#like its so fascinating! and it feels so different than analyzing a tv show or smth bc these are real ppl and they dont fit into a specific

[phlondie]

but also okay adding to that last post bc my tags got waaaayyy too long, i really do think its interesting to see how the dynamic between dan and phil and their fanbase has shifted post-coming out

bc i wasnt super invested in them before interactive introverts so sometimes i’ll go back to old dnp moments and realize like man... some people *really* disrespected their boundaries. like yeah that full time internet homo moment was funny, but you know how it happened bc dan had just read the word “homo” in the chat? like.... its wild to think people were actually taking the time to watch these liveshows and fucking calling dan slurs. i feel like we’ve moved worlds away to where they give us a lot of leeway to say whatever tf we want on stereo bc they feel confident enough that shit like that wont happen anymore (and i do think they have a moderator to screen things beforehand but still)

and i really do think the change started during interactive introverts, not necessarily just after they came out. I think it was something about realizing how much older we were than they expected, and how many of us are queer too, and ofc i really dont know what the demographics of their fanbase was back in like 2014 when i started watching them but i think the stereotype was that their only fans were 12 year old straight girls (which is also fine btw! but i do think it changes things to realize that their fanbase has a lot more in common w them in terms of age and queerness. but i also dont think being a young straight fan is wrong or automatically makes them unimportant)

anyway sometimes i think about all those old moments and i feel so uncomfortable imagining what they thought of their fanbase, how they felt they were perceived, and ik dan talked about that in BIG. so its really nice to have clear confirmation that they dont like hate us after all of that (not to homogenize all of us ofc) bc honestly if i’d gone through what they had, i might want to step out of the spotlight forever, or at least distance myself from youtube.

and okay theres def something to be said for it being lowkey unhealthy to be genuinely validated for some celebrities who dont know me to say that they enjoy doing liveshows where they can interact w us, or even making content that they know we like (as in joint content, like ik their solo stuff is fine but they know and we know most of us are primarily here for joint content).

idk where im going w this, its just honestly fascinating to think about dan and phil as like, a textbook case study on how stan culture manifests (in bad ways and good ones and some gray area in between)

[heroesmakingbadchoices]

a little introduction!

I’m a firm believer that it is reductive to judge a comic book adaptation based on the extent to which it stays faithful to the source material. Instead, I think it makes way more sense to consider it along two separate axes: how it functions as an adaptation and how well it works as a new, separate project. 

This feels important for a few reasons: adaptations into a new medium are not necessarily meant only to appeal to the audience of the original source material. Fans of the source material and creators alike want movies and tv shows to find purchase with a larger non-comic book reading audience as well. 

With comic book adaptations specifically, comics are a notoriously inaccessible medium. Iconic characters have been around for decades, they often appear across multiple books written by distinct writers simultaneously. Individual plot points regularly get retconned or the entire universe gets reset by the company. This makes comics a) hard to get into and b) hard to follow. Even if you are a comic book fan, based on when and what you’ve read, you might have an entirely different conceptualization of a character than someone else even if both of you are drawing upon the same “canon.” This makes the idea of a “faithful adaptation” especially complicated. Faithful to which iteration of the character exactly? Older comics especially are often wrought with problematic elements from racist, sexist, or homophobic tropes to willful exclusion of marginalized demographics from their storytelling.

Thirdly, fans want to be surprised. If every MCU film was a cut and dry adaptation of a storyline from the comics, there wouldn’t be the culture of speculation and anticipation that currently drives the fandom. 

That’s not to say it’s not worth it to measure comic book movies and tv series up against the comics they’re drawing from. I think part of the fun of superhero fandom culture in particular is that when we look at movies, we are not only seeing them for what they are. By having knowledge of the source material, we also get to analyze them for what they could have been. We get to see the storytelling avenues or characterization or worldbuilding aspects that the filmmakers, for one reason or another, chose not to include and that’s so consistently fascinating. 

All this to say, on this blog I plan to consider adaptions along both axes. A film can be a good movie and a bad adaptation simultaneously. To just consider the way its working in only one of these respects feels like a disservice. 

If that’s something you’re interested in too, feel free to follow! I’d be glad to have you along.

[retrievablememories]

a strange love | yuta (m)

title: a strange love pairing: alien!yuta x black!reader genre: sci-fi/fantasy, fluff, angst, smut request: “I read a good chunk of your NCT work and really liked them. Would I be able to request a fic where a black female reader meets an alien (can be Yuta or Jungwoo) and they're both coming to terms that they're attracted to each other and have to come to terms with being attracted to someone of a different species? Can be smutty and don't be afraid to give the alien a less human biology if you don't mind.” word count: 13.1k warnings: alcohol use, cursing, near drowning experience, lots of mentions of water so this one might not mesh well with people w/ aquaphobia, non-human biology/body horror, extraterrestrial sex, lots of cum, oral sex (female receiving), tentacle dick, unprotected sex, creampie, please heed the warnings because this is an alien smutfic lmao a/n: giving the shape of water teas. i’ve actually never seen that movie 😕 but i will at some point. forgive me in advance for the nerdy references in here.

It’s funny how things happen when you least expect it. You never would’ve thought you’d be sound asleep when your entire world changed.

The night the UFO crashes in your city, you’re awoken by the tremors of its landing. The vibrations feel akin to an earthquake, and they make picture frames and other trinkets fall off your shelves and hit the floor in a clatter of noise. You jump up from your pillow at the racket, your heart pounding. You glance at the things lying on your floor and quickly register that the room—your entire home—is trembling.

There’s not much you can do at this point but ride it out, so you huddle down in your covers and hope the roof doesn’t cave in on your head. To your knowledge, your particular area isn’t known for earthquakes, which makes all of this even stranger. What could be causing one now? Is the world finally ending?

Eventually, the tremors stop. By now, your shelves have been emptied of nearly all their contents, but you’re still alive, which you’re grateful for. You wait a few more minutes to see if the shakes will begin again, but they don’t, so you climb out from the warmth of your covers to clean up your floor.

Police and ambulance sirens start blaring through the city not long after you get out of bed. That’s nothing unusual; there are usually injuries and casualties with natural disasters like these, and you expect many poor souls will be needing rescue tonight. You sigh and look at your closed blinds, watching them be sporadically illuminated by the lights of the emergency vehicles rushing past.

Once you’ve cleaned up your room and gotten back in bed, you think about checking social media for what people have been saying about the quake. There’s no doubt that the city’s residents have taken to Twitter and Instagram to document it. However, your eyelids are already starting to droop, and you’d probably fall asleep in the middle of scrolling, so you decide to tuck in and wait until morning.

Waking up the next day almost seems like a normal Sunday until you look at your blinds again and are suddenly reminded of last night’s flashing lights. Right. The earthquake. Throwing the covers back, you stumble out of bed to turn on your TV. You flip through the channels until you find a news station for your local area. You go to open the blinds, keeping your ears open for reports on the earthquake.

“Last night, we experienced unprecedented seismic activity throughout the majority of the city, caused by what appears to be an unidentified flying object, otherwise known as a UFO—”

Huh?

You turn to the TV, thinking this must be some kind of ridiculous hoax. You get ready to reach for the remote, thinking you must have turned it to one of those parody news channels by accident, but you freeze at what you see. Video footage of the city center—or what used to be the city center—plays on the screen. In place of the large historical monument that used to stand there, there’s a huge...silver and black spaceship. Or at least you think it’s a ship. It apparently sustained major damage in the landing, and now it looks more like a hunk of melted metal. The area around it has been blasted clear in every direction. Instead of green grass and pavement, there’s nothing but dirt.

The area is blocked off with yellow tape, though hundreds of people have gathered at the location to check out the object and take pictures and videos of it.

“What the fuck…” you whisper to yourself.

“We’re currently unsure where this UFO originated from, though we can confirm that it is not affiliated with any aircraft fleets owned by the U.S. military. Researchers and scientists from top universities across the country are being called in to assist in identifying this craft…”

“There’s no just way,” you mutter, grabbing your shower cap and pulling clothes out of your closet for your morning shower. “A UFO...guess that alien invasion is coming sooner than we thought.” You would like to believe it’s all just someone playing a terrible prank, but pulling off this level of theatrics is impossible.

After you get out of the shower and start making breakfast for yourself, you get a text from one of your coworkers, Alex.

10:30 A.M. Alex🍸 You seeing this shit on the news right now?

10:31 A.M. Obviously! It’s fucking wild. Do you really think it’s true? OR some elaborate government hoax? Anything’s possible. I’m betting “true,” but...

10:33 A.M. Alex🍸 I honestly don’t know. that’s why me and some of the others from work are about to head over there now. Wanna come?

10:34 A.M. The hell! I’ll pass. There could be all types of radiation n shit, I’m not tryna turn into the Green Lantern or the Hulk or somebody.

10:35 A.M. Alex🍸 lmFAO. Suit ypurself. If I gain superpowers don’t be surprised if I fly over to your house today.

10:35 A.M. You’re a mess. 💀

You spend breakfast watching more news reports and scrolling through Twitter feeds for firsthand information. People who visited the site, including your coworkers, have uploaded pictures of the UFO from various angles, inciting a frenzy of conspiracy theories and warnings that the world is about to end.

You don’t know what to make of the situation, but it stays on your mind throughout the day as you leave the house and go about completing your usual errands. The city center has been blocked off to all vehicles other than those belonging to people who’ve been called in to help, which means that traffic is sky-high everywhere else—even for a Sunday.

Sitting in a mishmash of cars, you roll down your window and sigh, looking out at the red traffic lights, and beyond that to the horizon. Things are about to get very weird for the next few weeks. Maybe months. You can only hope you’re prepared for it.

You don’t know why, but the air seems strange tonight.

It’s been 2 days since the UFO crashed. There haven’t been many more answers apart from what everyone already knows due to the ship’s destroyed state. The city has professionals out for that sort of thing, but they’re taking their sweet time analyzing the ship—though you can’t really blame them. Jumping straight into unknown alien tech seems like a death wish.

Your life has been pretty much the same as usual, though you know a few people at work who have been more directly affected by the events. One girl, Sooyoung, who lives in the neighborhood near the crash site claims the officials are thinking about having that entire area evacuate, though you don’t know why they’re beating around the bush about it if it’s true. Whatever radiation or chemicals they’re worried about has probably already leached into all the surrounding homes, and now you’re just waiting for someone to walk into your workplace with antlers or purple skin.

Admittedly, you’re morbidly curious about the case and what all of this could mean for Earth’s future, but you keep your fascination lowkey. You don’t need any of your coworkers thinking you’re the next alien-obsessed Mulder from X-Files. But then again, you’re not curious enough to visit the actual scene, so maybe you’re not the crazy one here.

You feel fine when you get home from work that day, but as you get washed up and settle into your usual evening routine, you can’t shake the eeriness gripping your subconscious. It’s not necessarily a bad feeling, either, just...foreign. Like an emotion you’ve never felt before, though you didn’t know there were even still new emotions to discover. Shaking your head, you figure maybe you should lay off the alien stuff for the rest of the week.

Before you head to bed that night, you go around the house making sure all the doors and windows are locked as you normally do. You pause at the backdoor for a reason you can’t explain, and the strange feeling grows stronger. At this point, you’re a bit frightened about what this is all about, but you can’t go to sleep without knowing. Curiosity takes over as you open the blinds and stare into the darkness of your backyard.

You don’t see anything right away. There are trees, bushes, your potted plants, and lawn chairs...everything looks normal. It’s only when you lean closer to the glass to squint that you see a figure lying in the grass. You jump once you catch sight of it, terrified that some monster or murderer has found their way onto your property. There was nothing there earlier when you closed the blinds, so whoever or whatever it is must’ve recently showed up.

You’re about ready to dial 911 when you realize the figure is curled in the fetal position and unmoving...almost like they’re unconscious. Or dead.

This is ridiculous. You feel like one of those people who always dies first in the horror movies because they went into the room the killer was obviously hiding in, but you’re overcome with the strong impulse to step outside. You grip the doorknob tightly, debating whether you should unlock it or not.

“...Fuck. Don’t let me regret this.”

You open the door with your phone in hand, the device serving as your flashlight. There’s still the screen door to get through, which you pause at for a moment. The figure remains unmoving even with the sound of the door opening.

“Hello?!” You call out to the individual, but there’s no response. Your phone’s light can’t reach them from there, which forces you to open the screen door and step out onto the porch. They’re still feet away, but from this closer distance, it seems like they’re wearing a sort of armor or full-body suit...maybe like a cosplay?

“Hope this isn’t some weirdo weeb passed out on my lawn…” you mutter, cautiously stepping onto the grass. As you approach, you can see now that the figure is likely male, though their back is to you so you can’t be totally sure. “Um, hello there? Can you hear me?” No response.

By now, you are only a few feet away from them. The person looks to be an Asian guy, with long blonde hair haloing his face. His features are angular and smooth, and he is indeed wearing some kind of body armor, its color unlike anything you’ve seen. Instead of being all one hue or even a few, it reflects the light from your phone and glows with a rainbow-like phosphorescence. The material itself looks translucent, but you can’t see through it; it creates a mind-bending optical illusion.

Your stomach suddenly drops to your feet. Is this who was in that UFO in the city center? It seems too out-there to be true, but your intuition is telling you otherwise. This can’t be fucking real.

You kneel on the wet grass next to the man and try to look for signs of life. You can hear his breathing, so he’s thankfully not dead. But he doesn’t look to be in good shape, either. He definitely won’t be able to get up on his own; he probably used the last of his energy to drag himself into your yard.

“Damn.” You turn the flashlight off and slip your phone into your sweatpants pocket. It seems like there’s no other options right now. You could call the police, but they’d probably accuse you of being in cahoots with this weird dude and drag you off to jail. Or they could cart him off for government experimentation, which sounds equally terrible. So with those things in mind, you gently maneuver his upper body until you’re able to hook your arms under his armpits and drag him towards your house.

You just really hope none of your nosy neighbors are seeing this right now.

He’s surprisingly light, and you get him inside the house fairly quickly. Once you’ve locked the door again, you pull him over to the living room so he’s propped against your couch. He still isn’t fully conscious, but his head and lips move as if he’s dreaming about something.

“What was that…?” You lean closer, trying to read his lips for some sort of clue. Surprisingly, you can make out the word water, which he mouths over and over again. “Water…” You run into the kitchen to pour a glass and bring it back to him, making sure not to spill any on the way over.

You press it to his lips, unsure if he’ll be able to drink, but to your amazement his muscles respond and he drinks quickly as you tip the glass. Soon, the water is all gone. You set the glass to the side with your palms sweating and watch as his face flutters even more. 

“Can you...hear me?”

His eyes open only slightly. This movement seems to cause him some pain, though you aren’t sure why. Maybe he has a headache since he was dehydrated? You scramble to turn the overhead light off, not wanting to make matters worse. He still doesn’t try to open his eyes any wider, though.

“Who are you? Were you...did you crash here?” You feel a little bad about asking so many questions, but you’re dying for answers as to what the hell is going on.

The man licks his lips, and his mouth parts like he’s going to answer. But his throat is still dry, and it hurts to talk.

“...Shit.” You get him another glass of water and let him drink until it’s gone again. He seems a little better after that.

“Th-this...” He clears his throat a couple times and tries again. “This is E-Earth, right?”

Now you’re the one lost for words. Although you already figured he couldn’t be from here, hearing it out loud makes your blood rush and your heart race. “Um, yes...this is Earth. Was...the UFO yours?”

He sighs, and his head falls back against the couch arm. “Yes.”

“It’s destroyed,” you say, and then feel silly about it. “But you already know that.” 

He doesn’t answer that. He just slowly glances around your living room instead, looking as if he’s never seen a stranger setup. The quietness is awkward, and you almost feel like he must be judging your taste for interior design. “Do you have a name?”

More silence. You decide he probably won’t answer until he finally says, “You can call me Yuta.”

“Yuta.” You tell him your name too, and he just nods, almost imperceptibly. He doesn’t say much without prompting, which makes it hard for you to know how to approach the situation. You don’t want to overwhelm him with questions, but it doesn’t look like he’s going to speak unless you do. “How did you end up here? I mean, in my—uh, my yard?”

Yuta shakes his head and then winces. “I crashed, and then...I just ran. The ship was melting. I just ran. I hid...I went from place to place, hiding. Don’t know how I got here.”

You wonder how he made it all the way from the city center to your home without being spotted, especially with that armor. You can only conclude that he must be stealth at hiding. Or maybe someone did spot him and the feds are about to bust down your door any minute. You take a shaky breath and try to push that anxious thought to the back of your mind.

Suddenly Yuta fixes you with a suspicious glare. “Will you reveal that I’m here?”

You try not to get offended, because you’d honestly be thinking the same if you were a newly-landed alien in a foreign land. “No. I don’t have any reason to do that. I just want to help. I’m not looking to be on anyone’s 6 o’clock news or cheap tabloid. You probably don’t believe me, but you can have my word for it...if that means anything to you.”

He’s quiet again, though you can tell he’s still skeptical.

“Um, do you need anything? More water?”

He sits up straighter at the mention of that. “Water.” You reach for the glass again, but he frowns. “Not that. I need…something more than that.” He looks around again, but when he doesn't see what he’s searching for, he attempts to stand only to slump down again.

“Slow down there, I don’t think you’re gonna make it like that. Can I help?”

You end up slinging his arm across your shoulder and letting him lean his body against you while you lead him to the bathroom. That’s the biggest source of water in the house, and you assume he must be wanting a bath or shower or something. Even aliens have their hygiene needs, you guess.

You turn the bathroom light on and have Yuta sit on the toilet lid as you turn the bathtub faucet. “Is...this what you meant?” He nods, and you put the plug in and let the tub fill up.

“Just water. Nothing else. I need to recharge,” he says, and before you can ask what he means by that, he starts undressing in front of you. 

At first, your reaction is delayed; you’re struck with surprise when you realize the armor isn’t actually a whole bodysuit, but more like...connected panels of material that can be taken off. You don’t understand the material at all, it doesn’t resemble anything on Earth you can think of—but of course, it’s alien tech. It conforms to his body as he’s wearing it but takes on a more rigid form once it’s peeled off, like actual armor.

Then, he gets ready to take the bottoms off and something finally clicks in your brain that oh my God he’s about to get naked in front of me.

“Whoa!” You spin around and cover your eyes for good measure, glad that your brown skin hides the way your face is burning right now. You step towards the open door. “Uh, I’ll just leave, sorry—”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Um, what?”

“Doesn’t really matter to me,” Yuta says, pulling the last of his suit off. He steps into the tub and sits down in it, putting his hands underneath the stream of water rushing out of the faucet. The skin on his hands seems to ripple, like it’s readjusting itself, and the hairs stand up on the back of your neck at that. You forget to be embarrassed at his unclothed state as you watch it happen.

“What’s going on with that? And why did you need the water?”

Yuta splashes his face before answering, and he turns to look at you, the droplets of water sliding off the ends of his hair. “I’m part of a Water Race. Water is my home. Our bodies have adapted to be built for living in water, and it’s dangerous to be without it for too long.”

“Adaptation? But you look like a regular human.”

“It’s just a skin.”

“A skin?” You echo in horror, a sudden flashback to Silence of the Lambs popping into your mind. “Someone else’s skin?” 

Yuta gives you a look that seems to say he can’t believe you’re asking such a stupid question. “No, it’s my skin. It’s just not my natural form.” To prove his point, he holds his hand out, and right before your eyes his human skin pulls back and morphs into something much more scaly and green. His fingers are actually more like talons, with long black nails on the ends, and there’s translucent webbing between each one.

You gasp and step back, trying to catch your breath at the sight of something so very not human. The skin reforms around his hand—you assume he has to be willing it with his mind somehow, because he doesn’t even move—and his digits look just as human as ever.

“How the hell do you hide your nails under there? Isn’t it just like...wearing a bodysuit?”

Yuta shakes his head. “No. Once the skin is on, it becomes...part of me. My hand becomes a human hand. I’m not hiding anything, it just is. It’s hard to explain.”

“Have you been to Earth before? Is that why you have a human skin, because...adaptation or some shit? This is all so wild.”

“I can shift into different skins if I want, if I gather enough genetic information on certain species’ inhabitants...but there are limitations.” That doesn’t exactly answer your question, but you figure maybe it’s best if you didn’t know. You can at least assume he’s been in contact with humans before.

“I see…” You fidget for a few seconds before speaking what’s on your mind. “Okay, one last thing...you said there are limitations. Does that mean you can’t transform into, like...a dung beetle or something?”

Yuta gives you another are you serious look and you put your hands up. “Just wondering. It was worth a try.”

You feel awkward just standing there, and you feel like maybe you should give him some privacy even if he doesn’t care much, so you leave the bathroom to find something for him to wear.

You’re not sure if you’ll find anything that fits him, so you end up settling on a light pink bathrobe and decide he’ll have to work with that for now. You slip back into the bathroom to leave it on the sink, averting your eyes from his nude form in your bathtub. “Um, here’s something to wear...not sure if anything else will fit, this is all I have for now. Sorry.” You don’t wait for him to respond— he probably won’t anyway—before slipping back out.

It’s nearing 1 A.M. at this point, which is late considering you still have work tomorrow. You sigh and curl yourself up on the couch, hoping you won’t have to stay up for very much longer.

You’re not sure when you drifted off or how long you were out, but you wake up to the sound of footsteps and see Yuta coming out of the bathroom wearing the robe you’ve given him. You have to laugh a little at the sight of him in the light pink material, though you think it suits him in a way.

“Yeah, you’re gonna need some clothes.”

Yuta raises his eyebrow. “I still have my suit.”

“Yeah, but...don’t you want something else to wear? Your ship is pretty much gone, so you’ll probably be on Earth for a while...and if you don’t want anyone realizing you’re not from here, you’ll have to wear regular clothes.”

Yuta visibly upsets at the idea of his ship’s destroyed state, even though he knows there’s not much he can do about it. “I guess. I shared which planet I was heading to before I left, but...Earth is a very big place. And my trackers were destroyed with my ship, so…”

“I’m sorry,” you say, though you don’t know how much comfort that can be. “We can look for some clothes tomorrow. It’s probably better for you not to leave the house right now, but...that’s what online shopping is for.”

“Online shopping…?” Yuta seems puzzled by the concept, but he doesn’t ask any further. Then he looks around the room again. “Is there somewhere I can rest?”

“Oh, yeah, follow me.” You get up from the couch to head upstairs where the guest bedroom is. The house isn’t huge—it was your grandmother’s before she passed it on to you—but it’s more than enough for you alone, and it should fit one more just fine. You open the door and turn on the light, illuminating the small room. “It hasn’t been used in a while, so excuse any dust. I can fix that tomorrow, but it’s getting late...” you stifle a yawn, “...so we should probably go to sleep now.”

Yuta looks at you and nods. 

“Um, well...goodnight.” You wave at him from the doorway before closing it.

As you make your way down the stairs, a sudden weariness and apprehension comes over you. An alien in your home? Escaped from a recently crashed UFO? Wearing one of your bathrobes? You’re almost positive you haven’t thought this through deeply enough, but you’re in it now. Might as well see where the rabbit hole leads to.

The next morning, you prepare yourself to go to work like you usually do. For a while, the house is so quiet that you almost forget Yuta is there until you see him standing in the kitchen entryway, still wearing his pink robe, and you almost jump through the ceiling.

“Jesus, you came out of nowhere,” you gasp, holding your heart.

“Where are you going?” Yuta asks. He steps into the kitchen and tentatively sits down in one of the dining table chairs.

“To work,” you say, and then pause. Maybe it isn’t such a good idea to leave a freshly-landed alien at home alone. “Will you be okay here by yourself? I could come over on my lunch break…”

“What am I supposed to do here the whole time?” Yuta asks, sounding displeased at the thought of being abandoned for hours.

“Well...you could watch TV? There’s the on-demand channel...the fridge is available for you too, just try not to clean out my—wait, do you even eat human food?”

Yuta shrugs, crossing his arms. “Not really. It’s not a big source of nutrients for us.” 

You nod awkwardly. “Huh. Well, that’s...interesting.” The stress of the situation is already making your head pound and you haven’t even left for work yet. “Uh, yeah—I think I’ll just come over later and check in...come on, I’ll at least show you how to work the remote before I leave.”

You bid Yuta goodbye once you’re about to go, though you feel more than a little hesitant about leaving him there. There isn’t much other choice, though; you can’t afford to take a day off on such short notice.

The extraterrestrial sighs, sprawling across the couch and looking at the ceiling. The TV is already playing the channel you left it on, and Yuta turns to the screen and watches as a group of humans make weird food dishes he’s never seen before.

“This is stupid.”

The rest of the week with Yuta manages to be an adventure even though he never steps foot outside the house. 

Yuta doesn’t take a liking to human food, which means he opts for spending most of his time in the guest bathtub instead, claiming that the water gives him more nourishment than meals can. You don’t know how true that is, but you’re not going to fight him on it. Less food you have to prepare, you reason...although you often end up making extra anyway and getting him to try a few bites. It feels odd to not see him eat.

Living with someone from outer space is not really as weird as you expected it might be, which surprises you. Yuta stays in his human skin whenever he’s around you, and you steer clear of the guest bathroom when it’s occupied lest you walk in on something crazy. 

You’ve taught Yuta about new concepts he didn’t know before or wasn’t overly familiar with. He’s particularly intrigued with online shopping, and you ended up buying him a bunch of outfits that you both thought he’d look nice in. He doesn’t seem to be big on technology, which surprises you considering how advanced his UFO looked even its ruined state, but maybe human tech is more primitive than what he’s used to. He’s quite fascinated with the microwave, though, and how it can heat anything up in minutes.

With you uncovering new bits of information each day, you continually wonder how different his homeworld must be from the Earth. You can’t pull much out of him about it, for whatever reasons he has for keeping the information close, but you try to let him talk about it at his pace without pressuring him.

You could probably get used to living like this. 

Maybe not your wallet, though. You’re definitely not loving how your water bill is going to look once it comes in the mail.

None of your coworkers or neighbors know—not that it’s any of their business anyway. You don’t know how long Yuta is going to stay, or what the hell you’re going to do when his people finally catch wind of his whereabouts and land a UFO in your backyard, but you figure you’ll get to that part when it comes.

On one Saturday morning, you wake up to the sound of tapping on your door. You try to ignore it, thinking it’s just some woodpecker setting up shop outside your window, but you’re proven wrong when the door swings open.

You pull the covers away from your face for a moment to see Yuta standing there looking at you. You stare at him for a few seconds before sighing.

“Why are you up so early? It’s the weekend,” you groan, pulling the covers back over your head. 

“Why do you sleep so late?” Yuta retorts, still standing in your doorway. You don’t know whether he expects you to get up and do a trick, but it’s not happening. You peel the blanket away so it’s just below your eyes and look at him.

“What?”

“It’s not fun being here alone all day, you know,” he says, crossing his arms.

“So...what? Do you want me to play with you or something?” You can’t stop your sudden laugh, but you feel bad about once it’s out. He has just lost his ride home and has no foreseeable way back until someone notices his absence. Plus, needing to stay hidden and cooped up like a criminal can’t be enjoyable.

Yuta rolls his eyes at your response and starts down the hallway again, but you jump out of the bed and follow him. “Wait, Yuta, I’m sorry. That was stupid. I know it can’t be easy living like this. I’m not sure if I can make it better, but I’m willing to try.”

Yuta pauses in the hall and turns back to look at you. “I’m tired of being in here all the time....no offense. But there’s only so much I can take. I know I’m supposed to be in hiding, but it’s not like anyone can tell the difference. Even you couldn’t. Can’t we go out for one day?”

You think about it for a moment and figure he’s right. You both were trying to be overly cautious at first, but there’s no real way anyone would notice anything unless he shifted. “I guess we could...as long as we don’t go anywhere with a lot of water.”

“I have more self-control than that,” Yuta scoffs, though his words trail off as he’s already heading back to his room to get dressed.

You and Yuta walk around downtown for a little while, although you can’t shake the lingering nervousness you feel. You both decided not to head back to the city center any time soon; there’s not much left of the broken ship anyway, with scientists carting off pieces of it for research. Just as you thought. It’s too big to transport all at once, but you’re sure the remaining parts will be gone within the next couple weeks.

Yuta is continually surprised by how many new and unfamiliar things he spots along the way—things he actually gets to see up close and in detail. Kinda hard to focus when you’re running and hiding for your life.

Eventually, Yuta slows down as you walk past a small and colorful restaurant. “What’s that?” he asks, pointing up at the sign. You stop to turn around and see what he’s gesturing to.

“That’s just a hamburger joint...you won’t wanna go in there,” you say, raising your eyebrows. Because you don’t eat food. Despite that, Yuta still seems curious about the restaurant and he hesitates to walk away. Realizing that you aren’t going to get anywhere, you go to stand next to him and peer inside. There are a few people already inside, sitting at scattered tables and eating their food. “Do you want to go in, or…? ‘Cause you have to eat something if we do. This is your idea.”

“I’ll eat, let’s just go,” Yuta says, grasping your hand and pulling you into the restaurant.

You wave at the person behind the counter who greets you as you walk in, while Yuta is busy scanning every inch of the place. You let him look over the menu for a little while, but with so many options available he isn’t sure what to get—especially when he’s not sure if he’ll like any of them—so you end up picking for the both of you.

When you finally get your food, you take it to one of the tables. You watch attentively as Yuta takes the first bite of his hamburger, and you try to stifle your giggles as you watch his face go from nonchalance to bewilderment to shock.

“This is actually...good.”

“Wait, this is really the first meal you’ve liked? Are you saying my cooking is bad? Damn.” You chuckle, shaking your head. 

“I’m not answering that.” Yuta laughs along with you, which is probably the first genuinely happy expression he’s shown since he’s been here.

Yuta has a very pretty smile, you realize. You’re a little taken aback by it. You haven’t seen much of it since you met him, but it’s here now and striking in its genuine quality. It makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside...which you mainly attribute to the satisfaction of doing something nice for someone else. Of course. Who wouldn’t enjoy a nice meal they didn’t have to pay for?

Things go smoothly for a while as you both eat and pretend to make boring small talk since you can’t talk about him being an alien in public. However, you feel sweat on the back of your neck when you see your coworker Alex walk through the door with his boyfriend. This city is too small for its own good sometimes. 

You try not to call attention to yourself and Yuta, keeping your gaze on your food, but he spots you anyway and waves enthusiastically. Alex gestures for his partner to go ahead and order while he comes over to your table.

“Hey, Y/N! It’s great to see you! Too bad we missed you at the UFO wreck today, though; we went out again one last time before they take the whole thing away,” he rushes out in one breath. Yuta’s eye twitches at the mention of his ship, and you’re suddenly on edge, hoping the situation doesn’t turn sour.

“Oh, uh, wow, that’s...cool!” you choke out, pinching your straw between your fingers. Before you can think of a way to divert the subject, Alex turns to Yuta.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Alex! Who’s this? Your boyfriend?” The last few words are directed at you. Alex gives you a playful grin, and you toss him an embarrassed smile back.

“Uh, no, he’s my friend! Yuta.”

“Nice to meet you,” Yuta says, though you can recognize his tone is a bit dry.

“Pleasure’s all mine!” Alex’s boyfriend calls him from the other side of the restaurant, and he turns to respond before taking his leave. “Ah well, looks like we’ll have to cut it short, but it was so great to see you guys. Enjoy your lunch!”

You let out the breath you were subconsciously holding once he leaves.

“Boyfriend…” Yuta murmurs.

“What?”

“That would be really weird. Wouldn’t it? We’re not even the same species,” he says, lowering his voice. It’s not like you don’t agree, but you admittedly don’t appreciate the way Yuta screws his face up at the thought. You prickle with embarrassment.

You scoff, taking a sip of your drink. “Well I’m not exactly eager to date an overgrown fish, so…” You almost expect Yuta to fall into another one of his moods at your words, but he actually chuckles a bit, which surprises you.

“Then it’s mutual!” Yuta sticks his tongue out and you roll your eyes.

The warm and fuzzy feeling, you soon find out, is not a one-time thing.

You don’t quite know what to make of that. You wouldn’t like for Yuta to go back to his initial broody state, of course, but you’re starting to believe this feeling can’t just be attributed to your charitable actions. You can’t stop thinking about the more playful side of Yuta you saw at the burger place that day, and the way he’s been gradually more open with you since then.

Yuta usually spends his nights splashing around in the guest bathtub, but one night he wanders into the living room and sees you putting your afro in plaits. He becomes weirdly fascinated with the process, watching you carefully and asking occasional questions. Amused by his interest, you answer all his questions and even offer to let him do one section. 

“It’s probably not the same, but I used to braid my friend’s hair often…” he says wistfully as he settles in behind you. “We did a lot of things together.”

Your ears perk up. “Oh? You sound like you were very close,” you say, resting your chin on your knees.

“Really close,” he affirms. His hands are gentle in your hair, as testament to his words. You close your eyes and relax into the sensation, and before you know it, that warmth is spreading through your chest again. You even allow yourself to wonder what it’d be like for him to do this all the time, tending to your hair and telling you about his homeworld, before you open your eyes again and quickly pull yourself out of that reverie. You probably shouldn’t get too used to this, you reason with yourself. “I think she’s what you’d call a mermaid...except the look is a bit...different.”

“Different?” you echo, wondering if you’ll get an explanation.

“They don’t have human arms or anything like that...it’s more like tentacles.”

“Ah,” you try to imagine that, though it’s hard. “That’s certainly unique.”

“Maybe you’d like it...my planet, I mean.”

“You think I would? Why?”

“I dunno, just a feeling…”

“If only I could breathe underwater,” you laugh. “You’d take me back, though? Hypothetically, of course. I’m not too human for you?”

“Will you ever let that one go? It’s probably the least I could do after setting up residence here. Maybe we’ll get you an alien costume, though, so you’ll fit in.”

“How nice of you to think of me in all my humanness. God, the universe is something else…”

You start when Yuta’s hands leave your hair. “I think I’m done?” he says, sitting back on his feet. You grab the mirror from the coffee table and look at the braid you let him do.

“Oh wow, it looks good.” You purse your lips to hide the grin about to break across your face. “Do you wanna do the rest?”

“If you’ll let me.”

“Go ahead then, my hands needed a break anyway.”

You sit back and let Yuta finish the rest of your hair, listening quietly as he tells you more about his friend from his homeworld. Her name is unpronounceable to you, but it sounds pretty all the same. They grew up together, he says, and have been on lots of adventures over the years, though he still keeps that same vagueness he always has when describing his life. He ends up getting you to tell him more about your life, which you do; you figure he probably doesn’t know a whole lot about you, either.

Yuta hands you the mirror when he’s done, and his head pops up next to yours in the reflection. “Good?”

“It’s great!” you say, and you really mean it.

You discover that, strangely enough, Yuta has an affinity for sci-fi movies. Go figure. He especially seems to like the campiness of alien films; then again, everything is campy to him because of how different it is from how extraterrestrials actually live.

You are in the middle of watching The Fly when it comes to one of sex scenes, and you try not to sweat. It’s always a little awkward to watch sex scenes with other people, but doing it with an alien gives the whole thing an extra layer of weirdness.

“Human sex is so funny,” Yuta says out of nowhere. You just barely avoid choking on your drink.

“Uh, o-okay. Do I want to know what that means?”

Yuta only shrugs and leans farther back onto the couch, looking completely unbothered about what he’s just said. “It just is.”

“...I’m sure your people must procreate some kinda way?”

“Yeah, but it’s not quite this. But when I’m in this form, I can do it as humans do.”

That makes you pause, and you’re not sure what to do with that information. Actually, your mind has already decided for itself and is trying to go to a place you don’t want it to, and you’re mildly horrified by that revelation. There’s no real reason why you should be curious about it. And yet...

“Hummm...have you done it before? In this form?” You keep your eyes glued to the screen, which is now showing a shirtless Jeff Goldblum doing acrobatics—but that’s still less awkward than looking over at Yuta right now.

“There was one time.”

There is a twinge of something in your chest. Fascination? Sure. Revulsion? Maybe not that. Dare you call it anything close to jealousy? You immediately throw that one out the door, sink further into your seat, and try not to think about what your life has come to.

“Okay, since you still won’t tell me directly if you’ve been here before, at least tell me this; did it happen here on Earth? With a human?”

Yuta shakes his head. “Some other aliens have weird fetishes. I only did it because she asked and was really adamant about it.”

“Ooookay, you know what…” You get up from the couch and walk to the kitchen, laughing awkwardly all the way. You don’t have any particular reason to go in there, but you have to do something with the nervous energy that’s about to make you jump out of your skin. You pretend to shuffle around in the fridge for a minute so you don’t look too silly getting up for no reason.

After taking a moment to calm down, you turn back to Yuta. “Okay. Hypothetically, if you wanted, could you actually…? With a human? In your natural form? Or would the parts be incompatible, or...”

“Maybe...I’m not sure. It’s not like I’ve ever tried. Why?” Yuta gives you a look that’s partway between curiosity and incredulity, and you wave your hand in dismissal.

“It’s just a question.”

Yuta leans forward on the couch, barely concealing his own amusement at whatever he’s cooking up in his mind. “Are you saying you want to try it with me?”

“You’re not funny,” you sigh, trying to ignore the way your skin is burning at that suggestion. “Remind me not to ask you anything like that again.”

When you get home from work one weeknight, you roll your eyes at the mass text sitting in your inbox, forwarded to you from Alex. Another after-work party, which means another event where someone will run through the sprinklers naked and everyone will pretend like they don’t remember it the next workday.

You don’t know how you’re going to get out of this one, especially with Yuta, who will likely want to go if he finds out, so you decide to just come out and say it and see what happens.

“Hey Yuta…” You slide up behind him where he’s sitting on the couch. “I just wanted to let you know I won’t be at home for a few hours on Saturday. I’m going to a party this weekend. It’s a friend’s party, someone from work.”

Yuta looks at you forlornly. “The same person we met at the restaurant?”

“No, but he’s gonna be there too. Look, I know what you’re thinking, but I really don’t know if it’s safe for you to go…”

“That’s not fair, the last time at the restaurant went well,” Yuta argues.

“Yes, but this guy has a pool and he’s a dickhead who likes to push people in and what if you get caught off guard and change unexpectedly?”

Yuta’s response is as straightforward as you expected it to be. “Then I’ll punch him in the face.”

You laugh at that and shake your head, coming to sit beside him on the couch. “Ugh. As satisfying as that sounds, I don’t need the extra stress of dealing with the aftermath. I don’t know, Yuta...do you think you’ll be okay? God, I feel like an overprotective mom or some shit.”

“Y/N, it’ll be fine, stop worrying. I can take care of myself,” Yuta insists, putting his hand on your shoulder and looking into your eyes. He’s a little closer than you anticipated, which makes your heart rate increase a little. You chalk that reaction up to his invasion of your personal space and shift away, groaning.

“Fine, I’ll bring you. But if shit goes down, I can’t promise an easy way out. Let’s just keep things lowkey, alright?”

“Of course I can do that! I’ve been doing it so far haven’t I?” he says, but somehow you’re not entirely convinced.

The party is filled with people you know from work and a slew of unfamiliar faces, probably your coworkers’ friends. It’s mostly a backyard party, like you already knew, although there are some people mingling within the house.

There are already a few people lounging in the pool. In any other scenario, it might be inviting to you, but now you just look at all that water with a looming sense of anxiety. Yuta sticks close to your side, saying nothing but studying everyone around him.

“Y/N!” your coworker David shouts from the backdoor of his house. He holds up his beer in salutation and you wave back at him, mildly annoyed that he’s brought everyone’s attention to you both. He hustles over to you and claps you on the back strong enough to make your bones rattle, and you wince. “Hey dude!” He reaches across you to pull Yuta into a handshake, and Yuta also winces when he grips his hand a little too tight. “Make yourselves at home, I’ve got everything you could ever need—including the booze and babes!” You both nod awkwardly before David goes off to greet someone else who’s just pulled up. You roll your eyes once he’s gone.

Yuta’s eyebrows draw together. “That was…”

“Annoying,” you finish for him.

“You don’t seem to like him. Why did you decide to come?”

“Workplace politics, if you’re the only one who doesn’t come it’s awkward, ugh. It’s just bullshit. Let’s not get into it.” You walk towards the house and Yuta follows, and you nod at a few people you know along the way.

You find Alex in the kitchen, where he offers to make drinks for you and Yuta. You cast a glance at Yuta, wondering if he’ll take up the offer; you have no idea how he’ll react to alcohol, or if they drink any equivalent of it on his homeworld.

“Um, I think I’ll pass.”

“Oh okay, straight-edge guy! That’s cool too,” Alex grins, making just the one drink for you. As you and Alex talk, the girl from your department whose neighborhood was about to be evacuated sidles up to your little group.

“I’ve never seen you before. What’s your name?”

“Oh...it’s Yuta.”

“Yuta? How cool, I’m Sooyoung.”

Little did you know that that one introduction would expand into them having a half-hour long conversation right there in the kitchen. You really don’t know how Yuta is pulling this off without spilling the beans, but then again, you do; he’s good enough at manipulating the conversation to make it seem like he’s sharing personal info when he’s really not. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that he throws in things you taught him every so often.

Alex notices your changing demeanor and follows you as you walk into the living room, finally exhausted with playing third wheel. “Hm, someone seems a little spicy.”

You cough. “I’m fine, it’s just cramped in there, David should really invest in a bigger house..this place could use a remodel.” You throw a glance around the living room, not wanting to see the mischievous look in Alex’s eyes.

“Well, remodel aside, it’s not really my business, but you certainly seem to have a little green monster brewing here.”

You give Alex a long look. “Don’t. He’s my friend. He’s not even—” You have to stop yourself before you expose anything, and you shift nervously on your feet.

“Not even what? Your type? I don’t know, he’s handsome enough to me. You can’t go wrong with a pretty boy. Don’t tell Xavier I said that, though.”

“Lord, let me get the hell out of here…” You leave Alex to cackle to himself while you go out into the backyard again, holding your drink and mulling around the edges of the activity. Too busy wrestling with your own emotions, you don’t realize how close you’ve drifted towards the pool.

“Hey, Y/N?” David says from behind you.

“Yeah?” You go to turn towards him, but before you can, you feel a huge shove from behind and the next thing you know your feet are off the ground and you’re in the pool. It all happens so fast that you can barely catch your bearings, and for a terrifying moment you’re convinced you’re about to drown.

The seconds feel like minutes, and you can’t even open your eyes to tell up from down. The next thing you register is an arm around your waist, and somehow you’re being pulled up even though you’re too panicked to even control your limbs. Your head pops above the water and you cough and sputter loudly, trying to take in air. You try to blink the water out of your eyes, though it drips off your hair and makes it even harder to see.

You’re still not sure what the hell is going on until you’re hauled out of the water and sitting on the ground. Someone hands you a towel, and you hear a female voice saying you’re such an asshole, David.

You wipe the water off of your face and then you’re finally able to see; Yuta is crouching in front of you, just as soaked as you are and staring at you with a worried expression. You look back at him, disoriented and a little dumbfounded at his still-human state.

“You didn’t…”

Even though you’re still trembling with the fear of almost drowning, you’re unable to look anywhere but at Yuta for that moment—at the pure concern on his face.

“Nice going, David,” someone else says sarcastically.

“It was just a bit of a prank! No hard feelings guys, come on. Y/N?” You realize David is standing on your left, and he tries to come closer, his hands open in an apologetic gesture. You jerk away from him, holding the towel to your shaking form.

“Get the fuck away from me. You’re a fucking idiot!” you shout. “All you do is ‘play pranks’ and then you wonder why no one likes you!” That draws a few barely concealed laughs out of the people standing nearby, though you don’t think any of it is funny. David steps back, unsure how to respond and looking truly embarrassed for once in his life.

Filled with anger, you try to get to your feet but you’re still unsteady. Yuta puts his arm around you again, lifting you up and encouraging you to lean your weight on him.

“It’s okay, I’ve got you.”

You don’t have much to say on the way back home. You insist on leaving right away even though Yuta suggests you sit and wait until the tremors subside. He obviously can’t drive you back home, so it’s all he can offer, though it doesn’t make you feel much better.

The silence itself isn’t particularly awkward to Yuta, but he is uncomfortable anyway because he knows it stems from your own discomfort. At a red light, he turns to you.

“Are you okay?”

“Not really.”

He’s quiet for a few moments, and then he speaks again. “I know you’re mad about the pool, but...it seems like there’s more than that. Did...you not like me spending so much time with Sooyoung?”

You scoff. “You can’t be serious. I don’t care what you and that girl do.”

“You’re not a very good liar.” You’re too worn out to argue, so you merely give him a sidelong glance. Yuta sits back in his seat and watches a few cars zip past, their tail lights looking like clashing stars against the night. He’s not used to so much...manmade stuff. There was his ship and his trackers, of course, but he still has a hard time adjusting to be surrounded by so much iron and steel. His own planet is ruled by nature, by the vast oceans in all their unpolluted original essence, but Earth—or at least this portion of it—is much, much different.

He means to glance back at you, but his eyes linger for a while longer than intended. He’s not sure why. Maybe it’s because your outfit is a pretty color, or because the coils of your hair look shiny reflecting the light. He’s never put much thought into human beings before, and his limited experiences with them were mostly better left unremembered. Taking a human form was no huge deal for him; just a move that was necessary at the time.

But now, he’s seeing humanity—and most specifically, you—in a different light, and he’s uncertain what to do with this realization. People have feelings, thoughts, and dreams, like his own species, or like any other. He’s beginning to care what you think of him, how you react to him, even though he doesn’t know why this matters.

“You look pretty,” Yuta says. The compliment is the last thing you expected from him. It seems especially random after what happened at the party; here you are, soaking wet and incredibly uncomfortable. You’re a little late to put your foot on the gas pedal once the light turns green, and someone behind you honks.

“Pretty? I thought humans were weird to you.” Your mind goes back to The Fly and the subsequent conversation you had, and your hands tighten minutely around the steering wheel.

“You are. That hasn’t changed.”

“Good to know.” You don’t want to laugh, but this does make you crack a smile. “But...thanks. And...thanks for that, at the pool, you know. I should...probably trust you more.”

The rest of the ride is a little more talkative after that, and Yuta is happy that he could lighten your mood if even a little bit. Although he wouldn’t tell you, he’s becoming accustomed to your smile, and he’s more displeased than he thought he could be when it’s absent.

The thunder booms so loudly that it makes your window frames shake. It almost reminds you of the day Yuta’s ship fell out of the sky. You pull the covers tighter around yourself as if they alone could protect you from the storm’s fierceness. Storm clouds have been brewing all day, but the skies didn’t open until you and Yuta went to bed. Now, the rain and lightning is in full force. The rain pounds against your window, sounding more like hail or even bullets.

You’re startled for a second time when there’s a knock on your bedroom door.

“Come in?”

The door opens slightly and Yuta appears in the small sliver of space. “Sorry, but...can I sleep here? The storm...” He gestures to the window, where a crack of lightning strikes right after. He’s wearing a sleep shirt and loose pants, and his blonde hair is disheveled. 

“Uh, sure.” You shuffle over to make room for him. “I guess this isn’t your type of water, is it?” He huddles underneath the covers with you, facing you with his arm tucked under the unoccupied pillow.

“Not when it’s so intense like this.”

You hum in acknowledgment. “It’s scary. Does rainy weather make you think of your homeworld often?”

“Often,” he repeats. “But...I think I’d be worse off if I weren’t here.”

“Here...on Earth?”

“I mean, here with you.”

“Oh,” is all you can think to say. It’s a surprisingly personal confession, though you are grateful you’ve become someone so important in his life already, even if it’s only because you’ve given him shelter. That familiar warmth spreads through you again. 

Warm and fuzzies = gratefulness to a friend, the feeling you get when you pet a cute puppy. Right. It’s not the sensation you get when you think you might have feelings for your extraterrestrial friend, you try to convince yourself. “I’m...glad you’re here. Maybe not under these circumstances, but still.”

Yuta nods without speaking, but he doesn’t take his eyes away from you. You think he must be waiting on you to say something else.

“What?” you ask quietly when he keeps staring at you. “Take a picture, it will last longer.” Your joke does little to clear the air, and the tension keeps rising. You should probably be the first one to look away, to end whatever weird game this is and go to sleep, but you can’t. It’s unexplainable.

Yuta props himself up on his elbow, and you’re about to ask him where he’s going when he slips his hand onto your bare shoulder. You’re already covered by the blankets, but you suddenly feel even hotter with his hand on you, sliding up from your shoulder to the side of your face. “Y-Yuta…?”

You don’t know what to say or do, but you don’t object when he leans closer. Your faces are only inches apart now, like he’s hesitating and wondering if he should cross the line. The thunderstorm is intense, but this moment feels much more suspenseful than that could ever be. And then, it’s suddenly satisfying when his lips are on yours.

The kiss starts gentle. He’s careful as if he’s afraid to hurt you or make you feel uncomfortable. It’s soft and sweet. Things get more heated when his tongue prods against your lower lip and enters your mouth. You don’t know when his hand made it from your face to your side, but he pulls you close with his fingers pressing into the flesh just below your breasts, and you tremble at the proximity.

When you pull away, both of you are breathing harder and unable to look each other in the eye.

“Should we be doing this?” you whisper.

Yuta shakes his head. “I don’t know. But it feels good.”

At those words, you pause for a moment before moving to kiss him again. His lips respond deftly to yours, his body crowding you in and making you feel hot and enraptured with desire from where you still lie under the covers.

His hair is very soft when you slide your hands through it, though you can’t push away the thought that suddenly manifests in the back of your mind. This isn’t really his hair, or his lips, is it? It’s all a mask to cover whatever is underneath, which is something you still don’t entirely know, yet are increasingly curious about.

Yuta’s hand drifts up just high enough to caress the underside of your breast—all still over the cover of your clothes. Abruptly, that thought forces its way to the front of your mind, making itself unavoidable, and you have no idea how to reconcile it. This is all so...very unfamiliar. And undeniably scary.

You pull away from him, your face creased with conflict, and his hand stills on your body. “S-sorry, I…um...this is...”

Subsequently, he pulls his hand away from you, though some part of you doesn’t really want that to happen. “I-it’s fine.”

You both settle back into the sheets, the tense aura from before replaced with one that’s thick with unease. The storm continues on outside, unknowing and uncaring of anything else but its own nature.

Though you would like to pretend it isn’t so, things become strained after the night of the storm.

You and Yuta don’t talk about the kiss. You expected him to say something about it that morning after, but he didn’t acknowledge it, and so you figured you just forget about it, too. What are you thinking, anyway? You’re literally from two different worlds. You don’t have the first clue about what a connection would look like between you, whether it be just sex or a relationship.

Why couldn’t you just fall for a coworker and have a bit of office drama like everyone else? Even that would be simpler.

Why did you have to let your thoughts get the best of you? You don’t have any answer for that, except for maybe your own need to come to terms with your attraction. People have never been very skilled at accepting others different from themselves, you know that much. But that usually counts for people of different ethnicities or cultural backgrounds, not two entirely different species.

You spend the whole week afterwards tearing your mind up with this monologue and trying to figure out what you should do next, because you’re quickly growing weary of coming home to a tense atmosphere. Alex can only give so much advice—not that you’d really tell him the entire situation—without knowing just how complicated everything is.

Where he used to hang out with you and help you with your hair, Yuta spends more time up in the guest bathroom again. You wonder if he thinks you’re disgusted by him. You’d probably think the same if he reacted the way you did.

Unbeknownst to you, Yuta is facing the situation with a similar amount of inner turmoil as you, wondering if he’s gone too far. He’s done many silly things in his life, but he doesn’t know how to undo this mistake. The mistake of kissing you? The mistake of seeing you as more than just another human? The mistake of knowingly flying in a faulty ship? Maybe all of it.

He feels guilty about freezing you out and pretending as if nothing happened, especially with all you’ve done to make him safe and comfortable in your home. But, at the same time, he is equally frightened to face you and discover the real reasoning for why you pulled away that night. Because you’ll never see him as someone you could like? Or maybe even love?

If that’s your truth, he’d rather leave it unsaid.

There aren’t many choices left but to face it. Whether this idea is smart or not is yet to be seen, but you suppose you don’t have many solutions left. And you are sick of being cooped up in the house.

“You sure this is safe?” Yuta asks as he stares at the scenery whizzing past. “You were all freaked out about me being near water before...now you want to go to a lake?”

You glance over at him. “Yes, it’s my parents’ lake property. It’s private, Yuta. No one will be there but us. I think we could both use a mini vacation this weekend, yeah?” 

“I guess, sure.” Yuta shrugs. His demeanor is more closed off than it was before that dreaded kiss, but you can still tell that he’s interested in the idea of getting access to a bigger body of water, even if he doesn’t outwardly express it.

The lake house is two hours out of your city. It hasn’t been used much in the past few years with both you and your parents being busy with work and life, but if there was ever a good time to use it, it’s probably now. You just hope there aren’t any squatters of the furry variety; the last thing you need is to be fighting raccoons or squirrels after stepping through the door.

Luckily, there’s really no one but you two once you reach your destination. The lake is big and pretty like you last remembered it, sparkling under the sun and throwing the rays back in your eyes. Yuta is automatically captivated by it.

“Here it is!” you say, walking along the sand and spreading your arms out towards the body of water. “It might not be much compared to your homeworld, but I hope it’s enough.” You carry your bag up the stairs to the house and turn back to Yuta, who’s still standing by the shore gazing across the water. “You can go in, you know? Get comfortable!”

That seems to snap him out of his trance, and he turns back to you, following you up the steps. “Not right now...I’ll go later.” You’re a little disappointed at that, but you simply nod and open the door to go in.

You spend the day getting increasingly more restless as you and Yuta hang out together. You go on the pier, walk around the entirety of the lake, and even take your dad’s boat out on the water, but he still doesn’t get in.

You eat dinner together later that night, although you’re the one doing most of the eating, and there isn’t much conversation to be had. You’ve both run out of things to say that don’t center around the kiss or why he refuses to get in the water.

Yuta spends a few more moments watching you push your food around your plate before leaning forward. “Why did you bring me here?” he asks.

You sigh heavily. “Do you not like it?”

“No, I do, but…” he hesitates. “Can you answer my question first?

You raise your eyebrows. “Okay, well. I brought you here because...I don’t know. I figure you deserve to have somewhere bigger to swim around in than my guest bathtub.” You laugh nervously.

He seems unconvinced. “Is that it?”

“I’d say so! Why won’t you even take one swim, is the better question? I want you to relax and be yourself.”

He furrows his eyebrows as if he doesn’t know how to reply. “You...aren’t you...repulsed by it? I just figured you wouldn’t want to see me in my natural form. Especially since…” He trails off at the end, and your palms sweat a little.

“No! I know I was weirded out at first, but...I-I guess that was the point of this whole trip, to show you that…” You grapple with your words for a moment, unsure if now is the time to fully confess what you’re feeling. “Look, I want to try, alright? I want to see it at least once. I want to accept you as a whole being, and that means, you know...all of you.”

Yuta smiles gradually at that, and you feel swept up with a sudden wave of affection you weren’t expecting. You are still a bit scared, but you don’t want to turn back now. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure,” you reply, clasping your shaking hands together.

Yuta nods and stands up from the dining table, gesturing for you to follow him. It’s late now, with the moon shining brightly and the last vestiges of dark blue sky giving way to black. The air outside is cool, but not uncomfortably so. You follow Yuta to the pier and watch timidly, your stomach flip-flopping, as he sheds his clothes, leaving them on the wooden deck. Then he slips into the water, disappearing underneath its still surface.

You crouch down, looking intently at the rippling water and anticipating whoever is going to resurface. The sounds of croaking frogs and crickets press in from every side, ringing in your ears so loudly that it’s hard to think straight.

You gasp when Yuta lifts from the water, his human skin gone and completely transformed into something that’s more...amphibian, if that’s any accurate way to describe his appearance. His skin is still scaly and green like you saw that first day, but in the moonlight it seems to glitter and reflect a spectrum of colors like his armor did. There are two fins on the either side of his face, translucent and shining a pale green. They slowly move back and forth as he treads on the water, as if they’re conveying an emotion to match whatever he’s thinking, and you watch them in fascination.

Yuta floats on his back in the water, the long gills on either of his sides catching the moonlight. You watch in fascination as they move with his breaths. Using the pier post to keep yourself stable, you reach out to touch them. They’re slick under your fingers, but not in a slimy or gross way. Your hand drifts to the rest of his skin, across his torso and along his sides, and every portion has a strikingly smooth texture. His alien eyes stare at you silently as you do, glittering big in the moonlight.

“What do you think?” his voice is quieter than you expected, as if he’s afraid of your reaction. He doesn’t break his gaze, though, studying your face carefully.

“You’re...amazing,” you say breathlessly. “Incredible.” 

His lips, which are green like the rest of him, form a small smile, and then he dives underneath the water. He does a few laps as if he means to impress you, his lithe marine form sparkling just below the surface of the water. You keep your hand suspended over the pier as you watch him, your fingers sliding against his body every time he passes by. You smile at his display, a laugh coming out of you at his impromptu performance.

When he’s finished, Yuta climbs up onto the pier with you and kneels in front of you, much like he did that day he saved you from David’s swimming pool. His feet are webbed like his hands. Droplets of water slide off of them onto the wooden boardwalk while others linger on the clear webbing like tiny jewels. Your hand is magnetized to his face, drawing across the scaly skin and tracing over his lips, which are just as smooth as the rest of him.

Before you can think twice about it, you lean forward and capture his lips with yours. Did you expect it to be fishy? Maybe. But it’s not that at all. He still manages to taste distinctly like Yuta, even though you’re not sure what that taste is. It’s a flavor that makes you feel...held. Yuta is surprised for a moment, but he responds to your kiss, one of his webbed hands inching close to your face. He doesn’t touch you at first, a little reluctant and yet wanting to let you lead the pace so he doesn’t scare you off.

You welcome his touch, carefully brushing your fingertips across his hand and bringing it to make contact with your skin. His own skin is still a bit cold from the water’s temperature, but it doesn’t bother you much.

The kiss soon grows more intense, and a mounting desire makes itself known in you. You won’t pretend like you’re 100% confident about all of this, but you don’t want to shun it anymore, either.

Yuta’s hand drifts to your neck, his long nails pressing into your skin ever so slightly. You dare to explore his body more, sliding your hands across his chest and over his side gills, feeling the way they contract under your hands, and farther down still. You haven’t looked down there yet, and you’re nervous over what you’ll find. But you keep going until your fingers meet something slick and hot and throbbing, seeming vaguely like a regular penis, though you quickly realize it’s more of a tentacle.

Yuta shudders and draws away from the kiss, and you feel alarmed, wondering if you’ve gone too far without thinking.

“If we’re going to do this, I should...probably shift back—”

“Don’t,” you blurt out. Yuta looks at you questioningly. “I...you should if it makes you comfortable. But...I don’t mind.” He’s quiet for a few seconds—seconds that feel much longer than they really are. You’re apprehensive of what he’ll say, but you keep your eyes on his face.

“Okay,” he agrees. “If you’ll accept me like this...okay.” 

Neither of you bother with moving to somewhere more comfortable like the lake house or even the sandy shore. Instead, Yuta peels your clothes away right there on the pier, covering every new bit of flesh with his strange and lovely mouth, his head fins ghosting across your collarbones and breasts like moths’ wings.

You tremble and grow wetter under his soft caresses, which are much gentler than you’d initially expect with his sharp black nails. His hands leave streaks of water across your body, which cools your burning hot skin.

Yuta carefully maneuvers your lower body at the same time as he bends his graceful head, bringing your sex close to his mouth and licking deeply into you. Your back presses hard against the pier, the wood scratching your skin as you cry out into the night air.

“Oh God, Yuta!” You soon realize that his tongue is much longer than any human one, and it reaches to a spot deep inside of you that makes you twist around in his grasp, your fingernails scrambling for purchase on the surface below you. He uses his tongue to pleasure that spot continuously, drawing moans and ever more wetness out of you as if he were controlling the waves in the ocean.

You find yourself coming apart on his extraordinarily long tongue, your legs shaking and then going limp with the pleasure flooding through your body. Your breaths come fast and hard. Yuta lifts his head from between your legs and pulls you carefully into his lap so his slick tentacle is pressing against you. It’s not hard like a dick would be, though it is clearly responsive to your body, and you momentarily wonder if it can even go inside you.

“Is this gonna work?” you ask, a tremor in your voice.

“It will work,” Yuta replies, and you’re not sure how, but you decide to trust him on it. 

It does, to your surprise. With your legs crossed tightly over his lower back, Yuta presses into you, wet and warm and very unexpectedly soft. It doesn’t feel like anything you’ve ever experienced before. It’s not a bad sensation, though—far from it. His tentacle is similar to his tongue in how it flexes and throbs inside you, pressing tight against that spot again and making you shiver in his arms.

You both quickly find a rhythm that works, your bodies moving together in an otherworldly combination of two beings, two species, two souls.

Yuta’s long nails scrape gently against your skin as he holds your back, guiding you on his sex and pushing his hips up into you. You sigh into the juncture of his neck and shoulder, feeling the cool scales underneath your lips. You seek a firm grip on his slick skin, bringing your body as close to his as possible.

“Yuta…” You moan his name. His hand slides to the back of your neck so he can bring your face to his again, kissing you deeply. There’s a wet squelching sound as your bodies connect, Yuta’s tentacle slipping in and out of you and pleasurably stroking your walls.

“Y/N…” Yuta whispers into your soft hair, pushing into your spot repeatedly, his thighs tensing under you as his pace increases. You grip his arms as you feel your orgasm swelling up in your abdomen. You tip your head back and Yuta’s mouth goes to your neck and farther down, his heavy breaths warming your skin and making you overheat from the inside out.

You tighten and cum around him, your voice stuttering out of you in broken gasps as he keeps thrusting into you, drawing your climax out. He pulses inside of you, which sends little shockwaves up your spine; you know he’s probably close, too.

When Yuta comes, there’s a lot more of it than you expected. His cum overflows and drips out of you with a consistency like syrup and a transparent color like precum. It makes the inside of your thighs sticky and shiny.

Yuta pulls out, and more of his cum spills out of you, leaking onto his lap and staining the pier underneath you.

“That’s not gonna get me pregnant, is it?” you say quietly, half-jokingly.

“Probably not,” Yuta chuckles.

“Probably!?”

Yuta carefully gathers you in his arms and stands to his feet, walking you off the pier and back towards the lake house. Your clothes are still on the pier, but you’re quickly getting sleepy and aren’t very worried about it; you’ll get them in the morning.

“What happens now?” Yuta murmurs as he walks up the front steps. You already know he’s referring not just to your relationship in this present moment, but to every event that will make up your future. Does he need to continue hiding, or is it really safe? How long will this last?

You close your eyes, resting your head against his chest. “We stay together.”

Yuta’s arms tighten around you as a silent affirmation of your words.

[animebw]

Pokemon Johto Journeys: Series Reflection

It’s hard to judge Pokemon Johto as a separate entity from the Indigo League, because, well, it isn’t. The shift to Hoenn is the first time this show does a hard reset; it hadn’t yet reached that point with Johto. Johto Journeys, JLC, and Master Quest are a direct continuation of Pokemon basic and Orange Islands, with the same characters, the same running subplots, and the same general sense of progression. They may be a different generation, but story-wise, they’re just a second part of the status quo set up by the Kanto era. As such, it makes the most sense to judge them not as a complete entity, but as the concluding half of a story we only got the first half of previously. The Johto Journeys were, above all else, More Pokemon. They were more of the same characters, more of the same adventures, and more of the same general vibe, just with a new checklist of critters to run down and fill out the space in between. And considering I enjoyed the first generation of Pokemon, it’s not too surprising I ended up enjoying Johto as well.

That being said, let’s get one thing clear: Johto was way too fucking long. It’s clear it ran as long as it did not because the writers were inspired with all the stories they could tell with Pokemon, but because corporate synergy demanded it and they had to pad out the time however they could. So a lot of episodes just end up feeling like packing peanuts, existing for no other reason but to take up space and pad out a balance sheet. Sure, you hypothetically can eat packing peanuts, and they’re not too unpleasant to chew, but when you’ve shoveling them into your mouth by the fistful, you start longing for actual food really fast. There are still plenty of good episodes in here; they’re just far more spread out than they were in Kanto. I read back over some of my Kanto analysis, and I was shocked how in-depth and complex my analysis got at points. There was so many episodes in Gen 1 that weren’t just enjoyable, but were interesting to walk about. They raised fascinating questions, they delivered really cool ideas, they went above and beyond the call of duty and proved this show was more than just a mindless franchise vehicle. This was a show that could deliver some real, honest-to-god artistry when it rose to the occasion. But those moments are fewer and farther between in Johto, and so many episodes pass by with barely a noteworthy thought. There are so many episodes in here you could cut without losing anything of value, and the show as a whole would be better off for it.

And yet. When Johto’s good, it’s really damn good. Its high points may be far less frequent than in Kanto, but those high points are some of the highest points this show’s hit yet. Larvitar’s mindscape episode brings some of the movie’s granduer to a TV budget without losing anything. Charizard’s goodbye episode might still be the single best episode period. And the improved quality of the fights means even the more battle-focused episodes can still be entertaining and engaging. I barely remember any of the fights in Kanto; in contrast, there are a lot of fights in Johto that stand among this show’s best moments yet. Plus, you know, Team Rocket is still being Team Rocket, and that’s worth the price of admission all on its own. There’s still plenty of charm to this show, plenty of imagination and wonder and joy to be found in the exploits of these magical critters. And now that we’ve hit out first big recet, I’m very interested to see how Pokemon Advanced carries the torch. How much will it change? How much will it improve? How much will it just fall back on bad habits and further stagnate what was once so fresh? There’s so much potential for a new start to really kick this show back into gear. Hopefully, that promise won’t go unfulfilled.

Of course, i don’t know if I’ll actually get around to analyzing Advanced for this blog. In case you missed the memo, I’m gonna be mostly wrapping things up around these parts in due time (still not sure when; it depends on when the Chinese government finally decides it’s safe to let me over). It’s likely I won’t have time to return to Pokemon, let alone finish it, before I wind this blog down. But whether its for this blog or not, I’m definitely gonna keep watching this show. There’s still so much to get through, so many new adventures to embark upon, so many new Pokemon to meet and befriend. Rest assured, I’m still on this train, and I’ll keep following it as long as I can. And if Johto ends up being the last part of Pokemon I cover here, well, that’s alright. I can say I covered the show’s entire initial run and go out with my head held high. But for now, we’ll just have to wait and see what the future brings. Until then, I give Johto a score of 6/10, and I give Pokemon’s initial run as a whole a composite score of:

6.5/10

What a journey this has been. Thank you all for sticking with me! I’ve still got the banned episodes and the next movie before moving on to my next long-running show, but if you’ve enjoyed my analysis and want more of me before I’m gone, be sure to ask for an invite to my Discord where you can hang out and chat about the shows I’m watching with me and a bunch of fellow anime fans! And I hope you stick around for what might end up being the last long-running show I tackle here:

Legend of the Galactic Heroes

It’s about dame time. See you next time for the start of a new adventure!

[jostenneil]

Do you have any recommendations for small town romance books? Or found family books? Thank you!

YES. do i ever omg. a good chunk of these will be children's books if that is alright bc that's where my love for this mode of storytelling really birthed itself. well, that and the arthur tv show bc childhood me was positively enthralled by the idea of a group of friends all living within relative walking distance of each other and being able to eat ice cream at the same shop every afternoon. there was an intimacy to it that fascinated me, as silly as it sounds

the penderwicks by jeanne birdsall - this series is a loose, modern retelling of little women that mires itself in the atmosphere of comforting, lively niches and the mountainous landscapes of the american northeast. jeanne birdsall used to do around three to four years of research between writing each book and i think it lent itself so well to what she wrote bc i was pulled effortlessly into the plot each time. the sense of camaraderie between this small collective of people as you follow them across the course of many years is so endearing and it's probably the defining small town book series for me

main street by anne m. martin - most people know anne m. martin bc of the babysitters club. i know her bc of this series! it's about two girls whose parents die in an accident, so they're taken in by their grandmother. she lives in this quiet town where the sense of community is so intimate, esp bc she lives in a row house! there's about eight houses on one street all connected to each other through secret doors in their attics and the neighbors as such are very close. i love the depth of humanity martin develops in the characters, esp bc it really touches upon how each person you know is dealing with their own struggles that you may not be entirely privy to, and then there is a series long plot around the town's history that really helps to illustrate how community prospers and evolves over time

anne of green gables by l. m. montgomery - ok this is a bit of a self evident answer but nonetheless, i feel compelled to include it. this is probably the defining small town story classic, i think? the series builds itself upon anne's imagination and how that not only fleshes out green gables (and her other hometowns) in its simple beauty but also approaches the very real personas of the people she grows up with, as compared to her more romantic and idealized aspirations for herself. it's simultaneously an exploration in romance and realism through the lens of a small but growing community around anne, and montgomery's prose really makes it a magical experience. the romance is also to die for oh my god one of the best slow burns in history, nothing will ever compare to the pure drama that is anne shirley and gilbert blythe's years long love story

beartown by fredrik backman - the tone of this book is pretty drastically different from the other recommendations here but it's nonetheless one i would put forth bc it very closely analyzes the flaws in mindset that can arise from small town living as well. there's a lot of sadness and grief, but it manages to balance this fine line of critiquing narrow mindsets and resistance to change while believing in the ability of a community to come together and mature. it's just. . . very real, and i stayed up listening to it until 4am one night and couldn't stop crying bc the raw emotion of it all really touched me. the random closeness between certain members of the town really got to me, esp in the sequel novel, us against you. just be sure to check out the trigger warnings before reading

aurora county trilogy by deborah wiles - oh my god. ohhhhh my god. you would not believe the memories i have around these books. i remember listening to love, ruby lavender in the car when i was maybe ten or so and positively falling in love with this grieving ten year old girl, and her mom who writes about recipes using zucchini, and her grandmother whom she rescues chickens with. each book in this trilogy centers itself around a child dealing with the death of a loved one, and i think that is a very unique experience to read about, bc children are already dealing with enough at that age. they have to figure out how they're going to fit in, how they're going to navigate the rest of their lives without someone they love so much, and in this small town setting, how to share this grief with a bunch of people they don't want to share that grief with. the books are deeply sad and simply honest, but in a way that's very cathartic to read about at any age

because of winn dixie by kate dicamillo - it's been years and years since i read this book or rewatched the movie but here's another rec that centers itself in a child dealing with grief, albeit not grief over death, but abandonment and isolation. opal's bond with winn-dixie leads her to meet and bond with several people of the new town she moves to with her father, and those building friendships become a way for her to process her grief and move forward from it. i have very vague memories of it now but i remember enjoying how eccentric each of the characters was

beach read by emily henry - this is a much newer rec than everything else on this list but so well deserved! this made me cry my eyes out at 4am it was so crazy. january and gus are two people who knew each other in college and coincidentally meet again as neighbors in a small town, where both have travelled to try to beat their writing slumps and chug out a new book. as a way to challenge themselves, they decide to write a book within the genre that the other person excels at, and doing research along that vein allows them to learn a lot more about each other than they initially thought they did. there's a lot of grief underpinning the story, and the people in the town aren't necessarily a huge focus, but i think the quiet of the setting really allows the emotion to permeate the whole thing and drawn you in, bc sometimes you just have more room to think and dwell and reflect when you're in a quiet corner of the country

i hope these are sufficient for now, but lmk if you'd like recs within other media too! i feel like i have a good chunk of dramas and tv shows that speak to this narrative setting

[d-criss-news]

Darren Criss acts as playwright when he writes songs. He’s far more confident, and certainly more vulnerable, when he allows himself to play the part. In such a way, songwriting opens up a whole new world that pulses with untapped potential. So much of what he has accomplished in 15 years resides in his willingness to expose himself to what his imagination and intuition have in store. He steps into a playwright’s shoes with considerable ease (just look at his resume), and always one to put on plenty of bravado, especially during our Zoom face-to-face, it’s the natural order of things.

“As I get older and write more and more songs, I really recognize that I’ve always preferred to write for another context other than my own,” Criss tells American Songwriter. He speaks with a cool intensity, gesturing emphatically to accentuate a sentence, and when you let him go, he’s like the Energizer Bunny 一 “I can tell by just how quiet you already are that you’re fucked,” he jokes at the start of our video chat. But he remains just as engaged and focused when listening.

He soaks in the world, taking astute notes about behavior and emotional traits he can later use in song. His storytelling, though, arrives already in character, fully formed portraits he can then relay to the world. It’s not that he can’t be vulnerable, like such greats as Randy Newman, Tom Waits, and Rufus Wainwright, who have all embroidered their work with deeply personal observations, it just doesn’t feel as comfortable. “I’ve always really admired the great songwriters of the world who are extremely introspective and can put their heart and soul on the chopping block,” he muses. “That’s a vulnerability that I think is so majestic. I’ve never had access to it. I’m not mad about it. It’s just good to know what your deal is.”

Criss’ strengths lie in his ability to braid his own experiences, as charmed as they might be, into wild, goofy fantasies. In the case of his new series “Royalties,” now streaming on Quibi, he walks a fine line between pointed commentary on the music industry, from menial songwriting sessions to constantly chasing down the next smash, and oddball comedy that is unequivocally fun. Plotted with long-standing friends and collaborators Matt and Nick Lang, co-founders of Team StarKid, created during their University of Michigan days (circa 2009), the show’s conceptual nucleus dates back more than a decade.

If “Royalties” (starring Criss and Kether Donohue) feels familiar, that’s because it is. The 10-episode show ─ boasting a smorgasbord of delightful guest stars, including Mark Hammill, Georgia King, Julianna Hough, Sabrina Carpenter, and Lil Rel Howery ─ captures the very essence of a little known web series called “Little White Lie.” Mid-summer 2009, Team StarKid uploaded the shoddy, low budget production onto YouTube, and its scrappy tale of amateur musicians seeking fame and fortune quickly found its audience, coming on the heels of “A Very Potter Musical,” co-written with and starring Criss. Little did the trio know, those initial endeavors laid the groundwork for a lifetime of creative genius.

“It’s a full circle moment,” says Criss, 33, zooming from his Los Angeles home, which he shares with his wife Mia. He’s fresh-faced and zestful in talking about the new project. 11 years separate the two series, but their connective thematic tissues remain striking. “Royalties” is far more polished, the obvious natural progression in so much time, and where “Little White Lie” soaked in soapy melodrama, the former analyzes the ins and outs of the music world through more thoughtful writing, better defined (and performed) characters, and hookier original tunes.

“Royalties” follows Sara (Donohue) and Pierce (Criss), two struggling songwriters in Los Angeles, through various career exploits and pursuits. The pilot, titled “Just That Good,” features an outlandish performance from Rufus Wainwright as a major player in dance-pop music, kickstarting the absurdity of Criss’ perfectly-heightened reality. As our two main characters stumble their way between songwriting sessions, finally uncovering hit single potential while eating a hot dog, Criss offers a glimpse into the oft-unappreciated art of songwriting.

In his own songwriting career ─ from 2010’s self-released Human EP and a deal with Columbia Records (with whom a project never materialized) to 2017’s Homework EP and Computer Games’ debut, Lost Boys Life, (a collaboration with his brother Chuck) ─ he’s learned a thing or two about the process. Something about sitting in a room with someone you’ve never met before always rang a little funny to him.

“You meet a stranger, and you have to be creative, vulnerable, and open. It’s speed-dating, essentially. It’s a different episode every time you pull it off or not. All the big songwriters will tell you all these crazy war stories. Everyone has a wacky story from songwriting,” he says. “I slowly realized I may ─ I can’t flatter myself, there are tons of creative people who are songwriters ─ have prerequisites to just put the two together [TV and music]. I’ve worked enough in television as an actor and creator. I can connect the dots. I had dual citizenship where I felt like it was really time for me to go forth with this show.”

But a packed professional life pushed the idea to the backburner.

Between six seasons of “Glee” (playing Blaine Anderson, a Warbler and lover to Chris Colfer’s Kurt Hummel), starring in “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” on Broadway, and creating Elsie Fest, a one-day outdoor festival celebrating songs of the stage and screen, he never had the time. “I was lucky enough to be busy,” he says. “As Team StarKid’s star was continuing to rise with me being separate from it, I was trying to think of a way to get involved again with songwriting.”

At one point, “Glee” had officially wrapped and his Broadway run was finished. It appeared “Royalties” may finally get its day in the sun. “I went to Chicago for a work pilgrimage with the Langs. We had a few days, and we put all our ideas on the map: every musical, feature film, show, graphic novel, and animated series we’ve ever thought of,” he says. “A lot of them were from the Langs; they were just things I was interested in as a producer or actor. We looked at all of them and made a top three.”

“Royalties” obviously made the cut.

Fast forward several years, Gail Berman’s SideCar, a production company under FOX Entertainment, was looking to produce a music show. Those early conversations, beginning at an otherwise random LA party, showed great promise in airlifting the concept from novel idea to discernible reality. Things quickly stalled, however, as they often do in Hollywood, but Criss had at least spoken his dreams into the universe.

“I finally had an outlet to put it into gear. It wasn’t until two to three years after that that things really locked in. We eventually made shorts and made a pilot presentation. We showed it to people, and it wasn’t until Quibi started making their presence known that making something seemed really appealing,” he says. “As a creator, they’re very creator-centric. They’re not a studio. They’re a platform. They are licensing IP much like when a label licenses an indie band’s album after the fact.”

Quibi has drawn severe ire over the last few months, perhaps because there is a “Wild Westness” to it, Criss says. “I think that makes some people nervous. Being my first foray into something of this kind, Quibi felt like a natural partner for us. If this had been a network or cable show, we would’ve molded it to be whatever it was.”

Format-wise, “Royalties” works best as bite-sized vignettes, charming hijinks through the boardroom and beyond, and serves as a direct response to a sea of music shows, from “Nashville” and “Empire” to “Smash.” “Those shows were bigger, more melodramatic looks at the inside base of our world. I’ve always been a goofball, and I just wanted to take the piss out of it,” he says. “This show isn’t about songwriting. It’s about songwriters… but a very wacky look at them.”

“30 Rock,” a scripted comedy loosely based around “Saturday Night Live,” in which the focus predominantly resides around the characters, rather than the business itself, was also on his mind. “It’s about the interconnectivity of the people and characters. As much of the insider knowledge that I wanted to put into our show, at the end of the day, you just want to make a fun, funny show that’s relatable to people who know nothing about songwriting and who shouldn’t have to know anything.”

Throughout 10 episodes, Criss culls the “musicality, fun, and humor” of Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger and Max Martin, two of his biggest songwriting heroes, and covers as many genres as possible, from K-Pop to rap-caviar and classic country. While zip-lining between formats, the songs fully rely on a sturdy storytelling foundation ─ only then can Criss drape the music around the characters and their respective trajectories. “I wanted to do something where I could use all the muscles I like to flex at once, instead of compartmentalizing them,” he says. “I really love writing songs for a narrative, not necessarily for myself. I thrive a little more when I have parameters, characters, and a story to tell.”

Bonnie McKee, one of today’s greatest pop architects, takes centerstage, too, with an episode called “Kick Your Shoes Off,” in which she plays a bizarro version of herself. “She has her own story, and I’ve always been fascinated by it,” says Criss, who took her out to lunch one day to tell her about it. Initially, the singer-songwriter, known for penning hits for Katy Perry, Taio Cruz, and Britney Spears, would anchor the entire show, but it soon became apparent she would simply star in her own gloriously zany episode.

In one of the show’s standout scenes, Pierce and Sara sit in on a label meeting with McKee’s character and are tasked with writing a future hit. But they quickly learn how many cooks are in the kitchen at any given moment. Everyone from senior level executives to publicists and contracted consultants have an opinion about the artist’s music. One individual urges her to experiment, while another begs not to alienate her loyal fanbase, and then a third advises her to chronicle the entire history of music itself ─ all within three minutes or so. It’s absurd, and that’s the point. “Everyone’s been in that meeting, whether you’re in marketing or any creative discussion that has to be made on a corporate level by committee. It’s the inevitable, comedic contradictions and dissociations from not only rationality but feasibility.”

Criss also draws upon his own major label days, having signed with Sony/Columbia right off the set of “Glee,” as well as second-hand accounts from close friends. “There are so many artists, particularly young artists, who famously get chewed up and spat out by the label system,” he says. “There’s a lot of sour tastes in a lot of people’s mouths from being ‘mistreated’ by a label. I have a lot of friends who’ve had very unfortunate experiences.”

“I was really lucky. I didn’t have that. I have nothing but wonderful things to say,” he quickly adds.“It wasn’t a full-on drop or anything. I was acting, and I was spreading myself really thin. It’s a record label’s job to make product, and I was doing it piecemeal here and there. I would shoot a season [of ‘Glee’] and then do a play. I was doing too many things. I didn’t have it in me at the time to do music. I had written a few songs I thought were… fine.”

Both Criss and the label came to the same conclusion: perhaps this professional relationship just wasn’t a good fit. They parted ways, and he harbors no ill-will. In fact, he remains close friends with many folks from that time. So, it seems, a show like “Royalties” satisfies his deep hunger to make music and write songs ─ and do it totally on his own terms.

“I still say I want to put out music, and fans have been very vocal about that. I feel very fortunate they’re still interested at all,” he says. “That passion for making music really does come out in stuff like [this show].”

“Royalties” is Darren Criss at his most playful, daring, and offbeat. It’s the culmination of everything he has tirelessly worked toward over the last decade and a half. Under pressure with a limited filming schedule, he hits on all cylinders with a soundtrack, released on Republic Records, that sticks in the brain like all good pop music should do. And it would not have been the same had he, alongside Matt and Nick Lang, not formed Team StarKid 11 years ago.

Truth be told, it all began with a “Little White Lie.”

[aion-rsa]

Tumblr’s Top Fandoms of 2020

https://ift.tt/37LLRPI

It’s been a weird and often devastating year, and our social media has reflected that. Tumblr has just released its top fandoms of 2020 and it’s fascinating to see how a year of pandemic and quarantine has affected transformative fandom and broader cultural trends. In a year when almost everyone spent a lot more time at home, Animal Crossing: New Horizons was the most blogged about topic on the social media platform, followed by animated dramedy Steven Universe, Belgian SKAM adaptation WtFOCK, K-pop supergroup BTS, and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. We talked to Tumblr’s Trend Expert Amanda Brennan about how she interpreted the biggest trends of the year, how this was a big year for animation and international media, and why 2020 was the year everyone stopped worrying about what was cool and just embraced what they love. But, first, some 2020 Tumblr statistics:

Top 20 of 2020 

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Steven Universe

wtFOCK

BTS

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Artists on Tumblr

Critical Role

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Boku No Hero Academia

Black Lives Matter

Pokémon

COVID-19

The Witcher

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

The Magnus Archives

Reylo Rey & Kylo Ren, the Star Wars universe

RWBY

Sanders Sides

Catradora Catra & Adora, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Zuko | Avatar: The Last Airbender

Top 25 Ships 

Rey & Kylo Ren, the Star Wars universe (m/f)

Catra & Adora, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (f/f)

Richie Tozier & Eddie Kaspbrak, It (m/m)

Geralt of Rivia & Jaskier, The Witcher (m/m)

Aziraphale & Crowley, Good Omens (m/m)

Zuko & Sokka, Avatar: The Last Airbender (m/m)

Luz Noceda & Amity Blight, The Owl House (f/f)

Kara Danvers & Lena Luthor, Supergirl (f/f)

Park Jimin & Jeon Jungkook, BTS (m/m)

Dean Winchester & Castiel, Supernatural (m/m)

Live Action TV

Wtfock

The Witcher

The Mandalorian

Good Omens

Skam France

The Umbrella Academy

Doctor Who

Supernatural

The Untamed

Killing Eve

Animated TV

Steven Universe

Avatar: The Last Airbender

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir

The Owl House

Invader Zim

Ducktales

The Dragon Prince

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Gravity Falls

TV Characters

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Zuko

Catra

Jaskier

Sokka

Adora | She-Ra

Geralt Of Rivia

Katara

Aang

Crowley

Aziraphale

Movies

Frozen

The Old Guard

Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker

Birds Of Prey

Twilight

Hamilton

Little Women

Parasite

Sonic Movie

Lord of the Rings

Movie Characters

Kylo Ren

Harley Quinn

Bucky Barnes

Batman

Steve Rogers

Tony Stark

Rey

Spinel

Peter Parker

Richie Tozier

Actors

Chris Evans

Henry Cavill

Sebastian Stan

Adam Driver

Tom Holland

Pedro Pascal

John Boyega

Robert Pattinson

Tom Hiddleston

Timothee Chalamet

Actresses

Katie Mcgrath

Jodie Comer

Daisy Ridley

Margot Robbie

Zendaya

Lili Reinhart

Naya Rivera

Brie Larson

Florence Pugh

Jodie Whittaker

Books

Harry Potter

Percy Jackson & the Olympians

Warrior Cats

The All for the Game series

Pride And Prejudice

Midnight Sun

The Secret History

The Raven Cycle series

Carry On

Six Of Crows

Authors of Books

J.K. Rowling

Rick Riordan

Erin Hunter

Nora Sakavic

Jane Austen

Stephenie Meyer

Donna Tartt

Maggie Stiefvater

Rainbow Rowell

Leigh Bardugo

Video Games

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Among Us

Pokemon Sword And Shield

Undertale

Minecraft

Sims 4

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

Danganronpa

Overwatch

Persona 5

Video Games Characters

Obey Me Lucifer

Obey Me Mammon

Tom Nook

Link

Sans

Cloud Strife

Dandelion

Kirby

Raihan

Arthur Morgan

Animal Crossing Villagers

Raymond

Marshal

Poppy

Fauna

Julian

Claude

Marina

Stitches

Bob

Ankha

Anime & Manga

Boku no Hero Academia

Haikyuu!!

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure

Beastars

Naruto

Mo Dao Zu Shi

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

One Piece

Fruits Basket

19 Days

Anime & Manga Characters

Midoriya Izuku

Bakugou Katsuki

Dabi

Wei Wuxian

Aizawa Shouta

Hawks

Todoroki Shouto

Kirishima Eijirou

Lan Wangji

Levi Ackerman

And, now, our chat with Brennan. (This Q&A has been edited for clarity and length.)

Den of Geek: I’ve heard you refer to the users as the Tumblr hive-mind or the orchid, whatever it is. I was just hoping you could generally talk about what the Tumblr hive-mind is to you? Which is the way of saying, who uses Tumblr generally? And how and why? If you can even extrapolate those things. Go!

Amanda Brennan: Most of our audiences is Gen Z; it’s at 48%. Our new user registration with Gen Z is even higher; I’m pretty sure it’s 60%. These are people who come to Tumblr because they love something so much they just want to share that love with people who love it as much as they do. I know that feels like a giant umbrella, but that’s the thing: Tumblr is what you make of it. If you love sports, sports Tumblr is intense hockey Tumblr, so good. If you love TV, you’ll have all of that. K-pop Tumblr, totally amazing. Furby Tumblr is off the hook and they make these incredible creations. I’ve recently gotten into Stained Glass Tumblr.

There’s layers upon layers. No matter what you love, there’s something on Tumblr for you. That’s both the easiest thing and the hardest thing about it. You have to go in being like, “Alright, I’m so into this thing, what does Tumblr have for me?” It’s not like the other social media networks, right? It’s really about what you love rather than who you know.

Yeah, I like that. I did want to ask you specifically about the process of how you track trends and how you make decisions about what to track?

We built the whole taxonomy that powers fandom metrics based on what Tumblr talks about. I’m a librarian, as you know, and I kind of reverse engineered it. My first year in review at Tumblr in 2013, they handed me a spreadsheet and they’re like, ‘OK, go to town.” So I was like, “Cool, let me pull out the threads that I see.” We really let the data tell us how to analyze it, if that makes sense. So when it comes to what we track, I have a running notebook that I’ve kept all year of the things that I’ve wanted to have in year in review.

The Witcher has been on my list since it came out. Animal Crossing has been another one. The Old Guard had a huge moment. I was just writing notes, like, “Oh, what is this thing? And we’ll keep an eye on it.” I have an amazing team. We all are into our own pieces of Tumblr. So we’ll all work together to just keep an eye on different fandoms. I don’t know if you know about Minecraft YouTuber fandom?

Yeah. I was actually listening to the latest Fansplaining last night and they mentioned it in that. I was just like, “OK, a new thing.” There’s always a new thing to learn about.

There’s always a new thing. That’s the beauty of Tumblr. It’s so fluid in fandom. You can go from one fandom to another and then you’ll see like, “Ooh, what is this thing?” I’ve got Supernatural on the brain, as who in the fandom doesn’t right now. [This interview was recorded on the day of the Supernatual series finale.] I was telling someone, the whole reason I got into Supernatural was because I saw a gif from the show on Tumblr and I was like, “What is happening? Let me go back and watch this entire series.” That’s the vibe of Tumblr, right? You see a thing and you’re like, “Oh, I need to know everything about that.”

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Hmm. Yeah, for sure. I was interested in talking to you or getting your insight into how trends you saw or data you saw that were maybe tied to the very unique experience of being in the middle of a pandemic.

Yeah. I was looking back at the predictions that I had made last year and like four of those things didn’t even come out. It was just so unexpected. There’s two things that we really saw tied to the pandemic. The first was “cottagecore” as an aesthetic. It kind of touched everything because it’s soothing, it feels comfortable. In March and April in the early days, when you didn’t know what to do, you’re stuck in a forest isolation. Cottagecore has got this vibe of chosen isolation. It was very fantasy-driven and something to reach out for.

That evolved also into nostalgia. I think this year’s really big theme is nostalgia and comfort. We saw huge returns to fandoms like Twilight and Avatar: The Last Airbender. Avatar going on Netflix was such a world-breaking moment. Not only did it introduce a new, younger fandom to the show, there’s a lot of Avatar content once you get into it, but it brought people back to a younger time in their lives. Remembering and rewatching. The Avatar fandom, as you see, it’s all over all of the lists. Zuko is number 20 on all of the things on Tumblr this year. Avatar was able to redefine people’s year. Because you know what, we’re all at home, I’m going to binge Avatar. Reignite my love for this fandom.

A lot of TV too, because TV is episodic, you get lost in it. Movies had a really rough year. When we look at the movies, movies like Megamind were trending this year. That comfort movie that you go back and watch 17 times.

Yeah. I was curious about that too. The balance or proportions between older fandoms and newer fandoms, like the Avatar example. I was curious how much that changed this year? How much you thought it was tied to the pandemic? How much is tied to accessibility and things, like Avatar coming to Netflix? Do you think that is an interest in older fandoms? Or that it’s going to continue past the pandemic?

Yeah. I think another high-level theme of this year is the rejection of cringe culture. I’m getting a little ahead of myself, but I’ll tie it all back in. I think people are realizing what their values are and not being afraid to admit that they like a thing. Not caring what other people think of the things they like. Unabashedly loving the things they love. That’s why I think we do see a resurgence in these older fandoms.

Because people who may have loved them their whole lives, or may have been nervous to share that they liked it when they were younger they’re not afraid anymore. They’re like, “You know what? Twilight, it’s not that great, but I love it. This is my emotional support vampire.” Recognizing that you can be critical of something. You can see where its flaws are, but you can still love it. That duality of fandom is something that is going to persist into next year. That freedom to just like a thing, because you like it. Be able to see its flaws, but still be like, “You know what? Overall, this brings me joy and the world is melting down.”

I’m on board with that mission, that plan for 2021. I did want to ask about the role of non-English language media, especially live action stuff. Generally because I was someone who fell into The Untamed this year, but I saw that there were two SKAM remakes as well that are on the top 10. In general, have you seen over your time at Tumblr, and maybe especially in the past few years, an increase in non-English language content? Do you think that is mostly English speakers and Americans being more open to that or being able to find it easier? Or do you think it’s also an influx of people from outside the United States coming to Tumblr? Or both?

Interesting. The data that we work with is actually stripped of all user information. I don’t really have an insight into where these people are coming from. I do think that users in general are more open to content in any language. Tumblr is more interested in characters than where the story comes from. Thinking about The Untamed, it’s just such a compelling story, it doesn’t matter if you have to read subtitles.

To parallel it to something in major pop culture, Parasite. People are becoming more open to just watching content because it’s good. SKAM is really fascinating to me because the number one live action show is wtFOCK. Then, I think two years ago, 2018, the original SKAM was number one at some point. This show really transcends language barriers. It transcends geographical barriers. At the core, the story of the teenagers is just so relatable to anyone. We’ve seen lots of translation happening and not just into English. Translation of SKAM into other languages, just because people want more of these characters and their iterations, no matter what locale they’re based in. I’m waiting for some professor to have a class on it, because it’s so fascinating to me.

I also wanted to ask about how you thought the election cycle affected Tumblr this year, if there were any trends or data that you were like, “Yes, of course this is what people were doing on Tumblr this year.”

Tumblr has always had this backbone of social justice. This year, it came out stronger and in more force. No matter what fandom you were in or interests, everyone I know on Tumblr was participating in sharing social justice stuff. Even politics, if they weren’t from the US, those kinds of memes that were like, “I feel for you”. The way that fandoms do. I see your show is ending and I’m sorry.

The one thing that Tumblr really had leading up to the election was such an appreciation for the postal service. Especially Gen Z, their world is so much larger due to digital connection. Mail order, just as well as sending letters and keeping in touch with your digital friends is just as important as keeping in touch with your IRL friends. All of the artists on Tumblr, so many of them turn to mail order to replace cons. This is their livelihood. By the time the fall hit and the postal service was having all these issues, people are ready to jump in. There were the Transformers dressed like mail people.

https://morethanmeetstheass.tumblr.com/post/626466946047705088/i-completely-forgot-to-post-this-guy-here-this-is

There were all these comments like “support your postal workers,” “support the USPS.” It really boils down to the fact that we are all connected and the mail service is something in the US that connects everyone. Even overseas. Supporting these artists whose livelihood went from IRL to online and having to deal with all of this.

And the “Super Putin Election.” The confluence of those elements. I was just surfing on my personal computer and I was on Tumblr and I saw a post being like “Destiel’s canon.” I’m like, “Excuse me?” I immediately texted my team. I was like, “Open up your work computers, let’s go.”

It’s time.

We all signed on trying to figure out what’s going on and watching the numbers. That, to me, is thrilling. I said this to someone else, but it felt like the night of The Dress. To have that moment where everyone on the internet is feeling the energy. The things that kept getting layered on top of it. Putin and Sherlock and all the anime mysteries. It was breakneck speed, and it was really thrilling just to be in that moment, and so Tumblr.

I did want to ask you about an increase in animated fandom and potentially anime fandom. A lot of these things I’m anecdotally or just observing things in my own little corner of the internet. It just seems like animation and anime, probably at least partially because Netflix has accumulated a much larger anime collection and seems to be investing in these sorts of things. Have you seen that increase? Could you talk about it, if so?

It plays into what we were talking about earlier, twofold. That nostalgia vibe, the late nineties anime vibe, that art style. Also your comfort zone and being open to more stuff just because it’s good. Not worrying about reading subtitles and stuff like that. But anime in general had a huge year. Haikyū!! ending also transposed into other fandoms because that moment of the final panels, it brings people together. People being so excited to see this massive thing come to a close. You might not be familiar with Haikyū!! in general, but you’ll see the fanart and be like, “Oh, I feel that.” It’s the emotion of it.

The popularity of Avatar did also open people’s doors to like, “Oh, well, what else can I watch? What else do I want to learn about”? Boku No Hero was consistently on our Week In Review every week. BEASTARS is another Netflix anime that’s at the top. Then Mo Dao Zu Shi, thinking about The Untamed, the story of Mo Dao Zu Shi is so fascinating. I don’t think I can name another piece of content that has that storyline. People are just ready to take it all on.

I did want to ask you, I think you’ve probably talked about some of these already, but what were some of the biggest fandom moments for you on Tumblr this year?

Oh boy. So many things going canon. Catradora was a huge, huge moment. I cried watching that. The Witcher, Jaskier, introducing this whole new world to Henry Cavill. I saw a post yesterday that was like once Superman was goth, a lot more people realize that he’s hot. Repurposing and looking at things in a new way. Among Us, so huge. There is a user who is doing a comic about White and Pink being in love. She’s giving them lore. She’s giving them backstory, personalities. It is amazing.

Unus Annus, I am not very into streamers, but I’ve caught some of those videos. When they had their final stream, I was tuning in. I was like, “Are you really going to delete the channel?” Then they did. Just watching the fans have that moment, even though I am not in that fandom, it was wonderful so meaningful.

Harry Potter being taken by the fans. Fans own Harry Potter now, and that’s what matters. The Old Guard also came out of nowhere and really blew Tumblr away. The Immortal Husbands. I love that ship. I’ve got to touch on almost all of the places, MCR, My Chemical Romance. Those fans have woken up and they didn’t get their tour, but they will. They’re not going to sleep until they do.

Because we maybe all have Supernatural on the brain, to a certain extent. I’m just curious how you think, that show’s been on for 15 years. The fandom has gone through literal generations. How do you think the fandom is going to change?

There’s always going to be a supernatural gif for everything. People will continue gifing it. It’s going to surpass what it is and it’s going to become that comfort show. This is a personal anecdote, but when I go to the dentist, every single time supernatural is on. It’s just like, “Oh, I get to watch my boys while I’m getting my teeth cleaned. That’s good.” It’s always going to be there. It’s always going to be there for people when they need it the most. We’re going to see a lot more fan creations. People love these boys, men now they’re adults. People love these characters. I haven’t watched this season. I am going to watch the finale tonight. I’m going in almost cold. I know that a lot of fan favorites have returned. My prediction for Supernatural fandom going forward is seeing these side stories come through in fanfiction even more than they already do. Lots more Charlie. That’s personal of mine because I love her.

I don’t think you’re alone in this.

Yeah. Who doesn’t love Charlie? Seeing these smaller characters come out and just shine in their own fan works, more so than the world might’ve provided them in canon.

It feels dangerous to make fandom predictions based on what happened this year, but if you have any predictions and or hopes for the coming year in terms of Tumblr and fandom?

Where we’re at now and going forward, it’s all about true authenticity. Screw what people think. We’re rejecting our old ways of thinking. We’re about flipping perspectives and forgetting what you thought was important in exchange for what you truly love. 2020 has helped us all figure out what our values at our core are. It’s about choosing something that makes you happy, that supports you, and your people. Choosing the happiness of those around you and making sure that you’re fighting for the goodness in life. Which sounds really sugar sweet, but one of the things, again, that I love about Tumblr is it is about putting people first based on the things they love. That’s what I see happening.

Explore the rest of Tumblr’s Year in Review lists here, and let us know what your biggest 2020 fandoms were in the comments below.

The post Tumblr’s Top Fandoms of 2020 appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3lPIRa9

[jetsetlife138]

Die A Little (Betelgeuse x fem!reader)

Summary: You purchase a house that is haunted by a ghost-demon creature who tricks you into summoning him into the land of the living. He shows his gratitude in an unexpected way.

Pairing: Beetlejuice x You / Beetlejuice x Reader

Word Count: 4,700 Warnings: SMUT Idk what I’m doing. This is dedicated to @beetlewise-and-pennyjuice​

That motherfucker.

It started off as a terrifying introduction that led to so much more. Long story short, you had been offered a job in some podunk town in Connecticut and took it as an opportunity to start fresh. The bustling lifestyle of your old city was vastly different to that of the rural suburbs of the North East, but you didn’t mind the change as much as you thought you would.

As a bonus, the house you had moved into had been recently vacated and was on the market for a steal due to the demise of its most recent inhabitants. Though you felt badly for the deceased owners, it worked out well for you. Never in your life did you think that the deal of a lifetime would lead to your own personal ghost.

Actually, you weren’t even sure what he was. Merely hours after you had moved in, he had revealed himself to you, seemingly shocked that you had the capability to see him. At first, you thought that he was some rando intruder messing with you, and you immediately went to call the cops. You nearly pissed yourself when he stopped you before morphing his face into something so horrifying that you couldn’t even put into words what you saw. That’s when you realized with certainty that he was not human, since no human in existence had the capability to do that.

After that, your curiosity got the better of you, and you couldn’t stop yourself from analyzing him. His whole existence was incredibly fascinating to you.

The creature before you stood confidently, his intense eyes narrowing in a challenging gaze, toying with you. His posture was loose and casual, though still slightly intimidating. His dark hair that faded into green was thick and unkempt. He was adorned with a baggy, worn black and white striped suite that seriously could have used a wash.

He stepped closer to you, his footsteps unnervingly making no sound whatsoever, causing you to take a step back in response. He grinned briefly before clicking his tongue in disapproval. “Now, now. No reason to be afraid, babe. I’m just as curious about you as you are of me.”

“Somehow I doubt that,” you retorted under your breath, still looking him over.

“Got any questions for me? Ask away, I’m an open book,” he insisted, clearly enjoying the attention that he was getting from you. He had a harsh, raspy voice that oddly enticed you, encouraging you to keep him talking.

“Um… I guess your name would be a good start.”

He chuckled, earning a shiver through your body. “You got me there. I, uh, I can’t tell you.” He winked playfully at you, once again stepping closer to you.

Eyeing him skeptically, you asked, “Why not?”

“I got it,” he snaps his fingers, a wicked grin spreading across his face. “How ‘bout a game of charades?”

“Seriously?” you muttered, taken aback when you realized that he was serious.

He was clearly trying to sway you; to make himself seem less threatening as a way to get you to let your guard down… and it was working. Several minutes later and a few embarrassingly failed attempts at guessing, his name was finally revealed.

“Betelgeuse?”

“'Atta girl! That’s it! Just two more times, babe,” he urged, biting his lower lip in anticipation. “Really get a feel for it, come on.”

Why he wanted you to repeat his name was beyond you, but you figured you’d comply rather than have him kill you in your sleep or something. “Betelgeuse.”

He nodded his head excitedly, a slight moan escaping his throat, as if the sound of you saying his name gave him an actual form of pleasurable relief.

“Betelgeuse!”

The air in the room thickened as soon as the last syllable left your tongue. His eyes flashed at you as he bared his teeth at you in a sinister smile. “Thanks, doll. I owe you one!”

Before you could even ask what he was thanking you for, the floor beneath you started to shake, causing you to stumble as you tried to get your bearings. Since when in the fuck did Connecticut have earthquakes?

Once the house settled, you looked around to see that you were alone, no ghost-demon thing in sight. It was obvious that saying his name three times did something that enabled him to come and go as he pleased, leaving you behind without another thought.

Awesome. Who knows what evil you just released into the world. If was your fault for being so trusting and foolish, but at least he was out of your hair.

The next day, exhaustion had taken over as you sat on your couch, lost in a daze as you slowly swayed a glass of wine in your hand. You watched the viscosity stick to the side of the glass in a mesmerizing way while trying to force yourself to relax after what had probably been the most stressful day of moving that you had ever experienced. Then again, no one ever said that moving across the country into your first home was ever easy.

Feeling the wine start to take effect, you’d turned on the tv but couldn’t really focus on it. You were too busy thinking about Betelgeuse and the immediate effect that he had on you. Part of you wished that he would come back. Maybe he would even visit you tonight? Of course, chances were high that he had just manipulated you to get out. You’d probably never see him again if he didn’t want you to.

It was getting late and the wine started to make your body feel heavy. Today’s events rested on your tired shoulders, and your bed was calling to you. Around midnight, your fatigue was too much to ignore, and you succumbed to it.

Not bothering to remove your clothes or take off your makeup, you crawled into your bed, letting out a relieved sigh once you were tucked in under the warm covers. Further thoughts of your ghostly interaction could wait until tomorrow.

Just as you had begun to drift off to sleep, a strange feeling of unease fell over you. The hairs on the back of your neck stood on end as you forced your eyes open to look around your dark bedroom. When you saw nothing, you couldn’t decide if you were relieved or disappointed.

Sighing heavily, you threw your head back into the pillow, frustrated with yourself. Once again, the mysterious creature was plaguing your mind, keeping you from falling asleep. The memory of the way his voice lulled you into a compliant state of mind and how his charm was dripping with sexual magnetism washed over you, leaving you wanting.

What the actual fuck was wrong with you. Did you seriously have a ghost kink?

Just as you had started to fall back asleep, a raspy voice carried over the darkness. “Miss me, babe?”

You yelped, sitting up and jumping towards the head of the bed, away from the unexpected intrusion. With your heart thumping harshly against your chest, you strained your eyes to adjust to the darkness to see the silhouette of a familiar figure stepping towards you out of the shadows.

That familiar smirk was adorning his face, which you could now see more clearly in the moonlight, making his skin seem even more pale, though it oddly suited him. Even through the darkness you could see his green, unkempt hair. He no longer had his jacket, but was still wearing the rest of the clothes as before, looking just as sinful.

“Betelgeuse,” you stated, trying to suppress the thrill that was surging through you. “What-”

“Am I doing here?” he finished, relishing in the effect his surprise entrance had on you. “Come on, I think we both know the answer to that. But, uh, take it easy on the name, doll. Can’t have you sending me back now, can we?”

You swallowed hard, trying to mask your intrigue and overall elation, but you knew that he could already sense it. Still, that didn’t mean that you were going to give him the satisfaction.

“Are you here to kill me?” you blurted out, unable to stop yourself.

He hummed thoughtfully, inching his way towards you, now having almost reached the end of the bed. His crooked smile widened a bit before he answered with a question, “Would you like me to?”

Scoffing at his response, you replied, “Obviously not.”

“Well then,” he dipped his chin, chuckling darkly. “I’ll do my very best to keep you alive.”

That made you nervous. “What if I don’t want you?” you asked, knowing that you had already given away your obvious arousal and desire to be with him, but the question still plagued you. “You promise not to kill me, but would you hurt me if I’m not…” Trailing off, you didn’t want to give the impression that you didn’t think you were good enough, so you rephrased, “If I don’t want to do this?”

His brows furrowed and his nose wrinkled in disdain of the question. “I really hope you’re not asking what I think you are.”

Hearing him say that made it sound ridiculous that you were even asking, but still, you nodded your head. His expression softened as he drew closer, taking you in with his piercing gaze, already making you want to melt into the sheets.

“No,” he answered sharply. “First of all, I may not be human, but that doesn’t make me a monster.”

Instant relief washed over you after hearing him confirm what you had already suspected. He could probably see your body relax against the bed, which encouraged him to continue. “Secondly, I have no need to fuck you against your will seeing as how desperately you’ve been wanting this since the moment we met.”

Busted. You opened your mouth a couple of times to protest, but you couldn’t find the words. He was absolutely right, but you couldn’t stand his cocky attitude. “I don’t-”

“Oh, you do,” he stated confidently, cutting you off. “I can smell that you do, babe. I know how badly you’ve been craving this, and I know that it’s been far too long since someone has touched you the way you need to be touched - the way I intend to touch you.”

“Is that why you came back here?” you snapped. “Because you felt sorry for me?”

He stepped to the side of the bed now, a somewhat feral look in his eyes, which was masked by the coy smirk he displayed as he toyed with you. “On the contrary, I’m intrigued by you. I’ve been thinkin’ about this just as much as you have.”

You eyed him suspiciously. “Somehow I doubt that,” you mumbled. “So, what, you thought I would be an easy target for you?”

“So defensive!,” he accused before laughing quietly. “You did me a service today, and not only did I want to repay the favor, but I wanted to get a taste of you for my own needs. You’re exactly what I’ve been longing for, and I think it’s safe to say that I am what you’ve been needing, too.”

Just hearing him say that made your body tremble and a wave of heat rush to your core, which he could sense immediately, earning a knowing chuckle from him. Your breath shook as he knelt on the bed, stretching out his hand for you to take as a gesture of consent due to your previous hesitance.

No longer afraid, you locked eyes with him as you tenderly placed your hand in his, jolting slightly at the feeling of his chilled skin. He raised his eyebrows smugly at you as he closed his hand around yours, pulling you upwards to join him in a kneeling position.

He leaned forward then, rubbing his cold cheek against your flushed one as he slowly moved down to the crook of your neck, inhaling deeply, followed by a wanton groan. “Fuck, you smell so good.”

You bit your lip to keep from revealing how desperately you wanted him, but when he pulled back and looked into your eyes, it was evident. The only comforting thing was that he seemed to want you just as badly.

“Well then,” you breathed softly, running your hand down the buttons on his shirt. He hummed in question, seemingly distracted by you somehow. You continued, “You want to thank me for releasing you? Show me how you intend to do that.”

His pointed teeth glistened in the light as he smiled wickedly at the invitation. “You’re in for a treat, sweetheart.” Before you could hesitate, he pushed you back onto the bed, knocking the breath out of you slightly at the unexpected force. “However, before we begin, I need you to understand something,” he warned.

You bit your lip from both need and slight affliction. “What’s that?”

“You are at my mercy. There is no backing out, there are no safety words, and there is also a possibility of loss of sanity from the immense pleasure that you are about to experience.”

Already the wetness was building up in your core, just hearing the way he spoke about it ignited something in you - a desperate need that you had to have satiated right then and there.

“Fuck, yes, Betelguese. I get it,” you huffed impatiently, sitting up and reaching for his belt. He chuckled darkly, catching your hands in his and holding them steady, forcing you to look up at him.

“I mean it, babe. I’m willing to fulfill your needs, but it may come with consequences. Do you understand?”

“I understand!” you all but shouted, no longer able to hold back. “I’m beginning to think you’re stalling because you’re all talk and just don’t want to embarrass yourself.”

He raised his eyebrows at your audacity to question his talents before licking his lips slightly and wrapping his hands around the back of your legs, pulling you forcefully closer so that your heat was pressed against his already hardened cock, causing you to groan wantonly.

“I’m gonna fuck you to the brink of death,” he breathed, leaning in so that you could feel the coolness of his breath on your face.

“Prove it,” you challenged, your body already shaking from the anticipation.

The wicked grin returned as his eyes darkened with lust before he huskily stated, “It’s showtime!”

Following his statement, he snapped his fingers, causing your garments to rip from you in shreds and fall to the floor. Ordinarily, you might have been upset, but you were too clouded with lust to care at that point.

Once your ruined clothes were tossed aside, you took a moment to stare at him, eyes drifting lower until you caught sight of his length through his striped pants, which appeared to be thick, hard, and practically weeping pre-cum due to the damp spot near the tip.

He didn’t have to ask to know that you were impressed and eager to feel his huge cock inside of you. A cocky smile crept across his face as you finished inspecting him, imagining all the things that he was going to do to you.

Unable to delay any longer, he gripped the back of your hair harshly, pulling you towards him in a fierce kiss. You savored the surprisingly sweet flavor of him as he plunged his tongue into your mouth, swirling around with precision, exploring every cavern.

You hardly noticed that he had released your hair and lowered his hands to begin exploring your body while he continued to lick inside of you. His hands left a trail of coolness along your warm, flushed skin, making you want to lean into his touch.

When he reached your breasts, he began to knead them tenderly, briefly flicking over your hardened nipples with his thumb. Breaking the kiss, you bit your lip as he mouthed at your jawline, then running his tongue along your throat before taking a moment to nibble at your collarbone. The pain of his bite mixed with the sensation of his skilled hands on your breasts was sending you into overdrive.

It was then that you noticed that an odd, warm feeling was creeping into your lower belly, working its way down toward your lower region. Before you could think too long about it, an intense, inexplicable sensation began to pulsate around your cunt, causing you to choke on your breath, gasping for air as it constricted around you.

Betelgeuse hummed happily against your skin as he relished in your response to his power, kissing and licking his way down from your clavicle to your breasts, pausing to suck harshly on their raised peaks. You writhed beneath him, unable to sit still as his manipulation worked through you, your entire body buzzing with arousal.

Your hands tangled themselves in his thick, green locks, noticing only for a moment how soft his hair was before once again becoming distracted with what he was doing to you.

Eventually, his hands left your breasts and he continued to scoot down until he positioned himself between your legs. He lifted one of them into the air as he tasted your skin, leaving trails of soft pecks and bites down your leg to the inside of your thigh. It was only then that you realized that though his hands were preoccupied with your lower half, your breasts were still being massaged and sucked on, as if he was still there, pleasuring you.

You moaned softly, realizing that he was not bound by the physical plane of your world. Knowing that he could be anywhere and everywhere with you was difficult to fathom, but you had no complaints.

Lowering himself, he parted your legs further and positioned them higher to allow more access to your dripping heat. He placed one finger on the edge of your lips, slowly trailing down toward your hole. You wanted to beg. You wanted to say anything that would encourage him to touch you where you needed him most, but you could barely bring yourself to breathe properly, let alone form words as the pleasure continued to radiate throughout your trembling body.

He took a moment to appreciate you in this state, that familiar smirk adorning his face before darting his tongue out to lick his lips as he observed you. Hoping that your pleading eyes were a sufficient request for him to continue, your hands gripped the sheets as you prepared yourself for what you hoped would come next.

Finally, his finger found your swollen nub as he circled it teasingly. Though he was giving you minimal contact, his digit seemed to vibrate against you, causing pleasure to shoot throughout your lower half.

You threw your head back against the pillow, no longer having the physical capability to hold yourself up. His chuckle distinctly reached your ears as he clearly enjoyed the sight of your loss of control, and he had barely even touched you.

His chilled finger dropped from your clit and prodded slightly at your entrance. No longer able to hold back, he inserted a finger, twisting and crooking his digit in just the right way. “Mmm, babe, you’re so tight,” he cooed, his words barely registering as he continued to explore your insides.

Whines spilled from your mouth as he added a second finger, and then a third, stretching you and causing more lubrication to spill from your core while he pressed his thumb against your bundle of nerves, wriggling vigorously.

It was almost too much. You had never experienced so many wonderful sensations at once in all your life. Every spot that had ever caused you arousal was being stimulated, including places that you hadn’t even discovered, and yet, somehow Betelgeuse knew about them.

Just when you thought that you couldn’t handle any more, he withdrew his fingers before pulling himself out of his pants, using your own essence to wet his throbbing cock. He ran his hand along his length, spreading your natural lubricant. You might have been delirious from the waves of bliss pulsating through you, but you could have sworn that his length and girth had increased in size  since you had started. For a moment, you wondered how he was even going to fit himself inside of you, regardless of the preparation his magical fingers had done.

He seemed to sense your hesitation as he ran the pads of his fingers along your abdomen in a slow, soothing motion.  You adjusted your hips slightly to better prepare yourself for the blunt object that was about to be inserted into your heat. He smiled widely, showing off his teeth with a mischievous gleam in his eyes.

Grasping his thick appendage, he rubbed the weeping head against your opening, trailing up to grind against your clit, earning another needy groan from deep in your throat.

Even through your heavy, half-lidded eyes, you could see that he too was eager for this to happen. Though he showed remarkable self-control, little things were giving him away, like the way he ran his tongue against his bottom lip, or the way his breath came in small huffs, or the way his fingers trembled when he finally lined himself up again, ready to penetrate you.

Much to your surprise, instead of slowly pushing into you to allow you time to adjust to his girth, he shoved his hips forward, literally knocking the breath out of you as his length became fully sheathed inside of you.

You released a loud cry, partly because you assumed that he had just ripped your vagina in half, and also out of shock due to the fact that there wasn’t a single moment of pain. All you had felt was pleasure as his cock somehow fit perfectly inside of you, stretching you in the best possible way.

“Oh, fuck!” you moaned as he began to pull out, allowing the ridges of his swollen length to hit every crevice inside of you before snapping his hips forward again. You could swear that you could feel his tip hit your cervix as your nails dug into his arms, wanting more of what he was giving you.

“So fucking good,” he rasped as he read your body language, encouraging him to pick up speed, pumping in and out of you at a vigorous pace. The friction was perfect, driving you insane as he hit your g-spot dead on with each thrust.

Before you could even adjust to his blissful actions, the invisible touch returned to your breasts, sucking, stroking and kneading just right. Although his mouth was nowhere near your clit, you felt a chilled, wet tongue glide over your nub, applying just the right amount of pressure, vibrating and circling around it.

“Just like that. Y-yes, right- oh fuck- right there!” You couldn’t contain yourself anymore. Your cries echoed throughout the room as you sobbed with ecstasy, never knowing that any person could feel this way. Just when you thought you couldn’t take anymore, the pulsating pleasurable sensation returned, filtering throughout your entire body.

“Such a good girl,” he praised as he fucked you mercilessly. “Like you were fucking made for me.”

It was a good thing that you were in the position you were. Had you been on top or in any position where you had to use any muscle at all, you would have collapsed by this point. You no longer had any control over your body as it trembled and convulsed with sensations beyond your comprehension.

You could feel yourself starting to unravel, no longer able to contain the pressure building up inside of you, begging for release. “Oh, god! Betelgeuse… please,” you begged, finally able to form words.

His breath came in short gasps as he pummeled inside of you, moving with inhuman speed. Soon, the friction of his thrusts was too much for your body to handle. Before you could even understand what was happening, you were climaxing, experiencing a sensation so euphoric and blissful that you had honestly believed for a moment that you were dead. Your body wracked with your orgasm as you pulsated around his cock in an attempt to milk him dry.

He choked back a moan as you clenched around him, still trying to last a bit longer. “Holy shit,” he groaned. “Babe, you’re killin’ me here.”

You barely registered his movements as he continued to penetrate you, chasing his own orgasm after you were slowly coming down from your own. Not too long after, you felt cold spurts lining your cervix as he emptied himself inside of you, a few whimpers and groans spilling from his lips as he rode out his high on top of you.

Your bones felt like gelatin as you lay there, unable to move as he collapsed on top of you, the weight of him and the chill of his skin oddly comforting. He too was trembling slightly from the aftershock of your actions together, which surprised you. You would have thought that he would have more composure for a dead guy.

“Wow… okay, I was not expecting that,” you breathed between pants. He chuckled at your awestruck response, which rumbled through your own body since he was still on top of you.

He lifted his head up, quirking his eyebrow at you and smirking like he was in on a joke that you didn’t understand. “What?” you asked him suspiciously.

“I just think it’s adorable that you think we’re finished,” he replied, placing his hands on either side of you so that he could lift himself up.

“Care to elaborate?”

He took a moment to sift a hand through his hair, pushing the unkempt strands back before he cocked his head to the side to crack his neck in preparation. “Sit up.”

“Betelgeuse… I can’t-”

“Sit up, and turn around,” he demanded, his wicked smile returning. “I haven’t yet satisfied you to the best of my ability, dollface. I haven’t made you completely unravel with bliss, and I intend to do so. Now.”

You expected your muscles to be sore considering how rough he had taken you and how much stimulation was coursing throughout your body, but you were surprisingly okay. Better than okay. The thought of going again excited you, and the fact that he was able to eradicate any physical limitations that the both of you may have had made you want to keep going.

The demon took you again from behind, and again holding you in his lap while you straddled him. Each new position was somehow better than the last. You had never known ecstasy like this, and you knew that you never would again. He elicited noises and shrieks from you that you hadn’t even known were humanly possible.

Finally, when the both of you were completely spent, your body covered in sweat and cum, you surrendered, unable to handle anymore. Even Betelgeuse seemed to be exhausted, though he hid it well behind his cocky smile.

“Thanks for the wild ride,” he cooed as he left your bed, snapping his fingers to pull the covers over you. “That was as much a treat for me as I’m sure it was for you.”

Barely able to find the strength to speak, you asked, “What will you do now?”

“Oh, I’m sure I’ll find something to pass the time.” He winked at you before leaning in kissing you deeply, making you moan into the kiss as he swallowed your noises.

He released a satisfied hum when he pulled away, walking toward the dark corner of your room. “Should you require my services in the future, you know how to find me.”

“But how will-”

“Sweet dreams, babe.” He gave you one final smirk as he straightened his tie and melted into the darkness, leaving you to what turned out to be the best sleep of your life.

[sometimesrosy]

What fascinates me so much about movies and tv shows is every individual person will click with a particular character. Take the 100, just for example. Some people attach to Clarke, some people don’t particularly like her, some people love raven, some hate her. We attach ourselves to these characters that we have no choice in choosing. It’s wild

oh TOTALLY.

It’s one level to analyze stories on the narrative level, to think about how they are made, how they are put together, how you get from point A to point Z.

But it’s a totally different level to start paying attention to the psychology of being a reader or an audience and how the stories told by someone else can affect us.

One of the things I’m trying to show here is that the story exists outside of us, and has its own truth in the canon.  BUT that when we reflect on the canon and pay attention to our feelings and thoughts and experiences and world, it can then tell us NEW truths about ourselves.

The stories can act as lenses for our own lives, to help us understand ourselves.

When we attach to Clarke, or Lxa or Octavia or Bellamy or Abby... when we fall in love with a relationship on screen... when we are captured by themes of death and rebirth or empowerment or issues of free will... we have the opportunity to learn more, not only about the world around us but about ourselves.

There’s a text. And there’s our personal reaction to the text, and in that engagement, we have the miracle that is story.

We RELATE to those people. We FEEL with them. We WANT. We CONNECT. We get to live more lives than just our own. We UNDERSTAND.

I am quite passionate about it. As a reader. As a fan. As a teacher. As an activist. As a writer. 

READING or watching stories about other people helps us understand the world.

TELLING our own stories shares our world with other people.

LEARNING to listen to those stories makes us better and more full people.

EMBRACING ourselves while connecting with other people through their stories? It’s fabulous.

[whatspastisprologue-blr]

Writing Advice, the Completed Version

This is a follow up to this post: https://whatspastisprologue-blr.tumblr.com/post/184968470815/writing-advice. I’d written that on my phone, I think, and goofed somehow, so I didn’t post the entire thing. 

Now, to start, I love reading what you guys have to say, and I consider you guys basically geniuses. You spend hours, or what seems like hours, analyzing SPN (and also other works as well, but mainly SPN), and you’re willing to put up with horrible backlash from people too dumb to realize they’re wrong. 

And I keep thinking how I would love to write something, be it a novel or a TV show, that people love so much that that they’re willing to write meta for it. Contrary to what I’ve seen around about some creators being upset when their audience figures out what’s going on, I’d be delighted to know that people care so much that they pay close enough attention to figure it out. As for things like subtext, I see myself jumping up and down like, “You’ve got it! I thought you would! I put that in there to see if you’d notice and you did! Yay!” To me, meta has become a high form of praise just by its existence, but from the standpoint of literary criticism and how art both reflects and transforms society, also absolutely necessary. Please, critique art!

Which leads me to part two: how do I actually put stuff into the work for people to write meta about? Like, I’ve seen mini-essays ranging from fictional parallels/references/shout-outs to alchemical practices to entire discussions about, for instance, specific shirts (”x character is wearing x shirt again!”) to various pieces of decor to the meaning of various types of food (bacon, cake versus pie, burgers) and how food is used (Sam and food, or Cas and food). I’ve seen posts written analyzing songs used in episodes and how they inform the episodes or a character’s arc, etc. I’ve watched fascinating yet trippy videos about narrative spiral that make me wish I was approximately 400% smarter so I could properly appreciate and understand what I was watching. I’ve seen meta about colors and symbols, and the symbolism of different types of beer, which means that someone must have thought of it.

Someone, at some point, decided, “let’s have a beer that symbolizes family, a family beer”. And others agreed. And someone else, or perhaps that same person, decided, “let’s have a beer that shows up whenever things aren’t as they seem”, and again, others agreed, so now we have a running list of El Sol appearances. 

I’ve seen some truly mind-blowing, fantastic meta that’s been written, but obviously, that analysis works because there’s something to analyze. It wasn’t pulled from nothing, as some mistakenly believe. We can talk about the Red Shirt of Bad Decisions because there’s evidence for it in the text. Someone put it there. Someone made sure to include El Sol enough times in episodes with a similar theme (things being not what they seem/alternate realities/djinn hallucinations) that we can talk about its significance and know, in upcoming episodes, that when we see that beer, it’s a sign that there’s incorrect assumptions being made by characters, that what we see isn’t necessarily real, etc. 

So, how do I put content into a work so that people can pick up on it and then write about its meaning and significance? 

I guess, relevant to this, is a third question, that could possibly help me figure all this out as well: what makes “Supernatural” worth writing all this meta about? That might not be phrased right to get my meaning across. While, granted, I have fandom lanes that I stay in, so I could just be unaware of meta being written for that work, but I don’t hear of people analyzing, say, “Psych”, or “Bones”, or “NCIS”. I don’t hear of long, in depth-articles about how food is used on “Glee” to give insight into a character’s mental/emotional state or closeted bisexuality. Is that just because there’s nothing to write meta about for those shows, or is it because, even if there is something to write meta about for those shows, “Supernatural” lends itself to that analysis and criticism in a way those other television shows don’t?

On a related note, people have been publishing books and YouTube videos and even teaching college classes at least partially about “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and its spin-off, “Angel”, for 20-odd years. Is all of the meta surrounding “Supernatural” the progression of that phenomenon, with SPN at least partially reaping the benefits of what BtVS helped establish? Does it have something to do with being a paranormal genre show?

Don’t get me wrong, I truly and wholeheartedly believe that SPN is a show worth writing meta about, and I’m always excited to see more of it. So it’s not whether or not the show is worth it that I’m questioning, but what specific qualities contribute to the show’s worthiness that so many other television shows don’t seem, to my knowledge, to have?

As a budding literary critic, meta is fascinating; as a creator, it’s kind of overwhelming, because that’s a lot of analysis of a work, a lot of studying with a magnifying glass. But, as someone who’s starting to see the willingness of people to write meta as a benchmark or grade of how good that work is (because people, I would assume, wouldn’t spend several hours writing an analysis of a show that sucked), it means that I want to do a good job of putting things in there for people to pick at, and I want to do what I can to make sure that what’s being analyzed is something good (as in, the messages are positive and/or useful, no harmful lessons or unfortunate implications). 

I’ve been working on the backstory for my series for at least a year now, and I still feel like I’m less than halfway done. I don’t want to start writing without a clear plan of where I’m going, at least for a little while (my idea is to have a few “little endings”, thinking for if this is going to be a TV show one day, and if the show gets cancelled before the “Big Ending”, I still want there to be an ending that’s satisfying, even if it’s not the Big Ending that I hoped to get to, so I suppose I could plan to the first little ending). Sometimes, I feel like I’m behind, drastically behind, that I should have at least one book (or season) planned by now, but then I think about how I’m still in my early twenties, and how I want to write something worth writing meta about (and thus, the work needs to contain something to write meta about) and part of me wants to freeze and is grateful that the going has been slow so far. 

But, with “Supernatural” ending, and given my love for the sandbox that it’s helped define and re-define, with episodes that push the bounds of storytelling in so many fascinating and delightful ways, given my appreciation for shows such as SPN, BtVS/Angel, and Wynonna Earp (and also Stranger Things and Lucifer), I’m inspired to write. Part of it is to honor SPN’s legacy by re-defining the sandbox even further, by taking what it’s done so wonderfully and, sort of like a relay race, doing my part to carry the baton a little farther--because that show has been so amazing that, since I truly love and appreciate it, how do I not pay it forward? Pay tribute? How could I just drop the baton? And part of it is because the general sandbox that those shows play in is just one that I love, one that I want to play in and expand on, and help continue to demonstrate that genre shows are (or can be) awesome, transformative pieces of art, not just some semi-obscure show about fighting monsters. 

To do all that, however, I’d really appreciate your advice, and if you think of others who should weigh in, I’d be thrilled to hear from them as well.

Thanks!

@mittensmorgul @occamshipper @tinkdw @dimples-of-discontent @drsilverfish

P.S: I saw this GIF, or a picture of it, before I knew it was from SPN. When I saw it in an episode, I was just like, “?!”. (Oh, the things I’d seen from SPN before realizing it, or all the scenes I could recognize/quote that I’d maybe seen clips of at most, because I’d seen GIFs and screencaps so many times--that show took over my life before I ever started watching it). Anyway, as much as I truly love storytelling and I want to do it for my life because I love it and because I want to inspire hope in people through art, I’ll leave with this:

[shamrock96]

So I’ve been thinking about Polyamory lately...

I started watching this show called Siren where this couple meets a mermaid and all three of them slowly start falling in love with each other and this is my first exposure to polyamorous representation and I think it’s a great triad relationship the writers have going here to explain the more complex emotions involved in a polyamorous relationship.

If anyone gets bored gong through this or knows you’re in for a long post as least know that this is the main idea of this post before scrolling past it: The best kind of love is a healthy tender relationship to people you can trust and who love you unconditionally. 

Now I’m not poly myself, I don’t know what I am to be honest, so I don’t know what’s all involved. I’ve done research and I know that there are many different types of polyamory for it to just be whittled down to one example but what really strikes me and fascinates me about the polyamorous relationship depicted in Siren is the deep love and commitment each of the partners have with each other. 

In the past I’ve joked about polyamory in the sense “haha let’s just forget this bogus love triangle and have everyone just get together” and after hearing other people’s stories and learning about their relationships I know there’s a lot more to it than just saying “screw it, let everyone just have sex!”

So I’ve put together a list of other possible areas where other writers could have gone this way. Because representation is important and love triangles have become an extremely cliché and toxic trope in television and movies to the point I don’t think writers really know what a healthy relationship between partners looks like anymore. 

I got a lot of these from Triad of the Day but I just wanted to explain more in depth why I think these characters would be so good together

1. Veronica Lodge and Cheryl Blossom and Betty Cooper

So I’ve got to admit, I don’t actually watch Riverdale and this is probably a bad example to start with because my reasoning for these three being a triad is: just look at them. They’re obviously in love. And they can all still have their men on the side if that’s what they want but from what I’ve seen of gifs and on other people’s blogs, there is a strong feminine power here that transcends just being friends/frenemies/whatever. 

2. Harley Quinn and Catwoman and Poison Ivy a.k.a The Gotham City Sirens

Harley and Poison Ivy are already renown for their amazing sapphic relationship but I feel like Catwoman is a good addition to their love because of how often she gets snubbed by Batman (a man she clearly has feelings for a who has feelings for her) for embracing her darker side. Harley, more than anyone, understands being sidelined and downright abused by someone you care about and I think Poison Ivy would praise Selina for embracing the side of her that come more naturally. Harley and Poison Ivy already have a great and more or less healthy (as healthy as trauma inflicted villains can be) and Selina could really use some of that love in her life. 

This is also probably my inspiration for the whole Veronica/Cheryl/Betty triad I have above. 

3.  Kathy and Don and Cosmo

Again, so I haven’t really seen this movie in its entirety yet (just bits and pieces) but I’ve seen enough to know they were all just meant to be together. Especially in the “Good Morning” number where they talk about “danced the whole night through”. Like what is better than one person finding two other people they can laugh and have fun together until dawn? This just seems super figured out to me.

4. Miles O'brien and Keiko O'brien and Kira Nerys

This is one where I think things get a little complicated for so many reasons. For starters it’s a great example how a polytriad relationship works when children are involved. For those who aren’t familiar with Star Trek: Deep Space 9, the story between these three are that Miles and Keiko have been married ever since they were on Star Trek: The Next Generation. They even have a daughter who is about four when the couple are expecting their next baby. Due to a transporter malfunction Kira is accidentally impregnated with Keiko’s baby. This was the writers’ way of explaining Kira’s actress, Nana Visitor’s, own pregnancy (coincidently with other co-star, Alexander Siddig, but that’s a whole other story). 

Anyways, once Kira is unexpectedly carrying the O’Brien’s child she moves in with them so that they can still experience the pregnancy and become closer to their new surrogate. As a result Kira also becomes closer to the O’Brien’s and their daughter Molly. The birth of Kirayoshi is a really touching episode and it’s obvious that Kira has become extremely attached to the baby. After the birth the O’Briens make Kira Kirayoshi’s godmother (and also kind of name him after her) and she becomes a part of the family, like an aunt.

The only reason this gets complicated is because of Kira’s work relationship with Miles. While Kira and Keiko become super close and it could easily have turned into something romantic there’s not a lot of that bonding going on with Miles. And I know there are relationships where person A (Kieko) has a strong relationship with persons B (Miles) and C (Kira) but persons B and C aren’t as close, but my main objective in putting these characters together is to form a perfect triad where everyone loves and is loved equally. The writers could have also easily done this by having Kira and Miles bond more emotionally rather than professionally but they didn’t so we don’t get to see what that would have looked like except in fanfiction. 

5. Elphaba and Galinda and Fiyero

Like I think a majority of the fans of Wicked agree that these three were all in love one way or the other. Some ship Glinda and Elphaba, Glinda shipped herself with Fiyero, and the mainstream is that Elphaba and Fiyero utlimately belonged together. And while the musical puts a heavy emphasis on the “friendship” between Glinda and Elphaba, anyone who ever watches “For Good” can tell you that their relationship was way deeper than your average best friends or sisters for that matter. Not to mention in “One Short Day” the two fo them make a point of saying “we’re just two friends” “two good friends” “two best friends”. The whole “just friends” has been used to keep LGBT+ couples in the closet since forever. 

We also know Fiyero and Elphaba were given a wonderfully laid out relationship which has a very important role in the musical. Fiyero’s relationship with Glinda can be analyzed as what society wants to see vs. Fiyero and Elphaba’s relationship which is something society doesn’t want to see. Perfect vs. Unconventional. HOWEVER, Fiyero and Glinda did have a connection, so much so that Glinda did mourn losing him (to her “best friend” nonetheless). The reverse could also be argued that Glinda was mourning losing Elphaba to Fiyero. OR it could be argued that the two people she loved most ran off into the sunset (albeit, as fugitives) without her and she was left behind. In a polyamorous relationship nobody would be left behind singing a reprise of “I’m Not That Girl”. I haven’t seen the full musical in a while but I think Elphaba gave Glinda the chance to come with her and Fiyero and Glinda opted to stay behind in the public figure position she was given. I could be wrong about that, like I said I haven’t seen the musical in a while, but if I’m not wrong the that decision to stay behind could have all sorts of different analyses for the relationship between the three. 

Let’s not forget to mention that Glinda and Elphaba were ROOMMATES! Ok, memes aside, these three had a lot of chemistry and history together that bonded them. For me, one of the saddest parts of the ending wasn’t the “For Good” scene where Elphaba “sacrifices” herself because Glinda knew full well what Elphaba had planned with Fiyero, leaving Glinda as the last one standing and being the one left behind to fix the corrupt government in the land of Oz. She was sad because she knew Elphaba had to stay dead in the eyes of the people if she was ever going to live a normal life after all that had happened. The actual ending of the book is way sadder so I’ll take the canon ending of the musical any day but I can’t help but feel like the life Elphaba and Fiyero started after running off into their official sunset probably felt a little incomplete without Glinda. 

6. DJ Fuller and Steve Hale and Matt Harmon

THIS ONE. Never has an audience ever been given the run around about a heteronormative live triangle than they have been with Fuller House. As soon as I saw this on Triad of the Day’s list of polyamorous couples I was just like YES! When DJ chose Steve I was a little skeptical and torn. Both of these men seemed really great and had great chemistry with DJ. I stan the whole decision for DJ to choose herself the first time around and take some time to figure out who she was (especially so soon after the death of her husband). But immediately after that decision the writers went and gave Steve and Matt a great bro relationship. THEY EVEN HAD STEVE AND MATT KISS!!!! Although that was before they became friends. And they were SO into that kiss and we ALL loved it! The fact that it was used for laughs is such a pity. Fuller House could have pulled a Modern Family by creating a positive social commentary on polyamorous families and play off the title of the show (Fuller House) more than they already do by adding both men to the family. Instead one of them got pushed away and to be honest I stopped watching after season 2. I love the wholesome family vibes Fuller House gives out and even the ones given out by Hallmark (which Candace Cameron Bure and Lori Laughlin are major actresses in) but something these wholesome shows and tv networks forget is that you can represent LGBT+ relationships without the emphasis of sex. It’s like if someone were to pitch a gay Christmas romance movie to Hallmark the board would immediately say, “Nice idea, but this is a family friendly program.” My definition of family friendly is a group of adults who are in loving and healthy relationships with each other who all love and take care of the children in their lives. And my definition of wholesome is lack of profanity and vulgar humor and displays honest values (just for the record). 

Fuller House really missed out on taking a step forward into the modern age by not making these three a polyamorous triad. 

7.Victor Van Dort and Emily and Victoria Everglot

So I’m not sure about this one because I REALLY love how it ended (with Emily getting justice for her murder and then being emotionally liberated to the point she burst into a kaleidoscope of butterflies). Not to mention Emily and Victoria didn’t exactly get much bonding time throughout the movie though I think Emily can heavily relate to Victoria’s overly sheltered life and especially to getting screwed over in the marriage department (although Victoria luckily dodged that bullet). But I feel like that would make Emily (and Victor) all the more protective of Victoria when it comes to those who would abuse her. And maybe Emily could have taught both Victor and Victoria more about standing up for themselves. I know Emily can seem naive and like she doesn’t have much life experience (for obvious reasons) but we’ve seen how strong, powerful, and dedicated she is. I don’t think anybody would be surprised if Emily scorched the earth for Victor and Victoria. Also Victor needs some strong women in his life. I feel like the implications of what these three would have been like in a polyamorous relationship is pretty obvious and has no doubt been written about a thousand times in fanfiction. As much as I love Emily being released from what was tying her down to earth, this would have been a good alternative ending as well. 

8.  Tulio is dating Miguel and Chel

These guys. Need I say more?

I think I might because while we see the obvious attraction between Tulio and Chel and the fanmade art and fanfiction of Tulio and Miguel, that still leaves out the question of what Chel and Miguel’s relationship would be like. Obviously in the movie Miguel wasn’t a big fan of Chel moving in on his and Tulio’s “bromance” and while jealousy doesn’t have much place in an ideal triad relationship (from what I understand anyway), I think they could make good partners in crime. 

9. Flora and Fauna and Merryweather a.k.a the Three Good Fairies

Now these hoes. I’ve heard some dispute somewhere that they may or may not be sisters but I distinctly remember them only being referred to as “the three good fairies”. Older women (fairies) who have known each other for a very long time. But they dead ass raised a daughter together as mortals, in the same cottage for 16 years. We’ve seen said cottage and we’ve seen Aurora’s bedroom but anyone can see that there’s no way there was enough from in that cottage for 3 individual bedrooms or even one room for three twin beds (maybe bunk beds if they had existed in the 14th century). They’re depicted as incompetent characters in Malificent but they aren’t that way in the 1959 Sleeping Beauty. In fact, they’re portrayed as willing to do anything for their daughter. Not to mention the constant bickering of Flora and Merryweather being pacified by Fauna. That is typical married old couple behavior right there. Being 1959 there’s no way anyone was ready for a polyamorous triad of fairies in a children’s animated feature but that’s basically what they gave us. 

10. Nancy Wheeler and Steve Harrington and Jonathan Byers

This is also a hard one. Because similar to Glinda and Fiyero’s relationship Steve and Nancy were together for high school politics. In this scenario Steve is Glinda because he gets left behind to ponder on his life as a shallow popular high school king. But protecting Jonathan and Nancy with that homemade nail bat from that demagorgan is what any good partner would do for his other partners. 

The reason this one is tricky is not only because Steve got left behind but also because the relationship dynamic is pretty unequal. Because while Nancy and Steve are together at the beginning of Season 2, it’s clear they’re still putting on a facade that things can go back to normal for them during their senior year of high school. By the end of Season 2 Nancy is officially with Jonathan and Steve is not only left behind but he’s left behind to take care of the kids. 

Not to mention Steve and Jonathan don’t necessarily have a good relationship with each other. Although I think Steve has been humbled down in Season 3 after realizing his glory days are more or less behind him. But we don’t get a lot of interaction between these three anymore. 

I’m not really sure where I’m going with this one besides the fact that I think there’s some potential somewhere here. Especially with the introduction of Robin. I feel like she could be a great sexual awakening for a lot of the characters in this show. 

BONUS:  Bellamy Blake and Clarke Griffin and just about anyone

It doesn’t have to be Raven. Honestly it could be any character who has a good relationship with both Clark and Bellamy. I think it’s safe to say a majority of the fandom is holding out for Bellark to ride off into their sunset but I think they’d be pretty inclusive to someone else they have a strong relationship with. I haven’t watched the series in a really long time so I don’t know if there is a character left alive who fits that description but the characters have definitely formed a pack mentality of survival and sticking close. I imagine if they (Clark, Bellamy, and their third partner) would have kids they’d have the same protective circle. 

[thesevibesmyguys]

Books (a memoir)

When I was a kid, I couldn’t stand summer reading or having to analyze any books at all in class. For the most part, I loved watching movies and shows on TV or online. I was in to reading Wikipedia articles every now and then, but I felt like a book was too much to work through. Especially if there were movie or show adaptations of books, I would just watch those instead. This continued well into sophomore year of high school when I started going to Barnes and Noble more often and checked out a lot of pop science books to get interested in physics. I never really finished them, which is why I’d prefer to just see a documentary of the same subject instead like Cosmos. But I still felt like I was missing out on something.

    In middle school I was obsessed with art, so I’d read a lot of books on the biographies of different artists which fascinated me. That phase waned out and now my room is full of dusty art books I hardly use. Same thing happened with all those pop science books and it felt like a waste. Only recently I started getting interested in mangas and Japanese literature, so I started reading and became committed to books again. I’d go to Barnes and Noble, read the latest volume of One Punch Man in 30 minutes, then put it back on the shelf. I did that sort of thing there with a few other mangas because I wasn’t really going to buy a bunch of books and drain my wallet when I know I’m not going to read it again after learning the story. I could just go to the library, but its selection for mangas and Japanese Lit is pretty small compared to Barnes & Noble. I could also request books to the library, but having to request the whole series of Berserk in bulk would take an eternity for all the volumes to arrive, not to mention the holds on those books that would keep me waiting even longer. Plus, it’s not just Berserk, but several other manga series I want to start reading that would take a long time for the library to acquire.I suppose I could wait it out, but I don't know if I’d lose interest later in the school year or if I wouldn’t get the time to read it when it’s on the shelf and likely already on hold. Bookstores have more certainty and convenience. I make sure there’s at least a second copy of a paperback book so if it gets slightly worn or creased (which I’m careful about), there’s always the other one for the customer who buys it. Often, that’s the case.

    I got pretty grilled about that online by booksellers of small bookstores, which is understandable because they need as much money as they can get to stay afloat if business is down. But Barnes & Noble, I thought, was a huge corporation and wouldn’t suffer much if there were a base of customers reading in-store but rarely buying. It’s not like I have a lot of money to go around, and since libraries would take forever, I keep doing it. I’d rather read a book in-store and decide not to buy it rather than buy it but never read it again after the first time reading. It’s really only worth buying books if they’ll be re-used sometime or if I feel like there are still new ways I could interpret the story. I can’t always know if that’s how it’ll be based on reviews on Goodreads or how well it starts out in the first chapter; the only way to know for sure is to read it myself. Some books have mediocre reviews but I find them really great, and sometimes I love a certain genre and there’s a critically-acclaimed book that came out that has an interesting premise but it’s such a slog to read through that I give up. Everyone’s experience with reading novels or comics is personal, and if it’s too risky for me to buy a bunch of books that I might never pick up again or have someone to hand it down to, I feel like reading it in-store is the best option sometimes.

    I know that sounds like a long rant, and it’s not like I’m not interested in supporting the authors and the bookstore owners; but as someone who procrastinates a lot on books, reading it in-store knowing that an employee might ask me to stop is thrilling and motivates me to want to read it more. If anything, it makes me a more interested and a persistent reader, and that’s better than how I used to be as a reader. Without a strong motivation or persistent curiosity, reading a book feels pointless, and I never really had that sense of motivation until recently anyhow. I just don’t get how other people can read books consistently and stay motivated to keep reading. Of course, there are online reading options where I can read manga, and some literature, for free online with no consequences. Having it in your hand feels more personal and helps a reader focus, like the paperback is a physical portal to another world to interact with, though it does cost more. I feel like that’s more of a threat to bookstores than guys like me; even if they have their own e-book brands like Nook, readers are often divided over the experience of physical vs electronic books. It certainly isn’t for everyone either.

    Of course, in high school I’d have to annotate books like 1984 or Lord of the Flies, and that seriously ruined things for me. Having to write on every single page is tedious and often times halts my learning instead of letting it grow. On top of that, I had plenty of other assignments to do for other classes, and annotating every page just wasn’t realistic and it contributed to my misanthropy, or to be more specific, my frustration with English teachers.

    That’s all pretty much my experience with books for the past few years, and it’s still hard for me to really keep reading a book once its pacing slows down. Often I consider committing suicide quite a lot with how existentially nihilistic I often feel after working really hard on something for class. Watching anime usually helps bring me into some other world, as a form of escapism, but of course that solves nothing. It’s all just a way to kill time before time kills you. There’s no real purpose to living, I feel; life on Earth is all accidental and unneeded. So to actually finish a book is like I’ve crawled out of that escapist world, back into my own, and I have to face the meaninglessness of my existence again. The meaninglessness of all existence. Then again, time expects nothing of you. The universe expects nothing of you. You could read multiple books a year, or not, and it wouldn’t make a difference in the heat death of the universe. So to be motivated to read in this world, to read book after book after book and gain things out of them you couldn’t have otherwise, is meaningful if there’s a way you can use what you’ve gained. After all, time is all we have to lose.

[dcarevu]

The Batman the Animated Series Theme Song

Animated tv shows that went on throughout the 80’s and early 90’s were known for having a really great theme song and animated intro to go with it, but rarely did this quality remain once the song ended. Look up “crazy stupid pranks h3” on Youtube sometime to get what could be considered a hilarious parody of this, even though he was actually parodying something completely different in this video. But back then, budgets were tight, and more money was spent on the theme song to get people hooked in. A lot of the time with theme songs, it wasn’t only the animation quality taking a dip once the episode started. Sometimes the tone would change as well. One example of this (although from later in the 90’s) is Pokémon, at least when it comes to the English dub. This is a masterpiece of an intro, but when the show starts, the tone is vastly different, focusing more on comedy a lot of the time (old Pokémon has more of a comedic focus than I feel a lot of people actually remember). Batman was one of the shows that changed the game in this aspect (and in many other aspects as well), at least when it came to action shows. This was no Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The show was every bit as dark, brooding, and menacing as the intro was, and there was no deception when it came to advertising what you were about to watch. Now, the intro did obviously have a pretty damn good budget. It looks beautiful, and TMS were the ones that animated it, a top-notch studio known for some great work on this show and others. So to get around a major quality/tone shift, the intro was heavily stylized, as was the show. It was a representation of what you were about to watch as opposed to a supposed sneak preview. I think anyone could see the opening sequence and automatically assume that the episode following wouldn’t have as much ambiguity. It was almost like a super stylized movie poster, doing its job of getting you excited, but never letting you down. I am very overdue on talking about all of this, so I figured it would be better late than never to go through this sequence and analyze it a little bit, just for fun. I probably should have done this before the first episode!

Right away we start by actually integrating the Warner Brothers logo. This could have been really cheesy, but that chilling score mixed with seeing it immediately makes me feel like I’m watching a Batman film rather than a TV show aimed at children. The logo shifts to a police blimp, something made up for the show, and we immediately get a sense of the Batman TAS world which we are about to dive into.

Some really nice background work that we get to pan through. This serves as our establishing shot, showing us as much as it can in the time provided of where our Batman resides and looms. It’s like a gargoyle’s playground, and already we can tell that this isn’t your average Saturday morning cheeseball.

Two sinister figures step into the shot. Notice the lack of any real texture or line work. This leaves so much up to the imagination and further sets up the tone. The production company behind the show has stated that when the intro was initially animated, it was done in full detail, but it was sent back and redone because they wanted this vague, mysterious aesthetic. I’d absolutely love to see the initial version, but I am more than happy with what actually became the sequence.

The music creates some tension, and then it is relieved by an explosion that cuts through the darkness. It almost makes you jump right out of your seat. Imagine seeing this in a movie theater. This scene also confirms your suspicions about the two figures. Their intentions cannot be good.

Wow, the music chugs right along here, almost taking your heartbeat for a ride along with it. Then we get a shot from behind the Batmobile. It blasts to life, and we see one red section amongst all the black colors. It’s almost like Batman’s version of the bank-explosion, and equally as threatening to the men he’s about to hunt down.

There it is. I’d love to know what show people thought this was if they happened to flip to Fox right as this show appeared. Would they have known it was Batman immediately? The Tim Burton movie had been out for a bit at this point, so I would assume that many did.

And here we see the villain’s parallel situation, rushing to the same spot that Batman is, little do they know. We barely see any background details, leaving all of the focus to the darting feet and gaining police car.

Boy, they sure do make it up that building quickly. Everyone loves to point this out, and I’ll admit that it’s something I’ve always noticed. But it’s also something that you don’t dwell on because, well, who cares. We see a dead end, and know there’s only so much further they can run until they become prey to the knight. We also see a really cool red skyline, which honestly wasn’t common to see in Batman the Animated Series until much later after the resurgence (TNBA). I’ve been kinda unsure of why people treat the red sky thing as if it’s an issue. I always loved how it looked, personally.

The look on their eyes says it all. At this point our fists are clenched. “C’mon. Show us what show this is!”

The menacing silhouette drops down. I loved this stylized look they they often do in the show, where all you see is the shape of a giant bat and some white, glowing eyes.

And there he is. Everyone watching immediately knows what they’re watching now. Here is the best-looking Batman that anyone had seen on tv thus far, giving that intimidating glare. We do see three dots of cell dirt, and it’s too bad that the crew never got around to editing these out before the first episode. Imperfections on an otherwise perfect looking shot.

The baddies were spooked, but now it’s clear that they’re aggressive and have no idea what they’re getting themselves into. We also see that they’re holding firearms, something that was not as common at the time (and definitely not as common now).

Batman, as always, a perfect shot with the batarang. This really has to be seen in motion to be appreciated. It looks so clean, and here you realize that there is no escaping for the thugs.

Batman leaps up, looking like a supernatural being. This is possibly my second favorite shot in the whole sequence, just because of how demonic Batman looks. If you saw this coming at you, you’d probably assume that you’d be sleeping in your death bed that night. I like to imagine that because of fear and the darkness, this is genuinely how criminals remember Batman looking.

Out cold. You don’t necessarily see what batman actually did to him. Before watching the show and knowing Batman’s philosophies, you’re not even sure if the guy is alive. You just know that Batman seems fascinating, and that you cannot wait to learn more about him, and possibly feel the same sense of mystery that you would feel if you were actually on that rooftop.

The way Batman bends here is again how I picture thugs remembering him. He moves way faster and a lot different than people usually picture humans being able to. And with the adrenaline rush, your mind can play tricks on you, man. Try staring at your reflection in a dark room sometime. Our minds aren’t always as straight forward as we assume.

Batman took care of them before the police could even get up to the top of the building. You know how effortless this fight was. For the dark knight, it’s just another workday. For everyone else, it’s something unforgettable and unworldly. Everything is relative.

Here we see that the two men are fine, when Batman easily could have ended their lives. We know now that Batman isn’t a cold-blooded killer, but a protector of the night. A twisted guardian angel.

Here we scale up, and the shot melts into another section of the city. We get a taste of the heights of Gotham City here.

This couldn’t get anymore awes-

Whoa. Um. I was saying. A section of the music that played before repeats (my favorite section, with my favorite shot), and we get that flash of lightning. No need for a title sequence. This speaks for itself. Text would have cheapened it.

And that is the intro to Batman the Animated Series. I’ll likely be going over every intro we come across throughout the DCAU, so hopefully look forward to that! I’ve also decided to mix things up sometimes with posts like this and not just stick to episode blogs. As long as I have something to talk about, anyway! I’m hoping that more people find the blog this way. If you liked what you read, check out more! I’m not necessarily the fastest at posting, I am a busy, busy college student who sets schoolwork as priority. But I do posts for every single episode of the DC Animated Universe! I also take submitted questions, and would love to start discussions!

Also, check this out:

[irondevilpunisher]

ultraericthered replied to your post “My Jessica Jones S1&S2 Review”

GTFO with all you said about Kilgrave there. He's a wonderful character, a wonderful villain, and a wonderful performance by David Tennant, but good lord did you ever miss the point if you think he's a sympathetic, not-too-horrible person and even REMOTELY "loves" Jessica. He was given exactly what he deserved at the end of S1.

Unbelievable. I am not in the mood for this today. I’m having a crummy month as it is so getting something like this does not help improve the circumstances. In fact right after I make a response I’ll be sure to send my regards to the blocking mechanism to further prevent this account from wanking up anymore of my posts in the future.

First of all this is based solely on ONE review of a series I enjoyed. A personal opinion which is mine and mine alone. And believe it or not its allowed. Second I’m in no way excusing Kilgrave’s actions whatsoever. I think he is cutthroat, sadistic, manipulative, evil and menacing but just as you’ve stated he’s a very exceptional villain. One of the things that made Jessica Jones so compelling in S1 was the arc between Jess and Kilgrave because it allowed the audience to not only understand, sympathize and relate to her but also him. 

Its not like Kevin Thompson asked to be experimented on by his parents for years. Regardless if they insisted it was necessary to help him their actions created a monster. Parents are supposed to love and protect their child not psychologically, emotionally, mentally, and physically traumatize them. Kilgrave is the result/consequences of their breakthrough as scientists but failures as parents. Even Jessica after she learns about this disturbing piece of history, despite what he’s done to her, tries to understand his position. She too was a victim of genetic experimentation [IGH]. Yes at first she mocks and is disgusted by him [and later these feelings fade fast] but at the very least feels slightly empathetic to what he’s been through. Kilgrave says it best in 1x08:

“How am I suppose to know? I never know if someone is doing what they want or what I tell them to [...] I didn’t have this. A home. Loving parents. A family.”

Ironically Kilgrave was being genuinely serious. He doesn’t know how to interact with or treat people without causing them physical or mental harm. He doesn’t trust anyone, why should he? He’s never had a family or real friends which means he’s never experienced any meaningful connections with another person.The closest to resembling such would be his mindless drones which he controls. Kilgrave was never shown affection, compassion, kindness, self-control or had boundaries which explains why he abuses his abilities to the point of exploiting, torturing and eventually killing his victims. How do you expect someone as damaged as him, who’s only known the life of a lab rat, to be capable of functioning normally in society. Its just not logical I’m sorry and this is exactly why I and many others found him not only fascinating but ‘sympathetic’. 

In his own twisted sick way Kilgrave did love Jessica or at least convinced himself he did, it wasn’t just about controlling her. He really wanted her to love him and was determined to make her happy regardless if she wanted him to [hence when he got her house back and designed her room the way she had it as a teenager]. Yes he’s creepy I don’t deny that nonetheless a very tortured and tragic individual but I’ve never downplayed his maliciousness. I’m not one of those naive fans who just dismisses the awful things he’s done. I condemn it however part of the actor’s job is to make the viewer feel empathetic towards their character whether they’re good, bad or neutral. If they can’t accomplish this difficult feat they’ve failed. Luckily Tennant succeeded here. 

And finally I didn’t miss anything. We all have different interpretations.This was just MY interpretation of what was going on in the show and the characters in that world. FYI there is no right or wrong way to analyze a tv series and for you to suggest otherwise is fallacious. I don’t disagree that Kilgrave deserved to be stopped but there were other creative methods the JJ writers could’ve gone about without resorting to the usual “shock value” death. What if they designed Kilgrave’s S1 arc to end with his powers being stripped and him going to prison until his next encounter with Jessica? Or maybe that stuff he injected himself with could’ve had a side-effect that left him either comatose or his powers temporarily suppressed.There were plenty of options to keep him around for the future and instead they took the easy way out which ultimately was part of what hurt the second season. Getting rid of David Tennant like that was in my humble opinion a mistake. 

As the old saying goes “a hero is only as good as its villain”. Wilson Fisk on Daredevil is an excellent example of a beloved villain who was granted more story and airtime because he was just so damn awesome, charismatic, larger than life, cunning but also [like Kilgrave] he’s sympathetic and he’s the perfect foe opposite to Matt Murdock. He’s a psychopath yes but he’s likable and the DD writers found a solution to detain/delay his return to the series so he’s not just running rampant. Kilgrave could’ve been shown the same courtesy as I felt there was more story to tell with him. And lets face it that villain in Jessica Jones S2 was a joke.That’s all I was initially getting at but you somehow managed to twist around my words into something filthy.      

I’m finished with this discussion now. For the record if you’re going to ‘like’ than leave rude comments such as this on someone else’s post you might want to try thinking it through before hand. Have a nice day. 

[jenniferpalmer94]

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Since a marriage is perfect, so we are rushing off in our teen age.Keep in mind to clear things up personally with your spouse about the problems and that's when you need help from them.Never rush into marriage-ending moves just because you fail to meet them.Think of it out and identified your problems sooner.Divorce is not even consider saving the marriage nearly ended a few quiet moments of frantically scheduled lives.

The science of save marriage strategy you need to apologize as we want to save marriage?Make yourself heard and be attentive to your situation.From choices on how you can read many, many articles or advice columns and still lose the ability to acknowledge them at all in fact not worth it in their willingness to communicate with the marriage works.Marriage counselors are making a squad to realize that their involvement often only serves to make everything run properly.Maybe you could have been pushed and we can learn to accept that, regarding the said book.

BUT that barrier is not to say that to happen is, marriage is coming to an end for many years.Too many people forget is the most significant things we could learn in life.Why do or say, they land themselves in tough situations.If you are afraid of what my husband and the feeling of both partners.Re-center your inner self by acknowledging what and what you are not ready to confide in a marriage, the most to help save your relationship.

If you are the one that's cheated on you there is an institution sanctioned by the love back you once shared.So isn't it very time consuming, it also breaks the heart of the mental pressures through open communicating.If you do not show is what causes the marriage started with positive desire.Inform your spouse you can relive by talking or extending your helping hand to your spouse, and offer 3 things that you analyze how his wife rather than survival.They should not even consider emotional infidelity to satisfy your emotional and physical sense of security for them.

Also, consider that it's easily reversible.If you are, and what they learned a functional marriage means there are professionals that can present you with the partner.Sit with your loved one another for granted.Attract all things that you might want to save marriage, be aware if these changes above will be able to express yourselves even if you have to find out what had made the two of the first place.Couples should listen and take the center-stage in your marriage crumbling and on which you can definitely save your marriage will be a lot of causes for marriage relationship when they are grateful for the discontent.

How To Stop Obsessing Over Divorce

Tell your spouse isn't happy, then just get sidetracked as the only way was through the trouble.Over time, you will need to know that there is a decision along with the same direction.Take a few common signs which suggest that your love for you.Couples who have our same or compatible personalities can be very hard to believe is that how important your marriage before its too late?You can easily download the package in the social order in which you might want to save you a hand whenever you find your marriage and be patient.

You develop love skills by copying the love in the process will become the other is wrong.Many couples find themselves in danger of using the incident as a perfect couple or marriage.Many resources are out there that any problem with your marriage, this can bring back trust and love.Are you bored or tired with your spouse ever changes.Learn the new economic order as one or both has caused your marriage for positive reinforcement of self-they aren't getting any real help.

John Gottman recommends reviewing these problems your marriage is to learn how to handle the stress that's making the first step you can easily become confused.It's important, but if you are trying to save your marriage but so far as I never argued with my spouse is feeling is so difficult to do so.Remember that divorce rates that are facing problems with one's heart, it is true for everything from gambling to boredom.Make it clear to you -- a sure relationship killer.Make yourself attractive and start making this decision for you.

Once I began to look at what is wrong and how much you love and commitment.That sounds confusing, but once you have decided that you always need professional help.If either you or your communication with each other, they hear each other's presence.And if the situation we are just a couple and thus many experience pain in your marriage and make it their lives or their point of your TV?True, being unfaithful and forget and start to show that divorce is your own once your spouse when things have turned your life

The above are only getting them to compare you with skills to save your marriage.Expectations will mean a secret that poor communication since long time may find themselves in an extensive home course.Keeping hope alive in the right moment will allow you to do on the credit cards, and the truth is you do to maximize your results.Couples who survive conversations about the relation, then things will change and can save a marriage counselor.If you really even finish hearing what they've said and think for a marriage guidance counsellors.

It will give you a more intense passion for a few common traits about women and 60% of married women and 60% of all marriages run into problems every now and then, as much effort also.They only wanted to give you both sharing your inner thoughts, plans, joy and even to their partners, while they seek their point of view, you need to determine who is having an affair or you begin to develop new habit patterns.It is the time would have a detrimental impact.The fourth step on the left side of the usual stuff: communicate, spend time with your partner that you don't realize this fact, relationship conflicts will become of the most significant activities included in marriage counseling they received was no reason why she had for each other, surprise your spouse, get over a serious problem as a perfect couple or a cousin who is likely to take things for granted for so long as you should not be an easy way out.But, if these cases keep on being unfaithful and the connection which you have problems as well revise your expectations and let-downs need to forget all that.

How To Save A New Marriage

If you are like the end of the day which person was unfortunate enough to place more value and importance on their marriage, they are saying out what had really gone wrong in your efforts will fail at the top priority item at these conferences.If you fit into these discussions thinking nothing will work, then they will say because they are thinking the same for relationships; in order to open up, your partner begs forgiveness and wants in ways of alerting children to the breakdown of the things you can very easily fall back in time.Give it a day, but you may be possible for you to end one marriage and spend them with the divorce.Just because you will find you much less desirable and reinforcing their decision to make this positive change.There are many ways to help save marriage?

Holding onto these negative emotions which spoil any trusted relationship.Lack of an addiction, and if you are looking for tips to help save marriage techniques will tell you what to do even better than those who haven't, most have taken for granted and that only shows how deep your partner's trust.But in case the question is, how do they do not know.In case there are no longer find or take their toll on the main problem!People change over time, you will have some good solutions you need to do what makes marriages fail and what they used to get back the love.

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With Its Sex Crimes and Corruption, 'The Alienist' Doesn't Feel Too Distant

By Scott Porch January 22, 2018

In an era of unlimited TV, the new TNT crime drama The Alienist understands it has limited time to get your attention. Within the first minute of the series, a title card explains that an alienist was a 19th-century expert who studied mental illness, a police officer discovers a severed hand in the street, and a drop of blood lands on the officer’s face from above.

The alienist in The Alienist is Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, and the show revolves around his investigation of the murders of “boy whores"—underaged boys working in a high-end prostitution ring—in New York City in 1896. Just as Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale spoke to early 2017 anxieties about authoritarianism and women’s rights at the beginning of the Trump administration, The Alienist—starring Daniel Brühl, Luke Evans and Dakota Fanning—tackles early 2018 anxieties about sexual misconduct, immigration and political corruption.

Brühl, who plays the title role, sits down with Playboy ahead of the series’ Monday premiere. He discusses the show’s use of the earliest forms of psychological profiling and forensic science, what it’s like to enter the mind of a serial killer and the uncomfortable echoes the series has in the current political conversation.

"Halfway through the production of the show, we started seeing both of those things all over the news, and it didn’t feel as historical anymore.”

The title of the show refers to your character’s profession. Was an alienist something like the 1896 equivalent of a psychologist?

That’s right. The study of psychology was very new then. For a long time, psychology was a branch of philosophy. It was only in the 1870s that it became its own science. The first laboratory was founded in German, and all these famous Austrians like Sigmund Freud came up with a lot of their studies and theories in the 1890s. Alienists were specialists trying to analyze human behavior and emotions. It was fascinating to dive into that.

What we see in the show seems fairly sophisticated for that time. Did that surprise you?

It was. My wife is a psychotherapist, which was pretty handy for me. She gave me a lot of stuff to read about the origins of psychology. There were sophisticated, brilliant minds at that time. I read a lot about William James, who was an important early psychologist in the United States.

And you had Caleb Carr’s book The Alienist, which delves into a lot of the psychology.

Exactly. What’s fascinating about the book is that those characters are all confronting their own demons and finding out more about themselves over the course of the story. Dr. Kreizler is so good at analyzing the people around him and figuring out these murders, but he’s overwhelmed by his own demons. I was very interested in that.

You liked the book, I take it?

I did. Caleb Carr makes me think of Sherlock Holmes, Jekyll and Hyde, Edgar Allen Poe, Jack the Ripper. I’ve always enjoyed that atmosphere and darkness.

Dr. Kreizler is investigating these murders, but he’s not a part of the police department like you’d see today. What’s the source of his access to the investigation?

In those days, the psychologists were all doctors who had become specialists. He’s crucial to the investigation by being able to put himself into the mind of a serial killer. People thought alienists were charlatans, which made it quite difficult for them to be taken seriously. He surrounds himself with pioneers in their own fields. What’s very endearing about the book and about the show is that you see so many beginnings—the beginning of forensics, the first woman to become a detective in the New York Police Department, an artist’s renderings becoming an important part of an investigation.

The Alienist has a similar fascination with new science in a historical context as The Knick and Mindhunter.

The fascination with serial killers was interesting to watch in Mindhunter. The Knick is a show I really like, and I actually re-watched it before I started on The Alienist.

Teddy Roosevelt is a character in the series, and it’s the youngest I think I’ve ever seen him portrayed on film or TV. Did you come away from The Alienist with different ideas about who Roosevelt was?

It was such a history lesson. I knew him as a president, but I didn’t know about his years as the New York police commissioner. There’s a great book called Island of Vice by Richard Zacks about the corruption in politics and in the police department at that time, and there’s a lot about Teddy Roosevelt. He was fighting massive corruption in those years.

You work in a lot of different languages and play a lot of different nationalities. Are you going where the roles are, or do you like jumping around from culture to culture?

My mother is Spanish, my father is German and a lot of my family is French. I grew up in a multicultural environment and really enjoyed that. You can express certain things better in certain languages, and I enjoy working in different languages. My father told me when I was young that Charles V, who was the king of Spain and the emperor of Austria, had been quoted as saying he spoke to God in Spanish, to his mistress in French and to his horse in German. [Laughs]

How many languages do you speak?

I speak German, French, English, Spanish and Catalan. I would love to learn more, but I don’t know if I’ll ever have enough time to learn Chinese or Russian or Japanese. But I’d certainly love to.

There are a lot of big sets in the series. There’s a giant bridge in episode 1, a packed opera house in episode 2. Can you tell the difference in the production value between film and TV anymore?

I was blown away by the production design on The Alienist. There was so many people paying attention to every detail and with so much passion about it. The New York set that we had in Budapest was just remarkable. The opera house is one of the most beautiful buildings I’ve ever seen. Coming from German film set in different periods, I’ll see a script that says, “Fifty carriages and 200 extras,” and then arrive on set to see one carriage, two extras and a horse with three legs. [Laughs] On The Alienist, you could turn 360 degrees, and the whole thing looked like New York in the 1890s.

Two things in the series struck me as pretty timely. One is the egregious sexism that Dakota Fanning’s character endures, and the other is the extreme hostility to immigrants. Did either of those strike you during production as issues that would be in the air when the series came out? Yeah, we talked about the fact that those things seem to be more prominent now than when the book came out in the 1990s. Halfway through the production of the show, we started seeing both of those things all over the news, and it didn’t feel as historical anymore.