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deathbidean · 3 years

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my destiel fic recs pt.3

no one asked for this but I am determined to force my favourite fics on y’all

And This, Your Living Kiss - opal_bullets : Only a very few people in the world know that the celebrated and reclusive poet Jack Allen is just Kansas mechanic Dean Winchester, a high school dropout with a few bucks to his name. Not that it matters anymore; life has left him so wrung out he never wants to pick up another pen.Until, that is, a string of coincidences leads Dean to auditing a poetry course with one Dr. Castiel Novak. The professor is wildly intelligent, devastatingly handsome...and just so happens to be academia's foremost expert on the poetry of Jack Allen. holy shit. this. THIS. it’s amazing. it’s so beautiful. your heart will break for poor Dean. this is definetly a favourite of mine!!

Andrew Lloyd Webber Gets a Pass - delicious-irony, opal_bullets : In which Castiel's manner is vague and aloof, Dean Winchester doesn't care for a cuddle, and there's no doing anything about it.Or, Dean and Castiel attempt to survive rehearsals for a new production of Cats, and each other. I’M TELLING YOU NOW. IF YOU FAINT FOR ENEMIES TO LOVERS,,, THIS WILL KILL YOU. y’all,, honestly this fic ended me it’s so goddamn good

15x14 coda : it’s a date - contemplativepancakes : “So… How was your date?” “Really, Dean? That’s what you're concerned about? After we all almost died?” Dean waggles his eyebrows. “Well, yeah. Just looking out for my little brother.” The bunker door clangs open, and Sam shoves Dean towards it. “Maybe worry about yourself.”Sam and Eileen had a date, so it's only fair that Dean and Cas do, too, right? so so sweet. just pure tooth-rotting fluff that will make your heart ache

Starstruck - peanutbutterjelly-pie (Aleakim) : From the outside Castiel Novak looks like a regular guy: a good job, two teenage kids, a nice house and a crappy car he’s way too attached to.But there’s one thing no one knows about him: that, over twenty years ago, he used to live next to none other than Dean Winchester – back then a brash and loud-mouthed boy and nowadays a huge movie star and Hollywood’s sweetheart.Castiel never bothered to tell anyone about his childhood friend because frankly, who would believe him? Probably even Dean himself already forgot about his former awkward and weird neighbor, so Castiel seriously doesn’t see any point in mentioning the whole thing ever.But then an interview on national TV happens where Dean reveals way more about his past than ever before … and Castiel - as well as the rest of the world - suddenly realizes that he left a much bigger impact on Dean’s life than he originally thought. y’all,,,,, this is still being updated and when I tell you i’m living for each one,,,,,,,, it’s so goddamn good!!! and sweet!!! and just ughhhhh!!! highly recommend!!

Shot Through The Heart - peanutbutterjelly-pie (Aleakim) : Dean is a hunter. Castiel is a Man of Letters. And even though they have to work together on a regular basis, there is not much sympathy between them. Castiel thinks Dean too brash and reckless while Dean in return sees nothing more in the other man than a rude asshole with an obsessive love for books and a truly terrible fashion sense. But fate clearly has a funny way of throwing those two together over and over again. And somewhere along the way feelings change into something neither of them would have expected. nah nah, y’all don’t understand,,, this fic is amazing!! again; ENEMIES TO LOVERS!!!! it doesn’t get better than that, am i right?

ours is the fire, all the warmth we can find - xylodemon : Sam brings it up as they're driving back from the steakhouse in Mankato.Dean cuts him a sharp, sideways glance. "You think I should what?""I think you should try journaling.""Why the hell would I wanna do that?" very sad and very beautifully written grieving Dean. just exactly what i needed after the finale and very much patched up the hole in my heart

Be My Boyfriend : Dean and Cas keep having to pretend to be dating to discourage other potential suitors. Things get a little out of hand. i actually read this first on tumblr and loved it so much i had to find it on ao3!! it’s such sweet and silly fluff!!!!

Holiday Homies - tricia_16 : Best friends Dean and Cas are sick and tired of the stress the holidays put on anybody not already in a relationship. The endless plus one invitations to fill for New Year's Eve and Valentine's Day (and this year, Sam and Jess's wedding on top of everything else) never freaking stop. So on Halloween night, Dean and Cas come up with a plan to be each other's plus ones from Thanksgiving to the 4th Of July. They'll fake a relationship, get their parents off of their backs, actually enjoy the holidays for once... and maybe wring a few orgasms out of each other while they’re at it.What could go wrong? you want two dumbasses in love?? you want friends with benefits who are very much in love with each other?? you want to cry in frustration over their idiocy?? this is the fic for you

fifteen flares - microcomets : When Dean finally comes home, the knots in his shoulders aching and his skin still layered in dust, he finds Cas waiting up for him at the kitchen table. Without a word, Cas nudges the vacant chair out with his foot, sliding an unopened beer across the counter in a silent invitation. (post-13.06 coda.) y’all this is so sweet and cute and just wholesome. i absolutely adore confession pre-canon and this is no exceptiion

Wanna Bet? - bendingsignpost : “I bet you... that I can get laid tonight before you can get a single kiss. We pick each other’s targets.”Dean bites his lip in the vain attempt to not burst out laughing. “Uh-huh,” he says. “Sure, Sammy. Someone single and actually attractive, sure.”“Deal?” Sam says. “A kiss on the mouth, no cheating.”Still pushing down a laugh, Dean offers his hand across the table. They shake. “Deal. Okay, who am I going for?”Sam smiles wider than the devil that once possessed him, and answers: “Cas.” pure Dean dumbassery and intervening Sam AND IT’S SO SO GOOD!! my heart aches

Four Letter Word for Intercourse - bendingsignpost : As a grease monkey turned college freshman, Dean's constantly three seconds away from being stressed out of his mind. It hardly helps that he's finally figuring out his sexuality in his thirties. What might help with that stress is a little phone number (and a big credit card bill). If he can't figure out how to be bisexual in person, he can at least give it a go over the phone, right? (It's probably a bad idea, but he really can't help himself.) okay,,, so,,, this fic may have awakened certain things in me,,,,,,, but GOD DAMN!!!! genuinely,,,, one of the best fics i’ve read; it’s just so goddamn good! i don’t think i can adequately express how much i love this fic!!

and on that note, i shall end your suffering for the time being. but seriously, these fics are genuinely well written, well thought out and executed!! they deserve to be read by everyone who will enjoy them!!

pt.1 , pt.2

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appleflavoredkitkats · 4 years

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dream smp war 2 updates

doing a second chain post! i thought it would be appropriate if i did since it seems like there’s a new era of wars coming our way.

(this post will keep updating by reblogged additions, so feel free to save this post somewhere or follow me to check for new updates every now and then!)

and ya’know, i thought wouldn’t be able to do this, but i realize that where else am i gonna infodump but here? so yea. here i go again.

(if you wanna check the first dream smp war post-war updates, it’s here!)

without further ado, time to explain whatever the heck just happened last stream! timeline of events might be funky because a lot of things happened, but i’ll try my best to at least mention everything that went down in the streams.

wilbur, tommy, tubbo, eret, quackity, and a confused hbomb’s stream - september 22

summary: schlatt and quackity win presidency, tommy and wilbur are exiled, some friends have become traitors, some foes have become allies, and technoblade joins the game.

the first streams that came from this honestly were very calm. legit the calm before the storm. tubbo was hanging out with niki, eret, and hbomb and eret reveals to tubbo that his first pufferfish that was stolen by fundy was actually in eret’s possession all along. eret gladly returns the beloved pufferfish to tubbo, and they rename it back to it’s original name “phukkit”.

then, everyone begins going in the server as each campaign stands on the podium waiting for the event to begin. wilbur, tommy, and tubbo first stray away from the group for a bit to watch l’manberg one last time. tubbo introduces to them his secret bunker in the lake for them to seek refuge just in case pog2020 loses. inside the bunker’s chests are some freshly brewed potions for wilbur and tommy to use in the future.

tubbo then brings tommy to the benches outside tommy’s little house and they play one more music disc together. here, tubbo gifts tommy the pufferfish he just gained earlier today, and tommy promised to treasure it dearly.

now, the event begins, and wilbur begins announcing the results. luckily, everyone is here this time. in last place is coconut2020. a funny thing about this is that fundy actually committed tax fraud and got around 100,000+ votes to be counted in the google form just from coding some bot to vote for them. in third place is schlatt, in second is quackity, and pog2020 wins the number one vote.

here’s where the plot twist happens: quackity and schlatt apparently agreed to combine their votes if pog2020 doesn’t win. therefore, quackity and schlatt got 47% of the votes as pog only got 46%, making schlatt and quackity the shared president of l’manberg. tommy protests to these decisions, but wilbur accepts it with ease, and the two merely step down the podium in shame as they watch schlatt take a speech.

schlatt went on full dictator mode-- the first decree he signed as president is to revoke wilbur and tommy’s presence in l’manberg, exiling them. tommy was confused at first before wilbur demanded him to run to the bunker. schlatt immediately conducts a search party for him, electing tubbo as his right hand man to personally hunt the two down. obviously, tubbo would do it hesitantly, and he doesn’t actually get to meet the two in the bunker at all.

a lot of the nation was quite torn from the election results. quackity and george seem to be supportive of schlatt, niki, tubbo, and eret seem to despise schlatt, and fundy and jack seem to just blindly support him as well despite being l’manbergians. punz, ponk, and hbomb were there as well, but it was quite difficult to know who they were siding with since they kinda just got pushed around by everyone at the end.

using invisibility potions, wilbur and tommy escape the bunker to go somewhere in the forest to find their new home. they find a nice hill to make a small house in, and they later name this new nation “pogtopia”. they run into some conflicts though as wilbur and tommy forget to bring an enderchest with them, and they need some of the materials in them now if they want to build up a defense.

and then, in the middle of nowhere, techno tweeted:

wilbur claims he doesn’t want to trust techno right away because he was american, but they do consider having him as an ally later on.

firstly, let’s get back to l’manberg. upon schlatt’s request, the walls of l’manberg are being torn down. i heard somewhere that this might’ve been done thanks to fundy’s suggestion, but i’m not sure. everyone complies, and wilbur and tommy visit l’manberg one last time before it gets taken apart. as they watch fundy and tubbo tear down the wall, wilbur sings the l’manbergs national anthem. (the wall also eventually gets expanded past l’manberg, but i’m not sure how far they’ve built it)

speaking of fundy, fundy’s kind of in a weird place right now. he seems to unhesitantly side with schlatt in this election, and allows his policies easily as if he didn’t care about anyone else in l’manberg. knowing this, wilbur actually disowns fundy. it wasn’t in front of him, but he does say that he is extremely hurt by him in front of techno and tommy.

before i talk about the rescue of techno, we gotta go back to quackity and schlatt for a bit. quackity actually caught tommy visiting his place to get an enderchest, but i believe he doesn’t tell schlatt about it. quackity is quite interesting because while he does believe in some of the policies schlatt believes in, he also believes that schlatt is taking this dictatorship too far. even he thought exiling tommy and wilbur was a big deal, and he aims to be the voice of reason to be able to change schlatt’s mind about his policies. moreover, he wants to discuss matters with tommy and wilbur as well to get on their side too, but wilbur doesn’t wanna talk to quackity because, fourth wall break, he believes they’re progressing far into the story too much if they do, and honestly, valid reason lmao.

do note that quackity is trying his best to tear down schlatt’s evil dictatorship. he’s secretly been advocating for niki and is helping her escape schlatt’s grasp when she needs it, and he eventually talked to schlatt near the end of the stream to be more mindful of quackity’s opinions because without him, schlatt wouldn’t have won. there’s some toxic relationship plot device being used here between schlatt and quackity, and i’m interested to see how this will all play out.

back to tommy and wilbur, they call techno and actually consider his help. tommy says he will run back to spawn and tell him when to join so that he can bring him to their secret base. eret tries to help them and supply them with goods, but tommy and wilbur refuses his help profusely. finally, when tommy reaches spawn, techno joins, and my god, all the three streams i watched just went “TECHNOBLADE????” all at once.

on schlatt’s end, he claims that techno’s arrival was part of schlatt’s plan all this time. on the other hand, techno claims he’s only here for wilbur and tommy. i fully believe techno would be with wilbur and tommy, but of course, i can never be sure. just don’t discount the possibility of a traitor!techno happening sometime soon.

even if ponk tried to kill techno and tommy as they tried to escape, tommy was able to kill ponk before techno got hurt. they eventually arrived to pogtopia, and there, wilbur declares that he will be a different man from what they know of him pre-election. i’m thinking there’s going to be more violence surrounding the war, and also some strategic planning. they want to get tubbo as a secret agent for them to tear schlatt and quackity apart, eventually leading to the downfall of the dictatorship. niki might also be someone crucial here because she and wilbur have been exchanging messages secretly, so there’s going to be some niki action too.

then, schlatt makes another announcement. after the walls have been torn down, he declares l’manberg gets a new name-- manberg. niki protests, and wilbur and tommy and rightfully disgusted, but schlatt wasn’t going to do anything about it.

everyone in pogtopia, before they can stack up on some resources, have to go back to the dream smp because they comedically have to get a visa for one day for when ninja joins the minecraft server. they were greeted peacefully (and techno steals some potatoes!!!), and it was definitely fun to see so many people in the server all at once. evetually, schlatt does grant them the visa, and they leave. they talk to tubbo one last time, and tubbo warns them about techno being allegedly “paid” by schlatt to betray tommy and wilbur. tommy regards it for now, but after that, they leave to return to pogtopia.

in pogtopia, they begin mining for resources. in the ravine they found below their base, tommy found a strip mine that leads EXACTLY BACK to his bunker. this will be used for a secret passage for them just in case they discreetly want to return to the dream smp.

this is kinda where the main plot stuff ends for wilbur and tommy’s streams, but in eret’s stream, apparently he and bad found pogtopia. they find techno silently, gifting him with potatoes, and leaving promptly after.

on quackity’s end, he’s really trying to convince schlatt to become more open-minded about this entire presidency. there’s some real tension going on between these two, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if they break it off for quackity to join pogtopia. it really seems like they’re hinting it to become that way.

now, it seems like everything’s done, but nope. on eret’s stream, fundy single handedly burned down the l’manberg flag that niki built. FUNDY BETRAYAL AND ERET REDEMPTION ARC. niki is LIVID at fundy, but she wasn’t able to talk to him as he left the server immediately. we don’t know what fundy’s true intentions are, but it’s assumed that he’s siding with schlatt for now. eret at least tells niki they’ll try to rebuild it with concrete so it can’t be destroyed.

JUST AS ALL THIS SHIT CONCLUDES, SAPNAP JOINS. he only joins so he can catch up with everything he missed. eret and niki explain everything to him, and sapnap says he will have to talk to dream about this. he then leaves afterwards.

conclusion: BE HYPED. BE HYPED FOR PLOT. SHOW YOUR APPRECIATION TO THE ENTIRETY OF THE DREAM SMP FOR THIS AMAZING PLOT. DON’T SEND THEM HATE; MAKE CONTENT FOR IT INSTEAD. these people probably worked hard improv-ing/making plots for these, so show your love and appreciation for them!!!!!

#dream smp war #dream smp #tommyinnit #wilbur soot #tubbo #fundy #nihachu #theeret #jschlatt #quackity #dreamwastaken #georgenotfound #sapnap #technoblade

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theywontletmebeprincipal · 3 years

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can you give me drowsy headcanons, ramble, or anything please, i am so deprived. do not be afraid to make it super long, the more the better, i just love drowsy chaperone and love to hear other people (plus you’re one of the only people i’ve seen who knows a lot abt it)

ASK AND YE SHALL RECIEVE

I’ll divide this into a few different parts, going from least to most excruciatingly sad :)

1. general headcanons

2. in canon things i noticed and think about daily

3. a full analysis of man in chair’s connections with the drowsy chaperone as an in universe show (trigger warning for abuse ment, alcoholism ment, suicide ment)

SECTION ONE: HEADCANONS

- okay the chaperone is trans I don’t make the rules

- also her name is ambrosia :) she forsook her last name :)

- she’s about 12 years older than janet and kinda hung with janet’s family after leaving her own for a while . essentially she’s a big sister to janet

- aldolpho has some lines where he asks if the bride is big and/or burly and while in canon this is supposed to show he’s kind of a womanizer I like to believe it’s because he was fully prepared to fight her if needed

- speaking of which Of Course janet is ripped she does gymnastics

- my batshit crazy headcanon for this show is that dee dee allen from the prom is a descendant of roman bartelli no I will not elaborate

- is aldolpho one of those bitches with pets that definitely shouldn’t be legal? yessir

- post show kitty becomes a star okay I just want her to be happy

- the “pastry chefs” do discover a love of baking post show and now run a shop along with performing in feldzeig’s follies which might maybe be a front for some crime too

- TRIX DROWSY AND ALDOLPHO WORLD TRAVELING POLYCULE CAUSING PROBLEMS ON PURPOSE

- underling’s name is james I will not elaborate on this either

- show never says what trix does so I’ve decided she’s an explorer. she charts maps and punches colonialists and drags her stupid friends along with her, the only bitch in the show with a braincell

- drowsy was a former vaudeville child star pre transition - she left the business but was a mentor to janet

- I do have a headcanon for mic’s name but in the spirit of every actor who’s ever played him I won’t fucking tell

SECTION TWO: SHIT I NOTICED

- robert refers to himself by full name a lot of the time which is v interesting given he’s named after the writer, bob martin (whose wife is also named janet van de graaf). the real bob martin is like five feet away at all times playing mic

- idk how to describe it but the dynamic kitty and feldzeig (VICTOR felgzeig. we have a name from one (1) line) have when talking to each other is so snappy and funny and good

- aldolpho’s lines in spanish are mostly romantic bullshit but his first one hints that he has/had a wife who, if we’re taking the translation literally, refused to touch him. yeah I’ll bring this up in analysis

- the “pastry chefs” provide liquor for the wedding even though it has absolutely no relevance to their mission of stopping it :)

- drowsy is like. SUPER endearing towards janet and despite her bad social skills it’s super clear she cares a lot about her

- robert speaks fluent french apparently

- everyone says “ew” after aldolpho reveals his affair with drowsy despite her being a certified milf

- the body language of drowsy in the end of the show where she takes mic’s hands and breaks the barrier between reality and fiction is just so good. she was iconic the whole show but I honestly think this final bit is what won beth leavel the Tony in the end

SECTION THREE: OH NO

before diving into the way the drowsy chaperone affects his character, we need to understand what exactly it’s playing off of. to fully understand mic’s attachment to the drowsy chaperone, we need to outline what led him to isolating himself and living in fiction to the extent that he does.

mic’s father left his family at an early age and his semi estranged alcoholic mother was the one who began his love for theatre. mic grew up in a broken household and eventually moved on to land in a one sided marriage, which lasted a few months until he slipped up and expressed his discomfort with the situation, after which he and his wife split. nowadays, he lives alone in his apartment surrounded by records he uses to escape to a better life - his favorite of which being the one his mother gave him, the drowsy chaperone.

symbolism in the drowsy chaperone regarding mic’s life can be split into two main categories - mommy issues and internalized homophobia. there isn’t nearly as much mom symbolism as there is the latter, so I’ll cover that first.

drowsy covers both bases, but she definitely has some undeniable mom symbolism going on. drowsy marries aldolpho and mom dreams of being swept off her feet by a latin lover, both feel they’ve wasted their chances at love, both drink to forget, etc. this is where the idea of the drowsy chaperone being mic’s ideal way for things to work out, a positive parallel, comes into play. given that we don’t hear too much about mic’s mom other than her connections to major life events and the record itself, we can assume they grew apart in one way or another. the key difference is that drowsy finds a happy relationship for herself and retains her bond with janet, unlike what we’re led to assume mom was like.

further elaborating on the drowsy chaperone representing mic’s ideal fantasy version of events is the wedding the drowsy chaperone’s plot centers around. here’s a list of the things that didn’t stop that damn wedding:

- a minister not showing up

- the groom cheating on the bride with the bride

- the bride having a complete mental breakdown

- indirect mafia interference

- direct mafia interference

on the flip side, what little mic says about his wedding indicates it sucked absolute ass. he spent the entire ceremony in internal distress as he went through with a life changing event he, at that point, knew at least a bit that he didn’t want. I think he also implies he had severe diarrhea on the wedding day? it gets worse when you realize mic’s relationship before the wedding wasn’t any good for him either - he was playing along the whole time because it would be cruel not to, right?

throughout the show, mic is pretty clearly shown as an extremely repressed gay man. there are five specific instances that point at romantic and/or sexual attraction to men directly and another moment outside of his commentary that pretty much confirms it if you look a little bit deeper. thus, here is what I propose - to mic, the drowsy chaperone’s wedding plot represents a world where he was able to ignore that part of himself and have a happy marriage with his wife despite all the overwhelming obstacles thrown at him. however, bits and pieces of that internalized homophobia manage to show themselves throughout the drowsy chaperone anyway despite its happy ending. here’s a rundown on a few significant instances:

- by the end of the show, the “pastry chefs”, who had literally been planning to kill feldzeig, have left their life of crime to perform with him. this symbolizes how in mic’s ideal world he would have been able to turn away from what he perceived at the time as living wrongly - his homosexuality

- at the same time, the “pastry chefs” have this line, spoken in regards to janet: “if she gets married and leaves the show... there ain’t no show.” this is a take on mic’s subconscious concern that he might lose himself if he goes on with his marriage pretending everything is alright - of course, as we already know, he doesn’t listen

- “cold feets” is a pretty obvious instance of mic’s hesitation

- aldolpho’s line in spanish regarding the wife who won’t touch him flips to reflect on mic’s treatment of his own ex wife - she was alien to him as a lover, just as aldolpho was to this woman

- janet recalls her meeting robert at a point in the show and states “we spooned, briefly, then he proposed.” though mic’s relationship pre marriage was much longer than that, it must have felt that way to him - just as quick and nonsensical as janet describes

- just as janet is caught in showbiz but has a toxic love for it, so does mic with his own repressed life

- janet has a line in “show off” that alludes to her experiencing harassment/assault: “I don’t wanna be cheered no more/ praised no more/ grabbed no more/ touched no more/ loved no more” , which I believe represents the way mic perceived his intimacy with his wife - labeled as love yet unenjoyable for him

- “I look into his eyes... I get all woozy. and that’s... love, isn’t it?” is another very clear nod to mic’s misconception of love based off the only thing he’s ever experienced, relationships with women he’s had to fake

- this is the part where I tell you the lyrics to toledo surprise are a metaphor for actively suppressing gay thoughts. I’ll just leave you with “if it tries to rise; don’t let it”. these lyrics are not comprehensive enough to make a dish - trust me, I have tried. it’s also notable that they serve a double entendre as instructions on how to beat the shit out of someone, but several lyrics are also directed towards the singer/audience. for example: “it’s a snap/ try it folks/ whip your whites/ split your yolks” is an easy metaphor for the unhealthy mental gymnastics required to repress oneself so wholeheartedly

it’s also worth noting the obvious just for the sake of it - mic copes with all this by isolating himself in a safe spot where he can use musicals to escape and live his ideal fantasy, even if it’s only for a short time. there are plenty of nods to this throughout the drowsy chaperone as well. in “as we stumble along” drowsy notes that “the best that we can do is hope a bluebird/ will sing a song/ as we stumble along” - to mic, musicals are his bluebird. while mic mostly indulges in these fantasies, he knows to a certain extent the sheer amount of time he’s spending in them is unhealthy. the first line of the show is “I hate theatre” and I think that to an extent? he does. obviously mic loves theatre as a concept, that can’t be denied. what he hates is the way he’s allowed it to confine him.

with all that out of the way, let’s move on to the most important moment of the show. if you’ve ever seen the show, you’ll know exactly which scene I’m talking about immediately. I’m referring to, of course, the infamous “l-ve while you can” scene. as janet stands at the alter she asks drowsy for one final word of advice, which is partially obscured by aldolpho dropping his cane. “l-ve while you can.” it’s a simple moment, but mic reveals to us that he’s been agonizing over it for years - did drowsy say “live” or “leave”? it occurs to everyone eventually, whether a couple days after the show like with me, or years after like with bob martin’s replacement on broadway that the most likely answer is that she had said “love while you can”. it’s this moment, when you realize why mic had never seen that as an option, that the drowsy chaperone’s status as a musical within a comedy within a tragedy is solidified. mic had no love in his life - his parents hated each other and he was forcing himself into relationships in which he felt nothing. to him, living and leaving were options, but loving never was. so he locked himself away.

as the final note on the record is playing, all power in mic’s apartment shuts down and the fantasy is ruined. the superintendent arrives and further invades his space, breaking the private sanctity he had built up for so long. she fixes the power and before mic can stop it from happening, the final note of the record plays. and the super recognizes it as a musical. she makes a remark about how much her wife loves musicals and leaves, completely unaware of what she’s just done.

mic sits in silence for a while. and then he begins to sing. gradually, the cast members begin to echo their songs, dancing around him but never touching him. then drowsy appears and sings harmony to mic. and she takes his hands. the show ends with the entire cast, including mic, taking off on trix’s airplane as the curtain falls, drowsy handing mic his record as the plane takes off.

some people interpret the ending as mic committing suicide, finally deciding between live and leave. I don’t personally believe that and neither does writer and original mic bob martin, but it’s still a valid interpretation. the drowsy chaperone’s ending is ambiguous, yes, but not to that extent. no matter what you believe the ending means, it was brought on not by the interruption of the fantasy, but by whatever realization the super’s remark about her wife triggered. as I see it, there are two main options here.

option one - mic realizes he still has time to live and to love. when he was younger the prospect of living as himself was unthinkable to him, yet now he sees that while he was spending countless years alone the world grew. drowsy offers mic her hand, an invitation to finally become what he had admired in her - someone who isn’t anywhere near perfect, but is damn well trying and living life without regret. he accepts.

option two - mic realizes that while he spent years alone the world moved on without him and he’s isolated himself so much from social interaction that he’d no longer be able to make a meaningful connection with anyone outside. so he stays inside instead, never trying, always trapped between live and leave. drowsy offers mic her hand - at least he’ll have a tune to carry with him.

I really want to believe we got option one. I think option one is the intended, really, given mic ends the show with a joyful goodbye to the audience. but the way that the ending is still left open for interpretation makes it so that we can never really know - we as the audience only get to be privy to a small part of mic’s life, and we don’t get the answers we want because at the end of the day they’re irrelevant to us - all we can do is make our own choice.

#the drowsy chaperone #musical theatre #musicals #broadway #musical meta #man in chair

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dukeofonions · 3 years

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So I thought I’d try something a little different (and slightly more fun than my usual saltiness) and do my own little personal ranking of Sanders Sides episodes!

Now I actually haven’t watched anything from the series for awhile so these rankings are going to be based purely on my own memories of each episode and how much I remember enjoying them. I’ll also be splitting the rankings up so I’ll do season one today and season two later on.

Eventually I want to go back and actually rewatch everything but I’ll probably wait until the season two finale comes out (whenever the heck that will be) but until then I think this will cover it.

Also important to note is that I will not be counting Asides in this since

1. I’m salty

2. It’s not supposed to be Sanders Sides anyway so why include it?

and 3. I’m very salty.

Alright, let the ranking begin!

Dang, can you believe season one has seventeen episodes? Starting with My True Identity on October 19th, 2016 and ending with Accepting Anxiety on July 15th, 2017.

These episodes were a lot shorter too. The longest one, Growing Up, is only about 15 minutes long (14:39 to be exact because I already have the playlist pulled up to get all these references so I might as well use the info I have) and the shortest episode was Way Too Adult that barely makes it to the four minute mark. (Okay it’s 4:18 but that’s still closer to four)

It’s really interesting to see how much the series changed just throughout season one alone, especially once it shifts from just being a silly series of one shots to a series with more fleshed out characters and beginning to scratch the surface of dealing with heavier topics.

How did it do for me personally? Well if you made it this far I assume you actually want to know my opinion so I’ll go ahead and tell you...

For real now, let the ranking begin!

*cue drum roll*

#17 I'm in a Disney Show

Yeah this one is pretty forgettable, and it really sticks out like a sore thumb among the other episodes in this series since it’s based on something that happened in real Thomas’s life and later on they try to establish that Sanders Sides isn’t about real Thomas. Not only that there wasn’t much in this episode that stuck out as funny to me. The only bit I actually remember laughing at was when the Sides were throwing around click bait titles.

So yeah, boring episode, feels out of place, moving on.

#16 Becoming a Cartoon

Like with the last one this one is just very forgettable to me. It also features someone who turned out to be a pretty shitty person so I can’t even watch it without feeling uncomfortable.

The only thing I remember laughing at was Patton holding a potato.

#15 My True Identity

Okay I know it’s harsh putting the first episode so low on the list, especially when most of my problems with it stem from it being made before there were any intentions to make it a series, but like the first two it’s also kinda boring. I mean on it’s own it does a good job of introducing people to the basic idea of the series and gives an idea of what the characters are like, but they all basically act like the same person (yes I’m aware of the irony) with just one or two minor things to set them apart.

Can’t really hate this one like the other two since, again, this was made with no intention of plot or character development, so it’s only this low because it doesn’t really stick out to me. But hey, it did its job at getting people interested in the characters so in that aspect it did its job perfectly.

#14 Taking On Anxiety

Oh the second hand embarrassment in this episode is too much to bear. Honestly any episode that has Thomas interacting with someone from real life just feels so weird to me and takes me out of the episode. However, I do actually have a bit more positive things to say about this one. The advice they give is actually helpful, and my gosh I love pre-AA Virgil.

The snark, the sass, it’s easy to see why he became a fan favorite so fast. And fortunately for me, there’s plenty of episodes for me to love him in before I start to hate him.

#13 Way Too Adult

This is gonna sound repetitive but again, forgettable. Doesn’t give me second hand embarrassment or make me feel negative in any way so that’s why it’s higher than the others. And hey, 13 is one of my favorite numbers so that’s gotta count for something right?

The best part of this episode is Patton, I really miss the earlier version of him where he actually took on more of a fatherly figure and had more of a serious side. Not that I don’t like him now and I still think he’s one of the better written in the series (more on that in another post) but it’s kinda nice to see him being portrayed in a way that doesn’t feel like he’s being dumbed down for laughs or is just sad and confused.

#12 The Mind vs The Heart

Or as I like to call it “Selfishness vs Selflessness in Five Minutes.” This episode is way too relatable which is both fun but also I don’t need the reminder that I can’t say “no” to people, but that’s a me problem not the episode’s. I like the format of using cutaways to show examples of how Logan and Patton clash in Thomas’s day to day life and honestly I wish they’d use it more since I think they only do it in this episode and in Growing Up but I could be wrong and I’m too lazy to check.

All in all this a cute little episode (and not cute for the reason you might think) and I enjoy it.

#11 Accepting Anxiety Part One

Honestly not much to say about this one? It’s funny watching Thomas’s antics while the Sides have to try and figure out what’s going on. Which is a nice change of pace from the usual “The Sides are being goofy and zany and Thomas has to try and get them on track” that I kinda notice throughout season one and that starts to change to become the norm in season two, but I’ll get to that later.

Reason this one isn’t as high as others is just because besides that one gimmick of Thomas saying and doing silly stuff is that there isn’t much beyond that, and of course that’s just because this is the first part of a two part episode so I’ll give it grace for that. Still a great set up though and is funny on its own.

#10 The Dark Side of Disney

Alright, we’ve made it to the top 10! Here’s where things start to get interesting.

Personally, I find this episode hilarious because I do this kind of stuff to “kid’s films” all the time. Never to actual kids but to adults, it’s fun to see just how dark I’ll go.

Of course this isn’t really what the episode does, it talks more about the messages in these movies as opposed to talking about how “dark” they are. Which, now that I look back I clicked on this episode thinking that it was going to be a part of the latter and had no idea it was a Sanders Sides episode. Maybe that’s how I found the series? I always forget which episode was my first...

Back to the episode, it also establishes Virgil and Roman’s little dynamic of being rivals and I love it. They have some of the best exchanges in the series and it’s fun watching them go head to head here, and even bonding a little as well. All in all, fun episode that provides some good character moments and some laughs.

#9 A New Year of Lying to Myself... In Song!

Just the song, man. It slaps.

But am I the only one miffed that Virgil technically got a villain song (about lying no less) and Janus didn’t? Not even an evil reprise? Yeah that’s some bull spit right there.

#8 Growing Up

Aw, the first name reveal episode on this list! This episode is a lot of fun, mostly because of the scenarios they come up with and the little cutaways they add in. Seriously. Just use these more instead of going to these great lengths to show us something that can be accomplished in six seconds of footage.

It also has one of my favorite moments with Logan quietly asking Patton what they’re doing wrong after Thomas tries to force himself into the “serious adult role.” I really got a soft spot for this episode and honestly talking about it makes me wanna watch it again, but I’ll hold off for now.

And I think Patton has one of the best name reveals. Like Thomas really thought his name was Pattoncake, and Patton’s reaction is priceless. I still want to know what “Pattoncake” actually is and how it’s played, but part of me also accepts that it’s probably better if we never know.

#7 Making Some Changes

Why are Thomas’s friends so good at acting as Thomas acting as his characters? Seriously half the time when I watch this episode my brain doesn’t acknowledge that the Sides are now being played by different people until halfway through.

This episode is one of the funniest in my opinion, and one I remember coming back to a lot. Do I still want an episode where the Sides pretend to be each other? Yes. Do I know it’ll probably never happen and if it did they’d find some way to just make it full of angst? Yes, yes I do.

#6 Alone on Valentine's Day

The first episode to be officially cowritten by Joan, and it’s great. It’s hilarious, and just seeing all the varying ways each Side tries to portray their idea of romance is the cherry on top. What more can I say about this episode other than I’m curious as to what Janus and Remus would have contributed to a conversation like this, maybe they’ll do another episode like this in the future with their inclusion, but who knows what the heck they’re doing at this point.

#5 Sanders Sides Q&A

Top 5 here we go!!! This is when ranking started to get difficult because I love all of these episodes so much. Especially this one. I think I’ve watched this one more than any of them and why not? It’s just pure goofball shenanigans and seriously, Thomas, why haven’t you done another one yet? Especially with Janus and Remus?! I mean I get if you’re waiting for “all the characters” but come on man! I need more of the energy this episode gives off.

#4 My Negative Thinking

This episode made me realize just how underrated Logan and Virgil’s relationship is. It’s also the second entry in the “Logan Fights Everyone” saga. I do love how this episode has actually helped me with my own negative thinking and I just freaking love Virgil’s sass in this.

Did I mention I also love Logan and Virgil’s friendship? Ah, good times when they all more or less liked each other.

#3 Losing My Motivation

The set up of this episode is just brilliant. Having it be a “mystery” for Logan to solve with Patton as his sidekick provided a lot of laughs and one of my favorite Logan moments with his little bit he does after realizing he was the “culprit” in all of this. Ugh, I really wanna watch some of these episodes now but I’m gonna hold out.

One thing is that I feel like Logan got the short end of the stick with his name reveal. Like Patton just casually calls him by his name like it’s no big deal, yet pretty much all of the other names are revealed after some kind of emotional moment and are treated as a big deal. If Patton was comfortable enough to just call Logan by his actual name and Logan himself was fine with it then why didn’t any of them introduce themselves before? There’s not really an explanation within the series itself as to why this is or why the Sides even have names in the first place, like it makes sense why Virgil or Janus would hide their names but Logan, Roman, and Patton have been there since day one so what gives?

My personal headcanon is that the three of them had a bet going on to see how long they could go without calling each other by their names in front of Thomas and Patton lost because he forgot.

#2 Am I Original?

Look, Roman is my favorite so of course he’s up here! Not only that but this episode resonates with me a lot as a creative person, and I just love watching the Sides trying all the ideas Roman comes up with.

And his name reveal is also great, probably my favorite one, and of course it’s followed by the now infamous, “You’re my hero” line. But I’m just gonna ignore what became of that and focus on the fact that Roman was actually happy at the end of this episode.

#1 Accepting Anxiety Part Two

What can I say other than this was the perfect way to end this season? Virgil has been the outsider of the group since day one, and seeing him go from this snarky antagonist to gradually being tired with the role until he decides that it would be better if he just wasn’t around at all. This episode has some funny moments too, but what sticks out to me are the more emotional ones.

Roman’s entire speech to Virgil is just *cheff’s kiss* perfection. Their relationship has finally come full circle and when Virgil smiles at him? Ah it’s so good!!! Like the music, the acting, all of it comes together so perfectly and it makes my heart happy.

Virgil’s name reveal is also great, after being teased about it over and over again we finally get the real thing and it’s executed perfectly. Although my favorite thing about this episode is probably the end card, it’s so sweet and makes me all sentimental. Why? I dunno, I’m supposed to be heartless but I somehow find my heart melting when Patton gives Virgil the card anyway. Ah, I love Virgil’s relationships with the others by the end of this season, and honestly I would have been satisfied if this had been the end of it.

Just a neat little way to wrap up this neat little series.

Of course we all know that wasn’t the case and oh boy things certainly took a turn, but that is for another post!

And that was the first part of my ranking! Like I said this list might change once I go back and watch the series again, but I’m pretty sure things won’t change much then.

I’m actually surprised at how many happy memories I have with the season, like I seriously want to just go back and watch my favorite episodes again because I’m all up in the nostalgia but again, I’ll hold off for now.

I hope y’all enjoyed this and I’d be curious to see other people’s rankings of season one. I’m glad I was able to have fun with this and just gush about the series for awhile because oh boy I know things are gonna be very different once I get to season two...

#dukeofrankings #new tag for this because why not #long post

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astranne · 3 years

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FanFiction.net MASTERLIST

Here are the FanFiction I’ve read on FanFiction.net. Hope you’ll enjoy!

For each recommendation I’ve linked the story to the title and wrote/copied a little summary. Please remember that many stories are rated M or E, if not stronger. Read on your own risk!

justhugefangirl’s masterlist

fanfiction recommendation masterlist

Love’s Labour Found by Peanutbuttertoast1

The War may be over, but Hermione Granger's life is just starting as her true heritage is revealed. Being the Heir to the Throne of England and a real life Princess is just the beginning of Hermione's story...but how will the Wizarding World react when they learn the Golden Girl and Gryffindor Princess is really a real life Royal?

This fanfic os one of my favourites, read it already three times- I can’t. It’s perfect, okay? For me it’s perfect.

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A Witch in Gotham by Peanutbuttertoast1

After the Second Wizarding War, a curse rips through the Magical World, leaving devastation in its wake. Hermione Granger is tasked to find the reason, and the cure before more lives are lost. Retreating into the Muggle World to start over, Hermione finds her way to Gotham City as Mia Black, Head of the Black Foundation. Her decision to help the Batman changes her life forever.

A perfect crossover- honestly, this author is perfect. As well this story. I don’t link more of the authors work but there are some other ones which are just ... perfect.

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Mischief Managed by fringeperson

A man with black hair, green eyes and pale skin watched over a child with black hair, green eyes, pale skin, and a variant of the Elder Futhark rune Sowilo etched upon his brow.

Mischief Mastered (part of story)

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Green Eyes and Red Hair by fringeperson

He was a practical joker with messy black hair. She was a talented woman with bright red hair. It turned out that they both had green eyes. Their daughter, when she came, was untouchable for more reasons than one. Loki-is-James, Natasha-is-Lily, Rogue-is-Fem!Harry.

I love the relationship between Loki and Natasha :)

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Love on Her Arm by Eye Greater Than Three

During a trip to Gringotts, Hyacinthe Potter discovered she met her soulmate, William Weasley. Bill/Hyacinthe. female!Harry.

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The Winter Witch by Kneazle

Hermione realized it began with a sense of Impending Doom and finished with a battle outside her tent. The deciding line between staying and helping Robb Stark, or returning to her universe, is getting harder to see the longer she's in Westeros. But it's a decision that she has to make, or it's one that will be made for her. Part 1 & Part 2 complete! Part 3 now ongoing.

This... is one of my favourites crossovers,,, the slowburn between Hermione and Robb,,, and it’s so fluff,,, I’m such a sucker for dark stories but this is just pureness and ugh-

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Moratorium by Darkpetal16

Harry Potter could never be the hero. But, she might make a great villain. Satire. Parody. -COMPLETE- F!Harry Fem!Harry Gray!Harry.

Uhm- this is one of the darker fics I love. It’s very good written, cause of this I really don’t mind the ship fem!Harry x Tom Riddle

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A Life Twice Lifed by Nemesis13

Draco Malfoy died at the venerable age of 107, and who awaited him at the crossroads? His mother? His wife? No, it had to be his eccentric former rival, eventual best friend, and far too often partner in chaos Harry Potter. Oh, and of course he had a deal to offer Draco to live his life anew, and obviously there was a caveat to it all that he wasn't privy to, damn Potters.Fem!Draco

Ahh, Drarry. How I love this ship

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Persephone by dulce.de.leche.go

Better to be the right hand of the devil than in his path. Better still to be the consort of Hades than a part of his collection of souls. Ten years after Voldemort has won the war, Hermione reaches a breaking point and shreds the flow of time to change her future. If she can't change the world, she will change her place in it. Extremely dark Tomione/Volmione. Warnings inside.

As already written in the summary, this fic is hella dark. So if you don’t like dark fics (especially with all the warnings mentioned in the first chapters) don’t read. I still love it tho-

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The Muddy Princess by Colubrina

Just another Pureblood!Hermione story. A hidden adoption revealed, a brother found, a new world to figure out: "What are you hoping for?" he asked as they stood ready to do the spell. "I don't know," Hermione admitted. "You?" His knuckles were white on his wand. "A sister," he said, his voice very low, "I'm hoping for a sister."

There are more stories from this author which are just- awesome and absolutly perfect, like the next ones. Since they have over 60, I won’t link every work here.

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Lady of the Lake by Colubrina

Hermione and Draco team up after the war to overthrow the Order and take over wizarding Britain. They have plans and they'll get power, but the cost of victory may be higher than they expected and more than they can bear. Dark Dramione. COMPLETE

This is perfection. Nothing more to say.

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Dark Cherry Chapstick by Colubrina

Hermione returns for an optional 8th year after the war and Draco Malfoy, also back at Hogwarts at his mother's request, notices she's changed. A brief dip into the 'makeover' trope AND the 'goth' trope in one fic. ONE SHOT. Dramione.

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The Green Girl by Colubrina

Hermione is sorted into Slytherin; how will things play out differently when the brains of the Golden Trio has different friends? AU. Darkish Dramione. COMPLETE

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The Last Peverell by animerocker 646

Being the Master of Death made life difficult, especially when you need to save all of magical Europe from inbreeding its way to extinction. At least Death was enjoying watching his Master attempt this over and over again. Harry didn't find it nearly as entertaining. Well, tenth times the charm right? (FemHarry)

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Soft, Low, English Accent by Tsume Yuki

'God, you've got a beautiful voice.' Hariel always found it funny, that of all the things her soulmate could take note of -the messy hair, the bright green eyes, the scar- it's her voice he points out first. FemHarryxMatt

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Bless the Broken Road by Tempestas D. Uzu

Her resolve crumbled in the face of Pietro Maximoff's scruffy good looks and warm blue eyes, and she found herself falling for another person who would be doomed to die for her selfishness. (One Shot)(fem!HarryXPietro)(cannon-divergent)(full warnings inside)

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The Death of Natasha Romanoff by Philosophize

While helping to stop Stane, Natasha encounters a face she never thought she'd see again. Forced to deal with memories, decisions, and a life she thought she'd long left behind, will she survive the emotional upheaval, not to mention the rampaging, homicidal Stane? Or will she have to face her fears & transform herself, becoming once again what she once was? AU; fem!Harry; femslash

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Code Of Conduct by tlyxor1

A year after the war, Gwen Potter joins SHIELD. It's a life in the shadows, and a perpetual dance with death, but for the Witch Who Won, SHIELD - and Clint Barton - is exactly what she needs. She just doesn't know it yet. AU. Clint/Gwen. Fem!Harry. Pre-MCU. Post-Hogwarts, Post OOTP. Discontinued.

It already says it’s not finished,,, but oh well- I still liked it.

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The Almost Forgotten Marriage Contract of 1763 by worldtravellingfly

What would you do when suddenly confronted with a 200+ years old marriage contract by a teen and her lawyer? Run for the hills? Call the nice guys with the white jackets? Certainly not - agree? Well, Tony Stark always was a bit unique.

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Some Hearts by sakurademonalchemist

Robin Black was a bound witch. However, as the new Mistress of Death she was able to break free to Asgard and prepare to reap her vengeance. What she didn't count on was falling for a certain green-eyed, silver-tongued God of Mischief or being hit by Time Sand before the war restarted. Can she make her way back to Loki, or will she be stuck on Earth? FEM HARRY! YOU WERE WARNED!

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A Man of Honor by bloomsburry-dhazel

One day, Lyanna Stark discovers an unconscious man in the Wolfswood. Not knowing who he is, she takes him back to Winterfell where he is nurse back to health... Steve Rogers can't remember what happened to him, or how he ends up there, but he does remember who he is. He is Captain America, and somehow he has become Lyanna Stark's sworn shield.

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The Origin of The Black Widow by The Black Shadowx

The story of how the Black Widow became to be. detailed description of her life in the Red Room and what happened when she defected. this is my own creation so if things appear that is not in the comics thats the reason. i don't things can ever be too far stretched so excuse me if it gets weird. DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING TO DO WITH MARVEL . WRITTEN FOR ENTERTAINMENT ONLY

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will be updated...

#masterlist #fanfiction #fanfiction.net #harry potter #marvel #dc #crossovers #got #game of thrones #honestly #why do i even put tags here #justhugefangirl recommends {📑}#fanfiction recommendation {📚}#justhugefangirl creates {🌹}

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anhed-nia · 4 years

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BLOGTOBER PRE-GAME 9/30/2020: 30 MILES FROM NOWHERE/CONFESSIONAL (2019)

Spoiler alert. Or whatever. It’s not going to matter, you don’t care.

So, I've been away for a minute. Just about any reason to be away from Tumblr is probably a good reason, but I have an especially good one. I'm finally working on a "real" writing project, which demands, and deserves, all of my attention. My social media abstinence isn't just a matter of time management, though. Once I had a long term obligation on my plate, I became very aware of how the short term satisfaction I get from posting mindless rants was eating away at the fuel I have available for sustained efforts. When I wind myself up with a 500-1000 word blog post, it generates a lot of electricity, but I blow it all as soon as I experience the catharsis of posting it, and I'm further pacified by ego-stroking likes and reblogs. Not to sound like a sanctimonious luddite--I mean, I'm still here, after all!--but it turns out that the staying focused on the long haul has been surprisingly revivifying. In fact, I haven't been talking about my big fancy project for the same reason; I don't want to lose any of the juice I've been storing up by wasting it on the shallow pleasure of describing it. Also such things should probably be somewhat confidential until they're approaching the publishing stage, but I digress! There is an actual reason I'm saying all this, that has more to do with this blog.

(Don’t get all excited, I’m not doing EVIL ED right now, I just need a relatable image.)

As I got deeper into my experience of "real" film writing, I started to reflect on the meaning of my personal writing. Like, the point of it. I tend to write in a sweaty, compulsive, sadomasochistic haze, in which I'm sometimes hyperbolically generous, and sometimes--perhaps more often, unfortunately--as nasty as humanly possible. Sometimes the movies deserve it, when they're lazy, pretentious, or otherwise demonstrate an open contempt for the audience aka ME. Often, though, I'm just creating an opportunity to vent my generalized rage and frustration. That can be very entertaining for myself and (hopefully) my teensy-but-devoted readership, but lately I've asked myself whether there isn't some negative tradeoff for all this amusement. In this phase of my life, it's reasonable to assume I'll make more and more friends and acquaintances who create things I don't always care for, but I don't necessarily think they deserve to be abused for it. As much as I have a right to say whatever I want, technically, I'd be embarrassed if I were caught just jacking myself off by making fun of their work in public. And more to the point, I don't necessarily want to contribute to the growing atmosphere in which people feel more afraid to try and fail, because the public so commonly misidentifies sarcasm and mean-spiritedness as intelligence and superiority, and that form of petty darkness spreads across the internet a lot faster than a movie can reach a wider audience. After all, I'm in the process of potentially turning myself into one of those well-meaning failures right now. I could stand to be a little more deliberate about how I speak, and about what, in general.

My father is an art critic, and once in an extra petulant moment, teenage-me asked him in an accusative tone what he thought the point of his profession was. He replied calmly that he wouldn't publish any comment that he didn't think the artist could make use of somehow. I don't know if he always stuck to that policy, but the thought sure stuck with me.

So anyway, over the last few months I've been giving myself a bit of an attitude adjustment, through a combination of personal reflection, and hard work on something meaningful/not for the internet. I've been feeling all proud of myself and shit, but today reminded me that any path to enlightenment is always marked by setbacks, doubt, and temptation. For today, in complete innocence (or at least a melange of innocence and ignorance, as I very much invite this type of problem), I managed to watch TWO (2) movies about an academic film-cum-psychology project, focused on a gang of college buddies who inevitably reveal what bad people they are under the unique conditions of the project, and then the project turns out to be run NOT by its presumed-dead originator, but by the originator's even-crazier lover. It's amazing how particular something can be, and still be utterly obvious and cliche. In my defense, I really tried to turn the second movie off, because it was...just instantly terrible, but the seed of suspicion had taken root--is this randomly selected movie ACTUALLY EXACTLY THE SAME AS THE PREVIOUS MOVIE?--and I just had to find out if this could be true. I suffered, deliberately, for another hour and a half, to confirm my awful hunch. I don't know how I would have felt if I had turned out to be wrong (better? worse?), but I don't have to worry about that now. Now I just have to worry about my overpowering impulse to be as ugly as possible about what I have personally subjected myself to.

(The completely deceptive poster for our not at all witchy or eerie opening feature.)

In need of a passable time-waster this afternoon, I put on 30 MILES FROM NOWHERE. Released in March of 2019, Caitlin Koller's claustrophobic black comedy feels oddly like a product of 2020. A group of estranged, middle-aged college pals of the BIG CHILL ilk--which one of the characters calls out, out loud, just so ya know--come together for a fallen comrade's funeral, only to find themselves trapped in his widow's increasingly creepy cabin in the woods. Said comrade was driven to suicide by the failure of a psychological experiment he conducted that plunged its subject into madness, and if you don't realize right away that the obnoxious and unstable cast are the new subjects of their not-quite-dead friend's renewed project, then you're firing a lot slower than 24 frames per second. The dialog is often decent, aiding a handful of funny, natural performances...but it's hard to forget that you're just waiting for the conspicuously crazy widow to reveal that the "unexplained events" in and around the cabin are part of a controlled attempt to get the guests to devolve into their worst selves, which isn't such a difficult task considering the undesirable state they all arrive in.

It just made me ask myself, what was the point of this? Why do people make movies that are entirely predicated on the shock of the twist, knowing that if the twist isn't so shocking--or is baldly obvious from the start--then the whole experience just falls apart? Why not hedge your bets with a little more depth, or purpose, or style, or really anything more reliable than a smug attempt to prove that your script is smarter than your audience? Even if you do manage to pull off this dubious accomplishment, it reduces your movie to something like the experience of having somebody jump out of a closet and scream in your ear to "get" you. I've always felt concerned that if somebody ever tries to "get" me like that, I might just automatically punch them in the face. But anyway, whatever shred of good will this movie could have accrued with its plucky performances is blown away by the final insult, when the cops arrive to clean up the inevitable bloody mess. The responding officers are hilariously unimpressed and unsurprised by the byzantine scheme that has resulted in a shocking act of violence, because the cabin's "guest book", which our heroes all filled out, was actually the signatory page of a complicated waiver form granting full permission to the hosts to, like, do whatever the hell they want to everybody. Presumably this shit just goes on all the time, leading the local law to shrug off anything that happens to or because of the dumbassed lab rats who frequent the cabin? I dunno. I mean, what can I say? ACAB, I guess!

At the time, I managed to resist the urge to take to the internet and decry the crimes of this lame-o party joke. I really don't like the sensation that a movie is just trying to trick me into thinking something that isn't true. But, this isn't, like, an affront to cinema. People make annoying, below average movies all the time, and maybe you kinda have to, if you eventually want to make better movies. I imagine myself in the shoes of the people who actually put some elbow grease into this production, having to wade through the rantings of internet ghouls like myself while they're trying to see how their efforts are paying off. Making a movie is probably a lot harder than I think it is.

But that's part of the point I'm heading toward. I'm always amazed by people's willingness to pour huge amounts of energy and capital into something to which there is ultimately very little point. I mean, I have bad, unoriginal, boring ideas every single day of my life. But I almost never DO any of them. I have a hard enough time convincing myself to just get out of bed in the morning, let alone devote blood, sweat, and money to deliver unto the world material evidence of my personal mediocrity. I can't imagine thinking it would be worth it, for myself or the unfortunate people who are subjected to my project, to actually execute on my bad ideas. I'm being judgmental, but honestly, I don't even know if my attitude makes me better or worse than someone who accomplishes the task of completing and selling a movie that's mainly a waste of time. Movies are so complicated, and realizing them requires the consensus of so many people, that it's sort of incredible that there are people capable of making one that doesn't have a powerfully compelling motivation behind it. People who are able to do such a thing obviously have something that I don't, and it isn't just "consideration for the audience."

So, I could probably stand to be more forgiving--or just, less eager to absolutely flay someone alive on my dumb little blog because they so opened themselves up to my arsenal of elaborate insults. But like...not all the time. Sometimes, a movie really fucking asks for it, and in revealing itself to me, it has effectively signed a waiver giving me patent freedom to do whatever I want to it. CONFESSIONAL is the latest movie to give me such a gift. After the final credit rolled in 30 MILES FROM NOWHERE, I looked for a little palate cleanser. As little as I like movies that put their single egg in the motheaten basket of a "shocking twist", I also have a problem with what I identify as canned theater. Not that I think all movies have to be lavish productions, but I think they should try to do something that is natively cinematic. It's very rare that I'm impressed by anything that is literally all talk. So, I went in search of some more familiar form of trash to help me recallibrate, and trash is definitely what I got.

(Me crying over my own bad decisions.)

To be fair, I kind of should have known that I was in for a challenging experience. The 2019 found footage thriller CONFESSIONAL is more or less based on the "confessional" part of sleazy reality TV shows, isolating each cast member in a soundproof stall so they can spill the rotten contents of their guts. Unfortunately, I spotted a review suggesting that the movie succeeded, against all odds, at remaining visually dynamic despite the unchanging scenery, and I was intrigued. The reviewer was correct, impressively; the monotony of the coffin-like environment with its dark foam walls was the least of my concerns. Other problems superseded that threat, immediately. The plot concerns a group of college pals who come together to remember a recently deceased friend--a filmmaker who expired mysteriously while completing a psychology-tinged project in which she recorded all of her friends' most shameful personal secrets. Now, somebody else has taken over the project...someone who "has never been identified", according to an early title card in this movie-within-a-movie (EVEN THOUGH THIS PERSON WILL BE EXPLICITLY IDENTIFIED AT THE END OF THE MOVIE SO LIKE WHY), but who seems likely to be the decedent's ex-lover...who continues to expose their subjects' most shameful secrets on film. I mean, what the fuck? Did I somehow manage to pick a second movie with almost the exact same plot??? I couldn't believe it. I didn't know if I could take it. My prospects only got worse when the cast showed up and started talking. I tried to turn the movie off. I backed out and walked away from it, twice. But I couldn't leave it alone. I had to know if it was really the same movie.

CONFESSIONAL concerns characters who are contemporaneously in college, which actually goes a long way to making everything worse. Each of these walking cliches is connected in some way to Amelia, a film student whose mysterious death has created a campus scandal, leaving shattered hearts and lives in its wake. The living have each received a blackmail-flavored invitation to speak about the deceased in a tiny "confessional booth" somewhere on campus, where, predictably, they find themselves locked in until they confess whatever they know about Amelia, and their classmates. I don't know why practically every single movie about young people has to be so miserable, but this is one of those. I assume that it has something to do with the fact that youth is simultaneously so desired and so ignored. People in their teens and early 20s are so sexually coveted, yet so easily dismissed as individuals, that we wind up with all this media that panders to them relentlessly (or at least, panders to the legions of ticket-buying perverts who enjoy watching them prance around), without almost any consideration of how they actually think and act, and look. Movies like FAT GIRL and WELCOME TO THE DOLL HOUSE may be accused of their own form of pandering, a venal form of voyeuristic schadenfreude, but at least they reflect something of the awkwardness, isolation, and incompleteness of adolescence; something more than the dissociated, pornographic fantasies of adults who have long since forgotten what it was like to be powerless and ignored, or desired by people who don't even like you.

Not that CONFESSIONAL is supposed to be a work of grim realism, but it is most definitely rooted in a fantasy about college life that makes its contrived, message-y plot a lot harder to take. With almost the sole exception of "the nerdy one", every single character looks like a Bratz doll, oozing an exaggerated indecency that belies the movie's pretentious insistence on addressing the sex & gender Issues of the Day. What you get is a really good example of what happens when millennial characters are modeled, not on any actual millennials, but on other forms of marketing that are aimed at millennials, which are themselves just based on other preexisting youth-targeted commercials, et al ad nauseam. Even setting aside the deliriously slutty wardrobe choices, makeup appears to have been laid on with a trowel, coating each actor in a thick creamy layer of spackle that only makes any scars, pits, or other evidence of individuality look utterly bizarre. Accordingly, everybody preens, pouts, and generally behaves as if they're about to take off their clothes, which might be a huge relief given the profusion of chafing, cheapo mesh and straps they're laboring under.

So, ok, not every movie can have a great costume department, but the dialog here is a perfect match for the disastrous aesthetic decisions. Actually, this is the real reason I almost walked out on CONFESSIONAL. If I may ramble briefly, without substantiating any of my broad-ranging claims: Sometime in the late 90s/early 00s, horror cinema seemed to suffer a degenerative slide away from genuine thrills and chills, and into a version of the genre that is best characterized as the Slutty Halloween Costume approach. Any sense of existential dread, revulsion, or bodily vulnerability was widely replaced by a cutesy, Hot Topic-y preference for fast fashion and sex appeal, in which bloodshed more facilitated an informal wet teeshirt contest than any real fear induction. Horror's new mall goth look came with an equally shallow, boring verbal affectation: a sullen, sleazy, tooth-sucking sarcasm, that ushered in a new era in which, instead of making fun of the scummy coked-out dialog in porno movies, we now expect everybody to just talk like that, because it's hot. There's probably a line to be drawn between this unfortunate development, and the boneheaded real-world trend of identifying "sarcasm" as an important personal selling point on dating sites, but I won't try to prove that here. For now, I will just say that as soon as I heard the CONFESSIONAL characters start to speak, with their sneering, insinuating tones, with the vocal fry, with the head wagging, the jutting jaws, the smoldering gazes, the juvenile dragging-out of horny grownup words like de-bauch-er-y...I almost lost my nerve. Listening to these little creeps hissing and spitting for 84 minutes is a lot like being hit on by some barfly who continues to bludgeon you with his hot breath and corny lines without ever noticing that you've thrown up into your pint.

Uh, anyway. So what actually happens in the movie. Why would anyone ever allow someone to record video of them revealing the ugliest, most embarrassing parts of themselves? Especially a kid, for whom popularity and reputation are often a matter of life or death--literally and specifically, in the case of this story. The flimsy reason is that the late filmmaker, Amelia, was the most awesomest girl ever. Everybody loved her, because she was so sweet, and so smart, and so cool, and so nice, and so deep, and so original, and so talented, and so sexy, and just like, the bestest most perfectest girl in the whole wide world. N.B. "The greatest of all time" is, perhaps counter-intuitively, a really bad quality that makes for really shitty, boring characters. For better or worse, Amelia is rarely on screen (and when she is, she's no Laura Palmer, frankly), so it's up to the viewer to just sort of imagine a type of person who could make you act against your best interests on account of you just like them so much. After all, so many of the characters were obsessed with her in some way, that it's like they're here to help you clap your hands and believe in this seductive, compelling part of the movie, that just isn't actually there on the screen. The anonymous antihero behind the confessional booth scheme slowly extracts from each character the selfish, destructive behavior that in some way contributed to the tragic loss of the most amazing person of all time--and part of the result is, if not a very interesting excuse for Amelia's death, then a story so wacky that I really wish they had centered the movie on it, instead of on the tawdry soap opera we're locked into. Even if that imaginary movie had been really bad, and it probably would have been, at it would at least have been entertaining.

Part of what leads up to the death of Amelia is the existence of a secret school fight club, led by a stereotypically sleazy gender studies major, named Major, who is out to prove men's inherent superiority. The club is called CFB, or Cock Fights Back, which is somehow a garbled pun relating to cock fights, and Trump's famous line of "locker room talk": "grab'em by the pussy" > "pussy grabs back" > "cock fights back". CFB is different from your ordinary fight club in that the fights are always between girls and boys, and the boys are always blindfolded, in order to prove that a fully-abled female is no match for even a handicapped male. To complicate things, a new designer amphetamine is gaining popularity on campus, called "odds-on", meaning that it makes you the odds-on favorite in your CFB fight. As awkward as that is, it also seems that men are never the guaranteed winners of these fights, which makes you wonder why Major insists on continuing to host them. As much as I would have preferred to watch a stupid movie about this stupid idea, I'm stuck instead with a movie in which Major is such an aggressive MRA because he's secretly gay, and he thinks that hating women is a great way to hide that...as if that isn't what we all openly suspect about aggro MRAs. Secret gayness is a big part of this movie, involving multiple characters, although it amounts to very little other than the perpetuation of some stale, harmful cliches about how unfulfilled homosexual urges lead to suicide, sexual abuse, and murder. CONFESSIONAL is just as reliant on this grim vision of gay life, as it is on its weirdly obtuse discussion of drug addiction, for the suffocating sense of self-importance that it uses to try to elevate itself above its porn-y trappings. None of the movie's hot button issues are given any real thought, but are only dragged through the mud to create the illusion that there's a point to all this, thus relieving the film of any sense of innocence that could have made its condescending sleaziness forgivable.

Admittedly, I can't really remember all the details of the film's tortured intrigue anymore, even though I basically just saw it. A lot of its meandering revelations just left me thinking, "Why did I need to know that? Why should I care?" I do know that about half way through this ordeal, I became really anxious about whether it would turn out that CONFESSIONAL did NOT have exactly the same plot as 30 MILES FROM NOWHERE after all, and I put myself through all this for nothing. But no, I was right to begin with. The wonderful Amelia's ethically dubious film project has been picked up by the unhinged lesbian character who loved her so much she wanted to become her, and killing Amelia and usurping her confessional project was apparently the best way of doing that. I guess exposing all the dark, violent secrets of all these tangentially involved characters was just an added bonus, or whatever. Ultimately, this ugly, ignorant PSA about something-or-other only deals itself further damage by relying so heavily on the potential of its clumsy twist to blow your mind, which it does not at all.

So that was it, that's how I burned a whole afternoon allowing my mind to implode-not-explode under the ponderous force of TWO (2) movies about exactly the same exhausted cliche that is still being peddled by certain pretentious assholes as fresh and exciting, and beyond the capacity of the audience to anticipate. There's probably a whole slew of other movies that employ this overly familiar "surprise", but I don't have it in me to dig them out of my long-suffering brain. Feel free to contribute in the comments. For now, I must prepare myself for the ordeal of Blogtober, during which I will *hopefully* choose my screening selections and words more thoughtfully than I have in previous years, when this blog was motivated by just as much abject misanthropy as these movies, which do nothing but willfully insult the audience's intelligence. Maybe today's detour into degradation will help me go forth toward more additive experiences, having purged several lungfuls of meaningless venom from my system, and this season will bring with it more interesting, provocative posts than the last. Or maybe not! In any case, I promise to keep trying my hardest to make it funny.

PS I actually love both FAT GIRL and WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE. I’m “just saying”.

#blogtober #2020 #confessional #2019 #30 miles from nowhere #horror #thriller #black comedy #found footage #brad t gottfred #jennifer wolfe #jennifer bosworth #caitlin koller

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miraculous-consequence · 4 years

Text

Consequence of Our Love, Ch. 3: Just Enjoy

Then she felt the spark that glowed where their hands touched. Comfortable. Quiet. Happy.

“Okay,” she said, and she smiled. “I’m all yours.”

Consequence of Our Love is a pre-reveal, post-Hawk Moth AU exploring Marinette and Adrien’s lives as adults. | Read from the Beginning | Read on AO3

Rating: Mature

Chapter Warnings (Overall in the tags): None

It wasn’t right.

Marinette removed her hair clip and ran her fingers into her hair, undoing the hairstyle she had just spent a half hour finishing. The updo had been too formal and flirty, definitely not suited for the date. It was the fifth hairstyle she had tried, and she still hadn’t picked out an outfit from the twenty laid out across her bed, and the remains of ten attempts at makeup stuck to towels on the floor. Nothing seemed to be right for a date with Chat Noir.

She huffed. That was the issue. How could anything she wore be right for a date with Chat Noir? The date itself wasn’t right!

“How did I agree to this ridiculous idea?” She cried and slid down the bathroom wall in defeat.

“I’m just as dumbfounded as you are,” Tikki chimed in. She was painting herself with a tiny makeup kit for children that Marinette had gotten her. She liked the bright colors.

“I should be kicking his furry ass out of Paris for showing up so out of nowhere! I should be slamming the concept of responsibility into his tiny, idiot brain and shaking him until he finally realizes how much of a stupid, inconsiderate jerk he is!” Marinette mimicked shaking Chat Noir by his ears. “Instead! I’m going on a stupid DATE with him! And now I’m the stupid one obsessing over the fact I can’t find ANYTHING GOOD ENOUGH TO WEAR!”

“Do you think that maybe you missed him?” Tikki asked. Marinette grunted. Tikki had perfected the art of asking seemingly innocent, pointed questions.

“Of course I missed him, Tikki. He’s my partner. Was, my partner, I guess.” She bent forward and rested her elbows on her knees.

“There’s still a chance he’ll stay,” Tikki offered. Marinette sighed.

“I hope so. He just seemed so… not Chat Noir last night.” She leaned back and rubbed her arms. “I mean, he was totally the Chat Noir I remembered when he was with me by the river. He was obnoxious and flamboyant and confident…. But last night, he seemed so… scared. I’ve never seen him so broken before.”

Marinette squeezed her arm. She expected Tikki to respond with an encouraging quip like she always did, but when Marinette looked up, Tikki was staring darkly at the countertop. She looked just as dejected as Marinette felt. For a moment, Marinette faced the deep unease that had been growing inside of her ever since Chat Noir knocked on her window.

Marinette dug her nails into her skin, shoved the feeling down, and stood up. There was no point in fretting over what Chat Noir would do - especially when a chance to get him to stay awaited her.

“You’re right, Tikki,” she said, and leaned against the counter. “There is a chance he’ll stay, and I’m going to make sure I do everything I can to make him take that chance. Chat Noir can be a superhero again. He can find a life worth living here in Paris. Tonight is the perfect chance to show him that.”

“Marinette, I don’t think-“ Tikki was interrupted by Marinette’s text tone. Marinette picked up her phone and saw it was from Alya.

Movie and ice cream tonight? I got the fancy stuff!

“Shoot,” Marinette cursed. She did want to hang out. Ever since Alya got her new job as a reporter and Marinette’s fashion line took off, it had been harder and harder to find the time to hang out. Their slump was incredibly frustrating. Marinette really missed Alya, and she was desperate to pounce on any chance to be with her best friend.

But tonight, she had another friend to tend to.

“Are you going to tell her about your date?” Tikki asked. The thought curdled inside Marinette like bad sushi. She grimaced.

“I can barely tell myself that I’m doing this. No way I’m telling Alya!”

“I bet she’d understand,” Tikki offered.

“What would I even say? ‘Hey Alya, can’t make it! I’m going on a make-believe date with my old superhero friend who I have no romantic interest in, because I’m absolutely desperate for any sort of romantic affection, even though none of it is real and none of it can be real!’” Marinette exclaimed dramatically.

She scrunched her face up in disgust. “Plus it’s Chat Noir. How can I admit that I’m going on a date with Chat Noir?” It was like going on a date with a childhood friend you’ve known since you were both in diapers. It didn’t matter how strong and handsome he looked now. Didn’t matter how warm his eyes were. Didn’t matter how kind and charming and funny he was.

It was just weird.

Sorry Alya :( I need a raincheck. Hanging out with an old friend. Marinette sent back.

You have other friends? I didn’t think it was possible! Alya sent a GIF of a women dramatically collapsing on the floor in shock.

What did I do to deserve a friend as kind as you.

I always believed in being charitable.

Love you, Al.

Love you M.

Marinette smiled and placed her phone back on the counter. She leaned forward and applied another round of makeup.

“Sorry Tikki - you were saying something?”

“I…” Tikki trailed off as if she was trying to find the right words to say. Marinette paused and looked at her, confused by her hesitation.

“I just wanted to ask - what do you think he’ll do for the date?” Tikki finished. Marinette laughed weakly.

“Honestly, I’m kinda scared to think about it.” She teased out her hair. “Based on what he’s done for Ladybug in the past, he’ll probably do something textbook romantic. Lots of roses and candles. I hope it’s not too cheesy.”

“Like dinner-at-the-top-of-the-Eiffel-Tower kind of cheesy?” Tikki said mischievously.

“UGH, I hope not. It’s so windy up there!” Marinette stepped back and examined herself. She pursed her lips and grabbed the make-up remover.

“I bet it’ll be sweet and unexpected,” Tikki said. “Chat Noir can be very thoughtful.”

“He can be very thoughtless, too,” Marinette retorted, then conceded. “But he does have a tendency to surprise.”

Her phone sounded again. Marinette reached for it, expecting it to be another text from Alya, but instead it was from an unknown number. She could guess who it was from. Inside was a long list of directions to an undisclosed location, signed with a green paw print. Marinette groaned.

You could’ve just sent an address, Marinette texted back. A few moments passed, then Chat’s response.

Google would’ve killed the surprise. Don’t be late.

She snorted and put up her phone. “Guess I better settle on an outfit.”

Marinette took a deep breath. Compelled by a looming deadline, Marinette’s brain snapped into the zone where it always worked best - crunch time. She grabbed her best pair of high-waisted black pants and slapped them on the bed. “Sensual, but not sexy or formal!” She swiped her pink sleeveless top with the high neck, and threw it above the pants. “Cute and inviting, but not revealing!” Next, she tossed her black leather jacket onto the pile.“Cool AND functional!” Lastly, she grabbed her reliable pink sandals that wrapped up her ankle. “Comfortable, stylish, and most importantly, heeled to give me an extra inch on that tall bastard!”

“And Voila!” Marinette spun around in the mirror, admiring herself in the full outfit. She finished the look with a quick bun - just the right amount of formal, just the right amount of messy.

“It’s perfect, Marinette!” Tikki exclaimed. Marinette burst out laughing when she saw her kwami in the mirror. Tikki had given herself a full clown face from the make-up kit.

“Tikki, that’s way too much make-up!” Marinette said. “You gotta learn subtlety!”

“I think I look dashing!” Tikki said happily, unshaken by Marinette’s reaction. She posed for Marinette, making her laugh even harder. “I do actually need help getting all of this off,” Tikki giggled. Marinette wiped her face and carried Tikki to the bathroom, chuckling the whole time.

“This is one of those times where I really wish you could be caught on camera,” Marinette said as she grabbed a couple make-up remover wipes. Tikki laughed again, but this time with less cheer. As Marinette wiped away the make-up, she realized Tikki had something heavy on her mind that she wanted to share.

“What is it, Tikki?” She asked.

“Marinette…” Tikki began. “I know you want to fix Chat Noir, but the reality is that Chat Noir has changed. Emotional pain is different from physical pain - we don’t have the power to turn back the hands of time on trauma. We can’t just fix it. You know that.”

Marinette looked away. I do know that. She clenched her fist. Better than anyone.

But she couldn’t just sit back. The last time Chat Noir left her, he was gone for seven years. She had to do everything she could to get him to stay this time. She had to let him know she was going to be there for him - both as Ladybug and as Marinette.

“I’m not trying to fix him, Tikki. I just… want to help him get better. I want to show him that he’s capable of being a superhero again.”

Tikki bowed her head, then glided up to rub Marinette’s cheek. “The best way to do that is by enjoying the time you spend with him. Chat Noir must make his own choice. Only he knows what will be best for him.”

“But I can make a difference,” Marinette answered. Tikki shook her head.

“Just enjoy, Marinette,” Tikki said. “Don’t worry about any of the other stuff - just focus on having a good time with Chat Noir. That’s the best thing you can do for him. And for you.”

Marinette bit her lip. “I’ll do my best, Tikki,” she said. Tikki smiled and glided to her compartment inside Marinette’s purse.

Just enjoy tonight, Marinette told herself as she slid on her purse. The rest will follow.

With her head held high, Marinette set off towards Chat Noir’s mystery date location. The instructions were surprisingly thorough. She smiled at the thought of Chat Noir going along the same path she was, stopping occasionally to write down notes.

She smelled it before she saw it. It smelled like fresh bread, spring, and summer.

“An outdoor market!” She exclaimed. The market stretched before her, full of carts and stalls teeming with artisan foods, fresh produce, photography, flowers, artwork, and more. People milled around happily, laughing and enjoying themselves. Marinette was filled with excitement and wonder.

She didn’t hear the sound of the footfalls behind her, but she felt them. The hair on the back of her neck rose, and all of her muscles tensed. She gripped her purse strap.

“Hey Marinette!”

In a flash, Marinette was swinging her purse at her assailant. She only realized who she was attacking when her purse smashed into Chat Noir’s face.

“GAH!” Chat cursed and staggered away. “Geez, Marinette!”

“Shoot!!” Marinette rushed forward to help him. “Why the hell did you do that!” She snapped as she gently held his face to examine the damage. She thumbed his cheek, then realized in embarrassment that Chat was essentially invincible. There was no point in tending to his wound. She drew back, blushing.

“I was trying to surprise you. I didn’t realize you had insane instincts and a motive to kill.” Chat said, rubbing his face.

“Well when you have maniacs landing from the sky right behind you, you tend to be prepared— uhhh, what the hell are you wearing?” Marinette finally got a good look at Chat Noir, and realized he was wearing clothes. Normal clothes. A sweater. Cargo shorts. Over his supersuit.

“Like it?” Chat asked, posing. She stood speechless, her mouth trying to find the right words for… whatever this was.

“It’s definitely… a look,” she managed. “Is this supposed to be some sort of terrible disguise?”

“Not a disguise.” He held his arms out, as if it gesturing to an adoring crowd, and projected his voice. “It’s all part of the plan, purrrrincess, to give you an authentic Chat Noir relationship!”

Marinette stared blankly at him. He held his pose.

“I’ve made a mistake. I should go home.” She turned away.

“Trait one of a perfect, romantic relationship!” Chat blocked her path with a dramatic scoop, and she couldn’t hold in her giggles. “Casual and comfortable! Relationships can’t all be romance and passion - we all must come home and take care of the chores of day-to-day living. The best relationships,” he paused to tap Marinette’s nose, “are the ones where no matter what you’re doing, no matter how boring or stuffy the task, you’ll enjoy doing it, because you’re doing it with someone you care about.”

“So you’re wearing clothes?”

“It’s supposed to represent being casual!” Chat argued, his voice back to normal and whiny. He fussed with his shirt sleeves. “Is it really that bad? Gah, Plagg was right. I’ll go take them off-“

“Nope!” Marinette grabbed his arm and stopped him. “You’re committed to this, kitty. I’m not letting you back out. Now go on, continue with the show.”

Chat Noir smirked, coughed for effect, then gestured widely to the market. “AND SO!” He boomed. “We are going shopping! The bounty we gather will serve as our sustenance tonight during the rest of your brilliant, swooning night of no consequences.” He ended with a bow.

Marinette clapped and chuckled. “Alright, I gotta admit. This is actually a really lovely idea, Chat!” He grinned and gazed wistfully out at the plaza.

“I ALWAYS wanted to go to one of these when I was in Paris, but I never got the chance,” he said. “I got so lucky that this was happening today! I was worried that you would’ve guessed I was taking you here, since you probably keep track of these kinds of events.”

Marinette shook your head. “I had no idea, actually. I haven’t gone to an outdoor market in forever.” When was the last time I went to one of these? Or any community event? She thought.

“Then this should be an awesome experience for both of us,” Chat cheered. He handed her a few empty tote bags, all decorated with food puns. “And as for dinner later - I’ve got the main entree covered, but you are responsible for baking something delicious for dessert!”

“I thought this was supposed to be my most romantic night ever, yet I’m supposed to be making my own food?” Marinette teased.

Chat Noir didn’t lose his swagger. “I happen to know firsthand that the best meals are the ones you get to make with those you care about.” Marinette chuckled.

“I suppose I can make some cookies,” she said. “But they’re not gonna be pretty with the time you’re giving me!”

“As long as they have personality,” Chat teased.

A flash startled Marinette. She jerked towards the source, and she realized that they were being photographed. A few people had gathered and were pointing excitedly at Chat. Anxiety prickled at her insides. She had never quite gotten used to media attention. She handled it much better under the confident mask of Ladybug, but as a civilian, Marinette felt too vulnerable in the camera’s sights. Chat Noir seemed unphased.

“Don’t let them ruin our date. They’re all just trying to have a good time, like we are,” he told her, then held out his arm. “Shall we get going?”

Marinette glanced nervously at the bystanders, then back at Chat’s charming smile. She smiled and took his arm. “Of course, my purrrince,” she teased. She was very satisfied by the ridiculous grin he gave her.

They took off into the market, which spread across several blocks. Artists, farmers, and local artists had all come out to show off their talents and creations. It was incredibly charming. Marinette couldn’t believe that she hadn’t been here in so long.

“So comfortable and casual, huh?” Marinette said as they walked.

“Yep.” Chat Noir said. “I feel like the idea of being comfortable with your significant other is underrated. It can’t all be passion and fire.”

“Otherwise, it’s just… torture.” Marinette agreed. She narrowed her eyes, thinking of all those years during her youth spent pining fruitlessly over Adrien.

“If you’re not comfortable, the expectations of what should be become too much. It overshadows the quiet, powerful moments that really make up a relationship.” Chat continued. She considered this idea and found herself agreeing. His insight surprised her.

“Cheese!” Chat exclaimed suddenly. “I need a few kinds for the meal tonight. Let’s go there first.” He took her by the hand and guided her to the cheese stand. He left her to bargain with the stand owner, and she watched him from afar, joking and laughing as if all was good in the world.

He was back to his charming, funny self. It was a sharp contrast to the anger and pain he showed Ladybug last night. Marinette knew that pain was still simmering underneath his facade, but she found herself forgetting all of that within the glow of the day and his presence. She realized that she was actually enjoying herself - she hadn’t once thought about how freaking weird this whole thing was since they had started.

It just felt like old times.

Lost in thought, she didn’t see the cat run beneath her feet as she took a step.

“WAH!” Marinette fell to the ground, releasing the contents of her purse onto the pavement. She opened her eyes to see Tikki desperately clinging to the inner mouth of the purse so she wasn’t tumbled out into the public view. Marinette rushed to close the purse clasp before getting up off the ground. She groaned and held her head.

“Marinette!” Chat Noir ran over to her and helped her back onto her feet.

“Thank you,” Marinette said as he lifted her up, then on an impulse added, “You don’t make a half-bad superhero.” Chat smiled at her, but it was dry and polite. Marinette suddenly felt ashamed.

Chat Noir turned away and began helping the crowd of people collecting her purse’s former contents. They all returned her items with a smile and nod. Her embarrassment was replaced with warmth from their kindness. She was proud of the people she protected.

She turned around to see Chat holding out her good-luck charm. Adrien’s good-luck charm. Her face immediately turned red, and she swiped it from Chat’s palm.

“That’s a lovely bracelet,” Chat mentioned. “I bet there’s a story behind that.”

“Y-yeah,” Marinette stuttered. “It was given to me by an old friend as a good-luck charm. I probably should have thrown it away years ago - I haven’t really talked to him in years and we never got the chance to get really close - but I just couldn’t bear to give it up…”

“I think it’s really sweet to keep a token of an old friend.” Chat placed his hand on her shoulder and squeezed. She looked up at him. Was he blushing? Chat Noir moved his hand to her back and guided her onward. “I bet he still thinks fondly of you from time to time.”

Marinette smiled. She squeezed the bracelet and placed it gently back in her purse. She wasn’t so sure Adrien still thought of her - but that was okay. She just hoped he was doing alright, and that he was enjoying today with a friend.

They navigated the stalls, talking to the stall owners and examining the wares. Marinette recognized many of the stall owners as people she helped as Ladybug. It was delightful to meet them in a different context. She bought something from every stall she could, even those that didn’t interest her, and tipped extra to those who were just as pleasant to her as they were to Ladybug.

“I don’t mind paying,” Chat Noir had offered, but Marinette politely declined.

“My dream has given me a comfier lifestyle than I thought I’d ever have,” Marinette explained. “I want to support those who are building their dreams now.”

“Even if it means buying a lot of stuff we won’t use?” Chat lifted up a bag looped on his arm, bulging with artwork, trinkets, and sculptures.

“Bah, I’ll find a use for it all! Like I could 3D print a frame for this flower sculpture! And this pottery would look great with some greenery on the shelf in my living room.” Marinette started digging through his bag, ignoring the way his muscles bulged as he compensated for her force. She fished out a small bright green gem and held it up proudly. “I could totally fashion this into a necklace for you! Or maybe a keychain? What even is your fashion style? The only other thing I’ve seen you in is a banana suit.”

“The banana suit is my only other fashion style.” Chat Noir said, deadpan.

“Maybe it’d look best on a bracelet.” Marinette ignored him. “I can make you your own good-luck charm!”

Chat Noir broke and chuckled. “I’d like that a lot.”

They pushed onward. Marinette stopped to buy ingredients for cookies at a bakery stand then perused their fresh bread options. Chat asked if they could make their own bread, and Marinette gave him a withering look. He smiled apologetically, veered towards a vegetable stall, and began talking with the vendor. Marinette noticed his words were loose and warm, but he examined each vegetable meticulously. He seemed determined to find the best ingredients, and she was surprised at how much he knew. Marinette could bake like no other, but cooking had never been her strong suit. Chat even seemed to know the different varieties and how to tell if produce was ripe. Marinette smiled. His attentiveness was… very endearing. Even if he didn’t understand how much time and effort it took to bake bread.

Chat sniffed a clump of oregano and widened his eyes in surprise. “Wow, I should shop more often as Chat Noir. With my enhanced smell, I can basically taste which produce will be the best!” He exclaimed and set aside the oregano to be purchased.

He picked up a lemon and immediately hissed in pure disgust. He dropped it back on the pile.

“Cats aren’t known for their love of citrus, ya know,” said the stall keeper. “Didn’t think that applied to cat men, but might as well.” Chat Noir stuck up his nose.

“Guess I shouldn’t have planned a lemon-based sauce,” he grumbled. Marinette held her fist up to her chin in thought.

“Were you planning on cucumbers? I wouldn’t want you to be scared…” She teased, earning an elbowing from Chat.

“Let’s go ahead and pack up two onions, three of the zucchini and squash, four bell peppers- surprise me on the color- and -“ he grabbed a cucumber and booped Marinette on the nose with it. “-one cucumber please.”

“You got it, Cat Man.”

They left the stall loaded with bags of produce. Chat insisted on getting extra veggies for Marinette to take home with her, though she protested that she hardly cooked for herself. He promised to leave her with some recipes she could try.

They left the market as the sun began to set and the stands closed up for the day. As they walked, Chat suddenly sneezed. He looked around in surprise then sneezed again, more violently.

“You okay?” Marinette asked, and he turned to her, bleary-eyed.

“Allergies. Must be a lot of birds around here,” he explained, though the street was empty. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously, then said, “Come on, let’s keep moving.”

They walked slowly, partly because of their load, but mostly because they were savoring the moment.

“I gotta admit, I wasn’t expecting this,” Marinette said.

“You mean the date?” Chat asked.

“Yeah. Actually, I didn’t know what to expect at all. But not a farmer’s market.”

“I thought it’d be a good way to relax into things. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t been on a fake date before. I knew if I jumped straight into the romance, I’d be too tense to effectively ‘woo’ you.” He bowed when he said this, but his bags shifted forward, pushing him off balance. Marinette laughed and helped him recover.

“It was a good idea,” she said as she set him on his feet. “I was anxious all day thinking about what we’d do and how I should act. But when I actually got here… well, I forgot we were even doing anything weird.”

“This is weird?” Chat asked, then laughed when Marinette made a face. “I’m glad I was able to help you relax.”

“Smacking you in the face certainly didn’t hurt,” Marinette teased. He laughed.

“I take my commitment to my role seriously,” Chat Noir said with a wink. Marinette grinned.

“I look forward to seeing what my fake-boyfriend will offer me next,” she teased. “Because right now, it kinda just seems like two friends hanging out…”

Chat Noir laughed. “Don’t you worry. ‘Comfortable and casual’ was only Phase One. The night is still young.”

“Anything I should do to prepare?” Marinette asked. She gasped as Chat spun her towards him and grabbed both her hands. He squeezed them.

“Just enjoy,” he said. Marinette looked up into his eyes, and she felt the warmth from his gaze flood her entire body like the sun rising over a spring morning.

She thought of the pain hidden behind his smile. She thought of the decision resting in his mind, hanging heavy in the air between them. She thought of the power she held to convince him to stay.

Then she felt the spark that glowed where their hands touched. Comfortable. Quiet.

Happy.

“Okay,” she said, and she smiled. “I’m all yours.”

Read Ch. 4: Just-A-Friend Date >>

Read the Full Story >>

#consequence of our love #miraculous ladybug #ml fanfic #marichat #adrienette #long fic #unplanned pregnancy #trauma #mental anguish #angst and fluff #angst with a happy ending #violence #ptsd #discussion of abortion #friends to lovers #romance

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xthefandomequestrianx · 5 years

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The Rook Fanfic

A/N: Hey! I just wanted to get something out really quick to see if anyone would be interested in reading this. If so, I’m definitely going to make this chapter longer, write a few more, and post it to somewhere. This is just a little sample.

Myfanwy’s POV

Andrew Bristol was a complete arsehole, as had been made abundantly clear. Myfanwy stepped on the gas, pulling onto the road a little more aggressively than was necessary. The more distance she could put between her and him, the better.

After the hug triggering flashes of memories buried deep down inside her, she’d raced back into the apartment for the answers he’d hid from her the first time around. He’d still seemed hesitant to fully open up on the subject, denying her of the explanations she deserved. So she threw herself into his arms, her mouth on his and kissing passionately in an attempt to recreate the feeling from her memory. He quickly reciprocated, and the two made their way to his bedroom.

This was probably not at all the way a sane person would have gone about getting answers, but really, what did she have to lose?

It worked, as he told her everything about their past relationship. He revealed that even though she was his younger patient, and that he was married, he’d pursued an intimate relationship with her. Further than that, was that it was all a cruel experiment, manipulating her and her emotions to strengthen her as an asset. All signs point to arsehole.

It shouldn’t have hurt as much as it did to learn all this. Or relearn. Even though she felt such a disconnect between herself pre- and post-bridge incident, his betrayal still gnawed at her on a personal level.

She didn’t realize that she’d started sobbing, until she was whizzing through an intersection after the light had turned red. A horn blared, and reflexes she hadn’t been aware she possessed took over as she swerved hard.

The driver of the car that had narrowly missed t-boning her laid on their horn twice in a show of their anger before driving off. Myfanwy made it safely across the rest of the intersection before pulling over, burying her head in her shaky hands and letting herself go.

Gestalt’s POV (Robert)

Did they feel a little bad about tailing Myfanwy to Bristol’s? Maybe just a tad. But for one, what could she possibly want from a visit with that garbage human? Two, they’d been assigned to keep an eye on her, so they were only doing their job.

So the stalking was perfectly justified.

They watched as she left the house the first time, looking confused and slightly zoned out. Then she was sprinting back inside, and didn’t come out for some time. Gestalt didn’t particularly feel like imagining what was possibly going on during either of her times inside. They just hoped that she wasn’t trying to get back together with that scumbag.

Eliza gripped the pencil a tad too tightly, causing it to push through the paper. This prompted Conrad, who was walking by, to raise an eyebrow. “Something wrong?”

She forced a slight smile on her face. “Fine. Just a bit lost in thought.”

Conrad hummed, walking away.

Okay, so that was enough of pondering what Myfanwy was doing at Bristol’s. Their feelings for her - in this case, jealousy and protectiveness - were making it hard to compartmentalize.

So they turned on the radio, trying not to think too much as they waited for her to reappear.

Some time later, she came flying out of the house, looking upset. Bristol was calling after her, but she wasn’t listening.

They leaned forward in their seat. As she tore out onto the road, they slowly followed, careful to maintain a distance that wouldn’t cause any suspicion (they would have to teach Myfanwy how to check to ensure she’s not being followed - honestly, this was too easy). They applied the brakes, slowing down as the light ahead turned to yellow, then red.

Myfanwy, however, must’ve been distracted, as she sailed right through the intersection.

A car driving far too fast from the perpendicular direction honked, and Gestalt - all four bodies - held their breaths as the car careened for the drivers’ side. Thankfully, Myfanwy noticed just in time and narrowly avoided the impending wreck.

Teddy fumbled to pick up the wallet he’d dropped in fear.

They waited until the light was green again before proceeding forward, parking behind where she had pulled over and shut off her engine.

Fuck being discreet. She almost died. Robert got out of the car, and walked over to the driver’s side window. They rapped on the window three times.

Her eyes leapt up to meet his, first her face donning a look of surprise then one of resignment. She unlocked the doors.

They moved around the front of the car, sliding into the passenger seat and searching her as if whatever damage done had been external. At least, she didn’t appear to be physically harmed. If Bristol touched a hair on her head… Her eyes remained firmly on the hands in her lap.

“I thought I told you to stay away from that douche and his creepy fucking birds?” They reminded, though more gently than the last time it had been said.

Myfanwy smiles through the tears, and they take pride in being able to distract her from her hurt, even for just a moment. Alex tended to be the more aloof, funny Gestalt, but personas could be forgotten in the presence of Myfanwy; she knew that they were all one in the same, so they didn’t worry about maintaining Robert’s stoic, serious demeanor.

“Are you alright?” Gestalt asked, and unfortunately the slight smile wears off.

She shook her head, grimacing. “It’s complicated.” Tear tracks still steadily streamed down her cheeks, but she no longer looked so hysterical.

Their eyes narrowed. “Uncomplicate it. What did he do to you?”

#the rook #starz #fanfic #mystalt #myfanwy #gestalt #teddy gestalt #alex gestalt #robert gestalt #eliza gestalt #myfanwy thomas x gestalt

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miraculouscontent · 5 years

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I can't be the only one who was bothered by the ending of the latest episode. Not the memory wipe thing, that part was obvious. I mean how smug Cat Noir was when he found out he kissed Ladybug. I swear, every time he says he's entitled to ladybug, I just want to punch him in his smug face. There's no way MC Cat Noir would act like this, right?

*deep breath*

I’m sooooo tired of Chat acting like that. I was already lukewarm at the episode (not because it was “bad” or anything; as I stated early, I have a bias against fanservice and memory loss plots), but that ending made me livid.

Chat is so unbearably smug about the whole thing. They just got their memories back and Chat wastes no time in flirting with Ladybug and insisting that they “make a good couple.” Ladybug is clearly annoyed and tells him to stop, but Chat doesn’t even care.

And you know, this honestly isn’t even out-of-character, nor does it take any “mental gymnastics” to understand the mindset here. Chat has been consistently ignorant of Ladybug’s feelings.

“Prime Queen” is easily the best example (though I could’ve thrown “Syren” and “Frozer” in here too). Ladybug keeps insisting that they’re not a couple, but Chat eggs on the idea that they might be. He continuously stays oblivious to the fact that Ladybug is uncomfortable with the personal questions that Nadja is asking, to the point where Ladybug has to drag him out and Chat still doesn’t get what she’s doing. Even after Ladybug makes it clear why she left, Chat brushes her concerns off and acts like they’re TV stars instead of superheroes. He keeps seeing his superhero status as a luxury and not a job.

And, I don’t know, maybe that’s what he sees Ladybug as too: a luxury. He certainly seems to care when Ladybug is about to be eaten alive (”Animan”) or made to not exist (”Timebreaker”), but when she’s implied to have vague problems of her own (”Glaciator”) or has specific emotional problems, Chat disregards it.

In this episode, once he knows that Alya has a picture of them kissing, Chat just stares down Ladybug with a grin, leans forward, touches her face (which is lowkey rude because Ladybug pulled away in discomfort after she realized they were holding hands post-Miraculous Ladybug), and turns her head to a giggling Alya holding up the picture.

Because of course, Alya doesn’t care either. Ladybug said outright that she loved another boy, but Alya either didn’t hear or didn’t care (which she should because that’s a major scoop), instead posting the kiss to the Ladyblog without context.

(By the way, if I may derail for a bit, that is possibly the most stupid thing Alya has ever done. Ladybug isn’t just some superheroine who Alya doesn’t know on some level. Ladybug trusted Alya with the fox miraculous three times, yet Alya risks throwing that all out the window just to get some views on her blog. Ladybug said that she loved someone else and I simply do not believe that neither Alya nor Nino heard that. Even if they didn’t, no one knows if Ladybug has a boyfriend and that picture would put a giant thorn into everything if she did.)

And Chat just... stares in delight, completely unaware of Ladybug’s feelings and even using the opportunity to brag about how they’re completely meant to be (while Ladybug glares at him, I might add).

Ladybug basically said, “I’m not in love with you,” and Chat responded, “Yes you are.”

That’s not right. That’s not respect. That’s ignoring Ladybug’s feelings for what he wants to see.

Speaking of which, I said before that Chat doesn’t care when he’s loitering around battles because Miraculous Ladybug fixes it, but this scene really proves it.

When Ladybug points out that it’s Chat who got them in trouble in the first place, Chat laughs. He thinks it’s funny. He doesn’t take her seriously because any “trouble” that happens is easily remedied by Ladybug’s powers.

And in that respect, yeah, Chat sacrificing himself can really only benefit him. He’s not needed for Miraculous Ladybug, he looks like a perfect self-sacrificing sweetheart to Ladybug, and all is fixed by the end of it anyway. There are no consequences for him throwing himself into danger when is it blatantly not necessary or there’s a much better and much more obvious solution (”Zombiezou” and “Chameleon”).

So, it makes sense, totally, but that does not mean it puts him in a good light.

Not that it would surprise anyone, but I might as well admit it right now: when I saw that kiss, I felt nothing. It was a completely hollow feeling.

These amnesiac characters spent maybe a half hour together before deciding that they’re in love enough to kiss, and… honestly, I get that. They’re emotional teenagers, they’re isolated, and they’re forced to work together to escape. They saw things that made them believe that they were a couple and it made them much more open and convinced of the idea. Aside from their kwami, they only have each other, and the desperation and want to survive keeps them as a duo.

But they don’t know anyone else. They don’t know their parents. They don’t know their own lives. Ladybug can’t remember the stuff Chat has done to her that made her uncomfortable and annoyed.

They only know each other in the vaguest possible sense because any more than that might not lead to a kiss in the end.

Adding onto the kiss specifically, if all the two know is what they’ve seen during the episode, those aren’t grounds for Chat to kiss Ladybug; it’s more the other way around.

They both know that Marinette has pictures of Adrien in her phone, but they were confirmed to not be a couple (or at least not had their identities revealed yet) by Fu. Adrien saw the video where Ladybug yelled loudly about her and Chat not being a couple, yet once Fu explained that they haven’t revealed each other’s identities, he must’ve brushed off any thought of why Ladybug was so adamant about them not being a couple before getting her memory wiped.

It didn’t matter if he could’ve hurt Ladybug as Chat at some point. It didn’t matter what their feelings for each other were pre-Oblivio. All that mattered is that they were “in love” now and Chat wanted his kiss.

He asked permission, certainly, which is much better than Chat’s standard behavior, but I would much rather them reassuring each other that they’d find a way to fall in love again instead of kissing.

The kiss isn’t anything except for a tool to embarrass Marinette. That kiss will only lessen the effect of a potential true non-amnesia kiss at the end of the series. I talked about it with “Gigantitan,” but showing the audience something they wanted to see yet having it be a lie is just a way to lessen the impact when the real moment happens.

To some degree, I get why this episode exists. It’s almost right in the middle of Season 3, which is around the halfway point if the show is stopping at Season 5.

It’s basically the writers going, “Here’s how things would go without the love square,” and also, “We know there’s still a lot of time until an identity reveal, so we’ll release this to tide people over.

But if they need an episode full of fanservice to tide people over, that’s a blatant sign that they know they’re stalling without substance.

A memory loss episode is the easiest way to appease the fanbase, and I can understand why the fanbase would be appeased. The majority of salt typically agrees that almost all of Season 3 is either garbage or lackluster.

So, naturally, when an episode that has shipping value comes out, right when expectations are at their lowest, of course there would be a reaction.

But I didn’t feel anything. I knew where they were going with the constant teases. The second Chat asked for Ladybug’s permission, I knew that something was going to happen. I knew Chat was going to go nuts and ignore Ladybug’s feelings yet again.

That’s just what Chat does. That’s what he’s done consistently, and I can’t support the supposed dynamic between them when it’s not as balanced as Chat thinks it is. I can’t support the canon love square in any capacity when Chat behaves that way and never learns.

And, to refer back to the anon, no, MC Chat Noir would never act like that. He would’ve shaped up by “Prime Queen” and been upset at Alya for taking a photo of something so personal and without context. Even if he had been thrilled that he and Ladybug had kissed, that moment should be private and between only them; it wasn’t for anyone else to see.

But… ugh, it’s not like I planned to write any sort of fanfic, but I honestly am not sure if I could even have the love square be canon to MC stuff, even if it’s different. I’ll give it a few more episodes or wait until the end of the season, but as someone who’s had personal experiences with being confessed to (and who’s had people assume emotions and disregard anything said otherwise), Chat’s behavior makes me so uncomfortable…

#((TL;DR: I'm officially jumping this ship's ship.))#category: salt #category: long post #word count: over 1000 #episode: Oblivio #relationship: love square #character: Chat Noir #other: ask and answer

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citialiin · 4 years

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Avoidant & Anxious ♡(灬´ㅂ`灬)

karen sternberg’s “psychology of love 101″ meme

AVOIDANT: Does your muse find it easy to trust their partner? Do they ever struggle with opening up?

i think it depends on the situation and context! in certain aspects, thomas has demonstrated reliability and dependability really well, so i think z has an inherent inclination to feel as if thomas would never do anything to physically harm him or (intentionally) emotionally harm him. just the fact that thomas is so freakishly strong and capable of like tearing his head off his shoulders in every situation where z has probably deserved decapitation but yet…doesnt…is proof enough that he really isn’t going to do anything bad to him, ever.

but t + z have problems with transparency. t is very transparent and tells z things that z otherwise might not really want to hear, but the time elapsed between their initial meeting and t dropping anything considered a significant truth bombshell registers (in z’s mind, at the time, not so much anymore) as some sort of deception. clearly thomas cannot outright just Tell ziggy things within like a month of meeting him, but ziggy isn’t super logical or understanding; he just knows that he felt it was Wrong for thomas to do those things so its Double Wrong if thomas “withheld” that information for any amount of time. give that the Really Bad Truth Bomb has come and gone (not without substantial hysterics), his trust in him frayed just a little because he isn’t sure what else thomas is withholding from him. but given that that was literally the worst thing he can think of, anything else thomas reveals would be pretty tame in comparison. it’ll repair itself as time goes on.

z has some problems opening up; he doesn’t often like to discuss parts of his life that aren’t fun or exciting. he feels like it tarnishes the image he wishes to project, especially when it comes to discussing his life before earth. as much as thomas opens up to z about life on stezhoksha, z is way more reticent about life on atomina. he considers it some decidedly unglamorous stain on his current well-curated image; even if thomas is one of the few people who he allows to see beyond the persona he plays for humans and the entertainment industry, z, even in private, is still very much influenced by earth and earth culture to the point where ziggy stardust is almost an entirely different person than 683, and 683 would find certain things that ziggy does to be abhorrent. it may be guilt for changing so drastically or it may be unwillingness to realize he changed in the first place that prevents z from disclosing much about life before his time on earth. he still answers thomas’s questions honestly, because he luvs him and stuff and wouldnt want to withhold information; he just does not often divulge information on his own and will often change the subject to avoid speaking further. conversely, though, he really likes it when thomas tells him things (that aren’t scary). he loves hearing about weird stezhok things and hearing about the perils he endured makes thomas seem dreamy.

ANXIOUS: Does your muse feel like they are given enough? Does your muse ever worry that they’re being too much?

i think there’s a definite divide to their relationship: them before they had that Really Big Fight that led them to realize that they were way more different than they were superficially similar, and them in the current. pre angy fight z would have considered that, no, he isn’t quite given enough, but that’s ok, because he has fun playing the part of the superstar who gets to dazzle his one very special fan. he liked that they were “the same” in that they were both not human but also liked the enormous divide between their earth-yielded social stratification. ziggy felt like he offered thomas more than thomas could ever offer him, and that was fine with him because he liked playing the role of the philanthropist or the earth-ambassador. they met the middle ground in being able to freely talk about how difficult it is to understand humans. he was never too much because that’s what thomas would have wanted; after all, he was just some nobody who was getting the chance to canoodle around with a superstar. from human standards, thomas won the lottery, so he should be thankful.

post argument, i think z is significantly less arrogant and has a higher opinion of thomas rather than just his like … pet, or his prize. he really is desperate to be sure thomas still likes him and worries thomas may realize that beneath all the nice clothes and flashy make up and peacocking, he’s a nasty, horrible person. i think thomas saying some somewhat cutting things (”you make me hate myself”) and thomas explaining he literally doesnt care about human-made social constructs (”what is money worth but the death of trees”) forced him to realize that his annoying bitchy better-than-you attitude isn’t endearing in the slightest and he was just overpowering and taking advantage of the one person who was kind enough to him for reasons other than his wealth, fame or physical beauty. so afterwards, he walks on eggshells, a little; he feels like thomas gives him, maybe, more than he deserves, that he might really be a rotten person and thomas is the only thing keeping him from descending into the utter chasm of worthlessness. in a way, although i don’t think he consciously vocalizes this to himself, he doesn’t think he deserves thomas and his otherworldly perspective on the (pretty worthless) daily toil of earth life. and he takes more care to think about whether or not his words or somewhat ostentatious tendencies would hurt thomas; he is still teasing and funny and silly, because that’s just within his personality to want to entertain. but he tries to show that he is doing this to make thomas happy, not to make thomas feel like an accessory.

#blossomingbeelzebug #ask #ooc #me and valefor last night at 3 am filling out psychology worksheets as thomas and ziggy

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bluerosesburnblue · 5 years

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Liz Liveblogs Bravely Second: Final Thoughts

Alright, as promised, let’s take a deep dive into my experience with Bravely Second. I’ve done the postgame, not really much to talk about. All it really is is unused dungeons that appeared in Default, but not Second, repurposed to hold missing enemies with a set encounter rate. Game’s been 100% completed besides some of the Ba’al bestiary entries, which I’m working on. (And by 100% I mean all Bestiary entries completed, all item/equipment journal entries completed, all character levels and job levels maxed out, all songs unlocked in Chompcraft, and all Titles collected.) So, now that there’s nothing left to do but hope for the best at Fort-Lune, I’ve taken some time to organize my thoughts and gone back through the liveblog to see if any of my opinions have changed

Speaking of the liveblog, I saved it in a word document when the Tumblr purge happened, just in case, and that thing ended up being 98 pages/53823 words long. So wow. That’s more than the entirety my college thesis paper. Kinda nuts how much I can write when I’m motivated. So now I’m gonna write EVEN MORE

Major spoilers for Bravely Default, Bravely Second, and also Undertale follow below

I suppose I should start this post by talking briefly about my history with the series, since I only liveblogged Bravely Second and don’t think I’ve said much about Default before

I beat Bravely Default about three years ago (shortly before November 8, 2015 if the email I sent to my best pal anheiressofasoldier, who I will not tag as she’s avoiding Bravely Second spoilers, is any indication). I binged the game while at college, because I wanted to be able to play Bravely Second when it came out (...whoops). Around the time I really started getting into the game, indie darling Undertale came out, and I spent a lot of my time bouncing between playing Bravely Default and having Undertale playthroughs going in the background while doing schoolwork/grinding in BD. I learned one thing about my tastes during that time: I really love meta plots in games and the way that they both utilize the system’s capabilities to mess with the player and integrate the player into the story, expanding the lore and fostering the sense that you, behind the screen, really are a part of this story and a member of the world of the game, just like all of the other characters. It is a fascinating story mechanism, and it’s a surefire way to get me invested in the narrative

Makes it kind of funny that the Undertale spiritual sequel/AU, Deltarune, came out just as I was finishing Bravely Second. I guess the two series will always be tied together for me

For those unaware and who also don’t care about spoilers, Bravely Default and Undertale are both RPGs with similar twists at the end. Namely that you, the Player, are a full-blown character and active participant in the world of the story. And also that saving the game is an in-universe thing. Bravely Default reveals during its final boss battle that another realm exists, the Celestial Realm, and when it’s depicted the game uses the 3DS camera to show the player’s face, creating the narrative that the villain, Ouroboros, is attempting to break out of the “game” into the “real world,” and the entire plot of the game has been revolving around this fact. It is also revealed that “The Celestial” has been keeping Tiz alive and guiding him, and when he severs the bond between himself and the Celestial, he collapses and the game ends. You, the player, lose control of the character because he breaks your bond, which means you can’t play anymore

The first hint that there may be more to Undertale’s story of a human falling into the Underground land of monsters is during the final boss of a Neutral run (necessary to get the Pacifist ending and the first ending most people see), where the main villain, Flowey, abruptly crashes the game. Booting it up again causes the intro to glitch out and the save file to show what appears to be Flowey’s own save file. When accessed, the player is loaded into a black void with nothing but a save point. Accessing that causes Flowey to delete your save file (not unlike what Providence tries in Bravely Second), which begins the final fight against him. During the fight, he makes use of Save States to reload you back into the way of his attacks. This messing around with the player’s save data is only the first part of the game’s meta twist. Another reveal happens at the end of its Genocide route, where the player actively guides their character into eradicating every last monster in the Underground. You have to actively stay in each area of the game and kill everything you see until every enemy encounter becomes a blank screen with the message “But nobody came...” There’s no way to just accidentally end up on this route. Like, I cannot stress that enough. Very few people actually see the Genocide route, but its reveal is integral to understanding the overarching story

The final boss of the Genocide route is designed to actively screw with the UI (which is what I referenced when fighting Providence). His attacks change the shape of your action box, where you’re intended to dodge attacks in bullet hell segments, around. Some of his attacks are in the menu, hitting your icon in the text box and the buttons to select your action for each turn, constantly damaging you. There’s no downtime in this fight. You have to always be moving, because now he’s attacking your safe zones, just like Providence’s Bravely Second attack. There is no safe place from damage against these bosses. The trick to beating Undertale’s Genocide boss is to wait him out and dodge his attacks until he’s tired, and then use the time he’s asleep to move the action box into the menu to access your commands. Then, at the very end, you’re taken to a void and speak to a child you’ve never seen before, who informs you that you’ve both been controlling the main character of the game, Frisk. In a Neutral or Pacifist run of the game, this child is content to let you take control, and in fact may not even awaken as an entity possessing Frisk at all. In a Genocide run, however, they get so gung-ho about killing that they take control from you at various points. Noticeably, in the Genocide route, “Frisk” seems to act on their own a lot in cutscenes, something that they only do occasionally in other routes. The Mysterious Child informs you that they are the Fallen Child that the player named in the beginning, and that they also believe that they are some manifestation of... I don’t know how to phrase this. Game addiction? Completionist tendencies? They call themself “the feeling you get when your stats go up” or something along those lines. They ask you to destroy the world of Undertale with them and move on to the next game, where you’ll do the process over again together, killing all enemies and the “beating the game,” over and over until there’s nothing left. Accept their offer and the games ends there, the game’s world is erased. Refuse, and the Fallen Human informs you that you were never in control and attacks the player directly, causing damage numbers to be displayed across the screen and the game to crash instantly after. Booting it up again in either situation leaves you with nothing but a black screen with wind noises. 10 minutes after booting up that screen, the Fallen Human will offer to reset things so long as you sell them your soul. Accept, and every time you play a Pacifist route again the happy ending will play, before showing Frisk abruptly becoming possessed by the Fallen Human

I’d hazard a guess that what takes Undertale from being a goofy, lighthearted game with fun jokes and a lot of emotional moments into a ridiculously fascinating game to analyze is that reveal. The realization that the Player is a character takes that game’s story from good to great in a very short amount of time. Everything changes. And that’s exactly what happened to me with Bravely Default, which suddenly went from a cute throwback game to nostalgic RPGs (of which I have played none so there really isn’t any nostalgia there for me) that I genuinely enjoyed both the story and gameplay of to a brilliant game that I couldn’t get enough of. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that seeing that plot thread in Undertale is what made me appreciate its appearance in Default and hope that the lore there would be taken up a notch in Second. And honestly, I’d say it did. Gameplay-wise, it doesn’t go nearly as hard into it as Undertale does, but I don’t think it really has to. It’s not the same game, it just draws on similar themes, and I think it does that really well with the 3DS hardware. And to the Bravely Series’s credit, its integration of the Player into the narrative is done very well

So with all that said, what do I think of Bravely Second as a product? I had expectations, obviously. I expected to get more lore about the Celestial and the Celestial realm and was not disappointed. I went in spoiled on quite a few things, namely:

Anne is Airy’s sister, and is evil and works for a purple-ish pyramid named Providence

Ringabel is in it. Or at the very least, Alternis takes his helmet off. But it was probably Ringabel

The Kaiser’s real name is Denys Geneolgia

Obviously I knew who the asterisk holders were, since I had a list, so that spoiled Yōko as an antagonist to an extent, as well as a few tricky methods to beat bosses, namely Rev

A general overview of some sidequests, mostly Profiteur vs. Holly, Barras vs. Einheria, and Khamer vs. Alternis. You know, the controversial ones

Tiz/Agnès, Ringabel/Edea, and Yew/Magnolia are endgame ships

There is one time loop in the game. Not a world change, but a genuine time loop

I didn’t even pay much attention to pre-release info for Bravely Second, but try as I might, I can’t ever seem to completely avoid spoilers 😓. Oh well. The good news is that none of them really ruined the experience for me

Bravely Second is something that I haven’t seen in a long time: a good sequel. Good GOD have I seen games ruined by their sequels. Maybe I’m just bitter about the sequel hook in TWEWY Final Remix, which makes it seem like the writers have no idea what to do with a sequel, despite having a rich world to set it in. SO MANY sequels just rehash the first game, contradict its ending to get rid of everyone’s happy endings, or else try to explain things that didn’t need explanation (and explain them poorly at that). Bravely Second completely destroyed any of those worries for me. Everything feels like an expansion of the world and characters, done tastefully and with nothing but love for the first game that it’s expanding the lore of. I really felt the heart that went into making it while playing the game, and I have so much respect for the people who made it

Now, it does hit some similar plot beats, like the betrayer fairy who turns out to be working for an extradimensional being looking to mess with both the Celestial Realm and Luxendarc, but I love the twists it made to the formula. Bravely Default was a deconstruction of nostalgic JRPGs, where the helpful guide turns out to be working for the villain and tricked you into doing their dirty work, and instead of saving the world you were dooming it. Bravely Second then takes that plot and flips the perspective on it. They make the person being led by the fairy to open the Holy Pillar the villain, and he believes that he’s saving the world just as vehemently as the party did last game. Which almost makes him the perfect sympathetic villain, since he serves as a counterpoint to the main party who can understand exactly how he got into that position once the full extent of it has been revealed

At no point did I feel that Bravely Second’s added lore hampered the game, or ruined what I knew from the first game (I can easily ignore how silly it is that “oh all of the asterisk holders you killed last game were actually alive!” because I understand how much extra effort it would have been to design all new holders for old asterisks just to justify their inclusion in the game. It also might backfire for fans of the original characters who’d want to see their old favorites included.) Bravely Second’s lore expansions are only ever beneficial to its narrative. The expansion of the Celestial lore and the Plague, largely footnotes in Default, are turned into driving parts of the narrative in ways that only seem to make the world feel larger and older. Lived in. I can only hope that Bravely Third, or whatever it end up being called, keeps up the trend

And Bravely Default didn’t have the happiest of endings, with Ringabel getting a second shot to save his version of the party, but at the cost of abandoning the friends he’s made on this journey. Tiz is comatose, Til and Olivia are still dead, Edea is alone, and Agnès is left to reform her entire religion while fully believing that one of her friends is gone forever and the love of her life may never wake up. I am extremely grateful for being able to take that bittersweet ending and make it a happy one

On top of the amazing graphical upgrades, which stay true to the feel of BD while making everything feel grander, and the tweaks to the battle system to allow for minor enemy variation and the Another Round feature, which gives some incentive to carefully managing BP consumption, and some really fun new jobs, and I’d say I like Bravely Second even more than Bravely Default! (And browsing the internet, it seems like that’s an unpopular opinion. Dunno why, might be the fact that Second is goofier in its first half than the overall tone of Default and relies less on nostalgia for old RPGs). Bravely Second is where I feel the series went from a neat homage with some interesting gameplay innovations to a real adventure with its own unique world and story to tell

So what about the main characters, then? I’m gonna consider the main characters Yew, Magnolia, Edea, Tiz, Altair, Denys, and Anne, as they’re the ones who arguably drive most of the plot

Yew Geneolgia is the character that I was most worried about when I started playing this game. I was really expecting him to just be “Tiz but Younger” and I was happily surprised by what I got. If the liveblog didn’t make it clear, I LOVE YEW. He is such a genuinely sweet boy, who’s chipper and nerdy and so dedicated to his loved ones and I can’t help but relate to him. He’s like the perfect little brother I always wanted (I love my actual younger brothers but they ain’t perfect). His growth is incredible. He goes from a scared kid singing off-key to himself in the woods to keep calm to staring down the god of the realm of people that act as gods to him and telling him to get lost, all without ever losing his kind and dorky nature. He learns the importance of taking your mistakes and growing with them. His sense of familial duty is so wonderful to see, and he serves as an excellent foil to last game’s lead character, Tiz. We went from a low-class farmer and dutiful older brother to a high-class noble and dutiful younger brother, and the flip in perspective with the lead characters only serves to highlight the flip in perspective on the story as a whole. Yew is a Good Boy™ and I couldn’t ask for a better lead character in the game, especially since he’s not even on the cover of any version of the game? Bravely Second is Yew’s story and it’s a damn good one

Magnolia Arch is... honestly kind of underwhelming? She was marketed as the big female lead of the game, she’s the star of the teaser at the end of the international version of Bravely Default, she’s on the cover of some versions of the game! And I... uh... I like her just fine, but I don’t feel like she really served much purpose. She’s got a nice design, I like how sweet she is and her sense of curiosity as a newcomer to Luxendarc, but I don’t feel like she had much... point? She really feels like she was just there to introduce the major plot point of the Ba’als and be a love interest for Yew. I just can’t think of anything she really contributed to the game besides that. I don’t hate her by any means, I just wish there was a bit more to her than minor worldbuilding, especially with all of the buildup she got

Edea Lee is the person I would call the actual female lead of the game, just a different part of the game than Yew is. She’s the protagonist of the sidequests (sans the Yōkai quest, where she gets slightly lesser billing than Yew, but is still a major focal character.) Also, like Yew, she had little marketing. I really respect what they did with Edea. She was one of the most developed characters last game, having her whole arc where she learned to see the shades of gray in morality. So where do you go from there? How do you keep the character interesting without contradicting or repeating their character development from the last game? And my god did they do it with Edea. I love how she legitimately seems to have grown up in Second. She’s learned to see the complexities of situations and acts as a mentor figure to Yew, while still retaining her spitfire qualities... in the main story at least. Her development is actually about taking what she learned in the last game and applying it to a leadership role (which is what the sidequests are supposed to do, but really fail at in execution. More below.) She gets a different arc that complements her arc from last game, where she takes what she learned and now has to figure out how to apply it to a new role. The focus is less on learning to be a decent leader and mediator. It’s a continuation of her character, and it works really well. Ultimately, I’m happy with what we got of Edea (in the main story not... not necessarily Sidequest Edea, who may as well be a different character impersonating the real Edea for how much they have in common)

Tiz Arrior has a similar dilemma to Edea, and a different solution. What do we do with a character who’s already had a full game to be developed? Edea got a new arc that extends off of her first one, taking it in a new and mature direction. With Tiz, however, they decided that he would remain flat in Second, since he got the development in Default and seems content with where he is, personality wise. Like Edea, he’s placed in a mentor role, which I do really enjoy, but Tiz’s real strength in this game is how they used him for worldbuilding. He’s the perfect avenue to explore more of the lore surrounding Celestials, being the closest character to them thanks to his bond with one in the last game. So what does Bravely Second do? What it does best. It takes plot beats from the original and flips the perspective to give the player a new and better understanding of its world and characters. In this case, they take Tiz’s Celestial bond from the first game and give him a new Celestial to bond with, who is more than happy to exposit on his world and the world of Luxendarc. Like Magnolia, I feel like Tiz is much more of a worldbuilding device than a character in Bravely Second, though unlike Magnolia I can excuse this since Tiz already had a whole game that he was the main character of to be developed. We already like Tiz, so he has nothing to prove to us, and it feels good to see him get his delayed happy ending. Weird, though, how the two characters shown on box art for this game have the least impact as characters, though I suppose you could argue that they’re both tied to the main plot though other means. Other means such as...

Altair. Oh, Altair. You weird vegetable-loving alien man. He really grew on me, actually. I find it really interesting that despite constantly stating that the player is a Celestial and implying that the real world is the Celestial Realm, Altair comes in and almost seems to contradict that. Through him, we learn more about the Celestial Realm and, by extension, who and what kind of entity the Player is in this story. Is he aware of who we are? Who knows! He’s a good avenue of lore that I’m fond of. And if Yew is the emotional heart of the main story, then Altair is the emotional heart of the climax. His bond with Vega is what drives a lot of the overarching plot, and it’s a sweet romance. I dunno, I like Altair. I wish he was a little more meta-involved, and gave a little more info about the Celestial Realm, but he did good for what he needed to be. Team Dad’s good

Denys Geneolgia is tied for my favorite character with Yew and I’d talk about him but I already did and nothing’s really changed about my opinions since then, though the rewritten talk with Anne might need to be changed since she apparently doesn’t even know the player exists on the second loop, somehow. Oh well. I wouldn’t be upset if he was a party member in Bravely Third though *wink* *wink*

Anne is cool. Anne is a good foil to Airy, and my rage at realizing that she’s been playing the player since the beginning of Bravely Default is definitely a highlight. She’s a good foil to her sister from the last game. I mean she’s basically Airy taken up to 11 and without the pretense of being a good guy in this game. No, she got that out of her system last game and is in full blown Manipulative Bitch mode this game. She’s a fun villain to have on screen. Very punchable. I’m not sure if there’s much more to say about her, though. I would have loved to see her interact with the player more than the one scene where she taunts us. Just really rub it in that even though we’re a god in Luxendarc, she still managed to deceive us. Maybe expand on her relationship with Airy a little more, focus a bit more on her status as a foil to Denys. She’s a good antagonist, I just would’ve done more with her

We’ve covered the good, so what’s the bad? The sidequests. I’ve gone on a lot about the sidequests but I cannot stress enough how much I disliked all but the Chapter 6 sidequests. They are so formulaic, and that formula actually hampers the story they’re trying to tell with them. The sidequests are Edea’s spot to shine, and I can so clearly see what they were trying to do with them. They’re training Edea for her role as the Grand Marshal of Eternia, where she will end up facing two forces that oppose each other and have to make a decision about her nation’s involvement, which becomes evident during the Templar quest, which all of these seem to be leading up to. The problem, though, is that they’re trying to set up Edea as a mediator and then outright contradict that by having her just choose a side with no thought of compromise, desperately try to validate her choice as the only correct one, frequently claim that the other side’s argument has no merit, and then beats them down to make them agree with her. I mean, what!? That’s not mediating! That’s not my Edea!

By forcing us to make a binary choice, they completely gloss over any moral ambiguity in the situation, and the epilogues always focus more on how Edea feels about her choice, and not the impact that the choice has on the world as a whole. I can somewhat understand why they wanted to implement a choice system into the sidequests to make use of the second loop, but good gracious does it NOT WORK. And it doesn’t help that at least half of, if not 2/3 of, the sidequests try to make a situation morally ambiguous that really shouldn’t be? Or that has a clear correct answer? And all the rest are just really petty disagreements and none of them expand upon the world or characters in any meaningful way. Edea’s sidequest story of becoming a great mediator to make her father proud and grow into the role of Grand Marshal could have gone somewhere if that was a consistent thread between them and not a concept that solely exists in the Templar quest that tries to make the rest look good with hindsight. They really were the worst part of the game. The narratives weren’t enjoyable and the gameplay was just repetitive. Meet two bosses from the last game, listen to grievances, go through old dungeon from last game, pick a boss to fight, meaningless resolution. Rinse. Repeat. But in all honesty, the poorly written sidequests are my only big criticism of the game, and they’re entirely skippable to the average player. (I don’t recommend that you skip them because they offer useful jobs, but you certainly could if you wanted to)

Overall, I’d give Bravely Second a solid A. It is, unquestionably, one of the best games I’ve played in a while. Which is almost word-for-word what my final verdict for Bravely Default was in the email mentioned at the beginning of this post. This series consistently manages to suck me in and keep me invested in its world and characters. I adore it. I love the Bravely series so much and I’d happily buy whatever they come out with next so long as they never try that sidequest stuff ever again. Ever. (Though playing the game is probably gonna mean buying a Switch. Mmmm.)

Moving forward, what are my hopes for the hinted at Bravely Third? Ringabel’s certainly been teased a bit, so I’d hope to see him make a return. Especially as a playable character. I’d love to see his role with the Planeswardens expanded on and what their impact on the lore is. I could easily see Magnolia returning as a playable character, too, just for that little bit of extra development that she desperately needs and her implied relationship with the Planeswardens. I’d really love it if they brought Denys back and made him a playable character, finally giving him an actual, well-crafted character arc. Not to mention that his ties to both the Sword of the Brave and the Eye of Foundar make him an excellent candidate for the plot that the end of Bravely Second teased (also gives me more Geneolgia brothers content).

Story-wise, Bravely Default was centered around parallel worlds (or space), and Bravely Second explored the concept of time, so perhaps we could see alternate Realms/dimensions in Bravely Third. It would be interesting to see them expand upon the lore of the Celestial Realm, especially now that there are characters aware of the Player’s existence, such as Denys and Magnolia. Having Deneb around could also be an interesting choice, as she’d certainly know what the cataclysm in the Celestial Realm was and the capabilities of the Celestial Beings, since she is one. I’ve seen the idea of Deneb as a party member thrown around, and I wouldn’t be against it. Maybe if the whole party was made up of people aware of the Player’s existence, we could have more Player-party interactions. Dialogue choices in cutscenes for us, maybe, where we can talk directly to the party

I wouldn’t be against a Ringabel-Magnolia-Denys-Deneb party. I think that could work really well. Just a team composed of blond boys and silver-haired girls

I love Yew Geneolgia to death, but I think I’d keep him as a side character. He’s already had his story, though a look into what he did after Bravely Second would be much appreciated. Show me my son who reformed the Crystalguard and became the most well-loved member of House Geneolgia in history! At least give me a good sibling reunion! Give me the hug between Denys and Yew that I was robbed of in Bravely Second!

Don’t undo any of the happy endings everyone got. Tiz and Agnès are happily married and retired, and Ringabel and Magnolia make it back home safe to their significant others post-Bravely Third

I guess I’d also kinda like to see a good Cryst-Fairy around at some point. I like the idea I’ve seen around of the Player having their own fairy servant. That could be fun to play with. Maybe with those Party-Player chats I mentioned our dialogue choices could be telling our fairy what to tell the party. Speaking through our own, personal Cryst-Fairy, if you will. Though again, if we’re still expanding the lore, maybe they could go into the state of being of Cryst-Fairies more. Anne gave us a bit to work with, so I suppose I just want more elaboration on how they’re all siblings, how they feel about being siblings, etc. Maybe there’s a good fairy and a bad fairy in the same game and they bicker like real siblings

Also, can they give us confirmation as to whether Yōko was a Luxendarc native or not? And if not, can we see her home realm? That’d be cool. I’d like to see the Yōkai world please

I guess that’s really it, though. For now, that’s all I have to say on the Bravely series! Again, I’d like to give a huge thanks to everyone who’s read through the liveblog and/or commented on any of the parts of it. Seriously, you guys rock and I don’t know if the liveblog would’ve gotten as big as it did if it wasn’t for you guys and the support you provided. If any of you guys want to chat, don’t be afraid to hit me up. My ask box is always open

So! I’ve been Liz, this has been Liz Liveblogs Bravely Second, and I hope to see you all again if/when Bravely Third drops so we can all get lost in the world of Luxendarc together one more time!

#bravely default #bravely second #liz liveblogs bravely second #*fingers crossed for bravely third*

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reasonreblogs · 6 years

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Hiyori and The Little Mermaid

So after ep 6 of this season, I found the parallels between Hiyori and the Little Mermaid actually really interesting. That he’s probably most like the Mermaid imo? Or at least most blatantly. I took a few notes after seeing the episode on his similarities and what I think is kinda funny in comparison to Ikuya seeing himself as the mermaid is that I don’t think Ikuya has anyone he considers the woman the Prince ends up falling for while Hiyori explicitly mentions saving the Prince only for him to fall in love with the woman who found him instead.

So in Hiyori paralleling himself as the Mermaid, it was made pretty clear Ikuya is the Prince and Haru was the woman the Prince fell for as his savior. SO let’s get into how Hiyori is like the mermaid both the way he sees it and in other ways he as a character parallels the story.

It’s kinda cute, but his trouble speaking or weird speech patterns in general covering up the things he wants to say or the things he hasn’t revealed, his “true voice” if you will. His first moments shown interacting with others as a kid is him seeming to be literally unable to speak or articulate his thoughts enough to be able to. Also notable is how he’s muttering to himself what he really feels about what Ikuya is saying about himself at the playground (unless I misinterpreted and he was thinking it and not speaking under his breath).

He seems to revolve a lot of his efforts around Ikuya even if it hurts him. However, it seems unlike the Mermaid, he doesn’t want to accept this and keep his Prince from the Woman (Haru) he thinks saved him. If we were to compare, it seems Hiyori sees himself as potentially where Ikuya’s support, love, and chance to be saved is, but he’s attributing to someone who didn’t do much of anything to deserve it (especially since all he sees is the pain it’s caused and wasn’t there to know what the friendship was really like. Perhaps the parallel he’s drawing is that his longing to be an important person to Ikuya the same way Ikuya is to him is painful in that it isn’t reciprocated and sees Haru as what Ikuya is to him if that wording makes an ounce of sense. I should just draw a god damn chart). He’s also seeing very intimately the kind of pain Ikuya is feeling and has no context for his fixation on an old friend besides that.

In the story before the prince gets a chance to reunite with the Woman he thinks saved him, he said he would not marry the princess from a neighboring kingdom. The Mermaid at that time becomes his favored companion. This seems to be where we are in their arc. Ikuya has just caught a glimpse of the Woman and Hiyori is trying his best to make sure the story doesn’t play out the same.

Another thing is Hiyori and Ikuya met as kids and that seemed to make a big impression on Hiyori. The same way the Mermaid fell for the Prince the moment she saw him when she went to the surface for the first time but the Prince of course didn’t notice her. The next time the Mermaid meets the prince is in saving in, but then actively becomes a part of the Prince’s life when she gives up her voice. It feels like that forgotten meeting and seeing each other years later where one remembers but the other doesn’t in some way reflects that and I like it. It’s subtle if intentional.

So considering where we are in the story right now with these two it makes me wonder where their arc will go. If Hiyori has to give Ikuya up, if he does so will it because he realizes it’s something he truly needs to do for Ikuya or if he’ll still do what’s best for Ikuya as long as it suits the selfishness of wanting to keep him to himself.

It also makes me wonder if perhaps Natsuya becomes the sea witch in the slightest way for enabling Hiyori’s protectiveness.

I’m liking it. While I am more interested in the other characters and Ikuya just isn’t that compelling to me as a character and seems more like a pre-development Haru and Rin mash up imo, I really think with Hiyori’s story it gets more interesting... though honestly I think these two are really just... too new and it’s playing a lot of catch up to develop their relationship and as separate characters from the cast that it’s kind of distracting. Though I suppose that’s the point, it does feel more like spotlight stealing than an ensemble piece where things are coming together between a lot of characters. I kinda hope Ikuya feels more like how Kisumi and Asahi do later on.

But damn if I though Makoto seemed like a dude clearly in love with his best friend, he’s got NOTHING on Hiyori, let’s be real. Though I think it’s interesting how Hiyori and Ikuya seem like a (unintentional) parody of some fandom views of Makoto and Haru’s relationship.

Anyway, that’s my two cents after seeing ep 6 of this season once. There’s probz more parallels and this whole post is sloppy at best, but I haven’t been in the fandom analytical posting in years. :yyy

#free!#free! dive to the future #tono hiyori #ikuya kirishima #long post #i wanna see hiyori develop from being such a bitch though like omg #that or an ax crazy yandere #just any of those #but i think him being a snarky friend bitch would be the best turn of events like come on

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xaz-fr · 6 years

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I really fucking.... love Rahila and Reza. Like so much. He doesn’t even realize how much he’s just wrapped around her finger.

@tales-around-sornieth @griminal-rising

(if you’d like to be on the lore pinglist let me know o/)

Nest hatches tomorrow. If you’d like to be on the ping list (they come with lore) the hatchery for pinglists is here. They’ll be posted tomorrow with lore.

Memory Sink

As Reza was getting ready for bed there was a knock on the door. Who? He groaned a little. He had had a long day and was so tired, he just wanted to sleep. Half dressed he trudged over to the door and opened it a little. He wasn’t entirely happy with who was on the other side. It was Rahila, her tangle of curls around her shoulders, looking a whole lot more vulnerable than he knew she was in a nightgown and nothing else.

“What do you want?” he asked, wary.

She put her hand on the door so he couldn’t close it. She knew him too well. He wouldn’t just close the door on her hand and he resented her for it. “I want to sleep with you,” she said.

He leaned back a little. “Uh… elaborate.” He’d specifically told himself he wasn’t going to have sex with Rahila anymore. It wasn’t great for his peace of mind.

“Like sleep in the bed next to you,” she rolled her red eyes at him.

“I don’t think that’s a very good idea either,” he said.

She pushed the door open and he stumbled back a step. He hated when she did that. Just did whatever she wanted. She grabbed his face in both hands and kissed him, her mouth warm against his. She was a good kisser but he really didn’t want to. He didn’t stop her either and kissed her back. “I’ll be gentle with you,” she told him like a secret, still holding his face.

“That isn’t very reassuring,” Reza said awkwardly.

“You need to see something.”

That really made Reza nervous. He tried not to go into the Deeprealm. He always got lost and always needed Spayar to come call him home. Or Rahila was with him and he wouldn’t remember half of what he saw. He always felt so disoriented around Rahila. She was the most amazing thing he’d ever seen but he was terrified of her.

“Alright,” he said eventually as she stroked his cheeks gently with her thumbs. He hated when she was soft with him. It felt so manipulative and he fell for it every time. He pulled out of her grasp and closed the door. When he turned back around Rahila was shaking out her wings before crawling into his nest. “Stop that,” he said sourly as her nightgown rode up her bronze thigh. She just looked at him but he just gave her an unamused sort of glare.

He went around finishing what he’d been doing. Making sure his things were where he needed them for the morning and what he was doing with Spayar tomorrow. He felt Rahila’s impatient eyes on him the entire time but he wasn’t going to rush. He wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of going on her time. She’d bothered him. She could wait. Finally, he was finished and he shuttered the light globe casting the room into darkness lit only by the large windows that faced the north sky. The moon was a wane crescent in the ink and cast only a soft golden light on the land, giving just enough light to see by.

Reza got into the nest next to Rahila carefully, nervously. What did he need to see? What was she going to show him? It could be anything. He laid down and got comfortable. Rahila moved closer to him and he was forced to put an arm around her or he’d be very uncomfortable. It annoyed him but at least she wasn’t trying anything funny. She just put her head on his chest and he assumed went to sleep.

It took Reza longer to get to sleep. He stared up at the dark, vaulted, ceiling for a while before he eventually felt his eyes grow heavy and he surcame to slumber.

Mist swirled around his claws. His big claw nervously clicked on the ground. He was always his birth form in the Deeprealm, it revealed the truth in all things. Next to him, Rahila was like a mirror to him, the white of her thylacine markings seeming to glow in the dark murk of the Deeprealm. Around was the Tangle but different, twisted, seen through the passage of time and not through distance. There were eight moons in the sky all in different states. Blue, super, wolf, harvest, waxing, waning, new full, red, and half were fully or partially eclipsed leaving their shadows to distort on the ground around them. In the distant sky, he could make out dark clouds and shadows. He swallowed.

“It is close,” Rahila said and reached out to grab his claw. “We aren’t going far.”

“Far is relative,” he said.

“It isn't far,” she assured him again and tugged him away from where they'd awoken. The Tangle was at once open and claustrophobic and utterly empty and devoid of anyone and anything. But Rahila knew where she was going. She always knew where she was going. She had a map.

She led him through the dense trees with vines and branches that grabbed at Reza’s wings and horns like grasping hands to a thicket of such tangled brambles and thorns he wasn't even sure how to get through. A light glowed, flickering, from within, barely able to escape the tangle of plant life and thorns. He felt a nervous weight in the pit of his stomach.

“Just through here,” she said and stepped through the thicket. The thorns slashed at her black hide but she didn't seem to feel the pain. Reza knew pain was relative in the Deeprealm but that didn't mean he liked it. He pressed through as well to follow her. The thorns cut his hide but he ignored it and there was no more pain and the thorns merely brushed against his skin.

In the center of the thicket was a nest of broad leaves covered in dew that shined like stars. Resting in the nest was the source of the light from the thicket. A collection of four glowing eggs, each perfect and luminous but now and then flickered in their existence and were dull and grey, released of their contents like someone had cracked them open and sucked out what lay within.

Reza turned on Rahila with a snarl. “What is this?” he demanded, crest raising and extending his wings some to look larger than he was in a threatening display.

“What it looks like,” she said, unimpressed by his reaction. She got close to him, bumping their snouts together, “Our nest.”

Reza was furious. He didn't want any more nests with Rahila. He didn't want to even have sex with her. He honestly sometimes wished she'd just leave him alone and find some other Deeprealm Walker to yank around. “Wake up,” he growled.

Reza’s eyes opened and he sat up. With a wave of his hand, he uncovered the lamp and the room was bathed in a soft glow of light. He turned on Rahila who was also awake now. Outside the moon had almost set and the gray light of dawn kissed the horizon. “What did you do?” he demanded and grabbed her by the arms.

“Me?” she asked incredulously. “You are the one who came onto me,” she said haughtily. “It was a surprise since you said you didn't want my body anymore. You still kept me up all night.”

Reza felt the blood drain out of his face. “No. You lie,” he accused her.

“And you've been so nice to me lately. I don't know why you're acting so cold now,” she seemed genuinely confused. She pushed his hands off of her.

“I have not,” Reza tried to recall the last time he'd seen Rahila before tonight. He was shocked to find it was weeks ago.

“I prefer you when you're sweet,” she said and looped her elegant arms around his neck. He was too frozen to push her off of him.

“What did you do?” he asked her.

“Nothing,” she said. “What's the matter, Reza?” The way she said his name jiggled something in his mind but he couldn't quite grasp it.

“I don't remember,” he said. “I don't remember seeing you in a month.”

“That certainly isn't true since you've come to my room late at night at least twice in the past two weeks,” she said, toying with his hair.

Reza felt lost. “Get off,” he pushed her away and got out of his nest. She watched him. “You're lying.”

“Lying is for those with something to hide. I don't. Not to mention you're a Seer. What could I hide from you that you wouldn't See?” Reza was getting dressed with trembling hands. Rahila got out of the nest and walked over to him. She grabbed his hands gently in her own. “What's the matter?” she asked him again.

“I lost time,” he said. “I don't… remember. It's all blank. There are blanks in yesterday. Did I… see you yesterday?”

“Yes. At breakfast, and after.”

“I don't remember breakfast,” he said. “What did you do?”

“Why would I do anything?” she asked and squeezed his hands. “It doesn't benefit me to make you forget being nice to me.”

He pulled his hands from hers. “Where is it?”

“Where's what?”

“You know what,” he snapped. He felt like he spinning out of control. He just needed to see.

“Right where I showed you,” she said.

He grabbed her by the upper arm. “Don't fuck with me right now, Rahila,” he snarled, his lips curled back away from his still sharp teeth menacingly. “I'm a Seer who just realized they've lost a lot of time. I'm not in the mood. Take me there, right now.”

She looked so utterly confused by him but not intimidated. “Alright. Can I at least put on some clothes to not go traipsing around in a nightgown?”

“I guess,” he said and released her. She left the room and he yanked on the rest of his clothes and stalked out of his room and didn't bother waiting for her outside. He just went right into her room and stood there, waiting while she finished changing.

“Don't look so angry, Reza. Your face will stick like that,” she said as she passed and gently smoothed her thumb across his furrowed brow. “And you're much too young to look so grumpy,” she grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the room by the hand.

He didn't say anything to her as they went. She led him out of the Conservatory into the gray pre-dawn and away from it, past their farms and carefully manicured fields and pastures to the wild Tangled. The trees were just as difficult to transverse in reality as they were in the Deeprealm and they scratched at Reza’s wings and tangled in his hair and horns.

The thicket was just as large as it had been but not as thick and Rahila had a way to get through. A tunnel cut through it to the other side. She had to crawl through and Reza was a bit too bit and scraped his wings on the way through and he ended up breaking a few branches as he stood up, snapping them with harsh cracks. The thorns and brambles were just barely tall enough for Rahila to stand and Reza had to stoop.

There, in the middle of the thicket, was a nest dug into the dark earth and lined with large leaves and pine needles. Sitting in a cluster in the center were four glowing Light eggs with their translucent shells that were so full of light that it was impossible to tell what was actually inside them and looking directly into them hurt the eyes. He looked over at Rahila and narrowed his eyes at her.

“Don't glare at me, Reza. This is your fault,” she said. “You came onto me.”

“I doubt that. You know I want nothing to do with you,” he snapped.

“And yet that's the truth.”

He scowled further but didn't know what was really true. He couldn't remember. There was just a black point in his memory as dark as his unpatterned hide. He folded his arms but it felt stupid because of how hunched over he was. “How long?” he asked her.

“How long what?”

“Until they hatch.”

“Mmm, soon, any day now, maybe less,” she said.

“So you wait until the last minute to tell me?” he demanded.

“You knew you idiot!” she yelled back. “The others knew too. Everyone saw me with eggs, including you. It isn't my fault you can't remember. I didn't do anything to you. You asked me last week when our nest was going to hatch and I told you I'd tell you when it was close. You were even here when I laid them.”

Reza stared at her. “I don't remember.”

“So I have surmised,” she said bitterly. “That isn't my fault.” Reza took a deep breath. Well. He had to deal with this now. He put his hands up to his lips in annoyance. “You’re such an ass,” she said. He gave her a bit of a glare.

“You tricked me, somehow. I know you did.”

She just looked frustrated, her pretty face twisted in annoyance. “I did not. I did nothing to you.”

“Either way they can’t hatch here. It’s out in the Tangle and there are toridae, psywyrms. I can’t believe you’d just leave them here.”

“I would have Seen if they were in danger,” she said.

“So that’s why they were flickering,” he growled.

She smacked him with her wing and spat noxious acid at the thicket around them. It dissolved everything it touched and Reza did well to duck his head and cover himself with his wings. “You're such a child,” she said. The thicket was mostly destroyed now so they wouldn’t have to crawl out.

“You're the one who came to me,” he reminded her.

“You called me from across the continent,” she snapped right back. They growled at each other in annoyance. “Don't make me,” she said.

“I don't know what that means but I am pretty sure I can't make you do anything with how much you annoy me,” he growled.

“And don't lie to me,” she hissed.

He knew this was going nowhere. They could, literally, spend all day standing here, bickering. It wouldn't be the first time they'd done so either because Rahila had very different ideas about what they should be doing. He didn't apologize or back down, he just looked down at the nest. “We need to take these back to the Conservatory,” he said.

“Fine,” she huffed.

“You left them out in the woods, Rahila-

“I'm a Seer! Nothing was going to happen to them-

“They were flickering in the Deeprealm and-

They both grew very still when they heard a soft crack. Reza looked down at the nest and saw a nearly invisible crack along the face of one of the eggs. He quickly leaned down and picked it and another that was starting to tremble up. Rahila carefully picked up the other two. Reza didn't say anything to her, he just spread his wings and jumped into the sky to fly back across the wild Tangle, over the tamed land, to the Conservatory.

The druids were just starting to wake for the day. “Reza, there you are,” Spayar said when he saw him.

“Sorry, not now,” Reza said, walking past.

“Are those-

“Yes,” Rahila said, coming up behind Reza. He felt Spayar's confusion even as he walked back to his room.

“Over here,” he said once they were inside and put the eggs on his bed. The one with the crack had a bigger crack in it now and the other one had its own hairline fracture. Rahila put the two eggs she'd been carrying down.

“Reza,” she said and he looked at her. He wanted to pull away when she grabbed his hand but didn't. “I know you're confused and lost time, and upset about this,” as she said that the last egg was finally starting to split.

“That's an understatement,” he muttered.

“But I am glad we had another nest,” she leaned over and kissed him. He really didn't want to kiss her back but he did anyway because it felt like the right thing to do. “They're ours,” she said just as one of the eggs finally split right in two and in a soft flash the hatching tumbled out. They looked up at Reza and Rahila with big, pale, yellow eyes and after a few seconds, their mouth pulled back away from their teeth in a dragon’s smile.

#flight rising #fr lore #fr lore share #lore share #cypress hall

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