#in the meantime i hope everyone else is staying well <3

[dreamingpartone]

He was very aware of how close they were... Just like their picnic, when it was two of them bathed in candlelight. When a million things could have happened next, but Asahi knew exactly what he wanted.

Threads of Gold: chapter five

[projectbluearcadia]

Hush, Darling, Hush

NSFW Lucifer x GN!MC Spice Rating: 4/4 ; BDSM Rating: 3/3

[ Scenario: Lucifer, horny and missing you, gets into the mood to rail you over and over again, sweetly reassuring you that you can still take a little more. Just a little more. ]

I DID IT. Writing gender-neutral sex. Yay me (I don't think I got the quality down, but I guess I should leave that for readers to decide). Anyway, context is more important in this one, and I do hope it carries its weight.

CW: Overstimulation; creampie; rough sex; restraint (threats); some humiliation ; and just in case, some dubcon because I'd rather y'all be safe than sorry.

Wordcount: 2078

smutty notes (consult if you haven’t read my smut before.)

Most everyone in the House of Lamentation, save for the party in question, likes to make jokes about Lucifer’s libido. Only Satan and Belphie have ever been bold enough to do it while he was present, usually receiving a clout on the ear in exchange. It’s not because he’s offended; he just doesn’t want them doing it during quiet family time. 

Quite frankly, no, he cannot wait patiently when he’s horny. 

And, no, he cannot stop pacing just because you’ll be back soon.

“I am not an ‘anxious puppy’,” he would say, though the description would have fit him quite well. Separation anxiety, jealousy, concern, annoyance and unbearable arousal all flutter inside his brain as he paces, waiting for you to return from the supermarket. 

He knew he was working at the time, but couldn’t you have waited to go and asked him to come with? So what if Beel would have destroyed the kitchen in the meantime? Better yet, why did you even go at all, instead of telling one of his brothers to go do it? No, no, the fights were irrelevant. They’d get it done just fine is the truth of the matter. 

Lucifer glances at his D.D.D. 5:19 P.M. Why aren’t you home yet? Dinner should be on the table in an hour, and that’s pushing it. He opens his texts with you, unable to resist. You’ve only been gone for about 46 minutes and 17 seconds, but surely this is a good excuse reason to text you? 

This whole ordeal just makes him feel more irritated. There wouldn’t be a problem if you just went out with him. Simple. He would have gone with you even if he was working, he decided, raking his hand through his hair as he stares at the last message he sent you. “I know you can take care of yourself, but avoid the alleyways and stay safe.” Which you reacted to with a pretty red heart. So cute. 

Lucifer eventually decides to just call you. 

“Lucifer?” Oh, just the sound of your voice nearly makes the poor man cry. That’s a joke, of course. “What’s up? Do we need something special?” 

“Just you, dear,” he mumbles, not quite loud enough for you to hear. 

“Sorry?” 

“Some spriggan bone meal would be nice,” he says, recovering. Ah, what the hell. It was getting a little pricey lately, but he’d earned it anyway. For being so patient and not-anxious. 

“You just wanted to hear my voice, didn’t you?” Lucifer flinches a little, but he can’t help but smile in his defeat.

“...yes. You know me too well,” he admits. “Are you coming home soon?” 

“I’ll be back in 10. With the bone meal.” The last part is definitely cheeky, but it’s so adorable that Lucifer can’t even bring himself to be mildly annoyed. It does make his arousal a lot more painful though.

“I’ll see you soon. Oh… and when you come home, let Levi take the groceries, then come straight to my bedroom. I love you.” 

“W-Wait, Lucifer? Mammon needs to be supervised…” 

“Someone else can do it,” he purrs into his D.D.D., already deciding who would do it. “If you don’t come to my room, I’ll drag you by your ankles, okay? See you soon.” And Lucifer simpers as he hangs up, leaving you sputtering at your phone, fuming with embarrassment and sincerely glad he hadn’t been on speaker. 

—

The moment you walk into Lucifer’s room, it’s with some surprise that you see he’s not undressed, but he does spring up the moment he sees you. Which would be really sweet, if he wasn’t currently speed walking towards you with a rope in his hand. 

“L-Lucifer?”

“I have a very nice plan for tonight…” he says as his presence towers above yours, before he leans his head against your ear, gently licking the shell before he starts to whisper, his scalding breath delightfully spreading against your skin. “We’re going to make love until dinner is ready. I’ll give you a break to eat—in here, of course. I’ll even let you digest it for half an hour while we cuddle in front of the fire. And, after that, I’m going to fuck you on every piece of furniture in this room in every position I can put you in.” 

Your body, your legs in particular, is already starting to ache, but your entire reproductive tract is on fire with a delirious enthusiasm that doesn’t remember anything resembling soreness. 

“What’s the rope for?” you ask finally. 

“If you try to run away,” he replies sweetly, stretching it in his hands for emphasis. 

“I wouldn’t,” you reply, foolishly. “Bring it on.” 

(You never do learn, do you?)

All of this was said about three hours ago. The first hour was taxing, but it was overall pleasant and left you feeling a little too confident when you stopped for food. You were looking forward to Hour Two. 

Three quarters through was around the time you finally realized Lucifer’s stamina was not in any way, shape, or form a joke. Well, re-realized. You always knew that, but somehow it seemed to have slipped your mind that a demon like him saying, “we’re going to have sex until morning” was not just his fantasy but a genuine promise. Provided, of course, you didn’t pass out first. 

And there you lay on the cusp of Hour Three, spooned in his arms with his cock thrusting slowly but deeply inside you, coaxing you to calm down while tears dribble down your face, soft cries leaving your mouth. Your drool ebbs off the corner of your mouth, into his sheets as you screw your eyes shut.

“Shh, shh,” he hushes from behind you, rubbing your side gently as he kisses your temple. “You’re doing so good for me, MC. I know you can keep taking it.” You moan with exhaustion sprinkled on top of a cooling mix of pain and pleasure as he takes his time, kissing your neck. “You still have at least a few more hours, darling… I’m sorry, but I can’t give you a break.” 

“Mmmnngh…” you groan, making him chuckle against the back of your ear. 

“Was that a little ‘no’?” he purrs, biting your earlobe and making you flinch in the process. Your entire body feels sensitive from numerous orgasms, and Lucifer doesn’t seem affected in the least. Or rather, he is, but being overly sensitive isn’t going to stop, and hasn’t ever stopped, him from railing you. 

“Can’t… impossible,” you complain, and Lucifer rewards you with a few harder, faster thrusts that make you gasp and see stars. 

“But your pretty hole says otherwise,” he whispers, rubbing your wrists in his hands. “The rope is still on the floor… I can always tie you up. Spread your legs nice and wide so that you’re always ready…” You can feel Lucifer’s grin as he speeds up his pace, jerking the sense out of you. It hurts, and you’re exhausted, but son of a bitch, it still feels amazing. “But I don’t want to do that, you know… I want you to accept every ounce of my love for you.” His teeth tug on your ear. “And by love, I mean my cum.” 

Your brain is already fogging over again, and you’re half-debating, not for the first time, about telling him to wrap you up in that rope he’d abandoned. Half of you honestly craves to bolt before you can’t even move your legs tomorrow, but your thoughts are too hazy. The other half just wants to do everything he wants without complaint. 

Lucifer makes you climax again, and it sends fresh tears to your eyes from the extreme sensations pouring from your loins. It’s too much, and, fuck, maybe you should stop…

“Ugh…” Lucifer groans against your neck, burying himself deep. You’re past the point of being “full,” so when he ejaculates, you can feel it dripping against your shaking legs and into his sheets. You’re whimpering by the time he finishes, and he’s pulling your legs off the bed, his fingers greedily consuming your thighs. “You’re making such a mess, darling…” 

“L-Lucifer… sir… please…” you beg softly to his lustful face, but he’s already pushing right back into you, making you sob as more drool spills out of your mouth like you weren’t embarrassed enough. 

“I know, honey, I know,” he murmurs, rubbing your cheek with his thumb as you gasp. “Shh, just a little more.” His cock is busily squirting lewd sounds out of your hole, your legs spread wide as he gradually pulls you upwards by your hips from his bed, half your lower back now raised in the air. 

“Luci… hgn… please just a little slower…” you sniffle, but to no avail as Lucifer digs his nails into the hips he’s already lightly scratched and bruised. His only response is to pull you higher, your blood starting to rush to your head a little as he stands tall instead of hunching over. “Lucif—! GAH, AGH!” Zero mercy, and before you can say anything else, your overstimulated nerves send you right back over the edge. 

Lucifer lets you flop back down to the bed with a bounce as you finish most of your twitching, chuckling as you gasp and cry. You’re so overstimulated and so exhausted, and you just want a break, but that’s not on the table tonight. Tonight is one of those nights that forces him to take care of your every need and want the next day. Maybe even the day after that. 

“Don’t close your legs, darling,” Lucifer whispers, even as he turns you onto your stomach, his lips dragging down your spine. “Come on. Three seconds to get up onto your hands and knees.” Do you seriously think I can even make my legs function properly anymore?! you yell internally, yet you’re still trying to obey the order. Because it feels heavenly to get so sloppy from your expression down to your body, and he’s so happy to see it, isn’t he? You can almost hear his voice in your head. Does it hurt, baby? I’m sorry; just a little more, and I’ll make sure you won’t feel it. You just barely manage to raise yourself, and Lucifer gifts you with his member pumping right back inside. 

The moment he does, you collapse like a house of cards, but Lucifer doesn’t seem to mind as he crawls over you, pressing you into his bed as he ruts his hips against your ass, littering the back of your throat with kisses. Such gentleness is a godsend, really, but you wish he’d just please slow down. But this is his pleasure that’s important right now. And his greatest pleasure is seeing you turning into this pathetic mess of a person that can barely speak, your tongue caught between pleas for him to stop and pleas for him to never stop. 

“Hush,” he whispers kindly, bringing a hand forward to brush the tears from your eyes. “It’s okay. Just another hour, I promise.” His tender tone makes you break down harder than ever, gripping his pillow for dear life. “You can cum for me a dozen more times, honey; I know you can.”  I think I might die of… of something if I orgasm a dozen more times…

“Lucifer,” you whine between gasps, your eyes fluttering.

“Yes, darling?” he whispers as he shoves himself in as deep as he can go, making you completely lose your train of thought. It wasn’t a difficult train of thought, but your mind can’t hold onto anything anymore. “Do you even remember your safeword?” 

“I…I know it…” you gasp out, and he chuckles, stopping for just a moment as he rubs your shoulders. He had asked you that question about five times tonight, the cute bastard. Waving relief in front of you, full well-knowing that you’re going to keep indulging him. 

“Do you want to use it?” his lips ask against your ear, his hands uncurling your tightened fists. You groan as you push your head into the pillow, the odor of sex flooding up your nose instead of trickling into it. You shake your head. 

“No,” you whisper, and Lucifer bites you, licking up your neck.

“Wonderful… you know you can take more,” he rumbles, the vibrations of his voice seeming to seep into your bones. “Then let’s see just how much more.”

[honey-minded-hivemind]

General Comfy Sleepy situations ironically from a sleepy person with a sheep icon.

-Gambit and Rogue going into the kitchen at night only to find a half-asleep Reader sitting at the table glaring at the open refrigerator. When asked, Reader says they're not quite ready for bed yet. They're a little cagey about the why, maybe nightmares maybe heavy thoughts, but they wanted to have a midnight snack in the meantime. Only they can't figure out what they want. Cue Rogue distracting Reader as Gambit whips up the best bedtime snack possible and then once Reader is finished, rubbing their eyes and stumbling to leave the kitchen, they escort them back to their room. -The teens are having a sleepover, Reader included. Somehow they have decided that this was gonna be one of those "no sleep" sleepovers where everyone stays up as late as possible and first one to fall asleep gets pranked. Only...Reader falls asleep first. Pranking Reader basically feels like pranking a very smol kitten. Needless to say next morning Reader feels terrible and ashamed to have "lost" the challenge. But when they ask about it they're immediately reassured that they hadn't fallen asleep first. Actually all the teens magically passed out at the same time! What are the odds! -Reader just finished an incredibly hard solo mission. They're tired, lonely, and really just want to relax. They wish someone had come with them but either no one was available or the few people who were didn't have the right skillsets... It's late when they get back to the mansion, they don't have the energy to do much more than change into pajamas and collapse onto the couch. They meant to sit there for a moment before heading to bed. Silently hoping that someone else was up and could talk to them. But no one showed. Reader falls asleep alone on the couch. But wakes up with Kurt burrowed into their side and their head being propped up on Beast's lap as he reads silently above them. When Hank sees they're awake he just shushes them and tells them to go back to sleep. Bonus Cave Bear Reader: Cave Bear absolutely struggles with nightmares. They've been through so much and after being "rescued" by the other mutants their dreams have only gotten worse. The real problem, in their opinion, is that a lot of the time they wake up still stuck in the dream and lash out at the things or people around them. For someone who has spent so much time cultivating the ability to repress their strength, it's embarrassing to fall back into their worst instincts and destroy their cell room over a dream. So they stop sleeping. Or they try to anyway. They know it's a bad idea but it's their best plan until they can manage to escape again. Well their new reluctance to sleep is noticed pretty quickly since everyone has eyes on their favorite baby feral. They're offering all sorts of solutions but Cave Bear Reader is rejecting everything immediately, after all Reader's problem isn't that they can't fall asleep, it's what happens when they sleep. Finally, Victor is the one who figures out Reader's true problem. His opinion? Reader is too scared of themself. There are no "good" or "bad" instincts. Just instincts. And Reader being afraid of falling into their instincts is the actual issue here. Victor takes it upon himself to get Cave Bear Reader to fall into their instincts more often. And he starts by declaring he's gonna snuggle Cave Bear Reader to sleep from now on. If they wake up and lash out, he can take it. He's hurt them before...now it's time he helps them. And if Reader wakes up with both him and Logan on top of them? Well they're bonding <3. (wow this ended up longer than I expected...uh...enjoy! Sorry for spamming ig?)

I love it. I truly love it. I'll add some sleepy cozy headcanons too, so you have a few extra to dream about-

• Reader is struggling to fall asleep after a hard day, having taken tests, had to help their team fight the Brotherhood, and they spent most of the day after cleaning up, not leaving much time to do anything else, and now it's night time. They're on the couch, exhausted and feeling lonely and upset... Then the other teens show up, putting on a movie, cuddling around and over Reader, and piling into a blanket fort they constructed. It doesn't take much longer for everyone to fall asleep, smiling softly and dreaming peacefully...

• It's a cold Winter's day, there's fresh, freezing snow outside, and all Reader wants to do is curled up by a warm fire. Yet they and their team end up on a mission, saving a few people from a freezing lake, and afterwards they're cold, wet, and shivering. When they make it back to the mansion, they change into a fresh pair of clothes and hide away in their room, not feeling like playing outside with everyone... Later, Kitty convinces them to leave their blankets, and leads them to ome of the side rooms... where there's a roaring fire in the fireplace, steaming mugs of hot cocoa and tea, soft pillows and blankets warmed by sunlight, and a few of the other teens and Logan and Ororo reading near the windows... Reader ends up curled on the floor, a blanket wrapped around them, cocoa and tea warming their belly, and slowly dozing off as their friends laugh and joke around them, Logan and Ororo grinning at them all...

• It's the middle of the night, a fight went wrong, and now Reader, their fellow teen teammates, and the Brotherhood, are all stuck in the dark after a storm that caused a black out. Everyone's wet, the wind is blowing, and they'll all be lucky if they aren't sick by tomorrow morning. However, they're able to bundle into an abandoned warehouse, Reader and Scott and Evan pull down a few tarps, Lance and Todd and Fred push together a few different crates, Pietro and Wanda and Jean help dry everyone off as best they can, and Kurt and Kitty and Rogue are able to set up tents and with the makeshift crates and tarps, directing everyone and helping pin everything in place. Everyone ends up laughing at what they've put together, soon alleviating the tension in the air. They can all go back to fighting and being enemies tomorrow... But tonight, they're going to treat it like a fun field trip, and make the best of it... In the morning, the adults find the teens passed out and feverish inside a tent-like structure, and take them back home for soup and medicine... But they get to cuddle pile as they recover, soon back to snoozing in a warm bed...

(You can read this as parts of the new series where Reader joins from the beginning if you want, @vivid-bun ! I think it fits the vibes of it! Or read each one as it's own mini adventure or universe! But, yeah, i really like it! Thank you!)

[artsyjedi]

They see each other again | Charles Leclerc x reader

summary: after a good amount of time, you and Charles meet again.

author’s note: speed written this one and i actually liked it (surprisingly enough) so i hope you do it too <3 i didn’t proof read this very well so sorry if there’s any mistakes. I was kinda thinking about making a series about this couple? Tell me if you’re interested!!

warnings: it can be a little angst? per usual (sorry)

**it can be read as a 2nd part of ‘They don’t stay together at the end’ or alone.

5 years ago, you met Charles Leclerc. And since, you never forgot him - and life was committed to not let that happen in any way; and you tried. You truly tried to not remember those days you spent together as often as you do, to not smile whenever you hear someone say his name.

God, sometimes, while on dates or just talking with random strangers you met during a night out, you caught yourself comparing them to Charles.

5 years. It's been five years since Charles Leclerc ruined everyone else for you.

And he’s standing right there, on the same spot you saw him for the first time. He’s just a few meters from where you are with your friends. The cafe looks and smells the same. It feels like you traveled in time. You’re facing his back, and you’re a hundred percent sure it’s Charles because he’s the only one who thinks that horrendous stained pants look good.

Also, he’s the only one that somewhat looks good on it.

“Now that’s insane” your friend laughs realizing what is going on.

“Shut up! He can’t see me. Go!” you pushed them slightly towards the cabin where the other two were already seated.

“And why not?” she kept smiling, glancing towards Charles now and then before seating.

She started to take off their coat and you did the same, trying your best to not catch anyone’s attention.

“Because I’m sure he doesn’t remember me”

“And why do you think that?” the friend sat next to you arched their eyebrows.

“Because it’s been five years?” you asked as if it was obvious.

“Well, you remember him”

“Yeah but I’m still in love with him, of course I remember. And also: we are not the same people we were years ago”

You glanced at Charles, he was still at the balcony, talking freely with the employees while waiting for his order. He had a few people accompanying him and a phone in his hand. Your heart was beating fast, part of you wanting him to see you, to come and say hi, to sweep you off your feet again. You knowing he was single was doing no good for your mind.

“When we were drunk at Silvia’s house, you cried telling me you wished you’d meet him again in this life or in another one. Remember?”

“No, I do not” lies. You clearly remember.

“It was right after you called yourself dumb for not going to Monaco with him” your other friend provoked, winning a congratulatory small punch from the other one who sat beside them.

“Whatever, what’s your point?”

“My point is that if you’re both not the same as years ago, it’s practically another life” she shrugged, getting up and slapping your shoulder “Now move, I need to get to the bathroom”

You got up quietly, still trying not to catch anyone’s attention. You sat again, now stealing their place in the cabin; it was safer.

To say you were freaking out was an understatement. Your friends were having the time of their life, giggling and making jokes. You knew you were over reacting a little, but your friends failed to understand that Charles Leclerc was the Charles Leclerc. The Ferrari driver. The unofficial Prince of Monaco. You laugh at yourself with the thought.

Your friend came back talking about something random, completely stealing your attention.

You only relaxed when he left. You felt a heavy weight on your stomach during the whole time; another opportunity lost for fear of rejection. Fear of being hanging in a feeling only you had. Charles had girlfriends during this meantime, lots of rumors too. He was living while you were barely making it. Did he also have a shiver going down his spine whenever he saw someone that resembles you like you do? No. You’re sure he doesn’t. Why would he?

When you got to your apartment, still laughing from a silly joke your friends made before leaving you, the best thought occurred: the night called for a glass of wine and a good movie. You deserve a little solitude. Rain started to hit the window, setting the mood. Perfect.

If your afternoon has been a complete chaos, your night is going great.

You were about to sit on your couch, under the new covers you bought, when a knock on the door stopped you. Frowning, you wondered who it could be; usually, the doorman announces but not this time? One of your neighbors, maybe? You prayed it wasn’t the old lady from next door who loves to rent free your ear for her non-stop complaining.

“Who is it?” You asked, leaving the cup on the coffee table.

“Hi, I know this is weird but your friend told me you have a room to rent?”

The known thick accent made your legs quiver. Fuck. Your eyes widened, mind going miles per hour, I can’t believe this is happening! Shit.

You unlocked the door, opening slightly and leaning onto it. “Hi”

“Hi,” he replied. “Remember me?”

Your heart was beating so fast. The feelings you had started to flood your eyes. You couldn’t contain a smile. He was truly asking if you remember him?

“Maybe” you shrugged, winning a laugh from him. You opened the door enough to give him space to go in. Charles swallowed dry, hands rubbing his pants in a nervous movement. “So… looking for a room to rent, huh?”

“Tried to be funny and failed, I guess”

“Please sit” you pointed towards the sofa. “Wine?”

“No, thanks”

You nodded and got your glass, following his steps and sitting on the other end, facing him. You leaned your head in your hand, supporting your elbow on the back of the couch.

“How did you find my address?”

“Your friend”

Like a movie, a flashback ran through your mind. Of course they hadn’t gone to the bathroom when they said they were, and that’s why they were giggling and joking about you and Charles during the whole day.

Even though you knew you would kill them next morning? you were also thankful.

“These pants are horrible” it came out before you couldn’t even register what you said.

“What?” he frowned in surprise, leaning closer. You two laughed at his offended face.

“I’m sorry, I was thinking and just… anyway” you scratched the back of your head. That was going just great.

“God, I truly missed you” he told you in between giggles, leaning even closer and reaching for the hand you had supported your head and bringing your wrist for him to kiss.

“I missed you too” you intertwined your fingers and brought his hand close to your face, feeling his warmth. You leaned on it, kissing it right after.

You kept staring at each other. Silence was loud. Louder than any song or any crowd you already heard. No words needed to be said. The rain was hitting harder on the window and the city outside started to get quieter. Charles Leclerc. How did you survive all these years without having him there?

[skyward-floored]

I think I’m coming down with a cold again and possibly have a fever but I’m here to scream about the update some more anyway! (and analyze a bit but mostly scream). Dawn part 7 here we go!

(All images belong to @linkeduniverse <3)

First off I have to say this was my favorite panel I think, it’s so pretty. The faint glow! The colors! The cape over his shoulder! Amazing. This truly was Sky’s update, I loved every bit of focus he got. Jojo fed us well :D

So it looks like I was wrong about Sky reading everyone’s mail. He just immediately took off after the mailman instead (and spent all morning chasing him ha!),

Side note but I love the npc guy. He’s simple but still Zelda-y. the character design in this comic is just👌

Looks like the mailman has a list of who he’s supposed to deliver to, or at least that’s my guess. It could be a map maybe, but that probably wouldn’t do much good since he’s time traveling?? How does he do it. Don’t question the magic of the postman I guess.

*green hill zone music intensifies*

Shoutout to Sky’s face here, I make the same expression when I’m trying to chase after my nephew and stop him from eating crayons

This looks like a postcard no joke, I'd frame this and put it on my wall. Plus the way the trees were done in the background is really neat, there’s something just really pleasing about this panel. Also the return of Sky: Just Standing There

They’re all bein silly <3

...except for Four. Because I think him and Warriors both realize that Sky isn’t just telling them what he was doing all morning— he’s got something important to say, something they all actually need to know.

(Downfall duo laughing together I love them)

Also I agree with everyone saying Warriors is close to snapping— they’ve all had a pretty stressful 24 hours, but Warriors has been breaking up arguments and repeatedly checking on everyone while they’re struggling, and... I don’t think he’s had a break. Take a nap bud, please?

SKY TALKING TO FI MY BELOVED he's hoping there’s enough of her aware to help him dowse hhhhh. And then he’s so sad she didn’t seem to hear him waahhh 😭

It doesn’t look to me like she truly helped much, but maybe Fi gave just enough of a nudge for Sky to find the postman’s footprints? Even in her sleep? She is glowing just a bit there... Interesting to think about.

It’s confirmed that the postman uses the portals! And that the Shadow is alive and kicking! Uh-oh! (Also does anyone else think this one seems more... firey? Then the last one? Maybe it's just me).

And the chopped-off darknut head is still there too.... and I’ll bet you twenty rupees somebody is going to kick it when the Links go through the portal later. (My guess is Wild but I’d put my money on Legend or Wind too).

I’m also really curious where that portal leads... My guess is either Twilight’s Hyrule or Sky’s, based on what hints we’ve been getting, but I really don’t know. It’ll be fun to see!

*Wind rapidly thinking of at least three conspiracy theories*: SUS

Also an amazing expression from him I’m laughing so hard, he really said 3:<

Tag yourself I’m Four

Also Sky just chugging away at the stamina potion, poor guy XD he must be beat from all that running around, I hope he has some more time to sit before the Links get moving.

(And I mentioned this in another post, but Legend looks so alarmed at this information, as does Wild... it’s not going to be pretty when they cross paths with the Shadow again, that’s for sure)

I love when Time breaks out the dramatic language... makes me remember that this guy is going to be the Hero’s Shade someday (who’s speech is 99% dramatic things).

Now the Links just have to decide what to do next... will they stay another day at the inn for Twilight’s sake, or get moving right away? Is Four going to confront Twilight about the dark magic he uses to turn into Wolfie?

So many questions... but in the meantime I will gladly continue to reread this amazing update, I really loved this one :D

[miss0atae]

The Fated-Lovers Trope and Human desire for connection (Random Thoughts about Century of Love ep 3 & 4):

Once again, I’m quite late on my watch-list of QL series, but after watching ep 3 and 4 of Century of Love, I decided I would talk about Fated-Lovers trope and how it is represented in the series, for me.

[gif by heretherebedork] @heretherebedork

In this story, San made a deal with the goddess to be able to find the reincarnation of his lover Vad / Wat. A 100 years later, he found Vee who is supposed to be the reincarnation of his previous lover. San never expected his lover to be a man in this lifetime. He was fully expecting to find his lover the same as he knew her, a 100-year ago. He has been suffering every day in the hope of finding his love again, but he has to face the disappointment of not getting what he imagined he would get. Is the price worth to pay? It seems that it is for San because he still thinks he will find Vad / Wat. In the meantime he may reluctantly accept Vee as a “replacement” until he finds what he believes will be the “real” Vad / Wat. His family is just happy to have found Vee and never challenge the fact he may not be the reincarnation everyone has been dying to find. There are only San and the uncle who can't accept this idea and are still hoping to find someone else to be the real Vad / Wat reincarnation. As for Vee, he is dragged in this magical chaos while he is just trying to find a way of saving his grandmother. Upon learning about the power that keeps San alive until now, he is determined to find the magical stone to heal his grandmother. It doesn't matter if the stone is not a common philosopher's stone and that you get to be in pain when you use it, as long as the most important person in Vee's life stays alive.

[gif by sherrymagic] @sherrymagic

That's where we are in the story. I found interesting how San and Vee have so much more in common that what they believe. San has been poor and badly considered by his peers 100 years ago. Despite this, he pursued his romance with a noble lady because San considers that Love transcend everything. That's why he was quick to accept the conditions of his near-immortality (such as being in pain every nights, never having a true good night sleep, feeling disconnected with the new generation because he is older than he seems and being changed in a kid sometimes...) to be able to fully experience Love. As for Vee, it's quite the same. Upon learning about his grandmother's illness he decided he would use the knowledge he got from San about the magical stone to heal her, even if she has to suffer to stay alive. After all, life isn't a pleasure cruise. Vee knows it too well. He had to face hardships growing up, but he has kept fighting because of the love he got from his grandmother. Both San and Vee, are ready to sacrifice something to keep Love in their love. It's a universal quest for connection and understanding. Love makes it easier to fight against the uncertainty and ordeals of life. It's reassuring to love and be loved when everything is so hazardous.

[gif by benzatthanin] @benzatthanin

In this series, we can find the common trope of fated-lovers: it's a belief that somewhere there is a person meant just for you and ties to your life by magic or the cosmos. It was emphasized last week in previous episodes when Vee and San found themselves linked by a red thread. The Red Thread of Fate is an East Asian belief from Chinese mythology. It's the concept of soulmates or destined people. Those connected are bound together regardless of time, place or circumstance and nothing can break this bond. San believes he has this bond with Vad / Wat and that's why he sacrifices his well-being to be able to find her again. As for Vee, we don't know yet how he feels about it. Vee is usually hiding the hardships of his life behind his playful persona and his cocky smile. In the series, San is faced with obstacles and he is challenging the fated-lovers trope as he is rejecting the bond he is supposed to have with Vee. In addition, his mind is in conflict with the magical / goddess call. He never expected to be with a man and it challenges his "traditional" view of the world. It gives a deeper layer to the romantic story he would have got if Vad / Wat reincarnated as a woman. He doesn't want to be driven by the pull of the goddess. She tried to change his mind no matter what he had to say. He experienced more pain until he agreed to marry Vee or let him get close to him (I think about when Vee was here to smooth him when he was in pain and he could finally sleep well in his embrace). Is the goddess also sending wet dreams to San or is it his deepest desire, we don’t know it yet.

[gif by jimmysea] @jimmysea

The goddess has decided that San and Vee should be together and since all of this happened because San wanted to find Vad / Wat again, we can be led on thinking it's because they are fated-lovers. However, I've seen that viewers are quite divided on the idea that Vee is the reincarnation of Vad / Wat. Indeed, reincarnation and fated-lovers can work hand in hand, but it's not a requirement to create a fated-lovers story. As for me, I don't know how I feel about it. I can understand why people would like for Vee to not be Vad / Wat. In the other hand, it feels a lot like a lot for San to have to wait 100 years to fall in love with someone else than the one he chose. The story is still at his beginning so it's hard to know yet if Vee is Vad / Wat or not. However, if he is not Vad / Wat, he really has a similar life. It also seems like Vad / Wat ex fiancé may also have been reincarnated and he will come to the series next week. This person seems to be close to Vee in this life. The fact this person is close to Vee appeals even more to the idea of Vee being the reincarnated Vad / Wat. I just find interesting that some people won't buy into this idea. It shows how much more complex the fated-lovers tropes can be in today's stories. It may seem a very old and simple tropes, but it can be challenged to explore the complexities of love. I also like that it's tied to the reincarnation romance, but it gives room to a different direction.

I wonder what will happen next.

PS: for gif creators, I tagged you, but if you want me to delete the gif I used or if you want another type of tag, just me know. I'll do what you prefer.

[hannahbarberra162]

Country Mouse, City Mouse Chapter 8

18+ MDNI

On Ao3

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5

Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10

Y/N POV

Mihawk looked…murdery. He was not speaking, and had a harsh grip on your side. People had stopped coming up to you two, preferring to stay at least a sword’s distance away. You hadn’t been around Mihawk for too long, but you knew jealousy when you saw it.

“Listen honeycake, that look you’re givin’ could curdle milk.”

Mihawk did not reply to you, but continued glancing around the room with a threatening look. You reached up and put one hand on his shoulder and another on his cheek, turning his face towards you. 

“Look, he’s yankin’ your chain and you’re lettin’ him. I’m not goin’ anywhere, let’s enjoy our night. We can leave right now if you want, wouldn’t upset me.”

Mihawk finally spoke. 

“His disrespect towards you was intolerable.”

“Sugar plum, would killin’ him make you feel better?”

“Perhaps.”

“Well, do it later if you want. In the meantime, may I have this dance?” You took your hand off his face, and put it in his. He looked at you for the first time since Crocodile had spoken to you. He brought your hand to his mouth, kissing the back of your hand.

“My dear, nothing would delight me more.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After redirecting Mihawk, you spent a lovely evening dancing, drinking, and softly speaking to one another. He was completely devoted to you, unconcerned with the optics of ignoring everyone else at the gala. You’d had a glass of wine or two too many and were feeling the effects. You knew you flushed when you were drunk, but you were hoping it wasn’t too noticeable.

After the end of the next song, Mihawk spun you out and brought you flush next to his body. You knew you were staring at him, but you couldn’t stop. You started blushing on top of the already present flush.

“What are you thinking, my sweet?”

“Sweets? Isn’t that my name for you-u?” You were trying to stop yourself from slurring, mostly successfully.

“Ah, but you have so many for me. Allow me to borrow just this one?” He started kissing your shoulder gently. You sighed in rapture.

“You never told me what you are thinking.”

“I’m just happy. You’re…so beautiful. You’re like…a painting but in r-real life. I didn’t think there were p-people like you.”

Mihawk hummed and continued kissing your shoulder, moving his lips slowly up to your neck.

“People like what, darling?”

“Jusssst wonderful people.” You lost your train of thought. You didn’t need it, anyway. You were having an enchanted fairytale night with a sexy villain and in the morning you’d be a farmer again but tonight - tonight you could be a princess if you wanted. You would let your childhood fantasy play out a little longer. You laid your head against Mihawk’s chest. You didn’t want to embarrass him in front of whoever was here even if he didn’t seem to care. It was time for you to go.

“I think I m-might be cooked.”

“Do you wish to leave?” He sounded slightly concerned. 

“In m-my pumpkin carriage if you please.”

“I don’t have one on hand, dove, but I will bring you back to our rooms.” Mihawk swung you over his shoulder, carrying you with a hand on your ass. You giggled - it felt like he was marking his territory for everyone to see. Guess he was still a little jealous, after all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You wouldn’t admit it, but you were happy Mihawk had rented the entire hotel. You felt free to be as loud as you wanted, wherever you wanted. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All fairy tales come to an end, and it was time to sail back to Kuraigana Island. The adventure back was just as enjoyable as the way there, and even more relaxing since there was no time constraint. Coming back to Kuraigana, you were excited to see if the farm had survived under Zoro’s watch. After docking, and thanking the captain with a kiss, you ran over to the farm. Things looked under control and well maintained. You went to go find Zoro, which took a considerable amount of time. Eventually you had to ask Mihawk to help you find him. He was training in the forest, and you hailed him with a wave.

“Seems like you’re not gettin’ dismembered. Farm looks great.” Mihawk did not comment on his previous threat.

Zoro grunted and continued his training. You took that as an acknowledgement.

“Anyway, as a thank you, here’s a bottle of booze I pinched from Croc’s house.” You handed Zoro an expensive looking bottle of sake. 

Mihawk looked slightly surprised. “When did you take that? And moreover, where did you hide it? I never saw it on your person. And I inspected closely.” He finished his sentence with a smirk.

You raised an eyebrow and said loftily, “a lady never reveals her secrets.” 

Mihawk POV

During the interminably long Warlord meetings he deigned to attend, Mihawk often thought of how he would defeat the other warlords in battle should he want to. He had plans for each of them, honing in on their weaknesses and dulling their strengths. Some battles would be more difficult than others, but he had no doubt in his ability to vanquish them all. 

He now wished that he had put his plan into action for Crocodile. You had stayed his hand before with your charm, but the reptile shouldn’t have pushed his luck.

Because a few weeks after the gala, a present arrived to the island. For you. 

Crocodile had sent you an Alabastian purebred horse, easily worth 150,000 Beri. Apparently, you had spoken with him briefly about horses, and he decided to show you his favor. You were delighted with the gift, and spoke about how the horse could help you with various tasks. Mihawk was upset both that the snake had sent his woman a gift, and that he hadn’t thought of the idea himself first. You noticed his ire, and said that you would return the horse if Mihawk did not approve. However, he saw the light in your eyes and could not deny you your pleasures. You were his errant ray of sunshine, and you deserved the best the world had to offer. Even if it had come from a disagreeable, scabrous, detestable, noxious, imbecilic thug like Crocodile.

[newtknewit]

Hey I love your art so much!!

Some quick questions about the cinderkin au,

1. What is Luz going to look like

2. Does every member of the hexsquad have “signature outfits”?

3. Will you be planning to make it a comic at all?

So excited to see what’s in store for thissss whhsgqqjgejw

Aaa thank you so much! Luz will remain human with a few small differences in her design just to spice things up a bit, like a slightly different hairstyle or something. I'm thinking by the end of the 'series', she would start to grow very small scales and horns, since in this AU, humans sorta absorb the magic from the isles the longer they stay there. - Which is also why Belos is gonna be very spiky and draconic, since he's been there for 400+ years. Neither of them will ever be able to grow a tail, though, which sets them aside from true cinderkin. Luz will also gain a titan form at the end, with the titans' designs being slightly more draconic than they already are. Not sure what you mean by signature outfits. If you mean their own unique outfits representing their individual selves, then yeah! Sadly the only outfit I've really done so far is Hunter's Ashen Warrior (or, Golden Guard) uniform. I have been messing around with outfits for the other characters in the meantime, but nothing has really stuck. I hope to get my butt back in shape and work on that again soon :D I doubt I'd ever have the motivation to do something as complex and high-effort as a comic, but I do really want to write a fan fic at the very least! Writing can be stressful on me too though, but hopefully by time this AU is done and ready to be written out, I'll be fine :) I don't think I've ever written this out publically before, but here's the basic plot I'm going for. Things may be subject to change, of course, as it's only a heavy WIP right now: Lilith Clawthorne, an ice-breathing cinderkin and Head of the Emperor's Dynasty, mysteriously vanishes and is pronounced dead later by the Emperor. Hunter must take Lilith's place as Dynasty Head, being in next of line. Luz, who has just arrived on The Boiling Isles a couple weeks prior, notices some odd and distressing behaviour from Eda, who feels both immense guilt for Lilith's disappearance as well as anger at the sister who had cursed her so long ago. Despite Eda's confusing emotions, Luz decides to head out in search of information about Lilith's disappearance, as the sudden-ness and silence of the situation is beginning to arouse suspicion in both her and her mentor. Her first suspect: The Ashen Warrior. From what she knows about him and his constant squabbling with Lilith according to Eda, she believes he may have had something to do with this. It doesn't help his image, either, that everyone knew he was second in line if anything were to happen to Lilith. Perhaps he was power-hungry, and murdered her for his own gain, to move up even more in the Dynasty's hierarchy. Or, is there something bigger going on here? Luz and her friends take the risk that no one else will, to find out what's really going on here.

[raineandsky]

#22

(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3)

“How on earth did you get in?”

There is a teenager standing on the other side of the villain’s desk, seemingly uncaring to the fact that he’s somehow broken into his private office without issue. He just gives the villain an innocent smile.

“The windows aren’t really… guarded,” is all he says, and the villain makes note to double to security. “I wanted to talk to you.”

“Clearly,” he snaps back, hoping his sharp tone will hide his concern. How did a kid get in – and if he can, have goddamn heroes gotten in under his radar?

“I wanna apply. Here,” the teenager tries, practically radiating nerves when the villain’s gaze turns incredulous. “To work.”

“To wo–” He huffs a disbelieving laugh. “Are you old enough to work?”

“I’m sixteen.”

The villain barely believes that. He doesn’t look a day over twelve. “Sorry, why would I hire a teenager?”

“I have two good reasons. I can show you the first one.” The child raises his hands, aiming just past the villain’s head, and a moment later a shot of lightning shoots from his palms. The volts sting against the side of the villain’s head as it passes to crumple just behind him with remarkable violence. He spins in his chair to stare at the wide dinge now decorating his once pristine white wall with poorly contained shock.

“The second thing. I, uh…” the teenager’s confidence falters, his gaze dropping nervously to his feet as the villain twists back to look at him. “I was in the agency.”

The villain raises his eyebrows amusedly. “And you think that makes me… want to hire you?”

“I hate them,” he blurts, as if the words needed to come out. “I used to be [Hero]’s sidekick, but she treated me like shit and everyone else acted like I was stupid.” He finally raises his head again to meet the other’s eye. “I want to get them back. I have inside information.”

“That’s one hell of an offer,” the villain says slowly, and the kid nods enthusiastically. “You sure you want to throw your lot with the bad guys?”

“I wanted to throw my lot in with the bad guys when [Hero] almost drowned me in an agency toilet for a joke,” he says sourly, and the villain pulls a face of pure disgust. “And… I heard you guys have social nights sometimes.”

“You’re sixteen. You don’t get alcohol,” he reminds him, before clearing his throat to put on his business voice. “Okay, well, you could be valuable. I don’t trust you–”

“That’s fair.”

“– so you’ll stay in this building under close watch until I decide you’re not going to stab me in the back. In the meantime, I’ll make sure no one tries to drown you in a toilet. It’ll at least be in a sanitised bucket. Okay?”

The kid smiles brightly, and the villain can’t help but wonder what kind of future he would’ve had with the agency. “Thank you so much, sir. I won’t let you down.”

The villain waves him off nonchalantly, dipping his head back to the work on his desk to mask his own victorious smirk. “Don’t thank me yet. Save it for when we both get what we want.”

(Part 2)

[littlesislovesyou]

Atta girl~ I hope you soak your panties before you finally cum for me...do tell me all about you cumming later to all the filthy things I'd do to you without hesitation. Don't you feel like a pathetic mutt in heat for me when you do, hm? Humping your pillows in bed and imagining it to be my thighs instead? Imagining me urging you to cum for me, my darling puppy~ Cum for me hard baby...and then think of me mocking, teasing and degrading you for being such a needy slut and finger fucking your overstimulated pussy, further pushing you after cumming just once. Your owner's not satisfied yet, my pretty fuckpet...Now show me how excited you get for me, yeah? Good girl... 🤭🔪 (also do tell me if there are any limits to degrading words you want to be called or not. I don't want to make you feel anything but good and disgustingly horny when I tease and degrade you.)

I do my best to put my heart into getting you going in the same way you do to me and most likely in everyone else~ 🤫

I'm happy to hear from you too! Sorry I was a bit preoccupied today and the fear of dealing with the inevitable had been getting to me lol I'm feeling better rn hence the ask about to be sent and I hope you're feeling good and your day is going well too! <333 Ty though and when I wasn't preoccupied you were going through my mind too. It's hard not to when you're in my notifications all the time... stalking your every post when Tumblr tells me you make one~ 😌

Aww no you definitely wouldn't do that to me...You're my sweet, angelic and innocent sister you'd never think about doing such depraved things just to tease your big brother right? (You're so evil it's hot LOL) and I'm glad you noticed how I stay gender neutral when I wrote those sections. It's not an accident. Wasn't feeling like being called brother or daddy at the time. My mind's been like this for a while where it fluctuates what gives me dopamine to be called at the time and sometimes I'll be neutral because none do. It's not personal and it's not a matter of comfort? Like you wouldn't hurt me if you called me that on a day I wasn't feeling it. I'd just adjust it in writing for you subtly if that helps you know to be more blatant. Sorry if that's a bit frustrating to deal with. You don't have to really change anything up I just wanna let you know.

I love your teasing but I like you more...I look forward to punishing/rewarding your teasing with senselessly fucking your brains out and marking you with my knife as I make you my personal fleshlight 🖤

You are my needy slut now...all mine 💕

Ah I’m sorry to take so long to answer! I definitely didn’t mean to💓 I was giving myself a bit of a break, I’ve actually just been watching movies all night<3 I hope you had a great day! <3 I’ve missed you!

🥺🥺💓 agh! Yesss I definitely will be showing you hm<3 I can’t help it!! I love being your horny little puppy💓 ah you have just no idea how much I’m humping for you, just rubbing my needy pussy on everything I can because you just drive me absolutely wild, and honestly I have none, like I don’t really have any limits, especially lately 🥺💓 but if there ever is something I’ll tell you<3

I’m still thinking about you chipping me 😳💓 that one also just feeds into me being your puppy💕🫶 you’re such a good owner, chipping me so you always know where your puss- I mean your puppy is;’) 💓💓💓

Ah for you I definitely try a bit harder ;’) 💓

I’m glad you’re at least doing better 🩷 hopefully things get a little easier for you soon! I’m always here in the meantime and also would you prefer if I kept my responses gn? 🩷 I never wanna make you feel uncomfortable but I’m also very observant so I can always notice when you leave out pronouns, I never want you to feel bad for anything, or make you feel bad 🩷🫶 you’re always safe and welcome here <3

And ugh, why must you tease me so hm;’) always trying to ruin my panties, I guess it’s only fair especially when I keep you always going;’) I’m so glad you think of me though~ not gonna lie I find it hot you have my post notifications on, you just can’t help but stalk me and everything I do can you? ~ 🩷🩷🩷

[aleksanderscult]

Analyzing "Demon in the Wood" (book) - Part 3

(Part 1, Part 2, Part 4 and Part 5 🫶)

⚠️TW: BULLYING⚠️

I managed to squeeze more than 20 images in this (yay!🎉) so prepare yourselves for a loong meta this time.

That's both amazing and creepy.

Imagine being so ancient that you have actually met those figures. While children in the future were being told fairytales at night, the Darkling lived inside those fairytales. He was part of them.

(It's like saying: "Oh my favorite fairytale is Cinderella!" and a guy next to you says: "Oh that girl? Yeah, met her. Not as pretty as they all say". And in the meantime, the story of Cinderella takes place at 1600s💀💀)

Baba Anezka appeared in "Little Knife".

Petyr of Brevno is a freaking Saint. The patron of archers.

Magda of the Black Woods appeared in "The Witch of Duva" and is a Saint as well. The patroness of bakers and abandoned women.

And Eryk has met them. (let that sink in)

Besides that, the obvious secretive life of Grisha is so painfully clear that antis seem to purposefully miss it. They need to seek each other by listening to rumors and looking in secret while most Grisha try to not be found at all.

Antis: "The Darkling forced Grisha to become soldiers and go to war!!"

And then accuse us for not reading the books.🙂

Before the Little Palace was built, the Grisha had no lives, with dignity and normality. They were living hidden in whatever they could find. Nothing was "permanent", like Eryk said in the Graphic Novel, always on the move and in fear. Trying to not draw attention to themselves out of fear of being exiled, killed, imprisoned, sold, tortured or experimented on.

Then the Darkling convinced the then-King of Ravka to allow him to build a home for them (after going to war for him). And when the Darkling went to find the Grisha, they were afraid of coming out of their hiding.

What if it was a trap from the King? What if they were killed?

Very few went with him and became soldiers because it was the only way for Ravka to accept them. Ravka was constantly involved in wars, so for Grisha to be soldiers was the only acceptable position they could have in this kingdom.

So no, Aleksander didn't make them soldiers because he didn't care for their fates. But because there was literally no other duty they would be allowed to carry. Become traders? No one would board their ship. Instead they would be captured. Become merchants? No one would buy from them. Instead they would be killed. Soldiers? Well yeah, because with their powers they would prove that they could be trusted with the safety of the kingdom. A safety the otkazat'sya needed. To fight the wars that the First Army couldn't win. Becoming servants of the Crown was their only option (and yes, the Darkling was also a servant of the Crown).

Okay I got this out of my chest 😭

Eryk seems really resigned that things will change. He's thirteen and hope for a change is bleak for him. He has seen first hand how low Grisha are in the "food chain". An ethnic group forsaken by everyone else.

His love for animals is so cute!!

I just imagine him standing down hidden and admiring wild animals from afar.

He just wanted to satisfy his needs. Stay at one place and go exploring and looking for tigers.

(The Darkling with any animal: "I just think it's NEAT!")

Also, his mother's "lessons" really annoy him. And it seems they do this wherever they go and with whoever they meet(?). Nevertheless, Aleksander was a brilliant child that grew to become a clever tactician and leader. Whenever his plans didn't work out in the Grisha trilogy, it was because he was letting his heart and feelings rule over his mind (aka: the whole Alina situation).

Baghra: "Aww you seem to really grow accustomed with power"

Baghra when her son gained power and position: "HELLO?? 911??"

Besides Baghra's hypocrisy, LOOK AT MY BABY'S SARCASM

"Your true name is written here. Tattooed on your heart. You don't let just anyone read it." - DitW.

"I want you to know my name. The name I was given, not the title I took for myself. Will you have it Alina?" - Ruin and Rising.

He didn't let just anyone read it. Only to the girl he fell in love with. Perhaps he did it to gain her trust back. Or out of his love of her. Or because he thought of her worthy to know it. She proved to be strong and also caring. She wouldn't betray his trust and let others know it.

"It's my own name I'm afraid of forgetting." - DitW.

"Aleksander. A boy's name, given up. Almost forgotten." - Ruin and Rising.

Or perhaps she gave his name to her so it wouldn't be forgotten.

All his life, his mother kept telling him "Don't say your name anywhere. Just don't. Don't let them touch you. Don't."

And yet he allowed both to Alina. It's not about him forgetting what his mother had taught him. But giving in to his feelings out of a desire to love and to be loved.

He loves evergreens 🥺

And let's not forget that he loved the forests so much that he decorated his room with it:

"The chamber was hexagonal, its dark wood walls carved into the illusion of a forest crowded with slender trees." - Siege and Storm.

Leigh explained in a Tumblr ask why she had the Darkling's room decorated with trees. I'll repost it one day for you.

Oh! And here's a fanart of the Darkling's bedroom from the books:

(art by @feyspeaker)

Beautiful and way better than what we got in the show. 😍

"It felt like summer was still alive", is this confirmation that his favorite season is summer??

GUYS HE TRIES SO HARD 😭😭

The way he was socially awkward as a kid and no one talks about it. When you have your mom telling you to stay away from people and peers then you don't socialise that much and (after a while) you don't how to properly do it.

Is he supposed to be friendly?

Is he supposed to be aloof?

His mother's constant warnings have made him confused about how to talk with other children.

"He'd stopped trying to make friends"

So he was making efforts to make friends and play but Baghra fucked this up and then he simply stopped trying. Reminds me how Leigh said that after losing his lovers, he stopped trying to be in relationships.

*that's your cue to cry*

Eryk: "Great. Another day for other children to run screaming from me. Just another lovely morning."

SYLVI IS SOOO CUTE (another baby to adopt 🥹)

And Eryk's certainty that she will be afraid of him.

STOP!! STOP RIGHT NOW!!

He smiled with her innocent curiosity. She didn't run. She liked it. And he was so relieved.😭

That sneaky, little baby 🥹

OH NO STOP--

"He should be used to it by now"

He couldn't get used to people's aggressiveness towards him. It hurt him, bro 😭

I feel sorry for Annika, man

She's not my favorite character in this book but I find her one of the most intriguing ones.

She has seen things. Lev hasn't. It's probable that he spent all his life inside that camp. But he definitely hasn't seen the way drüskelle hunt Grisha. Annika has and the way she's so overprotective with her sister shows how she can't afford to lose someone else too 😔

The evil villain was ready to defend a little otkazat'sya girl that he barely knew from a bully that insulted her.

Yup. We must hate him.

That just confirms my previous thoughts about how some Grisha only let the strong ones inside their camps. They can't afford to take anyone in. They only need more strength and protection not just random people.

Of course it's a possibility that the Ulle allows them to live there because he feels sorry for them. Throwing out a family is no easy thing.

The way he seems to care for the underdogs. Perhaps because, even though he had great powers, he too felt like one.

How he wanted to sound like: "LEAVE US ALONE!!"

How he probably sounded like: "leave us alone, okay?"

The Darkling is confirmed that he was a victim of bullying as a child.

It's such a far cry from the man that is portrayed in the trilogy. As a child we see him defending two girls (one of them otkazat'sya), he was bullied, he seemed giddy in the prospect of having a stable home and friends and showed regret and sadness when an otkazat'sya village was destroyed. As an adult he's a terrifying leading figure that inspires loyalty and respect and rarely shows his emotions.

It seems that somewhere down the line he hardened his heart, matured and learned and repressed any emotion that could sabotage his plans and heart.

Fuck immortality.

And he's so worried that he fucked up his hopes to stay at camp. He always worries that he'll ruin things. That he's a failure and a disaster for his mother and her plans.

Also, the way he's so afraid that they will fear him and run away from him. He does it "warily" so he still hasn't gotten used that. 😔

SYLVI IS MY ADOPTED DAUGHTER

Look at her being all cute!! Instead of being frightened of him, she wants to be like him 😭

His surprise 😭

It's so clear that he isn't used to this kind of treatment.

Just imagine how many times he's heard Baghra's scoldings to the point that he already knows what he is about to hear from her.

He had one hope and now he thinks it vanished. And he blames himself. For the danger that he'll bring to himself and his mother. He's so hard with himself...🥺

“It was hard not to pull away”

MY HEART IS ACHING

HE JUST CRAVES LOVE

“The unfamiliar pressure of her palm against his”

The feeling of someone holding his hand is strange to him. He doesn't know the feeling and hasn't been accustomed to it.

He wants to trust her and keeps finding good things in her as if he's trying to find reasons to do it.

"He had so many secrets. It felt good to share one"

So, contrary to popular belief, I don't think the Darkling was thriving and cheering inside of him for having so many secrets in TGT. Secrets are burdens you have to carry. He gave a personal one to Alina (his name) and he revealed some of his plans to her in S&B and S&S. He was a secretive person because he had to (and because he wanted to be one step ahead) but not because he enjoyed it.

That could have been the beginning of a beautiful friendship (or even a future cute romance, who can say?) but, alas, Grisha were living shit lives and were too desperate and scared.

(More in part 4)

[phykios]

Review: "We Visit the Garden Gnome Emporium"; "I Plunge to my Death"; "A God Buys Us Cheeseburgers"

Hey y'all! I'm back. It took a while to write this review, and not just because I had a busy holiday season. The more I tried to consider episodes 3 and 4, the more I realized that a lot of my critiques of them were things I had already touched on in the last two–poor exposition, bad lighting, rushed plot, etc–and so it felt a little redundant to say the same thing all over again. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on how annoying you find me), episode 5 was such a cut above over the rest of the season, I finally have new things to say! With that in mind, the format of this review will be a little different, as I will compare the episodes side by side, rather than consider each one individually. 

For a brief, brief recap, the three episodes follow fairly similar plot beats: the trio travels a little, meets a mythological being that tries to mess with their heads, then they all try to sacrifice themselves for the good of the quest before figuring out an alternate way to win. This isn’t a criticism, by the way–the book chapters have similar formats, and repetitive framing is a great way of demonstrating character growth. And of course, there’s no better way to spruce up a travel montage with a little lore dump. 

What makes for effective exposition? It’s a delicate balancing act between making sure that the information you need to get across gets to the viewer, but not letting them know that you’ve done it. “Show, don’t tell” is the most common expository technique, and for good reason–information is better retained and more effective when it’s not delivered to you like someone reading off cue cards. And it’s most effective when it’s withheld until just the right moment. PJO TV is not… great at this. It’s mostly little things, one-off little lines, like Luke saying “I’m the best swordsman” or “Annabeth is the smartest,” but there are some more egregious examples, mostly with Chiron explaining the world to Percy. This, I get, and it’s not like Riordan did it that much more elegantly in the books. But I’m more annoyed about Luke info-dumping than anybody else.  

I was re-reading The Lightning Thief for several reasons, and one of the things about Luke is that he keeps things very close to the chest. It’s partly to conceal his villainy, but it also makes sense from a psychological standpoint, hiding his emotions not only to keep everyone from finding out the truth about him, but also to recruit kids for the upcoming war. Luke only opens up about what happened to him and Thalia once: at the very end of the book, just before he tries to kill Percy. It’s a powerful moment–the specter of Thalia haunts Percy throughout the book, the ideal of a hero he’s afraid he’ll never be able to measure up to, and we find out that she’s been haunting Luke as well, but for very different reasons. (She haunts the TV show as well, which I like very much–I just hope it pays off!) We are shown hints of his darker side earlier, but withholding the heel turn until now, and pairing it with the first time we see him actually talk about himself, is part of what makes this scene so good and so heinous at the same time. The first time we get glimpses of Luke’s true self, his motivations and what drives him, is the same moment where he crosses the line. And in the meantime, TV!Luke just lets it all hang out. 

Consider: 

Before camp, I was on the road. Me and a forbidden kid I met along the way. Her name was Thalia… A long time ago, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades agreed their children were becoming too powerful, so they made a pact not to father any more. And it held for a long time, until Zeus broke that pact. Until Thalia. A forbidden kid attracts trouble. Monsters everywhere, it's just a constant battle to stay alive. One day, we, uh, find this little girl hiding in an alley. Annabeth. We were worried about taking her in, exposing her to all that danger. Then we saw her fight. Thalia didn't make it. But Annabeth and me... we did. And we've been family ever since… Annabeth is the strongest warrior in camp. The only way left to prove herself is to go on a quest. [S1E2, “I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom”]

Why is he saying all this? Is it for Percy’s benefit, or the audience’s? What does this reveal about Luke’s character? What about this monologue reveals what Luke actually thinks about the pact, or Thalia’s death, or even Annabeth? We’re told he sees her like family, but what does he do to show us? 

For contrast, here’s Ares’ lore dump a few episodes later:

You're new to the family, young one, so let me fill you in on how we work. See, years before I was born, my grandpa Kronos ate my aunts and uncles. Yeah. Then my dad made him puke them back up, then chopped him into a million pieces and chucked 'em into a bottomless pit, so that kinda set the tone right outta the gate. Olympians fight. We betray. We backstab. We will push anyone down a flight of stairs to get ahead. And that's why I love my family so much. My dad knows he's not getting this bolt back with quests or goose chases. He knows there's a war coming. And in reality, I think he's okay with that. I think he feels it's just time for a war, so we're gonna have a war. Isn't that great? [S1E5, “A God Buys Us Cheeseburgers”]

What does this reveal about Ares’ character? That he loves violence, and that the threat of war is exciting. That he doesn’t exactly hold his family in high regard. That this is something that is central to who the gods are. All of this is supported by Adam Copeland’s performance, which is flippant, funny, and immature. The details work in concert to show us who Ares is and what he wants, all without ever having him say it out loud. 

For all of its clumsiness, though, I actually really like Grover’s little monologue about the nature of questing as we follow the kids into New York City in episode 3. It has a very Fellowship of the Ring vibe (which I’m pretty sure is deliberate) which fits on a meta-level too, with Percy Jackson in conversation with epic stories of the past.

But you know what wasn’t in conversation with the past? The shortest Medusa battle ever recorded. 

I’m being a little hyperbolic for comedy’s sake, but genuinely I hated the Medusa fight. Not the Medusa backstory–sidestepping the sexual assault in a middle-grade book was the correct choice, and it’s not like a post-#MeToo Medusa is a shocking or novel idea–but not only should the fight have been at least twice as long, it was missing a full fourth of the mythological ingredients. The mythical Perseus has four gifts: the sword, the mirror shield, the helm of invisibility, and the winged sandals. The book reinterprets the shield as a glass ball. And the show doesn’t use it at all. Is this a nitpicky critique? Maybe. But some of Percy Jackson’s strongest moments are the reinterpretation of mythological scenes, and for those to work, you should incorporate the key details. 

Also, again, cannot stress this enough, it was way too short. At least the Echidna fight scene had some blocking involved. And acting. 

Speaking of acting, I will say that it’s very consistently well done. I think the kids are more than holding their own against the adults, and they walk the line between playing maturity and still being young very well, which is a very difficult thing to do. In fact, rarely is the acting ever a problem. Because, once again, it’s the writing that makes it fall short. 

Let’s do another comparison: Percy sending off Medusa’s head and Percy and Annabeth with Hephaestus’ chair. One is from the books, and one is new. Both are given the appropriate amount of weight in the episode’s runtime. Both are well-acted, well-blocked, well-scored. But the new scene feels out of place to me. Part of the problem is that, being a scene lifted from the books, Percy sending off Medusa’s head feels earned and supported by the material of the last few episodes. He’s pissed at his dad for ignoring him, and pissed that the gods are forcing him to do all this nonsense for reasons he only barely understands. Of course he’s going to foist a magical WMD on them. 

But the chair scene doesn’t have that prior support. Consider: 

Eat or be eaten. Power and glory and nothing else matters. Ares is that way, Zeus is that way, my mother is that way. He isn't that way. He's better than that. Maybe I was that way once. But I don't wanna be that way anymore. I won't be like all of you. I just won't. [S1E5, “A God Buys Us Cheeseburgers”]

In a vacuum, this would be a great scene. Walker’s fear is palpable and real, and Leah delivers a heartfelt performance in anguish at her friend’s supposed fate. That’s all well and good, except that these characters have known each other for… what, three days? A week? And for all her talk of glory, Annabeth dispensed with that idea pretty much right out the gate, as she killed a Fury rather than hand Percy over to Alecto. She tries to sacrifice herself for the quest all the time. What power and glory is she seeking? 

This is an excellent scene that unfortunately doesn’t belong in this season. This scene, as my dear @frenchswissborder pointed out, does not belong after the Thrill Ride of Love (before the Zoo Truck scene as well!) but instead feels like it should be in the Battle of the Labyrinth’s Mt. St Helen confession scene. Putting it there at least would build on three years of friendship, rather than a handful of days of not annoying each other. 

I don’t mind new scenes. I want new scenes. If I wanted a one-to-one adaptation, I’d just read the books again. But the new scenes have to matter. They have to bring something new to the table. Let me put it this way: when The Lightning Thief musical said, “Fuck it, Cerberus is a DJ,” it was both leaning into its own medium as musical theater and riffing on the idea of the underworld being under a recording studio. When PJO TV says, “Fuck it, exposition time,” it feels like they’re reading off Mythomagic card stats. 

What makes an adaptation great, in my opinion, is how well it speaks to the subtext of the original work. The musical is excellent at this, in particular how it uses the conventions of musical theater to highlight the parallels between Percy and Luke by giving them variations on the same “I Want” song. Where PJO TV shines is how it speaks to the subtext of abusive adults. Abuse of children is sadly not always so obvious, and I like how the Mist lets Alecto, Echidna, and Ares act pretty much with impunity. They are predators, and they are able to move without fear of detection. This even applies to Medusa, too, having her pretend to offer Percy a way out, when she really is only interested in herself and her needs. 

But, as the show tends to do, this only causes the story to kneecap itself by neutering Gabe as an abusive figure. I understand why it is this way, as book Sally, for all her kind and loving nature, wasn’t exactly written with a backbone. Part of this, I assume, is just that The Lightning Thief was published in 2005, and that a) the conversation around intimate partner abuse simply was not in the mainstream, and b) Riordan just got better at female characters over time. So the trade-off is that by making Sally a more formidable, dynamic character in the show, they had to dial down Gabe’s uglier, abusive nature–which is going to be really awkward in a few episodes when Sally kills him just for the crime of being annoying. 

Stray thoughts: 

Just taking a moment here to say that I think the set design has been really gorgeous so far. Shout out in particular to the attic in the Big House!

I’m only just noticing this now, but the trunk of Thalia’s pine tree looks like there’s a human in there–bent knee, arms outstretched, head bowed–and I think that’s awesome. 

The idea of monsters sensing a demigod’s weakness and responding to that is so good, and I’m taking it. 

Earlier versions of this review had a long and annoying rant about Medusa’s origins, so allow me to tl;dr: there is no original Medusa myth. Ovid’s Medusa myth in Metamorphoses comes about 800 years after Hesiod’s Theogony, which comes after Homer’s Iliad. It’s not a question of Ovid against Hesiod against Homer, it’s a question of these authors plus thousands of pieces of pottery depicting hundreds of variations on the Medusa myth, and we cannot definitively say which one is the source of the myth. That said, I don’t dislike a #MeToo Medusa, I just mostly hate the discourse around it.

It’s nice to see some architecture nerd Annabeth, but between the way the show glosses over it, and the lack of crippling arachnophobia, her character is being reduced too much to “prideful” for my tastes. It’s not that Annabeth isn’t prideful, obviously, it’s just that she has more dimension to her than the show is currently presenting. 

Annabeth and Grover throwing water on Percy like a beached whale is very funny, but it did make me realize that they haven’t introduced nectar/ambrosia in the show. Maybe they’re saving it for the finale? 

Ares calling them all cousins makes me extremely happy. This was something that Riordan did in the early books, but he kind of petered off, presumably so as not to imply weird pseudo-incestuous things once Percabeth started, but I always loved it.

I’m saving the Percy and Annabeth relationship breakdown until after the season, but it is coming! (But I am sad that “seaweed brain” came out of nowhere :( we just rolled right over it!)

The lighting is really bad, especially in the dark, and I am learning to live with it, but I am not happy about it. 

Aryan is the breakout actor of the trio, in my opinion. Playing awkward is so, so easy to overdo, but he brings a sincerity and a quickwittedness to Grover that I absolutely adore–he’s a sweet kid, and he’s clearly scared, but he knows when to summon his courage and do the brave thing for him and his friends. 

Also here are some screencaps that I like. They don’t have anything to do with the review, I just think they’re neat :3 (IDs/thots in the alt)

[loulines]

June 21st, 2020. We were in the middle of the first wave of a global pandemic, the entire world turned upside down.

Season 7 of The Clone Wars ended less than two months before. And on that day I did something that would forever change my life.

I joined a rexsoka group chat.

It was a small group, since Tumblr group chats weren't really big to begin with. And it was rexsoka, after all, I remember when we had only about 300 fics on AO3 at the time. I remember being very anxious about joining because I felt that I'm not gonna fit in and no one would like me.

If only I knew...

That moment was the beginning of the biggest rollercoaster of my life, full of both the happiest, and the most heartbreaking memories.

The group chat moved to Discord well before Tumblr removed the bugged and broken feature, to the server owned by the most amazing person I have ever known. The members joined and left, but a portion of the OG members have become my closest friends. We shared secrets with each other that we'd never share with anyone else, we joked, laughed, argued... But we'd still stick together, even if we spent less time interacting.

In the meantime I started drawing again, after being art blocked for years. Even though I will never get close to the most popular artists in the fandom, I was still shocked at the amount of feedback I've received. I will be forever grateful for that.

Then I moved on from reading fics to writing my own stories, and I even collabed on a fic, which I never thought I would do. It was amazing.

Over those 3 years I've done things I never would've expected myself to do before.

Both good and horrible things...

Now, 3 years later, on June 21st, 2023...

I don't know what I'm doing anymore... I don't know who I am anymore. I don't know what to believe in anymore...

I kept hurting people, especially those closest to me, and I kept hurting myself.

Those anniversaries were always very important to me, because it was about meeting my dear friends.

But this anniversary...

I will spend attending my very first therapist appointment.

I don't even know what to expect from it, I'm beyond terrified. I'm terrified of the things I have to confess to them. I'm terrified of sharing my story and my problems with them because those memories make my heart bleed. I'm terrified of the diagnosis I might get or that the only "diagnosis" I will get will be the fact that I'm fucked up and just a terrible person in general.

But I have to do it. It's not only for myself, but in the majority it is. Because the only other option I have left would result in my name being put on my grave...

I don't know what will happen on the 4th anniversary. I no longer look into the future with anticipation. The past seems so distant nowadays and the present... Just is.

I want to thank everyone who's left a like, a comment, or a reblog on my posts. I'd like to thank each and every of my followers. I'd especially like to thank all my friends, the ones still around for still putting up with my bullshit, and to those I cannot talk to anymore, for putting up with my bullshit in the past. Thank you for the amazing memories.

And I'm sorry for all the trouble and drama I've caused.

I hope you guys stay healthy.

Maybe once I fix my mental health I'll go back to drawing and writing. And I'll stop being so overdramatic in my posts. And in my life as well.

x

[whataperfectwasteoftime]

It's 2024!

Oh hi! I know I haven't been around much. I've gone back to my favorite pastime: lurking without interacting in any meaningful way. However, despite having the flu all week this week (or perhaps because of, since I've done little else but sleep and sit on the couch), I've done a lot of thinking. Thinking backward and reviewing my progress over the past year, and thinking ahead to what I want to accomplish in the next.

I'm not a New Year's Resolution type of gal, but for the last two years, with the encouragement of my therapist, I've set an intention. Last year's intention was Joy, and despite facing a lot of mental health challenges (mostly because of the work I've been doing in therapy, which has been A Lot), I think I've done a lot of small things that have embodied Joy:

I bought myself not one, but TWO stuffed animals, just for me.

I've stayed pretty consistent with journaling, mostly by rewarding myself with stickers from a 500-count box.

I've painted lots of "Joy" sunflowers for myself and friends as reminders.

I've prioritized self-care and have made pretty big strides in the way I talk to myself about myself.

I adopted a guinea pig.

I've also done a LOT of trauma processing over the past year, which has been helpful, but also incredibly taxing on my mental health. I'm to the point where I feel like I've re-hashed the past to death, and I'm ready to skip to the good part, where I live my present as a healthy, happy individual. That being the case, my intention for the year is:

Discovery

A lot of this intention is going to be focused on self-discovery, which I won't go into here. But let me finally get down to the lede I've definitely buried, and that's what it means for my writing.

I am also going to focus on *discovering* new hobbies, new talents, and new stories.

What does that mean? Well, my biggest goal this year is to start writing Lavish again. I'd added quite a bit of backstory to the original fic when I first started kicking around the idea of turning a few of my fics into novels. I've got a full outline, with what I hope is a coherent and compelling plot, and all that remains is, uh... *checks notes* ...writing it.

It's funny that I've gotten so incredibly fatigued over what was once my most popular story on this site, but for the last couple of years I've wanted to write anything but Lavish. Now that I've taken an extended break, though, I hope that I can fall in love with it all over again.

In the meantime, Control is still out there to purchase! I've been pretty absent (okay, completely absent) from my author socials, but I'm hoping to pop back in with no preamble at some point and actually try to promote my work.

Thanks to all of you for sticking around with me <3 I hope everyone has a wonderful year ahead.

[ricksoo]

Does anyone got some minute to spare?

You can scroll down or check other stuff if you want

Yea? You got minutes to spare? Nice!

Ok so

*INHALES*

...

Even till the end of 2022 there were times where we had both positive moments and negative moments

But do y'all know what do they have in common?

Experience.

We mostly get our motivations there.

Yes you heard it, we get our motivations from BOTH positive and negative moments

I mean... without it, how are we supposed to find motivations?

It would be like having equipments without the knowledge to use it

Honestly that sounds kinda sad.

Straight to the point, I'm thankful for everyone who gave me moments regardless of whether it's positive ones or negative ones.

... Screw it I'm saying it.

Especially you @crepetwo

You told me how stupid I am

You told me how clumzy I am

YOU TOLD ME HOW FORGETFUL I AM.

YOU EVEN TOLD ME WHAT A SORE LOSER I AM....

But even though I assumed that is a joke... (hopefully)

I take that personally.

I'll keep that in mind and I'll try to improve my mistakes or habits that I've made.

I know this really sounds cap and fake

But believe me

Without any insults from her,

I'll never realize my mistakes.

And just so happens I realized that 3 months after we became friends lmao

Again thank you everyone for giving me moments that I usually never experience without tumblr

Before I finish let me just say one last thing:

"Don't change your prime-self."

Hope y'all have a nice year for 2023!

... Oh you're still here?

That's funny, I thought everyone left the post already.

Oh well you can stay here if you want.

But idk what to say so suit yourself

... Huh.

You really have nothing else to do eh

Either that or you're just here to read something secretive.

Secrettive? Secreteve? Idk how to spell ae.

... Ok I really gotta go now

Have fun staying here without me.

Though... in the meantime,

You can follow @mewtales blog if you want

That is the main reason why I wrote all that stuff.

Ok I really got nothing else to say

Follow it or just leave.

Don't say I didn't tell ya to leave.

Ok this is getting ridiculous.

What do you want from me???

I know I'm patient but not THAT patient.

Ok would you leave if I tell you a fun fact?

Promise?

Ok you better leave after this.

Crepetwo is my best friend in both tumblr and roblox.

There you happy? You can leave now.

Ok I give up.

You win.

You stayed here longer than me congrats

Are you proud of yourself?

Heh, I can bet you really do.

After all I am a patient person.

Not guaranteed btw.

Anyways have a nice 2022 year and

LEAVE.

What do you expect from me

[thebigshotman]

Hello once again everyone! Still been busy IRL, between working on newspaper articles now that I’m a freelancer and helping get our pool finally up and running as well as other yard work. I’m fairly certain I’ll be actually able to come back within the next couple of days, however, so stay tuned for the threads I owe and a few other things! Hopefully no bad surprises happen 🤞🏻

In the meantime, remember those movies I was reviewing that I saw in film class that I just…completely forgot about? Well, under the cut you’ll find my paragraph long thoughts on the rest of the ones that I saw! Kind of a little thing I’ve been meaning to do for a while to hold you guys over til then. If anyone wants my full thoughts just ask and I will gladly give them.

Quick PSA because there’s another Woody Allen movie down there (yeah my teacher likes him despite everything I guess 🤷‍♀️) please do not come after me because I judged it objectively and separated the art from the artist while viewing. With that out of the way, here they are!

And also a very happy belated birthday to @hxzelwallflower before the cut 🥳🥳 Sorry I’ve been busy IRL and I couldn’t send anything with Spaul to celebrate. But I hope you had a very happy birthday nonetheless!

Network-The one with the “mad as hell” and “you will atone” rants! Everything about this one just kind of broke me, especially as some one who’s going into broadcasting/media herself. Back then, it was a satire, but now it’s practically a documentary; everyone was amazing, and the story had no trouble keeping me entertained. My only gripes were a couple of scenes that reminded me of the more…interesting scenes in Annie Hall that didn’t age well. I highly, highly recommend renting this one! You will not be disappointed; top 5 movies that I saw in this class for sure.

Apocalypse Now-The one with “the horror”; this one also broke me, but not in a good way. This 3 hour long half-action film half-snuff film goes out of its way to brutalize you with the horrors of the Vietnam war and war in general, and it’s something else, alright. I’m not going to get political, but this thing makes me hate war and needless conflict more than I already do. I would never watch this thing again, at least not for fun. However, if you’re interested, I watched the theatrical cut, so check it out if war films are your thing. TW for violence and an animal killing on screen towards the end, though: This movie pulls no punches.

Crimes and Misdemeanors-The one where a guy orders a killing and has an existential crisis about it until he suddenly doesn’t…yeah, this is the Woody Allen one. My feelings are more conflicted about this one compared to the other one of his we watched; on one hand, both of the stories it presents are compelling and compliment each other. One is the drama and the other the comic relief, with the lead of each meeting during the ending in a moment that genuinely felt like a superhero crossover for me and a lot of other people in the class; however, the transitions between them aren’t exactly smooth, leading to frequent whiplash. The aforementioned existential crisis is very well done, though. I’m a sucker for jazz, so the music choice was stellar, and the comedy was pretty good but a few jokes did not age well.

If you’re even vaguely interested in watching this thing I will link you to a YT playlist of it in 15 parts-please do NOT, under any circumstance, support this man by renting it and giving him your money. All in all, though, it was alright! Definitely not as good as Annie, though.

Everything Everywhere All At Once (we were supposed to watch Schindler’s List but we didn’t)-The one I won’t shut up about 😅. Third time’s the charm with this one; what can I say about it that I can fit in three sentences and hasn’t been said already? Every single actor is remarkable, the special effects are amazing and throughly believable for being made by a team of seven, the story is wacky, raunchy, and goes to a million different places, but it’s also a story about a mother and a daughter. Jobu is one of the best antagonists I’ve seen since I first discovered JJBA, and I relate to her and Joy’s struggle to be seen and accepted. To say anymore would spoil it: Please, no matter what film Twitter or anyone else says about this thing, go and at least attempt to watch it. Assuming you aren’t overwhelmed or turned off by the humor-which is perfectly okay-I promise you will love it.

“Please, be kind. Especially when we don’t know what’s going on.”

That thing is going on my tombstone lol 🤣