that everything was going towards them, sort of like a singularity. But the wind seemed to be blowing in a variety of directions there. This is a great shot [looking down on Duke and Nathan] and this one [as we see Charlotte and Audrey kneeling, before the reveal that it is Audrey and not Mara]. That pile of clothing looks like it should be smoking, like Terminator.

[As Audrey and Nathan hug] GS: Aw, yey! Duke’s like; how come I’m not getting a hug? [As Charlotte tells Duke Mara turned the Trouble bomb off] GS: It’s a happy ending! But wait … can it really be a happy ending on Haven? [As we see Duke’s black eyes] GS: His eyes look good. MMG: Yep.

[As Vince and Dave find CROATOAN carved in the rock] GS: That is very neat handwriting, wow. MMG: I was just thinking that. So perfectly spaced. Ah that’s OK. [As they see the fog wall going up through the trees] GS: That’s a cool shot. MMG: Yep, I agree.

[bberryrach]

who: rachel berry, kurt hummel ( @krt-hmml), and hiram berry (played by special guest @jstj) what: the one and only hiram berry reunites hummelberry through a variety of acting exercises where: rachel’s apartment when: saturday, september 5 triggers?: the letter “e”

Hiram Berry Hiram Berry was unhappy. His only child, Rachel, his precious jewel, was fighting with her best friend, his (emotionally) adopted son, Kurt. The world was off-kilter, and it was up to Hiram to fix it. He'd always planned for the two of them to grow old together, retiring to an upstate mansion, Rachel in the 'Barbra' wing, and Kurt in the 'Patti' wing. In the entranceway to the house would be a tasteful collection of Broadway relics, and the Berry's own grand piano, to remember songs once sung, and to bring music to a new generation... 

 Rachel had been a little vague about the details, but Hiram had heard something about 'lying' and 'secret' and 'doesn't appreciate what a good friend I am'. Nothing, in his opinion, that would end a decades-long friendship. So he'd asked Kurt to come to Rachel's apartment, under the guise of needing fashion help. He knew Kurt would understand that that was code for reconciliation -- as if he, Hiram Berry, would need fashion help. Taking a cold bottle of water out of the fridge, Hiram smiled as he heard a knock on the door, straightening up and looking at his daughter. "A knock on the door? Why, I think that's a guest for you."

Kurt Hummel Kurt had been keeping himself busy the past few days, which was a great way to stay numb. Luckily the wedding was only a few days away so between that, preparing for his position at work to be handed off to someone else, and working on his fashion portfolio, Kurt had done a great job of preoccupying himself. After getting a text from Mr. Berry #2 asking for fashion advice, he had yet another thing to focus on. He arranged a time to come over and so here he was, knocking on his former best friend's apartment door. It felt weird, as he'd never needed to knock before, but he really liked Rachel's dads. They were like second fathers to him, and if Hiram needed some pressing fashion advice, Kurt would give it. "Hi," he greeted, stepping into the apartment. "So what's this mysterious fashion emer-" His eyes caught Rachel's and he frowned. "I'm not here to help with your wardrobe, am I?"

Rachel Berry It was always a good day when Rachel’s dads were in town. And how could it not be? Every day in the Berry household was full of song and dance and theatrics, which Rachel, admittedly, missed in New York. Now, even more so, since she was no longer speaking to Kurt. Or any of her friend group besides Jesse, for that matter. But leave it to her dads to cheer her up. 

 Rachel has just gotten home from jazz brunch, where she officially introduced Jesse as her boyfriend— news which her dads met with excitement and, surprisingly, expectation. Leroy had whisked Jesse away to go suit shopping, and Hiram and Rachel we’re resting before heading to the theater to see Phantom of the Opera, a tradition every time her dads came to town. So it was surprising when there was a knock on the door, and Kurt walked through it. “Excuse me,” she started, a confused look on her face, “what are you doing here?” She turned to her dad and paused, trying to make sense of it. “Did you invite him?”

Hiram Berry Ah, the sweet young children were reunited, and now Hiram could begin to enact his plan. He ushered Kurt inside, holding his hands up in admission as Kurt cracked his code. "You got me. My wardrobe remains impeccable," Hiram grinned, taking Rachel lightly by the shoulders and guiding her over to the couch. "I don't know what is going on between you two, but we're going to work it out. Friendship can't be thrown away over petty things like clashing personalities." 

Hiram gestured for Kurt to join them on the couch, leaning forward to survey the two kids. "We're all thespians here, so I've devised a number of roleplay scenarios to enable the two of you to find a resolution. We're going to start with a warm up. You're going to tell me the reason you're arguing with each other, but -- you cannot use the letter E. Kurt, you can begin."

Kurt Hummel Kurt sighed as he realized what Hiram was up to. God, he should have expected this to be a trap. He sat down as he was instructed, leaving room on the couch between himself and Rachel. An eyebrow raised as Rachel's dad put his own twist on the situation. "Fine." He sighed. "But you do realize I can't refer to Rachel at all, right? Her name has an E, and so does 'friend', 'she' and 'her'....Anyways," Kurt pointed at his former friend. "told-" 'me' had an E in it, so he pointed to himself. He then realized both Jesse and Jeffrey had Es in them, and immediately gave up. "It's not an argument anymore....Rachel has made it clear that her idea of being a good friend involves doing things she specifically knows I feel strongly against, and I think she could say the same thing about me."

Rachel Berry Rachel let her dad lead her to the couch, eyebrows still furrowed as she tried to understand what was going on. And then her dad spoke and it started to make sense. Rachel would have been frustrated, but truthfully, she desperately wanted to make things right with Kurt. Not to mention, she loved a good roleplay. After all, it was her dads that gave her such a penchant for the dramatic. 

 “Kurt, you’ve completely made light of the exercise at hand,” Rachel said, rolling her eyes as Kurt gave up on the warm up. She also found it very telling— he gave up on their friendship too, didn’t he? “Anyways, I’ll go,” Rachel started, turning towards her dad. “Kurt can’t...” She paused for a moment, thinking of a word without an E, “fathom that I would withhold information about my... untold suitor from him. But I only did it to... guard him from hurt.” She back settled into her seat, pleased that she succeeded in the game.

Hiram Berry Hiram listened to Kurt's attempts, raising an eyebrow at his attitude. "Kurt. That was a lot of Es. No director is going to want to work with you with that kind of attitude," he warned him, shaking his head. Hiram had hoped that he'd taught Kurt better over the last twenty years -- clearly, he'd been wrong. Turning to listen to Rachel as she gave her side of the events, Hiram nodded encouragingly. Of course she nailed the exercise -- she was his super star for a reason. 

 "Very well done. So you didn't tell Kurt about your new suitor and he didn't like that you withheld information." Hiram slapped his hands on his knees -- well, that was an easy fix. "It sounds like you just need to say sorry, honey, and then everyone can make up and we can go out for milkshakes at the Spotlight Diner and judge all the pitchy wannabes."

Kurt Hummel Kurt rolled his eyes at the criticism of him not being easy to work with. It was a mask, though. He was incredibly uncomfortable with this situation and wanted it over with. "In the process of trying not to hurt...uh-" he motioned to himself, although he had accidentally let an E pass through when he said process. "you did...and that's not a good....justification for lying. You could have - sorry, there's an 'e' in 'have', my bad - told....you could have said 'I want to talk to you about the amazing thing in my life, but I can't at this...." time, moment, presently, all had Es "I can't right now. I'll fill you in soon, though.' And that would've...I'd say that was okay, and I wouldn't pry or think you didn't want to talk to-....Kurt." He anticlimactically finished by changing the tense he talked about himself in

Rachel Berry “I said I was sorry, Kurt,” Rachel snapped, pausing momentarily to reflect on how well she was following the rules to this game, without even trying. “Dad, I said I was sorry to him.” She looked at Hiram for reassurance, before continuing. “It’s as if you don’t want to...” she paused to think for a second, “it’s as if you don’t want to swallow this truth. You don’t want to, um.. you don’t want to pardon us— my suitor and I.” 

 Finishing lamely, Rachel crossed her arms across her chest. This seemed so pointless— Kurt could never forgive her. Especially if he wasn’t using the letter E. “Dad, I really appreciate you trying to help us work things out. But I don’t think this exercise is going to do anything.”

Hiram Berry Hiram nodded as both the kids started putting more of an effort into the exercise. It was good to have them talk, and to think hard about their words as they said them. But they hadn't cried and hugged yet, so maybe it was time to move on. "I think it's helped," he replied to Rachel. "But let's move onto the next. Rachel, lie on the floor. Kurt, please stand. We're going to consider an awful, terrible world, where something desperately tragic has happened to my baby girl -- don't worry about holding in your tears, Kurt, they'll add to the exercise." Hiram stood up, waiting for Rachel to follow his instruction and lay where he'd gestured. 

 "I would begin with a heart-wrenching eulogy and a video message from Barbra, but... this isn't about me. I have a handkerchief ready, so Kurt, don't hold back. The stage is yours."

Kurt Hummel Kurt opened his mouth to tell Rachel how inaccurate her belief was, but then Hiram was interrupting. His eyebrow raised as he told Rachel to lie on the floor. Oh god, a fake funeral? This exercise was even worse than the last. Funerals always reminded him of his mom's death. "I.....don't want to do this one." He admitted. It was going to look like he wasn't trying to work on their friendship, but he didn't want to drag anything down even more by mentioning what his mind had associated this exercise with. But he had a feeling he was going to end up having to do this dumb eulogy anyways.

Rachel Berry The idea of a fake funeral piqued Rachel’s interest. She had always fantasized about what everyone would say about her when she tragically departed, and while Rachel had hoped to die with a few more awards and theater credits to her name, the drama was still intriguing to her. Nodding sagely, Rachel followed her dad’s instructions, lying on the ground and doing her best to look dead. 

 Unsurprisingly, Rachel immediately approved of her father’s choice plans for her funeral. They’d, of course, discussed such arrangements before. But a frown formed on Rachel’s face when Kurt refused to participate. “Do you even want to work on our friendship, Kurt?” Rachel asked, sitting up. “Do you even care that I’ve died?”

Kurt Hummel Kurt stood up and walked to the kitchen, getting a bottle of water for himself before he came back to the living room area. "Of course I care that you're fake dead. And I know how much you've always wanted to attend your own funeral. But...." He sighed, staring at the bottle in his hands. "I'm just not big on funerals. Even fictional ones."

Rachel Berry Rachel crossed her arms, visibly disappointed that Kurt wouldn’t eulogize her. But she also knew that Kurt was sensitive about funerals, and she didn’t want to push him. “Is it because I was such a convincing corpse? Because I can try less.” She looked back at her dad before lying down again in the hopes they’d continue her fake funeral.

Hiram Berry Hiram sighed at Kurt's refusal, shaking his head a little. He was starting to wonder whether the Patti wing of the mansion would even need to be built. "You play an excellent cadaver, honey," Hiram complimented his daughter, reaching down to touch her shoulder to gesture for her to get up. "It's understandable that Kurt doesn't want to imagine your ultimately death. My own heart is pounding. We all know that life is fleeting and mortality is... daunting." He paused for a moment, letting the moment sink in -- and then clapped his hands.

 "We'll try something else. I want you to think how the other thinks. I want you to become each other. So, Rachel, you're now Kurt, married to the adorably naive and endlessly loyal gold retriever of a human being, Sam Evans. And Kurt, you're now Rachel, new girlfriend of a hot young Broadway star who, unfortunately, does not have a taste for older, married men." Hiram looked over to Kurt. "Rachel", he emphasised. "Please tell me how you feel about this unfortunate argument with Kurt."

Kurt Hummel Kurt chuckled at Rachel asking if she should be a more convincing corpse. He frowned as Hiram continued on the dark route about death, staring at his water even harder. He was pulled out of his thoughts as the other man clapped, causing Kurt to jump slightly. As Hiram started to describe their next exercise, Kurt sat back down on the couch and folded one leg over the other. He couldn't help but smile a little bit at the description of Sam, though he made a face at the description of Jesse. As 'Rachel' was prompted to start things off, it took him a second to realize that actually meant him. "Oh. Uh....I'm hurt. Because I knew sneaking around with Jesse would cause drama for our friend group, especially with Finn - who is days away from officially being Kurt's stepbrother - and that telling him would put him in an uncomfortable position. And he doesn't seem to appreciate the favor I did him by lying and keeping him out of everything. But I'm also hurt, because I think he doesn't actually like my relationship with Jesse, even though he isn't fighting with Jesse at all...."

Rachel Berry Rachel nodded along to Kurt’s words, only slightly annoyed with what she sensed was sarcasm at the end. For all of their miscommunications recently, they still understood each other well. 

“Well, Rachel,” Rachel began, assuming the seriousness of the exercise immediately, “I’m hurt that you lied to me multiple times, even though I know you thought it was in my best interest. Which it was, by the way.”

Hiram Berry Hiram nodded at Kurt's attempt at the exercise. "Very good, Kurt. I'm glad you're turning your attitude around. I'd consider you for a call back." He listened to Rachel's, tilting his head -- his daughter was normally much more verbose. "Don't break the fourth wall, sweetheart. We'd like to hear Kurt's full feelings on the issue. And I'd also like to know, Rachel," Hiram turned to Kurt, "and Kurt," -- he turned to Rachel -- "what you each think the other can do to resolve the situation. What do you think will bring the two of you back together, from your point of view, and ensure that you remember to shout each other out at award ceremonies and post chummy instagram stories at brunch together?"

Kurt Hummel Kurt raised his eyebrow at the mention of a callback. He didn't play into these things as much as Rachel did, but he was glad he was no longer being seen as difficult and stubborn at least. "I'm honestly getting confused here...am I telling you what I think Kurt or Rachel can do to resolve the situation? ....I'm saying what I want Kurt to do, as Rachel, yes?"

Rachel Berry “Yes Kurt, keep up,” Rachel said with a sigh. She took her dads words to heart— Rachel was always one for notes, regardless of the role or the project. 

 “Okay. I guess I am upset because you lied to me, even if you thought it was for my best interest. Because that means we must have very different ideas regarding what is best for each other, and I don’t know if they are compatible. Or if I could ever trust you to be my friend again.” Rachel paused and looked down, beginning to get emotional.

Kurt Hummel Kurt watched Rachel with a frown. He knew that was the situation, in his own head. But hearing the words out loud....as true as they were, they sounded harsh. "Right...So, I think what you, Kurt Hummel, can do is....try to forgive me, Broadway's own Rachel Barbra Berry, and what I could do - even though this was not the assigned prompt - is promise I won't lie like that again. And if I do need to keep something from you because that's my idea of looking out for you, I'll just tell you that I will catch you up to speed when it's appropriate to instead of making up a fake boyfriend." He smiled at the end, so she knew he wasn't giving her too much grief over Jeffrey.

Rachel Berry Rachel nodded, keeping her eyes down for a moment. “Yes, I think that if I, Kurt, could give you, Rachel, one more chance— a real chance, I’ll see that you’ll never lie to me like that again. Especially not about a fake boyfriend, even if he was very convincing. And you, Rachel, can work on better ways to protect the people you love.” Rachel looked up at Kurt, wiping her eyes, and then looked back at her dad. “Can I go back to being Rachel now?”

Hiram Berry Hiram watched the children, a sly smile on his face. Finally, something was working. "I think that my work here might be done," he informed them, reaching over to squeeze each of their knees. "I'm going to text Leroy and go and join him and Jesse. We'll see whether he's changed his stance on very handsome older men yet or not." HIram leant in to press a kiss to Rachel's head, hoping that this would be the end of her tears. "The three of us will be back in time for dinner. Maybe Kurt will be ready to join us by then." Hiram got up, grabbing his jacket and then heading out of the apartment.

Kurt Hummel "Yes, the Freaky Friday moment has run its intended course" Kurt agreed. He stood up and motioned for Rachel to join him so that he could give her a hug. He watched Hiram leave, but turned his attention back to Rachel. "I'm sorry I've been so distant the last couple weeks"

Rachel Berry Rachel said a quick thank you to her dad as he kissed her forehead and headed out the door. As he left, she looked up a Kurt, biting her lip for a moment in hesitation before standing up and meeting his hug. "I'm sorry I lied to you," she responded, "I really am."

Kurt Hummel Kurt tightly squeezed his best friend. "Good. You should be sorry. And I forgive you. He pulled away, taking her hand in his and sitting down. "So, I want all the gossip. Because you and Jesse seem like you're already a great couple."

Rachel Berry "You should be sorry, too," Rachel said, letting their hug linger. She followed Kurt to the couch, pulling her feet up and turning towards him. "Jesse's perfect. We're perfect. He took me on the most romantic date last week." She smiled, glad to have her best friend back. Things would be weird for a little while longer, she was sure, but at least they got beyond the communication block between them and were on the mend.

Kurt Hummel "I'm sorry I didn't have the best reaction to you and Jesse. But, to be clear, it wasn't about you and Jesse specifically. I think you two make a great couple and, in hindsight, it's absolutely not surprising that you two ended up together." He wasn't trying to make excuses, he just wanted to set the record straight that he was excited for them. His eyebrows raised as she mentioned 'the most romantic date'. "Oh? Do tell"

Rachel Berry “I know, I know,” Rachel nodded, utterly tired of this conversation. All she wanted was her best friend back. “I’m glad you think that. I do, too.” She smiled as she thought of the date. “Well, he took me out to dinner at the same restaurant we went to before opening night of our first show together. And then afterwards we went sailing down the Hudson to paint pictures of the Manhattan skyline. It was a total surprise.”

Kurt Hummel Kurt removed the cap from his water bottle and took a drink as he listened to Rachel. "Woah, that is romantic. I'm going to have to tell Sam to step up his game." Kurt joked....painting pictures while sailing down the Hudson was a great date night idea. "Or we'll just have to double date sometime."

Rachel Berry “I would like that,” Rachel said with a smile. This is exactly what she wanted— all of the people she loved most together. Smiling at the thought, Rachel leaned against the back of the sofa and hugged a pillow across her chest. “And I haven’t even told you the best part yet...” She touched Kurt’s arm, excited to tell him everything. But they had time, she reminded herself. They had all the time in the world.

[whitehareknits]

10. The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where one ends and the other begins? -Edgar Allan Poe

The Watcher (After Ambrose Bierce)

Jake kept his breathing as quiet as possible as the door shut behind him and the lights in the room shut off with a soft click. He immediately turned his flashlight on and resurveyed the room that was now blanketed in darkness. Jake carefully made his way around the shiny metal tables to an empty corner and set his backpack down. From there, flicked his flashlight about the area one more time, purposely avoiding aiming his beam at the blanketed figure on table in the center of the room. Once he was satisfied that he knew where everything was, Jake sat down on the cold, hard tile, drew his knees up to his chest, and turned off the flashlight.

The sleepover started out fine enough, with all the boys meeting at Tommy’s house after dinner. Of course, the only reason Jake was there was because Grant’s mom made him extend an invite. All the boys at the party had been friends for years, except Jake. He hadn’t been at their school long enough to make any, so his aunt made Grant take his cousin everywhere. This, to Grant’s friends, only made him seem like an annoying tag-along. Of course, Jake had no say in the matter, like he couldn’t make his own friends so he had to have someone else’s. All the same, Jake was tired of the eye-rolling every time he came in their presence. So when someone proposed a game of truth or dare, he jumped at the chance to prove himself. Maybe it had been planned all along, or maybe it was an idea right off the cuff, but either way the group’s collective contempt for Jake led to him being dared to spend the night in Tommy’s cellar.

Any run of the mill dark, damp cellar is frightening to a twelve-year-old, but Tommy’s cellar was special. Tommy’s dad was the town mortician, who operated his trade out of that cellar.

Jake didn’t want to be labeled a chicken, along with several other choice names, so he accepted the dare. He was given a canteen of water, a pillow, and the storm flashlight. The full dare was to spend the night in the cellar, by himself, to be released at dawn. He could call off the dare at anytime by knocking on the door three times and yelling, “Help! I’m a scared little girl who lost her teddy bear and wet her panties!” Failing in his dare was not an option as it was liable to brand him a baby by everybody in the school for the rest of his days. Grant and his friends would see to that. Jake said it would be “a piece of cake” and that he would see them in the morning.

He was actually feeling pretty confident as he marched between Tommy and the rest of the group to the cellar, until Tommy off handedly mentioned that a new body had been dropped off only that evening.

***

The darkness was unbearably oppressive to the point that Jake almost felt pushed into the ground because of it. He could’ve easily turned his light on, but Tommy said that the batteries were probably low since the storm last week. Jake wanted to use the flashlight as sparingly as possible since he had no idea when it could go out. Tommy could’ve just been pulling his leg, the thought had crossed Jake’s mind, but he didn’t want to take that chance. It would’ve been better if the game had come up later in the evening. Last Jake saw, it was only 7:30 when he passed the kitchen clock on the way to the cellar. There was nothing for him to do in the darkness with a flashlight of questionable battery life, and he wouldn’t be ready to sleep for another two hours, at least.

The sound of laughter filtered through the ceiling, as the boys were obviously having a much more fun evening than he was. And the more Jake thought about it, the more obvious it seemed that this was all done on purpose just to get him out of the way for the night. They knew he would either spend the night in the morgue, or he would wimp out and be made a fool of. Probably enough of a fool for Jake to ask to go home, since he was “too scared to sleepover at someone else’s house.”

'I’ll show them,’ Jake thought to himself as he shifted on his seat, butt already numb from the hard floor. ‘I’ll walk out of here in the morning, cool as a cucumber.’ If nothing else, it would at least show the gang that he wasn’t some sniveling kid cousin. He would be someone they could respect. Someone they could maybe even let into their group, on their terms and not on their parents’.

No matter what brave thoughts and boasts ran through his head, the rest of the night still loomed ahead with nothing to do. Jake was tempted to practice his whistling. He was currently trying to master Elvis’ ‘Hound Dog’, but thought better of it. If any of the boys was listening at the door and heard his shaky notes, they would’ve thought he was on the brink of cracking. Instead, Jake’s mind jumped to one of his favorite stories, Poe’s ‘Pit and the Pendulum’.

‘I’ll layout the room!’ Jake thought as he stood. He’d keep a hand on the wall and count how many steps it took to make it back to his corner. Then he could familiarize himself with all the equipment and memorize the room by touch.

Jake tentatively stood and pushed all that he brought with him into a big pile that would act as his start/end marker. Satisfied with his bearings in the pitch black, Jake placed one hand on the cool tile and began to pace the room. Every table and counter he came across, Jake attempted to map in his head. His goal being to walk the room without the wall and know exactly where he was…a sink here…a cart there…

After the third corner, Jake came across what felt like a hinge that attached to a small door. It was too high from the ground to be a closet, and it didn’t protrude from the wall like a cabinet. Jake racked his brain to think what the hard, metal door could be. He decided to come back to it after finishing the initial floor plan in his head. He didn’t take three steps before he came across another tiny door, identical to the previous one. Another step brought him in contact with some leavers and this gave him pause. The image Jake conjured up in his head was that of the Saturday night sci-fi shows that always had a mad scientist. That mad scientist always had a wall full of leavers and other strange objects. He hadn’t recalled seeing any super computers upon his initial entry into the cellar, so it had to be something else. He tried to remember what he saw on the walls when the lights had been on…wash station…tool cabinet…closet…then it hit him. The incinerators.

Jake lurched back with such force that he lost his footing and began to flail about the room until his hands finally latched onto stationary piece of furniture. He quickly steadied himself and began to run his hands up and down the surface, trying to place which counter this was. It wasn’t until a starched cloth passed under his fingers, that Jake realized where he was. He had completely forgotten about the corpse.

With his heart in his throat and his stomach not far behind, Jake lunged away from the table, this time landing on the floor. Both his head and his back screamed in pain, but it barely registered a blip on his radar the second he heard something shift. He could only imagine that he had shaken the table of kilter as he jumped away. He frantically scrounged across the floor looking for his pile and flashlight. Jake eventually managed to find the pillow he brought with him and the flashlight he stashed underneath. He quickly backed against the corner and flicked his flashlight on…only to illuminate a standing pair of bare feet with a tag tied to one toe.

His brain stopped working and his body took over. Jake immediately found his filled canteen behind him and flung it in the direction of the body. It teetered back and seemed to collapse against the table it came from. Jake, flashlight in hand, cautiously approached the table. The corpse appeared to still have the sheet over his body. He couldn’t tell if it was moving or just his trembling hand, unable to hold the flashlight still.

It suddenly groaned and heaved forward, right into Jake’s flashlight. Then it ran into his flashlight again, and again. Jake couldn’t keep himself from screaming as he beat the light into the body’s head over and over, the blade of light continuously cutting through the darkness of the room.

When finally Jake was able to get control over himself, he stood back and surveyed his victim. The corpse laid sprawled across the gurney, with a puddle of black, red forming at one end. His breathing barely slowed to normal when the body twitched again.

Not knowing what to do, Jake stood in utter terror, until his eyes followed the glowing beam past the corpse and to the wall behind it. The incinerators.

He brought his pitching arm down against the body one last time to assure its incapacitation as he ran to the wall and wedged open one of the doors. He desperately tugged and pulled at the levers until he heard the snapping sounds of the incinerators coming to life. The fire now cast an orange, flickering glow about the room as, finally, Jake was able to see what he was doing. He ran to the gurney and kicked all the brakes off the wheels before lining it up with the opened door and running with all his might.

He rammed the cart into the wall at such a speed that the undead body slid in on its own. Jake then slammed the door shut and latched it tight as the flames consumed the screaming corpse. A sickening smell seeped out of the vent causing Jake to vomit and collapse under his own weight.

Suddenly, cold, fluorescent lights flooded the morgue as the door at the top of the stairs flung open and the boys crowded through the opening to see what the commotion was. The laughing and japing at their prank came to an uneasy silence as they saw what had transpired. Jake, on the floor, crying into a pool of his own puke, incinerators running, and an empty gurney covered in blood.

Not a one of them dared to move as the phone rang somewhere in the house.

“Boys, Steve’s mom says he isn’t in his room. You didn’t sneak him into your sleepover did you?”

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Day 10 of @downwithwritersblock 's october writing challenge.

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First thing's first, this story actually has an alternate ending which I will link to here . Start reading after the ***

2nd: This was actually a story I wrote a few years ago that I thought fit the prompt for today. Now, I know I should be contributing something new and not just posting old works... BUT I decided to use this as a basis of a quick discussion on paranoia and the uncanny. The corner stones of good horror. Or at least the horror I prefer.

This piece is called The Watcher (After Ambrose Bierce) because I took inspiration from "A Watcher by the Dead" by Ambrose Bierce. A story with which I have a complicated relationship with. The basic premise of which is that a man is bet a sum of money that he can't spend the night in a locked, dark room with a corpse. The point being that it shouldn't be a problem for any rational man because I rational man knows that there is nothing dangerous about a dead body. The oposition poses that given the solitude and the darkness with the situation, rationality will fail and fear will set in, even when logic dictates nothing cam actually happen.

~(SPOILERS)Long story short, the man agrees, fear eventually starts to creep up on him and he imagines that he hears movement in the room and drives himself insane before the night is out.(SPOILERS)~

My complicated relationship with the story stems from how I heard it. I first heard the story through an audio book while I was out hiking. I thought the story was absolutely terrifying and gave me goosebumps all through the trail. HOWEVER, when I relistened to it a few days later, I realized I missed something the first go around. You know how you can read several pages of a book and not actually absorb anything, so you have to go back and reread? Well that doesn't really work in audio format. It just keeps chugging along regardless of your attention.

Anyway, upon relistening to it, I noticed I missed a part. Those putting the man up to the "experiment" planted one of themselves in the room as 'the corpse'. When the man in the room hears noises, his paranoia starts to build, but we as the audience know what's actually going on. And I'm sorry to say that it ruined the story a bit for me.

I don't presume to know better than this amazing writer, but I think the direction he took made the whole story less frightening. At least for me. I believe the angle he was going for was more focusing on the men who started the whole thing and had to live with the consequences of their actions. But for my money, the true horror focus was in the room. (Again, this is my personal taste)

The paranoia, the uncertainty, the careful breaking down of our (presumably) sturdy walls of reason. That is what makes something scary. And that is why I made my own version of the story and kind of Schrodinger's Cat-ed with the alternate endings. One uncanny, the other marvelous. You can pick which ending you prefer, but I maintain that the horror remains, because up until the end, we remain as in the dark as the protagonist. We get taken on the same journey as he does. We watch him slowly go from a bet to possible unnatural danger and not know what the outcome is going to be until he finds out.

I have more thoughts on this, but I'll go further into it on a different day.

Thank you for coming to my TEDtalk

[saiyanhajime]

DBS: Broly - Review

I was excited to see “Dragon Ball Super: Broly”, obviously… It’s Dragon Ball! But I wasn’t expecting to be as blown away by it as I have been, to fall in love with it. For me, Dragon Ball has always been more about the fandom than the official media. When I first formed a love for the franchise, it was elusive and unattainable, so I had to get my kicks elsewhere.

I think DBS Broly might be my favourite piece of DB media, ever. It’s everything I ever wanted and everything I didn’t realise I needed from this franchise. I haven’t loved a piece of media like this in a long, loooong time.

Worth noting that, at the time of writing, I have only seen the English dub. I’ll wait for home release to see the subtitled Japanese audio version as I struggle to keep up with text and visuals at the same time!

The Cinema Experience

My first viewing was a small, packed screen on opening night here in the UK. The audience seemed to be mostly around 25-30 year olds, almost entirely fellow guys (my friend was one of maybe 5 women - seriously, where are you all??). But the ethnic diversity of Dragon Ball’s audience is something most movies could only dream of attracting. It was a great time, with people audibly laughing out loud and clapping at the end. The movie is genuinely so brilliantly funny, a surprise in itself.

My second viewing, the following night, alone, was a larger screening. Roughly the same audience demographics, but this time, the audience erupted into cheering with each transformation… It was so fucking incredible to be a part of. I was grinning the entire time. It’s hard to overstate just how important the social aspect of enjoying this movie in the cinema was.

It’s incredible to finally be living Dragon Ball “up to date” like this and the excitement shows.

Spoilers incoming...

Story Isn’t King

That's coming from someone who has always wished for more depth to DB, but what I've realised recently is that the level of storytelling the community plugs into this franchise is not something that belongs in the official media. We do it better, because we do it free of constraints the official releases require to be Dragon Ball, that it requires to be so widely popular. The official text is a framework, not a rulebook. I think one of the things that contributes to Dragon Ball’s insane popularity and ability to speak to so many people in so many cultures is how vague it can be. The snippets of depth are there for us to draw our own conclusions. DB doesn’t need canon absolutes in backstory.

Overall, I prefer the old “Bardock - The Father of Goku” telling of the prequel events that set up the Broly movie, though man it's been an age since I saw that. I wonder how much of my preference is just nostalgia? How much is knowing that Bardock: Father of Goku wasn’t “canon”, and so didn’t really matter? That is liberating. Now Dragon Ball Minus and DBS: Broly seem to demand that this is the way it actually happened with no room for headcanon and I feel a little turned off. There is plenty to like with this retelling. Gine is a delight, more of the saiyan homeworld is welcomed and just look at small details like Bardock actually moving his tail in this scene rather than it constantly being wrapped around their waists ready for combat. Ideally, I would like a perfect blend of the best elements from both tellings. And ya know what? That's the beauty of fandom... I can have that.

It is so obvious that huge chunks of story are missing here, yet it already drags for me a little... I’m not sure what the solution is, really. I’ve seen people suggesting it should have been two movies, but I’m not sure I agree.

Once the movie skips forward to present day, the storytelling revolving around the discovery of Broly, Paragus and their recruiting into the Freeza force is entertaining and I’m way more invested. So maybe it is just apathy for a prequel story retold a slightly different way…

But when the insane 30-40 minute non-stop action starts in the latter half, that’s when the movie comes into its own for me. This is Dragon Ball.

Overall, the narrative does something new for the series. It sets up, foreshadows and references back in a more conventional pattern than ever before. It feels, I dunno. It feels… Westernised? It feels, both narratively and in overall quality, more like a movie and not just a tacked on side-story. There’s no unnecessary inclusion of side characters irrelevant to the plot making cameos. Everyone is here for a reason.

Character Personalities

The characters behave like themselves again, and not just through exposition dumping monologues the series is famous for, but through visual storytelling! There is so much not said, so much told through the fight, through their expressions and movements.

From the moment Vegeta’s playful spar with Goku ends at Bulma’s vacation house, you get a very different Vegeta to the one we’ve seen through Super. His turn to listen to Goku and Whis's conversation is full of character. He's so on edge about something. And proceeds to tell us why with a humorous but genuinely livid jab at Goku for wishing Freeza back to life. Vegeta is worried. In the scene where Bulma is reviewing the CCTV footage of the Dragon Ball theft, Vegeta double takes and glares at Goku when it becomes obvious the thieves are Freeza’s men. They say nothing. It’s all character acting. It tells us so much.

Vegeta's anxiety continues on, affecting his fight with Broly… He barely has a chance to enjoy the fight at all. We get so little cocky Vegeta enjoying a battle and instead a very serious Vegeta who feels the need to to end this threat right now. What I take from all this is an example of quality character development - instead of Vegeta simply becoming more friendly, his personality that we all love is still there, but his morals have changed. His entertainment isn’t as important as protecting his family. And having witnessed Goku’ recklessly endanger their friends and families in throughout DB Super, Vegeta is not prepared to take any chances here, attempting to deliver a finishing blow very early on.

And Goku, who’s characterisation in Super felt so utterly insulting at times, is back on form here. His idiotic moments don’t feel so absurdly stupid that they’re unbelievable, but instead come across as cute and heartwarming. Moments like his talk with Broly mid fight, with Piccolo when he’s lying on the ground battered and bruised and when he’s simply watching Broly transform into a super saiyan for the first time convey Goku’s ability to be serious and regretful. It was so refreshing to see Goku back on form. The first half of his fight with Broly is incredible - going from excitement, to confidence that he could talk Broly round, to being put firmly in his place, on the ground. People who criticise the series for having no stakes fail to understand that the stakes are truly nestled in the characters personalities and their pride. The stakes are whether they will be able to overcome their flaws, both metaphorically through transformations, and literally.

Voice Acting (Dub)

Whilst on the subject of the characters, the voice acting is unbelievably good… Chris Ayres as Freeza steals the show, but the others are brilliant also.The line delivery is one thing, the ability to so brilliantly match that to the mouth flaps another, but the writing for a Western, English speaking audience is just superb. I cannot wait to see what differs in the original Japanese - I’ve heard that Freeza’s “Hello Monkeys!” line was a dub change from “Greetings!” for example, which in my opinion is so appropriate and elicits an uncomfortable, awkward laugh from the aforementioned ethnically diverse audience in the west in a such good way. Freeza as a tyrannical, racist, piece of shit, is an important character trait to a Western audience. The jokes that ride on line delivery alone are so numerous - one personal highlight for me is Whis’ ever-so-gay coded “Oh my…” when Gogeta bursts in. Took the words right out of my mouth, Whis. The voice acting is on a whole different level to anything before now from the American team. The scene I’ve already mentioned where Goku is contacted by Piccolo, Schemmel really sells the pain Goku’s in. And lets not forget Broly himself, played by Vic Mignogna, whose line delivery really conveys him as this Tarzan-like character in his sane scenes… But really shines in moments of mania when he’s flailing, yelling, crying as a cornered, manic, rabid ape who cannot control his emotions or immense strength. The scene where he’s just making noises at Goku, copying his fighting stance before he launches at him - wow. Even new side characters like Lemo have an outstanding quality to their voice acting that blows any previous English speaking Dragon Ball performance so far out of the water it’s insane.

Broly

Having a Dragon Ball story focus on so many characters who aren’t Goku is refreshing for a franchise that’s been so heavily criticised for being The Goku Show… For years we’ve wanted to see other characters step into the limelight. I still haven’t forgiven the last movie, Resurrection F, for stealing the win out from under Vegeta.

Vegeta still doesn’t get the long awaited limelight here… But this “new” saiyan, Broly, is something rather special. I wasn’t a fan of the original Broly. Loved the idea, but never liked the execution. His visual design I found personally off-putting, but more importantly it failed to convey his character very well. He looked so prestigious?  And the idea of being so affected by Goku crying as a baby next to him, that it sent him into uncontrollable rage whenever he heard the same “Kakarot” is so laughably stupid. I’m glad that’s not here.

The cool concept of the legendary super saiyan, though... I think most people dig that. Here that’s kind of gone too - but the idea of a freakishly strong saiyan from birth who is the embodiment of their animalistic heritage and rage-induced potential is beautifully executed. The great ape form, or rather Broly having found a way of accessing that power without transforming, is referenced more than once throughout the story. There’s this sense that the way Goku and Vegeta have learnt to control themselves has perhaps potentially hindered them. That maybe the ultra-instinct forms Whis has foreshadowed for so long is related, or could be used to tap into the natural potential of saiyans. Huh.

With a visually pleasing design to boot, Broly is absolutely awesome as the star in his own movie as a tragic menace. So much is done to sell this as Broly’s movie, from his sheer amount of screen time and characterisation in both his placid and manic states, to that awesome first person perspective part of his fight - incredible.

Animation and Aesthetics

You don’t need me to tell you this film looks gorgeous and I’ve already mentioned some scenes where the characters convey so much through movement alone. This looks like Dragon Ball never has. It feels nostalgic, but refreshing. It’s stylistically so unique and fluid and choreographed and magical. Impacts hit with such full-force conviction, the characters gracefully zooming around each other in dueling harmony, the electrifying ki beams piercing through the bleak environments with their vibrant colour and form. For once you really believe just how powerful and fast these superhumans are… Perhaps one of the reasons why the first half of the film is so much weaker for me is simply because there's less of this beautiful action. But the entire film is steeped in impressively bold and emotive colour pallets that sell the mood of each location so well.

But there’s a great big elephant in the room… The cgi.

It would seem I have a different opinion to most on this subject. I don’t mind the environmental cgi, but the character animation is jarring and I hate it. It is a blemish on an otherwise gorgeous piece of art. Now, I’m really funny about “bad” cgi. I also don’t know dick about animation. I just know when something looks really, really wrong. It’s as if the cgi characters have no squash and stretch applied that keeps them fluid. They’re stiff. There’s no elasticity, no umph. They move like someone just put strobe lights on. Their joints like that of action figures. I’ve seen so many people say it’s not bad or they even like these parts and I’m really glad it didn’t ruin it for most people, but my god does it ruin those scenes for me. Just look at the awkward mouth flaps and dead eyes, especially on Goky, in the Kamehameha/Galick Gun combo scene. Yuck.

Soundtrack

I love the score.

Before I saw the movie, I heard a lot of people talking about the chanting and how weird it was - but the second it started my first thought was how much it reminded me of Akira. And yeah, it’s kinda weird. And I love it. It hypes up this epic match and I don’t find it cheesy at all. I love it both in context and even when listened to in isolation.

The entire score is all over the place yet manages to feel whole as it attempts, and succeeds, to convey the atmosphere and emotion of each location, narrative beat and every swing of a fist or blast of ki. The only track I’m not keen on is the rendition of Chala Head Chala. I think it’s a pretty pants rendition of the song and is immensely distracting in an otherwise moving soundtrack. The movie totally needs a rendition of Head Chala right there, but not this rendition. I just don’t like it. The weird boingy sound is awful.

Final Thoughts

The success of Dragon Ball Super: Broly, especially in the west, is a joyful reminder what this 30 year old franchise means to so many people. Very few non-fans are going to have set foot in a cinema to see this movie, and yet the current total earnings at the time of writing on January 29th 2019 is $98,584,176 according to Box Office Mojo.

That is truly insane.

It feels like this movie was made especially for me and for that I am eternally grateful. Speaking to fellow fans and reading their reviews, it’s so clear that everyone has different things to love about this movie. There’s so much content here for every fan to find something they love. I cannot wait to get hold of a home release and I cannot wait to see what’s to come, ho-ly shit! What a time to be a Dragon Ball fan.

[dachi-chan25]

GoT S8 Episode 4 "I don't even care about the title of this" Recap

So here I am once again (I didn't do a Recap of the battle episode cuz frankly I'm not a huge fan of battle stuff, and it was very messy the way D&D executed it, there was not much stuff to analyze so yeah) and well the way some people talked about Jon yesterday really had me worried (and hey if you hate him now or don't believe in him it's fine, not your fault but the writers') but when I watched the episode I got a completely different impression (which is fine I mean sharing a ship doesn't mean we have to agree on every single thing) and I will talk about it.

Oh yeah I am not a fan of D, nor of aegony and I still believe in Pol! Jon and jonsa so if you are not intrested in reading about any of that this is not the Recap for ya.

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Funeral & Feast

From the very beginning of the episode I was like 👀👀. We get a shot of Ser Jorah's corpse and D mourning him and then we get the exact same thing with Theon and Sansa (drawing this parallels between them is truly intresting) but we only get Jon's sad expression after we get Sansa sobbing which makes me think he was watching her (this is also supported by the fact that D was not in his direct line of vision and the fact he is not standing anywhere near her in that moment or afterwards).

Jon gives a pretty emotional speech about the fallen and the future generations, and the director made sure we get a shot of Sansa behind Jon as he talks about the future generations (aka children) when a more open shot would have made it more vague and meaning about everyone's children and not just Jon & Sansa's, I mean for me the foreshadowing was strong.

The pyres are lit, and I guess this is where the rumours about WF burning started (gosh I am so glad they didn't had D burn it) .

Everyone is celebrating the victory in the Great Hall, everything starts on a serious note, until Gendry gets up the benches to go looking for Arya, and D calls on him. Ok serious talk, did any of y'all notice that look of worry that passes between Jon and Dadvos??? Like they were waiting for the worst, why in the Seven Hells would Jon expect the worst out of someone he supposedly loves and believes in? Cuz he does not. And yeah he is relieved but not relaxed when she names him Lord of Storms End (k seriously i thought d&d had completely forgot about the riverlands,stormlands, westerlands,the Reach, dorne, and everywhere else that was not "plot relevant" ) and the fact that no one even knew who was ruling there like? ??? Didn't Jon sent letters to every lord in season 4 or 5??? Like how do they not know this???

Back to Jon, he looks puzzled like he doesn't know what game she is playing. While she is patting herself in the back for getting rid of a man that had a better claim to the throne than her. Tyrion is a dumbass, cuz D can't name Gendry shit until she actually has the alliance of the stormlands but whatevs, she is not a politiciiian she is a kweeeen.

So yeah the mead and wine get passed around and everyone seems to be having a good time except for 1 person: D

Why is this? Well because she is not their hero, not really, and she knows, I mean she watched the NK walking through her flames, if not for ser Jorah she would be dead and that can't be cuz she is special she has to be cuz she is the last Targy except now she knows that is also not true, and we get her looking at Jon.

And Jon??? Well he doesn't give her the time of the day (again if he loved her so much he would be spending time with her, trying to include her in the conversation with him and his friends) cuz he is lauguing and drinking with Tormund and Sansa (honestly Sansa was so flirty with that "c'mon, do it in believe in you" like i have used that same line girl what), he turns around for a second and smiles at d (he is having a good time and why wouldn't he smile, she is not the one that made him smile he is smiling cuz he is happy and on his way to getting drunk) thing is Sansa catches him sharing a smile with D and her reaction is so out of proportion for a "sister" when she was all smiles and heart eyes not 2 seconds ago, her smile disappears and she leaves, what is Jon's reaction? He turns around and watches her leave super confused, D is smug until she realizes Jon didn't really pick her, she didn't won cuz he still is looking at Sansa and not back at her.

Things get crazy with Tormund and he shouts for anyone to hear that Jon is a "King" and then only then Jon turns to see D's reaction, and she gives him a forced smile that he returns because he doesn't want to antagonize her. By this point Jon is making 0 effort to resume their "relationship" but also doesn't want to be percived as her enemy.

And we get a terrifying look on D's face as she sees everyone around her celebrating without a care for her, their kween, cuz they would rather have Jon or Sansa, and she can't take it, so much she has to go.

Now we get a drinking game between Tyrion, Brienne, Jaime and Pod, is all cool until Tyrion mentions the fact Brienne is a virgin, she gets upset and leaves, Jaime goes for her and Tormund has the realization that he has no chance with Brienne. Now he goes to complain to the Hound who gives 0 fucks about his lonely soul, and suddenly everyone gets a sexual partner (everything is very heterosexual of course, we know the only gays in westeros are dead or in the Iron Islands) and we see Sansa watching (this is what she wants that she doesn't have, she doesn't want sex she wants romance but she can't have it with the one she wants) and she has a 1 on 1 with the Hound that I have already talked about.

Gendry finally finds Arya shooting arrows on her own, and tells her the good news, not only that but he proposes. And oh, I knew Arya wouldn't want to get married but this was hard to see, we still get a kiss so she loves him but that is not the life she wants for herself.

Aegonyyyy & "The Truth"

Jon is looking miserable in his room. I mean if anything has been consistent with Jon is the fact that he wants to deal with everything on his own, but the fact that he has to deal with this whole existential crisis and the up coming war must be exhausting. D enters his room unannounced (fooking rude, but I don't expect any better cuz she has never shown him respect at all, even Jon knocks when entering the office he shares with Sansa) he stumbles up (he is drunk totally unprepared for any conversation she wants to have) and gives her his condolences about Jorah (meaning this is the 1st conversation since the parentage reveal they have, and D is the one to iniciate it not Jon, again nothing about this makes me think he loves her) he doesn't hug her or approach her any further, as always D is the one forcing intimacy between them, honestly we get no real reaction from Jon when she tells him Jorah loved her but she couldn't love him cuz she loves Jon.

One of the cornerstone's of a romantic relationship is the frist time someone declares their love, and usually when one half of the pairing doesn't say it back it screams trouble. A kiss does not equal love, and it's not a good thing to do when someone is pouring their feelings for you. Now Jon does seem more into the kiss but as the director's commented he remembers what she is (not who but what) and pulls back. Jon's expression is not good if they selling me a romance, he doesn't look tortured by his desire and love for his aunt, but disgusted and defeated like he thought this was over but apparently nope he still has to be like this.

D has never respected Jon or his feelings (like when s7 was airing I remember I said she reminded me of Tw1l1ght when she watched Jon sleep, and how little she respects his privacy) and this imbalance in their relationship is again present when she starts complaining about how people love him and not her (gee I wonder if that has anything to do with setting your dragons on them when you arrived) like really, not once she worried about his feelings about not being who he thought he was, the only thing she cares about is the IT and if he will get in the way. Jon is visibly annoyed while giving his back to her so she doesn't seem but the audience does. What's more she expects Jon to lie to his family isolating himself from them to make her happy (that's fucked up) I do believe Jon intended to tell them everything (he just doesn't know how, and is understandably afraid cuz he never felt truly a part of the pack, and now he thinks he really is not) now he sees D is not going to let go of him, of the North, he can't say anything (i mean he totally should tho, I know d&d are just doing this to hold onto pol!Jon and dark!dany for as long as they can before being all smug like bet you didn't see it coming, except i do, I see u villians. Jk maybe I am wrong xd) he still wants to say it, and D goes absolutely crazy saying the truth is gonna destroy them (why dear isn't that the name of your epic couple song?) And that she wants to live in her selfish ass fantasy while stating how threatened she feels by Sansa (by this point Jon knows she burned the Tarlys for not bending and Sansa is not bending, if she bent know d would surely find it suspicious) the ONLY way he can protect Sansa as long as D is still at WF (and maybe forever) is if he is in the middle, her feelings for him have to be enough to stop her from hurting Sansa, or at least that is how I see his PoV right now, better for Sansa to be alive and hate him than having D kill her.

********The Braime is scene was so good tho 😢😢😢😍😍😍

War Council & Stark Meeting

Or the moment most people wanted to throw Jon in the trash...

So they making stupid ass, basic plans to defeat chess master Cersei.

And there, told ya D wanted to burn shit down before Missandei. Jon gets her to listen (Tyrion is grateful af)and instead of burning shit down like idiots they will lay a siege. But then Sansa raises an important issue everyone should care about: The physical and mental recovery of their armies. But D is like crazy tbh, there is no better word and she still treats the Long night as Jon's war and the northern as Sansa's people, and my girl rightfully calls her out. Jon puts a stop to that and he was heavily critiziced for it, but like he did the right thing?? I mean i hated how hurt Sansa looked, but Jon is trying (still) real hard to protect her, but there is nothing he can do if Sansa keeps antagonizing D (did y'all see how out of proportion was her reaction to a valid question??) also I think Jon wants to get D as far away from his family (specially Sansa) as possible.

Onto the reunión it was pretty telling how Sansa and Jon were already fighting it out like they do, both lost in their little world til Arya is like guys pls stop. Arya served as an excellent contrast between what sisterly concern looks like and what Sansa is showing. Jon is desperate, he has to go with D, not only because his family will not be safe if Cersei is alive, but because D feels they owe her that, and D wants him by her side and that is the only way she won't accuse him or his family of plotting against her, by this point i don't think jon has any plan to separate himself from her, he will do what she wants for as long as she wants because she has the power to hurt the people he loves and he rather be unhappy than losing his family forever. So he makes Bran tell them and makes them swear they won't tell anyone (he is explicitly defying D's wishes here) why?? Well there could be many reasons, his last act of free will, or maybe he wants the Starks to hate him and get him out of the pack (he doesn't even consider himself a part of the pack, and from his PoV Sansa doesn't either, cuz he is an idiot just not in the way people think he is) for choosing his Targ family over them, I lean toward the later but who knows?? I just know something bad had to happen for Arya to leave like that with no intention of returning and Sansa not saying goodbye to Jon and just wistfully watch from the battlements.

Farewell Jon

Again people hated Jon for this. But imho Jon is clearly not well in that moment, he looks tired, depressed. And i doubt very much this is the last scene with Ghost he will have.

Also Jon says he wishes he could go North is pretty sad?? If Jon loved d that much he would be sad about being at odds with his family but determined he is doing the right thing, he would be at least a little eager or something, not saying he wishes he could go up north and hide himself from everything. Also Tormund saying a part of the north will always be in Jon is foreshadowing that he will definitely come back.

Jon self deprecating "I hope it's a girl" when gilly tells him they want to name the baby after him. Jon is not alright.

He can't say goodbye to Ghost because this is not goodbye, this is not the last time they will see each other, and Jon can't bring himself to say goodbye (tbh he looked like the saddest boy ever, he didn't look like an uncaring ass to me) because ghost is his tie to his stark side, and he just can't part from that (also I am good with Jon not taking him to the South, like we don't wanna see my pure boy die)

Tyrion, she is in love with Jon u idiot.

So yeah D is with the dragons, and i don't know about y'all but Rhaegal is flying just fine (I think D didn't want Jon riding Rhaegal anymore to avoid more talk about how kingly he is).

So yeah Sansa is seeing this lizards fly, and Tyrion approaches her, she is not even trying to disguise how much she loathes the idea of D being kween, Tyrion is trying to work out why, it would certainly make things easier if the Lady of WF and the crown had a civil relationship. Sansa acts very snappy and brings up the good relationship the Warden of the North has with their kween (I want to slap Tyrion everytime he says "she is your kween too" to any other character) Tyrion very unsubtly says Jon is not coming back, and Sansa gets so emotional, she tells him she doesn't want Jon to go South.

Tyrion is baffled (cuz he is boo boo the fool) as to why Sansa is so against D, and even tells her how much more power she'll have if Jon is out of the picture. She doesn't want power tho she wants Jon. Sansa cleverly points out Tyrion is scared of D, and asks him why he thinks she would be a good kween (lmaooo this is what it looks like when u a brainwashed fool, Tyrion straight up says he believes in D as opposed to Jon saying they needed her armies) Tyrion says bs and Sansa says what if there was a better option. (This might save Jon's ass later tbh)

Welp that escalated fast

So now, we have the stupidest team ever traveling by boat to KL or dragonstone??? Somewhere in between maybe.

Varys and Tyrion are having a chat about Jon's parentage. Welp. Varys is Team Snow now I guess and Tyrion is still a fool. Honestly none of this bodes well for the D.

Now she is flying magestically with her 2 dragons when bam! Euron sinks her battleship and her battle dragon and her everything.

D, like the impulsive fool she is, charges against the Greyjoy fleet only to discover that they all have Scorpions, and she is risking it too much.

Everyone swims to the shore (honestly how Lucky they are that everyone knows how to swim) but Missandei is missing.

Cersei is the supreme bitch drinking wine and relishing in how unprepared D team is. Missandei is chained (😢) and very scared.

In WF, Sansa gets the news (who sent her this raven?? Varys is my bet) and Jaime overhears. Sansa says she wishes she could watch Cersei's execution (and this was pretty harsh but Cersei deserves Sansa's hate so..) Jaime gets unsettled and that paired up with that scene of the previously on where Cersei reveals she is pregnant plus all that stuff on 8x02 about him doing things for his family, I guess it's pretty clear he will try to save Cersei for the baby's sake not out of love but because the baby is innocent and is his, he already has fought D and knows his chances to survive again are scarce so he has to hurt Brienne now if he doesn't want her to follow him.

This shit is racist as hell but the writing is poor and everyone hated it so I guess it's something.

Now we get to the parley. And idk why Tyrion keeps trying (I mean i guess it's for the baby as well) is clear Cersei would rather die than leave the throne to d (which is just as well cuz d thinks the same).

They try to negotiate but both kweens are too selfish and entitled for it to really work. Missandei gets beheaded, but before she says Dracarys (how sad they don't let her say I love you to Greyworm one last time and instead is used as a permission for d to go bersek on innocent people that are not responsible for Cersei's actions) honestly is disappointing we don't get to see if D would have allowed her and GW to leave, it's sad she doesn't get her own story apart from D's handmaiden and that her own death is not about herself but to cause pain to a white woman (that already has a super racist storyline) and turn her full dark (I mean she has been making the descent on her own just fine whyyy u do this d&d).

That’s it, that’s my take. I am looking forward to next week.

[trickstersantana]

[Para] SantanART Contest Duel

Who: Santana, @ellnaturae @shiftingdani Location: Park of Florence Farr School Time: 25 February 2019 Summary: Santana gets Free Art from artist Ell and Dani also monster discussions.  Triggers/Notes: Violence, death, corpses, body horror

Santana called Elliott and Dani to hang out next to the park of Florence Farr School of Magical Performing Arts. Because it has Art at the end, wich obviously means it gives strenght to artist to do a better job. It was all well thought. "Well, well, artist. You are here to Battle. With your pencils because the pen is mightier than the sword if the sword is broken and the pen is very pointy. This is..." She makes an illusion of confettig and sounds effect of people cheering and clapping to reveal in floating neon lights. "SantanART CONTEST DUEL: Who is the better artist?" She dissiped the illusion. "So, are you guys ready?"

Dani wasn´t quite sure what exactly they were doing, but she enjoyed the opportunity to get out of her room and away from studying and if that meant she got to spend some time with her friends. What she hadn´t expected, however, was some sort of art duel. "Huh?" Dani couldn´t quite hide the smile on her face as she watched the confetti illusion fall. She was a good artist, but she was definitely a little out of practice. "Okay. But I do have a pretty cool sword," she pointed out with a laugh. "What are we drawing?"

Elliott arrives with his bag full of notebooks and art supplies, if he wasn't wrong Santana wanted him to draw something but he saw Dani was there too and then the confetti. He chuckles "An art competition? Sounds fun" he winks at Dani "What's the prize though?" he teases Santana.

Santana looks at Dani, very interested. "Oh, my my, a sword? Did you studied the blade when everyone was busy being heterosexual?" She joked. "Since when do you have a sword and why I haven't seen it?" Elliott mentioned prizes. "Aw, don't artist want to enjoy art for the art or something like that? What about the pleasure of victory?" She complained. "I have some useful items if you want them, thought. Potions, bear plushies who make you stronger, you know it." She comments. Dani already had 1 point for asking what they should draw instead of the prize. "Anyway. I'll show you an illusion of a woman I saw. I want a realistic portrait of her. I don't have any pictures and I can't share illusions over the internet. I want to find if someone knows her."

Dani put down her bag and pulled out a sketch pad and a couple of pens. "I haven´t had it for very long, St. Pierre gave it to me for apparently not killing anyone with the net gun," she joked and settled down, giving Elliott another smile. She wasn´t going to complain about getting a prize, though Dani really would enjoy spending time with her friends. "Any other special requests? Colored portrait? Charcoal?" It did seem like Santana was definitely up to something, but for now Dani was just going to let it go and focus on the drawing.

Elliott narrows his eyes, even though he isn't really upset, he is serious about what he is going to say "Hey, art is a job like any other, artists should be paid for their work" he says getting his sketchbook out of his bag "but I was joking anyway" he then realizes they are talking about a sword "wait what? really? we are not really fighting are we" he raises his eyebrow looking at Santana.

"Don´t worry. I won´t stab you with a pen." Dani comments with a grin, in case that wasn´t clear.

Elliott blinks and then chuckles "You would be wasting a very nice pen"

Santana says a "Mmmh..." somehow worried. Remembering certain conversations about LN slayers. With the collar on, Dani was basically a common, so, why not, right? "Be careful with what St. Pierre is doing. But, well, enjoy the sword!" Santana also aproved taking advange of whatever if you could. "I want it to be more recognizable than artistic, so, what you think would be better? I guess color would help." Santana also approved asking money for doing things, but not so much when she was the one paying for it. She made an illusion of a woman in front of them. She looked dead. A grotesque, frozen dead woman, with mottled feathers clinging to her. Her eyes are piercing blue, glaring angrily. Her body was transparent, you could see her veins through it. "Can you draw her alive?"

"Yeah...I´m not sure what exactly to make of it, the course I took with him was helpful though and I need a way to defend myself. And you guys," Dani nodded, she didn´t want to go into a detailed conversation now so instead picked out a couple of pens. "Depends on what kind of woman we´re looking at," she picked up a pen and then, for a moment and then waited for the illusion, eyebrows furrowing together. "What the...?" Dani glanced over at Elliott for a moment. "What I wouldn´t give for The Angelator now..." she muttered before looking at the illusion a little more, trying to remember every detail. "You mean...draw her how she´d look as if she was alive? Before she turned into...whatever the hell that is." It wasn´t really a question. Dani outlined the face first before glancing up at Santana. "Where did you see her?"

Elliott listens to Dani's explanation and wonders what St. Pierre is up to, he was glad Dani had something to protect herself anyway, but something about it felt suspicious. He doesn't have time to voice his worry when an illusion of a dead woman appears in front of them, he shares a look with Dani. "Where did you see this woman?" he exclaims too almost at the same time as her. He can't stop looking at the illusion, her piercing blue eyes without any life in them. She vaguely resemblence an immortui but there was something else there. He grabs a normal pen, and a notebook, maybe doing too much would take away from her being recognizable "Are you hoping to find her again?"

Santana laughs at Dani's hilarous joke of her, a normie who couldn't use her magic, protecting someone as fucking strong as her. And Elliott. But specially her. "Oh my, Dani, you're so fucking funny." She keeps laughing for a bit until she notices. "Oh wait, you were serious. Aw, that's adorable." She looked back at her own amazing illusion. "I don't know what the hell an Angelator is." She nods and shakes her head at Elliott asking her if she wants to find her, doubting."I want to know if someone knows her when she was alive. Me and Kittycat saw her at the last field mission. I think she is like the undead monsters we keep encountering. I mean, she is clearly undead, she said it herself." She says, non challant. Illusion still up. "But you know, they are all connected. Probably."

Dani doesn´t even roll her eyes. It´s Santana after all. Instead she laughs, poking her tongue out at the other for a moment. And she doesn´t even explain the Bones reference. Just thinks "Muggles" and looks back at the outline she´s drawn of the woman so far. There´s something...haunting about her eyes. Sometimes that makes her seem alive even though she´s clearly dead. Like she´s ready to stare down into their soul. "The dragon was like...hundreds of years old, maybe she is too?" She then asked, making sure to pay extra attention to the eyes as she keeps drawing before reaching for another pen. "Maybe we´ll find a picture of her in a book..."

Elliott stares at Santana for a while as she laughs, he isn't sure what is so funny, but is sort of contagious and he laughs a bit too. He looks down at the drawing a couple of times, but mostly observes the face of the woman trying to notice whatever detail would be important to represent her as she was. He nods at Dani's suggestion "Maybe that would be a good idea, compare her to old photographs too, look in book, a google search?" he asks making another line to mark where her eyes should be in the face "Are those feathers?" he asks pointing out at the illusion.

@Elliott 😈 Karin:  

1d6

 = (4) = 4

@Dani Harper 🐈44/44 Fiyero Lv.2:  

1d6

 = (3) = 3

Santana thinks about it. It made sense. Maybe this bitch was super mega old like the dragon. "Do you think those things were like, alive a super long time ago and now they are back? You are right. Maybe she is soooo old no one knows anything." She shrugs. "It's worth a try, thought. I was planning on putting your drawings on the aethernet and around campus to see if anyone knew anything about her." Santana nods and makes an illusion of a white bird with blue eyes. Matching her. "Yeah! She had feathers. And before we saw this fucking ugly bird." It was important to catch up. "It talked, so at first I though it was some kind of trickster. But she was clearly not, ha..." She laughs, bitterly, glancing at her own illusion of the bitch's corpse.

Dani picks up the blue pen to devote some time to the eyes. Something tells her she has to get them right, whether Santana would be using her drawing or not. This is weird. Somehow. But if it´s going to help stopping those monsters that are trying to kill them then she´s happy to help. Or well. Glad. Maybe happy is the wrong word. "That´s a good idea," she then nods. "Even if she´s old...maybe someone´s heard her story. Knows what kind of myth or legend connects to her,"

Elliott nods giving to his drawing some shadow for the shape of the face "Were there any clues about the dragon.. or the others...?" he asks curious, he then realizes what Santana says, she thought the woman was a trickster, that's something he never thought about before, when these creatures attacked, they all defended themselves, he did too, he remembers New Year and the enormous creature. He gets lost in thought, his pen stops. What were these creatures? He never stopped to think about it, he just reacted, and now it was too late for some of them. Who were they? he corrected himself "Do you think maybe we should draw all of them? Try to find out about... you know, we have seen many now" he looks up at Santana.

Santana thinks abou how cool a name is The Myth Killers when Dani speaks. "We found the bird in the cave. It says it was its home. You know, like the dragon had like, his place. It says it lived there a fucking ton of years, but you know, I assumed it was lying lies... the woman said...something about the life she sewed together." Wich agains, all this sewing metaphors connect to the angel thingie of stitching the world together. In the end it was all about knitting. "You can't kill what's already dead... That's what it says. And that's what all the big monsters had in common! We need a cool name for them. I accept suggestions." She illusions some little monsters in front of them.  The first Samhain one, the one she didn't see but Blaine showed her an illusion of. The big thing attacking at New Years. Marley with a tittle of "Picture not avaiable. I didn't see it and everyone saw it differently." The dragon. And the undead woman. "Those are what I know of. "

"Who knows just HOW many are out there." Dani agrees with a nod as she picks up the first pen once more, doing some corrections around the eyes before turning her attention to the feathers. "We should form an investigative group and call it "The Knitting Circle", that way nobody will get suspicious about what we´re actually doing." She puts the pen aside and then smudges the edges of the feathers a little with her fingers. When Elliott speaks up however, Dani gives him a nod. "Yeah, maybe that´s a good idea. I´ve already done a drawing of the dragon the day after the whole encounter. I had a feeling it wasn´t over..."

Elliott frowns confused about those words, they seem like riddles, everything always had to be so vague and mysterious, almost like they were part of a bigger story who needed to be solve and someone could be hitting at it breaking the fourth wall, was this joke even worth it. Either way, he keeps thinking about it "But why do we need to be secreti-" he starts asking "oh yeah memory erasure..." he bites his lower lip "Nice" he looks over at Dani's notebook waiting to see her other drawing "Oh, there is another one" he suddenly remembers "Jules told me about it" he says moving the drawing of the woman aside for a second and on the next blank page he made a quick very simple drawing of a flying creature "though I didn't personally saw this one, but it was the one from the news, in new year, a second creature appeared in Time Squares" he shows the drawing to Santana, then he looks at the line up of illusions "Is that the "mom", why is she Marley?"  he deduces by elimination "I didn't really see it very well either" he sighs "I mean it was sort of a blob with faces... kind of super fucked up and creepy."

Santana shrugs. "The investigate group  can have many names, but I mean the monsters! What should we call them? The undead big monsters? Is just not catchy." She walks a bit to look how the drawings where going, while still maintaining the illusions. "My my, then you are going to try to draw all of them? Half Dani and half Elliott. It would be really useful. I doubt anyone took pictures, trying not to die and all that." So, the dragon was done already. Perfect. She thumbs up at Dani. "Oh no no, fuck secrets. I'm going to tell everyone about it. They can't erase my memory." She saw the flying creature thing. "Oh, true. There were other monsters at New Year. Added." Santana changed Marley to Shelby, and then to the blob. She remembers she is not supposed to super mock Ryder in case he returns she needs that friendship strong. She grins "I though it would be funny!"

"That and...well we already got strikes, if we get another poking our noses into things that aren´t supposed to be for us," Dani shrugs her shoulders. "I mean I don´t mind poking my nose into it, I just don´t want to get caught doing it. Or have my memory erased." She wipes her fingers on her jeans and puts her notebook down for a moment before pulling another one from her bag and handing it to Elliott. "It´s on the first pages. A close up and some full body sketches," she tells him.]

[THEN THEY KEEP DRAWING AND CHATTING BOOM DARK CURTAIN]