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ben-talks-art · 2 years

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My 10 Favorite DreamWorks Movies

When I first joined Tumblr one of the first few posts I made was a "Best of DreamWorks" where I just pasted a bunch of images from the movies I liked the most.

After seeing the new Puss In Boots movie and seeing all the love it's been getting I thought it would be nice to revisit the list, but this time actually talking about why I like these movies so much.

Just wanna say real quick, If you're coming here wondering if "Shark Tale" will be on the top 5 and how I'm gonna defend my case about it, you lower these expectations right now. This is gonna be a super boring list. My favorites are everyone's favorites.

The only thing I can bring up is why I myself like them, and hopefully, I can bring up unique enough reasons for it. I've always been a fan of this company, mostly because I really respect how many risks they take with the premises of their stories.

I always like to believe that there is no such thing as a bad idea, only a bad execution, and DreamWorks proves that by never being afraid of giving a chance to the weirdest of ideas, and when the execution pays off, it pays off greatly!

So which ideas did I feel were executed the best?

10 . The Bad Guys

First things, first. "Good Tonight" is a freaking awesome song and everyone should give it a listen.

The idea of bad guys is "what if we tried to make the meanest-looking animals that people are familiar with into the heroes of our story?"

Animals like snakes, sharks, spiders, and so on, things that are known for being very dangerous and scary, but placed into the roles of bandits that go on heists while running away from the police.

I always call this the "Not Sly Cooper" movie, because that's exactly what I feel a Sly Cooper movie would be like. Tons of animal-acting-like-human jokes, fun cartoonish heists and car chases, and some nice morals about what it means to be a thief and what it means to be a hero.

Bad Guys is a very charming movie. The characters are all likable, many of the jokes are funny, and the way the movie looks with its blend of 2D and 3D is just amazing. The scene where they are escaping from prison with the help of a "mysterious ninja" being my favorite part.

The only problem I have is that I feel having both a shark and a piranha in the cast was kinda redundant. I would have replaced the piranha with a bat so they would have a scary flying animal instead of two scary water animals. Plus, imagining a bat singing "Good Tonight" just feels like a funnier visual to me.

9. Megamind

"Presentation!!"

The idea for Megamind is rather simple, show what happens when the villain does beat the hero.

I feel like this movie did a good job showing how the fun of working hard can sometimes feel more rewarding than the fun of actually winning, kinda sending a sweet message about the futility of cheating.

I also like how over-the-top Megamind himself is with how he treats all his evil actions as some grand spectacle. Doesn't matter if he's winning or losing, this dude always looks like he's having a lot of fun treating these hero vs villain battles as some sort of playtime with his best friend.

You're basically watching a kid's imagination of what these fights would look like from someone who grew up watching way too many cartoons. Tons of cheesy one-liners, tons of dramatic speeches, tons of last-second twists, and of course, tons of big explosive action.

And it's also fun seeing Megamind's fantasy of what a hero vs villain scenario looks like slowly dying once he meets Titan and how differently he treats this whole thing compared to MetroMan.

The one problem I had was the way the character of Roxane was treated. It felt like they were trying to make her more than just "the girlfriend" and give her more depth, but in the end, her biggest role in the climax was still needing to be saved and serving as emotional support for the main character. Also, the way she was basically catfished by Megamind always made me very uncomfortable, especially when thinking that kids might be watching this and learning from this.

It wasn't too awful, but I felt they could have done more with her.

8. Spirit

"What if we made a movie about the adventures of a horse?"

This one is kinda hard to describe why I like it. I think the reason is that it feels... How do I put it... Honest? Real? Genuine?

Whenever Spirit goes through an emotion it always feels earned. When he's sad, you're sad, when he's angry, you're angry, and when he's celebrating after succeeding in a daring escape, you want to celebrate too.

This movie to me just did a great job at making me feel what this horse was feeling, and most of it with the use of very minimal words.

I loved Spirit, loved his chemistry with the villain, loved the sense of speed whenever he is running through the fields or avoiding the cowboys... and most of all, loved the joy you get whenever you feel free.

It's not that this gives you a great sense of freedom, its that it gives you a desire to fight for freedom! It makes you feel you can be more, and do more and have the right to reject being tied down by others who want to limit your true potential and control you.

This movie makes you want to be free.

7. The Road to El Dorado

Do I even need to say anything besides the fact that this movie has Chel in it?

But for real, I think this movie was my introduction to the Maya, Inca, and Azteca culture, (I think my closest only other option at the time was "Mucha Lucha" of all things...), and they make this culture look fun and cool.

The architecture looked nice, the clothing looked nice, the people were so likable, and anytime they party you just want to party as well. I kept waiting for some big reveal to happen for the citizens to turn on the heroes, but they never do, and that was so refreshing, just showing people from different areas becoming friends AND staying friends.

I also love how funny Miguel and Tulio are, I was a kid when I first saw this so I was weirded out by the idea of two adults as the leads but I was sold on them very quickly. Even their horse was likable. everyone is just so likable in this movie. It makes you want to visit El Dorado and hang out with all these people.

Such a charming, funny, and friendly movie.

Also Chel. Chel was a big selling point.

6. Puss in Boots, the Last Wish

I already talked about this one over here, but, long story short, like many other movies on this list, I love how good this movie is at sucking you into the mood.

The way the visuals, the story, the dialogue, and the characters work together really succeed into making you feel what these people are feeling and making want to see more of them.

Didn't matter if it was the heroes, the villains, the antagonists, or what, I was 100% behind everyone's motivations and I couldn't wait to see all their goals clashing with each others'.

Also, the wolf is by far one of DreamWork's best antagonists, right up there with Shen and Ramses. He looks cool, talks cool, and even his motivation was cool.

This wasn't just a movie, this was an experience.

5. Shrek 2

I freaking dare anyone going into this movie blind to predict what the climax is going to be.

The weird idea of this one is that Shrek after marrying his wife needs to meet her parents... And that's it. It's just one long and uncomfortable reunion with people who really don't want to be on the same room together and all the things they try to pull of to make or break this relationship.

Hire assassins, request help from magic fairies, fake your appearance, steal a potion, it's all about seeing how far everyone is willing to go to do what they think it's the best for those they love.

It all turns into a glorious and creative mess and I can't help but love every second of it!

(Side note, anyone ever notices how often DreamWorks sequels focus on the idea of characters dealing with their parents?)

4. Kung Fu Panda 2

If it wasn't for Prince of Egyp, I would say that this was the hardest and darkest DreamWorks movie.

There is so much focus on feeling lost, feeling abandoned, feeling hopeless and betrayed, and just trying to understand what you're doing wrong and what you need to do right.

This movie was like a therapy session... Done with talking cartoon animals, yes, but a therapy session no less.

The themes of trying to understand yourself, where you came from, and where you want to go are all handled greatly as you watch the relationship between the hero and the villain.

Po and Shen have such an absurdly great chemistry. I love seeing them talking, fighting, and trying to one-up each other, and I really love how much their relationship changes the more they learn about each other, and it all happens so fast and so smoothly too.

It makes me angry whenever I see a movie and the hero and the villain barely talk with each other. That's one of the best things you can do with them! Why are you skipping it??

Luckily this one didn't, and in return, we got one of the best interactions ever. I love these two by themselves and love these to together. Just a pair of wonderful characters that work really well off each other!

3. The Prince of Egypt

Man... What do I even say about this one?

It's probably the riskiest idea DreamWorks has ever tried to do, tell the story of Exodus as an animated musical... And that was their second movie ever after freaking "Antz!" These guys have a lot of guts.

This was a movie that I didn't really get it when I saw it as a kid, but I just love trying to understand its themes and messages now that I'm older.

I love the main conflict between the brothers, again, bringing attention to how good a story can be when you focus on the connection of the hero and the villain. Showing both sides of people who grew up under an unhealthy ideology, one trying to grow out of it and the other trying to embrace it even more.

I love the imagery of Egypt, both as this grand epic kingdom built from the struggle and pain of the slaves and as this falling empire being attacked by God Himself. The visuals of the plagues being my favorites.

And I love the sense of calmness that appears whenever the chaos takes a break. Seeing Moses and his people getting out from the ocean and enjoying the dawn of a new era after all the struggle they went through just felt so rewarding. It's just such a satisfying ending for such a long journey... As long as you decide to stop there and don't look up what happens in the rest of the story.

I especially love the concept of Ramses, A person so deep into the teachings of his father that he can't even see why the things he's doing are so bad. I think my favorite part is when he's hugging his son while glaring at Moses and just asking "Why?" while he has this GIANT WALL SHOWING BABIES BEING FEED TO CROCODILES right behind him.

It's such an amazingly blind irony as the man cries for his kid's safety while the crying of all these dead kids looms over his shoulder. Just how do you have to be raised to turn into this kind of person?

It's so baffling but I just can't stop watching and wondering how far is this man willing to go. Such a sad showing of someone who doesn't see he's on the wrong side and trying to fight against the tides.

It's a beautifully sad, and yet hopeful movie.

2. Kung Fu Panda

Yeah, I put Kung Fu Panda above Prince of Egypt... I don't know what's wrong with me either. I don't know, for some reason, I just have a lot of respect for this movie? Prince of Egypt I liked a lot but I couldn't really fully understand it and enjoy it until I was much older. Meanwhile, even when young I could already enjoy Kung Fu Panda a lot.

It felt like it had a bigger challenge by being a good, deep movie while also being fun, funny, and cheerful.

It's easy to make dark stories have strong messages and depth, but it's hard to have no-so-dark stories also have strong messages and depth, and I have such an appreciation for that. They could have just made this a lame joke-fest about being an overweight character trying to learn martial arts, but they didn't!

They put a lot of effort into the lessons, the fighting, the motivations of the characters, the visuals, and even the jokes! I thought the jokes were going to be awful but they were all very charming!

I love the designs of the cast in how they each represent a level of kung-fu, AND, I love the Kung-fu itself.

I feel like this is the Kung Fu Panda movie that tries the most to be creative with combining martial arts in a cartoon setting. Like... I like Kung Fu Panda 2 and 3 but I don't really remember much of the action there aside from the stuff in climaxes with the "water dodgeball" section and the "giant energy dragon avatar in the spiritual realm" section.

But in here? I remember the bridge fight, the prison escape, the master vs student showdown, the hot-potato game with the scroll, and even the training sessions with Po and the five.

I feel like as the movies went on they focused more on the spiritual journey of self-discovery and toned down the cartoon action, while in here it's just perfect.

It's amazing how many elements this movie is trying to balance while still pulling it off each of them so well.

I just wished that Po and Tai-Lung had more scenes of interaction because they basically feel like strangers in the end even though the whole movie is building up to their fight... A fight that... Really doesn't feel as good as all the action that came before to be honest.

But still, that's just one small little problem in what's otherwise a perfect product. Besides... KFP2 covers the whole Hero vs Villain thing that was lacking in here by more than making up for it, so it's all good. 1. How To Train Your Dragon

Of course my favorite DeamWorks movie is the one with the dragon. I freaking love dragons! I have a comic based on people that become dragons for crying out loud!

Kidding aside, this is a movie with a message that I just respect a lot. I really appreciate the idea of teaching kids the importance of knowing how to stop, looking at what you're doing, trying to understand who you're hurting, and what you can do to change.

This isn't just something that holds value to kids, this holds value to everyone. We are always so focused on going after the things we want that we tend to forget the people we're sometimes stepping on to get there, and this movie shows that not only do we not lose anything for trying to be friends with these people, but we might even gain something even better.

I just adore the friendship of Hiccup and Toothless (God, I love these names).

One is a kid trying to make his father proud by following the family legacy, while also trying to do what he loves by studying and befriending dragons and the conflicts that come from trying to please both sides. This is such a great lesson for kids because they're always stuck into deciding on what's best for them and what's best for what their parents want from them.

And the other side is a pet slowly lowering his defenses and deciding if he wants to trust this weird stranger that tried to hurt him or give him a second chance to prove himself as a possible ally. What do you do? Put yourself at risk and give others a chance or remain safe and away from possible harm?

This movie reminds me a lot of Lake in that if you keep looking at it you can take away twenty different lessons and themes to talk about.

Again, it's the challenge of trying to be deep while avoiding being too dark and remaining all-ages-friendly.

Kids are gonna watch this, they're gonna love the dragons and the flying scenes, and they're gonna come back years later and pick up things they didn't see were there before and later realize that without noticing it, these lessons became a part of them and a part of what they do.

You can feel that there is a lot of love in this movie. I remember watching the commentary and looking at how the creators always would get excited when there was a silent scene or a world-building scene. It's clear they had a lot of fun working on this product, and this love really can be felt through the characters, their growth, and their emotions.

I freaking adore this movie, and I freaking adore DreamWorks!

#dreamworks #dreamworks animation #puss in boots the last wish #shrek 2 #how to train your dragon #kung fu panda #kung fu panda 2 #the prince of egypt #the road to el dorado #spirit #megamind #the bad guys

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a-trick-or-two-with-lepers · 1 year

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Ranking My Favorite Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) Songs

Twenty-two songs. Five hours. One helpless, JCS-obsessed tumblr user who has so many other things they could be doing with their time. Get ready!

Disclaimers: I'm going to try to base my ranking on the soundtrack alone, but for some numbers, I really can't separate the song from the visuals. I won't be including "The Crucifixion" or "John 19:41," since those don't really count imo. The former, I will say, has some of my favorite chaos jazz that's ever been produced, so I'll give it that. Also! I LOVE this musical, and I LOVE this movie. Even the lowest songs have made it onto my playlists once or twice. So if I bash your fav, don't be too offended <3

22. Peter’s Denial - This one is really only low on the list because of how short it is. All things considered, I really like that funky little intro. Also, I think Mary, Peter, and whoever that third guy in the scene is with them (John??) would make a good throuple YEAH I SAID IT.

21. Hosanna - I don’t know why I’m putting this one so low, either. It’s very fun and pleasant to listen to, and it’s got some great ensemble work, which is always something I jive with. I guess it’s just not as captivating to me as some of the other songs in this film. I actually like some other versions of this song better than the 1973 one (!!) Nevertheless, this song is genuinely really good and it shows that, hey, Jesus can smile!

20. Then we are Decided - This is the only production of the musical I’m aware of that contains this song. I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, it’s a great song. I don’t know if ALW+Tim Rice are physically capable of collaboratively making a bad song. Also, I love Bob Bingham and Kurt Yaghjians’ voices, so anytime I get to hear them, I’m happy. On the other hand, I can see why this one was taken out of most productions. It wasn’t in the original concept album, and it kind of breaks up the story. It does provide extra context for Caiaphas’s motivation, but it doesn’t say much that isn’t reiterated in “This Jesus Must Die.” There just really isn’t a place for it in most productions, which is such a shame. At least we got this amazing screengrab out of it. Annas, you creepy little shit, I love you.

19. Pilate’s Dream - It took me far too long to recognize that this is the same song as the second part of “Poor Jerusalem,” which is funny given that they are right next to each other in the movie. I love the acoustic guitar in this one, and Barry Dennen is seriously one of the most subtly expressive actors I’ve seen. You could watch this scene 1,000 times and still be picking up new context on your 1,001st viewing. As far as the song goes, it’s a very nice introduction to Pilate’s character. Also, I think that discordant “Pilate” the chorus sings at the end doesn’t get enough praise.

18. King Herod’s Song - First of all, the way this scene just. 1) Inserts itself into the film 2) Refuses to elaborate 3) Leaves. I love it. I love how uncomfortable Herod’s whisper singing makes me, I love his campy friends, everything about this scene is amazing. It’s an absolute 180 in terms of tone, but I kind of love it for that.

17. I Don’t Know How to Love Him - I find it interesting that the most popular song from this soundtrack is also what many consider to be the most boring. Personally, I find the song very beautiful and fascinating, but I can see why it’s skippable for some. I’m just a massive fan of Yvonne Elliman. I think the only people that have come close to her version are Helen Reddy and Sara Bareilles. Also, I like to read this song as someone rediscovering their own self-worth through love after experiencing trauma from past relationships, which I think is a very relatable struggle.

16. Pilate and Christ - Pilate is just. So sassy. What’s most impressive about this performance is that Barry Dennen considered himself an actor first and a singer second. His acting is certainly spot-on, but his singing is pretty fantastic as well! The tension between Pilate and Jesus in this scene almost rivals that of Jesus and Judas… almost.

15. Overture - An overture is meant to provide the audience with a bit of musical context for what they’re about to hear. This piece does a very good job at that. The electric guitars immediately invoke intrigue- then the horns come in, then the strings and percussion get going, and at this point, any viewer of this film would be hard-pressed not to be at least a little excited. Then the “Heaven on Their Minds” riff starts, and I, for one, was instantly hooked. I especially like the violin bit near the end. The chorus wordlessly mimicking what will be Judas’ sung betrayal is chilling. The whole thing is a beautiful combination of rock music and traditional broadway styling, which is a good description of the rock opera in general.

14. The Arrest - I really like the leitmotif that is used whenever Jesus is overwhelmed by a crowd. It was used with the temple-goers, the lepers, and now with his own people that have turned against him (and some who cautiously maintain their support for him). Also, like Matt Berry said, the “Now we have him, now we’ve got him” bit of the song is pretty bone-chilling.

13. Could We Start Again Please? - I really like this song. I know it wasn’t in the original concept album, but its placement actually makes sense, and Ms. Elliman, naturally, sounds heavenly. The melody of this song is really nice, and it doesn’t sound at all out of place in the movie.

12. What’s the Buzz/Strange Thing Mystifying - This is one of those songs that’s hard not to move around to. It’s just so much fun! It also is Jesus’s first physical and vocal appearance, and WOW. Neeley is a truly underrated 70s rock singer. His voice is impeccably strong and gorgeous. He’s somehow been criticized for this role (mostly by angry Catholics) for being too untouchable and emotionless. I just can’t agree with that. Did any of those reviewers even listen to the movie they were watching? Neeley’s far-off gaze is not something he can change, and I for one think it adds to the character. He provides what I think is the best portrayal of Jesus Christ in any production of JCS. Besides that, the ensemble is doing great here, too! I promised not to get too involved in the visuals for this ranking, but I have to mention the movements in this scene. The apostles and women are just so jumpy and full of energy. It really makes the scene fun to watch. And Mary! I’m a long-time fan of Yvonne Elliman, and she was the only person I knew of beforehand going into this film. Her voice is so mature and unique, which is perfect for the role of Mary. She was the initial performer of this role in the concept album, the broadway show, and the film, and it shows. This role belongs to her. Obviously, it’s a bit annoying that we got yet another portrayal of Mary as an ex-sex-worker, but if we got “Strange Thing Mystifying” out of it, I can’t be too mad. Judas really gives off jealous bitch vibes here, but he does make some good points.

11. Everything’s Alright - Oh Yvonne, who allowed you to steal my heart? Seriously, she sounds so, so lovely in this song. This song is so calming. It uses a 5/4 time signature, which gives it distinction. The contrast between the cool comfort of Mary’s voice and the angsty gravel of Judas’ voice is very striking. Both Judas and Jesus hit some insanely difficult belts here, and they do so flawlessly. This scene also expands on the relationship between Judas and Jesus, which is jam-packed with not-entirely-heterosexual intensity. As the chorus repeats the titular line at the end with increasing volume and intensity, we get the distinct impression that everything is, in fact, not alright.

10. The Last Supper - I could go either way on the apostle’s part. It’s good, and it has some good harmonies in the latter parts, and it also reminds me of John Denver somehow? Anyway, the mellow gold aesthetic is one of my favs, but that’s not why I love this song. The absolute release of tension that is the fight between Jesus and Judas is captivating. My head moves as if I’m watching a heated tennis match when these two get going. I’ve seen versions of their interaction that just don’t go well on stage because the parts require so much energy and intensity, and sometimes they have this, but it just doesn’t sound good. But since this is a film, we can be confident that we are seeing and hearing the best takes from the actors. In this version, I can feel the heat between J and J, but they also sound fucking amazing while arguing. Their final interaction tugs at my heart. And these two actors portray their relationship with such authenticity that it’s almost hard to watch any other version without holding this up as the standard. Also, fun fact: they separate at exactly 1 hour into the film.

9. This Jesus Must Die - I have a big crush on both Caiaphas and Annas. Their voices just mesh so well together; Annas has these Al Stewart-like whimsical vocals, and Caiaphas has this deep, sexy growl. (I have a raging hard-on for good bass voices if you couldn’t tell). They sometimes put baritone singers in this role, which just doesn’t really work. This part needs a man who sounds like he just came out of the black lagoon and desperately needs a drink. Along with how it sounds, the lyrics of this song are super clever. The “Jesus is Cool” line is an inside joke in the community- they removed it from many popular productions, which is disappointing as hell. It’s one of the best lines in the song! Anyway, as far as “villain” songs go, this one is top-tier for sure.

8. Damned for all Time/Blood Money - I love me some good Judas angst. But in all seriousness, this song is ridiculously hard to sing. It would be enough with the sheer number of words sung in quick succession, but it is also written in a pretty high register. I, as a female alto, struggle to comfortably reach some of the notes, but Carl Anderson, of course, does it flawlessly. Of course, I’m also obsessed with Caiaphas and Annas, so any song they’re in makes me kick my feet like a schoolgirl. This scene, being the turning point in the show, makes its mark and has impeccable pacing for such a chaotic number.

7. Judas’ Death - Carl Anderson is a performer. I felt everything Judas felt in this scene. His reprise of “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” is impossible to look away from or tune out. When I first watched this scene, I didn’t know Judas was going to reprise the fucking love ballad. My jaw was on the floor the whole time. Other actors sometimes make this part sound ugly and raw, which is fine, but emotion can be portrayed while singing while still sounding good. That’s what really gets me about this version. You can feel the raw emotion, and yet you can’t deny how good the singing is. I also didn’t know Judas was going to straight up hang himself, and that kind of shocked me. To think this movie was rated G back in the day!

6. Simon Zealotes/Poor Jerusalem - Oh man. I’ve gotta be careful here if I want to keep my ranking based on sounds alone, cause this scene is just visually AMAZING. I might make a post about how much I adore this scene- the choreography, the craftsmanship, the absolutely iconic shots, the goofy ass freeze frames- I just love it all so much. The song is nothing to sneeze at, either. It feels like something you’d hear in one of those fun-loving, joyful churches that promote same-sex marriage. Larry Marshall has such a cool voice; you can tell he really put his all into it. Apparently, he initially tried to reign it in so as to respect the source material, but Norman Jewison just told him to go all out. So that’s what he did. It makes for a damn good number. As for “Poor Jerusalem,” I love hearing Ted Neeley’s softer voice. When he reaches into his falsetto, it sends shivers up my spine.

5. The Temple - I love a good ⅞ song. Additionally, I love a good ensemble song. In addition to that addition, I love seeing Jesus go off and flip tables and shit. But that’s not why this one is so high on my list. This song skyrockets up my personal ranking due to what happens between the temple and the leper scenes, when Neeley scream-sings “MY TEMPLE SHOULD BE A HOUSE OF PRAYER, BUT YOU HAVE MADE IT A DEN OF THIEVES! GET OUT! GET OUT!” I get actual chills every time I listen to him do that. I also really like the way the leper scene ramps up musically. It starts off slow and creepy, and ends in a wholly claustrophobic panic-inducing chant. The harmonies are also very pleasing.

4. Trial Before Pilate - This song is a masterclass in rock opera composition. Barry Dennen’s performance is absolutely, without a doubt, the most incredible embodiment of this role that I’ve seen. Pilate’s songs were essentially made for him, because like Ms. Elliman, he was the first to play his respective role. I genuinely don’t know how he was able to perform Pilate night after night on tour, because this role is supremely demanding vocally. You can tell he is a professional, though, because you can’t just scream at the top of your lungs every night without good technique. I could say a lot more about this one, but I’ll save that for another time.

3. Superstar - I really wish the little guitar intro was kept in future versions of this song. (How many times can I talk about guitar intros in this ranking??) This song is SO! MUCH! FUN! I have to take a second to talk about the cinematography in this scene… it’s really something else. It mayyyy have influenced the ranking, just a bit. Nonetheless, it’s Carl Anderson singing, so of course, this song sounds stupendous. He hits those high notes like it’s nothing. Also, I have to say: this number is very clearly directly influenced by motown-style music, and hearing a black man singing it just feels right. In fact, rock as a genre can be traced back to music created and sustained by black folks. It makes sense that my favorite versions of this musical involve diverse casts. Anyway, I really like this song because of how direct it is with its message. It’s not only Judas asking these things of Jesus, but us as the audience. Why would he put himself in such a bad position? How could he let it get this out of hand? Did he lose his message along the way? Contemplative shit like that set to a 70’s disco dance scene has me losing my mind, and I’m absolutely in love with it.

2. Gethsemane - I was considering putting this song lower, both to piss off my discord friends and because I genuinely enjoy listening to other songs from this soundtrack more, but I just had to give it a high-ranking spot. By this point you must be well aware of my love for Ted Neeley and his rock-god voice, but he really, truly steps it up here. It says a lot that he is still able to perform this song at almost 80 years old. He cares about what he’s doing. A lot. And while I’m not religious, some of my favorite music comes from religious people simply because they believe they are singing for something bigger than themselves. I strive to achieve that passion with my own voice and music, and I believe it can be done without a connection to a higher being. You just have to trust your own voice and focus on your message/role, and Mr. Neeley does not fail on this front. All of this, and he hits the g5 note perfectly. He seriously sounds so goddamn amazing and I’m tired of people saying he’s overrated. Give this man the respect he deserves.

1. Heaven on Their Minds - I could gush about Carl Anderson’s performance of this song for hours, and I mean HOURS. Not only does he completely embody the role of Judas, but he sounds damn good while doing it. He combines this gravelly rasp with clean, clear notes, and every belt is perfectly executed. The agonized fade-out at the end is not something that’s really possible on-stage, so I appreciate it all the more in the movie. This was the first song in the musical that I saw in full, and it’s really what started my obsession. Even though HOTM is a nearly perfect musical theater/rock song, it was Mr. Anderson’s performance of it that got to me. To me, he IS Judas whenever he’s on screen. His voice is just… spectacular. Additionally, as an agnostic person, the lyrics in this song really resonate with me. “You’ve begun to matter more than the things you say” instantly became one of my favorite lines in musical theater upon first listen. Like I said, I could go on and on about this one, so I’ll just go ahead and stop myself here.

FINALLY! DONE! Whoo, that took much longer than expected (probably because I kept getting distracted) but I had a lot of fun making it. Lemme know your thoughts/opinions/insults/threats in the comments/reblogs/tags <3

#jesus christ superstar #jesus christ superstar 1973 #jcs #jesus x judas #musical theater #musicals #song ranking #ranking #text post #opinion

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tea-earl-grey · 13 days

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Square One "live"blog

as always, spoilers under the cut

gonna be real with y'all, i think the reason i took a few days off between Weapon of Choice and this is that Square One is... not my favorite episode. sorry i know that used to be an unpopular opinion (idk how it's regarded now) but frankly the misogyny & treatment of sex workers in this episode just kinda gives me the ick. i know that it's purposefully done but i don't think it's done well and i'm also just. deeply not interested in those sorts of stories in Doctor Who. so this will probably be a shorter post than most.

"since the catastrophic events on Archetryx, the temporal axis powers have been wary of attending a further summit" – yay continuity! and also no shit, an entire fucking galaxy was destroyed and at least one of the temporal powers was temporarily conquered by the Daleks.

the fact that Narvin actually bought the fact that Romana would send him to represent Gallifrey at an important conference is a little funny. Narvin simply cannot stop getting duped at every turn in early Gallifrey. (also the fact that presumably Romana only sent him because she considered him entirely expendable if something were to go wrong as she suspected).

but also the fact that Narvin was willing to go to this conference and negotiate on Romana's behalf says volumes about his character that even right now when he's completely ideologically opposed to everything she stands for, he will still do his duty because Romana is Gallifrey whether he likes it or not. which. yummy foreshadowing for the rest of the series.

Leela constantly pointing out Romana's own feelings is so important to me. yes! point out that she's tired! point out that she's not taking care of herself!

i will say i do love political conferences as a setting for media because you can get some interesting political worldbuilding done and also it gives me strong nostalgia from my time in the Model UN trenches

Hossak is an interesting character to me because she's pretty much the only Time Lord character we meet who a) voluntarily spent considerable time off of Gallifrey and b) is more politically liberal than Romana (at least when it comes to foreign policy). like... who is she? what are her goals?? what role would a Gallifreyan diplomat have before Gallifrey actually had official diplomatic ties??

"you will blend in beautifully just as you are" weird thing to say before you send your bodyguard to pose as a sex worker but okay Romana

"suppose we do find something wrong, what do we do then?" you would have thought that... i don't know... that might have been part of the briefing Romana gave Leela?? it seems like kind of an important part. i am fully willing to believe that Romana simply didn't think that far ahead though. she loves schemes and hates actually tying them together

the concept of the Monan Host being an ouroboros of temporal intervention is a fascinating idea for a society and as always, i wish we got more depth into the Temporal Powers.

ugh all the scenes with Flinkstab make me so uncomfortable.

goddddd Hossak is compelling as a character who might be politically liberal and might desire peace and for Time Lords to mix & mingle with aliens in diplomatic capacities but it's such a good reveal that she's exactly as vile & xenophobic as every other Time Lord when it comes to real aliens, not just diplomats. she's okay with Leela existing on the sidelines as a symbol for "the new Gallifrey" but as soon as she interacts with her as a real person, she's immediately dismissed and treated horribly. just as all of the alien dancers/sex workers are treated horribly by Hossak because they're not "the right kind" of alien for her limited liberalness. again, i don't think this episode handles the topics it introduces well but the concepts are very good and it isn't the usual xenophobia angle that's explored later in the show.

i remember the first time i listened to this so well because as soon as the first time shift happened, i just assumed it was some error in ripping the tracks off of the CD. (the fact that it was only a few years ago where the only way to (legally) listen to s1-3 was through CD is wild btw. i can tell times have changed because i remember being so annoyed that i had to pay extra for CDs & shipping for some of the audios instead of direct downloads and now i regret not getting the CD releases for the rest of the series when i had the chance. maybe i'll start with WR2 when it comes out next year)

omg! our first Narvin stuttering moment of the series!

Romana complaining about her TARDIS being boring and by the book moments before it starts to explode is a great representation of the season honestly

i love how quickly both Romana & Leela fall into mystery solving mode

the "how many times?!" "three!" scene is definitely a play on the infamous Horns of Nimon scene right?

mm and Hossak being so focused on the concept & appearance of peace and diplomacy in order for her to be some white knight champion of idealism rather than actually wanting to help or having compassion for others is such a familiar brand of liberal in our world.

also i know the reason there's some swearing in this episode and not the rest of the series is just because BF hadn't quite hit the right vibes they were aiming for (plus swearing and nsfw stuff in the older audios was more common in general) but from an in-universe perspective it really just makes Hossak the one Time Lord who will call people sluts and bitches. (this is also why this episode feels so odd to me in comparison to the rest of the show.)

every conversation that Romana & Leela have at the end of each episode means soooo much to me.

"you can't trick people into peace." "you do." "well that's different." "because you are the President?" CALL HER THE FUCK OUT LEELA.

the way Romana is just so fucking disrespectful to Leela and her point of view in season 1 is so tasty to me.

andddddd we're done. i feel like i actually enjoyed that more than most other re-listens i've done. still one of my least favorite episodes of the series but i do love the spotlight it gives Leela and some of the background political developments are quite nice.

#gallifrey liveblog #gallifrey audios #i'm kinda thinking of an early gallifrey fic right now. it's really short so hm. maybe i'll try to write it really quick

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spicysix · 1 year

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your sweater (up over your head) | 2/6

5.8k words | prev | next | masterlist | ao3 warnings: heavy making out, sex between underage characters (not described in detail), use of 'fag' and 'fairy' as homophobic slurs, bullying. tommy hagan is his own trigger warning. steve being a douchebag. if you're uncomfortable with the slurs and bullying scene, you can skip from "When summer ends and school finally begins" to "Steve goes straight to their hickory tree after school". author's note: happy stonathan saturday! steve's still just a prince here, but the crowning of the King will come, unfortunately. steve's car is a 1983 bmw 733i and started being produced as of september 1982. let's just pretend steve got one of the very first models okay? lmao

They come back from Illinois and Steve’s father introduces him to the Hagans’ son, Thomas, and demands Steve to be that kid’s new best friend. The Hagans are the Harringtons’ closest business partners in Hawkins. Steve’s father is very strict, but Steve kind of understands because he wants Steve to take his place in the family’s business, and Steve wants to make his father proud so he hangs out with Thomas — Tommy, he likes it better.

Even if it bothers Steve that his father never wanted to meet Jonathan, even after Steve talked about him almost every day since they moved to Hawkins. But Steve was getting used to not being listened by his parents anymore.

Tommy is a little mean, but mostly in a funny way. When Steve tells him about Jonathan, he mocks him — “why are you hanging out with children, Harrington?” — but Steve takes it as just a joke, especially because it’s just one year of difference. And thinks that when Tommy gets to know Jonathan next school year, he’ll know how great Jonathan is.

Steve doesn’t tell Tommy about the kisses. He doesn’t know if Tommy can be trusted with that information, or if he’s gonna throw that word at Steve like his old classmates did with Matty Boswell.

The end of the school year is brutal and again Steve barely has time to go to the woods behind his backyard. On the days he’s able to go, his and Jonathan’s paths never cross — he must be busy as well.

But as summer comes back around, they meet again. Summer is theirs.

They meet under the hickory tree and they hug tightly, Jonathan’s arms wrap around Steve’s waist and it feels really good. He missed Jonathan every day, thought about him every day. He takes Jonathan’s face between his hands and looks at him closely. He’s grown. Still scrawny, but he’s taller and his bowl cut is growing to better frame his face. The sunbeams still paint him golden.

Steve kisses him and his pink lips are still soft.

They sit under the hickory tree and they still have so much to talk about. They’re both thrilled for Jonathan to finally join High School, when they’ll be able to see each other every day. Jonathan has new favorite bands and songs, and he shows them to Steve, makes him a mixtape that Steve listens to almost every night.

Once a week Steve hangs out with Tommy because otherwise his father will be pissed. Steve’s gotta have the contacts. Tommy asks what Steve does during the rest of the summer, and he says he’s busy helping his mom with some house renovations or with his dad at his home office.

Steve doesn’t know why he lies.

Not a full lie, actually, he says he still meets Jonathan now and then, just doesn’t tell Tommy that it’s basically every day. Or what they do besides talking and listening to music.

Jonathan’s dad, who took out all his peace of mind last year, leaves that summer. Jonathan says he goes to Indianapolis, and that he even tried to convince Jonathan to go too. As if he’d want to. He’s very happy now that his house wasn’t filled with screams from his parents and he doesn’t have to distract his younger brother from all the fights.

That also means he has more time to go to their forest, and so they spend more mornings together besides all the afternoons.

They venture and explore further.

Steve learns how to give open mouthed kisses in ways that make Jonathan sigh and whimper (and if Steve’s lucky, Jonathan moans), and Jonathan figures out that if he pulls Steve’s shirts collars down, he can give him hickeys that will remain covered. Steve discovers the softness of Jonathan’s stomach skin and Jonathan counts the moles on Steve’s arms.

The butterflies never cease to party, and Jonathan’s lips get more pink with time.

Memorizing each other’s arms and torsos is adventurous and Steve feels brave as he did one year before when he starts pulling Jonathan to his lap as he sits against the hickory tree. Their movements feel like a dance and Steve goes higher than ever before as they pant and Jonathan buries his face on Steve’s neck. They pull each others’ hair and when Steve gets home that night his shorts go straight to the washer machine after only one use, and the problem is not the mud on the back of the legs.

Steve spends the morning and afternoon of his birthday with Jonathan, who makes him another mixtape and brings him a cake that his mom helps him make. It’s Steve’s favorite flavor, and they eat it all in just one sitting, and they kiss a lot later and Jonathan tastes of strawberry and Steve thinks he’s delicious.

When Steve gets home, Tommy swings by and takes him to a party. There’s so many people there, and they wish Steve a happy birthday and they hug him and it all feels good. They play truth or dare as if they were twelve again, and Steve has to kiss a girl on a dare and she’s a good kisser and her lipgloss is strawberry flavored, but Steve can only think about how much better it tasted on Jonathan’s mouth. Tommy and Steve take multiple shots through the night, and it all tastes horrible, but he feels dizzy in a nice way and the headache the next day is not much of a bother when he thinks of how much fun he had.

He doesn’t tell Jonathan about the strawberry lipgloss girl. He doesn’t know why.

Steve goes to the public pool one day with Tommy and other friends of his, and when they go to the restrooms to wash out all the chlorine, they leave empty shower stalls in between each of them as if a double set of walls is more reassuring against the perils of another naked man.

Steve thinks about how he wanted Jonathan to be there, wearing nothing but short tight trunks, the golden spots on his hair shining under the sun and his pale skin all wet.

Steve manages to stay quiet, but his shower takes longer than the rest of them.

When he finally exits the lockers, one of Tommy’s friends — Bryan, Steve thinks — mocks him. “What took you so long, Harrington? All the naked boys got you too excited?” he cackles, and so do Tommy and his other friends, and Steve rolls his eyes, but his shoulders are tense and he doesn’t feel brave.

No, not all the naked boys. Just a particular one.

Steve doesn’t answer that.

“As if you rat-looking asses would get anyone excited. Not even if I was a girl, dickweed,” he says instead and they all cackle again and Steve feels safe enough.

He decides then and there that we would probably never trust Tommy — much less Bryan, or anyone else — with the information of what he does with Jonathan under the hickory tree. He knows that they would be the type of people to scream nasty words at Matty Boswell for not kissing Sharon Blake. They would scream nasty words at Steve.

They go to the pool other times and Steve likes it enough to try and join the swimming team as well when school starts back. He tells his parents and they smile, “good job, Steven” this and “you’ll get a great sports scholarship to college, Steven” that. Steve’s not thinking about colleges or scholarships, he just likes swimming and playing basketball. But he doesn’t say anything, just smiles back and thanks them.

When he tells Jonathan, he smirks, puts his hands on Steve’s belly under his tee and says, “I’ll be there to see you all wet on tiny swim trunks,” and Steve laughs because he understands the desire.

They make out and Steve soars high again and it’s another pair of shorts straight to the washer machine.

When summer ends and school finally begins, Steve barely sleeps the night before the first day. He’ll finally see Jonathan every day, maybe they’ll have some classes together, they’ll get to eat lunch at the same table. He’s excited to introduce Jonathan to Tommy, and even though they have nothing in common maybe they can get to like each other. Steve and Jonathan had nothing in common as well, but they were doing just fine. Tommy can come around.

Except that when he gets to school’s first day in his brand new car — his father gave it to him for his sixteenth birthday and because he was so proud of Steve’s sports accomplishments — Tommy and Jonathan already know each other, apparently. Steve has a smile on his face when he sees them talking, but his smile falters as he leaves the car and comes close enough to actually hear the conversation.

“You penniless little fag. Not even your daddy could stand being in the same house as two fairies, of course,” Tommy’s voice is like an angry dog’s bark, and Steve’s heart constricts at the sound of it.

It’s that word again.

He feels like puking.

“What’s going on?” he asks once he’s close enough. Both Tommy and Jonathan look at him, and both smile — Tommy’s smile is wide and poisonous, and Jonathan’s is small and genuine. Steve doesn’t know who he should look at.

More students are coming in, and they are stopping and staring at the commotion right in front of the school’s entrance. Steve wonders why there’s no adult around. There should be an adult around, maybe they could stop this, disperse the crowd. Steve doesn’t think he can do it alone.

“Harrington, you gotta be kidding me that this was your little summer friend,” Tommy spats out again. “Can’t be seen with these people, dude, you’ll get their sickness.”

“Shut the fuck up, asshole,” Jonathan bites back, and Steve’s never seen him that pissed.

“C’mon, Harrington,” Tommy says at last and Bryan spits into the floor next to Jonathan’s shoe before they walk towards the school’s entrance.

“Jonathan?” Steve asks, coming closer to his friend. Jonathan’s hands are balled into fists on his sides, and his cheeks are pink, but not in that beautiful blush that Steve likes to provoke on him. Steve looks at where Tommy and Bryan are still walking.

“It’s okay, Steve. We can talk later,” Jonathan says, and Steve looks at him again.

He assesses Jonathan’s features, his face, his shoulders, his arms. He doesn’t seem hurt. Steve wants to touch him, bring him into a hug. He doesn’t know why doesn’t do it.

“LET’S GO, Harrington, the fuck you’re still doing there?” Tommy yells, and Steve looks at him again. He’s still smirking as if he had won the fight.

“Go, Steve. We can talk later,” Jonathan repeats and Steve looks at him again.

His chest feels tight, and his stomach is swirling but it’s not his well-known butterflies partying, not anymore. He’s so nervous. He wants to puke.

He goes after Tommy.

Steve goes straight to their hickory tree after school, he doesn’t even enter his house. Just parks the Bimmer in the driveway, contours the property and goes right into the forest. He’s silently praying and hoping that Jonathan will do the same.

He does, but not exactly.

Steve’s there for at least an hour, maybe two, waiting until Jonathan finally shows up. He’s not smiling as he sees Steve, he’s got a scowl that Steve knows matches his fierceness, but doesn’t match his sweetness. Jonathan is fierce, and he is brave and he puts up the scowl to berate the world. He lets it down in their forest, under their hickory tree, and all he shows Steve is sweetness.

He’s got a scowl facing Steve now. It feels wrong.

Steve runs to him, but holds himself at the last second, afraid that hugging Jonathan will make it worst somehow. They just stop in front of each other and stare.

“I’m so sorry,” Steve says after a while, and he’s getting misty eyed and he hates it.

“You didn’t do anything,” Jonathan answers, but that’s not an apology either.

“I didn’t stop him. I didn’t tell him to stop, he was being horrible, he called you-” Steve stops himself, the taste of the word on the tip of his tongue making him nauseous again. “How did he even know?”

“You didn’t tell him?” Jonathan asks and for a second his scowl seems to soften.

“Of course not! He’s mean sometimes, and it’s mostly in a funny way, but I know I couldn’t trust him with this,” with us, he wants to say. “Bryan’s even worst. They teased me one day at the pool, and I just knew. I don’t wanna put us in danger, I know this is…”

He doesn’t wanna say ‘wrong’. It doesn’t feel wrong, it never did, to have Jonathan in his arms, or to hold his face gently, or to kiss his soft lips. It could never feel wrong, but he knows that’s how the world sees it anyway.

He doesn’t finish his sentence.

Jonathan starts walking towards their hickory tree and Steve follows. They sit with their backs against it, as they always do, but their pinkies are not intertwined this time.

Steve’s chest is still tight, and his stomach is still swirling, and he still wants to cry. He doesn’t, because it’s not fair. He’s not the one who’s been bullied, and Tommy and Bryan didn’t even talk to him about it through the rest of the day — he says that to Jonathan. They didn’t tease him, didn’t associate Steve with Jonathan, didn’t make the connection that if Jonathan was… that, it meant Steve already was too. They had no idea. Nothing happened to him, it all happened to Jonathan, and yet Jonathan has the scowl of fierceness and Steve’s the one who wants to cry like a coward.

Jonathan rests his head against Steve’s shoulder at some point, and he holds his hand in between them and it almost feels right. The air is still tense, though, and it’s not the same. Steve’s so scared that it won’t ever be the same again.

“Maybe we don’t… talk at school,” Jonathan’s voice is small when he says it after a lot of time in silence, and it doesn’t seem fierce at all.

“But that’s not what I want. It’s not what we planned,” Steve answers, and he’s misty-eyed again, and he hates it.

“It’s for the best. I don’t wanna get you in trouble, and I know your dad will be pissed if he hears about all this. We’ll still have the forest.”

Steve just hums, not trusting that his voice won’t break if he tries to say anything. Jonathan is right, and he’s smarter than Steve so that must be the right thing to do, to follow what he says. Steve’s father will get pissed, he remembers the disgust in his voice when he said that word that time long ago. He remembers how his father pressures him so hard to hang out with Tommy. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt, though. Actually, because it’s all true, maybe it hurts even more.

Plus, it won’t bring Jonathan into danger as well. That’s the priority, actually, not Steve’s problems with his dad. God, that’s what Steve should be thinking about, not being selfish.

They stay silent for the rest of what feels like another hour, and the sun’s not setting yet when Jonathan gets up. Steve follows.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” Steve asks, taking Jonathan’s hand.

“Yeah, I’ll try to come if I don’t have much homework.”

“You’re a nerd,” Steve teases, and Jonathan swings their linked arms to the sides, back and forth. Steve’s butterflies wake up and party, even if a little lazily.

“You’re a dork,” Jonathan smiles, that tiny smile of his that blows Steve’s mind every time it’s directed at him.

“You still like me, though,” he says, not super certain of it, but he makes it sounds confident.

Jonathan leans in and kisses him. Their hands are still swinging in between them, Steve’s butterflies are still partying, and it almost feels like nothing bad had ever happened.

“I still like you, yeah,” Jonathan answers before giving Steve a final peck on the lips.

They part ways, and Steve walks a good bunch of steps before he looks back, as he always does. Jonathan is looking right back at him, as he always is. He’s not smiling, but he is looking.

They wave at each other and Steve goes home.

He cries himself to sleep.

Jonathan doesn’t show up the next day, or the next one. He shows up only on Friday and explains how he had a lot of homework, yes, but he was also taking care of his little brother. His mom was working double the time now that his dad had left, and with school back he was responsible for little Will more than he had to be during summer. That makes their meetings a little harder, and they go back to how it was the year before — once a week, twice if they’re lucky, they get to sit under their hickory tree and talk, listen to music, or kiss each other until their lips are numb. He gets a few more pants dirty, he gets some more of Jonathan’s pants ruined.

Sophomore year, of course, is tougher than freshman. Steve is having an even harder time keeping up with everything. It takes all of his time, the classes, the basketball, the swimming team. When he gets home he tries to do at least some homework, but it’s already hard to focus at school and it only gets worst when he’s alone. His friends are no help, and he doesn’t want to spend his free and only time with Jonathan, studying.

There’s that: his friends. And Jonathan. Separately.

Tommy feels powerful for having grown up a lot during last summer. He likes that he’s buffer, bigger, stronger. He likes that he’s not the youngest anymore, that he’s not at the bottom of the food chain. Bryan hypes him up with it, too, being the basketball team captain’s favorite, and he and Tommy feel unstoppable together.

They bully other kids a lot.

Steve doesn’t let them go near Jonathan.

He tries to stop them from going anywhere near anyone, to be honest. But it’s hard to go against two of them, so if he can only stop them once, he does it when they try to set Jonathan as their target. Tommy looks up to Steve a lot, maybe because Steve’s father is technically Tommy’s father’s boss. And Bryan and Tommy share a single brain cell. So, Steve feels somehow powerful too when he tells Tommy-Bryan to do something, and they follow Steve’s words as a command.

Sometimes he has to drag their attention elsewhere. To someone else. He feels like shit for it. But when he meets Jonathan for another week in their forest and he’s not sporting a sour mood, a scowl on his face or a bruised eye, Steve feels like maybe it’s worth it.

That’s his routine through September. Steve tries studying throughout the week, sees Jonathan on Fridays and hangs out with Tommy on Saturdays. At first, they hang out at each other’s houses, or at Bryan’s (Steve hates it. He hates Bryan). They steal some of their parents’ beers, they tease each other for their porn magazines (Tommy’s and Bryan’s. Steve doesn’t have any), they bitch about school and teachers and colleagues, they have sleepovers and it’s cool.

October changes that.

As the basketball team captain’s favorite, Bryan starts getting invited to parties, and he drags Tommy and Steve with him.

That’s his routine through October. Steve tries studying throughout the week, sees Jonathan on Fridays and goes to parties with Tommy on Saturdays. They get crazier and crazier every time, stuff Steve’s never seen before, and they’re nothing like that almost innocent party on his birthday during summer. There’s drinks much stronger than beer or vodka, there’s drugs sometimes, there’s games more malicious than truth or dare.

Steve gets dragged into a closet for seven minutes in heaven on Halloween. He doesn’t remember the girl’s name. He remembers he was dressed as Perseus and she was dressed as Andromeda, both from Clash Of The Titans. He remembers she tasted of strawberry, and he found it funny that every girl at school apparently had the same lipgloss. She was such a good kisser, not that Steve had a lot to compare, but she was better than what he had felt so far. She licked Steve’s neck and she scratched his tummy under his sweater, and she loosened his belt before kneeling and doing something no one else had ever done before. Her mouth was warm and wet and Steve was embarrassed at how fast the seven minutes passed by.

When he meets Jonathan next Friday, Steve doesn’t tell him about the girl. Jonathan knows Steve goes to parties, and Steve tells him all about the rest of the stuff, but he doesn’t mention the girl. He feels guilty, because she was a better kisser, and she did something with him that he hadn’t done with Jonathan yet. And mostly because he wants to do it again.

She didn’t make his butterflies party, because they partied for Jonathan only, but his stomach still felt dizzy as it does when you’re about to fall on a roller-coaster. He and Jonathan never gave a name to what they have, and he doesn’t know if a blowjob that lasted three minutes inside a closet is considered cheating, but he feels as guilty as if it is.

So he doesn’t tell Jonathan about it. And he retreats.

He misses a few of their meetings on purpose because he feels that if Jonathan even looks at him a certain way, he’ll talk. So he goes to more parties, and he kisses more girls, and he feels more guilty. But Tommy’s happy that they hang out more, and he’s much nicer when he’s happy. Steve learns very fast how to please, both Tommy’s need for antics and the girls he keeps being dragged into lockers with. And it’s thrilling, and it feels so good, until he remembers Jonathan and then it doesn’t.

November comes around and Steve’s guilt is just as big as his ego. He, Tommy and Bryan are the talk of the school because they are the baby sophomores that bring joy to every party, and the basketball team captain loves them and puts them all under his wing. Steve loves to sit with them in the cafeteria, he loves the little flirty notes left on his locker and the charged looks at the hallways, he loves when girls older than him playfully fight for his attention, he loves when he first marks a tree pointer at a basketball game and the cheerleaders scream his name.

What was at first a conscious guilty retreat turns into unconscious forgetfulness. Steve misses a few other meetings with Jonathan at the forest, not because he forces himself not to go, but because he actually gets caught up with other people who drag him to other places, and he forgets he should’ve gone to their forest that day.

He almost misses Jonathan’s birthday again because of it, and this time it would have been entirely his fault.

He reaches their hickory tree as the sun is almost setting — their cue to leave on regular days. He’s been too caught up with Tommy after swim practice, deciding who would drive who to Tina Douglas’ party the next day, and he might have crossed the speed limit going back to his house when he noticed what time it was. Afraid that Jonathan had left already, tired of waiting for him. And Steve wouldn’t have blamed him.

But he is still there, arms crossed and the scowl on his face that made Steve’s chest ache.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Steve says as he approaches Jonathan, who rolls his eyes.

“You missed the last two Fridays already,” he notes and Steve doesn’t even remember that it had been that long since they last saw each other.

“I know,” he lies. “I’m really sorry. There’s a swimming competition at the end of the month and coach is on our necks about it.” That isn’t a complete lie. It isn’t the truth about why he is late that day, though.

“It’s almost winter,” Jonathan says, and they’re still standing up and Jonathan’s arms are still crossed. And that feels wrong.

“Still fall even if it’s a cold one,” Steve corrects. “And the pool is heated, you would know if you came to see me like you promised you would,” Steve touches Jonathan’s elbow through all their layers. It’s getting harder to have their meetings out in the cold forest.

“Don’t think Hagan’s gonna be happy to see me there. Gonna call me some more slurs probably,” he answers and Steve feels guilty for bringing it up.

There’s a pregnant silence.

“Happy birthday.” Steve cuts it after a while, and he takes a step and touches Jonathan’s arm again. He smiles this time, and Steve’s butterflies wings flutter. “I have a gift for you, but it’s at my place. Maybe I can bring it to yours?”

Jonathan thinks about it while searching for something on Steve’s face, and maybe he finds it because his smile doesn’t falter as he does it, before answering:

“Yeah, sure.”

Steve’s grin is huge. “Do I have to go in through your window, or…?” he asks, and Jonathan chuckles.

“No, knock on the front door like a normal person. My mom probably won’t be there. She has the closing shift at the store. If you don’t run late again, maybe you won’t catch her.”

“And Will?” Steve’s happy that he won’t have to meet Jonathan’s mother, but the prospect of meeting his little brother is just as scary.

“Sleepover at his friend’s house,” he answers, and the smirk on his lips is nothing of sweetness and innocence, and Steve’s butterflies are going insane.

He grabs Jonathan’s face, and the kiss he plants on his lips is fast and hard and nothing sweet and innocent. They’re both red as they part, Jonathan’s lips glistening with spit and Steve is feeling burning hot in the middle of the coldest night of the month.

“I’ll be right there,” he says before a final peck, and Jonathan laughs, and Steve almost runs to his house. He can hear Jonathan’s laughter behind him, but he doesn’t look back.

He takes a quick shower, styles his hair as fast as he can, puts on his favorite yellow sweater and a nice cologne. He grabs Jonathan’s gift — special edition cassettes of his favorite bands — and tells his mother in the kitchen that he’s going to a friend’s birthday. Thankfully his father is locked up in his home office, otherwise Steve would probably have to tell him whose birthday he’s going to, and that wouldn’t be a nice conversation.

Sky’s dark by the time he leaves his house so he takes the car and the actual roads to get to the Byers’ house. He knows where it is at this point, Jonathan had led him to it through the forest once and Steve’s sense of direction is very good. It doesn’t take him more than five minutes to get there and he adjusts his hair one more time in the rearview mirror before leaving the car and knocking on the door.

“Hi,” Jonathan greets him, and he also bathed and cleaned up nice, and he’s wearing sweatpants that make Steve’s brain go a little fuzzy. “I like the sweater.” Steve wants him to take it off.

“Happy birthday again,” Steve hands him the gift, not neatly wrapped, as Jonathan steps aside to let him in.

He closes the door and nods towards the hallway, and Steve follows him to his room. There are posters of bands and movies that Steve already knew were Jonathan’s favorites, and a big stereo for him to listen to his cassettes. A little bookshelf on the other wall, but Steve doesn’t have the time to look at it before he hears Jonathan opening his gift behind him.

He turns around and notices immediately that Jonathan had closed the door before setting the box on his desk and opening it. He picks up a few cassettes and goes through them with a tiny smile on his lips. Steve approaches him from behind.

“I wasn’t sure which ones you already have, but… You can have them doubled, I guess,” he says with a low voice, a tentative touch to Jonathan’s hip, and doesn’t miss the way he shudders.

That’s his favorite thing about the whole thing, he came to learn: the way people react to him. The way Jonathan just shuddered, or the way he sighs against Steve’s lips when they make out. The way he whimpers and, if Steve’s lucky, moans, when he’s on Steve’s lap. The way girls cry out and beg him to go faster when he’s got his fingers inside their skirts. The way they all grab his hair and bury their faces in Steve’s neck when they reach their highs.

“This is great. Thank you,” Jonathan says. He picks one by The Who and starts it on the stereo before turning around to face Steve. “I love them.”

He’s staring deeply into Steve’s eyes and Steve feels like there’s more he doesn’t say. He feels it inside his chest too, that nonrhythmic beat, the crazy party inside his belly and he doesn’t hold himself back before grabbing Jonathan’s face and clashing their lips together again. It’s fast, and it’s desperate, and they push and pull at each other until they’re on Jonathan’s bed.

Steve kinda loses track of it all after that.

He loses track of what’s him and what’s Jonathan, who’s touching who and where, who’s making which sounds. They finally see each other, all of each other for the first time, and Jonathan’s heater is on but Steve doesn’t think that it’s what’s keeping the cold away. He kisses and licks and bites at every inch he can reach, he imitates on Jonathan what that girl he can’t remember the name did to him inside that closet, but he takes his time — longer than just seven minutes to take Jonathan to heaven. He lets Jonathan do the same to him and once they’re finished and sweaty and dirty and tired, they cuddle as if nothing bad had ever happened.

Steve doesn’t even remember the tension he had to cut through earlier in the forest. He doesn’t remember the girl’s name, he doesn’t remember Tina’s party tomorrow or the plans he did with Tommy. He doesn’t remember how this almost didn’t happen, that it wouldn’t have happened if he had arrived a few minutes late, and he doesn’t remember the guilt that had been eating him up the last month.

He only thinks of Jonathan.

Jonathan, who wraps his arm around Steve’s middle and sleeps with his face tucked into Steve’s neck. And Steve feels hazy. His butterflies take so long to calm down that he thinks they never will, but once they do he falls asleep too.

He only dreams of Jonathan.

Steve wakes up the next day with the sun hitting his face. Of course they had forgotten to close the drapes last night, they had more important things to do.

They’re still cuddling, but they turned around a bit and now Steve’s spooning Jonathan. The bed is small, so Jonathan’s arm is hanging from the edge of the bed and touching the ground.

The same sunbeam that had awakened him is touching Jonathan’s hair and painting it golden. Steve feels like he could stay in that moment forever.

But Jonathan’s clock is saying it’s almost ten, and Steve has to go back home before Joyce decides to wake her son up. So he leaves a trail of kisses on Jonathan’s naked shoulder and he mumbles and groans and Steve giggles until Jonathan wakes up.

He turns around, not leaving Steve’s embrace. “Morning,” he whispers, tucking his face to Steve’s neck again.

“Morning.” Steve lets his fingers run loosely across Jonathan’s back. “I gotta go, don’t wanna risk your mom coming in and waking us up.”

“Yeah, she’s not great at knocking,” Jonathan complains and they giggle again. “Thanks for stopping by yesterday, I had a great time.”

Steve can feel the heat of Jonathan’s breath and Jonathan’s cheeks against his own skin. He’s blushing. Steve can’t stop smiling, his face is hurting.

They get up and get dressed slowly, trying to stretch out the time they still have left together. Steve leaves through the window, the way he joked about coming in yesterday, and Jonathan leans against the stool.

“We should try the gift thing again this winter break,” he says and Steve nods.

“Do you think I can sneak in here more often? It’ll get harder to meet in the forest, it’s cold as fuck,” he says, rocking back and forth on his heels. Jonathan chuckles.

“We have to be very quiet.”

“I can be very quiet.” He winks and Jonathan smirks.

Steve holds himself up, hands right on top of Jonathan’s, their pinkies intertwining. They kiss slowly and gently, but there’s a new heat in it that makes Steve feel like he’s on a roller coaster again. That thrill of it. He swears he’s about to fly away, the only things keeping him on the ground are Jonathan’s pinky and Jonathan’s lips.

“Dork,” Jonathan says as they separate.

“I like you too.” Steve likes him so much.

Steve finally wills his feet to walk him towards the street, and seeing his car there makes him realize that Joyce probably knows he was there, if she came in from work and saw it parked in front of her house. His cheeks burn for a second, but he still can’t tear the smile off of his lips.

He’s almost reaching the Bimmer when he looks back, as he always does. Jonathan is draped over the window, barely visible on the side of his house, but he’s looking right back at Steve, as he always is.

They smile and they wave at each other and Steve goes on.

He doesn’t know that’s the last time he’ll see Jonathan this year. His butterflies are still partying, oblivious.

#stonathan #stonathan fanfic #stonathan fic #steve harrington x jonathan byers #jonathan byers x steve harrington #stranger things fic #stranger things fanfic #lui writes #ys(uoyh)

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ante--meridiem · 2 years

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please rant about martin and why you hate him, or if you’ve already done this in a previous post can you link me?

Oh, boy. I have done it a lot before but somehow a quick search didn't bring much up, so I will... attempt to summarise in as non ranty way as possible because I don't actually enjoy feeling heated hatred towards characters and I'm tbh glad that taking distance from the fandom had made me feel less of it. This is not a sourced literary analysis or anything, it's based mostly on my memory biases and vibes, but neither is it an angry rant because I'd rather not get into that mode.

I'm also answering with an assumption that you're familiar with tma? Otherwise this may not make sense.

So, one thing was his connection to ~humanity~™. I have... a lot of issues with the idea of defining some ways of being a person as "more human" than others in a way that claims more human = more moral, and while tma often handled that theme in ways I like, Martin became emblematic by the end of the ways I don't like. This association is probably also largely the fandom's fault because I still remember having to see a post that called him "the most human character" (extended sounds of me screaming wordless rage in the distance), but I feel that canon did put him in that role through the combination of him having a very strong morality of "human = moral, less human = less moral" even as other characters began to see more nuance (see: him feeling entirely comfortable joking about killing Oliver, who was among the least morally bad of the avatars), and him dating someone who was also an avatar and even having a domain himself didn't make him see more nuance or even struggle with his own morality or his attachment to Jon, but simply try to ignore those facts. (More on him ignoring things later!) Jon seeing him as an anchor to humanity while he ignored every part of Jon that was "less human" was a deeply uncomfortable dynamic to me, and the fact that Jon went along with the association of "humanity = morality" served to frame him as Jon's moral compass even when the moral decisions he was making were worse that Jon's. (See: him goading Jon into going on a revenge spree. See also: the very end.)

On the "ignoring" thing - in a show that's all about voyeurism and dangerous knowledge, Martin was a character who very much preferred to stick his head in the sand and avoid facing anything uncomfortable for him. This is visible in his naive insistance throughout season 5 that fixing things would be as simple as "kill the bad guy, revert everything" after repeatedly being told it probably wouldn't, his failure to reckon with the implications of asking Jon to kill every avatar they run into because they're inherently evil while not wanting to think about the fact that Jon is an avatar (I will give credit where credit is due that he did reckon with his guilt over him having a fear domain in the episode about it, which is a good episode that almost made me like him again, but if any realisations stuck it didn't show), his refusal to listen to Jon's statements and loud distaste towards them, etc. On a less facing-uncomfortable-realisations note and more just general obliviousness... there's a scene in early season 3, when he canonically already has a crush on Jon, where he's surprised to hear that Basira thinks Jon is funny. This is innocuous enough on its own, but it's a clear sign of him not particularly understanding Jon, and as a big believer in love as knowledge and understanding it irks me that he could be so unobservant about someone he claims to have a crush on. And the time when they actually are dating, his attitude towards Jon seems just... marked by a complete incuriousity towards him and trying to make Jon communicate on his terms rather than make any effort to understand Jon's.

And finally, there's the ending. I strongly disagree with the morality of sacrificing potentially infinite worlds to save theirs, and even putting aside ethics on a narrative level it would have been so much more cathartic and satisfying and powerful and tonally appropriate to have Jon break the cycle at a horrible cost or - if not - lean into the horror of letting it continue and not soften that with "but it's okay because Jon changed his mind for romantic love and they're together in the end!". Martin is not the only character on my shit list for this but he's the one responsible for introducing the romance angle and changing Jon's mind at the last moment.

Top that all off with a large portion seeing him as sweet and innocent and the most moral person in the podcast, and acknowledging his flaws only to frame them as funny and endearing, and. Yeah. Not a fan.

#Anon #Ask #The Podcast #Hopefully the last time I will ever rant about him #But well you asked so here's the rundown

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theflyingfeeling · 2 years

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Heey, I wanna know more about your relationship with Blind Channel, if you're willing to discuss it hehe. I don't know the band besides the things you post, but you seem really invested and I'm wondering what's behind all that love! Asking because I find it's so interesting getting to know how band managed to lure such an active fan!

Hey! Of COURSE I'm willing to discuss Blind Channel, that's what I do!! 😅 I wasn't expecting this ask to come form YOU though, of all my mutuals, but I'm happy to answer!

I don't know how much you know about Eurovision Song Contest, but Blind Channel representing Finland in it in 2021 was what started it all (I can't remember hearing about them before that, but then again I'm not really following the Finnish music scene). I really liked their Eurovision song but it took me a while to listen to their other songs. I guess I was scared I might not like them that much, because by the time I finally did I had already become invested with the band because I had seen all that funny pre-Eurovision content they had made and absolutely fallen in love with them as people. I guess that's my first bullet point on the long list of reasons why:

Their personalities. There are six guys in the band, and they're all such lovable, down-to-earth people that it's hard not to love them. They're honest in what they say (which is what they were praised for during the Eurovision), they're genuine, and what I perhaps like the most is that they're very clearly their own, individual persons. I mean, everyone is, of course, but I think with Blind Channel it's even more striking how different they all are from each other, although some of them do also share certain personality traits.

Their passion. I absolutely love listening to them talk about their music, because with every word they say it's obvious how much they love what they do, despite the many (many!) hardships they have faced over the years. They're so ambitious, but not in an arrogant way; they know exactly where they are currently, where they want to be, and how they're gonna get there. The other lead singer Joel in particular (the one with the long blond hair) has made me tear up with his passion for music and the band. Whenever he talks about Blind Channel, you can just tell the band means the absolute world to him. In the end of the final track of their latest album there are clips from their first ever interview from almost 10 years ago, and Joel saying "the best thing about being in a band is everything, every single second" made me cry my eyes out for the first five consecutive times I listened to the song (yes, I actually listened to the song five times in a row the first time around haha), and I still remember back in 2021 I was watching and interview in which he said, when asked if they have someone taking care of their social media, that they want to do all that stuff themselves, because they want the content they give their fans to be as authentic as possible. I literally teared up at that moment, and it was also the moment I decided I need to see them live. Which leads us to my third point...

Their live shows. All the other concerts I had been to before my first BC concert had left me...underwhelmed, in a way? I was always so uncomfortable with all the people (sometimes drunken) shoving me around or screaming to my ear; I often felt like I would've been much better off just listening to the songs in the safety of my apartment lol. But then I went to a Blind Channel show and oh my god I was addicted. Their energy on stage is unmatched, top tier, and other praise words. They're so much fun to look at, because they're all so into it, all of them, not just the singers. In so many bands the guitarist and the bassist are literally just doing their job of strumming the strings while showing no emotion whatsoever, and if that's how they prefer it, I'm not gonna judge them for it, but Blind Channel has a whole choreography for their shows and seeing how into the music they are makes you so much more into the music as well. I especially love watching the bassist Olli on stage; he interacts with the audience quite a bit (a lot more in comparison to the guitarist Joonas who's very into his instrument most of the time), and if you're close enough to the stage, it's so much fun just watching him vibe with the music with the most blissful expression on his face 🥺 He really is in his element on stage - they all are! But with Olli it's a little different, because off stage he appears pretty shy and quiet; on stage he's anything but, and it's always so amazing to see that. In addition, they have so many great songs that are meant to be sung as loud as you can, and doing so surrounded by like-minded people is the best fun you've ever had 🖤 (particularly if there's a separate over-18 section in the audience, as the kids can get a little...intense sometimes 😂 (their fanbase in the motherland is quite young))

Sometimes I myself wonder what the hell actually happened that I became this invested with a band, especially because it's been over 10 years since the last time that happened 🙈 But honestly speaking, I'm so glad I did, because if it wasn't for Blind Channel, I have no idea what I would be doing with my freetime. I had no idea what would be my main source of serotonin if it wasn't for them, or whether I'd have fallen further down in the dumps. I'm scared to even think about it.

And like, by now it's not only about the six dudes in the band and the songs they make, but also about all the incredibly sweet people I have met through them. I don't really have that many friends, but thanks to Blind Channel I now have all these super adorable people in my life who always manage to pull me back up when I feel like I'm drowning, and that's something really fucking beautiful, you know? I will forever be thankful for Blind Channel for giving me all these amazing friends and experiences that I otherwise would've missed.

#thank you so much for asking!! i had so much fun answering this ✨#sorry if i'm sometimes flooding your dashboard with all this band nonsense 🙈 feel free to blacklist the tag if any of it bothers you! 🖤

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pandapillow · 1 year

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Re-listening to the songs in Dance with Devils and wow as cringy and 2nd hand embarrassment I get from it, the songs slap. There's just something about really cringy, spine shriveling, wall slapping, salt eating shows having so much charm. I love it when all the characters are being their most unapologetic cringy self and singing their feelings in a simple, yet complex way to show their motivations, personality, and just how much of a side/main character they are.

All in all I just like songs with plot

Kakusei no Air - No lyrics in this one darn, oh well. Anyways I love how dramatic it feels. This song really just gives me the urge to be a pretty boy. Ayo the only one she actually danced with was Rem. And now she's opening the door to a new world.

Kaze no Yokan - "I'm a normal high school girl" I'm sorry, but you're not. I love that this song shows that she's not completely naïve, but she does still keep that hope of having a fairytale love cause honestly, sometimes having a fairytale like romance sounds cool. So yeah among some other stuff, MC wants to have a relationship with someone with genuine love between the two.

Labyrinth of Depravity - Omg I love the start of the song. THIS GIVES ME SUCH GENDER ENVY! I LOVE THE WAY IT SHOWS THEIR PERSONALITIES!!!!!!!!! OMGGGG I LOVE THE PART WHERE THEY GO "We are Shiko Academy's Student Council of the third library" cause that part just sounds cool af, and the way they're posing on the stairs makes me wanna pose like a pretty boy who'll never get the girl. And I love the glass apple and the way it broke. Since the dudes called themselves the forbidden flower garden it reminds me of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, so Rem taking a bite of the glass apple could be a way of showing that his character arc will lead him to learning more about himself, even if he finds it uncomfortable, to the point that he regards his feelings as "forbidden knowledge" and do his best to lock it up- I have no idea where I'm going with this. Anyways glass apple is cool and I like the sound effect when it shattered.

My Name is Rem Arlond - This one is so funny to me. He's just standing around and ordering his enemies around with such grace and poise, showing that he's the one usually in power and will him announcing his name is his way of saying "remember this name because I'm above you" or smth like that. Also his fire flower was cool.

Yuuwaku❤amor - I love the imagery in this one. The chains are meant to be his webs because anyone chained up his essentially caught up in his web of lust(?). He's selling his love as a paradise, but they're dancing in a cage. His love would only hold MC, and any other women, back and they wouldn't notice because they're dancing in that cage enjoying their life together. Too much to notice the problem with his love.

Kimi Dake no Shugo Kishi - And I love this song. I will never root for this guy as a LI, but his song is just so full of love and devotion. The most pure(ish) and genuine out of all the others. Also it sounds nice in general... WTF HIS VA IS WATARU HATANO?? NO WONDER I LIKE HIS VOICE THE MOST! ITS FULL OF FOND MEMORIES!!! I can't believe it took me a moment to recognize it! The line "Putting my all into atoning for the mark of sin that flows through my body" + the imagery from the previous scene of the cross's shadow over his eye is so good to me. THIS SONG IS SO GOOD I SWEAR I DON'T SUPPORT THIS DUDE, BUT I LOVE HIS SONG SO MUCH!

VANQUISH - I love this dude. He's so silly. His song really being only about him, and what MC can give to him. Also him kicking the screen was funny. The whole song? rap? feels like a daydream where he's talking out loud. Anyways I love this dude, he's funny.

Pitiful Lullaby - The imagery in this one is cool. Him calling her a pitiful bunny girl really fits his very hunter like vibe. Cause he's literally creeping on her, but darn I love the chorus. So what I'm getting is that he likes the way he feels around her, and wants to keep that feeling and the best way to do that is lock it down in an "eternal sleep" where they can always dream of it together and it'll never change cause they're asleep and change can't happen when you're asleep and never do something to change your situation (cause you're asleep).

I Am a Faithful Dog - The dogs are so funny. But the religious imagery is so interesting to me, cause he seems to be Cerberus the loyal dog of Hades, so what does that mean. Oh fudge I love the part leading up to the chorus. He also seems like a big liar. Cause like he shows himself as a cute lil Pomeranian (I think), but his shadow is him being Cerberus, so maybe he's tryna lure MC into trusting him with his very cute and fluffy look and saying he's her trusted servant. It's always the small dogs... The end is especially weird cause he kept talking about how he is willing to serve and be devoted to her, but then he's like "Trust in Cerberus and devote yourself to me". Really changed up who the will be doing the devoting huh.

Someday Towards The Place We Saw In A Dream - Ngl I kind of find this song boring, just cause it's not my type, but the lyrics are intersting. They both say that they're in each other's eyes so they def like each other, and even admit that what they feel towards each other is love. The imaginary land they're in seems to be a paradise to them because there's nothing there to remind them of their destiny.

KETTO ~Unyielding Conflict~ - I love the duet between the two dudes who feel the strongest towards MC. The fight scene is especially nice. Like they're fighting each other, but all they can think about is MC, cause they're not just fighting each other, but they're fighting to show that what they feel is no joke and will not allow anyone to get in their way. Also love the part where they sing together.

EMO LIAR - Love it when the home boys know you're deeply in love with the girl you "don't care about and are only after because of her musty old book", and don't buy into your denial, and are like "hey we're competing for her love too, but just admit you love her loser". Love that they just sit on a throne that looks like a torture device which is very fitting considering that they're devils and the chain fence that was put up in the beginning is being blown up into pieces as Rem is forced to face his feelings towards MC. No seriously I love that they're literally calling out Rem's lies, and Rem acting dumb. Ohohhohohohoh I love it when they take turns calling him out while sitting on their weird throne.

Bride of Darkness - Love it when your suitors appear to save you and just start listing the things they love about you, while there's a knife to your throat and they're outnumbered. I also noted that when they start listing stuff about her it's to show just how innocent and untainted she is, compared to them, the devis (plus an exorcist and a dog). I also love the part where snake dude is like "don't disregard how I feel towards you, just cause it seems out of character and you're not ready to have your image of me change", cause like it really isn't like him at all. In his character song it was only about him and what MC could bring to him if he "won", and in most stories the receiver of the confession is like super bewildered and say "it's not like you at all", cause in their mind that one person is and acts a certain way, so when they aren't following the "rules" that were set in their mind it's a very jarring experience and they instinctively try to separate themselves from this moment by disregarding the confessor, but Snake saying not to say that is him saying he wants to be taken seriously. I also haven't seen the anime in a very long time and will not watch it so I have no memory of their romantic development, which I'm pretty sure is close to zero so I'm just thinking of this scenario as a separate thing. And webs saying he'll never let MC go and always cherish her is a nice nod to the fact that he's a flipping spider dude and calls her his "butterfly", so if she were to entangle herself with him she'll never be able to break free. Which is also why he says he won't care if it breaks her. As for Crow I don't really know what to say for his part? Like I'm guessing he spends most of his time sleeping, cause of his character song, and is very detached from other people as well as his emotions, so when the idea that someone who wormed their way into his heart could be taken away forever he feels sorrow, but just doesn't know it yet cause he hasn't experienced it enough to be able to identify it, and also cause he hasn't yet seen the impact she had on him, so to him he hasn't changed at all, but did change. Or smth like that. I also love that they're all holding out their hands towards her, another way of telling her to pick who she wants to be with forever, but like, she's being held hostage so she can't take their hand physically. Only with her mind will she be able to do that.

Crazy About You - Ah MC's singing with the two dudes who have the strongest feelings towards her. Red with him saying time and time again how he's willing to die for her, and Rem being Rem. And omg I'm getting sad for Red even though I never rooted for him at all and will never root for him, he's happy that she's happy and wants to protect her happiness just like Carton from Tale of Two Cities! Him calling her love with Rem "her pair of wings" cause their love will allow them to reach heights they never thought they could before and love itself is a very freeing emotion for the both of them I'd assume. And now they're singing their duet song again, and are literally doin da wedding vows. Omg I just realized that they're both blue. NOw MC has to choose if she wants to continue being human or a devil. To be with the person she loves or stay with her family, and I love that the spotlight is literally on her. YES CHOOSE YOUR OWN DESTINY GURLLLL! AND THE SUN RISING TO SHOW A NEW DAY/BEGINNING AND MAYHAPS AN DECISION??? YEAHHH SHE CHOSE HER HUMANITY! HE GAVE HER A SMALL CROWN AND DISAPPEARS CAUSE SHE MADE HER CHOICE AND THEY KISS ONE LAST TIME (and maybe the only time I don't remember).

Mademo★iselle - HOLY FLIP I FORGOT ABOUT THIS SONG! I love the circus theme. No idea what the lyrics are. Ayo MC is an Alice in Wonderland + Rabbit mix kind of outfit. Cause she was thrown into a strange world, and is still fairly innocent.

#tw knife #tw blood #tw spider #I don't remember mentioning those three but I probably did so I'm just gonna be careful #just my thoughts #long post #somewhat analysis #dance with devils

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delicatebluebirdruins · 2 years

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RE: Infinte Darkness Rewatch

under a read more it got long and slightly rambly

- ugly ass puss coloured filter... going against orders is always fun

- weird hand statue... poor kid

- theme song slaps (most of the tracks slap but there is no official Claire and Leon theme so *blows raspberry*

- Claire just seems so uncomfortable like stone in her shoe? label in clothing? or just good old fashioned don’t want to exist because everything feels wrong

- Ace of Spades? nice. Monkey Suit? not so nice

- Patrick has a grudge against Leon and we never get any explanation

- the glare Shenmai give Patrick is so funny

- the texturing is so nice on the walls and everything... fuck off wilson

- flashy torches why?... would you like some hole in the face?

- Spacer looks so young... that was some kick... *see’s Spacers legs* ouch... Hi Leon

- Leon’s suit has not seen the light of day in years. it does not fit him at all does it?

- yes Shenmai the portraits look shifty... the torchlight made Jason’s eyes look really cool

- Claire’s expression at seeing and recognising Leon is so fucking funny... is blue Leon’s colour? I can’t tell... can we get a Cleon hug at some point?

- fuck off wilson... Ashley is so cute and i feel sorry for her

- Yeah Netflix Subtitles heroic music IS playing... can’t spell classified without ass can you?

- back to the hand and escalation of events

episode 2

- this opening bit is so pretty: bright with birds singing. And the detail of the reflection in the mirror? lovely. But this is a resident evil production so it goes horribly wrong

- Alien Coffee?... Claire looks so good with the tank and (way too clean) glasses

- Back to chaos: Shenmai is interesting and I don’t know what to make of her... Leon is great but personally listening to Jason’s tangent right now I would be calling it in and asking for a therapist and expecting bad things coming

- I hate Shenmai and Jason killing the crew. zombie rats, zombie rats doodoodoo... Icky rats... Lots of rats to get on small sub... how did they get on?

- electric blue eyes... underwater explosion looks strange... the grass looks so nice

- Pocket Knife couldn’t have Shenmai cleaned the blade off? I always think of Narnia when I notice this shit

- Yeah Leon treason is fun and you shoud do it in this instance because fuck Wilson... I didn’t realise jason actually got shot

episode 3

- cabin? in the woods? at night? what could go wrong?... another person from the mad dogs unit gone

- ohhh look at the moon... the water looks really nice as well and I love it

- lovely reunion of siblings... it is sad though the hope grandfather and Shenmai have for Junsee to return to health for them because a part of it is futile... the grandfather covering Junsee as the building falls hurts me

- where’d that random breeze come from? just to make Claire cover her face briefly?

- Fuck off Wilson... damn we don’t get to see Shenmai being carried by Leon wow that’s a lot of damage...

- where’d the other guy come from? I hate seeing Claire hurt

Episode 4

- hi Patty Cake (what is his and Leon’s relationship)... I love his reaction to the call and I wonder what Leon said

alternative version of the scene

P: Leon is that you?

L: No this is Patrick

- that outfit kinda looks like her RERE2 outfit

- Me and Clarie: fuck off Wilson or more appropriatly “you’re just fucking nuts“

- do the opening credits change from epsisode to episode?

- funky running animation

- how the hell did you see Leon from where you are Claire?... also why doesn’t Claire actively try to escape when Wilson was distracted with Jason

- “doors clonking“ thanks Netflix subtitles... cut it a little close there Claire

- Poor Shenmai x2

- saving Claire is one of the best scenes in the whole show

- Well done Pat you can breathe now you got the message through

- start mashing buttons Claire

- “hey sexy“/ bazooka clanks” will never not be funny... I love them continuing to fight

- much speech very wow... Jason is not wrong though considering the world as a whole like how many outbreaks have there been? it would be hard to find someone who hasn’t been affected by B.O.Ws either directly or know someone who has

- I do love the music... Leon silhouetted by the sunset is great - oh fuck off Wilson... tricell (vaguely rings a bell)

- this conversation between Leon and Claire is interesting and I love them (meta I read and love what they had to say about it)

I really wish they went for a meal together link to a lovely slightly nsfw comic I found

#resident evil #cleon #resident evil infinite darkness #claire deserves better #this show could have been longer #should have been #claire redfield #leon s kennedy

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elsecrytt · 3 years

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Barbatos in Season 3 and 4

Okay so I noticed there were a couple people who hadn't seen these scenes (this season 3 scene with Barbatos and Asmo is a locked lesson you have to get a certain number of 3 star battles to unlock), so here's some very interesting scenes that involve Barbatos, MC, and c o n s e n t:

So basically, in season 3 (this is in Lesson 53 - the scene with Asmo and Barbatos that happens later is in Lesson 54-C), Solomon comes up with this "Tails game" as a preliminary trial for sorcerer!MC.

He does NOT ask you if you want to participate beforehand. In fact, he very intentionally goes out of his way to make sure you know nothing about it in advance:

You read that right - MC "will feel an irresistible compulsion to fulfill our wishes." We have no option to express that we don't like this or don't want to go through with this, and we're not asked at any point, either.

But that's okay, right? MC always wins everything, after all, due to being the protagonist and stuff. Solomon does this because he knows we're going to win...

Actually! Solomon literally rigs the game against us to ensure that we lose :) and not only that, but we lose to Barbatos (and Asmo).

Because the game is a Secret Test of Character, see, and he's a trickster mentor (I liked Solomon a lot more until this lesson happened lol).

So uh yeah. All throughout the tails game, Barbatos emphasizes his privacy and how he doesn't trust us with his grimoire.

And then when we're at his mercy? What's our privacy worth? What about our dignity?

It's time for Barbatos to repay the favor and not pry into our personal life, right?

It's time for him to treat us with the same respect we afforded him, right?

It's time to see him acting kind towards us, showing mercy when we're in a vulnerable situation, magically compelled to want to grant his every wish, right??

Especially since he was going to betray us from the beginning, he wouldn't take advantage of a situation we never agreed to be in, right???

Yeah, Barbatos doesn't do any of that shit. He sees an opportunity to get information out of us and he takes it immediately, with a minor aside of "oh Asmo don't listen in".

So... that's why I kinda enjoyed lesson 71, and I don't have the (again, completely understandable) reaction that other people do to this scene.

Oh? What? You don't think it's funny??

You don't find it amusing when someone's been magically influenced and they use it to their advantage? You don't think it's natural to get whatever it is you personally want out of someone who's at your mercy????

You don't find it funny that while you tried to protect MC from a magical compulsion, and summarily were caught up in that compulsion, they used that against you instead of respecting your dignity??

It's not funny?? I had no idea, Barbatos! Really, I didn't! I was under the impression that it was completely hilarious! A very normal thing to do! I'll definitely keep this in mind for next time!

If this were a better story, there would be more elaboration on this. Because I like this. I like this turn of events, this show of negative characterization from MC.

But I know that it's a joke. It's a one-off. If this were a better story, this would be a part of a character arc for Barb, it would be a moment of spite from MC, a moment where Barbatos realizes what he's done to them and learns from it.

At least it's good fanfic fuel? aksdhfklhfg

Anyways, listen, there's no reason for you to agree with my view on any of this - I find the narrative angle of spitefulness/revenge/tit-for-tat here compelling as a story arc, but I very much understand and empathize with those who just find it uncomfortable in general and would rather it not be there (I DEF had that feeling when MC was on the receiving side of this, haha).

ANYWAYS I have WiPs to be avoiding, but if you made it this far, thank you for listening~

#obey me #obey me spoilers #lesson 71 spoilers #barbatos #elsey rambles #vent #character/story analysis

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aurumacadicus · 2 years

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@winterironmonth prompt - NSFW Sunday: Word, Dialogue

Word: Innocence

Dialogue: “No need to whine.”

Not really innocence, just hilarity. Or, innocence in that sometimes what makes sex fun is laughter, not the act of sex itself. Idk it makes sense in my head. More nsfw because they mostly talk about sex, it’s secondary, but I can’t just casually drive a fuck machine and not have it be nsfw. AvAc because I have thoughts. Don’t forget to blacklist ‘long post’ and ‘lemon!’

Bucky had thought it was actually very cool that Tony had a Fans Only account, or whatever it was called. He was one of the few people who thought Tony wasn’t being funny and actually had sex appeal (although to be fair, he’d seen how Tony had flirted with some people, and he could understand why they (Natasha) didn’t take him seriously), so he hadn’t even really been surprised, because Tony had a beautiful body, and he should enjoy showing it off. He’d even subscribed to the account, to show he supported him and because he was horny for him, not that Tony had ever noticed.

Now they were together, though, and the shine had sort of worn off.

“You’re taking my virginity tonight,” Tony said, matter-of-fact, as he did his theoretical calculus homework.

“What, again?” Bucky asked, surprised. “Your patrons know this is like, what, the fifth time?”

“Sixth, but part of the reason I’m so popular is because I let them pay for the privilege of coming up with a porno plot once a month,” Tony replied, shrugging. He didn’t look up from scribbling across the sheaf of paper, clearly trying to get all his homework finished before they began prepping for the scene. “They like when I cry and say I can’t take anymore, for some reason. I can always do the solo scenario if you don’t like it. I have them come up with one in case you’re not in the mood.”

Bucky considered just watching Tony’s solo show, then crossed his arms, frowning. “What’s the scenario? It’s not anything weird, is it? I didn’t like wearing that thing on my dick.”

“You liked my cat ears,” Tony told him smugly. When Bucky grunted in disgust, he rolled his eyes. “Okay, the fake knot on your dick wasn’t my favorite either, but we got tipped a ton. I donated so much to my sex worker charity.”

Bucky tried not to think too hard about how much they’d earned, because it had been a lot, and also the cat ears had awoken something in him. “What’s the plot, before I turn it down,” he sighed, because sometimes Tony’s patrons were incredibly creative. One time they’d voted for Tony to wear a cock ring for an hour and a half while Bucky did anything he wanted to him, and he’d popped like champagne, untouched, by the time Bucky snapped it off. That had been nice.

“I sold myself into sexual slavery to keep my parents from going into debtors’ prison to a mob boss—that’s you—and you gave a high price for me because I’m untouched, and you love taking your partners’ virginities,” Tony replied, sliding his papers into his math book and slamming it closed. He reached for his physics book. “I feel, for full disclosure, you should know the solo plot has me using the fuck machine. The plot is that it’s sentient and I can’t get away from it until it’s sensed I literally can’t come anymore. It’s got wheels now.”

“You put wheels on the fuck machine?” Bucky asked despairingly.

Tony finally looked up at him to scowl. “Listen, it’s heavy. I would have done it even without encouragement eventually.”

“I cannot even begin to tell you how much that crushes my soul to know,” Bucky said, because on one hand, his friends would never believe him, or on the other, they would ask why he was surprised.

Tony shrugged, unconcerned. He usually was when Bucky mentioned his soul being crushed. “Listen, are you going to defile my virgin hole or not?”

“I’m not feeling it,” Bucky muttered, shrugging uncomfortably. “We just did that last month, and the virginity thing was only really fun when it was real. Maybe in the first and second scenes they planned, too. Now it’s just kinda… meh. So… so I’ll just make sure I’m there for your solo play.”

Tony frowned up at him. “Why would you have to make sure to be there?” Then he leered. “Can’t keep your eyes off me?”

“Wheeled. Fuck. Machine,” Bucky deadpanned, even if there was some truth to wanting to be there.

“Ah,” Tony said awkwardly. Yeah, it would probably be best to have a chaperone for that, in case something with the program went wrong.

.-.

Tony had handed Bucky the controls for the machine ‘so it’s more realistically a malfunctioning AI, no one will believe it if I have to keep muttering control changes to JARVIS,’ and Bucky had spent an hour getting used to the world’s most comical RC car. Tony had actually had to scold him the second time he’d rammed the dick-end into him while he was bent over hiding some experiments away. Bucky had made the proper apologetic noises and then promptly flipped a table with the lift controls just because he could. Tony looked like he seriously regretted giving him the controls.

But then the scene started, Tony bent over a workbench and mewling with each inward thrust of the machine. Bucky had to reluctantly admit the wheels made it much easier to manage, because even he found the weight and shape of the fuck machine unwieldy when he was moving it. This would definitely be more helpful for moving it in the future.

Bucky watched Tony whine and moan as the machine fucked him, considering, then very deliberately tapped the button to up the depth of the machine’s thrusts.

“Oh what the fuck!” Tony spluttered, flailing in a way that knocked most of the papers and tools off of the workbench as the force of the machine made him go up on his toes with every thrust. He scrabbled wildly for the other side of the bench, turning to give the machine a startled, confused look over his shoulder. “What the…”

Bucky noticed Tony’s eyes darting back to him and raised his eyebrows questioningly, showing his fingers on the speed knob. Tony managed to convey a nod through the dip of his head, moaning. Bucky obediently cranked the speed up by two, and Tony yelped. It was not entirely for show, startled noise quickly changing into confused moans. His knuckles went white where he was clinging to the opposite side of the bench, and he let out a desperate little noise as he tried to crawl further over it, find some respite from the dildo thrusting into him. Bucky used the controls to make the machine follow him, until the body butted up directly against the bench.

“Fuck, oh my god,” Tony moaned, shaking, then sucked in a deep breath and used all of his strength to pull himself off the dildo and push himself over the bench. He hit the floor with a dull thud and began crawling away.

Bucky accidentally rammed the bench with the fuck machine as he tried to turn it around, and he winced when Tony yelped after a lamp fell on top of him, muttering a quiet, “Sorry.”

Tony only paused long enough to rub the back of his head and shoot him a confused glare before he began crawling again. Bucky winced again, but he hurried to get the fuck machine righted and zooming around the table.

“HOLY SHIT,” Tony screeched as the machine zoomed around and slammed into the corner of the work bench, moving it six inches to the right and banging into his hip.

“WHY IS IT FASTER,” Bucky bellowed, because it absolutely hadn’t been that fast when he’d been learning the controls. Then he nearly swallowed his tongue. “DID YOU ATTACH THE WHEEL SPEED TO THE DILDO SPEED?!”

“I thought it would be fun,” Tony squeaked nervously.

Bucky stopped the machine, and the rubber left marks on the floor. He stared at it stonily, then slowly lifted his head to turn the stare on Tony.

“Okay, maybe it was a bad idea,” Tony babbled as Bucky began toward him. “Wait, wait, Bucky I admitted it was a bad idea wait!” He tried to escape, but Bucky was on a mission, and he whined as Bucky threw him over his shoulder.

“No need to whine. You brought this on yourself. Bring me the hat, Dum-E,” Bucky said, grabbing a stool on the way to the corner of the workshop.

“Don’t make me wear the hat!” Tony wailed.

Bucky was nice enough to spread his jacket over the stool so the cold leather wouldn’t be a shock to Tony’s bare butt (and so the lube wouldn’t stain it, because Tony always hated his nice things getting stained and Bucky cared exactly zero about his clothes). Then he propped Tony on top of it, taking the dunce cap that Dum-E had cheerfully brought over for him. “You attached the wheel speed to the dildo speed,” he told Tony sternly, holding the hat out.

Tony sighed miserably, but he had to admit it had been questionable to do even in the moment, and he always had to learn the hard way. “Fine,” he muttered, taking the hat and putting it on. “How long do I have to wear this.”

“Until I get the wheel speed detached, you maniac,” Bucky said, rolling his eyes. “Then we’ll do the other scene. I won’t trust the fuck machine until I see you fix it.”

Tony sighed again. “Yeah, okay,” he finally said, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall petulantly. “Can I at least get a blanket or something so my dick isn’t out?”

Bucky grabbed the blanket off the cot and threw it to him, then pointed at him sternly. “Behave, or the hat goes back on after sex.”

Tony huffed, scowling at the blanket as he wrapped it around himself, then crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall again, pouting. Bucky decided to let him sulk a little longer than truly necessary. Attaching the machine’s wheel speeds to the speed of the dildo. Honestly.

#aurumacadicus writes #winterironmonth #winteriron #lemon #long post

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