#ok so maybe i saw some translations from the current event

[purpldawne]

ok so what if. hear me out on this one. midoteto suicide pact.

[littlemixnet]

To me, a good ally is someone who is consistent in their efforts – there’s a difference between popping on a pride playlist or sprinkling yourself in rainbow glitter once a year and actually defending LGBT+ people against discrimination. It means showing my LGBT+ fans that I support them wholeheartedly and am making a conscious effort to educate myself, raise awareness and show up whenever they need me to. It would be wrong of me to benefit from the community as a musician without actually standing up and doing what I can to support. As someone in the public eye, it’s important to make sure your efforts are not performative or opportunistic. I’m always working on my allyship and am very much aware that I’ve still got a lot of unlearning and learning to do. There are too many what I call ‘dormant allies’, believing in equality but not really doing more than liking or reposting your LGBT+ mate’s content now and again. Imagine if that friend then saw you at the next march, or signing your name on the next petition fighting for their rights? Being an ally is also about making a conscious effort to use the right language and pronouns, and I recently read a book by Glennon Doyle who spoke of her annoyance and disappointment of those who come out and are met with ‘We love you…no matter what’. I’d never thought of that expression like that before and it really struck a chord with me. ‘No matter what’ suggests you are flawed. Being LGBT+ is not a flaw. Altering your language and being conscious of creating a more comfortable environment for your LGBT+ family and friends is a good start. Nobody is expecting you to suddenly know it all, I don’t think there’s such a thing as a perfect ally. I’m still very much learning. Even recently, after our Confetti music video I was confronted with the fact that although we made sure our video was incredibly inclusive, we hadn’t brought in any actual drag kings. Some were frustrated, and they had every right to be. You can have the right intentions and still fall short. As an open ally I should have thought about that, and I hadn’t, and for that I apologise. Since then I’ve been doing more research on drag king culture, because it’s definitely something I didn’t know enough about, whether that was because it isn’t as mainstream yet mixed with my own ignorance. But the point is we mess up, we apologise, we learn from it and we move forward with that knowledge. Don’t let the fear of f**king up scare you off. And make sure you are speaking alongside the community, not for the community. Growing up in a small Northern working-class town, some views were, and probably still are, quite ‘old fashioned’ and small-minded. I witnessed homophobia at an early age. It was a common thought particularly among men that it was wrong to be anything but heterosexual. I knew very early on I didn’t agree with this, but wasn’t educated or aware enough on how to combat it. I did a lot of performing arts growing up and within that space I had many LGBT+ (mainly gay) friends. I’ve been a beard many a time let me tell you! But it was infuriating to see friends not feel like they could truly be themselves. When I moved to London I felt incredibly lonely and like I didn’t fit in. It was my gay friends (mainly my friend and hairstylist, Aaron Carlo) who took me under their wing and into their world. Walking into those gay bars or events like Sink The Pink, it was probably the first time I felt like I was in a space where everyone in that room was celebrated exactly as they are. It was like walking into a magical wonderland. I got it. I clicked with everyone. My whole life I struggled with identity – being mixed race for me meant not feeling white enough, or black enough, or Arab enough. I was a ‘tomboy’ and very nerdy. I suppose on a personal level that maybe played a part in why I felt such a connection or understanding of why those spaces for the LGBT+ community are so important. One of the most obvious examples of first realising Little Mix was having an effect in the community was that I couldn’t enter a gay bar without hearing a Little Mix song and watching numerous people break out into full choreo from our videos! I spent the first few years of our career seeing this unfold and knowing the LGBT+ fan base were there, but it wasn’t until I got my own Instagram or started properly going through Twitter DMs that I realised a lot of our LGBT+ fans were reaching out to us on a daily basis saying how much our music meant to them. I received a message from a boy in the Middle East who hadn’t come out because in his country homosexuality is illegal. His partner tragically took their own life and he said our music not only helped him get through it, but gave him the courage to start a new life somewhere else where he could be out and proud. There are countless other stories like theirs, which kind of kickstarted me into being a better ally. Another standout moment would be when we performed in Dubai in 2019. We were told numerous times to ‘abide by the rules’, which meant not promoting anything LGBT+ or too female-empowering (cut to us serving a four-part harmony to Salute). In my mind, we either didn’t go or we’d go and make a point. When Secret Love Song came on, we performed it with the LGBT+ flag taking up the whole screen behind us. The crowd went wild, I could see fans crying and singing along in the audience and when we returned it was everywhere in the press. I saw so many positive tweets and messages from the community. It made laying in our hotel rooms s**tting ourselves that we’d get arrested that night more than worth it. It was through our fans and through my friends I realised I need to be doing more in my allyship. One of the first steps in this was meeting with the team at Stonewall to help with my ally education and discussing how I could be using my platform to help them and in turn the community. Right now, and during lockdown, I’d say my ally journey has been a lot of reading on LGBT+ history, donating to the right charities and raising awareness on current issues such as the conversion therapy ban and the fight for equality of trans lives. Stonewall is facing media attacks for its trans-inclusive strategies and there is an alarming amount of seemingly increasing transphobia in the UK today and we need to be doing more to stand with the trans community. Still, there is definitely a pressure I feel as someone in the public eye to constantly be saying and doing the right things, especially with cancel culture becoming more popular. I s**t myself before most interviews now, on edge that the interviewer might be waiting for me to ‘slip up’ or I might say something that can be misconstrued. Sometimes what can be well understood talking to a journalist or a friend doesn’t always translate as well written down, which has definitely happened to me before. There’ve been moments where I’ve (though well intentioned) said the wrong thing and had an army of Twitter warriors come at me. Don’t get me wrong, there are obviously more serious levels of f**king up that are worthy of a cancelling. But it was quite daunting to me to think that all of my previous allyship could be forgotten for not getting something right once. When that’s happened to me before I’ve scared myself into thinking I should STFU and not say anything, but I have to remember that I am human, I’m going to f**k up now and again and as long as I’m continuing to educate myself to do better next time then that’s OK. I’m never going to stop being an ally so I need to accept that there’ll be trickier moments along the way. I think that might be how some people may feel, like they’re scared to speak up as an ally in case they say the wrong thing and face backlash. Just apologise to the people who need to be apologised to, and show that you’re doing what you can to do better and continue the good fight. Don’t burden the community with your guilt. When it comes to the music industry, I’m definitely seeing a lot more LGBT+ artists come through and thrive, which is amazing. Labels, managements, distributors and so forth need to make sure they’re not just benefiting from LGBT+ artists but show they’re doing more to actually stand with them and create environments where those artists and their fans feel safe. A lot of feedback I see from the community when coming to our shows is that they’re in a space where they feel completely free and accepted, which I love. I get offered so many opportunities to do with LGBT+ based shows or deals and while it’s obviously flattering, I turn most of them down and suggest they give the gig to someone more worthy of that role. But really, I shouldn’t have to say that in the first place. The fee for any job I do take that feels right for me but has come in as part of the community goes to LGBT+ charities. That’s not me blowing smoke up my own arse, I just think the more of us and big companies that do that, the better. We need more artists, more visibility, more LGBT+ mainstream shows, more shows on LGBT+ history and more artists standing up as allies. We have huge platforms and such an influence on our fans – show them you’re standing by them. I’ve seen insanely talented LGBT+ artist friends in the industry who are only recently getting the credit they deserve. It’s amazing but it’s telling that it takes so long. It’s almost expected that it will be a tougher ride. We also need more understanding and action on the intersectionality between being LGBT+ and BAME. Racism exists in and out of the community and it would be great to see more and more companies in the industry doing more to combat that. The more we see these shows like Drag Race on our screens, the more we can celebrate difference. Ever since I was a little girl, my family would go to Benidorm and we’d watch these glamorous, hilarious Queens onstage; I was hooked. I grew up listening to and loving the big divas – Diana Ross (my fave), Cher, Shirley Bassey, and all the queens would emulate them. I was amazed at their big wigs, glittery overdrawn make-up and fabulous outfits. They were like big dolls. Most importantly, they were unapologetically whoever the f**k they wanted to be. As a shy girl who didn’t really understand why the world was telling me all the things I should be, I almost envied the queens but more than anything I adored them. Drag truly is an art form, and how incredible that every queen is different; there are so many different styles of drag and to me they symbolise courage and freedom of expression. Everything you envisioned your imaginary best friend to be, but it’s always been you. There’s a reason why the younger generation are loving shows like Drag Race. These kids can watch this show and not only be thoroughly entertained, but be inspired by these incredible people who are unapologetically themselves, sharing their touching stories and who create their own support systems and drag families around them. Now and again I think of when I’d see those Queens in Benidorm, and at the end they’d always sing I Am What I Am as they removed their wigs and smudged their make up off, and all the dads would be up on their feet cheering for them, some emotional, like they were proud. But that love would stop when they’d go back home, back to their conditioned life where toxic heteronormative behaviour is the status quo. Maybe if those same men saw drag culture on their screens they’d be more open to it becoming a part of their everyday life. I’ll never forget marching with Stonewall at Manchester Pride. I joined them as part of their young campaigners programme, and beforehand we sat and talked about allyship and all the young people there asked me questions while sharing some of their stories. We then began the march and I can’t explain the feeling and emotion watching these young people with so much passion, chanting and being cheered by the people they passed. All of these kids had their own personal struggles and stories but in this environment, they felt safe and completely proud to just be them. I knew the history of Pride and why we were marching, but it was something else seeing what Pride really means first hand. My advice for those who want to use their voice but aren’t sure how is, just do it hun. It’s really not a difficult task to stand up for communities that need you. Change can happen quicker with allyship.

Jade Thirlwall on the power, and pressures, of being an LGBT ally: ‘I’m gonna f**k up now and again’

[whaleofatjme1920]

Letters to those you hold dear, Fandom: Creepypasta/Marble Hornets Character: Tim/Masky Relationship: Romantic~

Dear Tim/Masky (whoever gets the letter),

How are you, love? It's been quite a while since I've heard from you. I am guessing work has been busy, same here for me, studies are..whack. Have you eaten yet? If you haven't by the time this letter is in your hand, you better do (or I will head to where you are and force you/jk) I've been..ok? It's in-between 'been better" and "haven't been better". Is that even a thing? The good thing is that now I have the time and passion to eat lunch. Usually, I would just skip it. So, on 'normal' days, I just eat breakfast and supper. I rarely skip dinner but it depends usually. How was your day? Did anything weird happen lately or is it still just obeying your boss. I feel like sending a letter to that man, ranting about him in Japanese so he won't understand. Unless he can translate it then...no way am I writing to him haha. Last night was one of the best. I received my favourite chocolate from an anonymous sender. (It was for valentines btw) They sent 10 of them X] And they're all dark chocolate. I'm sending you one with this letter! Also, a polaroid pic that my housemate took. There was a baby snake in the kitchen this morning and it was adorable~ I wanted to pet it but i was too late. It slithered away to its mum in the backyard. Now, I know what you're thinking. Call 911. Hell nah. I went to pet them but again, they slithered away. Andd,

Happy Valentines Day 💕🌹💖

Sigh, I can't even spend this with you. It's fine, work is life or...a living pain- pfft- lol- Anyways, kisses from me! When you come back to me, expect some muffins with 'I love you's on them and most probably a 2-course dinner (i've been cooking a lot of things lately). Muahah, also a teddy bear. Maybe we could have dinner or something at least. Or just send each other chocolates. I'm looking forward to your reply <3 貴方の愛 Kayte.

[sent with a bar of Belgium dark chocolate and a blurry polaroid picture of Kayte falling down the stairs head first ^^] [AND THANK YOU ELSIE <3]

[Disclaimer: Letters To Those You Hold Dear (Valentine's Edition) is a special event I'm holding from February 13th - February 23rd 11:59 PM. Find the guidelines HERE so you can send a letter or two to those you hold dear <3]

[Putting the AN up here because I don't think it warrants a full letter format from me, yes ofc!! np!! Glad you enjoy <3]

Hey there sweetheart,

I did eat today! We went to some super sketchy diner and got some brunch. Currently writing this because Smile coughed it up in the parking lot and well, Brian is talking to one of the waitresses. Don't know where Kate and Toby went though, so it's just me sitting here at the table. It's nice to catch up with you though, I've really missed hearing from you. It's better than falling downwards, y'know? I wish I was there to hold you though. It's been a while since I've actually seen you and I miss you.

He'd know. One time, he got so angry at Jeff, he started screaming at him in German! The operator's proxies span every country. But I don't know, it would be kind of funny to get some weird anime dub from him for a moment or so. Maybe you should just to see what happens. You know, fuck around and find out. Who gave you Valentine's shit?? Should just be me-. Speaking of, I have some things headed your way that I'll leave as surprise for now, but I'm attaching something sweet for you here too. Saw it earlier and it made me think of you.

You sound like Toby, wanting to pet snakes and stuff. We have to physically wrestle him to leave the raccoons and opossums alone. Do I need to do that for you too, baby? I should hope not.

Anyways, happy valentine's. We should do some baking when I get to see you again! Baking, movies, maybe a romantic dinner? Whatever you want really. What makes you happy makes me happy. And please be more careful... I saw the picture.

Yours,

Tim

[Attached to the letter are a few freshly plucked wildflowers alongside a chocolate bar that has cartoonish hearts on it. There's also a sticky note that read "I love you!" in Tim's handwriting.]

[glacecakes]

Slowly Led up From the Deep

Despite what anyone else (Lance) said, Eugene wasn’t a mother hen. He wasn’t! There was a distinct difference between being cautious and prepared for the worst due to living on the streets, and mother henning the shit out of everyone.

(“You mother hen the shit out of everyone,” Lance would say. “And I’m a dad. With the same past as you.”)

Case in point: Varian.

(Or: the Baron tries to kidnap Varian to get back at Eugene.)

Weeee another project! This one is a lil different tho Basically I have ideas for four (maybe more? Debating whether or not to expand to 7) angst oneshots with each oneshot pertaining to an element. So this is water, I have a plan for earth, air, fire if I decide to go thru with this. Poor Varian, sorry not sorry

Despite what anyone else (Lance) said, Eugene wasn’t a mother hen. He wasn’t! There was a distinct difference between being cautious and prepared for the worst due to living on the streets , and mother henning the shit out of everyone.

(“You mother hen the shit out of everyone,” Lance would say. “And I’m a dad. With the same past as you.”)

Case in point: Varian. Following the events of… well, yknow, life , Eugene was a bit nervous about letting the kid out of his sight. After all, he got kidnapped, drugged, assaulted, imprisoned, and flung out a tower. And that was all in one day! So excuse him for being concerned about his friend's health. The guy had a death wish, and clearly someone had to watch over him or else he would die from falling, or forgetting to sleep, or setting himself on fire, and then Eugene would have a very angry beef-tittied man at his throat.

Since his redemption, Varian had quickly weaseled his way into the man’s heart, not unlike how Rapunzel did. He’d always wanted a younger sibling as a kid, and Varian fit the bill. His tiny frame and nervous demeanor made him a prime target for Eugene to try and instill life lessons into, no matter how much Varian protested. So long as he worked in the castle, Eugene saw to it that the kid got three square meals a day.

And when he’d failed to keep Varian safe...

Being trapped in unbreakable rock, helpless while Varian slid across the floor, the fading screams as he plummeted to what should’ve been his death…

Let’s just say Eugene has bolted awake to those sounds more than once.

And now he was Captain of the Guard, on top of being a big brother. Which meant that he had to oversee the Royal Alchemist’s (aka Varian’s) more… delicate experiments.

As of this moment, Varian was mixing a glowing red liquid, goggles pulled over his face. Eugene had tried to peer over his shoulder and watch, but the younger pushed him away, grumbling something about not spilling it all over.

Gloved hands wrapped around a pipette as he worked, mumbling scientific jargon under his breath. Rapunzel was able to follow along a lot better than he was, which meant Eugene had no clue what was going on.

“Hello, Allo, Varian?” He waved a hand in his face, startling Varian and nearly causing the liquid to slosh out its beaker. “Hi. Yea, I’m still here and I would like to know what’s going on.” He gave the kid an unimpressed eyebrow raise when he turned, sheepish. Clearly Varian forgot about his “lab partner”.

“Right, sorry.” Varian coughed, setting aside the pipette to hold up his substance. “So, the thing with the water tanks is that… they’re really hard to work on once they’re up and running. Right? You can’t exactly go into the tankers,” he snorted. “I mean, you could, but you’d boil alive.” His brows furrowed and he brought a free hand to his chin, deep in thought. “Actually, I don’t know what would happen… maybe…” His brain was off to the races, already miles away from the current conversation.

“Varian,” Eugene snapped, crossing his arms in frustration. Not that he didn’t want to be here, but he really didn’t want to hear about Varian’s new plan to throw someone into a vat of flynnolium to see if they’d survive. “Royal Engineer, more like Mad scientist.”

“I take that as a compliment,” Varian said, turning back to his lab table with a grin. “Aaaanyway, this stuff should, if my calculations are correct, and they are,” He added, knowing Eugene had already opened his mouth. “This stuff should dissolve stuff like rust, but only when exposed to water. So basically we’d just throw a vial of this into the tankers, wait a few minutes, and drain it. Then, tada! Sparkling clean tanks, good as new.” His voice floated with each step, bouncing around his workspace with eagerness and joy. Varian hummed under his breath, grabbing a pitcher and filling a small cup with water. Water from the nearly full pitcher sloshed around, nearly spilling onto the table as he sang along to the song in his head.

“Hey, kid, isn’t that the jug you use for drinking?” Eugene asked, walking over.

“Hmm?” Varian glanced back, not really caring, too in the zone. “So it is.”

“And it’s full, even though I gave it to you this morning?”

“Yeah?”

“Which would mean…” He circles his wrist, expectant gaze meeting Varian’s confused. The boy lifted up his goggles to reveal eyes bluer than any sky. “...That you haven’t had anything to drink?”

“I had some juice at lunch.” Varian said.

“That’s not the same.” Eugene responded.

Varian shot him an annoyed gaze. “Seriously? We’re doing this now?” He asked, a hand moving to lean on his desk. He missed, sending him stumbling, but he kept his gaze trained on Eugene.

Eugene simply hummed, walking over and plucking the red vial from it’s test tube. He placed it in his coat pocket. “Yea, we’re doing this now. No experimenting on that glass, you are to drink it right now.”

“What?” Varian’s face turned slightly green. “This thing hasn’t been properly washed in who knows when! I use it as my paint cup!” He gestured to the wall, covered in notes, writings, and the odd Rapunzel doodle. The one Varian was pointing to was a doodle of his pouty face, perfectly matching his current expression.

Eugene didn’t miss a beat. “Fine. Drink from the pitcher.”

“No!”

“Right now, chug it! Come on, you won’t do it, pussy.”

“I’m not going to chug it,” the alchemist pinched the bridge of his nose. “And didn’t Rapunzel tell you to stop calling people that?”

“No experimenting until you drink it. Captain’s orders.” Varian threw his arms up in frustration. “Why are you so against drinking right now? Come on, I know you’re thirsty!”

“I need the water for the experiment! If I drink it, I’ll have to get a refill!” Getting a refill meant going upstairs, disrupting his thought process and ruining the zone he had been in all day. It was hard to get into that state of absolute concentration, and leaving the lab would surely cause his bubble of productivity to pop.

“Oh no, a refill! The absolute horror!” Eugene fake gasped. The younger’s face burned red as his older friend draped his hand over his forehead in mock distress. “Whatever shall you do, cursed to go get some fresh air by… going upstairs!?”

Varian growled. He wasn’t going to win this argument, they’d had it often enough. But between his excitement over his invention, and Eugene’s teasing, and pulling rank… his ears burned as he took a long swig from the pitcher. He’d be dead before he told Eugene how soothing the cool water felt on his throat, how it spurred him to gulp down half of the pitcher in one go. “There.” He bit out, eyes narrow as daggers. “Are you happy?”

Eugene’s eyes, which had closed in his mock despair, opened to see the teen’s melancholy. Honestly, he was so moody over drinking water , it was ridiculous! All he was doing was making sure the kid didn’t die, oh how wicked of him.

“Yes, quite!” He grinned. “See, wasn’t that hard! I swear, you give me more grey hairs every day. How your dad kept you alive, I’ll never know.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Varian asked, eyebrows raised in offense. Did Eugene not think he could handle himself?

“Well, y’know, the guy always ignored you for hours on end, the fact that you didn’t die of dehydration or starvation is a miracle,” Eugene snorted.

The atmosphere grew tense in a heartbeat. Varian froze where he stood, fingers outstretched towards the cup quickly retracting. "What did you just say?" Varian hissed, eyes narrowing as he turned.

“Just that your dad wasn’t there for you like I am.” Eugene couldn't stop the words that escaped his throat. Jealousy clawed at his mind, sinking sharp talons and cutting his common sense to ribbons. He’d been looking after Varian during his stays at the castle, both before and after he’d become Royal Engineer, and yet he was the bad guy here? He was the one who risked falling off a tower to crawl out to Varian while his dad, who was well versed in the moonstone, had decided he’d rather play with his pumpkins then get involved, despite his son being asked to translate a death spell.

“You did not just say that,” Varian growled, trying to keep himself in check. He hated getting mad, especially at his friends, seeing as he didn’t exactly have a good track record with it. “You did not just suggest that you’re better than my dad.”

“Hey, all I’m saying is that he literally let you cause earthquakes with no supervision when you were fourteen and then got mad when it didn’t exactly turn out great.”

“At least my dad didn’t abandon me for three months.”

“At least I came to save you when Cass kidnapped you.”

Varian slammed his fists on the table. “Did you even tell him about that? Or did he not know I was missing, just assumed you were taking care of me until I came home with broken ribs!?” The alchemist whirled around, marching up and planting a finger on Eugene’s chest. “He thought you guys were keeping me safe, but no ! So what, now you’re trying to make up for it by breathing down my neck? I’m not a little kid, Eugene! It’s one thing to look out for me, but a whole other to smother me and insult my dad!”

The man huffed. “I’m not smothering you, I’m concerned for you! What reasonable parent is ok with their kid forgetting to eat or drink?”

"Well I’m sorry he trusts me to! You’re just a control freak who can’t accept that not everyone needs his input! You don’t trust my judgement at all!"  The anger in Varian's eyes... Eugene hadn't seen it since the battle of Old Corona. He couldn’t stop himself from what came next; it was like a reflex, some leftover anger from before.

"WHY SHOULD I TRUST YOU!?" Eugene screamed, before quickly covering his mouth in horror.

Varian's eyes widened, filling with tears. Then he carefully schooled his face back to impassive and cold.

Eugene faltered, guilt boiling red hot in his stomach. He really messed up, didn't he? It wasn't that he didn't trust Varian, far from it. From his sassy remarks to dorky antics, and the way he was so passionate about everything, it was clear that Varian put his heart and soul into everything he did, and he only shared that with the people he trusted. Eugene was honored to be one of those people. Now, he might have just lost that.

He trusted Varian with his life. But Varian's life? He couldn't trust anyone with that. It was too precious to him. He'd failed to protect Varian so many times, he just wanted to do it right from now on.

Eugene tried to reach out. "Kid, I didn't mean it like that," he began, but Varian ignored him. Instead, he shouldered past, marching up the stairs towards the main castle, pitcher in hand.

"I don't know, Eugene," Varian spat as he walked, words as bitter as the feeling in Eugene's gut. "Why should you? After all, I'm just a traitor to the crown. I could be a spy for the Baron or Saporia, you never know."

"Come on, I know that’s not true," Eugene stepped forward, moving to follow, but refrained. He could see the quaking of Varian’s shoulders, almost imperceptible to anyone who didn’t know him as well as he did. "Varian, you've come so far, you're an amazing kid, I just.."

Varian whirled around, showing that sure enough, his eyes were brimming with tears. "You just what? Fear me? Like everyone else? It's fine, go ahead! Just next time," he sniffled, brushing away an angry tear. "Next time, don't pretend to care. Don’t pretend that you are monitoring me just out of the goodness of your heart. Just treat me like the criminal you think I am.”

He left the lab, leaving Eugene alone with his still untested compound.

About a minute after Varian had stormed off, a guard poked his head in.

“Hey Captain… is now a bad time to tell you a prisoner escaped?”

He groaned.

-

You could practically see the steam coming out of Varian’s ears as he stomped through the castle, to the point that all the maids and guards gave him a wide berth. His cheeks puffed up as he stomped. Stupid Eugene, stupid pitcher, stupid rules, stupid stupid stupid!

“Ugh!” He cried, kicking at the ground and delighting in the scuffing noises. What did he know anyway? Varian was perfectly capable of taking care of himself, he had been for years! He’d been fine on his own in the months he’d been abandoned, after all. He didn’t need Eugene then, and he didn’t need Eugene now.

Never mind the fact that his descent into madness had been because no one was there.

He burst into the supply closet with all the fury of a thousand suns, thankful that no one was in there at the moment. His hands shook as he placed the pitcher under the pump, letting out his frustration at each up and down motion of the lever.

“What does Eugene know,” Varian hissed. “He was on his own for-fucking-ever, and yet here he is thinking that I can’t handle myself? Says he doesn’t trust me to not die, I survived just fine without him!”

He was so focused on his task, on letting out his anger and ignoring the tears that fell into the pitcher, that he didn’t hear the muffled yelling, or the shuffle of guards, or even the heavy groaning of iron on wooden floors.

The door slammed shut with a heavy thud, and Varian frowned. So much for being left alone. He didn’t want to look up, didn’t want to face who he assumed was looking for him. For a moment, the only sound was the other party’s heavy breathing, and Varian’s sniffling.

“What do you want, Eugene?” He hissed. “Come to yell at me for not taking a break?”

The other person doesn’t speak for a moment. Then, a gruff, and decidedly not Eugene speaks. “Are you talking about Flynn Rider?”

Varian startles. He glances up to see the buffest man he’s ever seen (and considering his dad that’s saying a lot) is bent over, fiddling with something on his shoe.

“...yea. Eugene.” He says, turning back to the pitcher. Odd, no one in the castle called him that anymore. Maybe this guy was a visitor? A tourist who got lost? Ambassador, even? He wasn’t sure. Despite his technically high status, he wasn’t exactly welcome in court. Which meant he was often invited to royal balls only to not know a single person or anything about the current politics. It sucked.

There’s a clink as the man unlocks something. He smirks, turning back to where Varian is distracted. “So, you know him?”

“ Know him?” Varian scoffs. At the silence, he realizes the guy is serious. “Yea, I do. He’s annoying.”

“Tell me about it.” The man gruffs. Unfortunately for him (or, more accurately, unfortunately for Varian), the boy takes the invitation.

“He’s like a big brother to me, which is nice… except for the fact that he treats me like a baby brother instead of a younger one. Constantly hovering, always worried about me. I get that he means well,” he goes on, completely oblivious to how the man’s face lights up in a wicked grin, before shuffling around the closet, searching for rope and linen. “But god, it’s so frustrating when I’m trying to do something and he’s just yelling at me to take care of myself! He just wants to, to keep me locked away or something! And then today, he-he insulted my dad, tried to imply that my dad didn’t care. I get that to him it seems that way, since he’s only ever seen my dad a few times…” he let out a sigh. “I just… I appreciate what he’s doing, but he needs to chill.”

“I don’t know,” the man hums. “I’d argue he’d be valid to be concerned at this exact moment.”

Varian furrowed his brows, eyes glancing back and forth as he tried to make sense of the statement. “What does that…?” His eyes widened as the man turned around. Long blonde hair… rope in one hand… a ball and chain in another.

The Baron smirked.

-

Eugene kept a brisk pace, anger and annoyance growing by the second. Of course the one time he needed to be looking for Varian, he was stuck instead looking for a maniac. Leave it to Stan and Pete to mess up a prisoner transfer.

“Any sign?” He calls as he passes a guard, who turns to keep in step.

“No sir, but we have reason to suspect he hasn’t left the kingdom.”

“Good. I want all units on the lookout.” The guard saluted and ran off to execute. Their forces would be spread thin, but it was their best bet. He just hoped no one else would run into their convict.

Especially considering his past with the bastard.

No sooner does he make that wish, there’s a loud crash, akin to glass breaking, and a scream.

An all too familiar scream.

“No no no…” He breaks into a sprint, following the source of the noise. Please, for the love of god, let this not be the case. Let him be wrong, it’s just a scared maid, he just spooked him, let him be ok…!

He skids around the corner, and his heart stops dead in his chest.

Varian was strewn over the Baron’s shoulder, violently thrashing. His arms were bound behind his back, and a cloth tied into a gag over his mouth. Tears of desperation budded as his eyes were screwed shut. Strewn at his kidnapper’s feet were shards from a vase. Said man turned, and he saw how it was broken. Varian’s legs had been tied together, with one also chained to the iron ball that had been used to keep the Baron contained. A lot of good that did.

“How on earth are you still fighting?” The giant hissed. “That chain should keep your legs from moving!” Varian glared daggers down at his kidnapper, no doubt spitting fire through the cloth the likes of which would make Lance faint.

Eugene’s shock quickly morphed as he drew his sword with shaking hands and leveled a glare. He couldn’t protect Varian the last time he was kidnapped, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to fail this time.

The Baron smirked. “Ah, Rider. How nice of you to join us.”

Varian’s eyes snapped open, trying to look over his shoulder to see his brother. Large, tear-filled eyes met dark brown in a silent plea. Their previous argument no longer mattered. All that mattered was keeping him safe.

“Let him go. Now.” Eugene’s voice was deadly level, no longer filled with its usual charm and life. “And maybe I’ll be lenient on your sentence.”

The baron hummed, readjusting Varian in his fireman’s carry. “I have an alternative idea. See, I know you, Rider. And I know how weak you are for your friends. Your family.” The last bit caused Eugene to briefly glance up at Varian, before returning his glare to the Baron. “You’re going to let me walk out these halls, and out of this kingdom.”

“And if I don’t?” He really didn’t want to ask, he knew the answer. But he needed to know. How much danger was Varian in? It was one thing to hurt Lance, an adult who already was disliked by the Baron. But an innocent kid…?

The Baron smirked. “Let’s find out, shall we?” With that, the man thrust his fist into the giant window beside him. Glass spewed from the wound, splinters causing both Varian and Eugene to flinch, the latter taking a step back. It was all the advantage the Baron needed, climbing out and into Corona’s sprawling streets.

“Fuck!” Eugene hissed, leaping after, but it was too late. The man had vanished into the maze. He only had one option left, he realized, his gaze turning to the mainland.  

“I wasn’t planning on taking hostages, but you’re the Royal Engineer, hm? And Rider’s little brother. I’m sure I can fetch a pretty penny… though I’m not opposed to just killing you,” The Baron hummed, moving through the city’s alleys at a speed that really shouldn’t be possible when the man had a squirming teenager on his back. But the words had stunned Varian into submission, helpless to do anything but try and kick his chained leg. If he could just get the damned ball to move, he could potentially use it as a weapon.

Maybe then Eugene would actually trust him to take care of himself.

The main bridge was fast approaching, unguarded, with nothing stopping the criminal from making off with his prize. Wait… there! Straight ahead, a lampost. Varian didn’t need to move the ball, just get the chain stuck around it, and that should buy him some time!

Slowly, so as not to alert the Baron, he began to swing his leg, letting the ball’s momentum begin to carry. He couldn’t swing very much, its weight too much, but his timing was just right. The ball swung around the pole as they passed, hooking on. The Baron was not prepared for the jerk, and so he stumbled, Varian slipping down his grasp and tripping him further. He fell to the floor, grunting slightly in pain.

He only had one shot. If he didn’t get himself back up now , his attempt would fail. Nimble hands twisted around in his bonds, trying to slide out of the rope, but they were too tight.

Come on Varian, he thought to himself. Eugene taught you how to escape this stuff! Think! How do you get out of ropes?

His mind trailed to the post-Cassandra “Hostage 101” seminar Eugene had given (read: forced onto) him. Something about using your elbows to create a space in your wrists? No wait, that was for when your hands are in front of you! Gah!

Despite it all, Varian can’t help but let frustrated tears prick at his eyes, slicing down his cheek and cutting open his soul, leaving it raw, exposed to the elements, to this bastard. He couldn’t even get his binding undone! At least with his last kidnapping, he could not escape because it was literally unbreakable. Here, he was just too weak. Too naive. Too oblivious.

If Eugene was here, this wouldn’t be a problem. Eugene would never let anything bad happen to him on his watch, it was his job, after all. And he was damn good at it.

If only Varian hadn’t stormed off.

He squirmed forward, trying to drag himself away from the Baron and buy himself more time. But it didn’t work. The man grabbed onto the ball, and yanked hard , dragging the teen over rocks that slashed at his skin.

“I will admit, that is exactly what I should’ve expected from you,” he growled, his massive form towering over Varian. With one smooth motion, he hauled the alchemist up by his shirt collar, forcing their eyes to meet. “But you won’t get away that easily.”

“Neither will you!”

The Baron turned, a feral smirk crawling over his face as he saw Eugene’s panting form. “Rider. I thought I told you not to follow?” He clicked his tongue, more akin to scolding a small child.

Eugene didn’t back down, sword drawn and pointing straight at his prey. “Let him go. Now.” It wasn’t a suggestion, but an order.

The Baron raised an eyebrow, hand still tightly gripping Varian. “You took everything from me. My daughter, my legacy, my empire. You really think I should let him go?”

“He has nothing to do with any of that!” Eugene barked, protective rage racing through his veins and spitting out of his mouth like flames. “Release him. Or I will engage.”

The Baron teeth were bared, canines flashing. “Good.”

He turned and threw Varian off the bridge.

Time moved in slow motion. Wind whistled in Varian’s ears, ruffling his hair and sending it spiral above his head, filling his vision with raven edges. The sky seemed to shrink, growing farther and farther away.

Eugene’s horrified face from high above was the last thing he saw before he hit the water.

Water rushed up his unprepared nose, spilling into his soul as he choked and tried to spit and cough it out. But he couldn’t, gag remaining firmly in place. He thrashed, trying something, anything, to stop his rapid descent, but the heavy ball on his ankle prevented any success. Blue overtook his vision, rays of sun fading more and more along with his loss of oxygen. His ears ached with increasing pressure, more and more until finally the ball hit something, vibrations rocketing up his leg.

He tried desperately to think of something, anything that could help him, but as the fog of unconsciousness creeped ever closer, the haze growing stronger and stronger, all he could think of was Eugene .

It was his last thought before darkness overtook him.

“VARIAN!” Eugene shrieked, watching as his little brother hit the water with a splash . His horrified gaze whipped around to see the Baron calmly walking away. “Get back here!” He yelled, running forward with his sword prepared to strike the man down once and for all. It hit its target, slashing the Baron’s shirt open and his form onto the floor. Blow after blow, he whaled on the large man with fists so fast his enemy had no time to strike back. The Captain raised the sword with both hands on the hilt, preparing for the final strike in a fit of fury…

“Sure,” the Baron grinned through a split lip. “Kill me, go ahead. But you’ll be killing him too.”

Eugene froze mid air.

He had a choice to make.

He could fulfill his duty, keeping Corona safe… at the cost of his baby brother…

Just like during the blizzard, just like in the months after…

The Baron cackled, seeing the emotions flicker across Eugene’s face. “Tick tock, Rider!” He yelled, laughter ringing in the captain’s ears and drowning him in panic just like how Varian was drowning now-

He dropped his sword in horror, sprinting over to the bridge’s edge, barely able to make out a familiar shape down below.

There was no more hesitation; he dove straight down, teeth gritted as he took a deep breath and fell down into the murky abyss.

There was one small blessing, and that was that the bay wasn’t terribly deep. It didn’t exceed beyond 20 feet in depth, and while that wasn’t much, it was still enough to cause a problem when you’re fucking drowning .

His boots hit dirt level, eyes straining in the freshwater as he tried to make out Varian’s face. It was slack, no emotion, no open eyes… he was running out of time.

Think, Eugene, think! He’s dying! His panicked mind screeched. In theory, the gag and hands could wait, but the ball and chain needed to go. Where were his lock picks, he thought as he rifled through his pockets until he landed on a vial.

His eyes widened as he took it out, the red glow illuminating Varian’s rapidly paling face. Of course! The kid’s alchemy! Thank god he’d listened, god his brother was so smart!

Please, please work, he prayed, smashing the vial on the ankle chain, watching with delight as it dissolved like paper in water. Immediately, Varian started to float. His big brother wrapped his arms around him, pushing up off the floor to propel them to the surface.

He gasped, lungs aching as he treaded water, Varian’s head lolling against his chest as the captain struggled to keep them both afloat. Thankfully, the mainland was right by, and in no time he was pulling Varian onto a grassy bank.

He wasted no time, starting chest compressions the second they were both on shore. “Come on kid, come on, don’t die on me!” Eugene hissed, water dripping from his hair onto the teen’s face. “You survived fucking Zhan Tiri you do not get to die from this-”

He was cut off as Varian began to cough violently, rolling over onto his side as he threw up water. A soothing hand ran over Varian’s back, consoling him as the kid slowly came back to life.

Finally, he stopped gagging, only panting heavily as each breath felt like heaven. Clouded blue eyes glanced back at his savior, melting into relief when he saw who it was.

“Eugene,” he sighed, letting the older man pull him into a hug he quickly reciprocated.

“Fuck,” Eugene breathed, laying his chin on Varian’s head. “You ok, kid?”

“...I think I drank enough water for today.”

Eugene laughed, tightening his grip just a bit more. “Yea, ok, you got me there.”

-

The walk back to the castle was slow going. By the time they both got there, they were shivering like crazy, so much so that the maids took one look at them and tossed towels their way.

For now, they were settled in the infirmary, letting the doctors check Varian over to make sure he wasn’t at risk of secondary drowning. A fresh fire crackled nearby, permeating the room with a comfortable atmosphere as Varian laid his head on Eugene’s shoulder.

“Did…” Varian was the first to speak. “Did you catch the Baron…?”

“...No. He got away.” Eugene sighed, defeated. He was not looking forward to writing a report.

“I’m sorry,” Varian whispered.

“Don’t be.”

“But I am!” The teen leaned back, frustrated blue meeting confused brown. “If I had just remembered any of the stuff you taught me, I would’ve been able to escape on my own! I shouldn’t have to rely on you for everything…!” His face burned red at the admission, guilt overpowering.

Eugene frowned. “Hey, whoa. You were panicking, it’s ok to not remember! If you want a refresher I can give you one.” His eyes glanced elsewhere. “Or maybe. Someone else should. Don’t want me hovering after all.”

Varian was quiet for a moment, eyes looking anywhere but his brother as the words evaded him. “No. I… I don’t really mind hovering. Sometimes,” he added, holding a finger up. “Sometimes. It’s nice to remember you guys care. But… you need to trust me to not fall over at the smallest push.”

“You mean like this?” Eugene joked, poking Varian in the side, smirking when the kid leaned heavily and fell onto his back, resting against the cot.

“Not fair,” Varian grumbled, but sure enough, there was a small smile on his face. It faded slightly. “I’m sorry for blowing up. You were just trying to help.”

Eugene smiled, slightly pained, but still a smile. “Nah, I deserved it. I’m sorry for all the stuff I said, kid. You know I trust you with my life, right?”

Varian nodded, grabbing Eugene’s arm and pulling him down till he was resting beside the younger. “And I trust you with mine,” he said.

“Well, I would sure hope so.” Eugene snickered. “So, we good?”

“We're good.”

“Excellent. Now, I don’t know about you,” the man wrapped an arm around Varian, till he was resting his head against Eugene’s chest. “But I am exhausted. You exhaust me, you know that?”

“Someone’s gotta keep you on your toes,” Varian teased, but didn’t argue as his eyes slid shut.

“Grey hairs, Varian. Grey hairs.”

[melis-ash]

Some my thoughts and speculation about Cayetana and Philippe in Elite s4 and about Cayetana's arc for @alysenikole13 My first intention was to answer in comments, but, it seems, I have too much thoughts.

1) If google translated dont lies, title of article, I read, was Georgina and Pol's statement that Elite characters dont know that healthy relationship is. (Absolutely agree.) So it seems, there are very few chances on happy relationship for all characters, but only for Cayetana and Philippe. But also such context means, definition "toxic" about Caye and Philippe can be considered very widely. Guznadia was beginning as toxic thing where rich guy tried to seduce poor muslim girl, because his current girlfriend wanted it. Guzman and Nadia feelings for each other feel nice and sweet, but also they never were couple in s1-3, and it was not only because Guzman and Lu, but because Nadia too. So in some way Guznadia can be considered as toxic relationship. Personally I love Polo/Caye relationship, but also it was doomed since beginning, because Marina's murder and because they both were fucked up persons. But also it's very important part of their arcs and character development. Polo from s1 would never find REAL Caye interesting and worth respect (he treated Christian like sex toy), but Polo from s2 did, for Caye, it seems, it was first time, when somebody said her, that REAL Cayetana is more interesting, than that fake glamour personality she created. With Polo, and then with Polo and Valerio, she was learning to be who she really is and be happy with it, even if other people dont like her. Yes, she was not fully succesful in it (hello, those messages) and their happines was short-lived and built on other people's pain, but it gave her some important life expirience. So "toxic relationship" can be various, there many options and interpretations of this termin.

2) Pol said their relationship will be dark, but also with some very beautiful moments. Georgina said, Cayetana left behind part of her personality, that was motivated by lack of confidence and now Caye wants to make things she likes (fashion desingn). Speaking about "left behind part", it seems, she means events in Short Stories. In first episode of Guzman Caye Rebe special Cayetana told that she began to lie, because it made her to feel stronger, and in final of special she said "no more lies". It looks, like showranners plan some positive character development for her, and I think, maybe Philipippe will be sort of temptation for her. Another rich guy who can help her with realization of her dream etc. In special we saw, Caye thought about becoming drug diller, when she was on drugs, and Rebe was ok with idea her mother can sell still some drugs to buy them better future. It's realistic. Bad habits dont die fast. Maybe it's that Caye's inner conflict in s4 will be. Maybe I wrong.

3) My personal care now is fact that Pol Granch is singer, not actor, so I have doubts about his acting. I know, everyone need to begin somewhere, and it's unfair to compare him with somebody who has long filmography. After all, it's not fucking Shakespeare, just show about teenangers, in s1, I remember, I thought, half of cast was not really good in acting, so I hope Pol did his best and other people were nice with him and were helping him doing his job. But it still a little bit upsetting, especially given Georgina is one of the most experienced cast member and I would like to see her with partner who as good as her in acting. So I hope, there will be enough Caye Rebe scenes in s4, their duo was hilarous in special, and Claudia and Georgina both are such talanted and good actresses.

[amtwst-tls]

Starsending Outfit Deuce’s Personal Story translation- Part 2 [In the past, I...]

In which Deuce talks about his past and hopes, and Silver gives some good advice.

Diasomnia Dorm - Hallway Deuce: The Diasomnia dorm has a really different feel from our Heartslabyul...

Deuce: Pretty sure I'd be lost here alone, thank you for leading the way, Silver-senpai. Silver: I don't mind.

Deuce: I'm sure collecting wishes will go smoothly-

Deuce: Oh I've got a call, I'll cut it- wait, its from mom?

Deuce: She normally doesn't call me unless it's something important...did something happen?

Deuce: Please excuse me, I need to take this.

Silver: Go ahead.

Deuce: Hey mom, did something happen? What, you saw your mail?

Deuce: That's right, I got selected to be a 'Stargazer' and-

Deuce: Wha- don't bring up the past now! I've told you that I've changed since then! Don't worry about me.

Deuce: Geez... I'm gonna end the call now ok? We'll talk more soon.

Deuce: Seriously...

Silver: Was that your mother?

Deuce: That's right. Sorry for interrupting our talk.

Silver: You seem to get along well with her.

Deuce: Well, I guess you can say that. My old friends used to call me a "Momma's boy" because of that...

Silver: There's nothing childish about being able to get along with your parents.

Silver: I think it's only natural that you'd want to get along with your parent...someone you treasure.

Deuce: R........Right!?

Deuce: You're the first person I've met who could admit it so honestly...

Deuce: I was thinking this earlier when I heard your wish but, you're really chivalrous aren't you?

Silver: Do you think so? I'm not sure I understand but, thank you.

Silver: Now that I think about it, what wish are you planning to make on your wishing star?

Deuce: Eh, me? Um...

Silver: If you don't want to say it out loud, then you don't have to. I was just curious.

Deuce: No, it's all good. I'm going around and listening to everyone's wishes, it's only fair that I talk about mine as well.

Deuce: Well...

Deuce: In the past, I was a lot more rash....and my personality wasn't really the best.

Deuce: I used to get into a lot of fights...

Silver: Fighting is not good.

Deuce: Being told that so straightforwardly stabs me where it hurts... But yeah, I really do regret it now...

Deuce: But back then, I wouldn't listen to anyone, and eventually no one would believe in me.

Deuce: I'd get blamed for stuff that had nothing to do with me too.

Deuce: The teachers would immediately get on my case, saying stuff like "You were probably behind this" or "You dropped a cauldron again didn't you!?"

Silver: A cauldron?

Deuce: Oh, uh, don't worry about that.

Deuce: Well, it was only natural that people wouldn't believe me, and now that I think back on it, I really had it coming...

Deuce: The only people who believed me were my mother...and one other person.

Silver: There was someone other than your family who believed you?

Deuce: Yes, it was a cop who did his rounds near the school.

Deuce: He was one of the folks who actually cared about me, and would kindly listen to what I had to say...

Deuce: He asked around and managed to get proof that I was nowhere near the scene of the incident!

Silver: It seems like he was a fair person who wouldn't let prejudice cloud his judgement.

Deuce: Yes, my mom was just as grateful as I was for his assistance.

Deuce: So I thought that, if I were just like him, maybe I could give my mother a peace of mind as well...

Deuce: And that's why I decided that I wanted to become a cop.

Deuce: That's my wish.

Silver: A cop, huh...

Silver: I've heard that there's a special department in the Police Organization that recruits mages for the sake of solving crimes that involve magic.

Silver: However, it's an elite department that only accepts the cream of the crop.

Silver: Are you perhaps hoping to join that particular department?

Deuce: Yes... Oh, er, I'm well aware my current grades aren't going to get me anywhere near that job!

Deuce: I know they have written tests to check magic expertise, tests for flight, and practical tests to demonstrate the strength of our magic...

Deuce: I'm well aware that as of yet, I'm a far-cry away from being able to pass all these difficult exams and get hired as one of those special police officers...

Deuce: Haha...ha.....

Silver: ...

Silver: When I was young, my father told me this; "Human life is fleeting! There is no time for you to grieve over your incompetency!"

Silver: He probably meant to say that if we have the time to whine, we should instead use that time to put in more effort for our goals.

Deuce: Your father's way of encouraging was pretty harsh huh!?

Silver: That's right. I still hold those words to heart. ....Though the person himself doesn't seem to remember saying this...

Silver: You will not get rid of your anxiety for the future by grumbling about it. You can only do so by putting in steady effort.

Silver: If you have a dream to fulfill, then you should focus on that and work towards it. Do not give heed to anything else.

Deuce: ...I'm really glad that I came to talk to you today, Silver-senpai! I'm gonna do my best!

Silver: Yes, let's endeavor together. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Courtyard

Deuce: Alright, time for another day of collecting wishes! At this rate it should go-

???: Yikes, the 'Stargazer' is at it again!

Deuce: Huh?

Octanivelle student A: Hey there 'tryhard', you still preparing for the event all serious-like?

Octanivelle student B: Seriously, he's putting in way too much effort when it's just a school event, how embarrassing.

Octanivelle student A: Yeah, way too childish~

Deuce: If you're picking a fight then I'm gonna- ah.

-Flashback start-

Silver: Fighting is no good.

Silver: If you have a dream to fulfill, then focus on that and work towards it. Pay no heed to anything else.

-Flashback end-

Deuce: ...Hmph. Ridiculous. I don't have the free time to deal with you two.

Octanivelle student B: The hell, you trying to gloss over us-

Idia: Deuce-dono...what are you doing over there?

Idia: No way, are you slacking off on your duties?

Idia: Weren't you just spouting off about the responsibilities of us Stargazers or whatever just earlier?

Deuce: S-Shroud senpai!? Wait no, I wasn't slacking off!

Octanivelle student A: Wha- Last time it was the Vice Dormhead of Heartslabyul, this time it's the dormhead of Ignihyde!?

Octanivelle student B: If we fight with people of their status there's no way we'll get out unscathed...

Octanivelle student A: This really pisses me off... that's right! Listen up...

Octanivelle student A: *whispering*

Octanivelle student B: Got it.

Octanivelle student A: We're gonna let you off the hook this time! Smell ya later tryhard!

Idia: What's up with that classic getaway line.... isn’t that what NPCs normally say? Were they scared?

Deuce: ....Those two... Part 3

[alexiethymia]

JSHK Questions and Answers

Since I love lists, and I want to organize these for future reference, this is my compilation of the questions I still have as of the most recent chapter, and attempts to answer them with theories and headcanons with no bases whatsoever. So, let us begin!

1.) How does a human become a supernatural? 

Among the Seven Mysteries, only Hanako and Akane-kun were or are humans. Shijima isn’t the original Shijima Mei, and the current Mitsuba was created from the original Mitsuba. Is there a difference between a human becoming a simple supernatural or becoming a School Mystery? Are humans who died and become ghosts, like original Mitsuba, considered Supernaturals? Is Sakura one such human-turned-ghost-turned supernatural? 

For Amane and Mitsuba, we know how they became spirits. They had lingering regrets, which is confirmed by Kou when he said he’d help Mitsuba with his unfinished business so that he could pass on. So what Kou was talking about in the most recent chapter is probably not that. 

Going back to Akane-kun and Hanako. How did Akane-kun become a supernatural? It was through a deal to save Aoi’s life, albeit he was tricked into it. 

Did something of that sort happen to Amane and Tsukasa perhaps? Did Amane make a wish, was tricked, and somehow as a consequence end up killing Tsukasa as some sort of exchange? Because for some reason, among a time lord, a spider that has a library full of knowledge, and the GOD OF DEATH, it’s Hanako-kun who’s the leader of the School Mysteries. Something big must have been exchanged for that. 

Perhaps Tsukasa heard a rumor that one way he and Amane could stay together forever was to become Supernaturals, with one being the other’s yorishiro and for this reason he wanted to kill Amane, except it happened the other way around. Admittedly, this is a bit farfetched. 

2. Who does Teru actually like?

This was established from the very first chapter, so i believe it’s an important plot point.

Sakura: My first guess, again despite having no basis at all, is Sakura. But Sakura already has Natsuhiko so hmmm....

Mei: Yes, this is a bit weird. The only thing I have to go on is that one picture of Teru with Mei and Shijima in Monster Nursery. Teru could have been a kid who had a crush on high school student Mei before she died. 

Aoi: Recent chapters would point to that. It seems so obvious as to be a red herring, but what if that is what makes it surprising enough to be true? I always thought Teru ‘liking’ Aoi was a way to troll Akane just as how Teru lords over Nene’s crush on him to Hanako (man in other circumstances, Akane-kun and Hanako-kun would get along soooo well), but he never said he liked Nene in a joking way, like he did with Aoi. 

If the Teru-Aoi-Akane triangle is suppose to parallel the Kou-Nene-Hanako triangle, then it checks out if both Teru and Akane have a crush on Aoi. I do see them as being kindred spirits. Both are set up on a pedestal despite no one actually knowing their true selves. Everyone thinks they’re so perfect and nice, but both have pretty twisted characters. I mean Akane is also a ‘nice guy’ but everyone knows about his yandere tendencies, and he’s pretty free about what he thinks. On top of that, there’s also the shady business going on in the Minamoto and Akane families. 

Akane: BUT THEN, what if Akane is the Nene in their triangle. Admittedly, a lot of Teru’s actions could be interpreted as him teasing the boy he likes who’s already in love with someone else. IT CHECKS OUT.

Akane and Aoi: Or you know he could have a crush on the both of them. This is just headcanon after all. 

3.What on earth is Natsuhiko’s deal?

I swear he’s like the wolf in sheep’s clothing. Always beware the fool. I have this weird headcanon that he belongs to a family that’s also spiritually inclined like the Minamotos and the Akanes. Who knows, what if both Sakura and Tsukasa are dead supernaturals and Natsuhiko is their link to the living world?

Someone pointed out how the room with the mirror and the toys could be Hanako’s boundary. Besides the fact that we didn’t see any water, I would say that that is one brilliant observation! I could easily believe that. With what we know now about Sumire and from what Tsukasa said about not seeing Hanako for ten to twenty years, Hanako probably left Tsukasa, his yorishiro, in his boundary and never went to see him. The implications are horrifying. As we saw with Sumire, she kept relieving her death. That’s bad enough with No. 6 letting her die. But based on what we know, unless something else gets revealed, Amane was the one to kill Tsukasa. And he left Tsukasa in the boundary for ten to twenty years to relieve that? If true, I really will have to reevaluate my whole opinion about Hanako. 

I think based on what we saw, if that really is their boundary, it may be a replica of the twin’s room, what with all those toys, and by the time we arrive at that point when we’ll see Hanako’s boundary, I think that’s where the key Nene picked up from Amane in the past will play a part. Is that the key to their house? The twin’s bedroom? Perhaps a secret tree house? There must have been a repercussion as well with Nene picking up that key from the past, because if it’s with her now, then it wasn’t with Amane in the past, and that may have changed something.

If that’s true, then it was Sakura and Natsuhiko who broke Tsukasa out. Again it gives credence to the Sakura-is-already-dead theory, because Tsukasa grants the wishes of the dead, so perhaps there was a wish that Sakura had to have granted no matter what, enough to bind herself to Tsukasa, like how Nene did with Hanako.

(A bit of a sideline, LISTEN I STILL HAVE HOPE FOR A HAPPY ENDING OK. Kamisama Hajimemashita also had time travel shenanigans. and it looked like the protagonist would die, but all of those time travel shenanigans were necessary for them to earn their happy ending. Time isn’t a straight line after all. It’s more like a loop or a circle. What will happen has already happened.) 

4. Why are Tsukasa and Sumire the only human yorishiros?

Although Tsukasa as a yorishiro is not yet confirmed, I still have to wonder why. All of the supernaturals had or have strong ties to a living human. No. 1 has Akane-kun, Yako had Misaki, Mitsuba has Kou, Shijima had Mei, and Tsuchigomori had Amane. We don’t know what No. 1 and Mitsuba’s yorishiro are, but for the other three, the yorishiros they have are in relation to their precious humans. 

I can’t imagine that Yako loved Misaki less than No. 6 or Hanako (presumably) loved Sumire, or Tsukasa, and yet Misaki isn’t Yako’s yorishiro nor is Mei, Shijima’s yorishiro, and I have to wonder why.

Is it because Misaki and Mei had already passed on peacefully, while in contrast Tsukasa and Sumire wanted to stay by Hanako and No. 6′s side, which translated to them being bound as yorishiro? 

It’s stated in the story that yorishiro are the things most precious to a Mystery, but it also makes me think that yorishiros are the things or people that the Mysteries have the most regret about. 

5. Why is Akane-kun affected by supernatural events?

Akane-kun has stronger ties to Supernaturals, being a Supernatural himself, unlike Nene who’s just an assistant to one. 

So why did he forget about Aoi when Yako kidnapped her the first time around, yet Kou and Nene were unaffected, and why did the confession tree have an effect on him?

Maybe, because except for the deal with No. 1, for all intents and purposes he’s just a normal human being? 

But this time around, he doesn’t forget about Aoi. Maybe because he was too involved this time so his memories couldn’t be so easily erased.

But admittedly, it may just have been a story telling choice so the readers wouldn’t know Akane had anything to do with supernaturals.

6. Why was Nene chosen as the kannagi?

This was a question I had all throughout the arc, and it still wasn’t answered. Normally you’d think that Nene became the kannagi the moment she made a wish to Hanako but Hanako later says that he had nothing to do with her short fate. So if Nene had never met Hanako in the first place, would she have been doomed to die for completely mundane reasons?

BUT THEN when she read her book at the Bookstacks, if I’m not remembering incorrectly, her first disastrous date was in college, but Mirai says in the Clock Keepers arc that she had less than a year to live, which means she’s supposed to die in high school. Why this discrepancy? Could Hanako have been lying? Did her lifespan shorten after making a wish to Hanako thereafter becoming the kannagi i.e. Hanako’s assistant? But again only those who were already near to death could have made a wish to Hanako so maybe since they were already doomed to die anyway, making a wish to Hanako and becoming his assistant was just the prerequisite to being the kannagi. Except in this case, Hanako wanted to change her fate. Perhaps opening a person’s book changes their fate. Nene’s book was read, Amane’s book was read by Tsuchigomori, but again no in-story event would support this. 

Sumire identifies Nene as the kannagi, but No. 6 passes her by and identified Aoi as the kannagi, so again why this discrepancy? Perhaps someone in the past put a stop to the practice of sacrificing Akane girls (the Minamoto family perhaps?), but an Akane girl would always go to Kamome as a sort of back-up just in case.

Hanako was clearly lying when he said no human sacrifices happened during his time. What if there was a Hanako-san before our Hanako-kun? What if either Amane or Tsukasa made a wish to that Hanako-san, and as a result one of them became the kannagi or human sacrifice?  

7. Why is No. 1 so important? 

Kako is just sus af. Out of all the supernaturals, No. 1 always seemed the most powerful to me, which makes me wonder why Hanako is the leader of the Seven Mysteries. I mean when he called a meeting, only Tsuchigomori and Yako came, but when Kako presided over the meeting, all the supernaturals were there, except No.6. It was like Kako was the judge while Hanako was the defendant. 

Time is an amazing power, even if it’s only in the school. Theoretically, if only within the school, doesn’t Kako have the power to reverse time going back to when Amane’s time when he was still a student there? Or does Kako have the power to transport people to the past while in the school?

Similarly, is stopping time for fifteen minutes the extent of Akane-kun’s powers as the Clock Keeper of the present, or is there something more to it? Why is it necessary for a living human to be the Clock Keeper of the present anyway? Akane-kun once said he was forced to clean the clock where they kept Mirai imprisoned so Akane must know the location of No. 1′s boundary and yorishiro.

Teru said it was important for them to get to the Clock Keepers. Would something happen if all of the Clock Keepers combined their powers (like some super sentai)?

And let us not forget, Shijima’s hint about Nene’s lifespan lies with No. 1, specifically with Akane. (Speaking of Shijima, what on earth was the price Tsukasa exacted for her wish?)

Who knows? Perhaps the key to solving Nene’s lifespan problem without sacrificing Aoi lies with No.1 and No. 6 as the mysteries who have dominion over time, life and death. 

Seven questions for seven mysteries. 

[stupid-stew]

WHEN YOU WHEN WHEN WHEEEEN

I'm alive I'm back OK TRAILER GO GO GO

i'm not using photos because i wouldn't be able to contain myself but this is in order of events in the trailer so like tee hee

ok so starting off, it looks like luz still has access to her phone, maybe it's still sending things, but i think camila might start to get an idea of what's going on pretty early in the season plus we still get to see her so like YES

the first shot with lilith and luz with lilith carrying hooty is definitely from echoes of the past, guess we found out that hooty does actually leave the house, even if it is in the form of a slightly smaller house backpack? yknow what good for him but the contents of the door where he was will haunt my dreams. thanks. and also lilith's palisman can fly!

the one with the "forbidden stacks" and luz and amity in front of the door is from through the looking glass ruins, PLEASE give me some alice in wonderland references i'm begging. along with that shot, i'm assuming the later ones with amity having her hair down and her employee id badge, both scenes with gus casting with what looks to be a fire glyph (those two are the same scene split in two i think), and the one with the creepy thing with the lantern are both from that episode as well.

there are three different scenes that are from the same episode as each other, possibly one that hasn't been announced yet because i can't place it, but the one with luz walking along the statues, the one with her and king where a hand shoots out and opens, and the one with some beasty climbing up the wall all look to be from the same one and that's terrifying.

now for separate tides, there's a bunch, anything with luz in the pirate outfit is probably from that, her casting the ice glyphs, her tied up, you get it.

i'm getting to belos, r, and camila just hold your horses. hold them.

ok owl mask, a bunch. my thing is that we see the one with luz jumping up onto a building, she has his staff, and a little cardinal on her shoulder which i think is cute, i don't think it's her palisman but that's up for debate. but she somehow got his staff, and that worries me deeply.

NOW NOW NOW OWL BEAST LILITH. ok so we don't see any owl beast eda in the trailer, but owl beast lilith, yes yes we do. not only do we see her like partially transformed and like dying on the ground, but the owl beast we do see greatly resembles a hoot owl. why does that matter? i will talk to you for hours about character names, but basically some translations of lilith's name are hoot owl and screech owl, and i am so unbelievably excited for this i'm shitting my pants but on the inside.

time to talk about r. if you don't know who r is, most people think their name is rayne? rain? i don't actually know but from what i've heard they're a confirmed non binary character? girl idek anyways the important part is that they were the person who had their face obscured in the photo of eda in her scrapbook from wilw, and they're now the bard coven leader. i'm just gonna say it, they are way too ominous and apparent in the trailer to not be important so do with that what you will but remember kids, in the scrapbook they signed their name with belos' mask on the end of the r. beware.

gwendolyyynnnnn ok so there's a bunch about her, first of all she's a cute little old lady so she's probably evil, from what we see of her she's totally a clawthorne, but she's a beast keeper, keeping in mind the age that eda got cursed that can be kind of yikes but yknow. she has what looks to be an eagle? falcon? idk if it's even a palisman but a bird is a bird and that's good enough for me. she has the same nails as lilith, and her boots resemble eda's, plus she has the gold jewlery and wild hair so like she's their mom alright. the thing that worries me the most about her is one of the flashbacks we saw, eda hiding from someone yelling, it could very well be gwen and i will in fact fight a bitch. that is all.

ok girl- what is up with the blights? i'm not even going to lie, odalia is kind of a baddie. all villains are hot she's no exception. but blight industries? we knew they had money and power but this kind of is different, and she seems to use the gun she had to cast an abomination monster that we see chasing luz around?

the coven leaders, why are they so attractive? and the plant lady seems like a older version of perfuma so like do with that what you will but like the abomination dude, is his hair an abomination? anyways, why is he hot? r is also a sight love that for them. though them like burning away while menacingly playing the violin has me............concerned.

break to talk about eda, we don't see a lot of her current self in the trailer, we see more of her in the past, and i am scared? where she at? shawty? but her with a pony tail and her with short hair? sheeesh.

there's a lot more glyph magic, a lot more exploration of if, but one of the scenes where lilith is casting the three ice glyphs and like drags them out is very similar to the way luz casts in the opening for season two. also someone said lilith looks like dying, her cheekbones are way more defined, more than they should be, like hey queen you good? it also looks like she has more of a presence this season and i'm here for it.

there are also two scenes where like everything is on fire, one with hooty and one with lilith, um- its fine ok everything is probably fine although i do hope lilith smacks a bitch with that stick.

ok nowwww i can talk about belos.

we have that one scene with owl mask, is that belos' shadow like morphing? god i hope so. those are his mask horns. he's an old man so he's got gray hair but i didn't expect it to be that long, you do you. with the portal he clearly has rebuilt it, but i think it's interesting how he mad his own key and luz still has the original one, it's kind of fu

WIAT OK I JUST REMEMBERED WHAT IF IN ECHOES Of th e past the shot with eda and her short hair is from hooty's pov and that's how they met

back to belos, there's so much happening in the trailer but like what if we see his face, and did the titan like explode?

i cannot do this anymore it's too late for this but leikIHJBEKJSFDKNFALKNLKNDFNOKNKEFAINOK

[kyotakumrau]

2020.05.30 DIR EN GREY SPECIAL TALK - Q&A - Kyo and Kaoru - translation

(if you notice any mistakes, typos or have any comments, I appreciate them! ^ ^)

Joe (introduces the Q&A segment)- Question: Kinoko no sato or Takenoko no yama, which team are you? (it's a very popular question in Japan like are you a tea or a coffee person, or cream or jam first etc - those sweets are mushroom and bamboo shoot shaped, the chocolate content and cookie texture are different in each) Kyo- I prefer Kinoko (mushroom). Joe- Ah, you're Team Kinoko. Kyo- At first, I liked Takenoko (bamboo shoot) more, but I think everyone gets tricked by the cookie. Joe- The crunchiness of the Takenoko? Kyo- Yeah. But it's not about what's inside (?) Joe- I see, the chocolate part is more important. Kyo- Exactly. Joe- So as a result of thinking about chocolate, Kinoko wins. Kyo- Yeah. Joe- And how about you, Kaoru? Kaoru- Both are okay (laughing) Joe- (??) ok, both, thank you for the answer. A response of an adult. So many comments and questions.

Joe (reads)- 'You talked about getting tattoos earlier, please show us your new tattoos' (Kyo starts stirring) If possible. Kyo- How much will I get for it? Joe- How much? (in English) Depends on money. (=wanna see, pay...) (they laugh, a bit awkward) Kyo- Anyway, it's in a place you can't see. Joe- By the place you can't see you mean you shouldn't show it. Kyo- I would have to take my pants off. Joe- That would be a bit weird. Did you get any new tattoos, Kaoru? Kaoru- Nah. It's painful so nah. Joe- You didn't because it's painful? Kaoru- I'm paying for it, why does it have to come with pain? Kyo- That's how it is. Joe- Yeah... But talking with me on the radio, isn't that a torture? (laughing) Kyo- It is a torture.  But I will write about tattoos in my post in Haiiro, so interested fanclub members should check it.

Joe (reads)- 'Kaoru, how many mugs do you have at the studio?' Kaoru- A lot. Joe- A lot. Okay. Next question, ah it's so fast, woah.

(he struggles with picking a question) Can both  of you just talk together on your own? Go ahead! (... XD) Kyo- When you say 'go ahead'... (awkward chuckles XD) Kyo- Oh, I can read the comments here? Ah. I see.

Joe- Those two are not talking. Then, let's go with this. 'Kaoru, please tell us about some chords you just thought about' Kaoru- I don't know. Really. Joe- You're serious? Kaoru- Yeah, I can't think of any.

Joe- Actually, you both used to live together in the past, right? Kaoru- Yeah we did. Joe- When you were broke. Kyo- Eating beansprouts (=they are super cheap, even like 20~70 yen per pack). Joe- What did you talk about when you lived together? (he laughs to himself about eating beansprouts when broke) Kyo- When going to the studio we went together. Joe- So did you confirm like 'what time should we leave tomorrow'? Kaoru- What was it like? I can't remember anymore. Kyo- We probably did that. Joe- You lived on the same floor with a shared toilet right? In one apartment? KK- Yeah Joe- As fellow adults, after you came of age. Kyo- Yup. But, there was one more guy, from the company. We lived 3 guys together. Joe- Is there any story about that time you can share with us now? Kaoru- The living room was quite big. Because we had that space we had members' costumes (Kyo's painful reaction)there, preparing stage sets there and so on. There was a lot of stuff around. Joe- Hehe. So instead of a peaceful living space it was more like an office? Kaoru- But each of us had our own room. Joe- I see. So Kyo, can you share with us anything you remember from that time? Kyo- Costumes were by the window. And there were train tracks just in front of our windows. So you could see the costumes from the train. Joe- I see. So if by chance a fan saw that they'd know. Kyo- Probably. Joe- And the train passengers'd think 'what's that?'

Kyo- But at that time we really didn't have any money. I just remember being hungry. Joe- But beansprouts don't even cost 100 yen. Kyo- I think... we both got beansprouts... (?) Kaoru- We really couldn't buy much. We really didn't get much money then. Joe- Were you at least able to cook those beansprouts? You didn't eat them raw? Kyo- No, we cooked them. Joe- Which one of you did the cooking? Kyo- Each of us cooked. Joe- And each ate beansprouts. Kyo- That situation continued until around the time we did Nakano two or three day event in our indies period, maybe a bit after that. Joe- NO WAY. Kaoru- Yup, until around Nakano Sunplaza shows (=August 1998). It got slightly better around Shibuya Koukaido (=May 1998). Joe- ...oh. You were eating beansprouts until Nakano Sunplaza, that's some story. Kyo- I wasn't even able to buy McDonald's set. Really. I was so envious (of others). Joe- I see. So when you finally became able to feed yourselves as musicians, what did you eat then? As a 'finally, as a musician, I made it!' (KK both thinking) Kyo- Food...I don't have a memory like 'I can eat this because I finally made it', but there was a time when Tommy, our president now,  learnt that we don't have money, he treated us to a meal and gave us some money. That time I had McDonalds. I only have this memory that I could die happily then it was so good. Joe- With the money you received you had McDonalds and it was delicious. Kyo- It was amazing.

Joe- How about you, leader? (watermelons are considered a bit expensive fruit, usually you buy a cut, not a whole watermelon) Kaoru- As for me... I got a whole watermelon and I was eating it by myself, that time I thought I'm not getting any income and felt really guilty. Joe- Like it was too expensive/lavish (?) Kaoru- As I thought that the watermelon started to taste bad. I finished eating it thinking 'I'm sorry mum'. Joe- Ah Kaoru- I thought it's much better to cut it into pieces and then eat. Joe- Yeah. That's also a good story.

Joe- There are so many comments. (reads) 'Kaoru and Kyo, what clothing brands are you wearing?' Kyo- I will make an instagram post later. Joe- What about you, Kaoru? Kaoru- Ah, it's something I received. Joe- Oh, a present. Is it a t-shirt? Kaoru- It's not a [cotton] t-shirt, it's hemp. Joe- Like linen? Kaoru- It's a type of folk clothing.

Joe (reads)- 'What do you usually talk about?' Kyo- About movies, mostly about the band, like 'this would be good for the next single' etc. Basically we talk about music a lot. Joe - About movies and music. Kaoru- Yeah. Joe- When was the last time the two of you talked together? Kaoru- It's been a while to actually talk. (not use messages) Joe- Really? Kaoru- Since Europe... yeah, no chance at the March show, the last time we talked properly was in Europe. So not since the tour. (silence)

Joe- Then as we have this opportunity, could you talk together for 2, 3 minutes? And I will pick up some questions. (he 'frames out' XD)

Kyo- Talking is actually not that easy... (We can hear Joe's laugh XD) Kaoru- Yeah. Joe talks a lot. Kyo- Yeah... (Joe laughs harder) Kaoru- Right? Just keeps talking... He enjoys having people at loss. Kyo- (laughs) I see.

Karu- Last week Toshiya was drunk, so it was quite interesting, right? Kyo- Ah, I didn't watch. Kaoru- I didn't watch after my part finished, but he was really drunk. (Kyo starts laughing) I felt sorry for Die (he laughs) Kyo- That's unusual. Kaoru- He was really drunk. Probably he was drinking while watching the show. (?) Toshiya can't really drink so much. Kyo- True, usually after we finish playing he will only drink a little. Kaoru- Usually until Shinya starts messing around. Shinya would poke fun at Fujieda. Kyo- Yeah. (he laughs) Fujieda, huh... ...silence >w< Kaoru- It's not easy to talk, huh! Joe! ( ??)

(Joe returns)- Sorry, you were troubled, but everyone wanted to see the members talking. I got some info from the staff that you're working on a project members produced (designed) t-shirts, but I don't know the details. Is it all settled? Kaoru? Kaoru- No, it's all settled. We will be selling t-shirts, each member making their own design. Just that. Joe- I see. Have you started designing? Kaoru- I've already finished, waiting for other members (?), but mine’s not printed yet, so I'm waiting. Joe- How about you, Kyo? Kyo- Just back side left. Joe- So the front design is done. Kyo (nods)- That's right. Joe- When will you start selling them? Kaoru- I don't know yet. Joe- Details will likely be posted on OHP. Or please check the fancub magazine. All members designing their own t-shirts.

Joe- So as you can't tour, can't play shows and fans can't see your shows, we all are getting restless. Kyo how do you feel about the current situation? Kyo- Hmm... I don't want to say anything inappropriate... there are so many things involved. I think that saying you want to do something is maybe not right. Forcing things is probably also not right, but saying that, it's also not good to do nothing... So, it will take some time until we can play shows, that's why, we all think about what we can do only at the time like this, all members think the same. Joe- I see. How about you, Kaoru? Kaoru- Right. One thing at a time. Next month baseball comes back, movie theatres will open. The possibility to hold shows will be after after after all those other steps. Joe- Like Kyo said, what you want to do and actually can do and what people will enjoy, you have to be able to make all three work well together. Kaoru- I'm doing everything with the mindset that we can do Pia Arena somehow, but there's still no announcement what will happen with the shows. If I didn't have this mindset that it’s possible, what then? But I'm thinking we should make an announcement. So. Joe- Of course there are many comments saying 'I want to go to the concert soon!' or 'We love you!' Kyo, are you checking the comments? (Kyo nods) Everyone, please stay strong a bit longer. What will happen with the July shows is something on everyone's mind. But at the current situation it's hard to say if they will happen or not.

Joe- There are many comments asking you to make masks. What do you think? Kaoru- Masks? Joe- Yeah, there are many comments, like that. Kyo- Yeah, I can see many. Kaoru- Joe- The pandemic situation might last for a long time. Right now you can buy masks in some shops fine, but seeing the masks used for example in France, most of them are quite distinctive. In Japan we only have white or some black, no other colours. So it'd be nice to have colourful masks or masks for summer. If anything it'd be great to have not only a t-shirt of your fav band but also a mask, as a message in a way. Look (at comments) DIR mask, DILL mask (laughing). Kaoru- But it'd be hard to fit ‘DIR EN GREY’ on a mask. Joe- But the same way you create tour t-shirts, do the same. Kaoru- Okay. In the end we will be wearing masks for quite some time. Joe- And when concerts start again it's very possible that fans will have to be wearing masks. So in the future t-shirt and mask will be a set for every concert goer. Kyo, did you see any interesting comments? Kyo- It's true that there are many comments asking about masks. So, if we have a chance to do it we will.

Joe- Will you do something like this special talk again? Toshiya said that in a situation there are no concerts for some time he doesn't mind doing it one more time. How about it, Kyo? Kyo- Well... I don't really want to do it. But before that, we had an audio stream, right? I wouldn't mind doing that again.

(bad connection time)

Joe- How about you Kaoru, would you do a talk stream again? Kaoru- Sorry, the connection is bad. (Joe repeats, probably) Well, once in a while... I will think about something we can do next.

(next Joe says musicians prefer to communicate with fans through concerts, but we can get some encouragement through special projects like this; but connection is bad again)

Joe- At the moment over 14969 people are watching us, can you [give us some message]? Let's start with Kyo.

Kyo- Huh, what should I say... We lost many types of freedom, all of us. It's tough. It's the same for me. Let's stay strong a bit longer. A bit more. Joe- And then, a message from the leader to wrap this up. Kaoru- The connection is still bad, can you hear me? Joe- Yeah, we can. Kaoru- It's a very tough time, but I'm really hoping we will be able to play concerts again soon. But, as I keep thinking about things we  are able to do in this period, I'm waiting for the time we can all meet again on the stage.

Joe reads comments about all 5 members doing a stream together. Kyo- With 5 people... Kaoru- it would be hard to follow (?), it'd be hard to know who is talking at the time. It'd be difficult. Will all members.

(bad connection again, Kaoru repeats that with too many members it'd be difficult, 3~2 are better)

Joe- but there is a chance to have members create different teams. (bad connection, Joe thanks everyone for watching, he's also looking forward to the next dir show)

[treestargarden]

so at the request of the same friend, i’m gonna continue analyzing wonder egg priority episodes. this is episode 3 “a bare knife”, so 

tw: child sexual abuse, pedophilia, self-harm (cutting), suicide mention

rika is precious. i’ll say that right of the bat. the first survivor (unnamed) of hers we’re introduced to, its heavily implied her trauma is child sexual abuse. i’ll get into it further along the line, later, but ultimately, this makes me think the main characters’ wonder eggs r deeply relevant to their own trauma/healing. this is also the first time we’re introduce to another girls weapon, which is also relevant to their trauma. 

i love this shot of rika. it implies she has a very confident demeanor (outer appearance), but i figured if she’s doing wonder eggs, she probably has some deep shit to sort out, too. additionally, her intro to ai was stage acting, feigning a broken rib cage. its implied she was testing acca/uru-acca, which probably means she’s seen the two before. 

and comparing her overall interaction with neiru...

neiru’s portrayal is more straight-on. her character is a little more shut off and we don’t know a lot about her yet, but we do know appearance is a lot for her. the straight on profile is neutral. again, hiding deeper emotions/thoughts/motives for neiru.

they have made it a point to focus on this man’s shoes. every. single. time. he’s had maybe a total of 30 seconds of screen time so far 3 episodes in, but i already know his appearance in the show is relevant to ai’s trauma/healing. it was revealed that koito was seeing him--heavily implied it was grooming/sexual, but at this point it isn’t explicit. ai happened to walk in on them one time. so there’s a couple reasons why ai would react to the counselor the way she has. 

1) he’s probably spying on her to ensure her silence

2) he’s probably explicitly threatened her for her silence

3) he’s attempting to groom her, too, in order to gain her silence

something that was immediately obvious to me was rika saying the counselor was “hot.” which made me think about her first wonder egg girl being a ... survivor (using the term loosely, because she is technically dead) of child sexual abuse. at this point, i’m starting to think rika’s trauma is deeply rooted in adult men preying on her. not to mention the fact she was an “idol.” she briefly mentioned her group mates were “ugly” so they broke up. it wasn’t explained, but i have suspicion her idol manager was a man who often brought that up with her, trying to... make her feel separate from her group mates in order to more easily prey on her. he was grooming her.

and to further the point that the wonder egg girls are tied to the living girls’ current traumas, ai repeats over and over she doesn’t have friends, that koito was her only one. when we review the events of episode one, her first wonder egg, kurumi, also expressed that she didn’t have any friends either. 

ai’s second wonder egg, minami, is a little different. she doesn’t express specifically that she hasn’t any friends, but i suppose we could extrapolate some of her characteristics to get to that conclusion. for instance, she berates herself, constantly apologizes, and is described as “meek and timid.” all of these could be attributed to abuse, of course, but also can attribute to an introverted personality (whether that’s trauma-related or not is unknown). but the fact that she dies--and probably at the hands of the abuse (because its never really stated if she self-harmed or not), but it was explicit that her gymnastics coach would get very physical with her--can be probably inferred that nobody cared/knew about the situation. ultimately, she was alone, just as ai feels alone irl. 

so at this point, we’ve been introduced to rika’s coping mechanism--cutting. in this screenshot she expresses... resentment of her weapon “of choice.” which means their weapons are specifically linked to the girls’ traumas. in this instance, i believe it is specifically how they cope. for rika, her scissors* r probably indicative of using scissors to cut/self-harm. ai, on the other hand has a pen. it could be argued the weapon is significant to the first wonder egg, but i’m not convinced. 

for instance, in ai’s first wonder egg, kurumi, they made it a point to focus on the pen she dropped when she ran away in the cafe. it was seen that kurumi was writing--what, we don’t know. but instantly, ai was fascinated by the pen. it could be that she has specific attachment to this item due to her own irl experience. she doesn’t talk to many people, not even her mother. and she’s makes it a point to say koito was her only friend. her coping mechanism would be internalizing and journaling her pain, up to this point, however, we don’t have any explicit scenes of her journaling.

however, if we were to take the route that their weapons are tied to their first wonder egg, then we have to consider a couple things about rika. 

1) we only saw rika’s “first egg” ending, so we have no idea how important the scissors were to that narrative. 

2) my initial reaction was to say it was impossible to say this episode was rika’s first egg, because ai didn’t have a weapon for her entire first egg. HOWEVER, after being introduced to koito and jumping off the ledge to save the other girl, she did end up getting a “transformation” sequence where the regular pen turns into her weapon. 

on the other hand, she looks completely shocked about this, so i’m still pretty confident rika’s intro episode wasn’t actually her first wonder egg. coupled with the fact rika is known to stage act, and the previous evidence i mentioned earlier about her first encounter with ai, i truly do not believe this episode was rika’s first. 

at this point, i’m fairly certain this is a show about healing from your own traumas. in my last review for episode 2 i was concerned it was a white knight narrative, but upon this speculation--the fact that the girls’ weapons, and the wonder eggs are relevant to their irl traumas/healing narratives, i definitely think this is... a self-saving narrative. 

a couple of last notes, before i end this analysis. 

1) wounds: the girls are immortal in the wonder egg worlds, but sustain wounds irl. i think this supports my idea that this is a self-savior narrative in the sense that when you deal with these traumas head-on--looking into your past, doing deep introspection--the trauma can definitely make you feel you’re re-living those injuries. but technically you are ok, you’re in the present. 

HOWEVER, when that processing happens, we can sustain irl injuries--this can be anything from sleep loss, visual/audio hallucinations, paranoia, anxiety, depression which does translate to irl hurt and pain. they are both... /real/, its just that one is more prominent because of its proximity to the present. 

2) rika: i still have some lingering thoughts about her backstory. for instance, when it was revealed the Chiemi committed suicide because rika rejected her, i also believe rika started cutting herself. this could have also ended up in the lane of “you’re an idol, you aren’t supposed to do that. you’re supposed to be perfect. now you’re ugly” rather than her being groomed specifically with those words to separate her from the rest of her group. 

specifically, its possible she was projecting that hatred onto her group mates. like... /she’s/ more human than them because she has feelings/emotions. she’s not a robot like her group mates, etc. 

*i say scissors, but they also look like a pair of razor blades, i’m not really sure as i haven’t gotten a clear shot of them 

either way, i find rika’s backstory fascinating, and i can’t wait to see more of her. 

[greekbros]

"greek-Bros: The Return of an Old Enemy"

Chapter 9: The 'War' Room

It was approximately high noon, the Dionysian Games were at their peak, all was well for the residents of Delphi except for one. Dionysus was in his competitors tent near the game field, explaining to Hermes the whole situation. Dionysus had agreed to a challenge that had now put Delphi and Ariadne in a compromising situation, if Ares won the joust he would take everything from the land to sleeping with his beloved wife.

Dionysus was laying on a pile of pillows, deeply remorseful of his string of terrible decisions. "I can't believe I would put Ariadne in this situation I really am like dad!", he sobbed, "WHY the fuck did I even agree to this?!", he continued while crying into his pillow. Hermes sat next to him, patting his back trying to comfort him. He couldn't care too much about how it all happened but he had an idea on how he was going to help.

Hermes laid down on the pillows and let out a relaxed sigh, he already had the plan all mapped out. "Dionysus, you know very well even if Ares does win...I'm not letting him screw you and Ariadne. By the way....is he using his OWN horses for this?", he asked. Ares's chariot was pulled by a trio of horses that would be best described as literal Night Mares, these mystical fire breathing war horses are fast, aggressive and can pull a lot more than Ares's weight.

Dionysus turned, sniffling, "....I'm not sure why?", now he was curious as to what Hermes was planning, "why? What are you going to do?". He was desperate to find some way of winning. It would be devastating if Ariadne found out she was going to be a prize for Ares and lose her kingdom let alone have her husband lose a challenge he decided to enter.

Hermes gave a smirk, inspite of current events he always knew how to make time for anything. "Well, I remember correctly....his horses are pretty tough....if he is using his horses, I could let them out....replace them with some of the horses from here.....I mean...how does wine effect horses.... especially ones that....breath fire?", he asked with a sly grin. He leaped up, pacing back and forth. "We could.....get him drunk, throw him off his game...or...we can go a little more further.", he turned to Dionysus for some approval.

Dionysus was catching on with Hermes's plan. He stood up, "...yeah.....I see where you're going with this....yeah.....but how are we going to get the horses to drink the wine? I mean....you can't just lead a horse to water....also....what if an animal that BREATHES fire....wine is flammable you know...". The two were brainstorming, thinking of ways Ares could be sabotaged. Their brain power would get a boost in the form of someone outside. The two heard the familiar but eloquently frustrated voice of Apollo, demanding to see Dionysus. Dionysus rushes to the tent entrance and opens to see Apollo, talking to one of the satyrs guarding the tent. "Hey man how's it hanging?", Dionysus chimed.

Apollo turned around and the look on his face spoke a thousands that all could translate to "What the HELL did I tell you?!". He marched towards Dionysus, pushes him gently back into the tent to yell at him. "WHY IS THERE AN EVENT GOING ON?!?", he shouted, "I thought I told you to hold off on any parties or anything to make sure the people are safe from what's been going on!". He almost couldn't believe that Dionysus would go the point of risking the Delphians for the sake of having fun.

Dionysus slunked into himself like a turtle going into his shell. "W-well Apollo ol'pal...ugh....wow you are NOT going to believe what else....ugh...Ares is here too....aaaaaand I'm in trouble.....more specifically.... Ariadne is in trouble.", he tried to soften the news but even he knew it wasn't going to quell Apollo's mild fury.

Hermes stepped into help in his own way, "Yeah Dionysus bet his wife, Delphi itself and his patronship of Delphi to Ares if he lost.", successfully making the situation far worse. Apollo's usually fare glowingly pale face was slowly glowing a burning fiery orange with anger, it became hotter in the tent, melting any wax candles and drying any leaves from fruits inside. "Come on Apollo, are you really going to get mad inside of this highly flammable tent with your two favorite brothers in mine?", Hermes charmed Apollo. The hot glow dimmed back into the cooler pale tone he usually had, he knew no matter how angry he got it would be pointless to lose his temper.

Apollo took a deep sigh, sat down to further collect himself. ".....ok...now...what do you plan on doing then?", he asked. He could see both Dionysus and Hermes had a plan, and he knew he wasn't going to like it. "Oh good....it seems you both have something cooked up.", he begrudgingly assumed.

The two stood there looking at Apollo, Hermes walked to a table that had a bottle of wine. "Let's just say, Ares isn't going to drive his chariot straight if his HORSES have been drinking....oh..ugh....DID you see his horses?", he asked. Apollo nodded 'yes', so unfortunately, the plan of forcing Ares's horses to drink the wine would pose a challenge. "Ok, so....we will have to feed the horses something else....spiked fruit?", he suggested. The two looked at Hermes, both couldn't argue against the idea yet they found it to be a usable one.

Dionysus chimed in, "yeah I think I have some marinated apples somewhere. We could feed it to his horses if they don't drink the wine.", he left the tent to look for some at a food tent nearby, leaving the two brothers alone.

Apollo knew that Hermes wasn't here just to enjoy watching Dionysus's fake Olympic games, he had been watching what had been going on in Greece. "Hermes, now that we're alone. What have you seen as of late? Is what I've heard from Artemis true?", Apollo was referring to the wolf man that Hermes and Artemis had encountered. He had recently come in contact with Artemis, whom had come to him to ask about Zeus's whereabouts.

His mischievous demeanor calmed into a somber awareness. Hermes took a deep sigh, he got distracted with Dionysus's issue. He turned to Apollo, "yeah, it was pretty freaky...the thing didn't die on the first shot either. I haven't seen them appear during the day though. I think these creatures only come out of night.", he took off hat hat and scratched his head. "Dionysus was getting a lot of complaints....guess people here can't stand still for long....I can see why he caved in, he doesn't want to disappoint anyone....I can relate, buuuuut honestly the whole situation feels weird.". Hermes felt mildly uncomfortable about his encounter, he had been so use to seeing things die and stay dead, that it had never occurred to him that something could reanimate.

Apollo's stern face loosened up, "Well.....he always seems to listen to his mortal citizens more than me so I'm not sure why I always act surprised.", he relaxed a little but noticed Hermes a little bit worried, "Are you ok? Artemis did mention you didn't take too well to the.... creature.". He could see Hermes look like a someone who saw something he shouldn't.

"it's ok", Hermes replied, "....I just prefer dead things to be dead....that's all.". He turned to the shuffling tent wall and sees Dionysus come in with a jar of fruit pickled in wine. "Ah perfect Dio, I'll take the fruit and wine. Wait here and I'll handle the rest.", Hermes took the jar and an amphora of wine and jetted off, leaving Dionysus and Apollo in the tent.

Dionysus turned to Apollo, "sooooo........ugh....hehe, have you seen the games? Man the folks out there are having fun.", he tried to make it as if he wasn't caring about his dilemma but there was no point, "man I fucked up big time..... fucking Ares, the asshole.... should have asked for someone who wouldn't want to fuck Ariadne.....man I'm a terrible husband.", he slumped on to a pile of pillows. He was still worried about the joust, he was worried about losing Ariadne's trust in him, and above all he was worried if he resembled Zeus in the worst way possible. Dionysus let out a deep sigh, "guess I really am my dad's kid..."

Apollo could hear the hurt in Dionysus's voice, he got closer to him and placed his hand on his back. "Look, you messed up even for your standards.....but you're not a terrible husband, you two are young newlyweds, you've been married for a short amount time and mistakes happen.... don't be THAT hard on yourself. There's still time to fix things....does she know about the bet?", asked Apollo.

"No...she doesn't....and I don't want her to know about ANY of it. If I lose, I lose everything that's important to me....if I win...well...I have yet to see Ares be a good sport about losing....for all I know he'll tell her out of spite", Dionysus replied.

"Oh come now, Ares is a difficult person for sure and he's unbarable at times....but I doubt he will be that level of cruelty. Maybe he was just exaggerating...after all the man is the father of Fear and Terror himself, he would know a thing or two about making people fear him." Apollo reassured him. "Plus, I have no doubt Ariadne would forgive you. You've done quite a lot for her if you remember, she knows you love her and you'd end the world for her.", Apollo hoped his words would at least inspire Dionysus not to consider himself a failure of a husband. After all, he along with Hades, have seemed to have rather successful marriages and to compare one's marriage to Zeus's marriage is surly a blow to one's heart and soul let alone their ego.

Dionysus looked at Apollo and smiled, "....thanks....but I just don't want to mess up anyway.", he got up and took a quick peek outside to see how far into the games the people had gotten through. Unfortunately time wouldn't be on their side, it had seems the Delphians had gone through the whole games and have already started giving out makeshift medals. "GAH! THE GAMES ARE ALMOST DONE!", he loudly panicked, he ran towards the set of armor that he set aside so he can put on for the joust, "OH GODS IM FUCKED! Hermes better be done with what he was doing!", he quickly put on his armor.

"I'll go and distract Ares then, see if I can change his mind about the bet, good luck out there Dionysus.", Apollo quickly left Dionysus in the tent.

"Bye see you later.", Dionysus responded.

Elsewhere, Hermes was at a temporary stable where the horses for the joust. Hermes snuck into the stables in hopes no one noticed him. He looked around and could see Ares's three huge, scary looking chariot horses, he slowly tiptoed to them. The horses noticed his presence, these weren't friendly horses, these horses might as well have been the horses of straight from King Augeas's stable. Hermes took a bowl and pored the wine into it, he raised it to the opening of the stable up to the three horses. In a whispered voice, "...hey there buddies, you want something to take the edge off? Come on, it should smell irresistible.", Hermes was hoping the sweet smelling wine would attract their attention, one of the horses did I fact take a sip from the bowl. It drank the whole thing in a few sips, letting out a loud delighted whinny.

"Hehe, perfect.", Hermes poured another bowl to see if he could give more wine, the same horse drank the wine while the second horse became curious and took a few sips as well. Now all was left was to get the third horse hooked on the wine, but the third horse was different, this one was a stubborn mare that lead the trio while they pull the chariot. She wasn't going to fall for the wine as easily. Hermes took a quick peak at the mare, "c'moooooon, what gives?", he could see she was all the way in the corner, glaring at him while her brothers fought to take the last few sips. As Hermes poured the last of wine into the bowl, he went to take out a wine soaked pealed apple from the jar. He gently tossed to the mare, the other two horses could smell the wine on the apple and tried to go right for it, but the mare reared her head, snorting aggressively. The two other horses stopped, the mare sniffed the apple and took a small nibble.

It took a few seconds for the mare to understand why this apple was spicy, however, she seemed to have liked the spiked fruit and ate it in one bite. She clopped towards Hermes, intimidating him for more apples, he quickly obliged and held the jar to the mare. She shoved her muzzle into the jar, eating a few more bits of alcoholic fruit. Hermes wasn't satisfied yet, he left the jar with the mare and he quickly ran to get two more amphoras of wine. He quickly began to pore more wine for all three horses, the more the three sipped, the relaxed and tipsy they acted. The three swayed back and forth, bumping into each other, loudly snorting and whinnying.

Plan A, was a success. Hermes patted the three horses snouts, knowing damn well he would never have a chance to do this with Ares's horses ever again. "Ok, bye bye.", he darted off to see what Ares was doing, unfortunately, he was more focused than ever, he was now for some reason practicing using his sword on an innocent tree as if he was going to fight Dionysus to the death. "What the fuck is he doing, he isn't going to kill dionysus is he?", Hermes questioned to himself. He suddenly saw Apollo call out to Ares, wanting to have a conversation with him. "Ah oh, this is going to be good....or really bad.", Hermes hoped Apollo was going to help.

End of chpr 9

[eidetictelekinetic]

Fic Interview Meme

Thanks for the tag, @rubickk7 !

How many works do you have on AO3? 

I have 115 fics.

What’s your total AO3 wordcount?

1,553,954

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

On AO3:

The Magicians (TV) (28)

A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin (21)

Inception (2010) (20)

Suits (US TV) (17)

Game of Thrones (TV) (12)

Black Sails (7)

Supernatural (6)

The Avengers (Marvel Movies) (5)

A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms (5)

The Tudors (TV) (3)

The Hobbit - All Media Types (2)

X-Men (Movieverse) (2)

Marvel Cinematic Universe (2)

The Hobbit (Jackson Movies) (2)

Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies) (2)

X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies) (2)

American Gods - Neil Gaiman (1)

Conviction (TV 2006) (1)

16th Century CE RPF (1)

Star Wars Legends - All Media Types (1)

Star Wars - All Media Types (1)

Star Wars Sequel Trilogy (1)

Whitechapel (TV) (1)

Chronicles of Narnia (Movies) (1)

Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett (1)

Here’s the list from my fanfiction.net days (some overlap here):

Song of the Lioness

Star Wars

Stargate: SG-1

Harry Potter

In The Forests of the Night

X-Men: The Movie

Circle of Magic

Doctor Who

House, M.D.

Wicked

Law and Order: SVU

Torchwood

Charmed

Primeval

NCIS

Tudors

Inception

Supernatural

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

The Lady of Rivers and Storms [ASOIAF]: When Lysa miscarries Petyr's child before anyone learns of her pregnancy, her father negotiates a different marriage for her instead. Married to the second Baratheon son, will the future be any easier for either of them?

In the Middle (Before I Knew I Had Begun) [Suits]: It's an accident, when Mike touches Lyla. But everything follows from there. (Or maybe everything follows from the moment Rhi saw the golden tiger and all she could think was how beautiful she was.)

Skyfall Is Where We Start [ASOIAF]: 'At least Stannis won't laugh at Renly if the boy tries to follow him around when he's a bit older and takes a tumble on the flagstones. It's not much, not much at all, but perhaps it's enough to be going on with.'

Robert never loved his brothers, but this is not a story about Robert. This is about Stannis, and Renly, and glimpses of how they might have been different, had they let themselves love each other as brothers usually do.

Breakin’ Out the Institution [Suits]: “OK, so, before we start, a few things you should know about me. My name’s Mike Ross, not Rick Sorkin. I am a lawyer, I just didn’t go to Harvard. But you should hear me out anyway.”

Where Mike is actually a lawyer, a Brooklyn ADA looking for a change of pace, and gatecrashes Harvey's interviews entirely on purpose.

Lay Me Down (Pockets Full of Stones) [The Magicians]: The world spins, and Quentin doesn’t even feel his knees buckle, or how his head hits the wall on the way down. All he knows is the fall into the quiet dark.

In which Quentin survives the events of 4.13 by taking such bad care of himself he never actually makes it to the Mirror Realm. Also in which everyone loses him for a day, and Eliot is Not Happy about this.

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Yeah; I like getting responses to my comments so I do my best to reply to comments I get.

What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I had to go back to fanfiction.net for this because I never crossposted these to AO3, but Kiss My Eyes for The Tudors. It was Anne of Cleves/Cromwell, which was tragic mostly because it was historically compliant so a deathfic. Honorable mention, same fandom, was And In That Hour, Charles Brandon/Margaret Tudor and Charles Brandon/Henry VIII, unrequited love for the latter. 

Fun fact about the latter, it was the first m/m fic I ever wrote; the deal was I’d write a slash fic if one of my forum friends did a femslash one.

Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve ever written?

Ha. Hahahahahaha. So, back when I was 17-18 I was working on a verse titled A Moment To Be Real, and it was a crossover verse that, taking all the relevant fics into account, included Charmed, Primeval, the Whoniverse, and NCIS in major capacities. In more minor capacities, the plans for the verse also included Fringe, Supernatural, Stargate SG1/Atlantis, and Warehouse 13. Oh, and there were two main timelines and two minor ones the stories spent time in. Heh. Yeah, that was a thing, yes it was way too big a project and I didn’t finish it, but I truly think that working to juggle all that was very helpful to my later work. 

I don’t write a lot of major crossovers anymore, but I tend to just... live in the idea that certain canons can feasibly coexist so when I can do little crossover cameos I like to do them. One recent exception is return to the sunlit lands, which is a Magicians/Narnia crossover.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not recently; a long time ago back on ff.net, I left a comment that was misunderstood as hate (I said something was bad, meaning the characters’ situation, but the author thought I meant her writing) and the author of that fic responded in kind. Once I clarified, they were nicer in a subsequent review. I’ve been very lucky in that regard; I’ve had friends who have had to deal with a lot of drama in that sense.

Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I didn’t for a long time, but recently I’ve begun to! So far, it’s been m/m and f/f, though there was an intentionally-vague m/m/f scene and I’m... currently avoiding writing a more detailed one because I’m nervous as hell about it, lol.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge. 

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, actually! Two of my older ASOIAF fics, All the Traveled Roads and I Will Not Fall, I Will Not Break have translations, which is just really neat to me.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

About ten years ago I was working on a joint project about modern day Tudors; never did get posted, alas. I’m not sure I’d be very well suited to co-writing a single story; co-writing a verse where different authors do different stories might work, though.

What’s your all time favorite ship?

God, I have no idea, but I still and always have strong feelings about Sam/Jack from Stargate SG1, so let’s go with that for longevity?

What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

A Moment To Be Real, actually; it’s not so much that I want to finish it as that I know I won’t and I regret it. I have another verse that I probably won’t finish but one of these days I’ll at least post an outline of where I saw it going so that there will be some degree of closure. Pretty much every other fic has at least a faint chance I might go back to it, or I genuinely don’t want to.

What are your writing strengths?

Worldbuilding and handling the moving pieces of a canon divergent AU. I’ve also been told I’m pretty good with ensembles.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Action scenes, which is unfortunate when I find myself definitely needing to write a battle, and I suspect is part of my smut hang-ups too.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I have done it occasionally, but honestly I feel it’s usually easier to italicize English dialogue and put the other language in the narration - I think it’s probably easier to read, too.

What was the first fandom you ever wrote for?

Stargate SG1

What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

I couldn’t possibly pick one, really.

Tagging @theemightypen @cosmonauthill @jayneladybright @ofthedirewolves @portraitofemmy @nellie-elizabeth @mihrsuri

[theycallmebecca]

Chris & Ellie, #9

Thanks for this prompt! I’m sure you probably wanted something in the current story timeline... but it didn’t work with my outline... so instead you get a present day Chris and Ellie aka how they’re quarantining.

I’ll include a link to their mastermap when I reblog this to add the other links, but as a refresher, in Chris and Ellie’s 2020 timeline, they are living in Oregon, they’re parented to 14 month old Tommy and Ellie is pregnant with baby #2.

Title: Quarantine in Oregon

Pairing: Chris Evans x OFC (Ellie Spencer-Evans)

Rating: PG-13

Prompt: #9 - "Remember when you thought you were in love with me?"

Warnings: Loss of pet (nothing graphic or specific, more so the reactions to it)

Disclaimer: This work of fiction is not to be reposted, used or translated without my permission.

Because of how tumblr can be silly about links, I will reblog this post with links to the masterlist and the prompt list.

May 1, 2020

Chris came down the stairs with the baby monitor in hand, happy that he'd finally managed to get his fourteen-month-old son, Tommy, down for his nap. It always seemed to take him longer than Ellie to get the baby down, but he was getting better at it.

"El?" he called, once he was on the first floor of their house in Oregon. He'd known she'd left for a while, but he was hoping she'd come back. Seeing that she wasn't in the living room, he made his way into the kitchen, but found it empty as well. "Ellie?"

"She took Dodger for a walk," his brother called from the family room that was just off the kitchen.

Following his brother's voice, Chris found Scott sitting in the corner of the L shaped couch channel surfing. "So she came back then, did she look ok?" he asked.

"She looked tired, but Dodger was practically dancing at the door to go out and she looked like she could use the fresh air herself," Scott replied, looking up at his brother. He frowned and then held out his hand. "Give me the baby monitor. You look like you could use some fresh air yourself."

"Are you sure?" Chris asked him. "I didn't invite you up here to play babysitter."

"I know and that's why I'm offering," Scott replied. "Besides, it's not like I've never watched him during nap time before. He should sleep for a couple hours and if he doesn't, well, I'll call your cell phone."

"Alright, but I think I'll go work in the barn for a bit," Chris said, nodding his head towards the old barn that he and Ellie were in the process of converting from barn to living area.

After double checking that he had his phone, Chris went out to the mudroom and changed into his work boots before heading out into the warm May air. The weather had been amazing during the last couple months, which made being quarantined a little easier on everyone, he supposed.

It only took him a couple minutes to walk out to the barn, which Ellie's uncle's construction company had done a lot of the work on already and more had been in the works until everything had been shut down at the end of March. Thankfully, the winter had been mild and most of the work had been finished before the crew had had to stop working, which meant that most of what was left was the finishing touches. Stuff that Chris could easily take care of, sometimes on his own and sometimes with help.

After unlocking the barn door with the keypad, Chris slid open the large barn door and stepped inside. He and Ellie had talked about leaving the paper down on the floors while they finished working, but had ultimately decided that anything that happened to the repurposed floors would only add to their charm and would give them one less thing to stress over with the renovation.

Once the lights were on, Chris made his way over to the wet bar in the back corner of the open area of the barn's first floor where he and Scott had been working on paneling the front of the bar the day before. It was certainly easier with two pairs of hands, but he'd started it himself and he could finish it that way.

------

Some of the early wildflowers were starting to bloom, Ellie noted as she and Dodger strolled through one of the pastures on their property. The two of them had made a habit of taking a walk in the afternoon to clear their minds. Or rather, she did and Dodger always came with her. As she turned, her eyes fell on the tree that Daisy had always loved to sleep under and tears pooled in her eyes.

Officially in her third trimester of pregnancy today, tears were always close to the surface for her, but thinking of her first furbaby always made her a little sad. They'd known it was coming, Daisy hadn't been doing well for a couple of months, but then things had taken a turn for the worst in late February and they'd made the tough decision to put her down on March 1st. Her dad had helped Chris dig the grave and they'd buried Daisy under that tree, so she could rest in her favorite place.

As if sensing her sadness, Dodger bumped her hand with his head then laid his head against the outside of her thigh.

"You miss her, too, don't you?" she said, scratching Dodger's head. She considered getting down on the ground with him, but past experience told her that wouldn't be a good idea, not when it was just the two of them out in the field without Chris or Scott to help get her on her feet again.

Her frown deepened as she thought of her husband. They'd had a stupid fight that morning thanks to not sleeping well for a couple nights in a row. In between Tommy teething and her not being able to get comfortable at night, she and Chris were both cranky and they'd taken it out on each other this morning over a stupid pair of socks on the floor of the bathroom. She had snapped first and he had snapped back, which hadn't been a great start to an already rough morning.

Afterwards, Chris had taken Dodger out for their usual morning jog and she'd taken care of Tommy, who had blown through his diaper during the night. Which meant that he'd gotten a bath before breakfast and then she'd had to strip his crib and wash everything while he'd played in his exersaucer.

Needless to say, her mood hadn't improved by the time Chris and Dodger got back and she'd accused Chris of leaving her to do everything because she was a woman. It hadn't been pretty and to make matters worse, it had happened in front of Scott.

She had cooled down with a drive up the road to her parent's house where she had cried on her mom's shoulder and then had taken a nap in her childhood bedroom. Both had helped significantly as had talking to her mom about everything that was happening at home and the stress of it all. Her mom, a school counselor, had listened and then had reminded her that everyone was feeling extra pressure and stress with everything that was going on with COVID-19.

By the time she'd left her parents house, she'd felt better and had planned to seek Chris out the second she got back. She'd sought him out and had found him in the nursery with Tommy, his eyes closed as he rocked the baby. She'd let them be and had come downstairs to find Dodger waiting for her to take him on a walk.

"Should we go find dad?" she asked, looking down at Dodger.

The dog let out a happy bark and led the way.

------

As he worked, Chris couldn't help but reflect on the events of the last six weeks. After they'd lost Daisy, he'd found himself in the barn helping the crew as they worked while Ellie took comfort in the family members that dropped in to check on them. Daisy had been his first gift to Ellie, but also their first kid and losing her had hurt. It still hurt.

Then at the end of March, the governor had ordered everyone to stay home and had closed a lot of non-essential businesses, which meant that family had stopped coming over to see them. He'd seen Ellie starting to retreat into herself and he'd called the one person he knew could help her even more than himself, Scott.

His brother had shown up a few days later after an all night road trip and told them of his recent breakup. Privately, he'd told Chris that it had been a mutual thing, but he'd told Ellie that she owed him one since he'd helped her through her last breakup. Chris knew that Ellie knew that Scott didn't really need her help, but she humored his brother anyway.

Caught up in his work and thoughts, Chris didn't hear the footsteps coming into the barn and didn't even realize he wasn't alone anymore until he heard Ellie say, "Remember when you thought you were in love with me?"

The tone of her voice had been one of a joke and he opened his mouth to reply in a similar tone, but shut it when he saw that her expression didn't match it. He dropped his tools and made his way to her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close.

"I've been in love with you for over five years and I'm never going to stop," he assured her as he held her in his arms.

"I was so awful to you this morning," she whimpered. "There's no excuse for it."

"I was just as awful," Chris said, stepping back and brushing tears from her face with his thumbs. "And I knew how tired you were this morning, I should have checked on Tommy before I left and if I had, I would have stayed and helped. Especially since I know it's getting harder for you to get him out of the crib. I was an asshole and I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, too," Ellie replied before burying her head into his chest. She sighed as he wrapped his arms around her again.

"Tomorrow we'll come up with a new morning plan," he suggested. "And maybe I'll throw Tommy into the running stroller and he can come with Dodger and I so you can take a nap. How does that sound?"

"Amazing," Ellie sighed. Then gasped as a small foot kicked her in the ribs. "Marcus Alexander, stop that," she playfully scolded the baby in her stomach. "I swear, he kicks harder than Tommy ever did."

"Maybe he'll be the next great NFL kicker," Chris said with a laugh as he put his hand on her stomach. "Or maybe a soccer player."

"Or a dancer," Ellie added with a smile.

"He can be whatever he wants to be," Chris said, proudly. "I'll support him no matter what."

"And that's why you're an amazing dad," Ellie told him. She raised herself up a bit to give him a kiss. Then rubbed her belly. "Alright, I'm going to go find your brother, I haven't been a great friend to him today in his time of need." She used air quotes around the last three words. "Are you going to work much longer out here? Maybe we can watch a movie or something."

Chris looked back at the bar then shook his head. "I think I'm done for the day, why don't you head back to the house and I'll clean up and follow you in a minute."

Ellie nodded and she left with Dodger on her heels.

After putting his tools away and closing the barn up for the night, Chris glanced around the yard, to make sure all was as it should be. His eyes settled on the tree where they'd buried Daisy and he found himself walking towards it before he'd made a conscious decision to. Losing her had almost been harder than losing East had been, mostly because it wasn't just himself that was hurting from the loss this time.

Reaching the tree, he pressed his hand against the bark and closed his eyes. It had been two months, but that didn't mean it hurt any less.

"We miss you, Daisy girl," he said, softly. "We'll always love you."

He stood there for a few minutes before he turned and made his way back to the house.

[diyunho]

The Joker x Reader - “John Wick” Part 3

Y/N left The Organization 3 years ago for the one reason strong enough to make her settle down: love. But after tragedy crushed her to pieces, she decided to leave The Joker and seek refuge with an old friend and mentor - John Wick. Needless to say The King of Gotham can’t accept his wife running away without a word, especially since he didn’t have a chance to tell her things she might want to hear.

Part 1     Part 2

The Joker listens at the bedroom’s door, impatient to have a conversation with you. It seems you are engaged into a fervent phone call with Winston and figured he shouldn’t interrupt.

“Please, anything you can discover would be a great help! U-hum… U-hum… Thank you,” and you hang up, which queues your husband to walk into the room.

You completely ignore him, scrolling through the numerous text messages you sent to your connections; several are already answering back and hopefully you can get some news soon. The more people are involved into the project, the more chances to find Kase and untangle the mystery of what happened to him after he was removed from the car.

“You left me there,” The Joker sneaks in and closes the door behind him. “Luckily we had Wick with us so he gave me a ride.”

No reaction. He takes a deep breath, trying to get your awareness.

“I didn’t sleep with Evelyn; sex wasn’t the reason why I kept visiting her. I know how that asshole made it sound and he was totally out of line!”

You quickly glance at him, busy replying to Ares since you feel you’re going to explode soon.

“The only skill I was interested in is the fact that she is an excellent painter and a popular art smuggler, OK?” J raises his voice, sort of annoyed you neglect to participate into his monologue. “I did not cheat, alright?” he approaches his wife. “First of all: I’m VERY picky! Second of all: why would I want a woman everyone else had?! I don’t like used toys. Third: nobody’s been polishing my gun as you tastefully addressed the issue! I have one Queen and I married her!!”

A little bit of doubt in your eyes and he utilizes the opportunity.

“You said you saw me going to her house? I did! The Bowery King asked if it was for the last 6 months? Yeah, I did! You know why?!”

At least now The Joker got your attention: you play it cool but he guesses you’re torn apart by his confession.

Many unfortunate events crammed in lately and hating the man you love made life infinitely more unbearable.

“Why…?” you barely muster the strength to inquire and he sees it as a possibility to mend a few broken pieces; although you can hide your emotions well, J can still read between the lines.

Maybe that’s why he answers with another question:

“Do you realize there are just three Monet paintings in circulation on the black market in the entire world? You admire his work and it took a lot of effort and a substantial fortune to acquire The Water Lily Pond painting. Evelyn Black helped with the transaction, then I had her make some modifications to the original masterpiece.”

You keep staring at The King of Gotham, uncertain about the stuff being tossed your way: is he lying or telling the truth?... In your line of work translating feelings is a huge part of the job; ultimately you had the best mentor to teach you the ropes when you started with the organization: none other than the legendary Baba Yaga. Despite his reputation and to your own amazement, John was one of the few hitmen with integrity and perfectly mastered the aptitude of not being a jerk. Such a rare gem… And blissfully unaware of it himself.

On the opposite end, The Joker is a jerk and flawlessly acquainted with his own “captivating” personality that made you fall in love with him anyway.

Also, doesn’t appear to be deceitful for the moment.

And you despise yourself even more for wanting to believe him.

“What… modifications?...” you throw him a bone and J is definitely not going to pass on the alternative of explaining his actions.

“I wanted to surprise you so I took advantage of Miss Black’s capabilities in the art field; I had her add small images to the authentic canvas: an evolution of you being pregnant, the nine frames culminating with a tenth: the new mother holding our son. Similar to a timeline,” he emphasize and you look intrigued, which might be a positive sign. “Needless to say it was tedious, difficult work, especially because she had to apply special pigments you can’t find at every corner of the street. Apparently you can’t mix old paint with contemporary shades, thus I had to order aged, special colors from Italy, Spain and France. That’s why I went to her place so often: I had to supervise the long process and make sure it turns out astonishing. Then…” and The Joker pauses,”…Kase was gone and I didn’t know what to do with my gift: bring it home or not? Would you have loved it? Would it make you sadder? I continued to drive to Evelyn’s and glare at the stupid painting for hours, undecided on what to do…”

J watches you bite on your cheek, then straightens his shoulders as you utter the words:

“… … … You ruined a genuine Monet?”

Your spouse might be a smooth talker when needed, yet he’s not wasting his versatility on this statement:

“I didn’t ruin it; I made it better!”

Silence from both parties. A good or bad omen? Hard to decipher the riddle with two individuals tangled into a relationship that somehow worked despite countless peculiarities meant to keep them apart.

“I have to talk to Jonathan,” you finally mutter and The Joker steps in front of you.

“Talk to me!”

“Unless you know the exact location of the suitcase full of gold coins he’s been safekeeping for me, I really have to speak to him. Or do you want to hammer the whole basement searching for it?”

Y/N walks out of the bedroom and J lingers inside, evesdropping on the conversation happening downstairs. He can’t understand the chat, but you are probably notifying John about the details your husband left out.

Might as well join the party, therefore The Clown pops up in the living room with a plea impossible to refuse:

“Hey Wick, can I stay here? I don’t care if you say no, I’m not going to leave.”

Your friend crosses his arms on his chest, focusing on the random topic:

“How could I deny such a polite request? Of course you can stay Mister Joker; my house is your house.”

You’re watching the free show unamused; usually it would make you smile…now you lack the depth for such connotations.

“Don’t get smart with me, Wick!” J growls and Jonathan pushes for a tiny, unnecessary quarrel.

“I’m not; although generally speaking, I fancy considering myself a smart guy.”

The Joker opens his mouth and you’re not in the mood for whatever the heck they’re initiating:

“I’m going to pump, then after you dig out the suitcase I’ll take half to the Bowery King,” you announce your plans to them.

“You can do that and rest; I’ll deliver the coins,” John immediately offers. “I can stop by Aurelio’s car shop and ask for his collaboration: he has a lot of associates, doesn’t hurt to get him involved. You have plenty of gold.”

“I have two more suitcases in the Continental’s safe and two more at The Penthouse. It doesn’t matter if it’s all gone as long as I can find my son.”

“I know gold coins are preferred; don’t forget we have a lot of money too,” J reckons with spite.

Is he reminding you or Jonathan?...

*************

Your husband spent the last hour in the garden, talking and texting with a lot of people; needless to mention he’s capitalizing on his network also. Winston disclosed Stonneberg’s contract is still opened, meaning the son of a bitch is out there; you have to scoop him before anybody else does.

“Y/N…” The Joker tiptoes in your quarters. “I thought you were taking a nap,” he huffs when he sees you at the edge of the bed.

You glare at the vial on the nightstand, sharing your idea for a future you wish will come true:

“I didn’t have my medicine in two days; I won’t take it anymore because if we get Kase back… I will nurse him. It all goes in the milk and I want to be able to feed my baby… Do you think his little heart is still beating?...” you sniffle and J is currently debating on a clever response since his mind is blank; one could deduce messing up is encoded in his DNA, but on such a huge scale… well, it gives new interpretations to the term even for him.

The grieving woman seeking reassurance for their loss is trying to make sense of the pointless occurrences that lead to Kase being an innocent victim and The Joker can’t render clarification: he has no clue why he asked her to marry him and why she said yes, it’s not that he’s husband material or a family man. Perhaps Y/N thought he could be… just enough to get by, that’s why she accepted his proposal.

Most women would have cringed at the concept. Most women. Not Y/N.

Most women would have flinched at the notion of having his baby. Most women. Not his wife.

Above all, she trusted J with their son and he treated the three weeks old like a trinket: didn’t drive him home because he had an important meeting, didn’t bother to assign escorting cars nor extra security. The King of Gotham took his child’s safety lightly and it definitely had severe consequences. Too late now to fix past mistakes... but he can attempt.

“You’ll be able to nurse him, OK?” he sits by you and hands over his cell. “Can you enter your phone number in here? Or am I not allowed to have the present digits?”

You’re hesitant and he slides the screen while you hold the gadget.

“Lemme help you,” The Joker sarcastically mumbles. “It should be the first on my list, right where the old number you canceled was.”

You exhale and fulfill his demand out of pure frustration when he squeezes in a second innocent petition.

“Chose my avatar.”

You grunt at his rubbish, scrolling through his folders for a picture anyway; J hopes the largest file will get your attention and that’s the point. How could Y/N miss it?!

Entitled “Baby”, the humongous cluster of pics contains 5,723 items. You open it quite absorbed by its size; what’s more puzzling is the collection depicting Kase’s ultrasounds, hundreds of frames with you being pregnant taken without you knowing: there’s a few when your ankles were so swollen you had to sleep with your feet up on 4 pillows, others with you munching on strange food you craved, more with you in the shower focused on your bump, a decent amount of couple selfies when you were sleeping and J had to immortalize the moment without waking you up and approximately 1,500 images of the newborn.

“You didn’t gross me out when you were pregnant,” The Joker reminds a teary Y/N. “Not sure why you would believe such aberration...” he pulls you on his knees and yanks the phone away, tossing it on the nightstand. “I would also like to underline I didn’t have an affair with Miss Black, alright?”

J lifts your chin up, forcing to look at him.

“Let’s put it this way: why would I fuck around with another woman when I have a wife at home that wants to kill me on a regular basis, hm? Where would the fun be? I mean, she didn’t pull the trigger yet but it’s exciting to hope she might. You know me: I’m a sucker for thrills!”

“Do I?”

“Huh?” J steals a kiss and you frown at his sleekness.

“Know you?”

“Yeah,” the green haired Clown acts composed while in fact his feathers are ruffled. Before you catch onto it he has to ultimately admit: “I’m sorry I didn’t drive the car… I should have…”

The Joker holds in his breath when your arms go around his neck very tight.

“I’m suffocating…” he grumbles. “I can’t tell if you’re trying to hug me or choke me to death,” J keeps on caressing your hair, prepared to block your attack in case you’re actually in killing mode.

This is the excitement he was speaking about: with you, one could never know until it’s a done deal.

“I bumped into Magnus at the Continental,” you give him a bit of space to inhale much needed air and The Joker is surprised at your revelation. “I had no idea about his scheme, otherwise I would have skinned him alive right on the hotel grounds! I wouldn’t have cared about the consequences!”

“I’m glad you didn’t,” J cuts you off and he can tell you’re getting mad; maybe you think he doesn’t give a damn but the reason is simple. “You would’ve been declared excommunicado for murder on neutral ground and I don’t want my wife to be the target of such punishment from the company she so proudly retired from. I need my partner!”

The King of Gotham touches your forehead with his as you whisper:

“I hate you!”

“Mmm, regarding this true love affirmation, I’m gonna need you to take a break from detesting me until we have Kase, then you can despise me full throttle again. Deal?” he extends the palm of his hand and you reluctantly shake it, not realizing you’re reacting to his nonsense. “Is that a smile?” J returns the favor with one of his creepy silver grins.

“No.”

“Liar,” he pecks your lips and can’t explain the weird feeling in his heart when you kiss him back.

*************

Jonathan enters the house and becomes suspicious after a few minutes: too much silence.

Omg! Did you and The Joker engaged into a brawling that ended up badly? Did you end each other?!

John frantically runs to the garage, nervous to see your car and J’s are still parked inside. Shit!

“Y/N?” he shouts, concerned about your fate; The Joker’s… irrelevant. Nobody in the garden, patio is empty also. Downstairs is deserted thus he rushes upstairs to your room. The door is not completely shut and he slowly pushes it, knocking.

“Y/N? Can I come in?”

The first thing he notices are clothes scattered on the floor, then he halts his movement at the sight of Y/N and her husband dozing off on the bed sideways: the naked bodies are covered with a blanket, but he can tell you’re snuggled in J’s arms.

Jonathan steps backwards, guilty of invading his guests’ privacy; he certainly didn’t expect to intrude in such a manner and softly closes the door, grateful it’s not what he feared.  

You and The Joker are so worn out the sound of your phones vibrating on the nightstand doesn’t wake you from the deep sleep. Your numerous contacts keep replying back to the text messages, the most important one showing up on his cell: one of the people J reached to is Evelyn Black and the two sentence conversation lights up the screen.

“Let me know if you see Stonnenberg.”

“He’s here.”

 Also read: MASTERLIST

You can follow me on Ao3 and Wattpad under the same blog name: DiYunho.

[geejaysmith]

Kat and I have amazing conversations sometimes and I felt they had to be shared. Also, alienfuckers, dad jokes, Maxwell’s alternative lifestyle and other headcanons, and Ace Attorney: Doug Eiffel edition. Full transcript under the cut.

Gill [Yesterday at 6:05 PM]: On an Unrelated topic: after the finale the crew remembers "OH YEAH, EIFFEL ACTUALLY HAD A FACE-TO-FACE CONVERSATION WITH ALIENS" and now in addition to all the other reasons to want him to Remember they're really freakin' curious to know how that went

Kat [Yesterday at 6:11 PM]: Minkowski: so what did they look like Eiffel: me (They do seem to like his body, they had a few models to choose from when talking to Cutter.)

Gill [Yesterday at 6:13 PM]: Eiffel, probably: at least the aliens think I'm cool I know what was meant by that but your phrasing made me think "In a shocking turn of events, it is the aliens who are attracted to the human." The aliens... are alienfuckers

Kat [Yesterday at 6:17 PM]: I don't think that's their jam but that WOULD be just his luck

Gill [Yesterday at 6:18 PM]: It is unlikely, but also: it would be hilarious

Kat [Yesterday at 6:21 PM]: the aliens keep sending me mental sexts and i crave death

Gill [Yesterday at 6:22 PM]: And lo another shitpost transforms into a fanfic concept, like a humble irradiated lizard becoming Godzilla: "would you fuck your clone?"

Kat [Yesterday at 6:28 PM]: leave him alone has the man not suffered enough

Gill [Yesterday at 6:28 PM]: No

Kat [Yesterday at 6:29 PM]: sigh

Gill [Yesterday at 6:29 PM]: Dance for my amusement, Douglas And also because I earnestly suspect that in the case of Eiffel and an interested alien-consciousness-in-the-form-of-a-Xerox-copy-of-him the answer would end up being "yes"

Kat [Yesterday at 6:34 PM]: idk i feel like it'd be more like "Oh what you spend two fucking years trying to drag us into the star because you can't be assed to make an appearance but you'll teleport across the galaxy for a booty call? Fuck you and I mean that figuratively" later sluts

Gill [Yesterday at 6:36 PM]: Bob is a bad datemate Is this entire train of thought brought on by the fact I still think of the person who expressed they shipped Bob/Eiffel in the tags of the "Take your double to Disneyland" post? Perhaps

Kat [Yesterday at 6:39 PM]: i don't know that you can have this at the same time as 'what if the aliens' bodies are still the people suppressed' without it getting Fucked Up but that's your perogative I guess as long as I don't have to hear about it family can't walk w me tonight so i need to hit the treadmill for a bit. ttyl

Gill [Yesterday at 6:41 PM]: See u in a bit! But ah yes, I hadn't thought of that til you brought it up Points at one explanation of Dear Listener manifestations for some ideas, points at a different explanation for ideas that would become unintentionally Pretty Fucked Up under the first explanation Although there is comedy potential to be found in Eiffel and Eiffel-2 having the "are we down with this" conversation In the /Justin McElroy voice, "someone just discovered they have ~the world's worst fetish~" sense

Kat [Yesterday at 7:33 PM]: a different terrible concept: eiffel with his pop culture references restored will likely be called upon to testify at the united nations

Gill [Yesterday at 7:37 PM]: O h  g o d Ace Attorney: Doug Eiffel edition

Kat [Yesterday at 7:46 PM]: i mean they're gonna have to tell the world SOMEHOW and i'd think the international court would want to know and he's the one with the subconscious recall implanted sidenote if the DL can do that mental transfer could they have just... asked them to reupload whatever their most recent scan of eiffel was there are so many ways around this that's why it failed to get much of an emotional rxn from me

Gill [Yesterday at 7:47 PM]: Minkowski and Lovelace trying to get him to practice his testimony bc if they hit enough subconscious recall triggers they can at LEAST get thru an explanation of the aliens without Eiffel going off into a tangent Once they're off the Dear Listeners' script though all bets are off

Kat [Yesterday at 7:48 PM]: here's a list of preplanned questions your honor we're not responsible if you ask anything else

Gill [Yesterday at 7:51 PM]: Eiffel, maybe: now Goddard didn't send up us there to bring home any xenomorphs but let me tell you, with the Decima project? They might as WELL have let a facehugger get up close and personal with me The translators rapidly swapping notes on late 70's sci-of cinema because a handful of them actually know what he's talking about

Kat [Yesterday at 7:54 PM]: Minkowski headdesking behind him Eiffel English isn't most of these people's first languages

Gill [Yesterday at 7:57 PM]: The news cameras are all dead-focused on Eiffel. He's hit his stride and is picking up steam. "And it was right around the time I was coughing up my liquefied respiratory system that I thought to myself, gee, I'd MUCH rather get a face of alien wing-wong than deal with this!" Minkowski is off to the side. She is visibly restraining herself. No poker face in the world can hide how hard she is longing for death. Whether it is hers or Eiffel's is a subject of contentious debate.

Kat [Yesterday at 7:58 PM]: someone at an elementary school: hey Garcia, is that your dad

Gill [Yesterday at 8:01 PM]: Anne, who was four the last time she saw her father in person, gets one look at the man weaving an intricate Star Wars metaphor out of crimes against humanity and recognizes him instantly, but signs back "I have never seen this guy before in my life."

Kat [Yesterday at 8:04 PM]: good call kiddo

============

Gill [Yesterday at 8:10 PM]: Honestly I love the concept that no matter how much Eiffel may drive them up the wall sometimes the rest of the crew would meet Anne and immediately be ready to kill a man for her sake

Kat [Yesterday at 8:15 PM]: as far as we know he's the only crewmember with kids women in the military... it wouldn't be easy even if you wanted one, which idk if any of them did

Gill [Yesterday at 8:15 PM]: Wait wait, brainwave: it is actually AMAZING that Minkowski had no idea Eiffel had a child because... does he seem like the kind of guy. Who would ever resist a Dad Joke.

Kat [Yesterday at 8:15 PM]: haha fair

Gill [Yesterday at 8:16 PM]: Eiffel: Actually, I have amazing self-restraint when I choose to exercise it. (Various noises of disbelief.) Eiffel: have you ever heard me tell a dad joke? No? I rest my case

Kat [Yesterday at 8:21 PM]: biggest plot hole of the series more like it was too painful a memory but still

Gill [Yesterday at 8:22 PM]: If he ever patches that connection it'll open the floodgates

Kat [Yesterday at 8:26 PM]: He'll become the Maes Hughes of the gang, except with fewer war crimes

Gill [Yesterday at 8:27 PM]: ...has anyone on this crew done war crimes? SI-5 excepted of course, they have obviously done war crimes

Kat [Yesterday at 8:32 PM]: yeah SI5 is war crime central I'm not sure about some of the other stuff executing a prisoner? idk about Minkowski

Gill [Yesterday at 8:32 PM]: Also my thought

Kat [Yesterday at 8:32 PM]: she wasn't a formal pow though it was an ongoing engagement I don't know the rules

Gill [Yesterday at 8:32 PM]: Minkowski Has Done One (1) War Crime (Goddard Futuristics attempts to bring that against her in the court case only for Maxwell to stroll in like lol what's up gang)

Kat [Yesterday at 8:37 PM]: does Goddard in its current incarnation last long enough to sue anyone i mean i think you could sue them for attempted genocide

Gill [Yesterday at 8:38 PM]: Look I have had one semester of business law You were the one who almost went to law school Also re: other characters being parents, the only one I could see going kiiiinda either way on the subject is Lovelace and it wouldn't have been terribly high on her priority list prior to the Hephaestus mission I can see characters having the opinion that they could see Minkowski as a mom but she and her husband both strike me as understanding themselves and one another as being more career-oriented

Kat [Yesterday at 8:44 PM]: yeah if she wanted to rise in the ranks of the military... that would probably be a strike against her

Gill [Yesterday at 8:44 PM] And the implication she's got a Complex about her parents having both left promising careers to raise her Also, Lovelace: Well I always said I could see myself settling down someday, maybe have a family if I met the right person, but when I took the job with Goddard it was legally dubious whether I could actually do that- Eiffel: Because you're an alien? Eiffel: Eiffel: ...wait a sec

Kat [Yesterday at 8:54 PM]: ha It's ok to be gay in space

Gill [Yesterday at 8:56 PM]: Alternatively it's Hera who said that bc didn't connect those dots right away, meanwhile Eiffel saw Lovelace in a flannel shirt once and Knew Immediately Eiffel may be dumb but somehow his Bi-Fi has yet to fail him

Kat [Yesterday at 8:59 PM]: Hera doesn't grasp  human sexuality nuances

Gill [Yesterday at 9:01 PM]: Funny addition to above thought: Eiffel put together that Jacobi was gay after like three days on the Urania, was the only one on the Hephaestus crew to do so, and just never felt it was relevant to bring up Hera, my child... you have much to learn (Also, Hera, probably: I'm experimenting at the moment, I'm looking for a torrent so I can download lesbianism)

Kat [Yesterday at 9:04 PM]: I don't know which option is funnier, that Jacobi is just Really Fucking Obvious but Eiffel was the only one paying attention or that it was super subtle and everyone's like How Did You Do That lovelace's righteous fury overwhelmed her gaydar, she was too mad to go 'same hat'

Gill [Yesterday at 9:07 PM]: Eiffel: I have something to confess to all of you... Jacobi: Eiffel literally not a single person on this ship is straight Eiffel: Oh I was just going to recount a PG version of my wild younger days, let's just say I know a thing or two because I've seen a thing or two.

Kat [Yesterday at 9:07 PM]: Jacobi on Earth: Just matched with myself on Grinder a-fucking-GAIN

Gill [Yesterday at 9:10 PM]: Jacobi: Oh I definitely picked up on it but who wants to go playing into stereotypes by speculating on what may or may not be a promiscuous history? Eiffel: Promiscuous? Look I've got notches in my belt but mostly I just ended up laying in somebody's bathtub at a house party while just conscious enough to nod along to someone else's relationship drama. Eiffel: to several sororities, I was the Gay Bathtub Wizard.

Kat [Yesterday at 9:11 PM]: Maxwell on day one of orientation: So if SI5 is paramilitary what's their stance on alternative lifestyles? Jacobi: I was recruited in a gay bar.

Gill [Yesterday at 9:12 PM]: Her asking the question has my brain going in several different directions

Kat [Yesterday at 9:13 PM]: I think she was recruited right after dadt was repealed... if obama exists in this universe fantasy obama

Gill [Yesterday at 9:15 PM]: One part of my brain: Maxwell is also gay Another part of my brain: Maxwell is exclusively attracted to nonhuman persons Yet another part of my brain, most adjacent to number #2: Maxwell voice, who in their right mind would build a robot that can't fuck? The 4th part of my brain: Maxwell wants to know how chill they'll be with her living exclusively off energy drinks and frozen yogurt for weeks at a time

Kat [Yesterday at 9:15 PM]: honestly I figured whatever it was it was MUCH weirder than just being gay

Gill [Yesterday at 9:15 PM]: Maxwell: I have plans to take over the world with my army of battle bots and rule as their robot queen.

Kat [Yesterday at 9:16 PM]: Maxwell: wait if you were recruited in a gay bar does that mean our boss frequents those or did he just go there to get you Jacobi: Believe me the question haunts me also Jacobi: sounds great i'm in

Gill [Yesterday at 9:16 PM]: Or, Maxwell: I am not joking for an instant when I say that I for one welcome our alien overlords "When I was 13 I tried to get myself abducted by aliens" except it's not a joke it's an actual minor headcanon of mine Also I almost typed "adopted" rather than "abducted" which shows you why Alana would probably want to do that

Kat [Yesterday at 9:19 PM]: she did say she's on bad terms with her family

Gill [Yesterday at 9:20 PM]: She grew up a pastor's kid in a tiny rural town in Montana, hearing that they don't get along is the furthest thing from a surprise to me. The surprise is that Maxwell has a restraining order against them

Kat [Yesterday at 9:21 PM]: tht implies the court found reasonable cause to issue one wack anyway i had a long day, i'm gonna call it a night

Gill [Yesterday at 9:21 PM]: o/ But yeah that Maxwell empathizes with nonhumans, apparently more than with most regular humans, that makes perfect sense to me I can see her frustration with the AI Ethics board in her last job Expressing Their Concerns and her suppressing flashbacks to many a Creationist rant, and trying to keep her eye from twitching visibly, and no I am not projecting I am just coloring in blank spaces in the narrative with my relevant life experience

[lunawings]

King of Prism SSS episode 8 commentary (Yu)

So, in my opinion, I think the episodes we’ve seen up until now could be more or less enjoyed to the fullest by newcomers and/or people who haven’t seen Rainbow Live. 

But from here on out, there is a notable change. And I really mean from here on out: Episodes 8 - 12 basically require having seen Pretty Rhythm Rainbow Live to be fully understood I think. 

So if you watched this episode and thought wait.... why did they just skip over Yu’s backstory like that!?!

Two words: Rainbow Live. 

Anyway let’s get started.

I’m surprised the subber knew the correct spelling to ViviC Heart Session. That takes.... research!? ....Wait, it’s in the credits. Still, that’s some non-linear translation. 

Also I kinda wonder when and where ViviC Heart Session came from in canon. Yeah it’s the Pride the Hero ending, but there is a whole story on how they made and performed Dramatic Love for the Christmas concert, but nothing on ViviC Heart Session as far as I know. 

If you’re wondering why they’re all acting so weird, there have already been not one but TWO different story arcs in the Prism Rush Main Story about Yu ambitiously deciding to write songs and biting off way more than he could chew ahah.... 

They know. 

So this kinda dates this episode? Sort of? Despite the way it seems in episode 1, clearly the Prism One doesn’t take place right after it was announced ahah. 

The way Yu says this line makes me think it’s probably been a month or so already. 

So maybe it was announced in July-August (episode 1 takes place in “summer”), and happened in September-October, something like that?

So like literally JUST as I was thinking to myself “wow the subs have really gotten better in this episode....” THIS had to happen... How dare you translate Taiga’s “IT’S A FESTIVAL” as “party time”................

Oh well. Honestly though, aside from this, this episode has the best subs so far, BY FAR. 

Been wondering for months how they would sub MUGEN HABUUUUUU because I had no idea how I would do it myself ahah.

Although they don’t state it explicitly, it’s pretty clear this episode takes place in Okinawa. Among many other things, I think it’s the only place in Japan with habu. 

I may or may not have thought way too hard for too long about how Taiga and Kakeru ended up in this boat together. 

I mean I would like to think Taiga chose Kakeru as his partner in good faith that they could work well together. 

BUT KAKERU ISN’T EVEN ROWING COME ON 

HE’S JUST ENJOYING THE VIEW

THE VIEW BEING TAIGA IF YOU DIDN’T GET MY DRIFT

I suppose it could have been random pairs, but Shin and Leo also ended up together and that seems not random ahah. Speaking of which...

When I saw this episode for the first time I saw it as a 3-pack with Leo’s episode coming right before (the theatrical Part 3). So I had just gone though Leo’s episode for the first time and all the baggage that came with it less than 10 minutes earlier. 

And needless to say I was VERY MUCH NOT OVER IT AND EXPERIENCING VERY HIGH EMOTIONS ABOUT LEO

So during this scene I was like like

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO

MY SONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

SAVE HIMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM 

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

It actually took me until at least my second or third viewing to catch Kakeru trying to take a selfie with Taiga in the background there and I lost my shit. 

BTW I just want to mention that ViviC Heart Session was made for this episode. Well yes I know it wasn’t literally made for this episode, but it’s always sounded tropical for me and it just could not be more perfect.

I have been wondering for months what Taiga says here and I’m still not sure. (Not that I think this subtitle is wrong, but I mean I can’t make out the Japanese he uses. I just know folks in the theater laugh about it. Or they could just be laughing at Taiga’s method of escaping from Yu.)

Me at cheering: “IT’S SHIN. PICK UP.”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO”

I wonder if like, they all got together and tried to figure out who Yu was least likely to hang up on.

But seriously though

WHO COULD EVER HANG UP ON SHIN

YOU MONSTER 

I said once that Jin was the best voicework in SSS, but Taiga man I dunno. Taiga is up there too. This scream is just so..... BRILLIANT..........

My reaction here changes from “OMG TAIGA ARE YOU OK” to just laughing hysterically. Sometimes in the same showing. Taiga I’m sorry. 

My new desktop background.

Seriously this episode is just SO BEAUTIFUL. 

Such a simple plot, but such amazing atmosphere and visuals that really take it SO MUCH FURTHER.

If I stopped to take screenshots of everything I thought looked amazing this post would never end. So just know I’m definitely thinking it. Just goddamn. 

For a long time I wondered how and why Minato found about about this.

But then I realized it actually makes a lot of sense.

So remember in my last post when I talked about my theory that Minato and Yu probably joined Edel Rose at the same time? Well, when Yu met Leo, basically the first thing he did was brag about knowing Over the Rainbow. So he probably did the same to Minato, and/or Minato just noticed him being way too friendly with Kouji. 

Considering Minato entered Edel Rose FOR KOUJI there is no way he wouldn’t notice that and wonder about it. 

So one day he probably worked up the courage to ask Kouji about it, and.....

Oh boy. 

BTW if you’re thinking huh? Yu’s family was separated? What? 

See: The Ito/Kouji plot in Rainbow Live. (And bring tissues.)

Just the comparison of how fast he picks up here. Even though the first thing he does is complain to her it’s like.... HALF A SECOND from when he sees it’s Ito to when he answers omg..... 

So I kinda questioned this subtitle here. Because the literal Japanese is just him saying “IT’S LATE!” 

So I always thought he meant it like “Do you know what time it is!?”

But then I thought about it some more. And I remembered the Rose Party 2018 event, where the voice actors played a game where they all decided new aspects of the characters. And one of the things that were tasked with deciding (at the afternoon performance I believe) was what Yu does every night before he goes to bed. And one of the answers was “discusses life problems with Ito”. 

So, maybe Ito does call Yu every night so he had been waiting on a call from her for a while.... 

And if so, in that context this subtitle is spot on. 

You win, Crunchyroll. 

Cheering audience: “THAT WAY”

Yu was so impressive Kakeru stopped taking pictures of Taiga for a full minute. 

DID I MENTION THIS EPISODE IS FUCKING BEAUTIFUL 

But so like. As soon as they started heading up the hill. Like practically from when they called his name, I was like..... Yu’s gonna cry. 

So then it was many long, long seconds of anticipation.....

until finally this.....

And I was not disappointed. 

Of all the beautiful things in this episode, I think the most beautiful thing may just be Yu’s crying animation here. He’s such a beautiful crier. 

I love this scene so much. It brings me so much joy. Because he’s not crying because he’s hurt or sad. 

He’s crying because he realized he has friends. 

HE’S CRYING BECAUSE HE HAS FRIENDS

YU

YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

You know, I didn’t even realize Taiga was hiding behind Kakeru until someone in the stream pointed it out.

Am I an asshole because this is Yu’s episode but most of my favorite moments involve Taiga/Kakeru. 

HUG HIM

HUG HIMMMMMM

OH MY GAWD I have NEVER so desperately wanted to reach through the screen and hug an anime character

Also Leo always cries when anyone else is crying. 

I spent so much time looking at Kakeru and Minato that I didn’t even realize Taiga too..... They’re BOTH sleeping on top of Minato omg.....

Also I can’t help but laugh that Leo is the big spoon on Shin. But it doesn’t surprise me. If you read Prism Rush stuff, Leo aggressively cuddling Shin in his sleep is nothing new.

Damn but. Okay so like, another way in which seeing this episode right after Leo’s influenced me is, during Leo’s episode I kept thinking about what PriPara coords were closest to the outfits that the boys were wearing and how I was totally gonna record arcade videos with them. 

And then we get to this and I was like OH MAN I can’t wait until that outfit comes out so I can put it on my character.... then I was like.... WAIT.....

And I realized this is basically the only idol anime I watch currently where I can’t have the clothes and I was like......... ahhhh.... not fair..........

Seriously though it is kind of odd. For me anyhow.

But also because they don’t have to worry about an arcade game for King of Prism, they have a lot more freedom. Like in a show like this, usually all the important coords that season will all uniformly have wings or holograms or otherwise follow some kind of a theme.

But with this it’s like... WHATEVER. Give Yu a huge floaty cross?? SURE WHY NOT!!!! ahah......

PRISM LIIIIVE

Okay so I know this animation is straight from Rainbow Live. 

But this lightning guitar here, it’s a recolor of Sara’s guitar from PriChan isn’t it?

And if it is, this’s the first/only specifically PriChan (not PriPara) reference I know of in SSS.

So I guess the Prism System doesn’t score Prism Lives for boys yet, huh....?

So one Prism Live + one jump = this. 

But I suppose you could also argue that although Yu’s show was super personal and meaningful to him, he really didn’t do much for the audience did he? (The in-universe audience I mean, as it did plenty for me haha.) It was a rather street-style show in that aspect when you think about it. 

Oh well, I guess no matter what someone has to be last................................

Ah man anyway this episode.

So when I saw it for the first time, it actually didn’t leave that much of an impression on me. But that’s because it was a bit overshadowed by how EXTREMELY EMOTIONALLY DISTRAUGHT I was from Leo’s episode, and then I ended up leaving the theater thinking about the um, surprise that’s gonna happen next week in Alexander’s episode. So this episode kinda fell by the wayside. 

I was actually kinda jealous of how much you guys in the stream were freaking out about it. It really made me wish I had the chance to see it independently without the influence of Leo and Alexander. There are definitely advantages to watching these week-to-week instead of in odd bunches. 

Because the more I watched it, the more I really REALLY liked it, and now I think it’s probably my third favorite character episode after Taiga’s and Leo’s. (Or maybe even second. I keep flip-flopping.)

I was also a bit blindsided by how this episode didn’t really follow the normal formula. Since they skipped over Yu’s backstory, they had time for other things. They had time for, dare I say it... “filler”? By that I mean, time to focus on just the boys being boys. Although it’s something we get a lot of on Prism Rush, I realized it’s something we have been severely lacking in the movies and anime. Another big difference between this series and typical Pretty Series/Aikatsu-type anime (other than not being able to have the coords......) is the lack of filler, and I realized how truly valuable it can be. This episode is just such a jewel. 

So in between last week and this week I picked up a magazine (spoon 2Di vol. 50) with director commentary, and this was the last episode he commented on. 

He said this episode is about Yu going through his “rebellious phase”, which he never had the chance to have when he was younger since his family split up during such an important part of his childhood and he felt he had to be strong for his mom and all that. 

So instead he goes through it with his Edel Rose family.

GAAAAAH

Probably my favorite thing about Yu is how we’re able to see him gradually grow and change more than any other character I think. 

Who would have though that little boy we met in Hokkaido would get this far......

So next up is Alexander’s episode and um....

You may have noticed me talking significantly less about that episode that I have about others. And there’s a reason for that. And it’s not because I have nothing to say about it......

The events in Alexander’s episode basically set off a continuity train until the end of the series. IMHO it doesn’t matter what order you watch episodes 2-8 in, but from here on out it’s definitely all connected. 

So basically what I’m trying to get at is.... um.... g..... get emotionally ready for some future cliffhangers. I’m sorry. 

Also, your last chance to properly prepare by watching Rainbow Live.... you won’t be disappointed, I promise.......