#he's a reoccurring cast member in this one

[snickerdoodlles]

📖 for kinnporsche the series? your ideas are just so good!

thank u nonny!! 😭❣

this one took me a while to type because it is my weird whacky fic child who i love very dearly but struggle to explain. so, uh.

✨ Necromancy AU ✨

Big dies in the warehouse. Porsche gets Arm to get his body out, gets Kinn to delay the cremation, and gets Chay to reanimate Big.

(because reanimating the dead is just something Chay can do, because he figured it'd be a good skill to learn and he's my most specialest boy.)

Kinn (who's at the morgue for Porsche) is flabbergasted, Khun (who's at the morgue by a miracle) is stunned silent, and Kim (who's here because Khun texted him but didn't say Chay would be here) is more shocked by Big than Chay's abilities.

(Kim is the only person other than Porsche to just accept necromancy as A Reasonable Thing For Chay To Know. this is why they're Chay's favorites.)

anyways so Big is now awake and surrounded by this family. this is hell. not just for him, his sudden undead status is causing a lot of problems:

Porsche just had Chay bring Big back, he didn't like...tell anyone what was happening or make a plan for what to do with him.

Kinn just figured out his new guard roster, and now he has to redo it to accommodate one very grumpy and very loyal Big who now doesn't need trivial things like sleep or food.

there's the looming specter of Khun's upcoming dry cleaning bill because he won't. stop. poking. Big.

Big is trying very, very, very hard to ignore that not only do people know he knew about Porsche and Kinn, but that he loves Kinn so much he died protecting Porsche.

speaking of, Porsche just thanked him for saving Chay and (in a quieter voice) for saving him.

Big is in hell.

despite all that, Big's plans for his new life are to just go back to being Kinn's perfect guard. he is ignoring the awkwardness, none of this is fine, none of this will be fine, but it will be NORMAL.

this is hampered by the fact that whoops, turns out the undead need to hang around their "masters" for at least a few hours every couple of days to "recharge" so to speak, as discovered by Pol when he screamed so loud he set a fire alarm off because he stumbled over Big's body face down in front of Kinn's door at 2am.

this is even further hampered by Korn, who will absolutely not stand for his preferred heir being guarded by someone who might be more loyal to someone other than him. Korn uses the "recharge" issue to force Big out by way of making him Chay's permanent guard.

so now Big, the perfect bodyguard who only got better at his job in death, is now stuck hanging around a high schooler who doesn't get into trouble and just wants to make music with his bitchy boyfriend.

(because oh yeah, mr. the untamed nerd Kim is obviously ridiculously into Chay being able to resurrect the dead and leaks feelings before he can run away and sabotages all future attempts to ghost Chay (insert necromancer joke here). Kim's fears of love and hurting those he loves will cause different problems.)

anyways, Big is suffering. not only is he stuck guarding Porsche's baby brother (who! he's realizing he likes as a person! will the horrors never cease!), Chay keeps being nice and thoughtful and looking out for him as a person and asking after his happiness and shit (the horrors!! are not ceasing!!!!). when Big finally has enough of all this Being Treated Like A Human Being business and asks Chay why he even cares, Chay blurts out "Big, do you even want to be alive?"

because this has been eating at Chay ever since he brought Big back at the morgue. because he never knew Big and never asked if he'd want to be alive again, Chay just did it for Porsche, who wasn't doing it for Big but for his own guilt. and then Big's old life was like an ill-fitting glove, because he and Porsche can't be bitches with Big's sacrifice hanging over them but don't know how to act when they aren't being bitches, Korn won't accept him back because he only sees his own paranoia and none of Big's loyalty, and Kinn might appreciate Big's loyalty but he won't fight for it either, not when he's trying to juggle the rest of Korn's messes coming to fruition. Big's been completely forced out of his old life and any ties he might've kept to the other guards (as few as they were) are ruined by the others' guilt and discomfort, because Big might not have died in the first place if literally anyone had listened to him during the Tawan debacle, which they could ignore when he was dead but can't when he's alive and there in front of them.

and the whole confession draws Big up short because no one's ever asked him what he wants before. Big was just the son of a mafia enforcer who got scooped up young by the main family as a personal guard for Kinn. Big's never even considered that what he wants could be an option. even when he first came back, his main considerations were on the ways he was a better guard for Kinn. Big's chosen more things for himself in his weeks with Chay than he has in his life, and he never stopped to think how he feels about that.

he does now. kinda. this is Big after all. but after both forty-three excruciating minutes and three days, Big finally answers Chay, "i never lived for me before. it's...nice." Chay, who's gotten quite good at reading between the lines after all the exposure from Kim and Big, beams and makes him help him pick his electives for his first semester of university, because Chay's determined to help Big find a hobby and he's overcome far tougher things than emotional constipation.

[[ ask me about fics im not writing ]]

Bonus

small scene snippet from shortly after Big's first brought back to life, right after Kim's walked into screaming, stolen Pol's gun, and shoved Chay behind him for protection, because i love themm

Kim opens and closes his mouth silently before sputtering, “But you— I heard— What…?!”

Chay worms his arms around Kim’s waist to get his attention and his head pops over Kim’s shoulder. “It’s okay, phi,” he says soothingly, “I brought him back.”

Big gets an eye full of Kim’s face flashing through four emotions he recognizes and thirty he doesn’t, which is thirty-four more emotions than Big can deal with. Kim twists around in Chay’s hold, just enough to squint at him from the corner of his eye without letting Big out of his gun’s sight line. 

“You know how to resurrect the dead?”

Chay drops his chin onto Kim’s shoulder with a huff. “Why do people keep asking me that? It seemed like a useful skill to know!”

“Obviously,” Kim scoffs, which is the first original response Big’s heard to that all day. “I meant you can do it? What, we’re you bored and just googled ‘how to make a zombie’ one day after school?!”

Chay rolls his eyes and pokes the undersides of Kim’s ribs. Shockingly, Kim pushes further into his hold, rather than away. “Don’t be silly. You have to be trained by a shaman to make a zombie.”

Kim actually turns to look at him dead on. His gun is still trained on Big. 

Chay cocks his head to the side. “What? I just googled ‘how to bring back the dead’ and went from there. It’s basically CPR!”

“That worked?”

Chay looks genuinely baffled. “Why wouldn’t it?”

Kim stares at him incredulously before suddenly going boneless in Chay’s hold, squishing him back against the wall. Chay does not protest being squished between Kim and a hard place. He actually looks delighted by it. Big would like to go throw up now. He doesn’t know if corpses can do that, but he’s willing to make an effort. 

“Of course it works, you’re you,” Kim grumbles. He knocks his head against Chay’s and rubs in a move so cute Big will throw up, death be damned. “If life worked for me like that...”

Chay beams and pats his stomach. “I’ll teach you!”

Turns out corpses can't throw up, but they can gag so hard they choke.

[victoriadallonfan]

I don't agree with a lot of Sanderson's politics - and they aren't, in fact, based in Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints doctrine, but rather Utah culture - but it also makes me pretty uncomfortable to hear you badmouthing the church I'm part of?

I badmouth religious organizations in general, Catholic Church included (in which I was raised) because they tend to be overwhelmingly corrupt and abusive towards their own church members (and especially towards people outside of them)

Mormonism in particular is especially bad for how being part of the church requires “tithings” from paychecks plus their treatment of women, minorities, and even men in ways that are almost so explicitly manipulative and cultish that it feels like it comes out of parody.

(For example, I simply declared, “I am no longer catholic” and that was it. Done. You cannot generally do the same in LDS without incredible backlash and slander by its members)

And it’s very obvious when it shows up in fictional books by a lot of Mormon writers, because it’s so conservative that it’s a step or two behind the times.

It’s not as bad as Westeros Westboro Baptist Church or Scientology, but that’s not a high bar to clear.

If your time in the church was different, I’m happy for you, because it means you likely avoided the worst parts of their abuse.

Still, if you have the time, I’d suggest watching these videos (in no particular order):

Why I Left Mormonism - Video covering the creation of the channel “Cults to Consciousness” and her abusive home life under the church

The BITE Model - Simple PowerPoint explaining the reoccurring factors of cults

Ex-Mormon Cast Reacts to Mormon Debates -Cast of ex-Mormon members react to a Mormon debate and highlight various lies and falsehoods presented, as well talk about teachings/history Mormon Church does not want revealed publicly

How the Mormon Church ‘Help Line’ Hid Child Abuse - Exactly what it says. Survivors speak out and the church has done nothing for them or worse.

If you don’t want to watch these videos, if you can’t stomach the testimonies, ask yourself and others these questions:

- How often are you allowed to preach about Heavenly Mother?

- How often do you see women in power within the church, as in, deciding doctrine and not just playing piano or making food for the men?

- How often do you see minorities in power within the church, as in, deciding doctrine or being treated as a token?

- How often does your church talk about the incredibly high suicide rates for children and how it’s associated with its practices?

- How come when a racist, anti-Semitic, misogynistic etc Prophet speaks its “the word of God” and doctrine, but then another Prophet can simply claim it was mere “policy”. Was ‘God’ lying to the prophets? Were the prophets lying about God? How can you trust what is their words and what is God?

- How come the church hid $30 Billion dollars from the public and even its own lower members?

- How come the founder lied about what was on the Egyptian papyrus, claiming it was a translation from God, but people who can actually read Egyptian pointed out he was lying?

- How come you get treated differently for asking these supposedly easy to answer questions?

I do not go after Brandon or you because you happen to be religious. I think belief in a higher power is one’s own choice and prerogative.

I instead care far more about the religious system that is using well-intended people like pawns for goals that pretty much boil down to money and power.

[cbrownjc]

So about that Justin Kirk spoiler:

So yeah, there is a spoiler out there about whom Kirk is playing. And I have some thoughts about it that I just want to say, even if the rumor ends up not being true. But I'm going to put this all under a spoiler cut just in case.

So word on Twitter is that he's playing Raglan James. And honestly, yeah I can see that. In fact, thinking about it last night as well as today, it actually works better than when I thought and was so sure he was playing Marius.

And you know, he still might be. But there was a good argument about why pull the same hidden vampire identity plot two seasons in a row? I personally thought it would be fine, seeing as Marius would regularly do such a thing in the books, and so it would make sense that he taught his fledgling Armand to do so.

But there is an even bigger method to the idea of introducing a character like Raglan James this early if that is who he IS playing. And that is to get people ready for the body-switching plot of Tale of the Body Thief.

Rolin Jones already spoke about how tricky and goofy body-switching stories can be. So the show starting to plan that out way in advance isn't unbelievable IMO.

And I also am getting a sneaking suspicion that the body thief plot is not going to be played out how we've all assumed it would be if the show did it.

I and @nalyra-dreaming have both noted that Raglan James' original body was not a brown man, but that of a white man. James stole a brown Southeast Asian man's body to then switch with Lestat. A body that David then later ended up in permanently.

And well, I kinda think the show is going to want to avoid the racist implications of all of that. Three white men switching around, and trading back and forth, a brown man's body? If the show did go there they would very much do a commentary about it I'm sure. However, at the end of the day, the story would still end up with a white man occupying the stolen body of a brown man and keeping it for himself.

So really, what would all and any commentary about it be saying after it was done? Many book readers already don't like David's character. And I just don't see them doing such a thing with Daniel's character either.

And the easiest way to still do the body thief plot but avoid all of that? Is to just cut that part out. And have James only make one switch . . . and that is switching with Lestat while James is still in his original body.

And I suspect that's what we're going to get if Kirk really is going to be playing Raglan James. And why the rumors regarding him are that he's only going to be reoccurring in Seasons 4 and 5, not become a main cast member.

When they do the body switch, Kirk is going to be playing Lestat. And Sam will be playing Raglan James. But first, the show is going to get people familiar with Raglan James' character and the Talamasca starting this season, and probably in Season 4 as well. (With Season 5 being when the body-thief plot finally plays out . . . meaning yeah, we really might get the QotD/Akasha stuff in Season 4!)

"But what about Daniel?" I know some people are thinking. Well, I have an idea/theory about that too. But I'm not confident in saying anything about it yet. But yes, I do think Daniel speaking with Raglan James is significant. And a lot of people have already thought/predicted that Daniel would get David's body swap plot.

I just don't think this is all going to end with Daniel's character being played by Justin Kirk.

And that is all I feel confident in saying about it right now.

[mdhwrites]

Why TOH really doesn't want a theme of discrimination.

Every demon in the show is depicted as evil, dumb or as good... because they don't want to be a part of demon culture.

That's the thesis and it's not an over exaggeration. In the main cast, the only demon of the DEMON REALM is Hooty who is treated as slow, less intelligent than the other members of the cast, and as a joke by the writers as he never elevates himself above being simply comic relief. Association with him seems to be the earliest sign that Lilith is meant to be seen as a joke and her relationship with Hooty ostracizes her from the rest of the cast. Makes her appear weird because she's the only one who can like the bird tube.

Otherwise, they're all antagonists. Most of them are just one note villains for that matter. In S1, every demon with a real speaking role is a villain. The monster hunters, Warden Wrath, Tibbles, the basilisk, the publisher for King and even Boscha if her third eye denotes demonic heritage. Anyone who we see at least as neutral are pretty much just background characters. The ones from the prison in the first episode are really the only ones who get a moment of heroism.

Now you might say: What about Bat Queen? She's the richest person on the Isles and she... Isn't a demon. She's a palisman. Made by, or at least for, a god with the insinuation they give. Bare minimum: Not for any demon known to the Isles. So she doesn't count.

There ARE witch antagonists in S1 thankfully. They're Matt, who goes on to obviously be a good person at heart, Amity who... Duh and Lilith who is also redeemed. None of this happens to any of the demons though even if ostensibly this is their world since the entire dimension is named after demons.

Which, as a note, also is part of why saying TOH is anti-colonial means ignoring an entire race.

Even KING, who should have been the demon representative in the main cast, was then retconned not to be one. Worse yet, only once that retcon began did the show start treating him with any real respect. As a demon... He was just a dumb comic relief character as far as the show is concerned.

So when we FINALLY get a reoccurring demon... It's Kikimora. That should be all I need to say there.

Now the final argument: Vee. Vee is a good person, right? She's not a villain or antagonist, just a good person. And you would be right. The framing on Vee is the problem. As the ONE genuinely just good demon, we have to evaluate how she is different. She is different... Because she rejected the Demon Realm. Her parallels with Luz are even supposed to make it clear that she is better at being a human THAN LUZ. Which has the awful implication, if we want to say TOH has anti-discrimination theme, that the only good demon, is a domesticated demon. One who wants to be a human.

That's. Fucking. Awful.

And just to cover my bases: Yes, discrimination is more than a race thing but the concept of discrimination on race is actually pretty much the only one ever brought up. The fact that no one gives a shit about ethnicity or sexuality or gender actually hurts the theme because you have to project those things onto the show instead. And any allegory to discrimination is explicitly done through races. Fantasy races but that still frames it as a racial issue so its theme on anti-discrimination is going to struggle to branch out beyond racial lines because it effectively ignores that any other form of discrimination might even EXIST.

And for the finale!... I don't think any of this is on purpose by the writers. Yes, they bring discrimination into the show but just like how real life conflicts will often ignore the complexities of all the groups present, such as us referring to all Native Americans as one whole group rather than their separate tribes and histories, the show effectively forgets about the demons. They're just there for flavor because if literally all of the characters of the demon realm were elves, it wouldn't feel like it fits the name at all. It adds spice to a scene and adventure if you have demons of all sorts and sizes.

But the witches are the conventionally attractive characters who are easy to latch onto and so they are the main cast. Everything that looks other becomes a target for villainy because of that juxtaposition. Unfortunately, none of this helps any sort theme of inclusivity. That we are supposed to look past the outer shell and see the person within, regardless, race, gender, sexuality, etc. like that.

Instead, TOH tells a very basic fantasy story and in doing so, falls into the fact that a lot of classic fantasy was written by racist white dudes and the fact that the term demon is charged due to LOTS of religions that paint them out as wholly evil. Without actually interrogating these concepts, it can be easy to fall into them.

So yeah, I think this is a theme people need to stop trying to apply to TOH.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[teddy06]

Guys wake up the new au I'll never write just dropped

This one is kinda high concept so just hear me out

AU where the Les Amis are all various members of an acting troupe/college drama department/something of that nature with Jehan and Combeferre as co directors who decide that they really really want to do back to back productions of Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead where they have the actors from one return as the same roles in the other

Enjolras and Grantaire (who are still very much in their hating each other stage) get cast as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern respectively despite both going all out for Hamlet

(I'm not sure as to who gets what for the rest of the roles other than that I was Fueilly as Hamlet, Eponine as Ophelia, and Jehan as The Player/The Player King (yes i know their already directing let me have this))

Anyway E and R being R and G doesn't matter as much first because in Hamlet R and G are barley even functional in the plot, and have almost no relevancy, so E and R mostly just spend a lot of time stuck off stage together, waiting for their cues and trying to figure out why the hell theyre there.

(With some bonus plots of Fueilly and Eponine building their friendship more, it being Fueillys first major role, courfeyrac going ham helping out the costume department, etc etc)

Then when it gets time for RaGAD to be staged Enjolras and Grantaire are struggling to figure out their chemistry and to make it work because suddenly their characters who were nothing before are in the spot light constantly, so the main plot becomes them trying to figure out who their characters are.

At the same time they both start having these reoccurring dreams that they can only partially remeber, that's pretty much their lives in actual canon, but less of the parts we actually see depicted in the brick or on stage or on screen but the times when they're stuck waiting for the rest of the plot to happen and move back to them, wherein they are expirencing the same things Rosencrantz and Guildenstern expirence in the play, of not quite knowing why they're there but in the end coming to understand that because they were marked for death they were dead the whole time and there's no escaping fate, etc etc

And the dreams help them to unlock and understand the characters and each other in a way that none of the other Amis saw coming so it's like a big thing on opening night when it all finally comes together for the first time

Minor side note: I only want to see the actual dialogue from RaGAD in the dreams, at least, all the philosophical and absurdist bits

Double side note: the night before RaGAD opens combeferre definitely does the whole "we may not even have a show. It's not me you'll be embarrassing up there" speech bc of course he does

[hood-ex]

As someone who has been catching up on comics. I noticed a pattern with Nightwing. Every time the author changes the supporting cast gets dumped. We had the run offs and greyer Blockbuster. They don’t exist by the Ric arc even though they could be people to step up in Nightwing’s absence or grab power. Ric arc had a cast of cops and friends and Bea. Never heard from the cops again despite them being potential informants. The difference with Tom Taylor is that he’s the only one who uses old characters but he mutates them. Not sure if that’s worse but I hate the cast dumping. I fully expect never to see Bea, and the sister again. If the Sister stays someone will kills her off. Huh Taylor had a small supporting cast compared to others.

Yeah that's been a reoccurring problem with Nightwing and is one of the complaints fans have about it.

OH SHIT. Hold on. I'm sorry but this conversation just triggered something in my brain. So Guppy was in prison, right? Omg was he in the prison that Heartless liberated? Is Guppy free??

Wait let me double check... Heartless liberated Bludhaven Private Prison... and Guppy went to Bludhaven Maximum Security Prison... ugh. Damn. Different prisons.

Anyway, if they had kept Bea's normal civilian origin, I would've loved her as an informant of sorts for Nightwing since she could overhear convos at the bar and also see who certain individuals came in with. So yeah it would suck to see Bea just disappear after this, but at the same time, I don't know if I vibe with her sticking around as a pirate queen.

Melinda on the other hand, she can go. TT literally just set her up as the mayor as a way to make it easy for Dick to take down the baddies of the city. That's her purpose. Just easy gateway/easy access to certain information and such. TT hasn't bothered doing anything else with her, really. The sibling thing was just to give Dick an easy way to befriend the mayor. That's it.

But yeah, it'll be interesting to see which cast members the next writer pulls. Or who knows, maybe they'll rely more heavily on the Titans.

[finshingpool]

sundays philosophy explained very badly

and yes he seriously needs to go see a shrink.

!! spoilers for the 2.2 story quest!!

also hoyo is trying to be very subtle with the HI3 World Serpent reference.

first thing first, the positives. his ideology might be twisted but Sunday has never use his position of power to sabotage the opposing party (the backstabbing kind)(not that i know of💔). He seeks total dominance from a fair fight, ultimately to prove his beliefs superior.

he never outright rejects the ideas of our protagonist but instead use grounded argument to support his. its not a fight for total oppression of the people but a wrestle among philosophies, that he believes the worthier one will be judged by the people, the aeons, and fate itself.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

! kay so what is Sundayeology.

"a dystopia for the survival of the fittest, or a Sweatdream Paradise for all?"

the way i see it, Sunday wish to bring the closest form of equality into reality(dream xd). a place where strength, status, gender, etc. determined at birth does not affect the life that person desires. he wants to resist the flow of nature, an inherent evil in his eyes that calls itself Natural Selection. The method of such resistance is through Order.

"nature is always accompanied by predation and sacrifice... Its antithesis is known as Order."

how does Sunday define this "Sweatdream Paradise" of his? in his perfect world, nobody would need to work, and hence, would entirely avoid the hardship of reality. it would lead to a forced evolution where we would evolve into a life form detached from our physical state. This transcendence beyond the physical world mainly applies to the human spirit. without hunger and such as, human can cast aside our primal instinct and truly live a life striving towards self enlightenment. only in this hypothetical world do people return to their original self and when faced with their predetermined end, they would leave in the purest of spirit with their dignity intact. To feathered head, this is universal happiness.

so the whats!? mild food for thoughts, facing hardship degrade your dignity???

(might!! have an idea, where most people would assume 'growth' in a emotion sense, 'growth' in Sunday eyes is more on the spiritual side. therefore, in his world, by removing physical limitation where also removing spiritual pain)

"and it is only on these days, that people do not have to adhere to the law where the strong prey on the weak"

in true antagonist fashion, Sunday is a bit of a hypocrite, the status quo where "the strong prey on the weak" is erred but a system where "the strong govern the weak" is perfectly acceptable.

Sunday believes that the individuals that go against his philosophy are the exception, not the rule. as the weekend man himself put it, the ideals the Nameless fought for only represent a small percentage of the people/ 'the fittest' and their actions would negatively impact the 'anonymous and frail member among the masses'.

Sunday view our protagonist quest as quite selfish as they were only focused on striving for a Penocony they deemed right in their eyes, but disregard the perspective of the average Penocony residence (he thought he stood for)

💤⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

! Sundayeology pits against others (the ones i actually pay attention to)

Robin

it's clear robin was his first 'order awakening'(weird). her being shot in the neck and all shows him how Penacony or the universe at large cannot be salvaged through the path of Harmony.

' the bird

nature vs order, an overarching theme in Sundays philosophy. if you played through the 2.2 quest you'd notice the bird flashback is a reoccurring theme. it really helps translate his complex ideas into fornite terms for me. to put it simply, the dove is wounded and Sunday wish to keep it alive by caging it up, it'd be too weak to survive in the wild, at least this way it would continue on living. however, Robin held a different view.

2. Firefly

i think firefly rebuttal during the big yap scene really hit home for me. #powerfulmoment #moved #touched #girlboss #SAM

without any hardship or challenge, people would never have the chance to overcome their weakness and therefore this "blissful world" would only act as an escape for the forementioned weakness

these adversities we faced is just the way of life and the right to deal with them should never be taken from us in the first place.

"the want to escape may be innate in the weak, but whether they are weak are not... it is not up to another to decide

perhaps in your mind, you also view me as 'weak'?"

SHIVER ME TIMBERS. THAT LINE WAS DELIVERED SO WELL ONNNGOD I WAS SQUIRMING.

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

! some random references i wanna point out

⋆ SIMULATION CONSPIRACY RING RING (i watched far way too many wendigoon lately) if dreams are undisguisable to reality, whats wrong with that

⋆ The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas: for the masses to achieve eternal happiness, one person must shoulder all their pain (oh sunday)

"the cost is minute, merely a personal.. and eternal sacrifice. If this paradise is to be maintained for everyone, someone must remain trapped in solitary wakening, until the end of the cosmos."

like come onnn, they're not even trying to hide it.

⋆ like i mentioned before, the whole thing is just a big World Serpent reference (with less pressure for survival, MUCH LESS BLOODSHED). Sunday you're NOT Kevin Kaslana.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

i like how everyone has their own interpretation of "why do life slumber?" for lil vro its " because we are afraid to awaken from our dream"

silly beans:p

~ a/n: i like how allat means nothing at all.

signing of for good

[lover-of-mine]

Am I crazy or wasn’t he already a reoccurring cast member anyway?

Okay, no he was not a recurring character because recurring character usually participates in multiple arcs, you know like, they exists in the background of the show for multiple episodes, think Josh, Sue, Karen, Ravi, they exist in the story even though they are not a lead. Obviously, we have the leads Athena, Bobby, Buck, Hen, Chim, Eddie, Maddie, and, yes, Christopher because Gavin has a lead contract and has had one since s3, it's why he's usually at least half the episodes of a season every season and why he's part of the promotional pictures we got last season, he's also listed in the 911 page as main. But a guess star in a show will be someone that's only there for an arc. He was there for the begins episodes to serve her purpose. And he was brought back now because he is serving a purpose, he furthers Buck bi arc, he doesn't exist in the whole plot, he exists in an arc of the story, does that make sense?

[autism-swagger]

OKAY IM CAVING A LITTLE BIT!!! From one obsessor to another..... I am asking for the biggest info dump on AoS possible w\out any major spoilers 🙏

OH BOY!!!!

I love you for this thank you so much 🙏

Putting this under a read more because it's long.

Okay SO the official plot of Agents of SHIELD is as follows: The worldwide law-enforcement organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division) employs an elite team of agents who investigate strange occurrences around the globe and beyond. Its members -- each of whom brings a specialty to the group -- work to protect those who cannot protect themselves from extraordinary and inconceivable threats.

(Totally didn't copy and paste that from google.)

The first season takes place in 2013, very soon after the events of the first Avengers film. Over the course of the first episode, we're introduced to our main cast of characters.

(There's more main characters introduced in later seasons, but this is just the season 1 cast.)

(Also it's important to note that everyone in this show is allergic to first names, and most characters just go by their last name.)

PHIL COULSON

A very high ranking member of SHIELD, Coulson has been tasked with putting together a team of specialists to travel the world, responding to threats before they become Avengers level bad. He's the leader of the team, and was first introduced in Iron Man 1. He was a reoccurring character in the first couple MCU movies, before being killed in The Avengers. Except surprise! He's not actually dead! The official story is that he was resuscitated shortly after his death, but you slowly start to realize that something isn't quite right... Figuring out what really happened is one of the main plot lines of season 1.

MELINDA MAY

She's the pilot for their plane (aka the Bus). When Coulson recruited her to the team, she was working behind a desk at SHIELD, but before that she was a field agent. Some mysterious past event traumatized her so badly that she left it all behind, but over the course of season 1 (and beyond) she slowly starts to heal and reenter the field.

GRANT WARD

He's recruited to the team as the specialist, aka the person who does all of the cool spy stuff (espionage, infiltration, combat, etc. May was a specialist before she left the field.) He's grumpy and more than a bit of an asshole, but he has a surprising amount of depth and nuance to him. I actually think he's a pretty cool character.

JEMMA SIMMONS AND LEO FITZ

Two halves of a whole, to the point where everyone just calls them FitzSimmons and refers to them as if they were one person. They're the scientists of the team. Fitz is an engineer, and Simmons is a biologist/chemist. They both incredibly smart and incredibly autistic. I love them dearly. Unfortunately they are European 💔 (Br*tish and Scottish respectively.)

And finally,

SKYE

The only member who was not already a part of SHIELD before being recruited to the team. Skye is a genius level hacker who is part of an activist group known for releasing government secrets for the good of the public. She's caught by the team in episode 1 and brought in for questioning, except surprise! They only caught her because she let herself get caught. She even knows more than they do, which kicks off the main plot of season 1. Her entire backstory is a big unknown, especially to her. She was left in front of an orphanage as a baby, and is trying to figure out where she came from. It's a major plot point in the first 2 seasons.

This show is legitimately so good, and you don't really need to know anything about the mainline MCU to follow along.

It's about the found family! It's about the love changing everything and nothing at the same time! It's about the unluckiest bastards in the multiverse!

[curedigiqueen]

Why I think Ryo is the Ken of Survive.

Obviously, all the Survive kids are meant to reflect one of the 8 original Adventure kids. However, the characters aren't completely one to one, as each of the characters are in fact, unique characters in their own right. (Most evident I think is in the fact I'd assign basically every character except for Miyuki a different crest from their adventure counterpart). But they do echo the basic archetype of the role each adventure character played in the series. For the most part this is self explanatory, some more than others.

Takuma is Taichi Minoru is Koshiro (Less obvious but that's a separate point) Aoi is Sora Shuuji is Joe Saki is Mimi Kaito is Yamato Miu is Takeru Miyuki is Hikari

However, Survive has 10 important human/digimon partnerships.

The sole adult of the group, the professor, even bares some resemblance to a rather important "old man" of adventure, Gennai. An old man who knows a lot of their situation, was involved in the "inciting incident" looks after the kids to a certain extent, but is rather unreliable and has amnesia regarding some very important things he should know. Of course original Gennai isn't even really human, and therefore doesn't have a digimon partner, (Jijimon also takes on some Gennai traits imo) but Akiharu I would still say parallels Gennai.

However, Ryo doesn't match any of the original adventure cast. But I think it is fair to say he resembles Ken. Ryo has a worm digimon. Ryo has a family member whose death deeply affected him. Ryo is grumpy and aggressive, while hiding a secretly gentler and hurting side. Ryo is self-destructive, at the cost of his partner.

Ryo can't be Adventure Ken really, because Adventure Ken doesn't really exist. But Ken isn't exactly an 02 kid in the way Daisuke, Iori and Miyako are. A reoccurring theme in 02 is the difference in outlook between the Adventure kids, the Adventure and 02 kids, and the 02 exclusive kids. And so Ken is in no way one of the original Adventure kids, but there is something to be said of the fact that his (executive meddling hellscape) backstory reflects experiences of Takeru, Hikari, more than it does the other 02 original kids. He even has an associated crest. In many ways, Ken is a retroactive Adventure character, without actually being an Adventure character. Ken in the context of digimon Adventure 02 is very much so an example if a character like Takeru had been driven to the darkness, who then had to be rehabilitated by a set of characters with an outside perspective. Really that is what all of 02s Jogresses is really, the new kids helping the more experienced kids deal with their unprocessed issues. Miyako helps Hikari look out for herself, Iori helps Takeru stop lashing out in anger from keeping his emotions hidden, and Daisuke helps Ken see value in his own continued existence.

Which is why I think Ryo is a homage to Ken. It's not the "Adventure Ken" that theoretically exists, the little boy wondering around the digital world with Wonderswan Ryo or whatever did or did not happen in that unreliable backstory, but 02 Ken, the Ken after the trauma, who needs SOMEONE to connect with him to help save him. He's the sole character who is taken from 02 era rather than the first Adventure era. And 02's themes are in this character. Ryo dies in part due to hopelessness and depression. He is unsavable the first playthrough. Unsavable in the initial adventure context. The original context where the focus is on survival and connection with your own digimon. Wormmon couldn't Save Ken alone. just as Kunemon couldn't. Both Wormmon and Kunemon die in desperate attempts to try and save their partners (really from themselves). But Ryo is saved from death when you can manage to become friends with him. When you connect with him, not unlike how Daisuke managed to save Ken. And from there, Ryo manages to save other people (Shuuji) from falling into that same despair, not unlike how Ken tried to reach out to the dark spore kids. It's noteworthy that of the 3 initial endings, the moral route is the closest to the truthful route, but aside from Ryo and Shuuji has one key difference. It ends like the original Adventure did, the kids and their partners separating, while the truthful route has the kids and their partners living together, invoking the 02 ending. While the Harmony and Wrathful routes do also bear a resemblance to 02's ending, just relatively less optimistically, Harmony and Wrathful routes involve the failings of personal connections. The failure to understand each other. Ultimately the truthful route resolves peacefully, even the big bad reconciling with his sister, no longer feeling the need to lash out at others. Ryo is the factor that takes this adventure and adds a bit of 02 to it, 02 in this context being the importance of connection. 02 being what makes the happy ending.

It's not a 1 to 1, after all, all of the characters are different from their adventure counterpart, and take pieces from one another. For example, its Minoru that has the parental divorce backstory, and Miyuki is a protective older sister to the professor, not a younger sister to Takuma, and the Professor is the most curious about the digital world's nature, and is the one with the digimon partner Gabumon. Saki is the one hesitating the most about going home at all rather than being the one to bring it up the most. I'd say Ryo also has elements of Joe in his fear of his partner and for being an unreliable older kid, and Shuuji has elements of Ken in his cruelty of Lopmon, and insistence on authority and desire to measure up against an older brother with whom he has a flawed relationship. Really none of these kids match up one to one with the adventure kids, and that's great, but I think it is fair to say that as far as analogies go, Ryo does draw from Ken.

02 is an extension of Adventure, and despite their differences in plot, theme and character arcs, no discussion of Adventure will ever be truly complete without discussing certain elements of 02 in relation to that, particularly 02s epilogue and what it means thematically. Ryo is a reflection of Ken, and how his story and needs were a reflection of the themes of 02, and how those themes were built off of the themes of Adventure. How Ken needed something that was not as prevalent in Adventure. Naturally, I think the "truthful" story of survive, would have to be a route that includes elements of 02 no matter how faithful it is to other Adventure themes otherwise.

[hiejindraws]

Key differences between Hyper Projection Engeki Haikyuu!! and Gekidan Haikyuu!! (+ Review)

Btw don’t ask me for scans of the pamphlet or bromides bc I didn’t buy them. The only merch I bought was a t-shirt and a towel ok BABY’S ON A BUDGET.

• No “hyper projection” and no rotating stage

• Less emphasis on music and dancing, more on acting

• The stage is level and not on an incline. This means the volleyball net could be on wheels and be rolled around on the stage (in fact, most of the set pieces were on wheels)

• No epic opening or closing sequences

• Very few (if any, I don’t remember) musical interludes—really, there was music only during the volleyball matches

• No Seijoh/Oikawa theme music 🥲 or Nekoma theme (for when they’re briefly mentioned in the announcement of the GW training camp)

• More characters! Seijoh actors doubled as Yukigaoka players/all FOUR members of the Karasuno Neighborhood Association, not just Shimada and Takinoue!

• They really fleshed out the Yukigaoka vs. Kitaichi game! Like, Hinata had actual teammates, it wasn’t just him and Kagz 1 v 1 on the court like it was in the first Haisute (although, I guess it wasn’t technically 1 v 1 then either bc Kindaichi and Kunimi were also there)

• They included even more scenes from the series and stayed even truer to the source material. I think leaving out the music and intense dance breaks opened up a lot of room for this

Some callbacks to Engeki:

• Hinata hums the tune to a musical motif from Engeki but I cannot for the life of me remember which one it was even though I JUST saw it today. If I had to guess (bc the scene involved Hinata imitating Kagz), it was Kageyama’s theme from the first Haisute when he whips off his cape and crown.

• Ennoshita (AND Kinoshita AND NARITA!!) do the “SE〜NO” synchronized clap with the audience (and it made me so so SOOOO happy!!)

Review:

Overall, this production seemed less “dramatic” in the sense that the entire performance (the acting, music, and choreo/blocking) felt very subdued compared to its predecessor. There was certainly a different energy in the theater this time around. My blood didn’t get pumping the same way it did when I saw Start of the Giant and The Tokyo Battle in-person. I believe this artistic direction was intentional. I’m just not sure it’s sustainable.

What I always appreciated the most about Engeki was that the stage performances perfectly matched the high levels of energy the anime possessed. In fact, I would argue it brought even MORE energy than the anime did or ever could in large part due to Wada Shunsuke’s memorable musical compositions and HIDALI’s ingenious choreo.

Music and dance have always been core elements of the OG Haisute to the point that each show had it’s own unique opening/closing sequence, each team had it’s own musical and dance motif, and certain reoccurring events had their own identifiable themes (e.g. the starting lineup before any given match). The true magic of Engeki lied in the music and dancing. Obviously, the cast brought their own magic by always giving 150% to their performances, but they were also matching the energy the music brought THROUGH their dancing/acrobatics. It’s all intricately woven together.

OH, not to mention the original production’s partial namesake: the projections! There was always a level of suspended reality when watching Engeki because the light projections literally helped to merge the manga with the stage. They transformed the stage and backdrop into anything and everything the story needed—manga panels, speech bubbles, a sunset, a volleyball net. They also synced with, you guessed it, the MUSIC to give an absolutely outstanding audio-visual experience.

It really hit me hard when I entered the theater to see that it really was… just a regular stage.

That’s why I question if this production (and any future ones they may have planned) is sustainable. Not in the financial sense… but just in the way of retaining interest. It didn’t get me hooked the same way Engeki did, so I don’t think I’m able to give it the same level of enthusiasm. I’m hard-pressed to believe others feel the same way. Don’t get me wrong—I enjoyed it. It wasn’t bad. It didn’t take anything away from the series… I’m just not sure it added anything to it, either. Sure, there was music and dancing, but it just paled in comparison to what we were gifted by Hyper Projection Engeki Haikyuu. Makes me wonder why they would take so many steps back with this production.

All that being said… I’m glad I went. I truly did enjoy myself and the cast put their all into these characters. And if nothing else, I’m glad to have gone in support of Suga Kenta (OG Hinata) in his Haisute directorial debut.

[bleach-boyz]

Chapter 4: Jackasses

prev. // next

Almost the entirety of the year 2000 was spent filming stunt after stunt for Jackass. MTV had decided to produce and air three seasons pretty much back-to-back, starting in October of that year. That meant that you all needed to make an enormous amount of content extremely quickly. Beyond just being contractually obligated to, you filmed so much because you wanted to ensure that you’d all make it into the show as often as possible. You knew the producers were getting footage from a few different sources, which meant there was a lot that ultimately couldn’t be used. You wanted to make sure that what you were filming was good enough to make it into the show.

You were behind the camera a lot of the time when filming, but you would sometimes participate in the stunts where the main point was just to watch someone get hurt. You were often filmed attempting and failing to do something on a skateboard or simply slamming yourself into something hard. You almost never got genuinely hurt, and it became a bit of a joke how indestructible you were.

Pain was never an issue for you, and you’d much rather take a bump than be involved in any pranks or gross-out stunts. At some point the boys caught on to how much you didn't like vomit so whenever they would puke during a stunt, which was happening more and more frequently, they’d intentionally get close to you to make you upset. This torture did inevitably work over time to desensitize you to it, though.

The release and subsequent popularity of the Jackass show were the final push needed to skyrocket Bam to a new level of fame. 2001 brought both his Element Skateboards partnership and his introduction into the Tony Hawk Pro Skater games, which, in combination with Jackass and the CKY films, had him raking in an absurd amount of money. Bam’s life had become a ball of chaos, and you and the crew were just along for the ride. He’d constantly fly you all out with him to different appearances he had to make for his skate merch or Jackass, and you got to see places you’d never seen before. 

By the end of its first season, Jackass was officially a cultural phenomenon. Besides Bam, Ryan and Dico over time became the most popular and recognized member of the CKY crew due to being the stars of some of the most memorable stunts and skits that made it into the show. This meant them and Bam were asked to come to L.A. to shoot more often with the rest of the reoccurring cast as the seasons progressed. The rest of you were definitely less famous but still acknowledged constantly as "the CKY crew" or "Bam’s crew" by the public, especially in West Chester. West Chester wasn’t a very big town, so everyone and their mother knew about the kids that "made it big" with a Hollywood TV show. 

You basically never had to pay for your own drinks at the local bars anymore, and you’d also noticed that the dudes were starting to get a lot more attention from women than they ever had before. You resented that part a little bit. You knew those dumbasses didn’t deserve having so many beautiful women around them, mostly because of their inability to be humble about it. You didn’t say anything though, since you were also getting extra attention from men and occasionally women, and you didn’t want to appear hypocritical.

After your breakup, you started sleeping around a little bit with those random people who’d approach you. You’d never been particularly interested in one-night stands before, but you thought you’d try them out in an attempt to get over Chad. You couldn’t really tell if it helped, but it was still fun in the meantime. You weren’t shy about your behavior, but early on you decided to keep any hookups with women on the low. You knew that, unfortunately, your friends would only have straight guy fetishizing nonsense to say about it if they found out, so you mainly confided in Jenn with the details. 

Sometime in early 2001, while the show’s second season was airing, a senator started a campaign against Jackass, claiming MTV was responsible for helping parents protect their kids or some bullshit. It was their persistent and ruthless attack, in combination with a few copycat incidents, that led to MTV caving and canceling the show after its first three seasons. 

Of course, the entire cast and crew were extremely frustrated by this, and you became a bit worried over what this would mean for all of you career-wise. Bam would obviously be okay, but for the show to be cancelled barely a year after it started, that could be bad for the rest of you. 

Luckily, you got word soon after the cancellation that perhaps the most important project any of you would ever work on was greenlit and would begin its filming as soon as possible—Jackass: The Movie. 

The Jackass movie was especially important to you because Jeff and Spike, after some begging from your end, were allowing you to be one of the assistant directors. Your duties mainly included creating the schedule, being the go-between person for the cast and different crews, and just basically helping Jeff with anything he needed. This meant that you were there every shooting day and got to spend a lot more time around the Jackass cast members that you’d barely interacted with before. 

Every member of the Jackass cast was a big character in their own right, and that created a high-energy and often unhinged environment. They were all really nice, but everyone was also constantly trying to fuck with each other, and even though you were rarely a target, you still had to keep your guard up. Especially when you were around Steve-O and Pontius. 

You'd become close with those two over the course of shooting. At first, you just found them entertaining and good company when getting fucked up, but as you spent more time with them, you really started to care for them. You cared for all the cast and crew, of course, but you'd had a hard time moving past a friendly coworker relationship with most of them. Steve-O and Pontius had instantly pierced through that, and they felt like your brothers in the way that the CKY crew did. That didn't mean they weren't dicks, though. Your close friendship ultimately just meant they felt comfortable messing with you. 

Bam and Ryan were the only members of the CKY crew that were official members of the Jackass cast, but Raab and Dico both managed to get one stunt in the movie. Although their involvement in the film was less than that of the show, the two and Rake didn’t seem to have much of a problem with it. With the extra time they were all able to dedicate themselves more to the continuing CKY film series.

You were in the peanut gallery for a few of the stunts in the Jackass movie, but you weren’t tasked with any stunts yourself due to being busy with assistant director responsibilities. The only thing that you filmed was an alternate take of the "Off Road Tattoo" stunt. Steve-O had been running late that day for some reason, and when it looked like he might not show up, Jeff asked if you’d consider doing it instead. It had originally been your idea, after all. After maybe five minutes of contemplation, you agreed. You’d been getting a lot of tattoos lately anyway, and you weren’t the type to regret something stupid and fun like that. 

The tattoo artist gave you pretty much the exact same fucked-up smiley face that Steve-O got when he finally arrived to set; only yours didn’t make it in the movie. You were only slightly irritated by that, but you knew that there would be no reason to show the same stunt twice. Also, Steve-O was absolutely a more entertaining presence on screen than you. Jeff promised your cut would end up in the extras included in the eventual DVD release of the movie.  

By far the most rewarding and fun time you had filming was in Japan. You’d never been out of the country before, and to go somewhere so beautiful and different was very exciting. When you weren’t filming, you spent a lot of time alone wandering around different parts of Tokyo, trying to experience the culture and everything it had to offer. 

Just because you were in a different country, though, didn’t mean that the partying would stop. You were still getting dragged out to bars every night with the rest of the cast and crew, immersing yourself in the Tokyo nightlife. However, it was one of the more uneventful nights that you remember the most.

-

A bunch of the guys had insisted you all go to this burlesque strip club up the street from your hotel after you finished dinner. You weren’t particularly interested, but you felt like getting drunk, and it wasn’t like watching attractive women dance would be hard for you. 

When you arrive, you go straight to the bar with Pontius and Dave while the other members of the cast and crew try to find a place to sit. You three collectively buy a round of beers for everyone and head back over to pass them out to the group. They all had to spread out a bit due to there not being a spot big enough for everyone to sit together, and you set your beer down at a table with Ryan, Bam, Steve-O, and Chris. Before sitting down yourself, though, you decide to go back to the bar and take a couple shots. You could handle your alcohol pretty well, and the atmosphere of the club was making you kind of anxious, so you thought you’d push yourself a little faster toward your desired level of drunkenness. 

"What are you havin?" Knoxville asks as he comes up behind you. 

"Not entirely sure; I just kinda yelled "two whiskeys" so.." 

The bartender comes back with two mystery whiskey shots for you, and Johnny asks for two more for himself. When he receives them, he thanks the bartender with some weak Japanese vocabulary and pays for all four shots. 

"Loaded with MTV money? Or is this just your Southern hospitality?" You ask, and he chuckles. 

"I can’t help being a gentleman." He says, and you both cheers, throw back the shots, and head back to your respective tables. 

Pontius secretly paid a dancer to go give Dave a lap dance, which made you all die of laughter as you could tell he was both delighted and stressed out by the situation. Besides that, no one was really jumping at the opportunity to interact with any of the dancers, and you found it quite funny how awkward everyone seemed about it. It made you wonder why anyone wanted to come there in the first place. 

Bam later pulls out his wallet and asks if he can buy you a dance, to which you decline. 

"Why? You’ve slept with women, right? I thought you’d enjoy it." He says with a smug look on his face, and your eyebrows furrow. You know you’ve never told Bam about any of that, so you assume that Jenn must have let it slip at some point. It’s obvious Bam is just bringing it up now publicly to be a little shit. 

"Wait, you have?" Ryan asks, surprised. 

"No way, dude." Steve-O says. 

"Hubba hubba." Pontius jokes. 

"God dammit, Bam.. I mean, yes, but it’s not anyone’s business." You respond, and all the guys start clamoring over the realization. 

"How many times?" Ryan prods, and you start to get out of your chair. 

"Wait, so you’re a lesbian? I think I owe someone five dollars." Steve-O says. 

"I’m going to the bathroom." You say and leave before any of them can think of another dumb thing to ask or say. 

Once you come back, it seems like everyone is ready to head out, despite only being there for an hour. Most of you just go back to the bar in the hotel and continue drinking, chatting, and messing around with each other there. 

"No, seriously, which is better, sex with men or women?" Steve-O asks after a couple hours, trying to bring the conversation back to where it was earlier. 

"There’s no way it’s better with men. We’re slobs, brutes, slaves to our desires." Pontius says, and you laugh, feeling a little more open to talking about it now that you’re drunker. 

"It really depends," you say. 

"Shit, you’ve probably made more women cum than any of us." Steve-O jokes. 

"Certainly more than you, Steve." Knoxville says as he walks up next to him, one hand behind his back. 

"I’m going to bed, children." He continues and goes to shake Steve-O’s hand, but as he does, he pulls his other hand out from behind his back and attaches a mouse trap to Steve-O’s fingers. Steve-O screams, and the rest of you let out some loud, drunken laughter. 

"Fuck!" Steve-O exclaims as he slowly pulls the trap off his fingers. Knoxville, dying of laughter, pats him on the shoulder. 

"Okay, okay, now I’m actually going to bed. Goodnight ladies." Johnny says as he heads off to his room. 

"What an asshole." Steve-O says as he calms down. 

"Man, what time is it anyway?" Pontius asks, and Bam checks his watch. 

"11:52," he says. 

"Damn, it’s not even late; we’re so boring tonight." Pontius responds. 

"I’m gonna go to the convenience store down the street and get some snacks.." you say as you stand up and see that the hotel bar is starting to close down, "and beer." 

"I’ll go with ya." Ryan says as he gets up too. 

"Why don’t you just meet us up in Steve-O’s room once you’re back?" Bam says, and you nod and head out with Ryan. 

As soon as you two head out, you hand him a cigarette and pull out your own. This was routine anytime you two were outside together. 

You go to light yours, and then light Ryan’s. "Thanks." He says, and you look him in the eyes for what feels like the first time tonight. 

Ever since that revealing conversation you had with Ryan around a year and a half ago, you were slowly becoming more endeared by everything he did. His little jokes, his laugh, the way he’d subtly take care of you—you really just liked being around him. You'd also started confiding in each other more often. You loved everyone in the CKY crew, but Dico was the only one you'd ever really been able to trust with any personal information. You knew everyone cared for you in their own way, they just had a hard time taking anything seriously; everything became a joke. That's why it meant all the more to you that your friendship with Ryan was becoming more emotionally intimate.

You’d been avoiding admitting to yourself that you’d developed any sort of feelings for him, mostly because he was still on and off with the same girlfriend. Over time, it had become obvious that the two had lots of problems, and Ryan would catch a lot of shit for it. You genuinely did think it was a relationship that Ryan needed to get out of, but you didn’t want to say anything knowing that you had a bit of an ulterior motive. He was pretty whipped for her anyway, so even if they did break up, you knew he’d be upset for a while. In the meantime, you are just going to have to keep pushing down any feelings you have towards him. It sucks, but you hope one day you'll be able to push hard enough for the feelings to go away for good.

"How’re you feeling?" You ask as you both start walking towards the convenience store. You try to keep your eyes on the sidewalk to make sure you don’t stumble or trip over anything. 

"Drunk." He says point blankly.

"Right. Same." You say and feel a little awkward for asking that question. Luckily, Ryan chuckles a little bit, and it defuses the tension. 

"How are things going with your girlfriend?" You ask suggestively. Normally, you wouldn’t dive into this subject so soon in conversation, usually afraid the real reason behind such a question would reveal itself. However, you have far less tact and control over the things you say when drinking. It’s only sometimes a problem. 

"Oh, she broke up with me right before we flew here." He says, and you raise your eyebrows. Historically, the two breaking up just meant there would be a couple weeks of turmoil and anger on Ryan’s end before they’d inevitably get back together. Though, Ryan had been acting surprisingly chill this whole trip so far. At least in the times you’d seen him. 

"Do you think it’s actually over this time?" You ask, and Ryan sighs. 

"Yeah… I think so. I don’t know... I usually just chase her and wear her down until she agrees to get back with me, but I'm not sure I can do that anymore. It's exhausting." He says, slurring a little bit, but you can tell from the tone of his voice that he might really believe what he’s saying. 

"Bam says I gotta get with someone else so I can finally get over her." He continues, and you hold your breath for a second. 

"That might be a good idea." You say as casually as you can. 

"Is that what you did when you broke up with Chad?" He asks you, and you side-eye him. 

"Yeah… kinda. Well, I haven’t really dated anyone since then, but hooking up with people sorta helped. I think the main factor in getting over it is time." You say as you two approach the front of the store. You throw your cigarette on the ground and stomp it out. Ryan does the same. 

"So hooking up with girls helped you?" Ryan jokes as he pulls open the door and holds it for you. You roll your eyes and walk inside. 

"This is exactly the reason why I never told anyone; I knew you’d all have some bullshit to say." You complain and then trip over nothing as you turn into an aisle. Thankfully, you catch yourself, and Ryan laughs a little too loud for how quiet the store is. 

"I’m sorry, I’m a guy. How is the thought of two hot chicks hooking up not supposed to excite me?" He joins you in front of the beer. You reach inside the fridge and pull out a 12-pack of the cheapest. 

"Oh, so you think I’m hot then?" You ask mischievously. He stares at you and smiles. 

"Duh… I mean, well, a lot of the dudes do." He says, and you furrow your brows. 

"They do?" You ask and head towards the instant noodles.

"Yeah, like Steve-O, Pontius... I’m also pretty sure I even heard Jeff say something once." He says. You feel satisfied and giddy over Ryan admitting he found you hot, but you wish he hadn’t tried to deflect from it by bringing up the others. 

"Steve-O and Pontius will fuck anything with a pulse." You state as you grab a couple of the spicy chicken noodles. 

"I mean, you’re right, but still..." He says, and you decide to drop it for now as you head towards the cashier. You'll have plenty of time to overthink his statement later.

"Are you not getting anything?" You ask, and Ryan’s mouth falls open. 

"Right." He goes off to another aisle, and you pay for the noodles and beer. You can hear the sound of things falling off their shelves, and you give the cashier an apologetic look. 

Ryan comes back with a few bags of chips and candy. 

"You like the ones with the potato guy on them, right?" He asks and holds up a bag of Calbee chips. You smile and nod. Once he pays for everything, you’re on your way. 

You get back to the hotel and head up to Steve-O’s room like instructed. 

When Steve-O opens the door, you and Ryan wade through empty beer cans and a few whippet chargers to get into the room and see Pontius and Bam hanging out on the bed. 

"I hope you’re tipping your housekeepers well, Steve-O." Ryan says as you both put down your bags. Steve-O laughs as he goes through your bags and grabs a beer and a bag of chips. 

"I can't believe you two aren’t loitering around the local bars preying on desperate women." You say to Steve-O and Pontius as you grab one of the cups of noodles and fill it with water. You meant the comment not as a judgment but as a genuine expression of surprise. Lately, Steve-O and Pontius were getting with different women almost every night, but you hadn’t seen that behavior as much in the last week. 

"Our charms aren’t exactly appreciated by the ladies of Tokyo." Pontius says. 

"They aren’t appreciated by any ladies anywhere." Bam jokes, and you laugh as you put your noodles in the microwave. 

"Why don’t you two just give it up and touch each other?" You ask, and Steve-O and Pontius stare at each other for a second and smile like they know something you don’t. 

"Nahhh. He’s not my type." Steve-O giggles. 

You spend the next hour and a half drinking and fucking around a bit more, but you personally are at the point where more beer was just going to make you more tired. The most eventful thing that happens is when Steve-O manages to get into Knoxville’s room and pee in his suitcase as revenge for the mouse trap earlier. Other than that, you'd say it's been a relatively chill night, which you sometimes prefer to the usual partying because it allows you to get to know and bond with the cast and crew better. 

After you say your goodbyes, Ryan walks with you back to your room, citing needing his hat back that you borrowed earlier that week as the reason. This reasoning is suspicious, but you disregard it as drunk Ryan logic.

He follows you inside your suite, hands in his pockets, as you grab the black baseball cap. 

When you hand it to him, your fingers touch and you look into his eyes. It is at this moment, drunk and exhausted, that you know you can't push it down any more.

There had been nothing particularly special about that night so far; you’d spent the majority of it with other people, not even sitting next to each other. Maybe it was how rosy his cheeks were in the night air or the way your shoulders brushed past each other when you were walking outside earlier. Maybe it was how he held the door open for you at the store and remembered what kind of chips you like. Maybe it's the way the sleeves of his new jacket are too long on him or the way he's biting his lip right now. You don't know, but standing here together now, you give up. 

You like Ryan, maybe a lot. This past year and a half, you’d been able to mostly suppress any feelings you had, leading to months where you didn’t even think about it, only for him to smile or say something that would bring those feelings back stronger. You’d been so forceful, doing your best to control the uncontrollable, but you understand now that you can't will it away. You need to deal with it.

The room is quiet—too quiet. You stare at each other for what feels like an eternity, but in reality, it is probably only a few seconds. You swear you see his eyes dart to your lips. 

It would be so easy to kiss him now and push him onto the bed—make him understand the way he makes you feel. It would be so easy, but you care too much about him to do that. He’d just been broken up with, and even though it had been building for a while, you know that it has to be affecting him deeply. If he had made a move on you that day after you and Chad broke up, you might have reciprocated, but you also would have ended up resenting him for it. It’s not fair to dangle that promise of intimacy and comfort in front of somebody who just lost it. It would taking advantage of them.

So you wait for him to say or do something, anything. After a moment, he says "thank you", pulls his hand away, and yawns, looking at his watch. 

"What time do we have to shoot tomorrow?" He asks you, and you snap out of your daze. He puts on his hat and gives you a small smile.

"11," you say as you look at the clock on the bedside table. It’s almost 2:30. 

"Not bad… alright goodnight!" He says cheerfully and leaves. 

Just like that, he’s gone. He left, like tonight was any other night. You well up with emotion, the feeling of dread reigning above all. Dread that finally accepting your sentiments about Ryan will only lead to your torture. That he may never be able to reciprocate, that you’ll spend too much time obsessing over something that will never be. You know you're being dramatic, but you can't stop the thoughts from racing through your head.

You sit down on your bed and rub your eyes, drained.

What the hell were you going to do now?

————————

Idk if I like this chapter lol. Sometimes this story just feels like a Wikipedia article. I realize I set myself up for it to be like that since I started so early in the timeline- I just hope y’all appreciate a slow burn. I promise I’m gonna be picking up the pace though.

ALSO lmk if you wanna get tagged when I post new chapters 🤔 next one is gonna be about Haggard

[maybebitterxox]

Generation Loss Has The Continuous Theme Of Illusion Of Choice, With Both The Hero And Us As The Viewers.

Okay, this might be long.

Ranboo said that, if there is a generation two, he will likely appear in it as nothing more than a side character. Understandable that he doesn’t want the spotlight again, but my interest is piqued with the fact that he would be in it at all.

It was proved with Charlie in the final episode that every one of his appearances throughout the show was actually the same person, there’s no “we’re short on actors so let’s pretend that this guy wasn’t in episode 1 and is a completely different guy”. Charlie remembers the events from Episode 1 and 2, showing it was actually him in those episodes.

However, this fact basically makes it canon that Showfall Media can bring their cast back to life; or, if not, they orchestrate fake deaths in each episode. Sneeg and Charlie are reoccurring characters and you don’t actually see their episode 1-2 deaths on screen; it’s either implied or the camera cuts away. So either they did actually die and were brought back somehow, or their deaths were faked and they were “reprogrammed” afterwards.

For Ranboo to be in the next generation, one of these will be applied to him. Either the death we saw was not real, or he will be revived in some way. But the important thing about this is that, no matter how Ranboo is brought back, if he is alive and present in generation two then it shows that our choice was ultimately useless and did not matter.

This all made me think back on all the other choices we as the viewers made throughout the episodes, and I came to realise that absolutely none of them mattered either.

Our choice of ingredients in episode 1 didn’t matter, as the dish changed in the microwave.

Collecting the three keys didn’t matter, as Charlie knocked down the door.

In the fight scenes, there was stalling and blunder on the side of our opponent, and we dealt more damage than they did with basically all our attacks. The cloth was also basically a complete cheat, as even if the opponent was winning, Ranboo could have just used the cloth and beaten them in one swift move. It was rigged so that Ranboo would win, and our choices of how to act did not matter.

Creating the sharlickle monster thing was a test of the voting mechanism and therefore isn’t something I take much into consideration in regards to lore (this was either stated by Ranboo or Charlie, I can’t remember which one); however, I strongly believe that no matter what we had chosen, we would’ve had the exact same outcome of Sneeg dying and Ranboo locking the creature in the cage. Our choices there didn’t matter, as the creature would serve the same purpose no matter what.

We had to choose a key to free Ranboo from the electric chair trap, but the first one picked was the correct one. I get the feeling that, no matter which key was picked, it would have been the correct one, and that our choice once again did not matter.

Our choice of who to free from the carousel did not matter, as all of the people on it eventually died regardless.

In episode 3, our voting on which code to use did not matter as Ranboo refused to listen to our vote and put in another random code.

Ranboo would have been re-used as a cast member no matter if we had picked live or die, our choice meant nothing.

After realising this, I also started thinking that, well, by extension, this is all the exact same for Ranboo while he is being controlled. He thinks that the decision we make are his own decisions, so his concept of free-will is completely false throughout episode 1 and 2. And, to make it worse, he is being controlled by individuals who have no power in the first place. He has the illusion of choice, but ultimately can do nothing, just like us.

In episode 3, this doesn’t change. Yes, we are not deciding for him any more; in fact, he is actively going against our choices, as shown with the scene of him picking one of the codes and ignoring the viewer’s vote. But he is put in a controlled environment, one going according to a script, so yet again he cannot make any choices that will influence or change his situation; everything was set so that he would have to follow the script no matter what.

The script also called for Ranboo to make it to the end alone, so Charlie never had any chance of escaping, surviving or going with him, no matter if Ranboo had chosen to take him along or leave him. He chose to take Charlie along, but Charlie was killed before the ‘end’; and what, the monster security TV creature just so happened to be in the exact room the kill button was? He was scripted to die or to be left behind, and he was never going to make it out. Ranboo was also scripted to never actually escape, only to make it to the ‘finale’.

(This is more on the technical, non-lore related side of things, but for the picking codes scene, if Ranboo really had picked the correct code then the story would likely be cut short, unless they had other plans in mind. I think that, no matter what choice we made, he would have never chosen the correct code, picking the wrong one no matter what for the story to continue. Even these technical aspects related to writing prove the point that our choices are designed to mean nothing.)

The whole show really is an experiment, both on The Hero and on us. It’s an experiment as to what we will do with the illusion of free choice, how we will react to thinking we have the power to influence the narrative. But, no matter what, there was only one way that it was ever going to end and one way the story would play out; any choices made by us or our Hero were simply data collection, both by the fictional Showfall media and maybe even by real-life Ranboo.

But that’s just a theory. A game theory!

@ranboolivesaysstuff So much props to you for making all this and giving me stuff for my goldfish brain to do gymnastics over. Generation loss is genius, and I’m so excited to see more!

[rainingfishandfrogs]

so i've been rewatching DW and i just finished the NYC-Dalek episodes in S3

and i think i finally understand what they were going for with martha jones and why it didn't work as well as it could've

i've been really paying attention to what the writing had for martha and a lot of it i think is really interesting and even necessary in terms of the overall RTD era story arc (stay with me)

more under the cut 'cause this got long

like...martha is supposed to be the opposite of rose and we're supposed to compare them:

both her parents are alive and in her life (even if they're divorced)

has siblings

no boyfriend when we meet her

not only finished high school but went to uni and is continuing her education even further as a medical student (rose dropped out and had to get a job)

doesn't feel stuck with her life

older than rose (i think martha's like 23? idk)

booksmart (rose is streetsmart)

dark complexion (rose is fair complexion)

a little more socially awkward compared to rose

*not as assertive and is more timid*

and i would argue sheltered bc her family is clearly on the wealthier side (one of the reasons i think she doesn't fight back physically very often and is so easy to kidnap)

and honestly i'm not mad at any of this - i think it feeds into ten's heartbreak and loneliness in interesting ways and S3 did not need a new rose we needed someone different for that heartbreak and loneliness to make the impact it did

it works well within the narrative and for ten's character arc (S3 helps make tentoo work imo)

HOWEVER

martha's character arc gets buried under her crush on ten and what he's going through

after the loss of rose for the audience the crush angle gets annoying fast - because we also miss rose and we miss how ten was with her! all the big smiles and laughing

S3 ten is so self-distructive but doesn't have a tyler woman to slap some sense into him and that's part of the point it just sucks that it's at the cost of the 1st black female companion and her character bc then her arc doesn't get as much focus as it should (mickey got better development in 2 episodes in a season with a bigger reoccuring cast than martha did in 12 with fewer main cast members)

martha's character journey i would argue is about learning to be brave and assertive in ways she's never had to be before (when we meet her she's the peacemaker of the family; she doesn't like confrontation) and i think making her a medical student is a great vehicle for that arc bc she'd have to learn how to do that anyway if she wanted to be a successful and effective doctor (compassion only gets you so far and martha jones is already quite compassionate)

BUT i think if the writing highlighted that more and gave her even more moments of learning to stand up for herself and taking charge without someone having to tell her to (aka ten) and leaned more into her booksmarts her character would've been even stronger than it got to be by the end of S3 (when she finally tells ten to f-off and let her do as she likes)

i love all the RTD era companions including the "side companions" (mickey, jack, wilfred) and yes rose is my favourite but i adore martha too and she deserved better than she got during S3 (thank god S4 and torchwood fixed some things)

i do think if the writers had just given her a little more in terms of influencing episodes and leaned more on her "traditional" intelligence (aka high education) and let her be less passive (oh my god is she passive!) then her arc wouldn't have been as buried as it feels when watching S3

because it's not a bad arc! not at all! it just needed more focus than her crush on ten

[japhan2024]

smoshblr tag game wheee!!!

“tagged” by the amazing @lumiereandcogsworth thank you <333

1. how long have you been watching smosh? I actually didn't know about their youtube channel for a minute while I did frequent smosh.com the website LOL so I don't really recall, but it's a long ass time lmao!

2. favorite smosh cast member(s)? Ian for suuuurrre also Anthony but I'm still mad at him for leaving x33 and I really love Amanda she is so magical. She is truly the best thing to happen to Smosh like, what an actress. What an ICON. She's larger than life and I am at her feet.

3. favorite pairing(s)?

I mean, let's be real. It's Ianthony <3 I do love Amangela, but the thing is... my eyes are on Amanda only, I've found out about myself x3 maybe a self-insert ship with me and Amanda hahaha what?

4. favorite reoccurring character? Listen, Fred Darts is an instant classic, he NEEDS to return and continue to be iconic.

5. favorite smosh video? yesss another opportunity to spread the Claus Winklestein agenda >:) the bi-con we need but don't deserve x)

The video is so problematic for so many reasons lmao but it remains my absolute favorite. Something about Anthony as a girl *_* is always SO mesmerizing like?? The whole concept is genius, there's subplot, there is character development, the bisexual energy is off the charts and I have lots of thoughts about lots of scenes that I won't get into here bc I hate discourse lmao. But it's really something. I was like 'bring back claus winklestein!' in one of the member chats and they didn't even remember him and I was very offended LMAO <3

6. first video that got you into smosh? truly I don't remember but one of the first ones I do remember are the lip-syncing ones of course.

7. favorite picture of the cast?

I love this moment lmao the dynamic of Angela and Chanse being reverse boomers like they have no idea what is going on

8. favorite picture of your fave?

I love everything about this whole shoot 🙏🙏🙏

9. what smosh series do you want to see more of?

I really would like more Sword AF but with video x3 I would even like it to have higher production value so they can cut to scenes of them in full constume, cgi stuff and playing out some scenes 🥹

10. dream guest on smosh mouth?

*heavy breathing* I'm pleading the fifth

tagging: @only-frann @generaltrashshecox @smoshidiot @hecoxthirst @wazurenaide @lilac-hecox + anyone else who wants to do this! :D I'd love to read and watch your answers!

[lumiereandcogsworth]

smoshblr tag game yippeee!!!

“tagged” by @unknownteapot hehe!!

also i have to put this under the cut because uhhh too long 🫣

1. how long have you been watching smosh? WELL i do have very fond memories of watching the boys with my brother back in maybe 2011? 2012? maybe later idk. i specifically remember the pokémon vids, man-spider, the paranormal easy bake oven, and this one where the entire time you thought that he (i cannot remember who. i think anthony) got his dick stuck in a port-o-potty’s door, and he’s like stuck there for days, and the whole time you think it’s his dick that’s stuck, only for it to be revealed at the end that it was the burger that he brought in with him. THAT got stuck in the door 😭 idk why that one lives in my head so prominently, but it’s so stupid LMAO. anyway… then i started watching pewdiepie and eventually got more into shows on netflix (superwholock nation😐✊) than youtube. THEN in like 2019, my brother rediscovered smosh by way of try not to laugh. and showed them to me. and for a couple years that’s ALL i watched. like legitimately just checked smosh (pit) once every two weeks and watched it, then carried on. i loved it and them but i still didn’t have the desire to check out any other stuff lmao. and THENNNNN at the beginning of 2023, i just very randomly decided, in my boredom and unemployment, to check out their other stuff. and boyyyyy did i get hooked. and i’ve been watching everything ever since. so, very long-winded way of saying i’ve known about them for over ten years, but i’ve been DEDICATED to watching ALL of them for about a year and a half :)

2. favorite smosh cast member(s)? shayne’s been my fave since 2019, and since 2023 amanda has very prominently become second fave, if not tied with shayne. i also love courtney and spencer and tommy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND TREVOR AH

3. favorite pairing(s)? well in terms of actual ships i’m sooooooo so happy for shayne & courtney and they’re SO cute :”) in terms of just like, any duos? shayne & amanda (of course), spencer & courtney, amanda & angela, tommy & spencer, and chanse & damien — they have a very underrated dynamic, like when they’re in videos together they’re so wildly in sync. they seem unlikely but i think damien brings out the nerd in chanse the best lol. also i love so many duos gosh!!!!!!! they’re all such good pals with each other it’s rare to NOT have a good duo. ian being arasha’s “dad” is always a fun bit lmao.

4. favorite reoccurring character? im a chosen girlie for sure 🥹 love that freak.

5. favorite smosh video? oh my goshhh that’s so hard. i love to rewatch shayne & courtney’s tntl trivial pursuit. i love lots of the don’t win mario partys. love when they play werewolf (and blood on the clock tower.) and OF COURSE, love so so so many try not to laughs 🥰🫶

6. first video that got you into smosh? i wish i remembered the first “other” vid i watched last year, but i do not 😔 i also wish i remembered the first tntl my brother showed me, but alas i do not 😔 i can’t even say i remember which early smosh vid he showed me first all those years ago, but i’m going to guess it was one of the pokemon ones. so that’s gonna have to suffice as my answer lmao

7. favorite picture of the cast? i don’t know if i have a favorite favorite but this recent one from the live is very cute and silly <3

8. favorite picture of your fave? i mean really anything this dumbass posts. why is he like this

9. what smosh series do you want to see more of? gosh i’d loooove if they brought let’s do this! back!!! AND IDIOTS PRESENT!!!!!

10. dream guest on smosh mouth? oh my gosh uhhh… i literally don’t know. maybe vanessa lachey just to see amanda resisting the urge to commit murder for a full hour.

tagging: @japhan2024 @hoohoobeanie + anyone else can say i tagged them bc i’m not confident who of my followers are here for smosh adjskdj 💛