#honestly one of my favourite things about this film is how much everyone other than andre seems to adore and dote on polo

[angelamontoo]

Oh BTW I was rewatching was an adventuress earlier and I'm starting to realise how underrated I find aunt Cecil and the way she hates everything and everyone except Polo.

I remember back when I watched it with my friend, he assumed she was Tanya's aunt and made a joke about her not finding it strange that she had a nephew who she never met or heard of and while I'm pretty sure we're meant to assume that she and everyone else at the party are Paul Verneys relatives, I do kinda like the idea that she is Tanya's aunt and loves Polo so much she doesn't even notice or care that she has no recollection of ever knowing him before that party

Also people talk about Polo reciting the wedding vows to Andre at the end of this film, but the real diversity win is the fact that they have the same sleeping set up as Tanya and Paul if you ask me(I'm never gonna not be bamboozled by the fact that a married couple sharing a bed in media was considered controversial as late as the 60s)

[rindouheart]

Thank you for the rules link!! So I was wondering about headcanons (or whatever you want tbh) about Reo falling for a reader that doesn't even give him the time of the day lol like reader thinks he's a standard rich boy, you know? So they avoid him at first until Reo manages to win them over. Take all the time you need of course, and thank you if you accept my request!! 💕

REO MIKAGE with a s/o that avoids him 🌿

content. fluffy hc about our fav rich boy + g/n reader!

author’s note. hi love! tysm for requesting, i hope you like this mix between hcs and a drabble, i’ve enjoyed writing them + reo is so cute i can’t.

reo mikage is a rich boy. everyone knows it.

also if he’s not that “rich kid” who just flexes around how much money he has, you’ve always been quite suspicious about his behaviour.

obviously, reo is handsome, smart and also good ad football, basic characteristics of any wealthy boy.

your friends always told you that his future is already planned: reo will be the ceo of his family’s business, he will marry someone rich and he will live the life that everyone dreams.

a lot of people in your school crush on him, for real: reo is friendly, slefless and “fun to be around”, as many students say.

honestly, you’ve never spent so much time with him, just the plain small talk when you were forced to. you aren’t really interested in getting on well with him, but still, being polite is always a good thing.

until he started to try to talk to you more frequently.

“omg, i think he might like you!” these are your best friend’s words every time reo gets near you. “you should give him a chance, for real” and then you just shrug it off.

“hey, y/n, i was wondering if we could work together for the chemistry project that was assigned today” reo is always smiling. always.

“i’m sorry, yuri asked me to do it with her just about ten minutes ago” you answer, lying. you aren’t interested in going to his enormous house or in inviting him to your modest apartament.

“oh, sorry for bothering you, i’ll ask someone else then, have a nice day!” he didn’t seem too in the beginning.

“nagi, why are they avoiding me?”

he is determined to get to you, also if you reject him.

reo doesn’t know why he got so interested in you: it was probably because you’re the only one who tries to “escape” from him, and he isn’t able to find an answer.

he is quite stubborn, so if he wants something, he will do everything he can to get it.

he wants to know you. he wants to understand why you’re behaving like that when he’s around. he wants to know stupid stuff about you, like your favourite film or food. he likes you, a lot, but it seems that you don’t like him.

you’ve noticed that, recently, reo has been around you more often than usual.

paired with that, your friends have already created a ship name for you and reo.

why does he want to talk to me so much? shouldn’t he be interested in talking with other high-class students?

it has been three weeks since reo started to be around you more than required, but now you want to know why he’s doing that.

so, when he’s walking behind you, you suddenly turn and ask “reo, why do you keep following me everywhere? it’s quite annoying”

reo’s face says all: he’s astonished. he wasn’t expecting this.

“i’m really sorry, i just wanted to get to know you more”

you blink. why does he want to?

“listen, i know that i might look like the standard rich boy who is nice to everyone just because i want to be appreciated, but i really want to get to know you”

you just stand there, crossing your arms.

“please, give me just one chance. i’d like to try to change your opinion on me” he asks.

“okay, show me”

and then something *clicks*

also if it felt weird at first, reo always offers to carry your gym bag because “it’s heavy, i don’t want you to get tired”

small acts of service that make your heart melt.

he’s not treating you like a deity, he’s just doing what he’s good at besides football, being caring.

“i took an extra water bottle for you at the vending machines, it’s quite hot today, so don’t get dehydrated during lessons”

reo remembers everything about you. you’ve had a test this morning? he’ll ask you how it went and, if you said you might have failed it, he will reassure you.

he cares a lot about your mental and physical health. being an athlete has taught him a lot of things about that.

congrats! you now are the main gossip topic at school.

actually, you begin to appreciate reo more. he’s definitely not the type of person you were expecting.

he’s caring and sweet by nature, not because he’s rich and wants to be loved by everyone.

you now tend to open up with him more, and he’s very happy about that. reo is aware that you trust him much more than your first meetings.

“you know, i’m glad that you accepted to give me a chance”

you smile, “actually, i quite like you to be honest. i thought you were just a mere rich teenager who only thought of himself” you confess “that’s why i used to stay far away from you”

“you just ‘quite like’ me? i don’t believe you” he smiles back and laughs at your words. “however, i’m happy that you’ve changed opinion about me. i was curious to get to know you, but you always escaped in some way”.

“i like you, reo”

“oh, i see… so, would you like to get a coffee in a fancy place after school?” he asks, hoping for your positive answer.

“i’d love that” 🫶🏻

@rindouheart ‘s headcanons — 01122023

[my-rose-tinted-glasses]

Hey bestie popping by with a random ask: what have been your favs so far from your old jbl project?

Hi! Thank you for the random ask.

I was actually just working on my monthly breakdown so I was trying to write just a couple of sentences about what I watched this month so this comes at a good time because this month I definitely saw one of my favs.

The Novelist. I don't know if I can coherently convey my thoughts about it but I'll give it a try. I think there were several factors that made me take so long to watch it. I never read full reviews about it, because although I don't mind spoilers in general, I also like to go into some shows as unbiased as possible. That was not easy. I basically went into it thinking it was depressing and it involved a lot of sex that I wasn't sure where it would land of the consent scale. I don't really remember where I got this idea tbh. Anyway.

Although after hearing people like you, @twig-tea and @bengiyo talk about it in different contexts I was less wary about it for sure. So I went into it with a more open mind, even with reservations. I mean I basically went through the lighter parts of the ojbl list first, so part of me was dreading the rest. I don't mind darker stories, or darker bl's. I have way darker ones coming up on the list. But I always feel like I need to be in the right frame of mind for them. Because I can get too emotionally invested and my moods tends to swing easily.

All this to say, I wasn't expecting a story about two lonely people 'using' each other to fight that loneliness. As I was just writing in my breakdown post, Kijima was such an interesting character to me. Because in the beginning I was just curious about him, like there was something odd about him, his demeanor. And when I realized that he was faking part of it and just using Kuzumi I hated him. So much. But, and I have to give major props to the actor, because in episode 4 when Kuzumi leaves and Kijima in on the table just listening to the record and crumpling the pages, I was gone. I fully saw him for the first time. That man is lonely and hopeless and I felt so much for him in that moment. And that of course lasted through to the end and that smile

I was practically clapping. Brilliant. It was such a beautiful ending. I felt like the show broke my heart a bit and it was all healed in this moment.

So to recap, not only was this a wonderful surprise that completely obliterated my expectations, but it's so beautiful. Everything is good. The cinematography, the music, the acting, everything was brilliant. So good. So if everyone that reads this has not yet seen for some reason or another I urge you to do it. I still have yet to see the other installments so I can't speak to all of it but this one is so worth it. I honestly can't believe that Kijima has become such an important character to me.

I think before this one, my favourites were for sure the first two I watched. Ai No Kotodama and No Touching at All.

They were both such great surprises. Let me just quickly look through my notes because my memory might betray me. Oh okay.

Ai no Kotodama I really enjoyed how it was shot and edited. I liked how they used several things to mirror the relationship, the perfume , the stair gazing and the other couple. I felt everything served the story in a really interesting way. I also like that the girl wasn't the usual bl girl and in the end she was actually jealous of their relationship more than in love with either of them. I also really like how the film made me unsure about their relationship almost from the start, because it makes sense in this case. My confusion mirrors Shinya's confusion and fear.

I also really liked No Touching at All's directing. It was really interesting how they used the camera work. For most of the film the couple is usually far away from us, the camera is on the other side of the room or something like that. And it's almost keeping us at a distance. So when the camera finally gets close up, it's during their break up, which I thought was intentional to cause the most emotional impact. Like now you should be invested in this moment because so are they. They are being honest for the first time so there are no more barriers for us because they are being truthful and removing their own. I also think Shima's internal struggle was really well portrayed, I liked the fact that he initiated the break up for self preservation reasons and so Togawa coming back to him at the end is what allows him to trust it. It makes me believe more in their future together.

This got a bit longer than I intended. These three are definitely my favourites but I'm really enjoying this project, even if I don't love everything, I think there's always something positive about all of them. At least the ones I've watched.

Anyway I hope that answers your question. My next one will probably be Mood Indigo and I'll have to look at my list again but I know I have a couple other ones on there still to watch.

Thank you so the question.

[dukeofankh]

The idea that men having unrealistic beauty standards for women comes from them watching pornography has always struck me as like, laughably and obviously wrong. That's...where I honestly saw the most representation and celebration of "unconventional" beauty? And not in a "everyone is beautiful" positivity post way, with raw, unfiltered, honest hunger for things men are assumed to find repulsive. When I met women with saggy breasts irl I wasn't like "oh no! What's wrong with them? They're not supposed to be affected by gravity..." I was like, "Oh dope, these are some of my favourite kinds of tits".

Some people can get into bubbles, sure. But it's not a porn issue. You honestly don't have to look that far. There is a media industry built entirely off of dangerously dishonest representations of women's bodies... it's just the regular fucking film industry.

Let's say I wanna see a legit, actual fat woman being the centre of attention, and being portrayed as devastatingly attractive. Please, by all means, what Hollywood films should I watch? You might come up with a few examples, maybe. But I listen when my fat friends talk, I know how shit rep is for fat women. Can I go to the theatre and be more confident than a coin flip's chance that the movie I see will even acknowledge or portray the existence of fat women? Because I can find thousands of examples of that in porn in seconds. It's an entire fucking genre. The dudes that you presume have a monolithic and universal hatred of rolls of fat have a pretty sizeable wing that will honestly get fucking apoplectic in the comments if someone is described as fat who's merely chubby.

Can you honestly, with a straight fucking face, tell me that I can go to the theatre right now, pick a random movie, and be at all likely to see a movie with a woman with even one (1) hair on her body below her eyebrows? There is plenty of porn with totally hairless women, some of which is super fuckin gross about it, sure. But like, doesn't matter how "gritty and realistic" a movie is, I'm more likely to see a corpse than an armpit hair in a movie theatre. By comparison, there are legit mainstream porn performers who do regular, mainstream scenes with a bush, hairy armpits, all of it. It's not uncommon. It's not hard to find. And it's...the point? It's hot? It's not just fine, it's not there to demonstrate how artistic the movie is being, it's hot.

There is definitely tons of porn built around showing the most conventionally attractive women possible, but proportionally, compared to mainstream films, porn has way more varied body representation. You take two guys, lock them in a room, and show one nothing but Hollywood movies and the other nothing but porn, one of those guys would react with surprise/horror when presented with an average naked woman, and it's not the one who's been watching porn. Like, porn is about wanting to fuck people. Wanting to fuck all sorts of people. In order to do that, you kinda have to...show all sorts of people? If you want to make porn about, "Hey, what if you could have sex with that fat mom" or "what if your sisters chubby goth friend wanted to sit her totally untrimmed bush right on your face," a porn studio is just gonna...get someone who fits that body type. They're not gonna rewrite her as someone thin or put her in a fatsuit. And there's sizeable genres built entirely around body types that are basically banned from existing as anything more than a joke or a tragedy in mainstream film.

Where does that leave us? Do you have to love porn now? Include it in your next moodboard about positive representation? No. I understand why that level of sexualization and fetishization isn't actually comfortable for plenty of people. I'm not trying to convince you that it's good.

I'm trying to tell you that even if you have really negative feelings about gross dudes or the porn industry in general, our fucked up beauty standards for women have so much more to do with mainstream cinema than they ever have, or ever will have, to do with porn.

[peanutpinet]

No Regret - Tsukasa x Fem Reader x Yuta (slight)

Main Pairing: Tsukasa (Hokuto) x Fem Reader

Warnings: fighting, angst, right person wrong universe :')

A/N: hello everyone!! I LIVEEEEE!! Can't believe it's been more than a month since I posted on Tumblr :" work has really taken a toll on me and my mental health ain't really the best but after High & Low The Worst X came out on Netflix, you know I'm binging it and well, when I said binge, I meant I watched all of the H&L film series from "The Story of S.W.O.R.D" till The Worst Cross X (even though not in a good order) and lemme just say. I love Yuta's acting even though he doesn't get much lines but the way he expresses his face is 🤌🏼🤌🏼

Now, while I did enjoy the H&L The Worst films, I honestly much prefer the SWORD era films :') it's just that good. Coming from a film studies person, I like how the SWORD era has like a big plot that is continuous throughout the films (except maybe The Red Rain) and well, though there was closure in the big plot, I would really love to dive deeper into some of the gangs and characters. EHEM Amamiya Kyoudai :))

But anyways, here is my first (yes, girl is gonna make some other one-shots) of the H&L film series; starting with the man that caught my attention, Hokuto aka Tsukasa 🥰

Summary: you and Yuta have been friends long before he went to Korea. When Yuta finally had his acting debut, you were more than thrilled to support your best friend and may or may not fangirl over the other characters. But what happens when you and your best friend actually got to experience the other universe?

“Honestly why do you always get to hang out with the badass good looking guys?” you asked Yuta, your best friend who was staying over at your place and currently rewatching his movie, High & Low The Worst X, together

“Hey. What about me and the neos?!” Yuta scoffed, looking at your direction but you avoided his gaze; especially when your favourite character, Tsukasa showed up

“I mean, you guys are hot, I won’t lie. But look at Tsukasa!! Brains and brawns plus the look?! You have to introduce me to Yoshino-san, please!!!” you rambled as Yuta sighed

“We’ve watched this many times and you always say the same thing. That Tsukasa is the best and I went too hard on him during the fight” Yuta tsked as he turned off the TV

“YUTA!! HEY!! That’s not fair!! Just let me fangirl!!” you argued but Yuta didn’t budge

“C’mon, it’s late and we should really sleep. Plus, Hokuto, Ryoki and Kazuma-kun are coming tomorrow to visit. So, save up your fangirling self for tomorrow when you meet them” Yuta argued

“Hontoni?! They’re really coming?! Crap!! I need to plan out what I’m going to wear and how will I dress tomorrow. Yuta, you’re the best!!” you exclaimed as you jump to hug your best friend

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s just sleep alright. Thank me after you meet them tomorrow. Good night (y/n)” Yuta replied as the two of you went to your respective rooms to sleep

“Tomorrow can’t come any faster” you whispered to yourself as you fell asleep

As much as you wanted tomorrow to come faster, you still want your beauty sleep but unfortunately, you were suddenly woken up by a loud crash. Blinking a few times, you were confused about how you were suddenly outside and on the ground. Was this Yuta’s way of getting revenge on you for neglecting his character? There’s no way. Right?!

What’s even more confusing is that it doesn’t look like your neighbourhood at all. Looking around, you tried to find out where you were and even call out to Yuta. As you got up, another crash occurred, making you fall and worry started to creep up on you.

Rushing back to your feet, you tried to find out the source of the crash and when you took a peak, you noticed that it was Kawamura and Yoshino having a brawl against Yuta and Ryoki. Confused, you shouted at Yuta, telling him if this is how he typically greets his friends but instead of Yuta telling you off, the others suddenly stop fighting and what Kawamura said shocked you.

“Who the hell is Yuta? And do any of you know who this girl is?” Kawamura asked as Yuta slowly approached you and grabbed your wrist, pulling you with him

“She’s a friend of mine dan just came back from abroad. Apologies everyone. I’ll be back later. Fujio, Tsukasa, let’s finish the fight later. Amagai, I’ll catch up with you later” Yuta stated, pulling you along with him, away from everyone else

“Yuta?! W-what on earth?! Why did you call the others by their High & Low characters? Are you guys doing some sort of role-play? Because if you are, this isn’t funny” you commented as Yuta pulled you so that you were standing in front of him; his eyes were cold yet serious and concern

“I don’t know what happened when we were asleep or if is this just part of your imagination but we’re basically in the High & Low world. Those guys don’t know who Yuta is. They only know Ryo Suzaki. As for you, you don’t exist in this world. Well, maybe you do. But not in this country at least. You’re practically a foreigner here” Yuta mentioned, making you laugh

“Very funny Yuta. You and your friends are such good actors. You can cut the cameras and all the staff can come out now” you laughed but no one answered you, making you gulp

“I’m serious (y/n), this isn’t a joke. I woke up earlier than you and immediately, Amagai, Fujio and Tsukasa asked me if I was alright because we were in a middle of a brawl. Lucky enough, they believed me that I didn’t remember because I hit my head” Yuta explained yet you still didn’t believe him

“Look. I don’t know how the both of us got here but want or not, we have to blend in until we can find a way to get back to our own universe. Which means, don’t get overly attached to anyone. Especially when your character doesn’t even exist in the High & Low universe. Got it?” Yuta reminded and you quickly nodded

“You handle them, I’ll go look around and find some sort of clues that might help us” you stated, about to turn around until you heard Tsukasa speak

“Don’t think it’s a good idea for a girl to go around this neighbourhood on her own” Tsukasa stated, making you a bit annoyed

“I think I can handle myself well. Yu—I mean Suzaki has taught me a few things about self-defence. You boys can go back to your brawl since clearly, it’s a boys-only thing” you scoffed, disbelief that Tsukasa would say something like this that you were about to walk away when Fujio suddenly stood in front of you, blocking your way

“What my friend meant is that, while we’re sure that you can probably take care of yourself, it would be better if you were with us. Especially since Suzaki-san mentioned that you were from abroad. It tends to get rough around here” Fujio explained, offering you a smile

“I’m Hanaoka Fujio and my friend there is Takagi Tsukasa” Fujio mentioned, offering you his hand for a shake which you accepted

“(L/N) (Y/N). Please to meet you guys” you stuttered, making Fujio chuckle

Ever since that meeting, you’ve been hanging out with the 4 men more often. Heck, you even got to meet the other boys including Todoroki, the four Housen Killer Cops, Sachio and even the Suzuran house. You got along with all of them which made you happy even if deep down you knew that this was all just temporary. Despite so, you couldn’t understand why Tsukasa seemed colder towards you when everyone has been opening up.

It’s been almost a month since you and Yuta came into this universe but neither of you has stopped searching for clues on how to get back to your own world. Though it wasn’t easy, the both of you managed to gain some information that there was a shaman who could talk to spirits and souls from other dimensions. After some digging, you manage to find where the shaman lives and decided to go there yourself because Yuta had to accompany Amagai for who knows what.

The more you walk on your own, the more worried you become because while you’ve gone around the neighbourhood and met with the other factions, you were still unfamiliar with the deeper parts of the neighbourhood. But you couldn’t back down now. You need answers and as much as you want to hang out with the H&L characters, this wasn’t the way you wanted.

You walked through the forest but right before you could go any deeper, you noticed that several other people were surrounding the area. Not knowing who they were, you hid behind the trees and tried to eye what these people were doing.

What you found out was that these guys were a gang from a rural area of the city which makes them an unknown gang. However, when you got closer, you overheard that this gang was aiming to take down Oya High sometime when the main heads are out of town; which you realised that it could be now because right now the main Oya High leaders like Fujio and Tsukasa were out with Housen, Suzuran and even Senomon.

Though you wanted to go and find the shaman, you knew that you had to go back and warn Yuta and the others about this potential ambush. Without wasting any time, you rushed to go back and find Yuta and the others because who knows where those boys are.

You only managed to get away for a bit before getting startled by a rabbit and tripped, causing suspicion among the unknown gang. While they weren’t looking, you immediately got back up and run away but those gangs were used to the twist and turns of the forest that some managed to caught up to you, surrounding you.

Though you were intimidated, you weren’t going to show any fear to them. Especially when they called Yuta and his friends some nasty names; saying how those guys always have it easy and never understand the actual pain of fighting without any backups or without any good resources like the other schools.

Angered by the comments, you didn’t hesitate to take the first move and punched the life out of some of them. Sure, you weren’t as skillful as Yuta or the others; but you could definitely do some damage and outsmart them.

Unfortunately, when you thought that you outsmarted them, one of them came up from behind you and grabbed you by the ankle, making you fall forward; hard. Though you hit your head quite hard, you still managed to return the favour before getting away from the messed-up scene.

Limping your way back, you tried to hang onto whatever it is that you can hold onto since your whole body felt like it was going to crumble any second now. Right when you just reached the Oya High gate, someone came up behind you that you instinctively tried to slap them but they managed to grab you.

Turns out, one of the gang members managed to sneak away and followed you. Unfortunately, because you had just finished fighting off the others, you barely had enough strength to pull away from this guy and he managed to grab you by the neck to the point where you started to lose your vision but at the same time the grip around your neck loosen and instead, a warm strong grip was around your waist.

“What the hell happened to you?!” you heard Tsukasa’s voice, his voice softer than how he normally talks when he was with you

“T-tsukasa…they, they’re coming. For the school. While everyone is…” you breathed out but your body gave up on you and you practically passed out, Tsukasa’s grip around your body tighten

“Hey, (y/n), what happened? Hey, wake up” Tsukasa mumbled, confused about what he should do especially when you passed out

Knowing that you wouldn’t say anything that you don't mean, Tsukasa called out some of his gang members to keep the guy that hurt you to be tamed while he gets you treated and get some answers from you first. But at the same time, he knew that while this guy was from an unknown gang, he can’t easily brush them off; especially when Fujio was out with other leaders.

Tsukasa made sure that some of the better fighters would guard around just in case if what you said about the school going to be attacked was true. Once he took you to the hospital and got you treated, he texted Fujio to let him and the others know on what happened.

While it seemed like Tsukasa only cared about the school and protecting his gang, he was actually worried about you. Sure, he didn’t have the greatest impression of you since he’s very much wary of any new person in the area; especially when he has never heard of them before. This is why when you first arrived and Yuta introduced you, Tsukasa was the first one that was suspicious of you. Girl or not, if you were a spy or someone that would come to destroy Oya High and SWORD, Tsukasa wouldn’t hesitate to put you down.

But as time passed, the more Tsukasa spied on you, the more he realised that you were truly someone outside of the area and even the country. You didn’t know a lot of things and the things you did know, Tsukasa assumed that it was because Yuta telling you stuff; not because you were from a whole different dimension.

Lately, Tsukasa has been keeping a closer eye on you. Not just to spy on you but also because there was just something about you that interest him. How you somehow managed to get close with the other guys not only in Oya High but also Housen and even Suzuran. Each school has taken a liking to you. Not only that, you just seemed too good to be true in Tsukasa’s eyes.

You weren’t the quiet or reserved kind of person. You were more outgoing and voiced out your opinions a lot. Even when you know that you would be outmatched, you kept going on and that is something that Tsukasa acknowledge about you.

When the nurse told Tsukasa that you were already treated and that you were currently resting. Tsukasa thanked the nurse and went into your room. Seeing you all bandaged angered Tsukasa that he swore he would make that unknown gang pay and even come to their knees to beg you for forgiveness once he was done with them.

Before Tuskasa could get closer to you, his phone rang and the other guys at Oya High told Tsukasa that he was right and some unknown gang was attacking the school. Despite being annoyed that he had to leave you, Tsukasa knew that you would be safer in the hospital.

Arriving back at Oya High, Tsukasa didn’t hesitate to knock some sense into everyone in the unknown gang. Their leader immediately fought head-to-head with Tsukasa which Tsukasa was more than happy to brawl with.

“Were you the one that started the attack on (y/n)?!” Tsukasa demanded, his eyes were sharp and angry at the same time

“Who? Oh, you mean that pesky girl in the forest? No, I didn’t touch her. But maybe I should have. To teach her a lesson and…” the leader spatted but Tsukasa immediately punched the leader. Hard.

“The fuck are you? An animal?!” Tsukasa growled, grabbing the leader by the collar and punching him over and over again to the point that the leader was unconscious, blood was dripping from his nose, mouth and Tsukasa’s knuckles

“Ya!! Tsukasa!!” Tsukasa heard Fujio shout, making the blonde stop

“What the hell happened around here? And why the hell are you beating someone until they’re unconscious?! Since when do you do that?!” Fujio snapped, pulling Tsukasa’s bloody wrist away from the beaten unconscious person under him

“Is it wrong? After what he and his men did to (y/n)?!” Tsukasa snapped back, getting off of the unconscious man and yanked his arm back, Yuta immediately came into the scene with the sound of your name

“What the hell happened to her?!” Yuta demanded

“She’s hospitalised right now. This guy and his entire gang were going to attack our school but somehow, (y/n) found out about it and rushed back to warn us but along the way, she was attacked. Badly. When I found her, one of them nearly choked her to death” Tsukasa explained, the other guys were now silent with the information

Before anyone can utter another word, Tsukasa’s phone rang and it was the nurse from the hospital, telling Tsukasa that you were finally awake and were searching for him. Without any more explanation, Tsukasa turned the phone off and rushed away to the hospital to see you.

Arriving at the hospital, Tsukasa didn’t even pay attention that he was pushing through some of the workers but once he got to your room and saw you sitting on your bed, never has Tsukasa felt this amount of relief. Seeing that Tsukasa was finally here, the nurse decided to give the two of you some privacy and left.

“H-hey, a-are you ok?” Tsukasa stuttered, scratching the back of his head as he took a chair and sat right beside your bed

“I think I should be the one asking you that” you replied, pointing at his bruised and bloody knuckles

“Oh. This. This is nothing” Tsukasa breathed out but you took his hand and a nearby cloth, wiping his bloody hand

“You shouldn’t fight so much. Who did you fight anyways? Were there that many people that attacked Oya High?” you asked, wiping Tsukasa’s hands clean from his own blood

“There were quite a lot but it didn’t matter. What mattered was that you got hurt because you were trying to warn us about the attack” Tsukasa explained but you just chuckled dryly

“Wh-what?” Tsukasa questioned as you put his hand back on the bed

“You never really cared nor did you spare me a glance when we first met. What changed?” you asked. It was Tsukasa’s turn to be nervous

You were right. Tsukasa never paid attention nor seemed to care about your sudden appearance. But he can’t help but be drawn to you. It was as if you were someone that he was looking for but when you were actually in front of him, Tsukasa just malfunctioned. He rarely encounters girls to begin with; let alone is interested in any of them.

“You’re right, this isn’t me. I’m not used to any of this yet nor do I know exactly how I feel but what I do know is that I was a coward. In the beginning, I thought that you were just some random girl that was probably a spy from Kuryu or something. But I spied on you, I realised that you were actually a regular girl that was just lost. I know that we didn’t start off well but if you’re alright to start over. If not, perhaps we can just try and get along, slowly…” Tsukasa replied, his hand making its way back on top of yours, caressing your hand

“Tsukasa…I hope that this isn’t a joke” you mumbled, not wanting to give in just yet

“I promise you that I want to start anew” Tsukasa replied back, intertwining your fingers together

But right when Tsukasa was leaning closer and you completely forgot about how you ended up in this world in the first place, Yuta came and stopped you both from going any further. His eyes were worried but sharp at the same time.

Noticing his glare, Tsukasa knew that Yuta would probably want to talk to you alone. “You don’t have to answer me now. I’ll wait for you this time. Get better soon alright? Let me know if you need anything” Tsukasa sighed, kissing your knuckles before excusing himself from the room.

Once he was sure that Tsukasa was out of the room, Yuta sat on the chair right by the bed and observed your current state before speaking up. “Where did you go before?” Yuta asked, still trying to process everything that has happened in the past few hours

“I got a lead about this shaman that would know how do we get back to our world. Along the way, I heard about that gang wanting to attack everyone in Oya High” you replied

“Then why didn’t you just go to the Shaman? Oya can take care of themselves. You didn’t have to go all the way back just to warn them. Look where it got you” Yuta cursed, making you jump a bit

“Well I’m sorry that I got attached to all of them. I love them not just as characters but who they are. Being in this world taught me that. I know we’re not supposed to think of this world as our own but the more I stay here and interact with everyone, the more that I care” you admitted, tears starting to build up

“I know. I know (y/n). I slowly also become attached and I guess that has become a problem for both of us. I know how much you adore Tsukasa but you can’t let him get close to you and vice versa. I’ll visit the shaman tomorrow and let you know once I come back. Until then, you have to set up some boundaries between you and the others; especially Tsukasa. Because from what I’ve seen, it seems like he has also grown attached to you in some way” Yuta suggested, holding your hands in his

“I know. I just. I feel bad. Turning down his feelings? Should we just tell them all the truth? Or at least let me go with you to the Shaman since the two of us are the ones that need to go back” you replied

“Fine. We’ll both go to the Shaman and once we got the answer from them, we’ll both go back to the others and tell them the truth” Yuta replied whilst hugging you, comforting you in the process

The next day came sooner than you’d like. You were getting better and luckily enough, the nurse allowed you to be discharged. Yuta helped you get up and the two of you head out as early as possible. Mainly to avoid the other guys.

The two of you walked through the woods you went through the other day and made your way to the Shaman’s place. Once the two of you reached the place, you noticed that the Shaman was doing their daily activities but stopped the moment the two of you stopped right in front of their house.

“Begone you two lost souls” the shaman stated as the two of you stopped in your tracks

“Since you already know who we are, I’ll get straight to the point. How the hell do we get back to our own universe? Clearly, this universe isn’t ours” Yuta blurted out, trying to get close but for some reason it was as if there was an invisible barrier preventing him

“It’s not about how you get back. But about you truly letting go of this universe. All you had to do to get back was find me but it looks like one of you isn’t ready to go back just yet” the Shaman stated, looking at you specifically

“Not just her though. The boy in this universe is also not ready to let her go just yet” the Shaman added on, making the two of you confused

“(y/n)…” Yuta whispered, facing towards you but his gaze was somewhere else

Just as you turned around and followed Yuta’s gaze did you finally understand. Tsukasa and some of the other Oya High students were there along with other guys from Housen, Suzuran and even Senomon High.

“Tsukasa…” you whispered out, tears were finally starting to fall one after the other while Tsukasa looked at both you and Yuta in disbelief

“You lied. All this time. Both of you. We were all foolish to let you both, especially you…” Tsukasa stated, looking deeply into your figure. “I was foolish to think that we could actually connect. That we have some sort of bond” Tsukasa spotted, his words were practically like acupuncture needles but sharper and would prick deeper into your skin

“Tsukasa. Chotto matte kudasai (wait for a moment). Let me explain…” you tried to reason but Tsukasa already turned his back on you

“Go home (y/n). Your actual friends are probably waiting for you. I won’t hold you back. Goodbye (y/n)” Tsukasa stated about to walk away but stopped when you had an outburst

“How the hell am I supposed to go back knowing that you probably hate me?! I can’t go back even more now” you exclaimed, not holding back anymore tears

“That was on you. You knew where you came from. You knew that you didn’t belong here. Yet you still like as if you were part of this world” Tsukasa shouted back, making you flinch since you have never seen him get angry before

“Ya, Tsukasa. Say anything hurtful towards her again, I’ll knock you out again. You think someone can prevent themselves from feeling how they felt?! Don’t say shit like this when you too also felt something” Yuta growled back, making Tsukasa even more pissed off that he went and stood in front of Yuta and faced him

“You also have no say in this, Suzaki. Or whoever you are in his body” Tsukasa spotted but was immediately welcomed by Yuta’s punch

“You can say whatever shit you want about me but not her. You have no fucking idea how hard it was for her to hold herself back. Not to mention the way you first treated her. Yes, perhaps it was wrong of her to get close with the others. But you also didn’t give her a warm welcome, now did you? Yet yesterday you seemed to be the most fired up when she was hurt and now you’re saying as if her feelings weren’t valid at all” Yuta argued, throwing punches and kicks at Tsukasa which turned the whole meeting into an actual fight

The two didn’t back down for even just a breather. Yuta would throw punches whereas Tsukasa would dodge them and try to hit back. You were sick and tired of all this fighting which happened because of you that you decided that you should put an end to it but right when you were interrupting them, Tsukasa accidentally hit your side and you stumbled and fall, holding your sides while coughing out.

The second Tsukasa hit you, Yuta instinctively grabbed you as all the others that were there went to see if you were alright. Despite you and Yuta somewhat deceiving everyone, they all still cared about the two of you. Fujio especially held Tsukasa back and smacked his friend for what he had just done.

“YA!!! Wake up Tsukasa!! Do you not realise what you’re doing?!” Fujio shouted at his friend, punching him that Tsukasa was now on the ground yet his eyes never leaving your sight

“Ryo was right. You didn’t even consider how she must’ve felt. She’s not completely at fault. You were the one that told me that you also caught feelings yet now it seemed like you’re blaming it all on her? Look at where that anger brought you!!” Fujio rambled, gripping his hair out of frustration of his own friend

“Fujio!!!” Yuta shouted at the leader of Oya, grabbing everyone’s attention. “We’ll stay here. It’s best that the two of us distance ourselves from everyone. Especially (y/n). At least let me take care of her first before I explain everything to you all. I owe you all that” Yuta stated as Fujio nodded as a sign of acknowledgement

Thankfully, the Shaman allowed both Yuta and you to stay at their place, saying that it would be easier for the two; especially when the two are ready to go back to their own universe. Once Yuta helped you, he told you to rest and to figure out your own feelings as he was going to explain to the others what actually happened.

“I should go too. It’s not just you. I was the one who was most at fault” you mumbled, making Yuta sit back down beside you

“We all make mistakes (y/n). But don’t you ever think for a second that your feelings were not valid. If Tsukasa can’t man up and understand then he doesn’t deserve your feelings. I’m also just going to tell them about what actually is happening so that they would hopefully understand” Yuta replied back, tucking you in bed

“Yuta…” you breathed out, holding his hand, Yuta turned to wait for your statement. “Thank you. When we get back, I think I owe you that omakase dinner you wanted” you chuckled, making Yuta smile

“I look forward to it. I’ll be back” Yuta replied, patting your head then left to explain to the others who were waiting outside of the Shaman’s house

“Honestly, I didn’t expect that all of you would still be here” Yuta stated, putting his hands in the pocket of his pants

“We all wanted to know the truth. After then will we decide” Fujio stated as the others agreed

Yuta then told everyone the truth. How he and you were not from this universe and instead in a universe where he and most of the other High and Low characters are singers; which clearly shocked everyone. In addition, Yuta also told them all that in their universe, you were a close friend of his and was also a fan of everyone in the High & Low universe.

“So basically, all of us have an alternate self in your universe and even if you guys go back, there will be another us over there?” Fujio asked excitedly, making Yuta giggle

“Yes. There are you guys in our universe as well. But I will say this Tsukasa. Even if there is another you in our universe. (y/n) already had an attachment with you as a character but now I guess it’s safe to say that she truly has an attachment with you and even if she has to let everything that has happened here go, she will still have some sort of attachment towards you but not just as a character but an actual person” Yuta explained, silence immediately filled the air

It was when Yuta explained to Tsukasa did he realise that you clearly had more to lose since once you go back, you will have to continue with the fact that all of this might just seem like a dream since in your world, everyone in this world is basically fiction. Knowing that he doesn’t have much time left with you, Tsukasa just wanted to have one final conversation with you. To hopefully bring closure to the both of you before you both part ways. And hopefully not have any regrets when you two actually part ways.

“Hey…How are you feeling?” Tsukasa softly whispered, noticing that you were wide awake and sitting on the bed

“Hey…Am better now. Now I know why they call you the sleeping lion” you joked as Tsukasa went to sit next to you

“About what happened. I’m sorry. I really am. I was just mad about the sudden discovery that all I think about was if you hadn’t been so close to everyone, it wouldn’t be that hard to let go. But after what Ryo, I mean, Yuta said, I tried to see it from your shoes and I’m sorry. I just hope that we can have some closure and well” Tsukasa rambled, stuttering with his words, especially with the next words that he’s going to say. “I do like you too and I know this might seem a bad timing since you want to go back to your own universe but I just feel the need to say it because I don’t want to have any regrets. I know that it might be hard during the first few times after you leave but at least I won’t have any regrets. At least, I’m happy to be able to be honest with you about how I’ve felt” Tsukasa admitted as he held your hand in his

“Tsukasa…” you teared up, slightly hitting his chest while he hugged you, stroking your hair. “You really have one of the worst timing ever” you tried to joke as Tsukasa sighed in relief, holding you closer to him

As you slowly opened your eyes, you scanned your surroundings and found yourself back at Yuta’s apartment. Looking at your phone, you noticed that not much time passed back in your universe.

Sighing, you got up and found Yuta asleep on the floor. You shook Yuta a few times until he finally woke up. Chuckled at his current state, you told him that you were going to make breakfast which Yuta thank you for and hit the shower.

As you made breakfast, the doorbell to Yuta’s apartment rang. Quickly, you turned off the stove and headed to see who it was. To your surprise, it was Ryoki, Kazuma and Hokuto, all in their casual wear but presentable enough just like when you were in high school about to hang out at your friend’s place.

“Hi. Sorry, did we come at a wrong time?” Kazuma asked politely which you shake your head, reassuring them that they didn’t and invited them into the house

“Hey (y/n), who is…Oh, hi guys” Yuta stated, making his appearance as he was also dressed. “Ahh right. This is (y/n), my best friend since before I moved to Korea. (y/n), this is Kazuma, Hokuto and Ryoki. Well, she knows all of you because she’s a fan of the High & Low movies. Plus, she’s a big fan of Tsukasa” Yuta blurted, making you blush and hit his bicep playfully, trying to hide your shyness as the other 3 male in front of you giggle

“Well (y/n). Pleased to meet you and thank you for being a fan. I think we’ll get along pretty well” Hokuto exclaimed, giving you one of the biggest smile you’ve seen him do

A/N: yeap, this almost 6k fic took me practically a month to write :') Anyways, I hope that you guys enjoy it and wow, it's been 3 years since I'm on Tumblr. What a ride it is and don't worry, I don't plan on stopping soon. I just hope that everyone who has similar interest as I do can enjoy the stories that I put out

Also, if anyone wants to ramble about the H&L universe (ehem, Amamiya brothers), please don't be scared to talk to me or send me a message or even a request because I'd be happy to do some H&L fanfics as I have not seen much of it :') Alright, I need to sleep (as of writing this). Thank you all for reading and sticking by for the past 3 years or so. Stay safe and may you always be happy :) xoxo Vinet

[theflyingfeeling]

well said, Niko 👏

so I went to exit my emotions in Germany last weekend, details below:

we went to the shows in Berlin & Leipzig, with a VIP experience for the latter

and guyyyyyyyyssss let me tell you, BC really did not lie when they said we were there to Exit our Emotions 😩 the shows went straight to the very top of my personal BC shows list, the energy was amazing and all the new songs sounded incredible live, even the ones that weren't necessarily my #1 favourites, like Where's the Exit and Wolves in California. Especially the former sounds sooooooooooooooo good live 💖

and because I was there mainly to enjoy myself and to exit the fuck out of my stupid useless emotions, I barely took any videos or pictures (I never take pictures anyway, how do y'all manage to take such amazing shots at shows?!) despite having relatively good spots to do so. I kinda wish I had more so I could think back to the shows afterwards, but on the other hand I felt like I got way more out of the show when I put my undivided focus on it, and besides indoor shows are always challenging on that regard due to the flashing lights etc. and I felt like every time I was going to film the lighting was not appropriate so in the end I just couldn't bother 😅

I don't really have much else to report from Berlin other than that the venue was great, I had an excellent view and had the best time ever 🥰

not least because I met so many BC tumblr friends!! it was so nice seeing everyone, please come to the Nokia Arena show y'all, we'll be your host it's hocus pocus 🥺

and then there was Leipzig 🥴

I mean, this is my initial reaction immediately after it (written in my drafts):

🙈🙈🙈🙈🙈🙈🙈

but yeah, as you can see from this post, @exitemotions and I had bought some silly little gifts to give the guys (rock hand glass markers not pictured), and we were so incredibly chill about the whole thing, like, NO ONE has ever been as chill as we were in advance of the VIP experience, I'm tellin' ya 💅

(we were so chill in fact that when we came back to the hotel room afterwards, we noticed we had forgotten the ceiling light on. you know, because that's how chill and zen and calm we had been upon leaving for the venue 💅💅💅💅💅)

the acoustic set was fucking cute, almost like a little campfire hangout 🥺

about giving the gifts and having our pictures taken: I feel like I was working on some kind of autopilot and can barely remember much anything 🙃 which I'm kinda mad at myself about lol, but I guess the guys liked the gifts (Olli said the glass markers were important, as my foreword for them was that they'd no longer have to fight about which glass/cup was whose, and I remember Tommi saying that socks are always useful. the others are owners of feet as well, so I suppose they agree 🧦)

we had made all sorts of grand plans for our individual pictures with the band but ended up with having "regular" ones after all, because while there was no feeling of rush per se at the m&g, everything was still happening relatively fast and sort of in their own course, and if we had wanted to do any funny poses or whatever, we should've been faster and in a little...sharper mental state to ask for them 😂😭

but we were chill though, I promise 💅

(I'm just cringing at myself so hard because I look like a fucking teacher standing for a class photograph 😂💀 it's funnier if you know I'm actually a teacher lol)

during the show we were on 2-3 row because we kinda missed our cue to run and reserve our spots before the acoustic set. personally I blame Santeri the tour manager for this (and also the fact that there were so many people there who had already been to VIP on this tour before, so they knew what to do 🤷‍♀️ meanwhile we were just left standing like "...wat 🧍‍♂️")

the show was just as great as the Berlin one, I honestly can't put them in order because they were both amazing and really made me forget about my sad little life 🖤

Rock Band From Hell was also alright. the one with no shirt on was hot

Ghost Kid was cool too. the one with no shirt on was hot

...so hot in fact that I already fell in love with him at the Berlin gig, and so when we were on our way to the merch booth after the Leipzig show, we ran into him and I flirted chatted with him a bit and had my picture taken with him 🥰 he was soooooo sweet and funny and I hope he'll stay true to his promise and keep the thing I said to him ('the drummer of BC could never [swirl the drumstick in his fingers in between every beat like you do]') "just between you and me" 🤭

from the merch booth I bought the XOXO longsleeve which looks super nice (sadly the quality isn't as super though dfgdgdsdh)

the next day it was time to return home, and as @kraeuterhexchen was seeing me to my platform at the railway station, I broke into tears in the middle of an escalator and didn't stop crying until boarding my plane lol

it's just that I was really nervous about travelling back to the airport from Leipzig because I had two changes of trains and the horror stories I've heard of Deutsche Bahn always being late were only adding to it, and that stress somehow triggered some sort of emotional meltdown in me and I realised the trip that I had been waiting for 6 MONTHS was now ending?? there had been so much talk about how we'd "do this and that when we go to Berlin/Leipzig and see BC" and now it's all done and gone and ?????? how does one move on after that 😭

but mostly I've been crying about the gift I gave to Olli 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

some of you have already heard about this, but I had made Olli this pin cushion ring:

...because I wanted to "support his sewing hobby", as I told him then sdhfhdfhfhfh

he seemed to really appreciate it, and as I demonstrated how handy it was (because you can wear it and easily put the pins there while sewing instead of having to reach to a pin cushion further away on the table), he told me he only had this huge pin cushion ("a brick" he called it, the one you can see on this video), and aaaahhhhh I'M SO ANGRY AT MYSELF for not remembering much else or barely daring to even look at him to see his reaction 😭 I do remember he got very excited when he heard he was getting a sewing-related gift though ("yessss" he said, if my memory doesn't fail me too bad) 🥺🥺🥺😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

and I'm so sad I didn't even get a picture of him with it, because Joona the photographer was in the possession of my phone at that moment 😔 and I also forgot to tell him I had made it myself, though I believe it's self-evident. but, you know. still 😭

and the reason why I've been so emotional about it is because I had made the ring weeks ago already, shortly after the album release event, and since then I have admired it every day (because hellooooo is it not the cutest?!) and I had imagined all the scenarios in which I'd give it to him, what I'd say about it and how he'd react to it (I wondered if he'd even know what it was, but of course he immediately recognized it as a pin cushion when I showed it to him 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭), and yesterday it just suddenly hit me that when I'd be back home, the ring would no longer be there on my table for me to admire and hold in my hands, because Olli has it now? it's OLLI'S now, as intented, and yeah idk why but even now, two days later, I'm still literally crying about it as I'm writing this because I had grown strangely attached to that silly trinket and now I'll probably never see it again 🥺😭 (I guess I should just make one for myself too lol, my old one that I made almost 17 years ago is a wee bit shabby)

anyway, if anyone sees him, can you please tell him to take good care of it 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

the world's biggest thanks to everyone who I hung out with on this trip, but especially to @kraeuterhexchen whose stunning art I can now admire in calendar form on my kitchen wall every month of the year (yes I shall keep you updated):

...and to @another-sun the organizer extraordinaire, as well as to my travelling companion @exitemotions (thanks for all the laughs with a touch of chaos in between <3)

here's me with BC again, the only other picture that's not blurry af lol

in conclusion, 🎵 never again, never again 🎵

...until next time 👀

[sherifftillman]

Kurt Kunkle headcanon because you know I had to 😘

All that man needed was to have a girl pay attention to him for two seconds and give him a little validation, and then no one would have died. He could have been easily fixed by seeing my some boobs.

Anna you know more than anyone that I love a good "but I can fix him" when it comes to Kurt lmfao

okay but imagine before he succumbs to The Lesson, he's just an ordinary Spree driver going about his day

on certain days, he stops by the drive thru bc he's figured out when his favourite server is working

(it's you, you're his favourite server)

he likes you because you don't give him the monotone everyone else does. he likes that you always sound happy to see him, and that you eventually place his regular order to his voice before he can even tell you. sure, figuring out your shift pattern was probably a little obsessive on his part, especially for someone he hasn't seen before, but he's doing it for love

in the time you save by being able to order for him, you get to ask him what his plans are for the day and he tells you all about kurtsworld96

when you get off shift, you follow his account and start liking his posts. he's a cutie in his own way, and you can see he's really trying with his content. since he doesn't get much engagement, it doesn't take much for him to figure out that this new follower is you. he is floored by how you look. devastated that you're wasted on a job behind a speaker. maybe he gets off to you a little too, who's to say

irl, however, he starts getting more nervous to talk to you, even through the speaker. you can kind of tell its because he's a little intimidated which, honestly? confidence booster 3000

so you take to DMing him. just a little praise for his videos, which he takes super enthusiastically. you ask about his idea process, his filming setup, his editing software. he refuses to accept any praise about himself, though.

as the night goes on and you start to get more comfortable with talking to him, you go back to trying to compliment him. he again starts to deny it all, so you decide to try and condition him. you send him a suggestive selfie, telling him that for every nice thing he can say about himself, you'll show him how much you appreciate him. After the first one, you take off your shirt and send another selfie. kurt's reply is full of typos, which he's hurriedly apologetic for, but you gently reassure him that it must be difficult only typing with one hand now, since the other must be preoccupied

he gets more confident with his compliments, both towards you and himself, as the night goes on, but once he's gotten his release from seeing you, he gets all self-deprecafing again

so you simply keep at it. sending suggestive messages and photos and promising more only if he praises himself first

once he's actually started to show some real improvement, you can hear it in his voice when he comes round to order. you tell him he should come and pick you up when your shift is over

you try to adopt the same mentality into kurt irl, straddled over him in the drivers seat telling him to be nicer to himself, but the poor, pathetic lil man that he is, some topless dry humping is all it takes for him to cum right in his pants

the first time he can finally hold put long enough to actually get to fuck you, after he cums he cries, but you know it's not a reflection of either of your performance. he's just craved intimacy for so long. for someone to just want to recognise him for him

and as a bonus for any voyeur pals reading this, maybe the cameras still end up getting installed in his car after all, but for a whole other reason~

[aquilacalvitium]

Rating my favourite fictional characters on how much I'd trust them to do my top surgery

Wander 🎩🪕(Wander Over Yonder) - Bugs Bunny level antics that waste about eleven minutes of everyone's lives and leave every single person convinced he couldn't do it. It would be the cleanest and easiest top surgery on record and I would walk away unscathed.

Commander Peepers 👁💥(Wander Over Yonder) - He'd take it deadly seriously and spend the whole thing nervously sweating. He would get it done but it wouldn't be flawless. Gods help me if Hater walks into the room during the surgery.

Jack Skellington 💀🎃(Nightmare Before Christmas) - A scientific and analytical mind bodes well for surgery. However. He is a skeleton and I'm fairly certain he doesn't understand how human bodies work or that we can't dismantle ourselves like some monsters. 0/10. Love him to bits. Wouldn't trust him as far as I can throw one of his rib bones.

Fantoccio 🧵🎭(Billie Bust Up) - I mean... I think? He'd take it seriously enough but I'm not sure he'd know what he was doing.

Barnaby 🦉☠️(Billie Bust Up) - Are. You. Fucking. Kidding. Me. ☠️☠️☠️

Alastor 🦌🔪(Hazbin Hotel) - Must I repeat the above. ☠️☠️☠️

Ingo/Emmet 🔼🔽🚂(Pokemon) - Yeah actually I think they'd do well. They'd take it seriously, do it flawlessly and I'd walk away with a chest flatter than Emmet's hopes and dreams after Ingo got Isekai'd

Sun/Moon ☀️🌙(FNAF) - Ha. HA. HAHAHA. I can't trust them with children's safety scissors.

The Innocent 🪁🐕(Koozå) - Sir/Ma'am/Other title. That is a child.

The Trickster 🪄🎁(Koozå) - Wouldn't even need to go under. I have seen this man summon people out of nothing, my chest would be flat before I could blink. He'd make a performance out of it though and probably make me feel not entirely safe because he is peak moral ambiguity.

The Doctor ⏳️🌌(Doctor Who) - One would take it seriously but I wouldn't trust his unsteady hands. Two would probably have an anxiety attack so that's a nope. Three, Four and Five I trust to get it done safely and seriously. Honestly Six is... well he's certainly the most eccentric regeneration so probably not. Seven I'm not sure would do it properly even though he could take it seriously. Then again he could surprise me, he's more compitent than he appears. Eight and Nine? Ah shit I dunno honestly. Ten's a yes, Eleven is a huge nope, Twelve is a very safe yes and Thirteen is also a safe yes. Fourteen is just Ten repeated so also a yes. I don't know Fifteen well enough to say yet.

James "Jamie" McCrimmon 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🗡(Doctor Who) - He's got the steady hands and seriousness needed, yes. Unfortunately he is from the 18th century and about sixty years before anaesthesia was invented.

Sebastian 🖥🕸(Stardew Valley) - Yeah, actually. I think he'd take it seriously and have steady enough hands for it. I'm in safe company there 👍

Nico the Accordion Man 🪗⚙️(Kurios) - ??? I have no idea??? He's a handyman which bodes well and whatever he was doing with his fingers during Hypnotique tells me he's got the hands for it, but also Have You Seen the Way This Man Moves?

Chief Clown 🤡🎪(Classic Doctor Who) - (Oh yeah I'm getting hella obscure for some of these characters.) I'm pretty sure this man is a homicidal maniac. I have seen the face he makes when he kills someone. I wouldn't trust this lunatic within one mile of me while I am fully conscious and he is unarmed. Especially considering he has been unarmed every time I have seen him kill.

Sweet Cap'n Cakes 🎶🥯(Deltarune) - I love these three adorable sweethearts with my whole chest. And if I let them near my chest with anything sharp I'm afraid I won't have anything left to love them with.

Rouxls Kaard ♥️♦️♠️♣️(Deltarune) - This man. This indigo beanpole. This walking homosexual disaster. Can't make a puzzle more complex than "put box on button." Respectfully and deeply affectionately... ✨️no✨️

Wally Darling 👁🍎(Welcome Home) -

Hatbox Ghost 🎩🦯(Haunted Mansion) - NO. To both film and ride versions for different reasons.

Ghost Host 🪓➰️(Haunted Mansion) - 2023 film Hosty? Never. Put that axe down, sir. Ride Hosty? Well... He's a goober who's not half as dangerous as he appears. But I still wouldn't trust him to know what he's doing or particularly care too much if he accidentally killed me.

The Phantom 💀🎩(Phantom Manor) - Quite honestly I couldn't say. This man was adept at murder but only when given a reason, like his victims wanting to marry his daughter. I can thankfully say that I am queer enough for that to not apply to me. Doesn't make me trust him though.

The Prophet 🖤🎤(Legion of the Black) - Uh. Yeah, I think so. Yeah I think I'd be in okay hands, it wouldn't be flawless but it'd get done well enough.

Captain Rex 🪖🚀(Star Wars: The Clone Wars) - While I'd like to say battlefield first aid would give him some experience - which is true - surgeries are left up to droids. But even so I would say I'd be in safe hands. I trust him to get the job done well.

Ahsoka Tano 🗡🔶️(Star Wars: The Clone Wars) - Oh yeah. OH yeah. Safer than a Jedi holocron in the Jedi Temple library vault (before Cad Bane showed up, anyway).

Natemare 👁🎸(Natewantstobattle) - Ah yes because that is a level of mental instability that I trust to safely and confidently give me surgery. /s

Phantom 📜✒️ (Natewantstobattle) - If you know Phantom you're probably expecting a no, but he holds up his ends of any deal he makes! I absolutely trust him to give me the easiest, cleanest surgery ever. What I don't trust him to do is let me enjoy it for long because whoopsy-doopsy I'm now trapped inside his cane forever.

Lukas 🐈📖(Minecraft Story Mode) - Oh honey no, you stick to your books. He can kick ass and write a good story but he could never perform a surgery.

Helsknight ⚔️🔥(Hermitcraft) - The only things this man knows are Quote Meme, Rap and Be Pathetic. He made a pitfall trap for Welsknight because he forgot that literally every single Hermit has elytra and can fly, and then boasted about it, only to get deeply humbled. He has a total brain cell count of -1. I think you know my opinion.

[regalstudies]

Japanese Movie Recommendations!

こんにちは皆さん！今日、特別な順序ではなく５本の好きな映画を紹介したいです。

Hi everyone! Today I’d like to introduce you to 5 of my favourite Japanese movies! My personal tastes lean more towards the horror and anime side of things, but I hope there are some here that you guys haven’t seen! Cinema can be a great avenue to delve deeper social commentaries about the country we’re interested in learning about, so I’ve tried to pick some recommendations with that in mind! :]  

I’ve attempted to add all relevant content warnings, but there may be something I have missed so please take caution! I’d recommend having a look at what people say on DoesTheDogDie.com if you have specific concerns

Without further ado, let’s get started!

1.  Confessions (告白) directed by Tetsuya Nakashima (中島哲也)  

Confessions is a 2010 psychological thriller based off of the mystery novel of the same name. It follows the aftermath of the murder of a school teacher’s daughter by her pupils, who utilise Japan’s laws on age of criminal responsibility to “get away with it” and focuses on the differing perspectives of those involved. This film explores themes of revenge, familial values and expectations, and the normalization of violence in youth. This film is unmistakably heavy, but it is powerful.

This was introduced to me by my professor when I was doing a Japanese Film course in Uni, and it has stuck with me for YEARS. Not only is the story itself poignant, it’s brilliantly acted, beautifully shot, and has so many striking visuals with artistically composed scenes. As this was a fairly successful film,  there are a fair few articles analysing its themes - if anyone is interested, I can try and dig up the resources we used when we studied this in class! :]

Content warnings: depictions and mentions of mental and physical abuse, violence towards children, violence committed by children, bullying mentions of animal death, attempted suicide, murder, mentions of chronic illness (AIDs and cancer in particular)

2.  The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (かぐや姫の物語) directed by Isao Takahata (高畑 勲)

A retelling of famous folktale Taketori Monogatari (竹取物語) for modern Japanese audiences, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya brings new life to the classic story without sacrificing any of its heart. Takahata cited his own inability to connect to the original tale as inspiration for the retelling, aiming for something which the audience could connect to emotionally and really understand the titular princess. 

The film deals with feminist concerns about the restrictions of womanhood (especially in the ambiguously Heian-era Japan), familial obligation, love, and the beauty of life. It’s a cultural adventure which I would recommend to anyone regardless of their familiarity with the tale it is adapting! Honestly, I’ve written essays about  Taketori Monogatari and this film still managed to move me to tears with how beautifully and painstakingly rendered it is! I’d need a whole other post to detail just how much I appreciate the /art/ of this piece.

Content warnings: animal death, suggestion of sexual assault, arranged marriage, memory loss

3. Dark Water (仄暗い水の底から) directed by Hideo Nakata (中田 秀夫)

This 2002 horror movie is a sad ghost story! It follows the story of a single mother trying to get through her life while dealing with her divorce proceedings, new slightly-run-down apartment, and the paranormal occurrences haunting herself and her daughter. This movie deals with familial issues, parental sacrifice and confronting trauma.

Dark Water deals with aspects of Japanese horror which fans of Ringu (coincidentally, also directed by Nakata) may recognize, so I’d definitely recommend fans of Ringu and people wanting to explore the way that different cultures portray horror to give this one a shot. I found this one so fun to analyse  recurring themes and imagery in Japanese horror, and I’m more than happy to encourage others to fall down this rabbit hole too!

Content warnings: missing children, death (including that of a child), threat of death, drowning, abandonment, divorce

4.  The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (時をかける少女) directed by  Makoto Shinkai (新海 誠)

This 2006 sci-fi romance tells the story of a high-school girl who discovered that she has the ability to travel through time! Dealing with friendship, the pressures of growing up and romance, this movie integrates slice-of-life and coming of age themes into its sci-fi setting! Its your classic tale of fairly innocent time-travel shenanigans and trying to right some wrongs, and makes the the ultimate heartwarming story! 

This one used to be pretty popular amongst anime fans a gooood few years back, but I haven’t seen people talk about it in a while and I wanted to mention it just in case it had fallen off the radar!  With simple yet fluid character designs and beautiful scenery, this piece manages to portray grounded teenage characters and capture that warm summer feeling throughout.

Content warnings: threat of death, train accidents, minor violence and name calling

5.  Tokyo Sonata (トウキョウソナタ) directed by  Kiyoshi Kurosawa (黒沢 清)

This 2008 drama follows the disintegration of a middle-class family after the patriarch loses his comfortable salaryman job unexpectedly. This film tackles issues faced by many modern families as the sense of traditionalism and societal normalcy becomes strained under the pressures of expectation, unemployment, and inability to communicate your authentic self to your family.

This film is an incredibly grounded drama, depicting real issues faced by so many families. Take a look at the date on this film, and you’ll realise how true-to-home this story of societal and economic uncertainty is for so many. Despite it all, what seems on the surface to be a depressing story of a family at their worst, actually displays a message of hope throughout. I find it to be a very realistic and poignant film.

Content warnings: unemployment, financial struggle, communication issues, war, military, abuse, domestic violence, crime, robbery, kidnapping, themes of suicide and depression, sexual assault, car accidents, police presence 

Bonus!  Gohatto (御法度) directed by Nagisa Ōshima (大島 渚)

This one was recommended by my flatmate for this list, as a quick shoutout because “its very good” so I don’t personally have much to say about it - but I’m never going to complain about a recommendation for a gay samurai film. :]

それで、おすすめを終わります！

Thank you all for reading through this list! If you have any recommendations of your own, please feel free to add them on!

[fayestardust]

Miscellaneous Tag game

Tagged by bestie @almost-a-class-act

Favorite place in the world you’ve visited?

Probably California, because accessibility is so great there. I actually loved LA, but I would guess I wouldn't like it so much if I had to live there. It's the visiting that is cool.

Something you’re proud of yourself for?

Honestly, for still being here? I know that seems like a dark thing to say, and it kind of is, but I've been through a lot of shit, and life continues to be hard. So I'm proud that I'm trudging through it.

On a more recent scale, I am really proud of myself for walking through the Bois Jacques and Trou de Loup forest the other day with my BoB family. It was the most I've walked in probably the last ten years and while I was completely out of breath, it felt great to have done it.

Favorite books?

I don't know anymore. Maybe the Housekeeper and the Professor. But recently, Wool by Hugh Howey.

Something that makes your heart happy when thinking about it?

The last time @almost-a-class-act came to visit, and also any of my BoB trips. Something about found family. Squeee.

Favorite thing about your culture?

Probably that we pull no punches. And I'm not sure if it's part of our culture but growing up, everyone was always welcome in our house. To stay for dinner, to sleep over, just about anything. I love that I was taught that.

When did you join the HBO War fandom? What was the first show you watched?

Band of Brothers way back when it came out when I was in high school. Our history teacher was cool like that. Then I watched it with my dad (now 84) and I got into the Pacific slightly after it came out. Fun fact is that I initially did not like it. Too violent and a bit scattered, I thought, but now I like it about just as much as Band. Covid launched me back into the series harder than ever before, and I watched both plenty of times with @almost-a-class-act. Then the whole art thing started and the rest is history.

Have you read any of Easy Company’s books? If so, which ones were your favorite?

I've read Band of Brothers, Easy Company Soldier and Parachute Infantry. Easy Company Soldier is my favourite out of those. I've also read Bob Leckie's book Helmet for My Pillow, which might be better.

Favorite HBO War character and your favorite moment with them?

I can't pick a favourite, it changes all the time. My favourite scene is Doc and Babe in their foxhole, though.

Do you make content for any fandoms, if so; what sort of content?

I make art and, on rare occasions, write fic and sometimes poetry. Not enough, though.

Favorite actor/actress and your favorite film of theirs?

Andrew Garfield can do no wrong. Give me him in just about anything. Under the Banner of Heaven was impactful. Reminds me that I have to finish watching Silence. I started watching it over Christmas with my family, but we decided it was too heavy for Christmas. Paul Mescal has been one of my recent faves.

Favorite quote/s that you wish to share with others?

I have one but my brain is broken and I can't think of it right now.

Random fact your mutuals/followers don’t know about you?

Hm, maybe I used to sing a lot and once recorded an album. Or that I wasn't always in a wheelchair.

If you’re a writer, do you need a beta reader (say yes so I can be your beta reader 🤭)?

Yes, but I have @almost-a-class-act. She never lets me down.

Three things that make you smile?

My cats. My signed art. My camera (nerd!)

Any nicknames you like?

Faye, K-Maart (begrudgingly)

List some people you love to see around on tumblr!

@mutantmanifesto @almost-a-class-act @derry-rain @cody-helix02 And loads of you who I just don't remember because my brain is overloaded.

What would you do during a zombie apocalypse?

Die.

Favorite movie?

I don't know, don't make me pick.

Do you like horror movies?

I do not. Though I guess it kind of depends on how suspenseful they are and if they have jumpscares.

Tagging: @derry-rain @mutantmanifesto @cody-helix02 @wordsluts

[boozles]

Boozle's 2023 Top Ten Dramas

I've been really enjoying reading everyone's top lists of the year, and I've actually been thinking about my own for a few weeks now, because I knew how hard it would be for me to put my lists together! Basically, in terms of Asian drama series, I watched a lot this year. According to my MDL, I have completed 99 dramas for the whole year. (Disclaimer: not all of these were BL, and a handful were short films. Regardless, I still think that's a ridiculous amount and I understand why people think I have no life x_x) So, I think you all can understand why these lists are going to be a little difficult for me!

Note: Everything I say here is my own personal thoughts and opinions. I'm not trying to attack anyone for liking something I don't, or disliking something I loved. We're all pals here, okay? <3

Top Ten Dramas (Note: not all dramas were released in 2023.)

(i) He's Coming to Me (2019) After watching Something in my Room last year, I swore to never watch another 'ghost boyfriend' series because gosh, even if ghosts are my favourite spooky thing, my heart cannot handle the pain of a sad ending. However, Ohm and Singto sucked me in, and this was just lovely and even gave me a happier ending than I'd expected. I'm a little sad that I was so late to this series, but it has definitely found it's place in my heart.

(ii) My School President (2022/23) I still can't believe that I originally thought this was gonna suck and only started it because I wanted to see what everyone was fussing over. I became so invested in these lads and gosh, I fell in love with the cast (minus Prom, who still irks me). Fourth, Gemini and Mark were absolute standouts in this, and I honestly cannot wait for My Love Mix-Up! because they will be fantastic.

(iii) Moonlight Chicken (2023) This is a surprise to no one, because it seems like it's on everyone's favourites list. Again, though, this was a surprising hit for me; I originally only planned on watching for First and Khaotung because I didn't really know Earth and Mix very well (I only started watching BL at the tail end of 2022, so I feel like I was still a little bit of a newbie at the time) and I just fell in love with EarthMix. They have chemistry that is just so mesmerising and belongs to them. The writing of this series was also just perfect, and the cast was wonderful. It deserves all the accolades it's been getting, and I honestly think this will always be a favourite of mine.

(iv) Choco Milk Shake (2022) In all honesty, I expected this to be weird because it's literally about a guy's pets coming back as humans and his dog falls in love with him and his cat falls in love with his uncle. It sounds like it should be creepy, but it really isn't. I sobbed like an absolute baby during this, and whilst I found the ending a little confusing, I loved it. I really hope we get that rumoured second season.

(v) The Gifted (2018) & The Gifted: Graduation (2020) Okay, I'm including both seasons of The Gifted because I loved them both for their own reasons. However, one of the main things I loved about this series was that it made me appreciate actors I'd never cared much for before. I didn't get all the fuss about Gun Attaphan until I watched this (and yes, I'd already seen Not Me), but I thought he was spectacular in this. Chimon and Nanon were fantastic, and I really loved Mek and Victor, even if they weren't as porminent and I'd have liked.

(vi) A Boss and Babe (2023) Ah, my first experience of ForceBook. I would die for these men. This was a bloody brilliant series, and if you want my honest opinion, it really showed how fantastic Book is at acting, because Cher is nothing like any other character he has portrayed. I loved the backstories and the little nuances, and the supporting cast was fantastic, too. This series deserves more credit and respect (but can we pretend the Our Skyy 2 episodes never happened? Because they were so weird.)

(vii) Beyond Evil (2021) This is probably the best Kdrama I watched all year. It had everything I need - murder, mystery, tortured men with tragic backstories, plus twists and turns in every damn episodes. The acting and writing was superb and I'm honestly depressed there isn't going to be a season 2 (as far as I know?).

(viii) Only Friends (2023) Okay, I know we all have our complaints about things that went wrong with OF, but you know what? I still loved it. Yes, I still think the creators made mistakes with allowing fan opinions to influence the editing and I'm bitted about the treatment of Boston in the end, but I loved these characters and their stories. The cast put their heart and soul into their performances (especially Khaotung and Force) and I really hope we get to see them in future series' together again, as they all work so well together.

(ix) I Feel You Linger in the Air (2023) This was another series I didn't expect to enjoy as much as I did, yet I was there with the rest of you, bawling my eyes out when it ended. Despite the fact my dream career is a historian, I often don't enjoy historical dramas, so I put this off for the first few weeks of it airing until all the gif sets finally forced me to check it out. The cast was fantastic, and the writing was brilliant. I will be broken hearted if they don't get a second season, because they deserve it.

(x) I told Sunset About You (2020) & I Promised You the Moon (2021) I'm including both series as one since technically it's just season 1 and season 2. I loved these shows. They were the most realistic portrayals of young teenage queer love that I have seen in so long. I know a lot of people get angry with Teh in IPYTM but by gosh, my heart just hurt for that confused boy; Billkin's crying is so tragically realistic and as much as I too hated that he was hurting Oh-Aew, I also could understand the confusing feelings that come with growing up. Oh-Aew was just...perfect. PP Krit really just cut my chest open, crawled inside and made a little home for himself with this performance. My only issue is that these two haven't been in anything else together since, and I really hope 2024 fixes that, because as much as I support their music careers, I need them on my screen again.

Honorary Mentions: (i) Kiseki: Dear to Me (2023) (ii) The Warp Effect (2022) (iii) Home School (2023) (iv) Our Dating Sim (2023) (v) La Pluie (2023)

[babymorte]

Hi Kiki! ✌🏼 7, 10 and 26 😌😌😌

oh hai~!!

7. a horror movie you want to recommend to people?

reincarnation!!! its done by takashi shimizu (ju-on: the grudge) and without giving too much away its about a film being made about murders that happened at a haunted hotel but its actually being filmed at the haunted hotel and the main character starts to see visions of the murders happening. dont look up any trailers because they all spoil it but its such a great movie. also two south korean films that everyone needs to watch and both star park shin-hye (i adore her honestly) are #alive which is about this guy that's stuck in his apartment alone trying to survive a zombie apocalypse...theres an american version called alone but its more of a drama and its honestly kind of boring in comparison to #alive (if you like train to busan you'll love this movie i promise) and the other movie is simply called 'call'. its another one you cant watch the trailer because it gives away the entire plot that you're supposed to watch unfold if that makes sense....basically park shin-hye is in modern times and she finds this phone that has the ability to call a girl back in the 90s (its like a time travel thing of sorts but not really) and they form a friendship...thats basically all you're allowed to know. its one of those movies you just have to trust me and thank me later. it doesnt make sense until it starts making sense...if that makes sense? like call is SUCH a good freaking movie. park shin-hye is phenomenal in it as she is in everything and its just such a mindfuck of a movie. its more psychological thriller than straight horror but the elements are all there so im counting it. the stepmom from a tale of two sisters is also in it and holy shit that woman does not age. but yea that's on netflix and i highly HIGHLY recommend it!

oh also also i've been obsessively telling anyone who will listen to me to watch pontypool. holy shit that movie is SO good. like the ide of spreading a virus/plague through speech is absolutely horrifying and its one of those movies that once you watch it a second time and know whats going on there is SO much foreshadowing it's ridiculous. like its so clever how they do it.

10) a horror movie you wish you could watch again like it's the first time

the conjuring. that movie scared the shit out of me when i saw it in theatres but i rewatched it recently and it was just meh...like i still love it dont get me wrong it just doesnt have the same affect that it did the first time you know?

26) a horror movie you didn't expect to like but you did

does cocaine bear count?? cuz like its kind of a horror movie but its more comedy...? i dont know i cant think of any movies that i watched that i didnt think i would like because i tend to only watch movies i think i'll genuinely enjoy but for some reason cocaine bear was the first movie that popped into my head. like it was so much better than it had any right to be...i guess in the same light tucker and dale vs evil could be on that list...i thought they were both going to be ridiculously stupid...and they are...but in the absolute best way possible. like tucker and dale is one of my favourite movies of all time and im not a huge comedy person...same with cocaine bear. cocaine bear is so freaking funny like it genuinely makes me happy.

[casasupernovas]

what are your thoughts about martha in the stolen earth/journey's end, the osterhagen key storyline, her ending up with mickey? and what would you do differently if it was up to you to write her in those episodes?

I know the doctor destroying gallifrey and the osterhagen key are parellels between him and martha. to end the war against the daleks. but due to this story being over-stuffed, it's never dealt with properly. martha is the only one in the tardis team who is still on earth at this point. sarah jane, mickey, jack, rose, donna and the doctor are all on the dalek ship. so if martha goes down, everyone left behind will die. wilf, sylvia, luke, francine, everyone. it's a terrible decision, and it's supposed to show the lengths that martha will go as a member of unit to not surrender to hostile aliens. and if people were evacuated which i highly doubt they would have time for, the daleks would have pounced on the fleeing ships. a lose lose situation.

in my opinion, this is way too big a thing just to drop it. in one of my favourite tenth doctor stories, 'prisoner of the daleks' we see what the osterhagen key does. the doctor sees a planet completely destroyed, on fire, it's countries melting like lava and he nearly throws up. i honestly think it's too much, way too much especially for rose just to say "oh she's good." i'm on the doctor's side on this one.

also, mickey ending up with martha made me grimace. because it just seemed like it was just done to kill two birds with one stone, and get the doctor saying goodbye to mickey and martha out of the way. only he doesn't say goodbye, he says nothing actually. it seems too convenient, how do i focus on things i care about more. you get a frankly insulting scene with a call back to joan redfern with emotional weight and nothing for martha, except pair her up with someone she has barely interacted with. not to mention how every single love interest martha has ever had has been a white man. shakespeare. the doctor. riley. tom milligan. if tom ellis wasn't available that's fine. but to pair the two people who were ditched by rose and the doctor felt insulting honestly and stereotypical, and purely for scheduling purposes for filming convenience. and the fact that she is the first one we see him *say goodbye to* feels like they wanted to get it out of the way, as she is forgotten under all the plethora of other goodbyes. but considering all the doctor and martha have been through, for her to be just met with silence is awful to me. especially as he saves her life. it speaks for itself i suppose, but not in a good way.

one of my main issues with martha and it happens in almost all her stories is that she is seperated from the main action and has to go it alone. and i think at this point, she shouldn't have to. i don't see why she couldn't have been right there on donna's street with everyone else.

so if i were to do it differently, i would change her entire plotline for series 4. martha's plot would be that she knows the dalek invasion of earth is coming, and it's because of 'the year that never was.' maybe she is reluctant to tell the doctor because of just how well..badly he handled the master in the previous season because let's be real. he got a lot of stuff wrong. the daleks want to wipe out everyone and they don't sucee, but series 3's finale still had a bigger amount of damage than 4. 10% of the worlds population decimated, russia turned into a shipyard, the nile frozen over, caspian sea poisoned, london turned into slums and overcome by wild dogs. if the daleks had wanted to steal the earth and use the reality bomb, it probably would have ended up happening still in that timeline, only with more difficulty because they would have to face the master and toclafane. with time reversing and restoring earth without all these enemies, their plan is put back on track. or maybe martha tries to warn the doctor and is sidetracked by this project indigo. or maybe the daleks interfere and take her out of the picture themselves because they know she revived the master, saved the world, they see her as a threat. and martha escapes, trying to find the doctor to warn him but ends up in the wrong timeline - 'turn left'. maybe in a big secret reveal, martha came across dalek caan in 'the year that never was' before he found davros. they remember each other.

make her go missing all season, have her be the one trying to get the doctor's attention on the screens, then have her return in 'turn left' with the even bigger rose tyler reveal bombshell at the end of the episode.

maybe martha realises she doesn't have to go it alone anymore (remind you of anyone?). that she has people looking out for her. hell, if she's been missing for so long, have her reunite with people, have rose be the one who found her or something. have her interact and speak with the daleks more. bring up the master, the 'year that never was'. show how the stories link. i would have martha be the one next to the doctor to directly speak to them. she remembers when they were so desperate not to be wiped out that they made human hybrids. martha saw the remnants of the cult of skaro. i think she should have a more central role.

and her story to end with her more settled back into life on earth, with her real fiance. how many people she has looking out for her, just like the doctor. and for martha's goodbye to be way more poignant. maybe have the doctor give her something, that shows the similarities between the two, something really meaningul. not sure what that would be, but a much better goodbye than what we got.

i think series 3 should be much more closely linked with 4. it was way too big just to be forgotten.

Thanks for your ask!

[crazybutgood]

Day 3 (tackytigerfic)

Today’s gift is dedicated to @tackytigerfic from @teacup-tai! Please click on the images for better quality and view the video for the quotes inside the book 😊:

Images’ description: in the image on the left, there’s a closed yellow and white origami book with ‘tackytiger’ handwritten on the front cover in cursive in black ink. In the image on the right, the book is opened to show its pages and a yellow origami tiger bookmark.

Video description: The book is flipped through to display the quotes handwritten in cursive in blue ink from Tacky’s fics. The quotes shown here are also typed out in the post.

Tacky, here’s Tai’s fic recs and messages to you!:

My darling Tacky,

I love and appreciate your friendship and your magical presence in this corner of the fandom very much. I’m also a massive fan! *cheers* So this is a cheering up gift that CBG folded and organised with so much talent and care. <3 thanks CBG for sharing your art and talent with us!!

And that’s how it starts. - Modern Love (E, 61k)

Harry Potter, of all people, knows that life isn’t always fair. And no one gets to be happy all of the time. But surely there’s something more—something better—than a rubbish Ministry job, and a lonely old house, and that feeling that everyone out there is doing a better job of living than Harry is.

And it really doesn’t seem fair that Draco Malfoy is back in Harry’s life, all of a sudden, and even though he’s wandless, and living with Muggles, and making his mother cry with his lifestyle choices, he’s happy. So what's he doing right, that Harry isn’t?

Because things don’t really change, do they? And if Harry can’t be happy, he’ll settle for a good night’s sleep, some posh antiques, and the opportunity to find out what Malfoy has been up to for all these years.

And that’s what starts it all.

This is indeed one of my favourite fics, the fic that actually helped me out while mourning having left Ireland and introduced me to you. I can still feel my heart constricting while I read it. There are whole sentences that live in my brain from this fic. Reading you is always like watching a movie.

Monster Baby - this is a multiverse inner joke. I’m constantly sending inspo and shaking my cheerleading pom poms. You got this, Tackster!

“I felt like some proper tea.” - Between the Powerlines (M, 3261)

For Harry Potter, all roads eventually lead to Draco Malfoy.

Or: this is not an AU! It's just Harry and Draco meeting by chance in an imported food shop in Connecticut and going on a road trip together. Featuring motels, cacti, Americana, and a hefty dose of pining.

I feel like this fic hits something very deep inside me, this kind of feeling that pulls the heartstrings. I chose this quote as a joke, honestly, because: tea, tacky! Of course it would be tea! Unfortunately here, we all know they won’t be having any good Barry cuppa, it will probably be Tetley’s. 

“Everyone fancied the vicar." - oopsie, Modern Love again, shame on me, as I love the fact that Reverend Andrew exists. Honestly, I could spend hours here going on about it. I won’t though, I think everyone already knows how I feel about this trope. lol

“Harry, I’m on your side.” - Relic Radiation (M, 927)

Draco goes into space, leaving behind his son Scorpius (who has just started at Hogwarts, at least), and his not-quite-boyfriend Harry Potter. But Harry can't stop loving Draco just because he's approximately 408km up, in constant orbit.

I’m a complete sucker for universes. My favourite films are about Space stories. So this fic was just very much a niche lovebomb for me. And I love your Harry being this side of jelly. The poor thing, let’s give him interspatial love.

The sky was a split plum, an aging bruise. - Oíche Shamhna (T, 1201)

The Celts believed that on Hallowe’en night, the boundary between our world and the other world is thin. So that's why Draco’s in their back garden, wearing his best cloak and stirring a cauldron.

A fic that feels like old magic, poetry and complicated feelings. My dearie peteen, incredible how you can pack small stories with the most beautiful images, with the most intense anticipation, with the careful touch of love story undertones and a tiny bit of eternal loving rivalry.

Go leave some love for Tacky on these fics, and check out their ao3 here!

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Rewatched John Robins’ The Darkness of Robins and Sara Pascoe’s LadsLadsLads this week, both of which I’d seen before but not for a long time. Then I wrote some stuff that gets rambly and probably too long so here's a cut to spare people the details.

Both their 2017 shows, which I’d seen described as being both about the end of the same relationship, though I don’t think that’s completely true. Darkness of Robins is definitely about the ending of that relationship. LadsLadsLads is mainly about stuff Sara did after the breakup, and stuff from earlier in her life that relates to it. That relationship itself is barely touched on.

Though she was definitely doing stand-up about that relationship in 2016, not to mention complaining about it on panel shows a lot, so I think I can still at least slightly justify his oversharing about some details by saying they were both doing it. Just not in her 2017 Edinburgh show. There is one bit early in Darkness of Robins where he says “She decided she was unhappy, kept that to herself, bought a house with me, and left,” which is just entirely untrue. She announced that she was unhappy with her relationship many times, frequently in front of large live audiences and while being filmed for national television. But she did at least stop announcing it so much after they broke up, while that’s sort of when he got started. Arguably too much.

I was a bit worried about that part – the ending bit with the sexually explicit story that might make me not able to like him anymore if I reminded myself of how bad it was – so I’m pleased to say it was less bad that I’d built it up in my head. Definitely shorter than I remembered. Still bad, still not justified, even by the fact that she’d said things publicly too. Just, at least shorter than I thought. I think I remembered it being longer because, you know, it’s pretty memorable. And it’s meant to be, he threw in some brief explicit detail for shock value so that his comedy show would stay in people’s minds, and it did work. I mean, it won an award. But he could probably have cut the shock value line and still won the award. Re-watched it also reminded me that he justified the shock value line’s place in the show because it was a callback to a bit from the beginning, but that beginning bit was also just pointlessly gross shock value and my least favourite part of a very very good show.

Honestly, I’m looking for ways to justify the possibly unjustifiable bits because I’d forgotten just how much I like this show. Or maybe, I’d remembered really really liking it but hadn’t remembered all the reasons why, and this re-watch has reminded me. It makes me feel a bit better to know it won the Perrier Award, because otherwise I’d worry that I might like this show far more than it deserves, as he seems to have written a show mainly to give voice to my inner monologue (I mean, much of the show matches my inner monologue… not every moment of it, obviously, I don’t think about having sex with Sara Pascoe nearly as often as he apparently does). I’m glad it won the award so I know that other people agreed it was objectively (as much as this sort of thing can be objective) good, it doesn’t just happen to resonate with me.

I mean, obviously really good comedy is supposed to resonate with most people. That’s what observational comedy is. But nothing can be relatable to everyone, because people are different. A good relatable joke is going to be funny to people who share that experience, a great one can transcend into being funny even to people who don’t share that experience. I have, in my time, laughed at plenty of jokes about being a parent or having a spouse or dating stories or the everyday pitfalls or home ownership or appearing on reality TV or heterosexuality or whatever’s going on in the life of this comedian who lives a very different life from me, because they made it funny enough so I only have to do a little bit of mental recalibration to put myself in those shoes and imagine how funny this would be, how accurate their observation probably is. I have also failed to find jokes like that funny, but known it’s probably a good enough joke to be funny to someone who actually is a parent, or whatever the subject is.

But listening to so many shows that require a little mental adjustment, to imagine the perspective of that comedian in order to find the joke from that perspective funny, really highlights how much I like watching a show that requires very little recalibration. I happened to watch this show when I came home after work and was feeling really guilty, because I was training another staff member on a client that I work with, and I have everything in his binder set up really specifically and then I went in and found someone else had not thought about this and just put things in other places and I got genuinely furious but tried to express that in an appropriate manner in front of the other therapist by saying through gritted teeth “Oh I see this paper’s been put on this side, which is fine, I mean different people put things in different places it’s fine” and just weirdly repeating things like that too many times, sort of trying to slightly appear joking but clearly actually upset, and then I spent the whole bus ride home asking myself why I have to be such a terrible person and be a dick about someone just putting things in the wrong place and obviously I failed to hide how upset I was and now this coworker knows I’m a dick about things like that and she won’t trust me in the future. Then I got home and put on this stand-up show, and it opens with what really should be trite and overdone material because it basically boils down to “I hate the way my girlfriend used to put cords in the wrong places”, but the delivery with barely supressed aggression and the underlying sense of “It’s not about the cords it’s about the intense psychological effort of not going off on people every moment of the day because they don’t think about things carefully enough, and other people ruin everything but really it’s me who ruins everything with my inability to let things go and this is why no one likes me”, and I said, oh I remember why I liked this show so much.

Because Darkness of Robins is a deep emotional breakup show and everything, and a few times he tries for a philosophical point that I think maybe works slightly less well than he thinks it does, but that sort of plays into it, if that makes sense? Like. When he looks straight at the camera and says: “No strings attached does not exist, all we are is string,” or perhaps less philosophically but quite emotionally intense: “I would rather drink alone for the rest of time, than spend my life sober amongst people,” it’s a bit awkward, it doesn’t feel natural or like he actually achieves the gravitas he’s going for. I this he’s right in the points he’s making, but he doesn’t create an atmosphere where I fully buy into the dramatic moment the way some comedians can, it just looks like a guy trying hard to make a point.

But also, that sort of works. Like the emotionally intense points he’s making seem like the sort of points that would come from a person who looks straight into a camera and falters a bit while trying to be deep. And it’s hard to look at him at that moment but I think it’s supposed to be. Elis James has a story about John Robins calling him in the middle of the night in 2009 because his show doesn’t have a meta-narrative like Daniel Kitson’s does – well maybe that’s the meta that he’d worked out by 2017. I realize “actually the part that doesn’t quite work is good because it’s a meta moment that proves his point about how he doesn’t quite work” is a lot of mental gymnastics to justify a possible flaw, but I do like it. It definitely makes it stick in my mind more.

Anyway. What I was trying to say is that while this is a show that gets deeply and intensely introspective and makes some broader points about relationships and stuff, a lot of the actual material is, technically, just observational everyday-life stuff. Stuff that feels relatable to someone who had a frustrating day at work with papers that got left in the wrong section of a binder. Large sections of the show are taken up by a story about a tour of his acquaintance’s house and a story about a trip to IKEA. And weirdly, given that I’m not generally a fan of mundane everyday life observations (I mean, I don’t think anyone’s a big fan of that stuff, except possibly Josh Widdicombe), I think those are my favourite parts of the show.

It turns out that maybe I don’t dislike detailed descriptions of mundane parts of everyday life that are only meant to be funny because they’re relatable. Maybe, most of those stories are just not relatable to me. Maybe if these stories were told every time by a person who has panic attacks when shopping and wants to shoot themselves when they get a tour of a nice house where people who have their shit together are raising their children – maybe then I’d like it fine!

I mean, obviously John Robins is not the only comedian to say “I get anxious when doing tasks that are supposed to be simple and feel overwhelmed and defensive when other people appear to have their shit together better than I do.” So I have to give him credit for the writing and delivery, I’ve heard other comedians say things like that and I’ll find it relatable enough to laugh a bit but it won’t stick in my mind as one of my favourite stand-up shows ever. Maybe John Robins is doing a whole lot of stuff with his writing and with his delivery that I don’t even know enough about comedy to analyze, and that’s what makes it so much funnier when he does it than when other people do similarly relatable material. Or maybe it’s just that the other comedians don’t mime shooting themselves in the head to really drive the point home of how that feels. It’s mildly funny at the absolute best when comedians complain about all the boxes in IKEA looking the same and then you have to pretend to know what you’re doing even though you don’t really. It’s a lot more memorable if the story is about the rapid spiral from that into becoming convinced you’ve never done anything right as the paper disintegrates in the sweat in your hand and the absolute terror of anyone else knowing that you ever thought this might work. There’s an early radio episode that I listened to a couple of months ago now where Elis James asks John Robins what he’s most afraid of, and he answers “Being found out,” and I’ve thought of that line at least every few days since hearing it. What a perfectly succinct description of the one fear that’s just always underneath everything.

At a more surface level than that, there’s this part after he describes all the panic and the spiraling and the self-hatred about it while shopping in IKEA, and then “I get to the tills, and it hits me all at once, the row upon row of cramped and logistics and scanning and kids, beeping and screaming”, and I just want to give that credit for being perfect word choice. That’s just straightforward description of a relatable mundane situation, but I’ve heard a lot of comedy routines’ straightforward descriptions of relatable mundane situations, and very rarely one that paints such a vividly accurate picture in my mind. He described it so well that I briefly felt the thing I feel every time I get close to a crowded cash register area in a busy store, that moment of fight or flight where your body just wants to run out of there, and I felt that right before he went on to describe the fight or flight response.

I don’t recommend this show. Partly because I can’t properly justify the oversharing of personal things about another person whose name the audience knows, I don’t know whether he ran it by her beforehand but if he didn’t then that’s not really ethical. But also, I don’t tell people to watch this show because I felt weirdly uncomfortable watching it, like I connect to this on too personal a level and do not want anyone I know seeing this and knowing what I find so very relatable. If I were to let my friends watch a guy who hadn’t quite achieved as much dramatic impact as he was going for, look straight at a camera and say, “I would rather drink alone for the rest of time, than spend my life sober amongst people,” in a way that makes it hard to look directly at him because it almost works but not quite – I wouldn’t want my friends in real life to watch that because I’d feel like they were looking at some part of me that I don’t want people to look at. Though they would definitely watch the bit about how painful it is to pretend to be a proper adult long enough to get a tour of a proper person’s house where they raise kids and stuff, and they would say, “Hey, someone should send this video to [Tellthemeerkatsitsfine], I think she’d relate to it.”

Anyway. The point is that those bits got to me more than the breakup story itself, which was of course the main theme of the show. But I did really like the ending, couple of ill-advised lines aside. I liked pretty much all of it, couple of ill-advised lines aside. It is, like with his other stand-up shows that I re-listened to in the last couple of months, kind of fun to go from the radio show to remembering how John Robins sounds when he’s off the pre-watershed leash and allowed to say “fuck”. And he sure did take advantage of that. Sometimes in ways that made me feel vaguely uncomfortable but still find it funny. I don’t actually think there’s anything wrong with telling sexually explicit stories in general – it’s just a problem if the other person in them isn’t anonymous and then you’re revealing private details about another person. Otherwise, I think it’s ethically fine, I’m just weirdly squeamish.

So then I watched LadsLadsLads, which I watched about three years ago but didn’t remember much about it. It was a really good show, better than I’d remembered. This one was much, much less relatable to me personally, but I still found most of it funny, which as I said I think is the mark of a good show. If you can write the jokes so well that they’ll be funny even to people who do not personally have that experience. Sara Pascoe did that. She made me laugh repeatedly, I enjoyed it a lot and that one I do recommend. It had interesting stuff about making connections among family relationships and romantic relationships and figuring yourself out. It’s a good, funny breakup show that works even if you have little in common with Sara Pascoe.

I was about to say it was more ethical than the other show because it didn’t tell me anything about John Robins’ sex life, but actually that’s not true. I’ve just remembered that there is a bit in the middle about Titanic that gave me a brief mental image of John Robins in a situation where I do not wish to imagine John Robins, so actually, I take back what I said earlier in this post about his being worse than hers for that. I mean, he talked much lot more about the relationship itself than she did, but in terms of brief explicit descriptions, I think they’re one all.

…Sorry that this post has so much about comedians’ love lives, I feel weird writing so much about a thing that is none of my business, but they’re the ones who did the shows about it. I feel like I've reached my quota for knowing about comedian love life gossip for the entire year, I need to go listen to Andy Zaltzman talk about cricket or something as a cleanser.

[the--highlanders]

good luck with moving! heres a question for you. 2 actually. firstly tardis team 2 movie night whos choosing what? secondly do you think polly/ben and victoria and zoe would get on? (btw your fics are insane. ben jamie freindship my beloved)

ahhh thank you so much!! ben jamie friendship my beloved also, I really really need to write something longer about them. also relisten to the selachian gambit because it's so good for ben-jamie brotp content

I'm SO sorry this has taken so long also!! but I have been thinking very hard about what their movie picks will be. ngl I don't think I'm enough of a movie person to like, pick specific movies but I've been thinking about Vibes

jamie is just like, impressed by movies in general, especially in s4. so he'll go for basically anything that the rest of the gang put on. especially since a modern/futuristic real-world setting is likely to be just as unfamiliar to him as scifi/fantasy setting! he probably doesn't always distinguish them super clearly because some of the scifi stuff is closer to his actual experiences ghfdkj. I feel like he'd quite like comedies/more light-hearted stuff though? & some action stuff/jumpscare-y horror is just a no-go because he's not super used to non-live media making noises on its own, and sudden loud noises/being suddenly scared doesn't always play nice with his trauma. he'd just rather avoid it. also I feel like he'd really like documentaries!! he's super curious about everything and it's a nice way for him to absorb information through auditory processing which he's good with/used to and without the issue of learning to read. sometimes he'll disappear for a bit and the others will end up finding him curled up on a sofa watching a documentary on the most random stuff

two also has super eclectic taste but in a more out there/esoteric way. he claims he just has super refined taste when the others won't watch some artsy 12-hour martian epic with him (and then falls asleep or wanders off like, half an hour in because he doesn't actually have that sort of ability to sit still). he will put on the weirdest alien stuff that's totally incomprehensible to everyone else though. but he's also into like, silent comedies. he's such a chaplin-esque character, how could he not be (though he denies any similarity to himself!). and he's more into fantasy than hard scifi - it's impossible to watch any sort of serious scifi with him unless you want to hear a constant commentary on the inaccuracies in it. (by series 6 jamie has picked up on this habit, albeit with his much more limited knowledge. zoe finds this super disconcerting).

ben is absolutely the instigator of two and jamie's comedy enjoyment. he's Also a silent comedy guy. but I think he'd like action/adventure films as well? he's got like, a whole host of them that he really loves and is always trying to get the others to watch. I feel like he's the biggest movie watcher of the tardis team honestly, like going to the cinema was something he did a fair bit pre-canon? maybe it's something he did with his father while he was still alive, so he has fond but kind of bittersweet memories of it. & tbh I feel like being interested in the heroes as well as the love interests was part of his bi awakening. so he'd be the one pushing for the movie nights to happen, and maybe also more inclined to pick out alien/futuristic stuff than polly is, because he wants to see what else is out there.

polly is probably the one who comes the closest to appreciating two's more esoteric movie picks?? like they're not necessarily her favourite thing but she'll sit down and watch them with him. it's bonding time for them. they paint each other's nails and hang out. I think she'd also like kinda film noir/darker stuff. juuust enough that two and jamie like to tease ben about how many films she watches where the wife kills her husband. (ben takes it in pretty good humour. he's a wife guy like that he would support polly for this). also she's a bad romcom watcher in the sense that she likes to yell at the screen about all the dumb decisions the characters make, why the main couple wouldn't work out, that sort of thing. it's stress relief for her. she gets the others into it and the four of them sit there shouting like they're watching a sports game