#nothing to see here just a ness fan in the wild

[ness-alexis-my-love]

My first time posting anything that I made myself so, here goes. I tried colouring that one manga panel, keyword here being TRIED. Looking back, it's a lil cringe, but this is tumblr so...

[wlw-lovestruck-fiction]

Xenia (Fluff)

Fluffy ABC (D, J, L, S)

Kisses Prompt 22 (interrupted by a third party)

Anon Request #1: “Cuddling with Xenia headcanons? (Four! Arms!)”

Anon Request #2: “Aftercare cuddling with Xenia? (Four arms means so much gentle stroking and I’m… SOFT)”

Anon Request #3: “don’t get me wrong I’m living for all the Xenia smut but, what about some fluff? Maybe Xenia comforting MC when she’s sad?”

Anon Request #4: “Xenia kissing headcanons?”

Anon Request #5: “Can we get something very soft with Xenia? Just, like, a quiet moment with her, with no distractions?”

Anon Request #6: “Headcanons for mornings with Xenia?”

Anon Request #7: “Xenia first kiss headcanons?”

Anon Request #8: “Okay im sure this has been requested a thousand times now after that one ask but headcanons for snowball fight w xenia that maybe ends w mc getting a cold and xenia taking care of her?”

Anon Request #9: “So yeah I just discovered Xenia is scare of mice and I’d like nothing more but MC to protect her with her life lmao, this could be a fluff fic idea?? promt? I don’t mind, do whatever you like as long as it is cute plss 🥺”

Anon Request #10: “What is Xenia like when she is in love? Headcanons pls”

Anon Request #11: “Is it bad I want an Xenia cuddle fic? Like she secretly wants cuddles and finally gives in to it”

Anon Request #12: “Please may I request something to do with Xenia teaching MC the harp? :)”

Anon Request #13: “🍎👑⚔ I have this HC that the RP MC has seen some shit growing up in The Wilds. Can you write either a fic or more HC’s about Xenia comforting her after a really bad nightmare that had her wake up screaming? 🖤🌌🕷”

Anon Request #14: “Reigning Passions MC crying in her room after Tansy makes fun of her ears and Xenia comforting her/assuring her that they’re beautiful. I miss you guys so much! ❤️”’

Anon Request #15: “Please can I request something fluffy? MC telling Xenia that she’s with child. How would she react and what fluffy-ness might occur afterwards? :3 Thank you in advance 😁”

Anon Request #16: “Okay so what if one of Xenias spiders escapes but when she goes looking for it she finds the spider following MC around like a child?”

Anon Request #17: “XENIA’S MC SOMEHOW BECOMES JUST LIKE THE SLEEPING QUEEN AND XENIA’S KISS WAKES HER UP. KINDA LIKE HOW HELENA GOT HER MEMORIES BACK WHEN HER MC KISSED HER. #TRUELOVESKISS 💋”

Anon Request #18: “Xenia slowly becoming happier and removing her mourning veil. Either HC or fic, whichever you think fits best x”

Anon Request #19: “MC walking in on Xenia working bec she wanted to talk to her about something and when she sees Xenia, she’s so overwhelmed by gay that she just blurts out “You’re beautiful” as soon as Xenia looks at her? (They aren’t together yet.)”

Anon Request #20: “Oh my God the post about MC x Xenia expecting a baby was so cute 😍 Instantly got me thinking- Xenia is pretty protective about MC naturally but imagine how she’d be whilst her partner was carrying their baby? Or after the baby was born? One protective Spider mama! 🖤🕷”

Anon Request #21: “Can you write Xenia finding MC drunk in her room asking to her spiders how to ask Xenia in a date? “

Anon Request #22: “I’d love to see a scene with Xenia and a pregnant MC.    Your headcannons are amazing, but your scenes are sublime.”

Anon Request #23: “So apparently Xenia loves “how the stars shine in the dark” and I was wondering if you had any HCs about how a star-gazing date between Xenia x MC would go down? Thanks for all your work!”

Anon Request #24: “can we have some xenia/mc fluff in the early morning, cuddling in bed just after waking?”

Anon Request #25: “ HC or Fic on how Xenia would handle MC’s weird pregnancy cravings in the middle of the night? “

Anon Request #26: “Can you please give us more head canons of how Xenia would treat a pregnant MC? “

Anon Request #27: “Just short and sweet ask Xenia having a rough time dealing with issues related to the kingdom late one night and mc convincing her to come to bed for cuddles”

Anon Request #28: “Ooh I need more fics about Mc and xenia spiders please 😍❤️”

Anon Request #29: Hey ladies! I am a avid fan of your blog and pretty glad that you are here during this time of the coronavirus. It's pretty bad here and on top of that,I haven't been feeling very well lately and with Xenia's season ended and having read through all the wlw stories (Viv, Helena and Vanessa are in my top 5 after Xenia), I was wondering if anyone could write a small head cannon about soft Xenia? Maybe when they visit the Autumn quarter and pass by Val's headstone? Thank you so much!

Anon Request #30: “Can I request MC singing to Xenia and her head is on MCs lap? And it’s just? Soft?”

Anon Request #31: “God, with those asks earlier about Xenia and eggsacs, I need to see some sort of funny fluffy story where Xenia’s pregnant and pranks MC by telling her she’s going to lay a bunch of spider eggs instead of having a regular baby. Bonus points if Gideon and/or Ruelle are in on it.”

Anon Request #32: “MC doing something that Xenia finds so adorable that she starts to blush and the MC being so oblivious that she worries Xenia has a fever.”:

Anon Request #33: “any random Xenia fluff headcanons?”

Anon Request #34: ”Any chance of getting a little story about the very first time Xenia and MC kiss🙈”

Anon Request #35: “Gods, I need 28 from the kissing prompts for Xenia… with Xenia tracing MC’s lips with a fingertip until she can’t resist any longer, tilting her chin towards her for a kiss.”

Anon Request #36: “xenia and mc cuddling in bed and just talking to each other after sex. no smut or angst, just fluff please.”

Anon Request #37: “MC giving a back massage to Xenia? I think our lovely Spy Mistress might need one.”

Anon Request #38: “Xenia POV waking up with MC in her arms for the first time. Lotsa fluff please.”

Anon Request #39: “Can I get a small fic on anything involving Xenia? Preferably fluff if that is okay!”

Anon Request #40: “hi there. so I have this hurt/comfort fic idea with Xenia. Tansy's bullying MC again, saying that no one will ever want MC in a sexual way. and it hits too close to home, since MC was rejected a lot in her teens because of her ears. so MC runs away from Tansy and Xenia catches up to her, takes her hands in hers and says that she wants MC. u know, not in a flirting way, she just says it... like a well known fact 🥺”

Anon Request #41: “ I’m sick at home today. Could I get a request for sick MC being taken care of by Xenia?”

Anon Request #42: “The angst request for Xenia where Mc broke up with her basically saying she was faking to get to the throne Broke me! (Kudos to the writer it was Great!) could I request a fluffy continuation where it was a nightmare and Xenia wakes up gasping awaking Mc who is beside her and is like “love are you okay” because yes mc loves her everything is fine I’m not crying mc I yawned but please hug me very tightly now and reassure me of your love- i went off lol but- please? 🥺” 

Anon Request #43: 50 types of kisses 12 for Xenia - "Sneaking away to a hidden corner to share a secretive kiss"

Request #1: “FIRST OF ALL I JUST NEED TO SAY THAT I LOVE YOUR PAGE SO MUCH! 😁❤️ CAN I PLEASE PUT A REQUEST IN FOR MC X XENIA? IF I CAN I’M WONDERING HOW A PROPOSAL WOULD GO BETWEEN THEM? IF MC WOULD DO IT OR IF XENIA WOULD AND HOW THEY’D GO ABOUT IT ETC- GOOD GOD I’M A HOPELESS ROMANTIC AND I JUST WANT HER TO BE HAPPY 😅”

Request #2: “Xenia x mc hc wordless ways of i love you. Saw one of the one with vivienne. I’d just had to see it for Xenia”

[mayaliyah]

Sweet Melody || Self-Para

When: March 10th, 2021

Where: Vanessa’s apartment

Featuring: Trixie Belle, Vanessa Maldette, & Nova Kang

Warnings: Brief mentions of abuse, sexual assault, drugs, alcohol

Description: Who knew that the turbulent love life of one friend could inspire a break up song? 

Inspiration: Sweet Melody - Little Mix 

It was another fitting for La Playa costumes and rather than being at Vanessa’s studio, it was Maya and Trixie at Vanessa’s luxurious penthouse…both girls still couldn’t get enough of being in shock and awe as they were getting fitted for their outfits. Well, at least Trixie and Nova were. Maya, on the other hand, had a melody stuck in her head. This often happened, and she was on the verge of a breakthrough. Nova was too busy admiring herself in the luxurious mirror as she playfully beat boxed and then turned once she heard Trixie’s voice. 

“Uh oh, she’s spacey again,” Trixie pointed out with an eyebrow wiggle. 

“Another smash hit on the way, Maya?” Nessa added with a grin. 

She kept humming the melody as she adjusted her top a little as she looked in the mirror with a curious look. 

“Maya?” Nessa called out once more. 

“It looks amazing, Ness, sorry! The melody’s just trapped in my head,” She sighed, shaking her head. 

“Right, well, I need you three to head into the closet again and pick out one more outfit for fitting, I don’t know…both of you don’t look completely comfortable or satisfied with it,” The brunette called out. 

Both Trixie and Maya exchanged a look. She knew them far too well. Nova on the other hand...was a wild card. As the three of them wandered back to grab their outfits, a clear bag caught her eye. It was the most beautiful, dazzling white dress that she had ever seen, with sewn in crystals and…she was pretty sure the tulle and lace would last for days. 

“Nova,” Trixie called out with a warning look. 

“What?” 

“We don’t talk about it, okay?” Maya responded with a hushed voice. 

“Wait, why? Is that the infamous Queen V wedding dress?!” Maya whispered harshly, but Vanessa, had pretty good hearing and sighed, dramatically. Trixie groaned, shaking her head. 

“Oh, Trix, don’t fret. I’m not upset about that old thing, but I do need to pick out the diamonds and burn it…eventually,” She pointed out with a sigh. “But yes, it was the wedding dress that never came to fruition. Although, I’d have to say, I dodged a major bullet,” She chuckled. 

“Oh?” 

“Well, let’s just say, I’ve dodged…several. Most of my exes were just utter trash…maybe with the exception of one, but even then, it’s like…a repeating song that goes on and on, heartbreak, after heartbreak.” 

“Wait wait wait! Stop! Nessa, wait, this is going to sound outlandish, but…can you tell me this story?” Maya asked. 

Both Trixie and Nessa exchanged a bewildered look and Nessa sighed, taking a seat on the cushion as Trixie took a seat on the ground. Meanwhile, Maya fished her phone out from her cleavage and pulled up the notes app as did Nova. 

“Let’s see, first there was Nick. Sweet as could be, he was my first, in many things but our relationship was a secret because his twin sister, my best friend, forbade me to date him. But…I’d always get jealous when other girls looked his way and, I couldn’t help it. It also didn’t help in the beginning I had a crush on my best friend…let’s just say it ended tragically, then both of them moved back to London and I never saw them again.”

“Jeez…” Maya sighed. 

“Damn, why be a hater cause your sibling’s happy? I’m so glad I’m an only child, like dead ass.” 

“Then there was Alex. God, he was, gorgeous, another sweet guy, a bit timid, shy, but a glorious singer…although I was not a fan of his cover of whatever song he made, but the words were sweet…until I discovered he had a crush on one of my best friends, and then that was the end of that.” 

“God, Nessa, I’m so sorry,” Maya shook her head. 

“It gets worse,”  Both her and Trixie chimed in. 

“Steven, a rowdy, rebellious guy. Loved surfing, and all things Hawaiian, he grew up in Hawaii, actually, and I thought, wow, I could actually love this guy…but the partying and the abuse, and oh, did I mention he tried to knock me up? That was fun.” 

Maya was practically speechless at the time and continued jotting down what came to mind. 

“Then…came Lucian,” Nessa sighed. “He was supposed to be the one. He was there practically through the majority of my exes, with the exception of Nick. He was my best friend, we confided in each other. We dated for three bloody years and talked about our engagement to the point he even suggested I started designing my wedding dress. He spoke the sweetest words and did everything right, but d’you know what did him in? One of my friends, the night we got drunk, I told her that I was afraid he’d get bored of me and just walk away…and she told him and he got so bloody angry and broke up with me—ON MY FUCKING BIRTHDAY!” She practically shouted the last part out, her face was flushed with redness over her face. 

“Woo…” Nova whistled out. 

“Ness…maybe you should…” Trixie began. 

“It’s fine, Trixie. This actually feels quite cathartic,” She chuckled. “Did I mention he left me for my supposed best friend?” 

“I hope he rots,” Nova called out.

Maya sighed, shaking her head as she tried piecing together the puzzle, that were lyrics. Mostly bits and pieces that she had.

“At the end, came Scout, it was a short fling, but he spoke sweet nothing’s in my ear and made me feel like I was human…but the sweet nothings were just that, sweet, and nothing. Shelby…she was my first girlfriend, actually, but, a bit possessive and power hungry, so there’s that,” She shrugged. 

“Okay, I think I might have something from this,” Maya called out. “Nessa, by the way, I’ve heard you sing before and the melody you hummed to…that’s the melody stuck in my head,” She called out. 

“Which one?” Nessa asked curiously. 

“The do-do-do-do,” Maya said. “Can you try that out for me? 

Nessa chuckled, “That little thing? I dunno where it’s from!” 

“Just try it, please?” Maya pleaded. 

“Alright, um…Doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo

Doo-roo-doo-doo, doo-roo-doo-roo. Doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo

Doo-roo-doo-doo, doo-roo-doo-roo.” 

“So here’s what I got,” Maya began and then sang, “In a whole other life, there was this boy that I knew. He made me feel like a woman, we were young and silly fools,” 

Trixie giggled, knowing exactly who that was.

“Wait wait wait, I’m not done!” Maya chuckled and then sang, “Anyway he was in a band, wrote love songs about me. I wasn’t crazy ‘bout the words, but the melodies were sweet, went something like—“ She paused and then Nessa chimed in with 

“Doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo

Doo-roo-doo-doo, doo-roo-doo-roo. Doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo

Doo-roo-doo-doo, doo-roo-doo-roo.” 

“Alright, so then Nova, can you volunteer that velvety voice of yours for just these lines?” 

Nova laughed, shaking her head, “Damn, butter me up and call my voice velvety.” 

“I promise, just once,” She chuckled as she slid over her phone. “Same tempo as the first verse.” 

“Every time we’d go dancing, I’d see his straying eyes. Gave him too many chances, push my keys too many times. Anyway, he’d start acting up, and I’d be on my way to leave, but I stopped in my tracks, when I heard this melody and it went like,” 

Trixie then chimed in repeating Nessa’s previous verse with a smile, the two girls harmonizing over each other. 

“Okay, so then the next part is the chorus, and I was thinking like—“ Maya began to sing, “He used to sing me, sweet melodies. He played me, made me believe, it was real love. Sang me, sweet melodies, but the day he did me wrong, the song couldn’t go on and on—“

“Ooh, what if we repeat it as a unit?” Trixie offered. 

“Yes, perfect!” 

“He used to sing me, sweet melodies. He played me, made me believe, it was real life. Sang me, sweet melodies, but the day he did me wrong, the song couldn’t go on and on, and on,” The trio sang in unison, perfectly harmonizing with each other. 

“So the next verse, Trixie, I want you to do next,” Maya pointed out and Nessa handed her the phone. “Remember, same tempo as before.” 

“Let’s see…” Trixie took a look and then sang out, “He would lie, he would cheat, over syncopated beats. I was just his tiny dancer, he had control of my feet. Yes, when he came along, that’s when I lost a groove. There was no song in the world to sing along or make me move. Something-something like—“ 

Then Maya repeated the previous melody with Nessa randomly making an echoing sound and Trixie ad-libbing. 

“Okay, Nessa! I see you getting into it!” She teased. 

Nessa rolled her eyes and shook her head. “I’m doing this for a cause!” 

“The chorus goes again, but there’s one part that Nessa, you just did, and I want you to do that, Trixie, what I want you to do the melody.” 

Both girls nodded and did as they were told repeating the melody, with Nessa echoing Trixie’s voice as best as she could. 

“Now, Nessa…would you oppose singing that ad-lib again and continue to do so while Nova follows me into the next chorus?” 

Nessa looked over at Maya and shrugged. “Eh, I don’t see why not,” She grinned and followed Nova and Maya’s lead with Trixie chiming in to harmonize.

Nova did the next chorus with Maya running in right next to her and hit a rather impressive high note. To which Trixie playfully saw it as a challenge and hit her own high note as they continued the chorus together and ended the song. 

“Oh…I think we just made magic…OVER NESSA’S OWN RELATIONSHIP,” Trixie squealed excitedly. 

“Maya…Nova...Trixie…was I just set up?” Nessa added as she eyed at them suspiciously. 

“Maybe…but you don’t have to perform if you don’t want to…” Maya made a face. 

“I am not set out to be a performer, but you know, I would appreciate writing credits,” She winked. 

“Obviously, you inspired this amazing song!—Now we just have to clean up the vocals and we could actually record it on my laptop and then I could go to the studio and get it cleaned up a little further?” She suggested with a big grin. 

“I—let’s at least change out of our outfits first!” Trixie said, completely starry eyed and excited. 

“Seriously because I can’t be grooving in this for more than like two hours,” Nova teased. 

“I’m manifesting this as a number one hit, I’m saying this right now!” Maya called out as she ran to grab her laptop, rather than change her outfit.

[iamthesimone]

My Relationship With ‘Reality Check’ by Swae Lee

I’m going to be real here, I wasn’t initially grabbed by Swae Lee’s recent release of ‘Reality Check’, and seeing from my previous blog posts, y’all know I’m a massive fan of him.

Since late 2019, Lee has been teasing fans with songs to be featured on his upcoming album. Some of them I absolutely adore, but others I weren’t feeling as much. One of them was indeed ‘Reality Check’.

I don’t know why I wasn’t fond of it. It’s lovely tune, but maybe it’s because of how different it is to previous songs of his, causing me to not really be used to the sound. The vibes were perfect, the vocals were perfect, but my personal connection with the song just wasn’t clicking. But recently, it hit me.

I had my own ‘reality check’, indeed I did. From that, I felt the sudden urge to listen to the song to hear his words.

With me being of a young age, I haven’t really experienced much, leading me not to come across reality checks that often. During this colossal period of lockdown especially, everything has remained relatively chilled for me; every day has been the same, so nothing could go wrong, nothing could change. But my content-ness changed drastically as I returned to college on the 3rd September, despite Covid-19 numbers scooping up its rates in my age bracket.

My first week saw almost everything the same as the previous year; the classes, the teachers, the expected content. Everything didn’t appear a wild shock to me - except for my first class with a new teacher, which automatically turned everything on its head. 

It was a disaster! Considering me not remembering a strong amount of that subject’s content from the previous year, bringing up unexpected content overwhelmingly defeated me. He seemed to favour a class dynamic which expected us students to remember everything from around six months prior, causing him to pick on us for answers any time his heart desired.

‘What did I do?’ You may ask. I panicked like crazy, that’s what I did! This class automatically became the first to push me near the tipping point, reminding me of my weaker points in study knowledge. This only happened shortly after a previous class I had in another subject, where I realised that I hadn’t picked up the class content as quick as my peers, who were practically flying with their well-earned knowledge, letting words roll out of their mouth as if they were a talking textbook.

As soon as I finished these classes and went home, I was completely defeated. How could this have happened to me? Everything had been so perfect for my mental stability these past few months…and now this happens? Honestly, I felt like the least educated student in the class who didn’t know what on earth was going on. But amidst this panic, I felt a connection with my senses. I had a reality check.

Now I didn’t immediately have this reality check, but as a few hours passed I became totally submerged in the realisation that I had been. I sat to myself, wondering how on earth I could elevate myself from this position. Suddenly, the gentle, melodic sound of Lee’s voice wandered into my mind.

The first words I remembered him singing was “do everything with a strategy”, that just kept ringing and ringing in my ear several times over. By that, I followed my desire to listen. 

As soon as I did, I felt utterly renewed. Less alone, less...scared. I really have to thank Swae Lee for that.

That’s the magic of music. Music really unleashes the ability to feel a meaningful company in the experiences you have, which is what ‘Reality Check’ did for me. As soon as the song ended, I quickly repeated it to take it all in again, to hear him tell me what’s what.

As well as the message, his angelic vocals also took me in, specifically with the “Ooo”’s he performs in the bridge, followed by a beautiful descending run.

On a ‘Verified’ interview with Genius, Lee actually talked about the changing intent for the song, stating how it was written a while back where the lyrics were originally “I need a check in reality”, but he felt the lyric change of “I got a check in reality” better suited as it takes ownership of the problem, making it something he’s much more proud of. By the time he released the track, the Black Lives Matter protests were on the rise, which Lee actually attended in support of the movement, bringing the meaning of the song closer to home. Where both the pandemic and the rates of racism are currently what people need to tap into, the song aids the realisation that it’s not something to be fantasised about. Humanity should pay attention to injustice and world devastations to take action in accordance to the cause.

This whole meaning alongside the standard experience of having a ‘reality check’ really hit me to the point of feeling the drive to change my ways. To find a “strategy” in order to work through this ‘reality check’ of my own, essentially making my own mark by having “a check in reality”. Ultimately, life hits you hard, but as Swae Lee highlights, it’s how you take on that push-back experience to make it into a positive outcome for yourself.

Simone Williams

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[theworldbrewery]

A playlist for my current party: 4 idiots + their honorary cult grandma, four with new names and one with someone else’s--god I love them. they requested a playlist breakdown so i’ve placed it under a cut for brevity. I’m always soft for making fan content for the campaigns I’m in tbh.

Alice: an elf-turned half-orc after a reincarnate spell went awry, her wild magic caused her marriage to fall apart when she accidentally burned down her home. She’s looking for control over the magic that is ruining her life.

Remmy: a man of many names, Remmy is an aasimar cleric with more secrets than even the other party members are aware of. He’s untrusting and full of fear, but the party gets him to open up--against his better judgment.

Gadao: an earth genasi from an isolated monastery, he’s looking for an identity of his own after realizing he may not be an incarnation of an ancestral spirit after all. Looking for his place in the world, the party’s fast-paced life contrasts with his steady nature.

Leap: an elderly tiefling ranger, she grew up in a cult of pain and left it only by good fortune. Her taste for adventure--and a need for closure--keep her on the road, though she looks forward to seeing her family again.

Blue: an aarakocra bard, Blue awoke with no memory and promptly joined a shady merchant vessel as a good-luck musician. They’re always down to fight, curious, and ready to hoard as many items as they can get their hands on.

Anger | Sleeping at Last

I love the way this song opens, the energy it has. Favorite lyrics are “it all spills out/reckless but honest words leave my mouth,” which maybe speaks to my love of intra-party conflict… but I also have a soft spot for “and suddenly I’m someone that prays/last-minute man of faith” given the campaign’s attention to the divine. I’ve really loved leaning into that. It feels like this song has threads that connect to every character.

Hellfire | Barns Courtney

God, I love the chorus to this song. I feel that in this party, Leap and Remmy have the strongest links in these lyrics, between Leap’s simmering fury at her cult and Remmy’s...everything. There’s a period of the song that isn’t quite an instrumental, but has sort of mangled lyrics/rap, and though I can’t quite make it out, one bit sounds like “roll the dice” -- a fun nod to D&D as a whole and the risk-takers among the party.

Blood I Bled | The Staves

My favorite lyric here is “raise your banners and ride to war/throwing ‘round your name.” This song feels like a challenge to the world, suitable for a group of adventurers just forming a party. The singers and songwriters mention the song as one of “no, I won’t take this bullshit,” and that strong message really speaks to the PCs.

Hustler | Zayde Wølf

Hustler is all about coming out on top, and y’all are “turning up the heat” all the time. “Looking at the city like I already own it” feels like a foreshadowing moment to me; one day, when you all are level 10, 15, 20, you might reach an unmatchable power, if you live long enough to see it. 

Homemade Dynamite | Lorde

I chose this song for the absolute clusterfuck D&D parties can be. “Don’t know you super well/but I think that you might be the same as me/Behave abnormally” encapsulates something really funny about party members getting to know each other and start to trust each other, even when the rule might still be “I’ll give you my best side, tell you all my best lies,” and your secrets and private problems haven’t yet come to light.

Nervous | X Ambassadors

The chorus of foreboding in “cause what comes up must come down”  is, how do I put this? Iconique. I think this song especially fits Leap and Alice, both of whom are aware of how quickly things can go awry but put a cheerful face on their own worries. Even when nothing’s wrong (“and I can’t complain, it’s amazing”) they know things could go south quickly.

An Act of Kindness | Bastille

This song best fits Leap and Gadao’s relationship, especially when they met. “Oh I got a feeling this will shake me down/Oh I’m kind of hoping this will turn me round” seems to speak directly to Gadao pulling Leap away from the cult and giving her the opportunity to be better than she was. On another level, the party’s bonds are born from acts of kindness and friendship--Remmy buying lorebooks for Alice, Leap making tea, Gadao stepping in to defend the party from the mimic.

Everybody Wants to Rule the World | Lorde

Despite the name, this has something for everyone, I think. “Turn your back on Mother Nature” suits Alice’s vendetta against the Forest Father, “Help me make the most of freedom/and of pleasure” fits Blue’s brand of hedonism, “It’s my own remorse” echoes Leap’s regrets. Gadao alone doesn’t quite fit in here...unless… >:)

Kicks | Barns Courtney

This is a Blue song! “I’ll show you how to live for free” the artist sings, and Blue’s freewheeling lifestyle seeking “kicks” matches this energy really well. If Blue is “a wild one” “singing in the midnight street,” they’re getting their kicks with this party for sure. Blue lives without being tied down, theoretically limitless. 

Hail to the Victor | Thirty Seconds to Mars

This song is about Leap, no question. “Another life, another love/another kill, another drug” fits into Leap’s two lives, one in the cult and one out of it. And in this new mission against Babylon Lionel, she’s seeking a revenge of her own, though it’s one against her childhood more than her actual enemy.

I’m a Wanted Man | Royal Deluxe

Remmy “would kill again to keep from doing time,” without a doubt, so this one’s for him. Constantly warning he’s trouble for his friends, saying that “you should never ever trust my kind” isn’t too far off. Like Remmy, this song is edgy, but with a hesitant moment of emo-ness that makes the performance of darkness something a little more genuine.

Big God | Florence and the Machine

Alice is not a faithful woman, but she’s unfortunately entangled in some religious nonsense she hates. At the same time, I feel lyrics like “you’ll always be my favorite ghost” refer best to Alice’s fraught relationship with her wife. My favorite line here is “Sometimes I think it’s getting better/and then it gets much worse,” which is essentially Alice’s experience of her wild magic. Deep down, she might even be drawn to the magic’s chaos, but she can’t help but resent what it’s taking away from her.

Wisdom, Justice, and Love | Linkin Park

This one’s for Gadao. It starts off so peaceful and hopeful, the instrumentals overlaid with a speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. But as he starts to list the evils of the world, King’s voice, so steady and confident, is warped. Gadao’s own faith experience becomes warped by the power games of the people around him, and even as he’s seeking “wisdom, justice, and love,” he can’t escape the effects of materialism and violence around him.

Icarus | Bastille

Some folks live steady lives, but not these people. Adventurer’s lives tend to burn bright, hot, and short. From Leap’s perspective, most of the party is made of kids who don’t know the world yet. Are they “digging their own grave,” “too close to the sun?” Despite their ride-or-die commitments, Leap can see all of you risking yourselves--and for what? Who do you want to be, at the end of it all? A wife and mason? A sage and monk? Or do you want greater things than that?

Losing My Religion | Dia Frampton

I can hear so much of Remmy’s opinions in this song, saying “I’m choosing my confessions, trying to keep an eye on you” but realizing, over and over again: “Oh no, I’ve said too much.” As he tries to keep up his own facades, Gadao and Leap’s own faith collides with the beliefs of a cult leader and Alice struggles with a religion she doesn’t care for at all.

Start a War | Klergy and Valerie Broussard

Like Hail to the Victor, this song is all about Leap’s conflict with the cult of Loviatar and the Mother of Martyrs. Even though the Loviatar cult might be gone, the spirit lives on. My favorite line for Leap here is “bang, shots fired/pain is what you desire,” for the decision to challenge Babs to a one-on-one fight. But is it Babs who is starting this war, or Leap?

Friction | Imagine Dragons

This one kind of gives me Gadao vibes with the lyrics “when you’ve made it/won’t you tell me what to do?” After all that pressure to fulfill the expectations of other people, he has to get out of the middle and move on, maybe even become someone new. Key line is “why can’t you let go/like a bird in the snow/this is no place to build your home,” reminding Gadao that he doesn’t have a place in this world. Not yet.

Transcendental Youth | the mountain goats

“Sing, sing for ourselves alone,” sings John Darnielle, and maybe that’s what makes this feel so much like Blue. Maybe it’s the lyric, “cedar smudge our headbands/and take to the skies/soar ever upwards,” calling to Blue’s dislocation from time and place, flying away from their problems. Blue doesn’t remember their childhood, and has no idea how old they are. Even if they did know, their lifespan is short. They live every day like the halcyon days of youth, footloose and fancy-free indeed.

Champion | Barns Courtney

I swear this is the last Barns Courtney song. But this song is the resilience of coming through fights and perils and dangers. My favorite lyric is “Oh, Lord, save my soul/take my pain and turn it into gold” which, incidentally, is exactly what happens when you level up. The party’s struggles translate to strength, to influence, to skill, and even riches.

In the Woods Somewhere | Hozier

On the one hand, this could be about any combat in the dark woods at night (*cough*, Remmy killing that dragonborn, *cough*). But more importantly, this song is about Alice. She struggles with a power she doesn’t understand, with something’s eyes on her that she can’t fight. The best she can do is run from the danger and try to survive it. Whatever eyes are watching her now, Alice better take care. Favorite line? “I clutched my life/and wished it kept/my dearest love/I’m not done yet.”

Natural | Imagine Dragons

Natural tells the party one way of surviving. The line “you gotta be so cold/to make it in this world” suits Remmy’s outlook so well, the one he pushes at the rest of the party. The line “rather be the hunter than the prey” speaks well to Blue’s tactics--preferring to act from above. Alice and Leap know better than anyone that “nothing ever comes without a consequence or cost,” and Gadao may be the only one ‘holding the line’ against a harder heart. Another song with bits and pieces associated with everyone.

Dead Hearts | Stars

There isn’t a specific lyric here that jumps out at me, no line that tells me who this song is for. This is the song for the ones who die--those who have, and who will. We might not be there yet, but this is a song for acknowledging the sacrifice of your friends and allies. The knowledge that you knew them once, and in some ways, their ghost stays with you. Or maybe they’re revived, or reincarnated, but there’s always something a little different.

The Projectionist | Sleeping at Last

Eventually the session ends, and the story closes, and the lights come up. “We’re leaving our shadows behind us now/we’re leaving, we’re leaving it all behind for now,” Ryan O’Neill sings. We’re putting on costumes, telling a story for each other, and maybe the game ends every time, but maybe it makes us brave. I’d like to think so. 

The lyrics to all these songs can be found at Genius.com. Thanks xx

[cruddyborderlandstheories]

im supposed to be working on uh literally anything else but instead i gotta get this outta my brain

tl;dr: slag is causing the Psychos to spread across the galaxy bc the Calypsos are using it to both brainwash their cultists and give them ‘special powers’. i mean, its not just slag, it’s eridian ruins/tech, too, but the Twins are utilizing slag the most. which explains the slagfalls and also the processed eridium everywhere still. im hoping sirens will help us cure this- starting with Krieg because slag/Psychos have some sort of connection to the other dimension, just like Sirens, but more messy. also this insanity from the slag/Psycho-ness is literally Mayhem and us fans are taking part in it- we’re the cult irl. plus, this game is gonna be about love and the relationships we have with the people we care about and that’s all the roses mean because i’m feeling s o f t tonight. tomorning. whatever maaaaan

“… among their fractured ramblings, it is tempting to try and find a deeper meaning…”

“[their madness] defies attempts at explanation or containment. from an isolated region of a single planet, to a nearby moon, to systems throughout every human colony, madness is catching…”

you can’t tell me this isn’t just BEGGING for us to figure it out

so, for my own sake:

i have a theory.

i kinda sorta hinted at this with my destroyer theory but i REALLY wanna go all out in this because i think this is actually something to think about… mostly because ive seen A Scene… and i wants to talk about it, vh. i wants it

now im gonna `lol` ignore everything about my lost legion eternal theory and start entirely from scratch. it’s also 1am here for my apologies if this comes across as incoherent because wow i should be asleep but fuck it i got research to do

so it all starts with psychos. i mean i guess it does. it’s gotta right? i brought in pictures it must

anyway

the guide admits that the first psychos came from Dahl’s prison colonies

the ones abandoned on pandora, now ive kinda talked about this b4 but imma talk about it again bc uhhh fuck it? why not.

so we know a lot of the bandits left on Pandora mutated because of the eridian ruins/the key. this is referenced mostly in sledge’s mine

its like world-wise called headstone mine but i never remember that. SLEDGE’S MINE

notice that line “most went crazy and many were physically mutated as well”

so i think it’s safe to say whatever they found in there started causing psychos to appear on pandora

im saying that i think eridians are the cause of Psychos across the galaxy

i have a lot more proof for this so please sit back and enjoy the ride because i think its really really cool

so lets look at hector’s logs from the newest dlc

“one of my boys found a shiny alien trinket”

“a few boys went rabid already, had to put them down”

now idk if there’s a connection here, but it’s interesting that both times, people who found these eridian artifacts started going crazy soon after

shit i mean even tannis begins to go off the wall after her and her dig team start investigating the eridian sites. although if that is because of the horrific incidents that befell her and her team or the ruins idk for certain. i’d bet its the shitty incidents tho

there’s more to this, hang on…

alright, so, lab rats? they’re pretty cool right?

we all like lab rats! personally, chase is my favorite, but adam is hilarious. that final season, huh? pretty wicked… wasn’t really a fan of the island setting but you know what, to each their own. it’s cool they actually progressed the show instead of staying stagnant. that got my respect even if it moved in a direction that wasn’t my cup of tea.

anyway Q U O T E S:

“Hyperion opened my eyes. i didn’t want it!”

“needles in my eyes!”

“don’t you look at me!”

“i can see! i don’t want to see!”

so there’s obviously something ~fucky~ going on with the lab rats and whatever it is they can see from the hyperion experimentation. we know hyperion had a hard-on for slag experimentation and you know i wouldn’t even be shocked if they were injecting these rats’ eyes with slag.

the best part is their reactions when they’re phaselocked. Unlike most enemies, the lab rats will only react to maya’s action skill, and none of the other VHs.

vs something like a marauder:

who has all these voice lines for Zer0, Axton, Sal (merc), AND Maya

the lab rats will only ever respond to being phaselocked.

and what do they say?

“i see the universe!”

“i see infinity!”

“it’s beautiful!”

 (now weirdly enough i was told on the tv tropes for bl2 that the lab rats will say “I see it more!” when phaselocked by maya, but i couldn’t find a source for that. couldn’t even find it in the files i extracted from the game. i checked an online video just to double check because you know, my extraction could’ve been off, but it wasn’t there, either. even phaselocked one a bunch as maya and i couldn’t get it to proc. so, idk where that info came from, if someone could give a source/proof that would be awesomesauce.)

sooo what do other enemies say when phaselocked? usually… they just see blue. so nothing quite as interesting as infinity.

so wtf is up here? 

im thinking the experiments hyperion performed on the lab rats are letting them see the dimension maya locks them in. i mean, tbh, i think they can see into that dimension whenever they open their eyes, but maybe maya’s phaselock makes sense of it for them. because they seem to be in indescribable agony outside of it

but the lab rats aren’t the only enemies that only react to being phaselocked

turns out the psychos only react to phaselocking, too

they also have some fun lines:

“I can see forever!”

“I’m home!”

“I’m inside… I’M INSIDE ME!”

with some other nonsense thrown in for fun

so idk, just taking a look at this, it’s clear the psychos and lab rats are seeing something that the other bandits just aren’t seeing. most reactions are demands to be released or that they’re flying, or just straight up confusion as to what’s happening.

is that the side effect of their exposure to slag/eridian tech? yeah, imma bet on it. their mind machines probably broke because they saw something they weren’t supposed to (possibly into the other dimension. the one maya phaselocks them in) without proper ‘protection’ and thus went batshit. like maybe sirens are protected from the craziness of the other dimension because they’re ‘chosen’ or whatever. iunno.

i do think it’s most interesting that the psychos seem familiar with whatever they’re seeing, calling it ‘home’ and well… themselves. 

so why in the fuck am i talking about all this? because i think it ties straight into bl3.

let’s bring back lab rats and their experiments

you know how hyperion was supposedly injecting their eyes with slag? and it caused them to shoot those weird blue lasers out?

what happens to the destroyer’s eye in tps?

yeah we inject this bad boy with slag

“i only juice the eye with a little bit of slag at a time”

which ends up causing a singularity around the eye the second time you do it

“if this slag stuff is powering the laser, we need to force as much of it as we can back into the eye. the increased power will trip a failsafe and let us shut everything down”

oh, increased power? you mean like how Sirens get increased power from absorbing eridium? that kind of increased power?

we know in bl1 the Destroyer seemed to have something like slag in it- those glowing pockets on the tentacles that explode into purple goo

even its attacks are like purple liquid. which, you know… would be quite similar to slag (tho tbf, these attacks actually hurt instead of applying the debuff)

and boy does the destroyer not like it

“warning. space-time instability detected.” after injecting the eye with too much slag. but… why? it got too powerful? are its powers directly connected to the other dimension and by increasing it’s strength a bunch we created some sorta link between our dimension and the other one? 

i mean given the other dimension allows for teleportation and shit, im not surprised there’s a space-time instability!

i mean we’ve all seen it do the eye laser thing, and the tentacles, and the purple goop. but causing space-time instabilities… that’s new isn’t it? kinda like how Sirens get new powers after they absorb a bunch of eridium???

so i wanna take a guess as to what the destroyer is

we know its ‘immortal in its own realm’ but when it’s taken an actual body that we can kill it, so odds are, it never actually died in bl1 OR tps. i imagine the Destroyer we see in bl1 is just a small fragment of it, and that it’s consciousness can be spread out across hosts. *EDIT: actually the lovely @automata-systemata-hydromata reminded me that you can find the destroyers brain in Helios. The other stuff I left in should be fine tho I thiiiink (thank you!).

and that, y’know, is cool and all, but what IS it??

Jack uses slag to give it a power boost, but it doesn’t seem to be happy about it when it happens. in fact, it even seems scared.

to be honest, all we know is that the eridians locked it away for some reason

idk im just spitballing here, but what if the Eridians were the creators of the destroyer? not intentionally, or maybe it was the result of one hell of a slag experiment/exposure to the other dimension/eridian tech, but we’ve seen what slag/exposure to eridian stuff does to humans… makes them go crazy, makes them start mutating. i mean, look at badass psychos. look at goliaths.

i mean shit even think about bloodwing. she goes wild, attacking the VHs and not listening to mordecai’s instructions despite their bond

she grows to a huge size and gains a whole shitload of new powers she didn’t have before. including fucking fire breath (which we’ve seen in burning psychos)

you know these dudes

i go into all this eridium/slag mutation stuff in SO much more detail in this post here, so if you’re interested in mutations, read this!

so what if the destroyer is just one HELL of a mutated eridian/alien and it plus all the eridium was locked away forever in the other dimension to keep this from ever happening again? because god, i wouldn’t want that to ever happen again, either, and i guess locking away the eridium (you know the stuff used in all these hyperion experiments) would be their best bet at ensuring it. also maybe just… locking away anything with eridium for that long probably isn’t the best idea… maybe that’s why it’s all tentacles and death. maybe they just locked someone away in a Vault as a prison and then leaving them with all that eridium caused them to mutate wildly out of control. kinda like the FEV. 

i mean we know ‘slagged psychos’ look like this 

i wouldn’t be surprised if we gave them enough slag/time they’d end up mutating even worse. and the destroyer was left in the vault for hundreds of years.

so wtf is the connection here with Sirens? there’s gotta be one, right??? is slag experimentation the first rung on the ladder of volatile science to achieving siren-hood? like you’d have slag/eridium experiments/mutations -> the lost legion eternal -> actual Sirens. maybe if sirens take in too much eridium they become something like the destroyer. now that’s fucked up to think about.

maybe it’s better the twins took lilith’s powers away from her…

oh, speaking of mutations and burning psychos and hyperion experiments, you know what we haven’t talked about yet?

Krieg. 

let’s talk a whole lot about Krieg, because he is super important

krieg is important for a lot of reasons.

u know what his teaser trailer was named?

yeah i don’t think that’s coincidence one bit

ahhh Mayhem.

“deep beneath pandora, an experiment has escaped”

we know krieg is a hyperion test subject, dr samuels confirms this (and apparently contracts insanity as well at the end of the Crawmerax DLC)

also we know some other tests going on at the WEP from the quest Doctor’s Orders:

“this vault key didn’t make eridium come outta the ground for nothing, right?”

and there’s this one very very very interesting line by Tannis at the end of the quest:

“the spread of slag poisoning” yeah call it that DUMB name tannis, im gonna call it what all the kool kids are calling it: ~Mayhem~

so… Krieg.

what’s so special about him?

well… he gives us insight into what the hell is actually going on inside the heads of some psychos.

so idk about you guys but i always took this as a poke at Maya and Krieg, but i realize now that this is talking literally just about Krieg. it’s about his body holding both sides of himself.

krieg does appear to be like lucid behind the psycho controlling his body, which, idk about you guys, but for me that plants some pretty horrible mental images of all the psychos in-game who probably have similarly exasperated people behind them who are getting murdered because they can’t control themselves anymore.

and idk i wrote this whole post about how maybe the slag experimentation is turning people into hosts for the destroyer’s consciousness and that could explain all the wacked up psychos and shit. but tbh im not gonna talk about that today

just about slag experimentation/eridium exposure. we know what it ACTUALLY does and that’s mutate the hell out of things and cause insanity.

Krieg is like… the poster child for slag experimentation/eridium exposure

soooo why does slag experimentation make people go insane? could be any number of reasons, but tbh i would bet it has to do with that other dimension somehow. because eridium isn’t a normal ‘our dimension’ element. it came out of a vault. from a different dimension. and who knows the long-term effects of that shit.

i personally had a theory that the 4th dimension had something to do with time and that only Sirens are able to harness this power, but then i have no idea how to explain angel and amara’s powers through that lense, so eh. fuck it. just seeing an upper dimension would make you go crazy anyway, so let’s not bring any time shit into this because that’s just asking for trouble. 

either way

i think that sirens are able to make sense of that other dimension. they have some sort of command of it/some sort of tie to it that allows them to not go crazy the instant they interact with it, unlike psychos. unlike lab rats. unlike Krieg. it’s like… eridium is our window into this other dimension or some shit and Sirens are (literally) able to process it, while it just fucks over anyone else who tries to interact. ~kachow i just introduced parallels~

and tbh i think we’re going to use Sirens to help cure this plague of insanity going around the universe. probably starting with Krieg. i mean, the only time he’s able to get even an iota of control is when he sees Maya. “Turn around pretty lady!!” like… that’s HUGE for him. and Maya’s a Siren. im not saying the power of love isn’t strong… but maybe the power of Sirens is stronger. i’d love if tannis helped us out with that. maya, too, if she really did learn more about sirens on athenas. 

this all ties into borderlands 3 for 2 reasons:

1. Mayhem being both the tagline for this game and Krieg the Psycho’s DLC pack is not a coincidence

2. The calypso twins are going to be using slag to both brainwash people into becoming cultists and give them special powers

`breaks fingers` this is the real meat of this theory, all that other stuff was just getting you READY for this

let’s put the Mayhem stuff off to the side for a second and just focus on the Calypso twins.

We know they’re promising their cultists special powers and free brainwashes (lol)

we’ve seen that one concept art from the museum of mayhem with the giant slag pool

we know enemies are STILL dropping refined Eridium even though it seems like all manufacturers have stopped creating slag weaponry

and we’ve seen the slag falls in a bl3 promo material already

oh yes

okay so i said right at the very beginning of this document that i’ve seen A Scene that i wanna talk about and oh baby this is it

This Scene right here

look in the very back there

look familiar???

~it shooouuuuullld~

yeah this is it!!!

so what i think is going down: anyone who’s not already insane is sorta ‘baptized’ as their entrance into this cult in the big ol slagfall. maybe the twins have a way to induce slagged cultists so they can have elemental affinities. not sure about that.

regardless

the twins are using slag to drive people insane (turning them into psychos) as a form of brainwashing to force people to join their cult.

so that’s the special powers and the free brainwashing and the slagfalls down.

let’s talk about why exactly we’re seeing enemies drop bars of refined eridium even though hyperion stopped making them. because the twins are making it!! it makes sense why there’s no slag guns still, even if it still exists in-universe: of course no manufacturer is going to contact an insane bandit cult just to get their hands on slag for their guns. 

there was a 7 year dry spell of eridium production so there was no slag to go around, so companies started phasing it out of their guns and replacing it with nuclear. 

but the twins have recently started production again. they’re obviously not using it in their guns, or selling it to other manufacturers. so wtf are they using it for? it’s gotta be important, it’s holy holy holy.

special powers and brainwashing!

and the refined eridium is back in circulation, so enemies are still dropping it. see? solution acquired.

as for psycho-ness spreading across the universe? it makes sense. not only are the twins using their slag to brainwash people and turn them into psycho cultists, but people are also being mutated by the eridian ruins/vault keys/vaults on the other planets and being driven insane. This craziness is quite literally Mayhem.

Mayhem is coming, indeed! 

now let us talk about what the fucccck gearbox is doing with all that Mayhem stuff in the trailers and shit.

sooo WE are the cult surrounding this game. as the fan base. 

do u think it was coincidence that they made ‘ECHOnet’ Streamers the leaders of their big bad cult and then also immediately introduced, in real life, the Twitch ECHOcast extension and invited a bunch of streamers to play their demo? they knew exactly what they were doing. Giving away a free cultist psycho mask to everyone who preorders a console copy of the game? that’s intentional. everyone who preorders the game gets a ‘gold weapon skin pack’? yeah! you know what gold weapons represent in-universe? higher standing in the cult!! gearbox is making commentary on how we are all just like the cultists!

AND THEY ARE TOTALLY RIGHT

all the trailers having something to do with Mayhem? ‘Mask of Mayhem’ ‘Mural of Mayhem’ ‘We are Mayhem’ ‘Mayhem is coming’. We’re all insane cultists because we’re all absolutely fucking rabid for this game and they KNOW IT.

…

oh also we’re all in love with each other lmao. 

in all seriousness, i think the game is going to focus a lot on the relationships we have with the people we care about- our found family, our romantic interests, our friendships- and that’s being expressed through the roses. 

i think that’s why all the characters are shown in the roses on the cover art. why the roses are so prominent in the So Happy Together trailer. why Zane is sitting at a bar with a rose between himself and his clone (as a joke, but still, it’s the intent). 

red roses are, like, the most obvious way to show your affection to someone. and we know the bl3 Vault Hunters are going to find family in each other in this game. that we’re going to watch the calypso twins’ relationship become warped as the game goes on. hell, we’re probably even going to have a whole plot about tina and mordy (and talon) and brick being a small family together, and maya and ava being one as well. plus ellie and vaughn have gotten together since commander lilith. shit, guys, even claptrap is building himself a girlfriend.

this game’s about love, guys.

anyway i have been working on this since 1:30am. it’s currently 6:06am. i am very tired and very wired and those never mesh well. im gonna go eat some motherfuckin pizza.

edit: i missed the obvious connection the first time around: of course we’re going to cure Krieg, he loves Maya. and this game is all about love.

that and/or one or both of them die and gearbox hurts us right in the softest parts of our hearts.

edit 2: also yeah at some point in the near future im writing that Hyperion-Twins theory because as much as i love Atlas, i have ~seen some things~

[ice-cream-nekogirl]

Emo and Proud (Shinsou Hitoshi X Reader)

Summary: You decide to give Shinsou some music therapy by encouraging him to sing along with you to vent out your stress and some deeper feelings are revealed. 

Hehe one of my headcanons is that Shinsou is a big-time MCR fan, in a way like Misty Day is a fan of Stevie Nicks from American Horror Story :3

BTW SORRY FOR ANY OOC-NESS!!

Featuring: Our Favorite Purple Boy!

You sighed as you finished watching Aggretsuko for the 10th time on your phone.

It was such a cute show even with it’s 15 minute episode runtime. That poor little adorable red panda; you wondered if you would ever end up like that someday since you were going to be a pro-hero someday, and it wasn’t exactly a glamorous job for everyone.

If there’s one thing that show taught you, it’s that music is one of the most life-saving outlets to vent out your emotions. And boy was that true, because your music was pretty much one of your sanctuaries that let you feel and express yourself whenever you sang to yourself or just let all your old nostalgia come back to you in the comfort of your room.

But it was time to pull an Aggretsuko and use the power of music to relieve the stress you had been feeling after the Joint Training and training in general. You knew being a hero would be hard work, but damn, your teacher was starting to look more like a slave-driver at this point.

Thankfully, somehow everyone had managed to catch a break since nothing was really going on… yet at least. And to salvage this break, you secluded yourself from your friends, as much as you loved them, sometimes you needed some alone time.

So, you politely declined their invite to the arcade and stood behind in the dorms. Once you were sure that most of them were gone, you set up a TV you had brought since you couldn’t live without a large-enough television and for the movie nights for weekends.

You hooked it up to your phone and grabbed a brush to act as a makeshift microphone from your room and played up an old nostalgic song from the singer who rose up yet again. It’s a good thing nobody was here, because you were really rocking out and banging your head with the guitar solo. Not that you would have cared, but you didn’t care for some of the remarks you would get, especially from that jackass Bakugou or that snarky chick Jirou.

“Try to tell me what I shouldn’t do.You should know by now, I won’t listen to you. Walk around with my hands up in the air, ‘cause I don’t care… ‘Cause I’m alright, I’m fine! Just freak out let it go!”

Dancing a little bit and raising your fist, you sang as loud as you could and really let yourself cut loose, so much that you were oblivious to someone entering the room who had taken the time to pause and stare at you as you danced.

“I’m gonna live my life, I can’t ever run and hide I won’t compromise ‘cause I’ll never know. I’m gonna close my eyes, I can’t watch the time go by. I won’t keep it inside! Freak out let it go! Just freak out let it go!”

You were flailing your arms about, flipping your (H/L) hair as much as you could, shaking your butt as you pumped your fists to get back in tune with your inner Avril. The music was so loud you couldn’t hear the very quiet snickers coming from your audience.

“Gonna freak out let it go! Gonna freak out let it go!”

Banging your head as the final riff ended you threw your arms up vigorously, “WHOO!” You shouted, turning around with a big grin that dramatically and comically fell as soon as you saw the person you had no idea had been watching you just about the whole time…

“OH GOD! H-Hitoshi!!”

Wild purple hair and all, beautiful, tired purple eyes gleaming with such amusement as his lips were lined with a smirk. He slowly brought his hands up to give you a deliberately slow clap.

“Impressive…” Shinsou finally spoke up, his tone sounding casual and low-key as possible but you knew that this was clearly extremely amusing to him as your face involuntarily grew hot.

“How much of that did you hear… and see…?” You shouldn’t have asked that, but you were curious.

“Everything from ‘Try to tell me what I shouldn’t do’.” He answered you and you sighed a bit, shrugging your shoulders with your hands up in defeat.

“I didn’t think anyone else would be here… sometimes you just need time to yourself ya know?” Sighing, you almost felt embarrassed. Shinsou wasn’t even in your class at the beginning and yet you befriended him during the Sports Festival a LOT quicker than you did your own classmates. It all started when you asked for him to be on your team, which shocked the hell out of him since he didn’t even have to brainwash you like he did Ojiro and Aoyama. And from then, you two just clicked and stood in touch.

“I know. That’s why I didn’t go with the rest of the others.” He agreed with your sentiment, which made you actually kind of happy.

Shinsou was a complete introvert, and yet you managed to get through to him due to similar interests in music, especially when you discussed how the two of you were ‘permanently stuck in your emo phases’. And then you knew about his fondness for cats, which you found extremely adorable since you had a soft spot for cats yourself.

Finally, there was your quirks, and you knew all about the prejudice he got from people simply because his Brainwashing quirk gave him the ability to control people. You had gotten somewhat similar flak for your quirk since your quirk also allowed you to control people, except you had control over their bodies and not their minds.

Emo birds of a feather gloomed and listened to MCR together.

The more you two talked, the closer you became. Which is why you were overjoyed when he started training with Aizawa and finally got into the Hero Course with you and your friends.

But the problem was… now that you were closer to him, you had fallen almost hopelessly in love with him. And now you just embarrassed yourself in front of him even though the plan was to have some time for yourself. However, because you liked Shinsou so much, it was always okay for him to be around you; you could relate to him and you never wanted him to feel like he couldn’t be around you.

“Well hey. We can be alone together… you’re one of the very few people who don’t annoy me. And EVERYONE annoys me.” You smiled at him, and he couldn’t help but smile back at you.

“I can say the exact same thing about you.” Shinsou said as he took a seat on the couch, sighing heavily as you frowned a bit and went over to him. He’d been working extra hard since Aizawa took him under his wing, you were sure that he must have been exhausted.

“Dude you need to relax…” You said, setting your brush down and placing your hands on his shoulders that made him freeze ever so slightly from the unexpected touch. But he wouldn’t ever make himself appear flustered in front of you so he kept his cool.

“It’s not easy to relax when you’re constantly working… even on break-days like these…” He muttered a bit as you started to massage his shoulders a bit.

“Yeah but you can still try! You work too hard man… Aizawa’s really been kicking your ass ever since he took you up… I mean yeah it’s awesome that you’re with us now but you need a goddamn break dude…” You said gently despite your language, digging into his shoulder blades as he grunted a bit but then sighed quietly in content with how good your fingers felt on his sore muscles. Muscles he’d been growing ever since he started training that is…

“I might just sleep or something… that’s a smart way to take a break.” He said, but you immediately shut that idea down.

“Ugh, you’re training WITH Aizawa, not training to BE Aizawa, Hitoshi. Sleeping is great, but you know what else is great? Singing~.” You sang that to get your point across but that just served to irk the purple-haired boy even as he let out a small groan when you got another sore spot that helped him ease up a little bit.

He sighed again, “I don’t sing… I’m probably not even good at it…”

“I’m not good at it but I still do it! You ain’t gotta be good at singing to do it, it’s just fun! Plus you get to vent out everything in the lyrics of awesome songs! Avril Lavigne, Evanescence, Good Charlotte, Three Days Grace, Simple Plan, My Chemical Romance!” You exclaimed and listed out some of the many singers that you enjoyed during your emo phase and STILL enjoyed.

Shinsou didn’t flinch, but hearing those names nearly made him perk up since he DID like all of those groups and singers. Especially My Chemical Romance…

“I mean those guys defined our childhood and shaped up the emo phase that we grew up with and loved because we just didn’t give a fuck about anything and just sang the loser anthems that spoke of our existences at the time… It was a time to be alive because it allowed us to say ‘I am emo and I am proud’.” You somewhat dramatically explained and Shinsou gave you a look when you stopped massaging his shoulders and started talking nonsense.

“It’s who we are Hitoshi! We have all these feelings that we need to vent out! And remind people of the times we grew up in! Say it with me! I am emo and I am proud!” You threw your fist in the air, and naturally Shinsou didn’t follow you as he just stared at you.

”Did you watch Aggretsuko again?” He knew you loved singing, but he had a feeling that one of your favorite modern cartoons had something to do with this little idea of ours.

“Yes… yes I have…” You replied to him rather nonchalantly.

“You watch way too much cartoons…” He shook his head, trying his hardest to not smile or snicker at how stupid you sounded.

“Cartoons also defined my childhood because sometimes you needed a break from your emo phase bro… but my point is… just try it. I sang my heart out to Avril and I already feel a ton better! Aggretsuko teaches that and it’s an excellent lesson!’” You threw your hands up cheerfully, but Shinsou just stared at you with his deadpan look.

“Okay, you must have me confused with someone who does embarrassing things without a care in the world.” He snarked, trying to not show that this kinda thing made him feel a little… nervous. Especially with you here. He wasn’t ready to embarrass himself in front of you, not after you had to watch him lose to Midoriya in the Sports Fest.

And he nearly jumped when you suddenly put your arm around him. “Tosh… it’s ME. You know I’d never judge you. I mean you don’t have to… but I’m sure you’d be awesome at it… you’ve sung a few of your emo phase songs to yourself with the door closed whenever you got in one of those ‘fuck the world’ moods haven’t you?” You softly reassured him, giving him a choice even as you asked him a question.

Shinsou willed himself to not blush with how close you were and how you touched him like that, instead focusing on your words as he looked somewhat defeated. “Yes…”

He gave a heavy sigh. As much as he didn’t entirely want to, he couldn’t say no to you, especially when you were trying to just help him relax. Shinsou would only EVER sing for you.

“Okay… I’ll do one. But you’re not allowed to laugh.” Shinsou finally and reluctantly complied and you practically screamed from joy.

“YES!!! Let’s get out Emo on!” You hugged him suddenly , doing a bit of a dance when you finally got your wallflower friend to try this out with you.

So you gladly grabbed your phone to start looking up a selection of songs, as Shinsou sighed again, unable to believe that he was actually doing this. Well, he trusted you, and generally had fun whenever he did things with you. And although you were more energetic than he was at times, he didn’t mind. He enjoyed that you had more zest than he did.

“All right! Here’s one! Take it Toshi!” You suddenly tossed him your hairbrush, and he quickly caught it, giving you a look afterward.

“(Y/N)…” Shinsou was beginning to feel a bit of nerves even though he shouldn’t have, but it got worse when he saw the song you chose.

This was one of his FAVORITE songs.

“No I can’t… I can’t do Gerard any justice…” He muttered a bit self-consciously, but you just shook your head.

“Yes you can! No one’s a bigger fan of Gerard than you are! Now go on! I’m with ya Toshi!” You smiled wide at him to ease him up, and you took the floor when the song immediately started up

“Long ago, just like the hearse, you die to get in again… we are so far from you…”

Deliberately, you whispered that last part to imitate how the song went, and looked right at Shinsou to cue him to go next. He appeared unsure for a bit, until he took a quick breath.

“Burning on, just like a match you strike to incinerate… the lives of everyone you know! And what’s the worst you take from every heart you break… And like a blade you stain, well, I’ve been holding on tonight…!”

You nearly jumped as soon as THAT voice came out of Shinsou’s mouth. So much energy and passion as he became MUCH more expressive as he sang the song. His singing voice a lot louder and emotional than his speaking one, and yet there was something haunting and tortured about his voice too. It was beautiful…

However, Shinsou suddenly became more adorable in your eyes as he clutched the hairbrush close to him as he sung and and waved his arm about, as if to follow the way Gerard moved and sung in the music video.

As he sung, at that moment he remembered that you were here as soon as he saw your wide (E/C) eyes and agape mouth. You saw his cheeks beginning to redden as he nearly halted in the verse but you shook your head vigorously, wanting to encourage him to keep going!

“What’s the worst that I could say?”

“Things are better if I stay! So long and goodnight, So long and goodnight~!“

You jumped in, singing the first part before bringing your hairbrush over to Shinsou, and he gladly sang the rest along with you. Although you had to whoop when Shinsou got into it, running a hand through his wild hair and following Gerard’s every move from the video.

Crazy, passionate expression and everything and making the same hand gestures and you couldn’t help but dance just as wild as the dancers did and some air guitar, following Shinsou’s rhythm.

“Came a time when every star fall brought you to tears again… we are the very hurt you sold. And what’s the worst you take from every heart you break… And like a blade you stain, well, I’ve been holding on tonight…!”

“What’s the worst that I could say? Things are better if I stay! So long and goodnight, So long and goodnight~! Well, if you carry on this way, things are better if I stay… So long and goodnight, So long and goodnight…!” 

Encouraged, by your enthusiasm, Shinsou got on his knees as he sung the chorus with the loudest voice you had ever heard from him. Although he stood back up a little dramatically when the last bridge came.

He took your hand gently, pulling you in closer as he continued to sing, in a softer, almost whispery voice.

“Can you hear me…?”

“Are you near me…?”

Shinsou looked you right in the eyes, purple eyes luring your (E/C) eyes in an almost intimate moment as your cheeks flushed pink. It felt like this was just for you, and Shinsou made sure of it as he gently pressed his forehead against yours. Silently telling you that this was for you, and that only you could see him bear his soul like this.

You quietly gasped, for a moment you nearly felt like you were in his control because of how his voice just captivated you. But feeling extremely relaxed and yet fluttery with joy as you giggled a bit. When he pulled away, you saw his own face become bashfully flushed as you grinned when he started to sing again.

“Can we pretend to leave and then…”

“We’ll meet again, when both our cars collide!”

While Shinsou sung, you followed his lead, widening your eyes dramatically and pretending to fall backwards like the girl in the video as the chorus came.

“What’s the worst that I could say? Things are better if I stay! So long and goodnight, So long and goodnight~! Well, if you carry on this way, things are better if I stay…So long and goodnight, So long and goodnight…!”

Feeling more invigorated than ever before, Shinsou sang the chorus a little louder, yet still on-key as put his hand over his heart and bore the rest of his soul out.

And when he finished the song, he promptly dropped your hairbrush and you threw both your hands up in the air. “WHOOOO!! That’s my Toshi!” You practically screamed, almost like a fangirl as you quickly threw yourself into him, hugging him tightly and jumping a little bit as Shinsou’s eyes grew slightly wide and he felt his face heating up a bit. He was confident during the song, but now his bashfulness came back.

“That was AWESOME! I didn’t even know you could sing!”

Shinsou really hated his pale skin sometimes, because now he couldn’t hide how much he was blushing from all of your praise.

“I don’t do it much… just in private… I don’t think I’m that good…” He normally wasn’t timid, but you were complimenting him so much and he wasn’t used to that kind of praise. He liked it a lot though, it just made him feel kind of nervous, and yet validated.

“Well you freakin’ ROCKED dude! You totally did Gerard justice!” You continued the compliments, adoring just how red Shinsou was turning as he rubbed the back of his neck and coyly grinned.

“You’re just saying that…” He mumbled a little bit, and for once he flinched when he felt lips pecking his already hot cheek as you giggled and blushed, shaking your head.

“Nope! I mean it… and… I mean it when I say this but… Hitoshi… I think… no… I know… I uh… I like you… not even that… I like-like you…” There you said it, you finally admitted your feelings for the guy. You were a little unsure, but that song and seeing him unleash the soul you fell in love with just brought out the rest of your feelings for him.

Shinsou was taken by surprise. Nothing fazed him that much, but for once he was taken aback, his purple eyes wide and his expression that one of surprise and disbelief. He’s NEVER had this happen to him before. No one’s ever like-liked him before.

“W-What?” He didn’t mean to stutter, but he couldn’t really help it.

“Hee-hee… I’m in love with you…” Giggling shyly, your cheeks began to darken, “Don’t make me say it again, my heart’s like, beating out of my chest…” You shyly said, and although Shinsou was still blushing, he started to smirk a little bit when he saw just how flushed you were. He knew you weren’t lying, but he was still amazed that SOMEONE actually like-liked him. And yet he was also overjoyed that someone he felt close to and actually liked, like-liked him. And if he was being honest, he like-liked you too.

“Well... I actually like-like you too... you’re the only person I think I completely trust.” He admitted, still giving you his little smile. Shinsou wasn’t lying, he’d never show anyone what a dork he could be, except for you. Because you were just as big an emo dork as he was. You were his dork, and he was your dork. 

Your eyes went huge and you blushed heavily when he... reciprocated your feelings?! Was this for real? It had to be. Shinsou never lied to you, he layed jokes on you sometimes, but this wasn’t one of them... 

“For real...?”

“Yes. You’re a complete dork. But... you’re my dork.” Shinsou finally admitted, it wouldn’t be a common thing, but he had to get that across to you just so you wouldn’t faint from how red you were. And he almost jumped when you screamed and hugged him again, very much like a fangirl almost.

“AHHHH! You know it! And you’re MY dork too!” You happily exclaimed, hugging him tightly as Shinsou sighed a little bit, but found it in him to hug you back with a little smile. 

He’d never say it to anyone, but he loved his dork.

~~~Bonus Ending~~~

"We are not alone..." You suddenly perked up where you hugged Shinsou, and he sensed that too. Somebody else was around, and probably eavesdropping on the two of you. "I think I know who." He said lowly, albeit he wasn't entirely bothered; he wasn't happy, but he wasn't bothered either since this person was your friend.

"Ohhhh..." Giggling, you figured out who it was based on that alone. "Hey! Tokoyami! Come out dude I know you're hiding back there." You blatantly called him out, but of course Tokoyami himself didn't reply from the corner.

"No we're not!" Dark Shadow replied for him, and you could hear Tokoyami's annoyed, deep sigh.

"My apologies. It wasn't my intention to eavesdrop..." The crow-headed boy slowly came out of hiding as you waved to him, while Shinsou looked mildly annoyed, having assumed that you were his only audience.

"Oh really? Heh... let me guess... did you hear the song?" You raised a brow, as much as you could at least and Tokoyami looked downwards, almost as if he were a little embarrassed even though you knew he had the same tastes in music you and Shinsou did.

"Yes... I did. It was very impressive. Like Gerard Way was reawakened from his slumber." He somewhat dramatically said as you smiled wide and giggled, patting Shinsou on the back happily. "I know right?! See Tosh! You're AWESOME! And Tokoyami here is one of us! Let's let him hang with us!" You cheerfully suggested, which just annoyed Shinsou even more. However, Tokoyami was pretty harmless and didn't seem to have a thing for you. Even if he did, it was too late because you were his now.

"Okay. I don't see the harm." Shinsou shrugged his shoulders as you happily clapped your hands. "Ahaha! Tokoyami! Hope ya don't mind singing!" That made the similarly emo boy perk up ever so slightly. He didn't plan on singing...

"I'm not a singer." Tokoyami quickly replied. Much like Shinsou, he wasn't entirely willing to show off because he doubted his abilities, but you weren't going to let him feel so insecure as you started the next song.

"You will be!" You smirked, winking at Shinsou as you immediately started to sing the first lyrics. A song you knew no true emo like Tokoyami could ever resist.

"Oh, well imagine, as I'm pacing the pews in a church corridor and I can't help but to hear. No, I can't help but to hear an exchanging of words~."

You got into it and picked your head up as soon as you sang the first part, running a hand through hair as you sang in your hairbrush, not so subtly flirting with Shinsou as he couldn't help but smirk as you gave him your brush to let him take the next part.

"What a beautiful wedding! What a beautiful wedding, says a bridesmaid to a waiter, and, yes, but what a shame, what a shame the poor groom's bride is a whore."

Shinsou gladly sung, which surprised you a little bit because he was more comfortable when it was only you. And he was, but he knew that you and Tokoyami were just friends, even if the guy liked you it was too late. You were all his now. Still, he would let the fellow emo join in since he was very like-minded and wouldn't judge you both. However, you both just made him feel a little nervous, it didn't help when you gave him the hairbrush...

But Tokoyami knew this song by heart. Every lyric, every rhythm...

He couldn't help it.

"I chime in with a 'Haven't you people ever heard of closing the goddamn door?' No, it's much better to face these kinds of things with a sense of poise and rationality!”

Now you and Shinsou were shocked, both of your eyes growing wide when the ever-so-stoic, dark prince-y bird boy Tokoyami, of ALL people, actually singing with an almost uncharacteristic enthusiasm as he held onto the hairbrush you gave him and sung into it.

But you couldn't help but smile wide, glancing at Shinsou as he shrugged with a small smile. The bird was shocking pretty good too. Might as well join in.

"I chime in with a 'Haven't you people ever heard of closing the goddamn door?!' No, it's much better to face these kinds of things with a sense of... poise and rationality! Again..."

Following Tokoyami's lead, you and Shinsou acted as his back-up singers by singing the chorus with him and you provided the crazy dances as the three of you vigorously rocked out.

Emo and proud.

~~~Extra Bonus Ending~~~

Meanwhile downstairs...

"Man it sounds like they're having fun up there..." Kirishima and the rest of the 'Bakusquad' had returned to Heights Alliance early, and you had pretty much put your music on full blast once you hooked it up to the TV. And didn't count on anyone coming back so quick...

"I kinda wanna go up and join em!" Kaminari was getting into the music he was hearing through the walls. "YEAH! Let's go and party with those guys!" Mina would never say no to cutting lose and dancing to awesome music.

"I'm sure (Y/N) will let us. Most of us..." Sero shrugged his shoulders with his casual smile, having known you fairly well but he wasn't so sure you would let ALL of them hang out since you and Bakugou never really entirely got along.

"Amateurs..." Bakugou muttered under his breath as he marched upstairs to go to the floor you were occupying. You were being WAY too damn loud, but at that moment he decided he'd show you how a REAL singer sings My Chemical Romance.

SO LONG AND GOOD NIGHT TUMBLR!!!!

I own nothing :3

[fizzyhosh]

Binding

Chapter Five

Prologue | One | Two | Three | Four | Five

Summary: Remus likes things predictable, orderly, and punctual. His comfort-zone is compromised when he meets (Y/N), a girl who is indifferent, spontaneous, and not outwardly friendly. Despite their obvious differences, he can’t seem to stay away from her, even when they aren’t working side-by-side at the most boring job on the planet.

Word Count: 1269

A/N: HONESTLY it’s been a minute since I’ve posted any fic, let alone a part of Binding. Please forgive me. I’m literally the WORST. I hope this is good enough for you to forgive me ! Also, only ONE MORE PART of this series!!! 

•••••

bind·ingˈbīndiNG

noun 

1. a strong covering holding the pages of a book together.

adjective 

1. (of an agreement or promise) involving an obligation that cannot be broken.

•••••

"You don't have work today," Sirius reminded, glancing over his bowl.

"I know..." Remus said slowly as he bent down and scanned the contents of the fridge.

"Then why are you leaving?"

He stood up slightly and peeked over the door at Sirius. "Am I only allowed to leave the house for work?"

"I mean," he paused to swallow his food before continuing, "you never left the house before you got the job."

"Fair point. It's nice outside today, though."

Sirius frowned. "Are you keeping a secret?" He perked up. "Are you going to see Y/N? Outside of work? Like a date?"

"No." Remus shut him down quickly. "Why do you seem so disappointed by that?"

"You like her and I want you two to hit it off."

"We're friends, Sirius. She has a boyfriend and I'm not a home wrecker. We are going somewhere but it's not a date, alright?

Sirius tried holding back his large grin. "Have fun, mate."

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing. I'm just excited for you to start living your best life. I also can't wait for her to realize you two are perfect for each other. Just all around excited."

"You're starting to sound likes James. Go back to the edgy Sirius we all know and love. I'll be back later this afternoon."

"Bye, loverboy."

Remus flipped him off and got on his bike, making his way to where he and Y/N agreed to meet up. He waited a while, wondering if he misread the time they were supposed to meet. He pulled out his phone, alternating between rereading "noon" in the text and looking at the time at the top of his screen. It was close to 12:45 and he was about to head home, only partly devastated that the love of his life didn't show up. That was a an understatement, he was definitely heartbroken.

As he got back on his bike, Y/N yelled across the small park. Remus looked up to see her disheveled and upset. He dropped his bike as she approached him and almost knocked him over as a constant stream of words flowed out of her mouth.

"I can't believe you waited, I'm so sorry I'm late, my alarm didn't go off because my phone died and since my phone died I couldn't text you and I was just hoping you were still here because I value our friendship and ohmygosh I can't believe you're actually still here."

Remus put his hands on Y/N's arms, smiling lightly. "First, breathe."

Y/N nodded and breathed deeply.

"Second, of course I waited. I value our friendship too. And considering how many times you've almost been late to work, I figured you'd be late to this as well." That was only a small lie. He did expect her to be a little late, but not 45 minutes. He also was just trying to calm down the sound of raging butterflies at the "I value our friendship" part by cracking a joke, which worked for a moment until she smiled and riled up the butterflies again. Remus dropped his hands, hoping the lack of contact might settle the noise in his head.

"You are really the nicest person I have ever met."

That felt like a friendzone sentence, which really helped the butterfly noise situation because they immediately stopped, an aching heart replacing the wild animals.

"You look like you need a coffee."

"Yes, I do," Y/N said, leading them to the coffee shop across the street. They talked for a while until their presence was considered loitering and had to find a new place to chat.

Remus liked how easy it was to get lost in a conversation with her. Unfortunately, he was so comfortable that he let words slip that he never intended Y/N to hear.  

"My anniversary is tomorrow and I still have no idea what to do," Y/N said with a sigh as they walked around the park, admiring the weather and nature.

Remus bit his lip, not a fan of this conversation. Y/N's boyfriend really seemed like a piece of trash. "Well tomorrow is doomed for me too. Lily's party." He stuffed his hands in his pockets and kicked the ground.

Y/N nodded. "We should just convince the world tomorrow is cancelled so neither of us have to do our stupid things."

"There must be something that makes you look forward to your anniversary?" Remus prompted as he looked at her sideways.

She sighed and paused for a long time before asking, "Do you think I should break up with him?"

He was taken aback. Here he had the chance to give great advice that would make her break up with her boyfriend, but instead, he let slip the dumbest thing he could have.

"Well, to be honest, I might not have started checking out so many books in the first place if I knew you had a boyfriend, so yeah." His eyes widened as she frowned.

"What?" she asked with a small, confused laugh.

"Uh.."

"Wait... did you only go to the bookstore because I worked there?"

"Y/N, it's not as weird as it sounds."

"Really, Remus? Because it sounds like you stalked me until I offered you a job."

He shook his head vigorously. "No, it's not like that."

"Then what exactly did you do?"

"Look," he took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair. "Just let me say what I need to say and then you can fire me and block my number and do whatever else you want. I'm going to be 100 percent honest right now."

Y/N crossed her arms, looking insecure now that she discovered Remus didn't just come into the bookstore because he read super fast. One of the only people she felt she could trust these days didn't seem to be who he said he was.

"I've never been very outgoing or friendly or fluent with words. The first time I saw you, I was completely speechless at how beautiful you were. I couldn't think of the right words to say to you so I just left. The thing is, Y/N, I've never had trouble forgetting about random people or getting thoughts out of my mind but you drove me crazy from the moment I saw you. I couldn't even watch The Princess Bride because I could only think about all the things I could have and should have said to you in the bookstore. So I went back the next day, ready to say all these amazing things but you had your hair up and you looked so perfect that all my confidence just erased completely from existence. I know it sounds crazy but I kept checking out books so I had an excuse to go back and talk to you, but I just could never find the right words to say to you. After I found out you had a boyfriend, I swear I never intended to ruin that or anything. I meant what I said earlier. I do value our friendship. A lot."

He waited and scanned Y/N's face for any hint of any emotion. He'd even be fine with her being royally pissed if he could just tell what she was thinking.

"I have to go," she mumbled simply, emotionless. "Thanks for being honest with me."

Remus stood as he watched her walk to her car, running her hands through her hair. He felt a few tears fall as she drove off, wondering in what world would things have been different?

He got on his bike and rode home, trying to make it back before he started spiraling. Remus' spiral of emotions was something best experienced in the safety of a house with his best mates there to look after him.

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[gomoviesweb01-blog]

My Most Anticipated Movies of 2011

As we kick off a new year in cinema, I thought I'd take time to look ahead at the films we'll be hit with over the course of the year. In this article, I'll be going over what my 15 most anticipated movies are for the year. Now it should be noted, these aren't the movies that I feel will be the best of 2011 necessarily. Rather, they're the ones that, as of the time of this writing, I am anticipating the most. So without further ado, here are my most anticipated movies of 2011.

1. Sucker Punch

Director: Zack Snyder

Writer: Zack Snyder and Steve Shibuya

Stars: Emily Browning, Vanessa Hudgens and Abbie Cornish

Release Date: March 25, 2011

Genre: Action Fantasy Thriller

What is it: A young girl is institutionalized by her wicked stepfather. Retreating to an alternative reality as a coping strategy, she envisions a plan which will help her escape from the facility.

Why it should be good: Really hot and badass chicks wearing schoolgirl outfits and other skimpy clothes, with swords and guns, coupled with Snyder's awesome visual flair? Yea, definitely count me in. The trailer for this thing just looks completely awesome. From the style to the action, even the story (while seeming a bit out there) seems cool. I'm beginning to thoroughly enjoy Snyder's work. If The Adjustment Bureau could be this year's new Inception due to its mindfuck story, then Sucker Punch could absolutely be this year's Inception meets The Dark Knight meets 300 meets Inglorious Basterds due to it's style and epic adventure, yet dark tone with alternate realities. This movie just oozes style and badass-ness and I really can't wait for what is sure to be an absolutely entertaining, epic adventure.

Why it could suck: Snyder can be a bit off his mark sometimes. While Watchmen was enjoyable, it did get a bit boring. And Legend of the Guardians is said to suffer from some pacing issues as well and has drawn mixed reviews from critics. Though to be fair to Snyder, he wrote neither of those movies, but is responsible for the writing (or at least screenplay) of the badass 300.

2. Sherlock Holmes 2

Director: Guy Ritchie

Writer: Kieran and Michele Mulroney

Stars: Robert Downey Jr, Jude Law, Noomi Rapace and Stephen Fry

Release Date: December 16, 2011

Genre: Action Mystery

What is it: Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick Dr. Watson join forces to outwit and bring down their fiercest adversary, Professor Moriarty.

Why it should be good: I'm a big Sherlock Holmes fan. The Doyle stories still stand as my favorite books today. I love Sherlock. He's such a badass. And finally, a movie seems to have captured that pretty well. The first was one of the better portrayals of Sherlock I had seen. Rather than being portrayed as a snooty, 'proper' and sophisticated Englishman, he was shown with all the rough edges that Doyle wrote him with. While the movie was indeed Hollywood-ized beyond anything you'd find in the books, it was a fun adventure and quite an enjoyable movie. Guy Ritchie is a very good filmmaker as well. For these reasons, and my love for Sherlock, I'm very much eager to see how Part 2 turns out, especially as they go head-to-head with Moriarty. Also, I'm eager to see how well Noomi Rapace (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,etc) does in her Hollywood debut.

Why it could suck: New writers. The original writers from the first aren't coming back instead Kieran and Michele Mulroney are taking over the job. So let's see how they handle it. Relatively new to writing, the two previously wrote Paper Man which didn't fair so well with critics.

3. Paranormal Activity 3

Director: Tod Williams

Writer: Christopher B. Landon and Michael R. Perry; characters by Oren Peli

Stars: Katie Featherston

Release Date: October 21, 2011

Genre: Horror

What is it: Well, we have no idea what this one is going to be about as nothing has been given. However, the first movie followed a couple that were being haunted by an evil spirit who possessed Katie. The sequel (which was more of a prequel) followed Katie's sister's family as that same spirit haunts them and their baby. This all culminates to the two stories converging at the end of Part 2 where it gets to the point where Part 1 ends and we see what happens after the whole event. Undoubtedly, Part 3 is set to pick up where Part 2 and 1 left off. What happens from there? Your guess is as good as mine.

Why it should be good: The first Paranormal Activity became something of a cult phenomenon/sensation. Hailed as the scariest movie of the year, people flocked to the film making it a huge success. And rightly so in my book. It was a minimalistic horror movie that took it back to the roots of the genre by using tension and suspense to really instill fear and terror in the minds of the audience. Part 2, while some people seemed to not like it as much as the first, did more of the same. I actually thought Part 2 was pretty much right on par with the first. And the ingenious storytelling that created a parallel prequel to the first was definitely cool. The creator and writers of this franchise have really shown that the horror genre can be revived and doesn't have to be all about gore and such. They've done a good job with instilling that fear in the audience as well, tapping into that fear, leaving the audience's imagination to run wild while being completely captivated. I expect no less from the third.

Why it could suck: If you feel the second was worse than the first, then you may be in for some disappoint when you find out the same writers and director of the sequel are back. However, like with Part 2, Oren Peli (the creator of the franchise) is still very much involved and is serving as producer on this film.

4. Paul

Director: Greg Mottola

Writer: Nick Frost and Simon Pegg

Stars: Nick Frost, Simon Pegg and Seth Rogen

Release Date: March 18, 2011

Genre: Sci-fi Comedy

What is it: Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead) reunite for the comedy adventure Paul as two sci-fi geeks whose pilgrimage takes them to America's UFO heartland. While there, they accidentally meet an alien who brings them on an insane road trip that alters their universe forever. For the past 60 years, an alien named Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen) has been hanging out at a top-secret military base. For reasons unknown, the space-traveling smart ass decides to escape the compound and hop on the first vehicle out of town-a rented RV containing Earthlings Graeme Willy (Pegg) and Clive Gollings (Frost). Chased by federal agents and the fanatical father of a young woman that they accidentally kidnap, Graeme and Clive hatch a fumbling escape plan to return Paul to his mother ship. And as two nerds struggle to help, one little green man might just take his fellow outcasts from misfits to intergalactic heroes.

Why it should be good: Simon Pegg and Nick Frost back together again. That should be enough. Seriously. When these two guys get together it's gold, as evidenced by Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. This might be my favorite duo around these days. They'll also be pairing up to write this which is always a good thing as well (well, this will be Frost's first real writing job, but Pegg has been responsible for their first two outings together). Now, they won't be reuniting with Edgar Wright for this one, instead they'll be teaming with the director of Adventureland andSuperbad, two movies which I definitely enjoyed. On top of all of that, they have comedic star Seth Rogan joining them. Sounds like quite the team really and I'm rather excited for what I'm sure will be a very funny movie, and possibly end up being the comedy of the year.

Why it could suck: You do have to wonder if some of that magic from Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz will be lost as Frost and Pegg carry on without Wright. I think they're great comedic talents though and can stand on their own. And the somewhat all-star get-together should compensate.

5. The Adjustment Bureau

Director: George Nolfi

Writer: George Nolfi; Based on Short Story by Philip K. Dick

Stars: Matt Damon, Emily Blunt and Terence Stamp

Release Date: March 4, 2011

Genre: Thriller

What is it: Just as he is on the brink of winning a senate seat, politician David Norris (Matt Damon) meets a ballerina named Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt). Though David is smitten, mysterious men conspire to keep him away from the beautiful dancer. David learns he is up against the powerful agents of Fate itself, and, glimpsing the future laid out before him, must either accept a predetermined path that does not include Elise, or defy Fate to be with her.

Why it should be good: Honestly, this sounds like it could be this year's Inception. With plenty of mindfucks going on, it's a thriller involving different levels of reality and mysterious forces. Matt Damon really tends to shine in these types of movies. The trailer has me rather intrigued and looks like it could provide quite an enthralling adventure. While this is Nolfi's directorial debut, he did write The Bourne Ultimatum, thus will be teaming up with Damon once again. The movie is based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, whose work has been the grounds for such movies asBlade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report, Paycheck and A Scanner Darkly. So with presumably some good source material, and a writer that can definitely do the part (as illustrated with The Bourne Ultimatum) we could be in for a real treat.

Why it could suck: This is Nolfi's first time in the director's seat, so we'll have to wait and see if he's in over his head. Furthermore, it is being billed as something of a romance thriller. So let's hope they don't go overboard with the romance part and make it some sappy romance film for which they sacrifice some of the plot to focus on the romance.

6. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Director: Rob Marshall

Writer: Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio

Stars: Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Penelope Cruz and Ian McShane

Release Date: May 20, 2011

Genre: Fantasy Action-Adventure

What is it: Jack Sparrow and Barbossa embark on a quest to find the elusive fountain of youth, only to discover that Blackbeard and his daughter are after it too.

Why it should be good: Some people have hated them. Some have thought they've gotten worse as they went along. I've found the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise to be a fun adventure. Just a fun movie with plenty of adventure, some cool special effects, and just good times. And maybe it's my man-crush I have on Depp, but I'm absolutely thrilled to see him back as Jack Sparrow. The character is so much fun and always provides for some entertainment. Should be interesting to see how they go about freshening up the franchise as well as they get a new cast of characters while Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann are out.

Why it could suck: It's a Hollywood sequel, those always have chances of sucking. Also, the exclusion of Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann could put a damper on things. While there is a chance that it could freshen it up, there is just as much a chance that some of that magic might be lost as they look to replace those characters. Also, while we do get the same writers back, we have a new director taking on this sequel. Pirates seems to be out of Rob Marshall's comfort zone (best known for Memoirs of a Geisha and Chicago) so we'll have to wait and see how he can handle an action adventure of this scope.

7. The Hangover 2

Director: Todd Phillips

Writer: Todd Phillips, Scot Armstrong and Craig Mazin

Stars: Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms and Justin Bartha

Release Date: May 26, 2011

Genre: Comedy

What is it: Not a lot is known about the plot of this sequel. What is known is that the gang is back to get into more trouble as they travel to Thailand. And Phillips promise a lot of fucked up surprises and hilarity.

Why it should be good: The Hangover was hilarious I thought. The cast of the original had good chemistry and the writing was hilarious. It provided for several laugh-out-loud moments and was one of the funniest movies of the year (one of the funniest I've seen in a while too). Hopefully, getting the gang back together will provide for more hilarity that the first one delivered.

Why it could suck: New writers. The writers from the first aren't coming back and have been replaced. Instead we get Scot Armstrong and Craig Mazin that have brought us such garbage asSemi-Pro, Starsky and Hutch, Scary Movie 4 and Superhero Movie. If their past work is any indicator of their talent, the writers could really butcher this franchise.

8. Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Director: Michael Bay

Writer: Ehren Kruger

Stars: Shia LaBeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson

Release Date: July 1, 2011

Genre: Sci-fi Action-Adventure

What is it: The Autobots learn of a Cybertronian spacecraft hidden on the Moon, and race against the Decepticons to reach it and learn its secrets, which could turn the tide in the Transformers' final battle.

Why it should be good: I've enjoyed the franchise so far. While Part 2, was blasted pretty well by critics, I didn't hate it that much. Granted it wasn't as good as the first, but I still found it fairly entertaining. And the movies are always a fun visual treat. Also, Michael Bay. I still have no idea why he receives so much crap while James Cameron is given a pass. Bay is just as adept a director as Cameron is. Anybody that still likes to tell me there's a difference between Pearl Harbor and Titanic will kindly receive a "fuck off" as you buy into the pretentious drivel. At least Bay knows his place (a mindless action director who can make pretty movies and fun explosions). Whereas Cameron believes his some gift to cinema which often leads to his films being poorly written, yet pretentious as hell. Seriously, I'll take Armageddon, Transformers, The Rock and Bad Boys over Titanic, Avatar, Aliens, and T2 any day of the week. Even though, yes, I know that will enrage many people and get me flamed for that opinion. Now, this movie (Transformers: Dark of the Moon) surely won't be a great cinematic piece. But as a mindless "let's make some cool special effects scenes and also blow some shit up" type of movie, it should be entertaining.

Why it could suck: Well, if I had to pick one movie from the franchise that was better, it's definitely the first. The writer for this third film, unfortunately, is the same writer from Part 2 rather than the first. Also, it's still Michael Bay. He's not the greatest of directors.

9. X-Men: First Class

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Writer: Jane Goldman, Ashley Miller, Jamie Moss, Josh Schwartz and Zack Stentz; story by Bryan Singer

Stars: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence

Release Date: June 3, 2011

Genre: Sci-fi Action

What is it: Before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were archenemies, they were closest of friends, working together, with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known. In the process, a rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto's Brotherhood and Professor X's X-MEN.

Why it should be good: A look at when Xavier and Magneto were younger. A backstory to where it all started. For such a thrilling franchise, this could be a nice take on the story and provide quite some entertainment and thrills. Plus, having directed movies like Kick-Ass andStardust, Matthew Vaughn is, I believe, much more adept at creating a movie like this than say a Jon Favreau or such. Vaughn also has the enjoyable Layer Cake under his director's belt, which very much shows off that he learned well producing Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels andSnatch. Furthermore, his friendship and learning under the great Guy Ritchie, only further adds value to his role as a filmmaker. Meanwhile, the writers have brought us such movies as Stardustand Kick-Ass as well as TV shows such as Fringe and Chuck. Also, it has a pretty good cast.

Why it could suck: Well, those writers did also bring us The Sarah Connor Chronicles andAndromeda. Also, prequels sometimes have a tendency to not do so well. It's, sometimes, almost as if a prequel is a last resort when the writers have run out of ideas of where the current story can go, so they decide to go back and cash in on the name once more by filling in some gaps from the beginning. I guess only time will tell if this becomes a Batman Begins (ie a very good prequel movie that did very well to reboot the franchise) or it falls more in line with The Scorpion King (ie a complete waste of my time that probably shouldn't have even been made).

10. Source Code

Director: Duncan Jones

Writer: Ben Ripley

Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan and Vera Farmiga

Release Date: April 1, 2011

Genre: Action/Sci-fi-Thriller

What is it: An action thriller centered on a soldier who wakes up in the body of an unknown man and discovers he's part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train.

Why it should be good: The trailer just makes this like it could be a cool creative story that provides for an entertaining thriller that could keep you on the edge of your seat. This is Duncan Jones sophomore release, after 2009′s highly acclaimed Moon. So, if he delivers again, we could have a nice treat on our hands and he could solidify his place as a talented filmmaker. I also really enjoy Jake Gyllenhaal. I think he's a great actor and should do fine in leading this movie. Vera Farmiga is also a really talented actress and one I definitely don't mind seeing. Meanwhile, Michelle Monaghan isn't too bad either.

Why it could suck: This is coming from an unproven writer. And while Duncan Jones' Moon was well-received, it's not rare that a filmmaker comes in to become something of a one hit wonder. Let's just hope Jones can deliver a worthwhile follow-up.

11. Battle: Los Angeles

Director: Jonathan Liebesman

Writer: Christopher Bertolini

Stars: Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez and Bridget Moynahan

Release Date: March 11, 2011

Genre: Sci-fi Action

What is it: A Marine platoon faces off against an alien invasion in Los Angeles.

Why it should be good: The official trailer makes it look so damn bad-ass. Maybe that's in part due to the great song selection for the trailer, but it looks just completely thrilling. It looks to be a sci-fi action movie that actually has some depth too. It sort of reminds me of Independence Day but with the seriousness, depth and emotional-center of some type of good post-9/11 movie. It's like we may finally get a really good sci-fi movie with the heart of the best war movies, coupled with the awesome actual and visual treats of some of the best sci-fi/alien movies. Eckhart is a good actor that should do well in this movie as well. Also, the writer's only past feature film work was The General's Daughter which I thoroughly enjoyed. So if that's any indication of the type of writing we'll get for Battle LA then we should definitely have a compelling story to go with the visual flare of it all. Likewise, Jonathan Liebesman has brought us The Killing Room which I felt was a fairly enjoyable suspense/thriller movie.

Why it could suck: Liebesman also brought us Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginningwhich was garbage. On top of that, movies like this can often take themselves too seriously and often times become pretentious and/or preachy and just plain unimaginative with no real heart to the movie (I'm looking at you War of the Worlds). Let's hope they avoid that here.

12. Cowboys and Aliens

Director: Jon Favreau

Writer: Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof; based on the comic book by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg

Stars: Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde

Release Date: July 29, 2011

Genre: Sci-fi Action-Thriller

What is it: A spaceship arrives in Arizona, 1873, to take over the Earth, starting with the Wild West region. A posse of cowboys are all that stand in their way.

Why it should be good: It just looks fun. It's like Indiana Jones meets Men in Black with a good western feel to it. This also comes from the writers that brought us such movies as Transformersand Star Trek, and such TV shows as Alias, Fringe and Lost (though in my book "Lost" might be a bad example, though others seemed to enjoy it). Also, there's a good cast (Craig, Ford and Wilde), coupled with a nice supporting cast which includes Sam Rockwell and Paul Dano. At the end of the day, it may end up being a mindless action movie, but still looks to be fun.

Why it could suck: Jon Favreau. I'm sorry, but the guy hasn't sold me. People seem to like him, but I'm not entirely sure why. The guy hasn't delivered any really great movies. And only a few decent ones. Well, Elf I thought was really funny. Both Iron Man movies were really nothing to write home about though. Both were enjoyable, but they definitely weren't spotlights in their genre. And the second one was panned quite a bit (though I enjoyed both, but the second was a bit lacking). And that's really the only movies (Iron Man) that he's done in this genre/realm. So that doesn't give me a big vote of confidence in the guy. His other movies: Zathura was crap andMade was decent. Nothing else to note really. On top of that, the writers did also give usRevenge of the Fallen, which I enjoyed well enough, but wasn't on par with the first Transformersmovie. And they're also responsible for such things as The Island and Legend of Zorro.

13. Apollo 18

Director: Gonzalo López-Gallego

Writer: Brian Miller and Cory Goodman

Stars: None Given

Release Date: April 22, 2011

Genre: Sci-fi Horror-Thriller

What is it: Apollo 18 is a found-footage movie that claims to be "a film about the real mission to space in the 1970′s that was canceled by NASA." With the tagline "There's a reason we've never gone back to the moon", while implying a government cover-up of monsters existing on the moon.

Why it should be good: With these found-footage movies, they tend to go terribly wrong or be very entertaining. This one is looking to go the way of the latter. It's giving a fresh take on the rising sub-genre and taking us to an interesting location. Furthermore, it's basing itself on some real actual events, thus adding some extra layer to it. The viral marketing on this movie is going along nicely and the film has become something of a hot ticket. Gonzalo is a Spanish-born director who has had a couple of critically-acclaimed films in the past as well.

Why it could suck: It's kind of the nature of the genre. If they don't hit they mark, then they tend to really suck. Couple that with a pair of brand-new writers, and there are no guarantees for this movie. I'm getting a feeling though that this will end up being up there with Paranormal Activity.

14. Unknown

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra

Writer: Oliver Butcher and Stephen Cromwell; based on the novel by Didier Van Cauwelaert

Stars: Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger and January Jones

Release Date: February 18, 2011

Genre: Drama Mystery Thriller

What is it: A man awakens from a coma, only to discover that someone has taken on his identity and that no one, (not even his wife), believes him. With the help of a young woman, he sets out to prove who he is.

Why it should be good: Liam Neeson is a bad-ass. Watching the trailer, I'm reminded of Neeson's past movieTaken. Seems to be that similar mystery action thriller type movie. And I absolutely loved that movie. Neeson made it a very good film showing off his bad-assness in it. If Unknown turns out to be as good as Takenwe'll have a very entertaining movie on our hands. Didier Van Cauwelaert, whose novel the movie is based on, is an award-winning author with multiple best-selling novels. The novel this movie is based on has met plenty of praise. So, we're sure to find that the story/source material is good.

Why it could suck: Two virtually unproven writers. While the source material may be good, they could mess it up and adapt a bad screenplay. On top of that, the director is responsible for such things as Orphan and House of Wax, neither of which were that good.

15. Red State

Director: Kevin Smith

Writer: Kevin Smith

Stars: Melissa Leo, John Goodman and Michael Angarano

Release Date: TBA (Screening at Sundance 2011)

Genre: Horror Thriller

What is it: A horror film in which a group of misfits encounter fundamentalism gone to the extreme in Middle America.

Why it should be good: Kevin Smith. Smith is one of my favorite directors around. While last year's Cop Out was rather bland, this year he returns to writing his own material with Red State. Furthermore, he'll be treading into a new genre with his first horror movie. I love Kevin Smith as a writer/director and have been fond of pretty much all of his work. From Clerks to Mallrats to Clerks II to Jay and Silent Bob, everything Smith has actually wrote and directed, I've enjoyed really. Couple that with the enjoyable John Goodman and the "fresh off an Oscar-worthy performance" Melissa Leo, and we should be in for a real treat.

Why it could suck: As stated before, this is Kevin Smith's first venture into the horror genre. Some writers/directors find gomovie  that there are just some genres that they can't do, while they're better suited for another particular genre. We'll have to wait and see how Kevin Smith's foray into the horror/thriller genre goes.

[orihime-maychan]

I gave the ATLA live action movie “The Last Airbender” one more shot...

Four hours ago, I happen to catch the Avatar: The Last Airbender live action movie on the telly, and before I cringed out even thinking about it, I said to myself:

“It’s been almost 10 years, what could possibly make me cringe anymore than what it was?”

So... I watched it. I was supposed to go to sleep because I had a bad case of food poisoning (again) but then my tummy got all better so.. Why not. And I was surprised for the next 1 hour 30 minutes.

OK, so to all ATLA-TLOK fans out there, before you bash me into little pieces for even mentioning this live action movie, PLEASE HEAR ME OUT FIRST!

I am not posting this to bash or to rave about anything, I am just posting this to bring out my thoughts on this movie about 10 years after it was made/after I watched it for the first time (under the assumption that my opinions are valid and welcomed in this site).

I wanted to put this “late” review and commentary so I could have a comparison point once the ATLA series goes live in Netflix next year, among other things.

I believe I may have been too attached to the animated series way back then to have made a somewhat partial and unbiased review to put it down completely as trash.

And lastly,

In relation to the previous point, I will take into account a possible viewpoint from non-ATLA fans who just wanted to while away their time by watching a movie which they knew nothing about.

I’m not gonna put any jumps/breaks/keep reading cuts on this post because it doesn’t show up on mobile anyway, and also because some people on desktop are too lazy to click it so.. I’ll just make this a long-ass post and hopefully my PC can survive the long-ass ness x_x So if you started reading this well.. It’s on you. =P

I will be doing the commentaries based on the following:

How the story flow compares to the original ATLA series

Character comparisons between the series (especially KEY characters)

Rendering of the effects

If I was a bystander who watched it for the sake of watching (i.e. if I wasn’t an ATLA fan), how would I feel about it?

If I remember to do so, I’ll probably make an overall comment on the whole thing based on what I said and add some stuff I may have forgotten to add. Also, since the Airbender movie is just for Book 1: Water, well it’s the only thing I’ll comment on. Again, be warned, this will be a long, long, long-ass post.

Live Movie vs Book 1 Series

Well, let’s be honest here, even the Ember Island Players took a very long time to showcase just Book 1 in their own version, so of course Nick and Paramount had to cut everything to fit into 1 1/2 hours of movie time, and that would cut out more exciting and pivotal scenes from even getting shown. I mean, it’s not like they had that much budget to turn the whole thing into something as long as one movie from LOTR or even Hogwarts movies. A lot of the magical bending stuff were sorta uhm.. not there? Also, there were so much leaps and stuff just to visit all of the Air Nomad Temples, that was basically what Aang, Katara and Sokka were doing most of the time, aside from learning how to bend, escaping Zuko and Co., as well as inciting rebellion within the Earth Kingdom under the Fire Nation domain. And also, I felt the whole thing wasn’t even meant to be a big production, unless I just don’t watch enough movies to recognize anybody. Seriously, the only actors I recognized in the live action were Jackson Rathbone and Dev Patel, I honestly don’t know everybody else (sorry Yue, I find you lovely but I don’t know who you are T_T). So... You see where I’m going here?

So... Because of many constraints, the entire Book 1 was reduced into this plot:

Two Southern water tribe siblings found a kid (and a huge fluffy beast) frozen in a ball of ice, which shot out a beam of light after breaking the ice ball. They brought the kid and the beast back home, in which they tried to get to know him better. But a foreign prince from beyond the wild seas took it upon to himself to bring back what he believed to be his target, The Avatar, by storming into the Southern water tribe village and taking the kid from the ice into custody. The two siblings’ grandmother later revealed that based on history and her own knowledge, the kid was the Avatar who was supposed to bring balance into the world, but disappeared in almost a century. So the two kids took it as their responsibility to rescue the ice ball kid under any circumstance, until he could turn the tides from the Fire Nation and bring balance and harmony into the world. Meanwhile, the kid from the ice was tested if he was indeed the Avatar, and unfortunately passed the test, now has an existential crisis and wanted to run away again, which he was able to do so with the help of the water tribe siblings. This leaves the captor, the former Prince of the Fire Nation even more pissed and determined to recapture his place and his position in his own country, as well as his father, the Fire Lord.

After visiting all of the Air Nomad Temples and realizing that he was the last bender of his kind, the Avatar underwent another existential crisis which he was only able to mitigate through meditation and reaching out to the spirit realm. This was further intensified by his need to master all of the remaining elements in order to serve his life purpose better because he ran away even before beginning his trainings, and he just couldn’t make stronger attacks or defenses just by bending air. So along with the two siblings, he traveled to the Northern Water tribes in order to learn water bending from the master. During the course of this travel, he met with the former Fire Prince and fought with him multiple times, he was kidnapped by another Fire Nation official after being lured by an Earth Kingdom citizen (and was actually set free by a ninja who later turned out to be the former Fire Prince), and he kept getting blocks from unlocking his full water bending potential. Only by entering the spirit realm and chatting with a dragon spirit was the Avatar able to keep himself calm despite the stuff happening around him.

After staying at the Northern water tribe’s place and learning water bending for quite sometime, the time for war against the Fire Nation came. However, despite preparations, the water benders were outnumbered and overpowered by the fire benders, which further worsened when one of the moon spirits got killed by the Fire Prince’s rival, thus removing the water bending abilites from those who could. However, ironic as it seems, another Fire nation member knows how to undo the damage that was done, and once the sacrifice was done, the water-benders were back in action. So much so, that even the Avatar was able to chase away the Fire Nation’s armada of ships away. After realizing that he was indeed, needed to restore the imbalance brought upon by his disappearance, the Avatar took his original responsibility to heart by bowing back to all of those who bowed down to him.

That was basically the entire content if focused only on Aang’s development. If you’d ask me, an hour and a half won’t be enough to bring to light all the wonders and charms of the original series, you might need like a three-hour trilogy series just to show each character’s full strengths and weaknesses. So even if a lot of the nice stuff in the series had to be cut out, I’d say that whatever was used in the movie was pretty much enough to show a proper plot to keep track of.

Basically, it all boils down to this:

The production team (or whatever governing body had to make the decisions regarding how the whole thing had to be made) had to take into consideration their target audiences, the production cost, and how long the whole movie must be in order to maximize whatever resources they had. If I was to base my opinion on such things, then I say that the movie’s storyline is overall OK.

Movie vs Series... Characterwise

Well, to make this long-ass commentary a bit shorter, I’ll just make a generalized comparison because for a short movie, there is obviously not enough time to build each character up so it makes for seemingly-flat characters. 

First of these is the fact that despite filling in some backstories for most of the characters, their traits seem to feel a bit wanting. Like there’s something missing. If you’d ask me, the thing that’s missing is whether or not they are capable of change. Some characters are like that, you see them move for the first 5-10 minutes and you’ll know whether or not the character has some potential for growth and change, not necessarily for the better but just some overall change from point A to B. We see this in the ATLA series because there is so much time spent on that, and I think that’s what makes everyone in there so endearing. Heck, even Azula has some fans because at least, at some point she had some sort of character change. However, based on my experience, that’s not easily done because in order for a character to enter change, a lot of events, introspections, expressions, and other internal and external influences must push the character to change. To make them strong or weak isn’t the point, but rather to make the character move out of their system and into another. This wasn’t  possible in the live action movie because again, time constraints. So whatever they were from the beginning just continued on until the end. NO dead-obvious growth observed, whatsoever. I felt like this was a disservice to ATLA fans because the characters portrayed on the screen were so different from the ones we got used to (hate) and even loved from the series:

Aang got reduced to a very confused and angry boy, who was originally written as a warm, friendly, and happy-go-lucky ball of charm. Also, if they wanted to do justice for however they shaped movie Aang, they should have made a whole lot more internal dialogue about his regrets and stuff, so angsty and angry Aang could have been justified better.

Katara got portrayed as a stiff girl, when in fact she was originally shown as hopeful, inquisitive and even smart, apart from her kindness and her nurturing and fun side. Also, as far as I recall, Katara in the series was already a very competent water bender, so why reduce her to a floppy one in the movie? It would have been better if she just was a wee better than what she was but still wanted to learn from Paku, to show children that there is always room for improvement (because again, this was originally intended for young viewers)

Sokka got reduced to a moody teen (Sorry Jackson), when in fact he was like Ronald Weasley: funny, resourceful, really tactical (friendly reminder that Ron won Wizard’s Chess, just saying) and is actually a comic relief. OK, so maybe there was a teeny, tiny part where Sokka was funny, but like 3% or lower. If you blink, you’ll miss it. I guess the part where he was brotherly to Katara was OK, just to redeem his movie self a bit.

Despite the vibe, movie Zuko wasn’t too angsty for my taste, he was just full of anger and revenge, so I don’t feel like it’s justifiable for him to be like that. Even if he actually got some screentime for some flashback, the character was just too angry and vengeful, not enough teen angst to give it depth. Sorry Dev, you did great but if you had an idea on who Zuko really was, you may probably gave him a better shape. Unless you already know how but just got cut off by the directors or something. I won’t know for sure. Also, we need more scars, like really deep, wrinkly, very horrifyingly discolored scars, not just the mild ones that I had to squint to see, because that’s surely a good source of Angst(c)

Uncle Iroh’s love for self-indulgence and his laid-back style wasn’t completely spot-on, I wanted a really chill yet wise vibe from him, but I guess the lack of dialogues between him and Zuko plus the fact that I only saw him drink tea TWICE, well, that’s just sad. I’m sure Uncle Iroh would’ve wanted more tea and cake times, and more feet-pampering. Plus more father-and-son scenes with Zuko because that’s what will eventually give way for angst and realizations but then again, I may be too opinionated on this one.

Ozai wasn’t as evil and as psychopathic as I expected him to be. He could have been more cruel, more harsh, more brash, more brutal, less passive, and less fluffy. General Zhao had more of that Ozai feel in him, maybe the two should have just exchanged places. Or better yet, it would have been better if they just made Ozai into a narcissistic manipulator, that might have worked. A charismatic manipulator, like Azula.

I think these are the only key characters worth mentioning in the movie since they’re pretty much pivotal in how that story arc moves, whether in the live action movie or in the series.

Movie Bending (Expectations vs Reality)

I had to say, the bending was actually OK, for me at least. The flamey-flamey shots and the water to ice bending were cool, the earth bending could have been better and faster but it’s pretty much decent, and the fact that air bending can be made more visible by putting air particulates like dust and mist around the whirlwinds so that the air movements can be seen is actually laudable. But then again, there wasn’t really that much bending to show since there were equally as much fight scenes as bending. It didn’t do that much justice though, since in the series bending elements were not limited to just fighting. Bending the elements could destroy or build structures, bending can heal or break people, and there is just so much complexity that elemental bending can show fans or non-fans or even beginning fans, which were not shown in the movie because of so many constraints. I’d dare say it was a disservice, but again, given the restrictions, I’d say that the bending shown in the movie was also, overall, given the circumstances, were pretty much OK.

If I wasn’t a Fan... (lol)

Well, if I wasn’t a fan, if I wasn’t aware (or even living) in the ATLA-TLOK universe, I would say that this movie had some entertainment value. Sure, maybe introducing the four nations could have needed some extra sentences at least, like the intro in the series, or maybe like show the map of the entire ATLA-TLOK world, talk about each part briefly, and maybe some bit on explaining what the elemental benders are. So I won’t be surprised at Katara making water balls or Aang making whirlwinds or Zuko kicking some fire out. I’d be confused as heck. Also, I feel that it would be even more amazing if they showed Appa flying a lot, and Aang’s interactions with Appa and Momo, because seriously, that would have at least made some of the kids think on the possibilities of having a flying bison or a flying lemur. Because showing a flying Appa but not seeing how that looks when you’re on the back of one kinda, I dunno, feels less magical. I only saw them fly once and swim once on water but that’s about it. At least show them parking Appa on one of the Air Nomad Temples or something. My point is:

Make the scenes a bit more engaging to the viewers. Strike their imagination or something. OR at the very least, make them awe at the possibilities of bending or whatever.

If the viewers came out of the cinemas feeling like they want a flying bison or they wanna bend fire or rocks or stuff, then at the very least you’ll be able to gauge if they got engaged with your movie or not. I don’t care what age group they would be, heck, I’m in my early 30′s and after more than a decade of being an ATLA fan, I still want my own dragon or flying bison. I won’t even mind if I get a letter from Hogwarts that I’m accepted as a witch, or if a parcel suddenly appears at my doorstep and something magical or mystical was there. Now if that isn’t engagement then I don’t know what is.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get that kind of feels from the movie, it just felt like something that would pass through me and won’t even consider remembering. I mean, the bending was all magical and stuff, but the characters weren’t able to pull me in. I wasn’t able to connect with them as much as I wanted to. They weren’t as much likeable or relatable as much as I expect them to be. They feel like a one-time deal, and I feel bad for them, actually. I mean, if you’re gonna write about a bunch of people, at least make them a bit relatable for the viewers. Give them a bit of depth, so that we won’t take them at face value. I mean, even the most boring person on earth has some depth, so at least, make the characters seem like they could actually feel things, because they aren’t stuck on something like a one-dimensional person. At the very least, make them DECENTLY human.

Overall Comments and some Final Stuff

I’m a bit sleepy but I’ll try to sum it all up and give my conclusions.

The Avatar the Last Airbender movie (seems to have) came short because of too many constraints:

Time constraints

Budget constraints

Character constraints

Creative constraints

However, despite such constraints the plot was actually enough to keep the movie going. There were also sufficient backstories for the main characters to use in order to push through with what they’re supposed to be doing. Sure, Aang only learned how to water bend but I think there was enough elemental bending in the movie to show the different styles of bending so that’s OK, I guess.

Overall, even if it sucked the first time around, after giving this movie another shot I guess it’s pretty much an OK movie to watch, to while away the time. I just hope that the Netflix version can be a WHOLE LOT BETTER at translating the animated series into live action. I know it’s a lot of expectations but at this rate, I could just hold on to properly-written and portrayed characters as well as smooth-flowing storylines, never minding whether or not the places or the bending are properly portrayed.

And with that, this review is done.

Will snooze and let this whole thing roll off my back.

[ladylonely47]

Queens of Mewni Theory

WARNING. LONG POST.

Okay, so, this is gonna sound like kind of a crackpot theory. But please just hear me out.

Last night, I was trolling the svtfoe tag and I found this posted by @pablisqui:

(OP can be found here)

So, I saw this and thinking its 100% real since I haven’t found anything discrediting it, I started going around the circle and naming off each Queen of Mewni as far as we’ve known. While doing so, I noticed something...

Each mark correlated with a Queen has an opposite that is the OPPOSITE of the Queen!

First, we’ll start out and work in.

Skywynne, Queen of Hours, is opposite of her son, Jushtin, the Uncalculated.

Skywynne is the first Queen we meet in The Magic Book of Spells. We learn that she is very strict and disciplined in her magic and royal duties, and that she has a drive to be unlike her mother Lyric - who was sloppy and uncaring in her duties. Skywynne created powerful and intricate spells that she would spend countless amounts of time (lol) on to perfect.

Jushtin is the first (and only) Boy Queen we meet. He is Skywynne’s eldest and has really no ambition towards the throne or the duties. He seemed to only be a kid taking a lot of power in his hands and using it for his own gain. focusing on his posse and hot math tutor. And his spells were so simple and uncaring that all he ever did for them was raise his cane and say a simple word. 

TL;DR : Skywynne is disciplined and Jushtin is somewhat ignorant.

Second is Comet the Chef and Rhina the Riddled.

Comet is seen as primarily peaceful and caring towards the world. She is undoubtedly loving towards her daughter Moon, and craves for strong peace between Monsters and Mewmans. She intended to do so through her baking, which was the best in all of Mewni that even Glossaryck loved it. While we couldn’t really see into the depths of her spells, her cooking was so intrusive and well-thought out that it took up multiple pages to explain her famous tomato pie!

Rhina is seen as thought-provoking and exceptionally intelligent. She made all of her spells through riddles, and though there was little wand movement, she achieved it through moving the actual piece of her wand. Rhina is seen to care little for politics and outside engagement and rather towards creating more riddles and figuring out her own life. While she doesn’t write much about her daughter, Celena, I thought of her conception as an unwelcomed one since her husband had seemed to be very malicious in their marriage (though I’m sure she loved her child). She simply states that she will pass on the wand and book as instructed to her daughter, as that is what is meant to happen.

TL;DR : Comet is highly compassionate and Rhina is highly logical.

Next is Estrella the Drafted and Dirhhennia the Heaped.

Okay, this one is a bit more simple than it really should be. 

Estrella is shown to be very thoughtful towards art, since she doesn’t write nearly more than explanations of things in her drawings. While she didn’t do much during her reign as Queen, rather spending her times drawing than making drastic changes to her Kingdom, she was revered by her people and loved greatly. She is also definitely one of the more decorative Queens, since she is seen with a large boa, sitting on a cushion, and with a wand that’s like a paintbrush.

Dirhhennia is shown to be...interesting. She speaks in the language of balls, has simplistic spells, and seems to over explain everything. She really has a straightforward mindset, one that sticks on a topic during her explanations and seems 100% done with people not understanding her lone-wolf-ness. She also used to write sad poetry within The Book of Spells, an attribute I completely forgot about until I re-read her chapter again. She is also shown dressed in what looks like a mumu in very unsaturated colors.

TL;DR : Estrella is artistic and Dirhhennia is bland (sorry Dir baby)

Okay, now to the second ring. Starting with Solaria the Monster Carver and Festivia the Fun.

Now, Solaria is of course perceived to be the most terrifying of them all. And she really kind of is. Her treatment of monsters is something that can only be described as terrifying and brutal, her war strategies are genius and direct, and her spells are horrific. She was a terrifying Queen, one who was born, lived, and died during a war. She fought in the war with a wand that was an eternal flame sword. She was so powerful she created her own army of peasants amplified to the point of being practically immortal.

Festivia is, obviously, the fun one. She is oblivious of her work and the war outside of her walls. She focuses on making the people of Mewni forget their woes and tribulations, and instead tries to bring joy into the kingdom. Her spells are all centered around this, and are somewhat associated with cooking. She lived a sheltered life away from all the bloodshed, and had no worries, not even to her own (supposed) arranged marriage.

TL;DR : Solaria was aware of the issues and Festivia is oblivious.

Next is Celena the Shy and Crescenta the Eager.

First, the titles themselves even describe them as opposites. Celena was so shy she made very few public appearances, and her wand even described that shyness by taking the form of a fan. She had a pension for creative writing and potion making despite that shyness. While she didn’t write down literally any spells, she put in potion making and her songs. She was even seen as completely gorgeous, being able to entrance a monster with a glance, which is interesting since she’s half-demon.

Crescenta is everywhere. She is all about control and being the best Queen ever. She didn’t make many remarks about caring about her sister or even her people. She created multiple laws and spells that maintained her control (and that were utterly terrifying tbh). She had a strong hatred for monsters, creating a government for them that the Mewmans had utter control over. 

TL;DR : Celena is unconcerned with her duties and Crescenta is obsessed with them.

Finally it is the inner ring, which I will summarize much more simply since we know the most about these characters.

Moon the Undaunted and Star the Underestimated.

Moon is very disciplined in her work and is pretty racist towards monsters due to her mother’s death. She is also against using Dark Magic because of her experience. She wasn’t given a chance to grow up and make mistakes that didn’t cause the destruction of her own kingdom, so she is repressed in her ideas.

Star is loose in her jobs as a princess and is accepting of monsters and is trying to fix the relations between Mewmans and monsters. She is accepting of using Dark Magic with reason. While her mom tries to contain her wild nature, Star will always fight to be free and live to be so, making her own mistakes and learning from them.

TL;DR : Moon is rejecting change and Star is making change.

Eclipsa, Queen of Darkness and Meteora (who I deem as “the Reborn”).

Eclipsa is very free and loving towards herself. She lets herself run wild and free, not answering to anyone. She took the death of her mother hard, having been very close to her, and thought of her fondly in her death. Though she was forced to marry someone she disliked, she was adulterous with a monster she loved thoroughly. She left her world behind for the man she loved, despite having everything that she could have ever wanted.

Meteora is restricted from her upbringing, learning to not only hate everyone around her by also hate herself. Up until she was literally reborn, she was restricting of her past and self. She had a strong hatred for her “mother” St. Olga, who raised her to hate her monster half and become a princess slave. She only left her world behind when she had nothing else left.

TL;DR : Eclipsa is free and Meteora is restrained.

~~~~~~~~~

And that’s the end! Sorry for the long post, but thank you if you read it all! I got all the photos other than the first one from this website which helped out a LOT for more information that I forgot.

Now I only need to hope is that the photo that encouraged me do all of this is legit. please let it be legit.

[hopelesstvaddict]

Sense 8 Review - Amor Vincit Omnia

Love conquers all indeed. Feelings permeated the series finale of Sense8 but love is at the heart of it. Love between its characters, who've never felt so real than in this installment; love for life as some of them come to learn, to accept and to embrace; love finally for its fans without whom this final chapter wouldn't even exist - and that starts with being as wild, crazy and real as it has always been.

Starting off directly as the second season finished off, Wolfgang (Max Riemelt) is still held prisoner by the nefarious BPO. The rest of the cluster holds onto Whispers (Terrence Mann) whom they plan to exchange for Wolfgang. It has to be said right away that one of the biggest strengths of the episode is its cast, of which none is left out. Not only do each of the main cast have its shining moment - however small yet never insignificant - but the show has made the smart choice to let the recurring cast in on the secret too. Fan favorites Hernando (Alfonso Herrera), Daniela (Eréndira Ibarra) and Detective Mun (Sukku Son) amongst others join Amanita (Freema Agyeman) and Bug (Michael X. Sommers) to combine their efforts and help the cluster which really cements the idea of absolute unity in this group of people - an extended cluster to the cluster.

Captivity is the occasion for Wolfgang to finally shed the last parts of his past which was glimpsed in bits and pieces in the previous seasons. Overall, that does not bring anything vital to the episode and one could sense that this would have been stretched over more episodes, had the occasion presented itself. Sense8 has never shied away from twisted relationships both in positive and negative ways. Wolgang's big family reveal reflects exactly who he is; more so, he thinks it defines him. Seeing him finally accept that he indeed does matter to many people and that these people are as willing to do anything for him as he would for them is very satisfying in terms of character development. It is just a tad disappointing that he is the sole character in this finale to benefit from flashbacks. The show of course already dedicated itself to other characters in the previous seasons and it certainly would have become more than overstuffed had it tried to dive into more than Wolfgang’s past but it reminds us of the tragic backstories of Riley (Tuppence Middleton) or Will (Brian J. Smith) back in the first season and how Sense8 excelled at telling character stories; unfortunately, circumstances call for mainly action in this series finale.

Wolfgang is also the catalyst for perhaps the most gasp-inducing - but in the end the most satisfying - twist of the episode. His star-crossed love story with Kala (Tina Desai) was a fan favorite from the start but there was always that one bug, Kala’s marriage. Worse, Rajan (Purab Kohli) is not a bad man and Kala does love him too - just not in the way she loves Wolfgang. Sense8 does away with this problem in the most unexpected way. In bringing Rajan to side with his wife and her cluster against BPO and going against the easy route - which would have been a variation of him walking away after learning the truth about his wife - the showrunners instantly make us viewers fall in love with him. Rajan goes against every cliche, every prejudice we could have had against him and seamlessly integrates the group. Of course, that he asks a minimal amount of questions and so willingly accepts the rest is a little easy but this decision is a staple of Sense8 as a show that prones diversity and open-mindedness; it also demonstrates how well they understand their characters. Kala could never be dissociated from Rajan nor could she be from Wolfgang.

It then comes naturally that she should be the one sensate to die. After two seasons of Whispers threatening to come after Riley - alledgedly the heart of the cluster and arguably the one least able to defend herself - it would have been too predictable to lose her. Instead she is right there with Will - more than ever the de-facto leader and mama-bear of the group - gunning and fighting because although she does not know a thing about guns, he does. The sensates elevate their powers in this installment and so does Kala, which is exactly what saves her. There are no rules, Bug tells her. And so she follows the advice. It does not however take away any of the power of the scene itself. Death has been discussed times and again over the course of the show. Entire clusters wiped out and the pain that is described to convey the loss of one of the clusters, we’re being told. Shared pain has already happened in the cluster. But the pain of death was beautifully portrayed here by each of the actors. The twist was unpredictable as it was anticipated also. Ominous warning signs were placed. Another TV show would have been too happy to use a sweet rooftop scene between Amanita and Nomi (Jamie Clayton) only to pull out the rug on one of them. It was too big of a risk, too big an operation, too important an episode, too easy a narrative device not to use it. Had the show gone on for a few more seasons, killing off one of the sensates would have made a great cliffhanger. As it is, the episode uses it well enough to bring out tears before veering away towards something more hopeful. Rajan and Wolfgang mourn the woman they both love but what is so refreshing is seeing that neither tries to outshine the other, not now nor after. It might be unlikely but seeing Sense8 go that route is bold and satisfying in itself.

If Sense8 drew strenghth from its characters, it always struggled with the story it wanted to tell. Clocking at 150 minutes, this final installment needs to wrap up its many loose ties. With all character stories solved with the exception of Wolfgang’s, the plot unfolds, convoluted and complex as ever but always compelling, bringing us from Paris to Naples. The two settings allow for some light and beautiful moments - from a shared family dinner to a shared musical experience - reminding us of the show's exacerbated enjoyment of life. It's also the occasion to bring back key characters - which just shows the love and care that was put into making this series finale. Here and there you can see that the numerous cast - Amanita and Hernando notably - was not always available to participate in all the scenes but they are never completely sidelined. Will's best friend and police partner Diego (Ness Bautista) participates in the final fight as does Wolgang's brother-in-arms Felix (Maximilan Mauff). Disgustingly amusing Puck (Kick Gurry) is also back while former BPO-involved members Mr Hoy (Sylvester McCoy) and River El-Sadawi (Amira Ghazalla) also play defining roles in defeating Whispers and returning baddie Lila (Valeria Bilelio) who sidelines the former as the real menace of this final war. Even as the mysterious Chairman is revealed and Jonas (Naveen Andrews)' last secrets regarding Angelica (Darryl Hannah) are exposed, Lila is ultimately the dangerous MVP. It is then extremely fitting that Will and Wolfgang are the ones to face off against their two most vicious nemesis. What makes it even more compelling is that once again, it is a complete teamwork which allows all of the characters to work off their respective strengths. Team Nomi of course supervises everything from outside while Lito (Miguel Angel Silvestre) and co distract foes by being actors. The rest go off to show fighting prowess and gunning skills. The final point to the fight - if a little easy because it is so... final - is an extremely welcome throwback to one of Wolfgang's fiery moments from the first season.

It would not be a series finale without a wedding. An extended 30-minutes epilogue - à-la-The Return of the King - is dedicated to returning to what Sense8 does best, its character moments. In the eyes of Amanita, there's nothing more romantic than the Eiffel Tower. So that's what she gets as a setting for her big event - arguably the one thing fans would have been really crushed not to see had this final chapter not existed. The scene serves to remind us that beyond its story, beyond its messages, Sense8 is just like any other good TV show. It's a show that cares about its characters, values them and understands them. As groundbreaking and emotionally satisfying - and yes, tear-inducing - as that wedding is, it's also but above all about the joy of feeling what these people feel. As Amanita says, feelings are to be embraced as opposed to repressed, followed instead of erased. Feelings are forever intertwined with open-mindedness - with a little help from space cakes in the case of Nomi's mother - and they may well be what differentiates sensates from humans but they don't necessarily separates the two. Nomi and Amanita are proof of that. Love is the answer, Sense8 seems to try to tell us.

And of course, it wouldn't be Sense8 without an orgy. Group sex became Sense8's brand since its first season and each time it elevated itself. The show understandably refrains from it during the whole episode given the dire circumstances but a wedding night naturally calls for some under-the-sheets time (not that we see any sheets there). Sense8's sex scenes were always extremely erotic as well as looking like live pieces of art. It was always the physical representation of all the messages the show wished to convey - acceptance, open-mindedness, experience. As well as being the occasion to display the beauty of its actors and actresses, it showcases the strongest emotion upon and around which it has built itself. Extreme care and a considerable amount of time was devoted to construct each of the main couples as shown through a sweet montage from the first two seasons. Some were established in previous seasons and thus took a backseat (Will and Riley, Lito and Hernando, Capheus (Toby Onwumere) and Zakia (Mumbi Maina)) and some fully blossomed in this episode (Sun (Doona Bae) and Mun). But the scene - which this time included both Bug and Dani as a testament to the oft-repeated statement that they belong to the family - serves as a celebration of all forms of love, including those types of love we don't see often on screen. The cherry on top comes in the form of Rajan who deepens our new love for him by participating in the hottest threesome to ever grace our screens with Kala and Wolfgang - who embraces an only-glimpsed-until-now bisexuality. The trio establishes itself like a similar one to what Lito, Hernando and Dani already form. But while it's striking that Lito and Hernando love each other differently than they love Dani and her them in return, it is not clear what the feelings are between Wolfgang, Kala and Rajan. She clearly loves both and does not know how to choose as she tells her friends. She seemingly does not want to choose. Rajan and Wolfgang love her and also have a deep mutual respect for one another. Their openness to each other and to the relationship they're in begs the question of what the feelings between them might be or might become. Their willingness and exaltation to the effects of their sexual experience seemingly point in the direction of a potentially happy polyamourous relationship which is, when we think about it, such a Sense8-esque move in itself.

How symbolic of an image then that the show's final line and image are both testaments to the very nature of the series itself. A sated Rajan wonders about the existence of such things while the show fades to black on a rainbowed strap-on, echoing a provoking and outrageous image from the very first episode. Sense8 might have been cancelled too soon. But we should still be grateful to Netflix for bringing it nonetheless in the first place. The mere existence of this carefully crafted finale is a gift to fans - as stated by the final card. Sense8 is that rare TV show that genuinely likes its characters as much as its fans and succeeds in the rare feat of making us love all of them without exception. Sense8 is that rare TV show that carries a message and unapologetically sticks to it till the end. As Will asks, despite everything, would any of us go back to the way things were before ? Jamais.

[jamesnelsonart]

Batman: White Knight Review

Folks, I can’t always let you know when a comic is bad. I don’t have the energy. A lot of bad comics are created every day, and to catalogue the reasons why Action comics issue 724342 didn’t appeal to me would be an exercise in futility and pain. No, when I see a bad comic usually the most it’s guilty of is being boring or not making a lot of sense and maybe the art isn’t put together very well. So I just ignore said media if I don’t like it. Maybe I’ll joke about it a bit with friends, but why spend my life on such things? You already know where this shit is going-- I’m about to break my code here. Every now and then, I discover something uniquely bad. It’s bad in a way I never could have even considered. It’s bad in a way that demands my attention, and I simply have to think about it, and then share my pain with others. That comic book is Batman: White Knight, and boy does it blow.

It’s honestly hard to tell where to begin with this review because if you think about any bad part of this book for more than one minute you’ll immediately be reminded of another bad part that relates to the first bad part, and so on and so on. It’s an interconnected network of bad. A true spider web of shit, full of parts all intersecting into an intricately dumb design. A painstakingly-made pyramid of poop, with each brick being laid as the foundation for something even worse than what came before it. I suppose I should start with the premise and work my way down from there.

What if, and hear me out here, what if the Joker became a good guy? And Batman… get this… was a bad guy??????? That’s the whole gist of Batman: White Knight. The white knight in the title is Joker, because he is a very pale dude from that chemical bath he took in his origin story. So that’s the premise. You understand the title. Now usually in superhero comics a shake-up like this might last for about a year before a return to the status quo, but White Knight takes place in an alternate universe, so write/artist Sean Gordon Murphy has the opportunity to make some big changes that will stick since there’s no worry about it impacting the main DC universe. Characters have the potential to die for good or change permanently here, and with the idea of the Joker becoming good you could get a pretty wild story here with some twists and turns. So why the fuck does nothing happen in this story!? Oh sure, this is a comic so actions do indeed occur. Events take place across a series of panels as they do in all sequential storytelling… But damn, this comic is a whole lot of nothing! It positions itself as a big shakeup, Batman as you’ve never seen him before! Only, it isn’t. This story is the safest fucking thing I’ve read disguised as an edgy, you-didn’t-see-that-coming, no-one-is-safe story. In some ways it’s funny, kind of like that Joker. But the only joke here is that I wasted my time reading this shit.

The story starts with Batman pursuing the Joker in his Batmobile, causing tons of property damage and hurting some innocent bystanders. Nightwing and Barbara are with Batman and are upset that they can’t reel in his dangerous impulses. Batman chases the Joker into a pharmaceutical factory where the Joker does his Joker speech. You know the one. The speech every writer ever feels that they have to write for the Joker, as if it adds something to his character. The Joker speech basically has the Joker go on about how he and Batman are polar opposites blah blah blah and how the Joker, in his own twisted way, has some affection for Batman and then Batman will be like NO and punch him or something. Hey, subtext works a lot better when it, y’know, remains subtext and not outright actual text. So Batman gets real riled up here and force-feeds the Joker a ton of pills while someone films him doing this and posts it on the internet. This combination of pills makes the Joker not be psychotic anymore (this is dumb as hell, but the rest of the comic is way dumber so you’d be surprised how the lowered standards allowed me to just roll with this) So this Batman is a pretty rude guy, being down with needless violence, and about as smart as a sack or bricks, but it’s an alternate universe, right? Characters are supposed to be different. Yeah… about that-- when doing an alternate universe it helps to have your universe be well-defined. This is especially important if it’s already similar to the main DC universe. The reader is left unsure as to what has or hasn’t happened in the past. Did the Joker ever commit any mass murder in this timeline? We don’t really know. The Joker has had a lot of incarnations so it’s kind of important to know how evil he is if he’s gonna become a good guy. If he’s committed numerous atrocities then I can understand a lot of peoples’ skepticism to him being good guy. Or was he some guy throwing pies at peoples’ faces and defacing property? Already none of this shit makes any sense if you stop to think about it but I have to keep going or this review will never get around to bashing the important stuff, like everything else about this book.

So the Joker’s mental stability is restored (which somehow also changes his bleached-white skin and green hair back to normal, those pills must have been wild) and he becomes a super-genius and decides to fight Batman’s brutality, and by extension the Gotham Police Department’s brutality. He’s done telling jokes now, he’s now the Woker(ok he never gets called that, but it would’ve been funny if that happened). And with his genius intellect unrestricted by his unstable personality he is now free to… sue the city. Damn, that’s exciting. I feel I should stop here and say there’s a reason the Joker is a fairly static character, and that’s because he works perfectly fine as a clown with a Batman obsession who does crimes and has some good zingers. Those are the interesting things about him, so when you remove all of those traits you’re left with a pretty boring character. What is the Joker without any of his personality or Joker-ness? Just some guy. And that guy is the protagonist of the story now… great. The other characters don’t fare much better. They all act extremely stupid, wildly out-of-character, or perform actions that conflict with prior information the reader has been given about them. Batman does no detective work, largely having the plot fed to him by other characters and falling into every trap imaginable. He can only ever react to situations. Harvey Bullock is deriding Batman for brutalizing the Joker and seems very anti-police brutality, yet later is arresting a black activist, blatantly escalating a situation where there was no violence. Barbara Gordon is hanging out chatting with Mr. Freeze (who appears to be a nicer guy in this continuity) and spills the beans about her secret identity, then is shocked to realize that she’s been wearing her Batgirl costume, thus revealing her name! Why is she so dumb!? Why on earth would she want to talk to Mr. Freeze in her civilian identity, huh? They were in the Bat Cave when this happened, so suit or not, it’d be pretty obvious that the girl in the Bat Cave is Batgirl. What the fuck? See what I mean when I say it’s hard to know where to start and end with bashing this shit? I mean this was like a 2-panel thing. Everything leads into everything else because nothing was thought through or considered while writing this comic so events happen just because they have to in order to move events along, character motivation or personality be dammed. And what happens is… not much if you really analyze the sequence of events in the story. Joker gets better, sues the city, participates in a march against Police corruption/brutality and decides to run for mayor. Batman gets mad about this. Joker then discovers a slush fund that is used to repair all the damage Batman does to the city and exposes it to the public. As a mayoral candidate, Joker proposes using this slush fund to instead heavily arm the police. Doesn’t this kind of contradict his anti-police brutality sentiments by offering the department numerous tanks to drive around in? Ah, fuck it. I doubt any part of this is thought through or any narrative dissonance considered so I’ll just keep going. And that’s… all the Joker does. Well, he does do one more thing. He decides to start dating Harley Quinn. And if I’m gonna talk about the characters, I mean REALLY talk about the characters, I’m gonna have to talk about Harley Quinn. Or rather, the Harley Quinn…s. Plural.

I should preface this by saying it’s pretty clear Sean Gordon Murphy is a fan of Batman the Animated Series. It is good, so who can blame him? What gets weird is he inserts a ton of TAS-centric stuff into White Knight in a way that feels arrogant. He knows what is best for Batman, no one else. So why do I feel this way about his writing here? Because the Joker goes home and is greeted by a Harley Quinn who is like “Wow, can’t wait to have tons of sex and kill a ton of people with you again! My favorite hobbies are not wearing a lot of clothes, staying evil, and being an unpopular New 52 redesign!” Then the revelation comes, the OLD Harley Quinn shows up in her TAS jester outfit and derides the new one as a big tiddy bimbo (not joking about that, her dialogue is actually deriding her for having large breasts and not being a good role model lmao) and says that she will resume her relationship with the Joker now, because he respects women (you really gonna do Poison Ivy like that? Smh). As we all know, when you think an abusive partner has changed, you should definitely restart your relationship with them. This has never, ever backfired in the history of the universe. But back to the point-- in fairness the New 52 Harley did suck, but I don’t know why this whole thing is even in the story. Haha, I’m joking! I know why! It’s because Sean Gordon Murphy probably realized that he needed an antagonist to make some action happen because the story was clearly going nowhere! So the new, unpopular Harley goes off and swears she will return the Joker to his bad self, calling herself “Neo Joker”.  So how does someone with no resources or notable skills become the antagonist? Well don’t worry, the entire cast is very, very stupid and their agency is null and void, so if something needs to happen for this story to move along, it just happens.

Earlier in the story for the Joker to discover the slush fund he had to get the rest of the Batman rogues gallery to do it for him by stealing documents on it out of some building. How does he get every criminal in Gotham to do this for him? By inviting them all over and serving them drinks with bits of Clayface mixed in. You see, Joker used the Mad Hatter’s mind control tech on Clayface so it stands to reason that if you ate some of Clayface’s clay then the mind control would work on you by extension! It only sounds stupid because it IS stupid. I also gotta ask why the entire rogues gallery would accept drinks from the Joker… he’s kind of known for not playing well with others and, uh, frequently poisoning people. But again, these characters need to be dumb for the plot to happen. So Neo Joker discovers the control module thingy because the Joker just left it around (I assume the mind-controlled villains were just shitting their pants in the days leading up to this since they were all stored in a warehouse) so now she gets a villain army. And then she gets a giant freeze gun to use on Gotham City because in this universe Mr. Freeze’s dad was an ex-Nazi who came to America and built that and left it underground. No maintenance required after sitting around for decades, this baby’s ready to blast! So while all that was happening Batman went to jail, Joker let him out to help him with dealing with Neo Joker, and Alfred died. That might sound like things that happened, but let me be clear: nothing happened. Nothing happens this whole comic. Things appear to happen, but that is not the case, that is camouflage. Sure, Alfred dies, but Mr. Freeze starts helping Bruce, so one old man is replaced with another. Actually this is an upgrade, Mr. Freeze knows way more science shit so this new model is great! Batman is finally jailed for flaunting the law but then Joker releases him and reveals that he found out that Batman had been paying for the property damage fund, not the taxpayers! So Batman was a good guy all along! He was just being a brutal dick because Alfred was dying so it’s all in the past now. So if Batman was good all along then what was the fucking point of this comic? The premise is good Joker vs. evil Batman, until it isn’t. What was the point of ANY of the first part of this dumb ass book? But the reader isn’t supposed to think about that. To distract from the fact that there was apparently no conflict at all the Neo Joker starts making threats with her big freeze gun and villain army. So Good Batman and Good Joker gotta team up with the militarized police force to take her down! Yeehaw! But. There is a catch. The Joker’s mixture of meds is wearing off and he will revert soon! The classic ticking clock scenario—as bad as everything is, this should at least inject some tension into the story, right? Wrong. Joker reverts while he’s in the Batmobile with Batman, and then he’s like “I still wanna defeat Neo Joker for stealing my shtick.” So don’t worry, he’s still on your side, Batman. I’m kind of impressed that Sean Gordon Murphy took such an easy opportunity to add some stakes to this bland comic and was like NAHHH, FUCK THAT, I LIKE MY COMICS BAD. So the police ram the villain army with their tanks and uhhh not all of Batman’s villains have super powers you know… some are just regular-ass people. The Penguin gets fucking hit head-on with one of the tanks, how the hell did HE not die? Plus they’re all mind-controlled in the first place so that raises ethical questions as to how they’re being treated since they’re not willfully being evil right now but BATMAN IS GOOD OKAY? HE PAID FOR THE PROPERTY DAMAGE FUND SO IF HE SPLITS SOME FUCKIN SKULLS THAT’S JUST WHAT HE’S GOTTA DO YOU LITTLE BIIIIIIIIIITCH. DUE PROCESS… IS FOR CUCKS. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO DIE at this point in the comic I guess. Yawn… so at this point I think they all win or whatever. The freeze ray is stopped or something. Look, this part is kind of a blur. All you gotta know is Harley marries the Joker before he totally, totally reverts for real this time and gets sent back to Arkham. Then the dumbest thing Sean Gordon Murphy has ever written happens. And I read this book, so know that I do not say that lightly.

Near the start of the comic when Batman force-feeds Joker the pills it’s stated that this was all part of Joker’s master plan to get Batman to feed him pills that he just somehow knew would cure him and this would trigger Joker’s ultimate plan of… revealing the misallocation of taxpayer dollars? And he came up with this when he was still a bad guy, right? Huh? Well guess what, fuckos? It’s time for a fucking twist. Turns out the original Harley Quinn, who is Good and Pure and Keeps Her Clothes on except when I, Sean Gordon Murphy, draw her and the Joker fucking, is the one who planted the pills at that scene, as she reveals to Batman. Mind. Blown. No, really, my mind is blown as to why Sean thought this would add anything to his comic aside from more questions regarding the logistics of how she did that. How did she know which factory Batman would chase the Joker into at the start? How did she know Batman would force-feed the pills to the Joker? You’re not really a master planner if your plan relies on a ton of variables way out of your control. Then Batman is then like “wow that’s cool that you did that. this is why I always liked you more than the rest of my rogues gallery because I know you can do good things.” Yeah that’s right FUCK YOU Two-Face. Burned-ass bitch. You think YOU were the friend-turned-enemy who Batman hopes will one day turn good again? Wrong. It’s Harley. It’s ALWAYS been Harley. Then Batman reveals his secret identity to Commissioner Gordon and says he’s gonna be a cop in a blatant sequel hook. The threat of a sequel to this is scarier than any cliffhanger. Brr!

Ughhh, and you KNOW there’s gonna be a sequel, too. This can’t just end here. When I said I had to review this comic it was because most of the reviews say shit like “a bold new direction with a much-beloved property… DC, please don’t revoke my blog’s access.” This book demands a thrashing. It deserves to get laughed at, but everywhere I looked online people weren’t laughing. There was praise! Now look, Sean can draw a pretty picture so he has that going for him. And he’s also willing to kiss up to ComicsGate, a hate group populated by unskilled whiners, so that they’ll waste their money buying his bad book with pseudo-progressive politics. But I’m not here to insult Sean Gordon Murphy. This is a review, and I pledge to keep it focused on the comic. It would be unprofessional and rude to call Sean a gutless coward, or a worm, or a hack writer who just throws references around to create the illusion of lore, or a guy who condescends to trans writers and artist who get harassed daily about how they should just befriend their harassers, or a guy who thinks his inability to stick to a narrative theme makes his work deeper, or a guy who shits on indie creators in interviews because he works on Batman and they do not. No, that would all be mean to say, so you won’t hear me saying it.

I will give the comic this much, though. If you enjoyed All-Star Batman and Robin for how absolutely wacky it was, this book might be right up your alley. It fulfills that same feeling of viewing every panel and going “What the fuck? WHAT THE FUCK???” So if you like bad books, this book is for you.

[ravkanreads-blog]

The Cruel Prince, by Holly Black [goodreads] my rating: ★★★★★

SYNOPSIS

Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.

And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.

Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King. To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.

As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.

Never in my entire life did I think a book about faeries would capture my full and undivided attention, let alone destroy my life so utterly and warrant all of the love in my itty bitty heart. But alas, here we are.

I’ve never been the world’s biggest fan of faeries or other similar fantasy creatures. For some reason, whenever a synopsis would mention them, I’d slowly back away and then run in the other direction. Then, when Throne of Glass descended into excessive fae male-ness without warning or cause, I truly feared I’d have an aversion to faeries forever. But there was so much hype surrounding this book and so many friends telling me I should read it, so I decided put to put my hesitation aside, just this once, and boy, am I glad I did.

THE STORY

“The odd thing about ambition is this: You can acquire it like a fever, but it is not so easy to shed.”

The Cruel Prince follows Jude Duarte, a mortal girl living an ordinary life with her parents, her twin sister Taryn, and their half sister Vivienne, who is half-faerie. In a tragic turn, Vivienne’s father Madoc, a faerie general, murders Jude’s parents. In what proves to be an even greater tragic turn, Madoc steals the sisters from the mortal world and raises them as his own children in the land of Faerie, where Jude is pretty much doomed to be looked down upon for the rest of her life.

Since Madoc is a general for the High King, Jude and her sisters are basically raised among faerie royalty. And although the high society faeries she grows up with make her life a living hell, Jude wants desperately to fit in among them, but as a mortal, she can never compare to their beauty and power. She’s learned to live among them, dealing with their cruelty and hatred and pretending she isn’t afraid of them, but she’ll never be one of them. And she’s so tired of it.

Soon enough, just swallowing all the cruel insults and pranks isn’t enough for Jude. She’s bitter. She wants revenge against those who wronged her. She wants to have power over them, as impossible as that seems, and she wants it now. So when the opportunity arises for Jude to seize just that, she takes it.

Against a backdrop of twisted court politics rife with deceit and betrayal, Jude becomes a spy and an assassin, hoping to work her way up in the faerie courts. For once, her mortality is an asset. For once, everything seems like it’s working out. And then, of course, a wrench is thrown in her plans and if this didn’t sound absolutely delightful already, that’s when it really gets going.

I adore this story, I really do. I’ve now discovered that faeries are manipulative and chaotic and I love reading about manipulation and chaos, so someone please explain why I’ve never willingly picked up a faerie book before. And Jude’s role in all of this, as a mortal, adds such a cool twist to what could have been a very traditional, formulaic faerie story. Also, I love dark fantasy, and light this is not. There is treachery everywhere and it is so compelling and wonderful.

“Faerie might be beautiful, but its beauty is like a golden stag’s carcass, crawling with maggots beneath his hide, ready to burst.”

Alongside the plot, I also found the writing in this book to be absolutely gorgeous and descriptive. Holly Black did such an incredible job painting a picture of the dark, frightening beauty of Faerie and delving into the characters’ skewed motivations with ease. The writing style really just heightened the atmosphere, intensity, and my enjoyment of the story.

My one gripe with this story–and it’s really not a serious complaint at all–came in whenever the setting shifted to the mortal world, or when the characters’ talked about it. For some reason it just made me uncomfortable to be so enthralled by the world of Faerie, and then suddenly I’m walking through Target. It was really jarring and weird to me every time it happened. But I also feel like even this served a purpose, because that’s how Jude feels about the mortal world, being removed from it for most of her life.

Anyway, the fact that a book about faeries actually got me this invested took me by surprise. Except not really, because with so many good things coming together in one book, I was bound to like it. While it has its slower sections, the entire thing was a wild ride from start to finish. I was turning pages at the speed of light and trying to predict what would happen next. (I was usually wrong.) This is definitely one of those books that I wish I could reread without knowing all the twists and turns.

CHARACTERS

There’s something to hate about every character in this book and it’s glorious.

The complexity of the characters’ motivations and actions is what really made this book for me. I love twisted characters who do bad things for righteous reasons, or good things for despicable reasons. I love manipulative characters. This book is full of them. Without that element, I doubt it would have been as intriguing to me, personally. The characters worked hand in hand with the plot and the atmosphere to truly make this story dark and delicious.

Jude Duarte:

“Before, I never knew how far I would go. Now I believe I have the answer. I will go as far as there is to go. I will go way too far.”

First of all, I’d like to make it known that I would let Jude kill me if she really wanted to (and she might, if I got in her way). I think she was supposed to be “unlikeable” but I don’t even care. I love her so much and that is all.

I always find myself drawn to female characters like Jude–she fits perfectly into this archetype that I adore, every single time, without fail. A female character is downtrodden and spit upon her entire life, until it leads her to become resentful and ambitious and gives her a desire to wield power over those who wronged her, and she will go to any lengths to get it. I literally never get tired of this. For me, watching Jude grapple for power and influence in Faerie was the exact equivalent of curling up in bed and watching my favorite movie, popcorn and all, except more violent and less cuddly. I was rooting for her so hard.

One of my favorite things about Jude’s character is her ambition and determination, even when she’s been underestimated and afraid for most of her life. The dark places her character ends up because of that ambition are so interesting, considering where she started off.

Cardan Greenbriar:

“Prince Cardan, sixth-born to the High King Eldred, yet still the absolute worst.”

I still haven’t decided exactly how I feel about Cardan Greenbriar. On the one hand, he’s arrogant and cruel and a bully. By all means, I should hate him, right? On the other hand, by the end of the book, it was very difficult to hate him. I’m shook.

Cardan, admittedly, is a garbage fire of a human being (faerie being?) and an absolute mess. Despite being a prince, which entails being somewhat respectable, he does virtually nothing besides taunting others and getting ridiculously drunk. He’s elitist, entitled, and senselessly wicked. In the earlier parts of this book, I wanted to strangle him. Frequently.

But as we learn about the viciousness of the royal family and the faerie courts, the world in which Cardan was raised, we discover that Cardan hides behind many masks and wears many faces to get by. He’s a victim of manipulation and abuse, and while that doesn’t excuse his behavior, it does allow us to sympathize with the thought process behind it.

Ultimately, Cardan is a complex guy whose layers Jude and the reader have only just begun to peel away. I like him. I’m not sure if I’ll ever love him, but I’m excited to see his character move forward.

Locke:

*insert photo of a garbage can here*

Moving on.

Jude’s Family:

“Three is an odd configuration of sisters. There’s always one on the outside.”

This is one messed up family. I won’t say much, but wow.

Vivi is definitely my favorite of the bunch. Every time she appeared, she lit up the page. But the rest of Jude’s family? Yikes. Despite how much I can’t stand them all, I did find Jude’s relationship with Madoc to be intriguing, and I’d love to see more of it in the future. I also enjoyed the relationship between the three sisters at times, but mostly because it was interesting to see how each of the sisters shaped Jude.

RELATIONSHIPS

Given the abundance of betrayals and the abundance of morally gray characters in this book, there’s bound to be some drama. Lots of complicated relationships, mhmm I love me some of those. However, if I had to pick a favorite...

Jude and Cardan:

“You remind me that I am a mere mortal and you are a prince of Faerie. Well, let me remind you that means you have much to lose and I have nothing.”

Jude and Cardan’s dynamic is one of the most twisted–and compelling–I’ve read about in a long time. Like, to the point where I think back to the beginning of the book and then look at the end and go how on earth did we get here.

At the start of the book, Cardan hates Jude, because Jude is mortal. And Jude hates Cardan because he treats everyone like crap, namely her. It seems simple, but there are so many layers to peel away when it comes to their interactions. Because as much as they hate each other, their lives keep intersecting in the most unexpected ways and I have lots of feelings about it.

I’m not sold yet on the idea of a romantic relationship between them, but I can’t deny that their scenes were crackling with electricity. Whether that electricity was sexual tension or unadulterated hatred or both, I guess time will tell. Whatever happens, bringing two of the most screwed-up, twisted characters in this story together, in any capacity, has already proven to be interesting, and I cannot wait for more interactions between them.  

FINAL THOUGHTS

I went into this book fully expecting not to like it, for my own dumb reasons. Now, here I am, loving it and telling all my friends about it and watching all of my feelings concerning it pour from my heart like an unstoppable flood. It’s everything I could ever want from a book about trickery and betrayal, and its dark, magical atmosphere completely pulled me in. Also, I love Jude Duarte. I love her so much and she carried this story along so wonderfully. I’m proud of her.

I highly recommend this book for fans of high fantasy with political intrigue!

Holly Black, bring on The Wicked King.

[riverdale-is-just-okay]

The New Girl, chapter two

Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three

Sweet Pea x OC

Word Count: 3105

Summary: Zoe is new to the Southside of town which means she’s fresh meat at the hellhole they try and pass off as a high school. Her main priority is to make sure her brother, Alex, is safe. Which is tested on their first day when he is targeted, but certain dark-haired boy comes to the rescue. Pea to the rescue again, but will he be able to save Zoe a second time?

Warnings: nope, swearing maybe

A/N: So there’s a little bit of medical-ness in this chapter and I’m no expert so excuse any inaccuracies. Also, I feel like I’m writing Alex much younger than he is supposed to be (15), but he has a close bond with his sister because in the time before they were adopted it was Zoe you took care of him, mostly, so he does rely on her quite a bit. Anyway, that’s that. Enjoy!

Tag List: @lolabean1998 @dinosaur-butt-nuggets @hakuna-your-matatas-darling @everheart12 (just let me know if you want to be added to or taken off the tag list for this or any other stories - also if they’re not working just tell me).

Her head pounds and all she can make out is the weathered ceiling tiles above her. She tries to push her body up, but is greeted with a searing pain that runs through her body and a few cries escape it.

"Hey, hey, don't move." A hand takes hold of hers. "Lie back. Just take a breath." She does. "Good."

Her eyes meet his and she smiles. "Well if it isn't Tiny."

He laughs. "You said you weren't a princess, yet you pull this crap. You really gave sleepy beauty a run for her money."

She giggles. "You're a secret Disney fan? I knew it. It's always the tough ones that are they big softies." She smiles, then stares blankly at the wall.

"Zoe? You okay?"

"I'm sleepy." Her eyes begin droop and her head rolls back to the pillow. The beeping continues at a steady pace so he knows he doesn't have to worry, not too much anyway.

"Sweet dreams, princess," he whispers placing a kiss to her head. He pulls his hand from hers and slips out the door. He quickly notifies a passing nurse that Zoe had briefly woken up, then pulls out his phone.

"Toni?"

"What's up?"

"You still with Alex?"

"No. Just dropped him off. Why?"

"I'm gonna need you to go back and get him. Take him to yours or the Wyrm or something. Just don't leave him in that house."

"Why not? You're scaring me, Pea. What the hell is going on?"

"Just go and get him. Then I'll explain."

"Toni!" Pea hears Alex's voice. "Toni. She's not here.”

"Tell me what's going on now," she says into the phone while wrapping an arm around Alex.

"I went back to check on Zoe, didn't feel right leaving her. And..."

"Pea."

"She wasn't answering so I let myself in. And... and I... I found her passed out on the bathroom floor... bleeding."

"Shit. Shit," she whispers, while Alex demands to know what's going on. "Is she okay?"

"Yeah, I think so, she just woke up, she’s a little out of it, but the doctors don't seem worried, she's gonna be okay."

"Oh, thank God." She sighs rubbing her forehead. "Sorry for what I said before. It’s a good job you went back."

"All is good, Topaz. Just explain everything to Alex and make sure he's okay. I'm promised Zoe I'd keep an eye on him."

"Sure. Talk to you later. Keep me updated."

"I will." He hangs up and heads back into the room. Doctors fuss around her. "What's wrong? Is she okay? You everything is fine. You said she'd be okay," he yells.

"Calm down." A nurse places her hand on Pea's, pulling him away from the bed. "We're just checking over her. She's okay. She's gonna be fine," she says. "Okay?"

He nods. "Yeah, sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Don't worry. You were scared, it's understandable. But your girlfriend is gonna be fine, I promise, just a little out of it for a few days." She squeezes his wrist.

"She's not my..." The nurse smiles up to him waiting for him to finish his sentence. But he doesn't want to. He has to. "We're just friends, I don't even know if we're that. We only met today. She's new to town."

"Oh, well whatever it is. She's lucky to have some like you watching out for her." He doesn't think so. No one is ever lucky if they know him. "She's new to town, you said. Do you mind contacting her parents? We’re still yet to receive her records.”

"Yeah, okay." He nods.

"Very lucky." She smiles one last time, the doctors nod to him and they're alone again.

He sits back in the chair beside her. "Mind if I borrow your phone, sleeping beauty?" he whispers. "Got to inform the King and Queen that their princess is safe." Then he sighs. "Shit." In panic, Pea scooped up Zoe, dressed in only a t-shirt and leggings and rushed out. She had nothing else with her, not even her phone.

Sweet Pea

4:37pm, Could you ask Alex for their parents' numbers? The hospital doesn’t have her records and they need to know that their daughter is lying in a hospital bed.

Toni

04:38pm, No need.

Sweet Pea

04:39pm, What? I'm serious. I need to tell them what's happened.

As he hits send, the door clicks open and stood in the doorway is almost the mirror of Zoe, but boy version, and his pink haired minder. Alex rushes to Zoe, who's still blissfully out of it.

Pea looks to Toni.

"What? He saw the blood, Pea. He just wanted to see if his sister was okay," she says. "How is she?"

"She's doing okay. They're gonna discharge her in the morning, but she's not gonna be fully back to normal for a few days."

"Alex, could I borrow your phone. Just to let your parents know what's going on."

The boy nods, tosses his phone over, then goes back to watching his sister with a deep frown. Pea steps out into the hall, then hits the contact that reads 'Mom 2.0'. He laughs, briefly, trying to work out whether that's cute or weird. He doesn't settle on an answer when the someone picks up.

"Alex, hunny, are you all right?"

Pea clears his throat. "Hello, Mrs Murphy?"

"No, it's Mrs Baker. Who is this? And why do you have my son's phone?"

"Sorry, Mrs Baker, my name is Sweet Pea and-" He pauses at the sound of laughter.

"Is this a joke?" she snorts. "No one names their child, Sweet Pea. Can I please talk to my son?"

"I met your son and daughter this morning. We go to the same school. Well there was an incident and Zoe got hurt..."

"Hurt?"

"She's okay, but I'm at Riverdale Memorial Hospital with her. Alex is here too." The other end of the phone is silent. "Mrs Baker?"

"She's okay?” The woman's voice is barely audible. "My ba..."

"Yes. The doctors have checked her out and she's fine."

"Oh, thank you." He hears her heavy breaths. “What happened?”

“I think it’s best if she explains.”

"I'm on my way, thank you so much." And she hangs up.

Zoe sits propped up in bed when Pea walks back in. They share a smile.

"How's sleep beauty?"

"Sleepy beauty?" Toni questions.

"Sweet Pea's crap attempt joke. I could have died, you know," she says.

"She should be called drama queen," Alex mumbles from his side beside her.

"Oi, you watch it. Even like this I could-"

"I called your mom," he tells her and hands back the phone to Alex.

"And?"

"She thought I was pranking her and insulted my name."

"I mean, come on." Toni smiles. "I've know you for years and it still makes me laugh." He sits beside her elbowing her in the side.

"I'm sorry." Zoe fights a smile. "Apart from that, how was she?"

"Worried. She's on her way."

"Thank you."

“Oh and I got her name wrong?”

“Yeah,” she says. “We never took their name, we kept our own name.”

“You told him?” Alex whispers.

She just nods.

An hour passes. The room goes from wild laughing to dead silence, while Zoe gets her beauty sleep, to whispering between the still awake three to wild laughing again. And then the door opens again. A woman with blonde hair and blonde eyes - the opposite look to Zoe and Alex - slowly walks in. Her worried look melts away when she's her daughter sat laughing.

"Mom," the girl whispers.

"Oh, sweetheart." She pulls her into a hug.

"Kind took a beating to the ribs, mom." She slumps back to the bed.

"Thank God you're all right." She kisses Zoe's head, avoiding the beautifully stitched patch of skin. She leans back, smacking her daughter on the leg as she does. "I said no more fights."

"First off, ow. And secondly, it wasn't a fight. They're never any are fights, just standing up for myself."

"Why do you always find yourself in trouble?" She sits on the bed beside her daughter.

"Guess I'm just unfortunate." She shrugs.

She strokes Zoe's hair. "I just want to keep you safe."

"I know." Zoe looks to Alex. "I get it."

"Well you're lucky, not even a this, soon to be, scar can faulter your beauty." Pea can't disagree. "You must be Sweet Pea." Zoe's mother offers her hand to him. He nods. "I'm Helen."

"Nice to meet you."

"And...?"

"Toni." The girl gets to her feet. "I took care of your other child."

She laughs. "Well thank you both. Clearly I can't leave them alone for two minutes."

"We were happy to help." Toni smiles. "Well, we should go, leave you to it. It was nice meeting you. See you two soon." She smiles to Zoe and nods at Alex. "Come on, Pea."

"Actually, do you mind if I just talk to Sweet Pea for a minute?” Zoe asks.

"Of course not." Her mom winks, then ushers the other two teenagers out with her.

"You're not funny," Zoe mouths as the door shuts.

"Your mom seems nice." He steps closer to the bed. "Or should I say 'Mom 2.0'?"

"Alex's twisted idea of a joke. It's actually surprising they're not related, they're so alike. But no, she's the best. Her and James both are, despite circumstances, we got lucky with them."

He smiles. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine. You need to stop worrying. I'm good, all thanks to you. I really appreciate you breaking into my house and committing a felony, just to save me."

"I've done worse than breaking and entering."

"Do I want to know?"

"It's a conversation for another day."

"Is it something to do with the jacket?"

"Maybe."

She smiles. And again the door opens. And man with dark hair steps in.

"Dad."

"Butternut, look at you?" He pulls her into a delicate hug, more considerate than his wife. "Don't tell your mother, but your brother filled me in and I am very proud of you."

"You're saying not to tell my extremely anxious and protective mother that you endorse my backstreet alternations."

"You can take care of yourself, nothing wrong with that."

"Well, not quite this time." She looks to Sweet Pea. Who's been stood in silence even since her father walked in and she's got an idea why. The brown and black uniform and the shiny badge pinned to his chest. Her father's a teddy bear and no matter who you are or what you've done if you protect either of his children, he will feel eternally grateful to you. But it's funny to see the giant gang member nervous.

"Yes, Sweet Pea." He takes his hand shaking firmly. "Thank you for everything." The boy just nods.

"I'll see you soon?" Zoe asks.

"Yes, drop by the house anytime, you are always welcome."

"Thanks. Bye." Pea stumbles out the door.

"I think he's in a gang." She laughs as her dad sits in the chair beside her.

"That's explains why he looked so scared." He crosses his feet up on the bed. "This could be fun." He teases. She just shakes her head laughing.

"Butternut, you have a visitor," her father calls her. She appears in the kitchen doorway and smiles.

"Tiny!"

There's a mix of a smile at the sight and frown at the name. "Sleeping Beauty."

"And we already on nicknames, this is advancing quite fast," her father says ending the brief interlude of conversation. Pea just stands awkwardly, while Zoe steps forward smiling. The effect her father has on this otherwise confident, intimidating boy, is quite amusing.

"Are you coming in?" she asks. "Or did you drop round to stand on the porch like a lemon... or should I say a pea?" She giggles.

"Er, yeah... thanks." He shuffles past Mr Baker and stands in the middle of the, slightly tidier, living room. He smirks at the boy's behaviour, then walks to his daughter.

"See you later, darling."

"Bye." She kisses his cheek. "You are so cruel," she whispers.

"Gotta have some fun."

"Go to work." She pushes him out the door with a smile, then turns back to Pea. "Hi."

"Hi."

"Are we just gonna stand and state at each other? What's up with you?" She takes hold of his hand and pulls him over to the couch. She sits crossed legged while he sits stiffly on the other end. She frowns. "Where's your jacket?'

"Warm out." He shrugs.

"Yeah?" She nods with a smirk. "It's like 60 degrees out, but sure."

"Just warm blooded."

"Thought snakes were cold blooded?"

"Er... yeah..." He actually becomes flustered.

"I can't believe the big, scary gang member is scared of my dad."

"Your cop dad," he states.

"I told him you're in a gang, you know?"

"You what?"

"He doesn't care." She laughs. "As long as you don't harm his family, you're all right in his books. But you did one better. You protected his family. So you really don't need to worry. He actually likes you... I think."

"You think?” She shrugs. “How are you feeling?"

"I'm good." She yawns. "Just sleepy, but when am I not." She lies back into the cushions.

"Sweetheart, I'm just going- oh, hello." They look up to see her mother standing at the bottom of the stairs smiling back at them.

"Hi, Mrs Baker." Pea sits up, Zoe doesn't move, her head still back against the pillow.

"I'm heading to the store, I didn't want to leave you alone, but seeing as you've got company..."

"I'm fine." She smiles, still unmoving. "You don't need to fuss."

"I'm your mother, I will fuss for evermore." She kisses her daughter's forehead, then closes the door behind her.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Pea looks back to the girl.

"I've had my mom and dad fussing over me all day, you don't need to as well. I'd tell you if something was wrong."

"You didn't tell me last time. I had to find you in a pool of your own blood."

"Fair enough. Although you make it sound way worse than it was."

"I don't. It was terrifying seeing you like that."

"Oh, well I'm sorry I worried you."

"I'm just glad you're all right."

"I am. All thanks to you." She finally sits up.

"I meant to drop by this morning, but I woke up a bit late."

"And by late you mean...?"

"10:30."

"Wow." She shakes her head. "You really got your priorities in line." She laughs. "How was Alex today?"

"All good. No trouble."

She smiles. "Thanks."

"Toni dropped him off?"

"Yeah, he's upstairs."

"Oh right," he says almost defeated. She frowns unsure of his reaction. "I should go." He stands.

"You kinda of can't." She takes hold of his hand and pulls him back down. "My mom entrusted you to keep an eye on while she's gone. Alex isn't the most responsible person, his is a fifteen year old boy, genius or not."

"You want me to stay?"

"It's more a question of safety. What if I were to fall again..."

He smiles. "I can stay."

"If you think that is best." She shrugs. He stares blankly at her for a moment. He wants to stay, but he suddenly feels weird. Like he doesn't know how to talk to this girl. "How about you tell me about you, your family. Seeing as I spilled my story yesterday."

"I've already told you." He smirks.

"No you have not." She frowns sitting up straighter.

"I have." He nods.

"When?"

"When I was driving you to the hospital."

She scrunched her brows, then speaks. "Wait, when I was passed out? That's cheating!"

"Still told you." He shrugs. "Not my fault you were unconscious."

She scoffs. "No and I utterly enjoyed the experience." She rolls her eyes. He smiles. "Well if you're not gonna tell me about you. You wanna watch a movie? We've got a couple hours until my mom's back." He nods.

With the sun pretty much gone, the TV is the only thing that offers the small room light. Pea sits slouched back against the cushions and at some point Zoe had edged a little closer to him, her leg touching his, since that moment his attention has been not on the movie. The flashing pictures illuminate her face as he watches her eyes flutter trying to concentrate on the screen.

“Zoe,” he whispers. She looks up to him with a smile. “Can I ask you something?” She nods yawning, then sits up. She stares back at him patiently waiting for him to speak. “So butternut?”

“Oh,” she sighs relaxing back. “Well when I first came to live with them, I refused to eat anything, but butternut squash soup. It was something my mom would always make me.” She smiles. “It reminded me of her. I guess the name just kind of stuck. I don't mind it though, every time I hear it, I think of her. She’s always with me, her and my dad.”

“My dad’s in jail,” he blurts out. She stares wide eyed, not because of what he said, more how he said it. “I should go.” He goes to stand, but she stops him - again.

“Why should you go?”

“Your face…” he says avoiding her eyes. “I’m in a gang and-”

“So? I don’t care.” She sits on her knees so her face is level with his. She takes hold of his face forcing him to look at her. “You have been so nice to me, looking out for Alex and checking on me. I don’t care that you’re in a gang because that is separate from this…” She smiles stroking her thumb over cheek. Her eyes drop, then she frowns. “Your tattoo,” she whispers. “I never noticed. How could I not notice…” He’s silent, he just watches her. She lifts her eyes back to meet his and edges forward. He can feel her warm breath against his lips and…

“Zoe!” She jumps back and looks up. Her brother stands by the steps. He frowns eyeing the two.

“You all right?” she asks, a little flustered. He nods, then looks to Pea. “Pea stopped by to see if I was okay and mom asked him to watch me. She doesn’t trust you.” She laughs.

“What are you doing?”

“Watching a movie.”

“Can I watch?”

“Yeah, sure.” She nods after briefly eyeing Pea. She moves to the far end of the couch and Alex settles in between the two slightly flustered teenagers.

A/T: Thank you for reading, hope you liked the second chapter, means the world that you take time to read my story.

Thanks again, all my love,

Oli x

*main blog: a-girl-stuck-in-a-fantasy-world

[mvrnic]

it me, t (eden), back with another character bc i have lack of self control if you wanna plot with this princess like this and imma come running.

Marnie Marisol, twenty one years old, born and raised in brooklyn heights New York. 

Marnie grew up with her single mother and older brother in a two bedroom apartment. they weren’t dirt poor but they definitely lived from paycheck to paycheck.

her father passed away due to cancer when marnie was only young, she doesn’t remember much about him but from the stories her mother tells he was an amazing father.

since he passed her mum has struggled a lot raising two kids but she was amazing and did her best and made sure they had what they needed. truly marnie’s best friend is her mother, she wouldn’t be able to survive the world without her.

she’s a pornstar. nope there’s no tragic backstory or issues leading her to it and she’s not ashamed of it either. she gets paid to have sex and to her that’s the best job in the world (even though its exhausting and time consuming and boring sometimes)

she wants to be as big as Jenna Jameson, she wants to bring back the famous socialite-ness of porn stars in the 90s.

she’s pansexual and panromantic but she just doesn’t date much because any relationships she does manage to get into they freak out when they find out she does porn and want her to stop OR they’re weird fans that want to actually fuck her/date her for their own fantasy.

she has resting bitch face and she knows it but she’s super down to earth and chill if you don’t have preconceived notions of her or judge her for her career.

tw: drugs honestly her idea of a good time is chilling, eating some takeout and smoking weed (and finishing it off with a bang wink wink (i hate myself bye) )

she’s wild and free and one minute she’s there and the next she’s gone. this bitch is an enigma. 

FLIGHTY AND FLEETING. she’s just genuinely here for a good time. nothing is serious to her and she lives life for pleasure.

she didn’t get great grades at school but it was because teachers didn’t take her seriously. she has adhd and dyslexia and was always the loud, funny one in class so teachers dismissed her as disruptive and she never got the focused help she needed to succeed at school.

definition of the girl you avoid bc she looks like she’s going to fight someone when she’s walking down the street and her face always looks like she just murdered someone but then you talk to her and she smiles and her face lights up and you’re like “oh wtf”

the least judgemental person you could ever meet, like if you want someone in your life who’s gonna love you and support you unconditionally and see your beauty even in the darkest nights it’s marnie.

but also if you straight up talk down to her bc she’s a porn actress or get weird and sleezy bc you’ve seen one of her films are anything like that this bitch can bite hard and like she will tear you down.

stubborn. doesn’t back down. easy to love but hard to forgive if you fuck her over.