#the line delivery is soooo good

[nordenhelm]

Saw @adrianicsea's post about Dennis' "u g l y" and thought I'd upload the whole scene because it's a masterpiece lol

[lanymme]

Hey. This is my possibly favorite Noble Phantasm line in FGO.

But you can’t appreciate it if you don’t get the Buddhist reference, so come over here and let’s learn some Buddhism with the sexy nun:

What, you might ask, is an abhisecana (or abhisheka) rite?

As I understand it, it’s an initiation rite for a practitioner who is advancing in their study of the Dharma. In some Buddhist schools, including Shingon—the school from which Tachikawa-ryu, Kiara’s school, branches off (which we don’t know much about, because it’s long-dead IRL and was subject to political book burnings, but that’s another story—this rite involves a student being assigned to a bodhisattva, whose teachings and/or qualities they will study to guide their development and give them direction.

Rather than let a student choose a bodhisattva based on their preconceptions at the time of the ritual, they are blindfolded and cast a flower onto a mandala—like the womb realm mandala, shown below—and whoever it lands on, that’s who they go with.

But Kiara is, as always, encouraging living beings to give up their heavenly aspirations—to cast their flower instead on the mandala of the realm of desire. Let it fall where it may—chase whatever vice or illusion your whims take you to.

But make no mistake.

However it falls, there’s only one bodhisattva that will watch over you as you dance in the palm of her hand.

[ghostlypawn]

avantika as karen is going to be the highlight of that bad movie

[blushouyo]

im so happy we got to hear elidibus's va again. love his voice

[thxrunaways]

I can't stop saying "yeees oh omnipresent authority figure" i need help

[sgtpeppers]

Okay so the quick version of this is: saw Two Of Us today, adored it even more than I adore the film, the choice to keep them in John's building worked really well to further highlight the mental health message the director talks about in his little note in the programme, the rooftop scene is somehow even more intimate and lovely in this version and the ending is even more painful! I'm gonna write down more under the cut about it all:

Playlist: The playlist before the show/during the interval is everything you would want it to be and it includes Monkberry Moon Delight which I feel like I never hear in public! 

The overall experience was also just super wholesome, one thing I always love about Beatles events is the range of people there it just makes you feel like your part of such a special thing, so shout out to all the old women talking about Paul near me, the middle aged men in their Beatles shirts, and the girl behind me who was sooo excited to be there and I hope she got to meet the cast after like she wanted to! ALSO the Beatles drinks are so funny, idk why Ringo’s is just earl grey tea 😭

Performances: OKAY let’s get into it. So one of my only real complaints about the film is that although I think overall Jared Harris and Aiden Quinn do an amazing job but I do find the quality a little inconsistent (especially the accents) but Richard Short and Barry Sloane are soooo so good, the accents, the little verbal quirks (which also, kudos to the writer as well) and the physicalities are jarringly good at points, especially Barry Sloane’s John. I also feel like a lot of Get Back was watched in preparation because there were so many little things, like the way John plays with his hair that just took me right back to that. Sometimes with fictional Beatles things I’m constantly thinking about how you’re watching two people try to portray these real people, but I definitely found that they were convincing enough that I wasn’t thinking about it too much. 

Outfits: I did find it kinda weird they went for the Get Back looks rather than how they looked in 76, I feel robbed of the New York City vest tbh but they did look great 

Changes from the film: basically they cut out them going for the walk to the park and to Luigi’s and instead John sets up the table for them like they’re in a restaurant in his kitchen. I think it works really well because they play into John not wanting to leave the building, which just adds into that whole mental health thing, and I think it actually makes the rooftop scene more poignant when they get there, because it feels more like Paul has broken through a bit and coaxed him outside, even if it’s baby steps. Anyway, they still have all the same conversations really the script is just chopped up a bit. 

One interesting thing is that the conversation that happens with the fan in Luigi’s still happens, but John sort of pesters Paul about whether he really thinks silly love songs should be number one, and it’s a nice extra layer to Paul’s insecurity which I enjoyed 

Mental health conversations: I think going into it knowing that the director wanted to make this because of the mental health themes, specifically men’s mental health and how having someone to reach out to is so important, is really interesting. They definitely amped up John’s anxiety from the film, his fidgeting and little moments to himself where he’s trying to get himself together were just so palpable, and Paul talking about his depression after the Beatles broke up was even more raw and upsetting seeing it in front of you. My absolute favourite line in the film is ‘I’m thirty-five years old and I still feel like I’ve done something wrong’ and god, my heart just broke seeing it on stage, I think that’s such a common feeling, just that sense that you’re in trouble for something but you’re not really sure what? Anyway, I just loved Sloane’s delivery of it. 

The Kiss: Okay, look I actually don’t care that much about the kiss in the film, I’m glad it’s in there as a little nod to John’s queerness but it really isn’t anything imo, but I liked it a lot more in this! For one thing rather than coming after a little play fight (which is still cute, don’t get me wrong) they do one of their silly dances where they’re spinning each other round etc, so the scene already feels more tender, and then John just kinda grabs him and it goes on a little longer than in the film. I still think it’s far from one of the most intimate moments in the show, but I do think they made it into something more here. 

Rooftop scene: It’s just. It’s everything. They sit right at the front of the stage, facing each other, cross legged and Paul gives him the whole ‘I see a beautiful baby boy speech’ and it’s PERFECT, this was the moment I was most worried about them screwing up and it was perfectly delivered and they have this lovely big hug after it and it made my heart ache in the best way. And idk, if seeing some guy dressed up as Paul McCartney saying that we should focus on fun and get out our own heads and how we don’t have to stay stuck as the kids who were just scared and trying to survive, doesn’t do something for you, then we’re just very different people. 

SNL scene: okay it’s pretty much the same but the way John is sleeping on Paul was everything, it wasn’t just a head on the shoulder he was fully laying back against Paul!! 

The ending: this is just so brutal because Paul doesn’t leave the flat to get his guitar, he borrows one of John’s and so when Yoko calls and John starts doing the whole ‘I wish you were here, you’re the only one who stops me disappearing’ it’s literally…. In Paul’s face. And it hurts. Then at the very end they cut between John on the phone to Yoko and Paul on the phone to Linda, and so Paul says ‘I love you’ to Linda, then John says ‘I love you too’ to Yoko but it sounds like they said it to each other, and then Here Today plays. The fact most people didn’t appear to be crying baffled me quite frankly. 

Yoko: They decided to have Yoko be the one who actually invited Paul, which felt like an odd choice and didn’t really add anything for me, but there we go 

Okay I’m gonna shut up there because this is way too long and I doubt anyone’s read it but ahhhhhhhhh it was so good and you’re just all lucky I can’t text you because my friends have had much more incoherent versions of all this

[wqnwoos]

seventeen — vocal unit as your boyfriend

okay so technically i already did this in dating hyung line / maknae line but — part 2 i guess? requested by @glowunderthemoon 💗

jeonghan

evil!!!!! likes to play around with you so much

especially if you guys are playing games or something he just makes up rules that get wilder and wilder until you draw the line

apologises to you afterwards w backhugs and kisses on your neck but he’s still giggling so how sorry is he really?

sends you all his boyfriend photos and then when he finds out one of them is your lockcreen he’s sooooo cocky about it (“i didn’t know you liked me that much” “jeonghan we have been dating for two years”)

takes you shopping but then gets antsy if you guys stay too long in one shop 😭 he won’t hurry you but he’ll just be shifting around awkwardly until ur done

has unflattering pictures of you as his lock screen. think fast asleep mouth open drooling a little. that’s his lockscreen and he won’t change it no matter how much u ask (he actually thinks it’s adorable)

gives you bites of his food without you even asking

joshua

takes loads of random selfies on your phone,,, like you open the photos app and ur like ?????? because suddenly there are 78 new photos of his face that you definitely did not take

gets sulky if you leave him to go out with friends or something 😭 ofc he’s just kidding but he dramatically throws an arm over his face and pouts (“i thought you loved me!!!!” “joshua you don’t even like this restaurant” “what if i changed my mind????” “we tried it last week!!!!”)

i feel like he’s the worst to have by ur side in an awkward situation bc you guys look at each other and you’re suddenly trying to hold back your laughter SOOOO bad and there’s not even anything funny😭

or if you’re talking to someone annoying he just stands behind them and makes faces to try and get you to crack tf up

tries to learn your favourite song on the guitar and then when you’re like “show me :))” he just starts playing sunday morning

woozi

omfg. the SWEETEST.

i think i said this in the other one but lets you play with his equipment and teaches you how to make basic beats and stuff (if u don’t know already) — tells u things like “good job!!” when you finish one

he’ll let you do whatever you want for dates and go along with it because you want to do it even if he’s reluctant <3333

if you don’t watch anime congratulations now you do!!!!! catch him at the right moment he’s gonna give you the rundown on all his favourites and the plots and the characters and everything (like his six hour live omfg)

genuinely believe he really is not cold as a boyfriend i think that is a Misconception — i saw this post the other day and HARD AGREE like this is mr i love my team i love my crew we are talking about ??? the same man who wrote darling which is arguably one of their sweetest songs????????

dk

i’m convinced this man is an angel ? he acts like your guardian angel anyway he takes care of you so hard it’s crazy

he makes sure u eat well and u rest well and everything omg :(

also feel like he randomly bursts into a skit in the kitchen and you hAVE to play along you have to get invested!!!!!

also just a sidenote can u imagine just being in the same house as him and you can just hear him singing from the other room :( i am so sad :(

i feel like he takes note of what you really like and remembers (or notes it down). like if you have flowers in a vase the first time h comes over you best believe he’s going to keep that vase STOCKED for however long

even if he’s away or on tour or something you’d still get weekly deliveries with a card or something AHHHHHH

compliment battles 😭 even if you just say something small (“i like your hair today”) he immediately returns the compliment x10 until eventually you guys are just arguing about who’s sweeter or something weird which just ends in giggles once you realise how loud he’s saying “oh yeah? well your eyes are even prettier!!!”

seungkwan

MY LOVELY SEUNGKWAN 😭💗😭💗 convinced he’s sooo boyfriend material

like the most caring kindest sweetest boyfriend he texts you reminders every day (“don’t forget to eat~” “drink some water please~”) HES SO CUTE 😭

randomly squishes your cheeks and goes “pretty” and then moves on like nothing happened but gets so flustered if you do it back 😭 acts annoyed but he kinda loves it <3

if you’re cooking with music on you’re not getting him out that kitchen he is dancing like there’s no tomorrow !!!!! makes you join him and teaches you the steps if you don’t know them already until both of you are just giggling messes and oh fuck the food’s going to burn

wants your approval for every outfit and hairstyle 😭 the stylist is about to dye his hair and he holds up a hand like. “WAIT.” and facetimes you quickly like “hi baby what do you think about dark blue hair???”

and if you tell him something like “seungkwan you’re always handsome” he just clicks his tongue and rolls his eyes 😭😭 “just tell me yes or no!!!”

[tacosaysroar]

Soooo my dishwasher caught fire today.

Yep.

I started a load, sat down in the living room to work, and a little while later there was a burning plastic smell in the air. I ran into the kitchen to find whitish gray smoke billowing out of the top of the door.

Bad News: the dishwasher is toast and must now be replaced.

Good news: it was old and not-so-great anyway and it’s Labor Day weekend, a rather lucky time to need a new appliance.

I spent more money than I would’ve liked but around $400 less than I would’ve if I’d needed to do this some other week, so I’m at peace.

And it’ll be nice to have a dishwasher where the top rack isn’t constantly falling out of the track and there aren’t holes in the silverware basket big enough for the silverware to fall through. (The new one has a top rack for silverware. Luxury of luxuries.)

Now I wait to get the call that lets me know when they can schedule my delivery. Might be as much as two weeks.

I have my fingers crossed it’ll be a day when I’m supposed to be in the office, so I can say I have to work from home that day.

Keep those silver linings coming.

[mychlapci]

We've talked robot periods before right? I gotta project here, make it someone else's problem. Rodimus hates getting his period. He's so uncomfortable and cranky from cramps and frame aches, his period is always long and heavy and leaves him a mess by the time its over. He gets a brilliant idea though while he's writhing in berth one night on how to make the pain stop.

Ratchet did not think it was as brilliant as Rodimus did when he showed up in medbay for a pregnancy test. It was a perfect plan, Rodimus didn't see the problem. If he was sparked, his valve lining wouldn't refresh for another stellar cycle, no more pain! Ratchet was ready to physically grab the captain to shake some sense into him, if Rodimus wasn't carrying he would have.

The pains from carrying are hardly as bad for Rodimus as his period pain, at least that's what he tells Ratchet. It's a different kind of pain and discomfort. His frame was achey in different spots, his bladder was constantly being crushed or kicked at, he was so tired all the time, it was still a better ordeal though than the bad periods. Unlike his period, the pregnancy had plenty of benefits to offer.

Rodimus' tits were huge now with milk for his little sparklings, and he looked damn good with the extra carrying weight. His period made him feel gross and bloated in the tank but he glowed with his carriage, other mechs couldn't keep their hands off their sexy milf of a captain. Maybe it was the matrix speaking to him or some kind of prime feeling Rodimus had, but carrying and repopulating Cybertron just filled him with a spark deep sense of satisfaction. He was absolutely built to be a carrier and provide his planet plenty of cute little babies, and of course they're gonna be cute I mean haven't you seen Rodimus? Ratchet can't even fight him about the dumb idea after so long, not when he's as distracted as everyone else about how gorgeous Rodimus was with a baby in him.

The pains from birth were terrible, it was the only time Rodimus had slight regret in getting pregnant. He grunted and cried in the medbay over it all, but really? He could take the hours of pain versus the weeks of his long periods. When he would zone out and stop thinking about it, it almost felt good having his valve stretched so far open by his fat little sparkling's helm and shoulders. When he was pushing the second bitlet out, he ended up overloading on the delivery table. He had 2 healthy and happy bitlets latched to his nozzles, and the main thought Rodimus' mind was how long he'd have to wait to be sparked again. No way he's going back to the decommissioning weeks of pain when he can get so much time away from it with so much reward back.

oh lord oh lord this is so hot. Ouch though, Rodimus' periods must be really terrible for him to prefer carrying.

Pregnancy is honestly soooo good for him. He looks sexier and feels sexier, constantly taunting mechs with his big swollen belly. The birth was his only doubt, but he found he doesn't mind it – the stretch was pleasant when he really thought about it, the feeling of his sparkling driving into his ceiling node every time it slipped back in even brought him to a squirming overload right there in the stirrups, so the way he sees it, this was an exceptional trade-off.

Rodimus gets pregnant as soon as possible. Once his valve was good for interfacing he simply started taking it raw again and a miracle happened once more. He's still breastfeeding even as his third sparkling is about to be born, tits constantly heavy with milk.... And this time, he's looking forward to the labour, too <3

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

On The Topic Of Eddie.

First of all, he’s completely fucked. He’s screwed. I’ve said it a thousand times and I’ll say it again: I’ve never seen a character more doomed by the narrative. 

Second, Eddie’s halloween costume was Frankenstein’s Monster. And pray tell, what was the Monster’s whole thing? That he’s betrayed by his own creator, rejected / attacked by the town, deeply misunderstood & interpreted as a violent beast despite being well-read and helpful/benevolent. There are some interesting ties there - especially with the Misunderstood Despite Being Well-Read (switch out violent beast with forgetful klutz and it’s a perfect fit). That, plus Eddie’s description of “...brought back from the dead… by the scientist… stitches… a deathly pallor… a bit of a moral conundrum…”

Take that and add it to how Eddie resembles the “night” side of the clocks (this will be expanded upon with Sally in a different post), and how @/theneighborhoodwatch once pointed out that the color purple is only shown in relation to Eddie & may represent secrets, how in livestream trivia it was implied that Eddie doesn’t sleep at night as he is a “busy guy”, and how Sally’s “monster” only comes out at night and likely isn’t a monster at all - she is dramatic, an embellisher, and said to present things that she herself doesn’t know / is uncertain of As Fact, or at least present them as if she knows exactly what she’s talking about (even when she doesn’t and knows it). 

Another tidbit that I may have mentioned but I’ll bring it up again: Eddie’s eyelashes match the scalloped trim under Home’s windows. Three round curves. 

As an additional tally in the “Eddie is soooo fucked <3” scoreboard, Eddie is the mailman in a story where one of the first things we knew to be actually happening was the WHRP receiving letters of Welcome Home media (now I’m not saying Eddie sent them, certainly not. He may or may not have had a hand in helping with the delivery, but what I mean with this is how it ties in symbolically/abstractly/thematically.) That plus the red envelope, the general unfolding delivery theme… Eddie even has a holiday explicitly associated with him - Mail-In Time Day. 

Then there’s the fact that Eddie tends to express Knowledge and a more worldly disposition, in a way. Despite Frank being mentioned as the neighborhood “intellectual”, and he is so with facts, Eddie seems to have a deeper well of… let’s say cultural know-how. Pair that with how his bio is the only one to say/imply that he comes from elsewhere, that he’s been Around. Everyone else came from their family or don’t have a stated before, but Eddie? He was strongly implied to have delivered to a lot of different places - this is made into a running gag, but we all know a running gag for the Show has deeper implications and meanings. 

And the fact that his genuine knowledge as well as his past are consistently dismissed and/or played off for laughs…

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR THIS NEXT BIT: I CANNOT FIND THE OG ASK OUTSIDE OF SCREENSHOTS SO TAKE ALL OF THIS WITH A MASSIVE GRAIN OF SALT, AS THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY THAT THE ASK WAS FROM PRE-2021 AND SO - ALONG WITH THIS SPEC CHUNK - IT MAY BE NULL & VOID. BUT IT ALSO MAY NOT BE! SO I’LL TALK.

A while back - this is related I swear - there was an ask Clown answered where they talked about some of his notes on Eddie. The first part that I want to point out is how apparently Eddie is a good source for information (specifically How-To), but despite being talkative he doesn’t share unless prodded for it. This directly relates to the above points. 

Then there’s the one I really want to talk about - how Clown says that “He [Eddie] has a great deal of precision for someone who presents themselves as a semi-clumsy busybody!” 

That single line made me insane, personally. First, the wording. The choice of saying presents themselves as instead of something like for someone who is. There’s an obvious discrepancy between his precision and clumsiness. Now I don’t doubt that he may be a tad accident-prone, but what if Eddie is dialing up the clumsy nature to disarm his Neighbors / craft a specific reputation for himself / give himself leeway in other areas. 

On one hand, this is suspicious as fuck.

On the other hand, this is so adhd of him. 

One of the things rarely mentioned about it is how sometimes we adhders will play up our more “useless” traits in order to create a bit of a social safety net. Admittedly, I will sometimes play up my forgetfulness so that a) if i do forget things (truth more often than not), people aren’t surprised. b) when i remember things, people are pleasantly surprised. I mean, if people start thinking we’re competent then they’ll start Expecting things from us, which is never a good thing! 

And another thing that relates to it that that ask said - Clown says in it that Eddie is slow to anger, but he gets frustrated more easily. Which is fascinating and very relatable. They also said that he can’t talk about it without wandering too far, which - if the post is viable - has… implications. 

Anyway I am very confident that Eddie is in fact adhd. List of reasons (refer to the wiki trivia Eddie Dear section for sources):

He’s forgetful

He gets so involved with a task and cannot break away until it’s finished, thus often making him late

He’s particular

He has a watch - likely to help him keep track of time, implying that he has difficulty with the concept (time blindness!) 

He is very talkative and rambley 

& seems to have slight difficulty with picking up on social cues telling him when to / when not to speak

He’s slow to anger but more easily frustrated 

Beyond all of this I don’t have much to add that I haven’t already talked about in a previous post! I’m sure even so I’ve restated some (or a lot of) things - it Happens! 

In conclusion: bbg is so screwed & also adhd <3

[nc-vb]

𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫, 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞

I just wanted to write something so we could touch his lil hip windows, ok... just once...

pairing -> sampo x gn!reader

warnings -> sfw, no pronouns or names used (reader is called "chief" by the kids), description of frostbite (skin type-inclusive), non-sexual intimacy & non-sexual nudity.

notes -> love me a big n beefy dummy with hip windows. also if anyone’s familiar with salvatore ferragamo’s cologne collection, yeah, this is how i imagine Sampo smells. soooo good. also, frostbite really sucks, so pls always dress according to the weather! (advice i give in the middle of Canadian summer…) -> for most skin types, frostbite will make it turn purplish, so i’ve left things ambiguous as best as i can ;-;

wc -> 4.6k

There’s only so much time in a day you’d ever allot towards thumb-twiddling and pooch-screwing. With all your responsibilities pulling each of your limbs in all different directions at all times of the day, you’d already overextended yourself far past what the definition of “comfortability” supplied— taking breaks? Out of the question. You’d been lucky enough to fit in even five minutes to eat a proper meal or two each day, leaving you little else room to be able to drop the ball.

Life in Belobog already made sure for you that being comfortable was the last item on your daily itinerary to address. Being reliable, being helpful, and supplying for those either less fortunate or less able than yourself, is what has always mattered. And doing so on a timely basis has always been important to you. Natasha’s patients, nor the miners you’d been a ward for, couldn’t afford to wait. And since taking up the mantle, you’d always managed to make good on any promises made, making this the very first time you’d ever been tardy. Five minutes is acceptable. Even a half an hour. But two hours late for your delivery? It certainly isn’t your fault. And anyone who knows you well enough would find only concern for such a change in character.

“… g-gatekeeping c-c-conman… d-damn it.” You dip your chin further into your scarf and blow, the hot air warming your chest for but a moment. “C-Could’ve taken me with him this time, but n-no… Gotta play b-both sides… m-make me wait in the c-cold like this…”

You tell yourself you should’ve known better at least every other time you’re left waiting for him out front your shack of a home— somehow, it’s even colder on the inside, like being incapsulated by one of the ice needles decorating the outskirts of Belobog, and so, you wait for him on your stoop, clad in the thickest clothing within your possession and blowing temporary heat into your bare palms.

It isn’t like Sampo Koski to not show up late to a party, or a meeting, or a goods exchange, probably even to use the bathroom— really, expecting anything different of him so late in your acquaintanceship is no more unintelligent than believing he’d go cold turkey and abandon his usual backhanded underhandedness for tactics a little more honest. Then again, the man still owes you nearly three thousand Shield from almost a month ago, and has almost every excuse in the book prepared in order to stall in paying it back…

He’s always late. He’s never not been late. But he’s never been this late.

Beneath your chilled bones and deep within your chest, something pulses with worry. Worry? I’m worried?

Maybe. Maybe because, with all his usual fooling around done up in the Overworld, he’d finally gotten caught by those Silvermane Guards— a great cause for your concern considering this would mean losing your intermediary between Belobog’s attic and its basement; having Sampo take care of your shipments lifted a massive weight off your back while you managed your other responsibilities, and in exchange, his debts owed to you slowly knocked themselves away. This would be bad news for sure, losing such a valuable partner. But somewhere along the line, things blurred, and eventually, it was no longer just business that you spoke of with him.

A funny joke or two he’d heard while up in the Overworld that he couldn’t not share with you. An incident he’d missed that was too entertaining not to share with him. A new treat you’d made for the kids of Hook’s adventure squad that’d been devoured in seconds, and the fact that you’d managed to save a couple for him to try.

Despite how easily insufferable he could be, he’d become a friend, one you found yourself silently fretting over, even after his return. And losing your friend is not the business agreement you’d made with him.

Or is it more than friendship…

The longer you sit in the cold, the more glaringly obvious the possibility of this actually having happened, is. He’s usually quite cautious, a grand coward if you’d ever known one; protecting his own hide has always been priority number one. So, you know he can run away just fine; you know those regular old Silvermane Guards wouldn’t be able to get him on their own, so was it Gepard? Or that Bronya woman? Sure, Sampo’s strong, himself, but against either of those two?

Your stomach clenches at the thought.

What if the half-hearted promise of being careful was the last thing you’d heard from him, after all? What if you’d never get a chance to have his infectious enthusiasm rub off on you, or never again hear about a business venture gone hilariously wrong? No more little bags of your favourite Overworld bonbons brought back as a souvenir, the ones the two of you would share together before the fire, and fight over when it came time for who got to have the last of the best kind?

“Sampo…” You pull your knees a little tighter into your chest, lips tucked into them and trembling into a frown.

Inhaling deeply, you release the breath just as fast, appearing as a white cloud before your lips. The frost that normally seeps through the border between Belobog’s two worlds is bitter enough, but on either end, all its people suffered from the unavoidably devastating chill contained within its atmosphere during the more wintery months. It says a lot considering it’s practically winter all the time, only less so in certain regions. But no one would be spared by it, and no amount of extra layering could possibly quell it— this, you learned quite quickly as a child.

Before Belobog’s Supreme Guardian made the decision to split apart the world into two hemispheres, your family had been prominent figures of Belobog society, known of in equal regard by those in the Overworld and those in the Underworld. Even after the Fragmentum managed to take the lives of those in your family —sparing you, for no easily explainable reason — you swore to honour them and the people of Belobog through provisional access.

When an entrance was found not too long after the segregation process began, additional supply trading reopened past what the Overworld provided— unliveable quantities of food and medical supplies that had innocents suffering. Despite your, at the time, young age, you’d realized that if you hadn’t survived the Fragmentum attack, this trade opportunity might not have been possible. “There’s power in a name,” Sampo once told you. “That’s why I’ve never lied when asked about mine!”

Now, you huff out a laugh at the memory of you asking if he’d been sure it wasn’t actually his ego, and pause upon recognizing how off-course your thoughts had gotten. Your point is, back when life was more comfortable and of less ache and agony, you could afford to fuel your fireplace, and there was no shortage of warmth. The arms of your family that would hold you were hot to the touch from having stood only a couple of feet from flickering flames; blankets were whole and left unpatched and thereby let no cold in— things are different now. With the last of your available firewood, your makeshift campfire stopped burning about an hour ago, and your last blanket, barely left in one piece, absorbed too much chill in the air and barely served well enough as a cushion beneath your frozen rear, you’ve been sitting for far too long, waiting for someone who might not even be coming back…

“… tired,” you mumble to yourself. You can feel yourself slipping, not just along the blanket, but into what your brain manages to suspect is hypothermia. “Sampo…”

Before your body completely gives out on you and your eyes shut all the way, you hear fast-moving scuffling coming from behind you — footsteps — that reaches you in time to catch you by your shoulders.

You jolt, from the contact, and from the pain the contact brings— like you’d been pricked by a handful of Natasha’s syringes, or like being electrocuted, all in one concentrated area. A sound no less like a yowl of a cat escapes you, and your glossed-over eyes widen as far as your face’s frozen muscles allow.

“I’m… really late this time… aren’t I,” a familiar voice realizes, tone unquestioning of his words. He doesn’t have to be in your vision to know whose voice it is, but he graces you anyway, leaning over and around your shoulder so that him and his head of violet hair take up almost ninety percent of it.

You’re stiff. If not for the cold freezing your frown in place, you don’t think you could muster a glare for him otherwise. Stare lidded and eyebrows furrowed; cold-paled, downturned, chapped lips spread thin into a line so taut, a split of red forms down the middle of them. His own lips part, his grimace deepening.

“Bit,” you answer, and the blanket wrapped around your shoulders falls away, your fingers finally too burnt to hold it up any longer. Beneath it, you’d been wearing a thick, woollen sweater, with two other layers under it, and two pairs of pants. Your scarf hadn’t nearly been as thick as your sweater, nor did it really do its job of keeping your neck warm, and your winter socks had been worn out from use for almost two seasons now. You suppose that’s what happens when you become your last priority.

Sampo winces when his gaze falls on the fingers poking out from the sleeves of your sweater. Purpling, ashy skin, particularly on the backs of your hands— he watches you struggle to unclench them, to try to straighten them out, only for your skin to pale from a lack of blood flow. Instantly, Sampo is down on a knee, his own chilled hands coming up to stop you from making yours worse.

“Easy there, pal,” he says, a nervous chuckle slipping past cheshired lips. “I think you have frostbite.”

“Prob’ly,” you murmur. “Hurts to move.”

His swallowing is harsh, eyes filling quickly with guilt the longer he stares down at you. Several times, he has to shake himself from his stupor after deciding to tend to you. It startles him to be able to feel the chill through both his gloves and your sweater, and both absentmindedly and instinctively begins rubbing from the tops of your shoulder and down to your elbows.

You bite out a gasp, one of pain when it finally sinks in that maybe, you’ve been outside for even longer than you should’ve been, and raise your hands to grab his, but even this sends a pain rippling from the tips of your fingers and into your wrists—

“Ouch, S-Sampo… Hurts.”

“Huh? It hurts? What hurts?” And he rubs your one arm once more. “This?”

“M-Mhm,” and you knock his touch away with your shoulder. He sighs, sounding almost nervous or aggravated, and drags his fingers through his bangs.

“If I stand you up, do you think you’ll have the energy to stay on your feet?”

You hum, but it isn’t a positive noise.

“Then are you okay with me carrying you? It’s probably gonna hurt again. Not like we’ve got much of a choice here, though…”

“Carry me,” you say. “Carry me to Nat’s. Don’t worry… about the pain.”

“You got it.”

Somehow you thought you’d be more frustrated. You definitely are frustrated, but for now, you find yourself blaming your lack of an explosive response on the fact that you’re numb nearly from head to toe. If you still have any ears, you wouldn’t know it since you can’t feel them. You aren’t even able to smell your favourite of Sampo’s cologne he always wears, even with him being as close to him as you are after being rewrapped in your blanket and swept up into his arms. Even your hearing is slightly dulled; you swear you can hear humming, as faint as it is, and you can’t pinpoint where it comes from— with no one else around, you easily suspect Sampo as the artist. You shouldn’t have such drastic symptoms for your senses.

“What time is it?” you finally remember to ask, albeit in a croak, your throat suddenly dried out.

“Ah, well, it was around two when I got back, and that was a half an hour ago, so… a little after two-thirty?”

You manage to sigh without making a sound.

“Thought I was outside for two hours,” you start. “I think it’s… been four hours.”

Being mostly numb, you can only tell Sampo holds you a little tighter, a little closer to him as he walks because the skin on your back prickles.

“I’m sorry,” he says. Looking up, you see his own eyes cast forward down the cobbled road— avoidance. More guilt? “I’m not trying to make an excuse, but something did happen to make me late. It wasn’t just me this time, haha…”

Another of the blurred lines. A long while ago, Sampo stopped lying to you. A funny little declaration from “business partner to business partner” until “no longer lying” turned into secret-sharing and line-crossing honest— you’d wish he’d dial it back sometimes with how honest he could be. Even now, as he tells you it wasn’t entirely his fault why he’d left you waiting out in the cold, in spite of your pain and frustration, you give him the benefit of the little doubt you held onto.

“… tell me about it later,” you say, voice only just slightly higher than a whisper. “… ‘m so cold.”

Sampo is warm. Well, warmer than you. You don’t recall there ever being a time before now that the two of you have been so close, but he radiates heat like hot coals. There’s no doubt that he’s feeling cold, himself, wearing his half-sleeved jacket and a shirt that exposes his sides so easily to the elements. But he feels warm to you; you can feel it through even your blanket as you shiver.

“Don’t you worry; Sampo’s gonna get you warm and toasty in no time.”

The rest of the walk to Natasha’s clinic is completed in silence. With you living so far away from the displaced residents of the Underworld to maintain the safety of your supplies, it’s a walk that makes avoiding curious eyes impossible, and especially those of the children who recognize you upon reaching your destination in Boulder Town.

“Ah, h-hey, kiddos!” Sampo’s greeting is shaky, and for the briefest of moments, so is he. “What’s goin’ on?”

Wary of him from your past warnings from when you and he had just been acquainted a couple of years back, they regard him with the same disdain you once did— with little Julian at the helm, they stand before the steps to Natasha’s clinic with their arms crossed and eyebrows downturned, barring his path.

“Where are you taking the chief!?” Julian demands, craning his neck to glare up at Sampo, who only blinks back.

“The… chief?”

“Chief of sweets,” you answer. “I make them sweets a lot.”

“Gotcha… Well, I’m bringing the chief to see the good doctor! We’re feeling a little under the weather, see?”

“Look how much the chief is shaking!” one of the other children exclaim. Sampo nods quickly, and attempts to shuffle up the stairs.

“That’s right! Waiting out in the cold for a long time will do that! So will you let me through?”

Julian huffs at him. “Fine! But I’m telling Boss Hook about this, and she won’t be happy about it.” Without another word or a moment of hesitation, Julian runs off, his friends in tow toward the Great Mine.

Sampo sighs, carting you up the rest of the steps in his arms before pausing.

“I gotta set you down for a sec, okay?” You nod, your body jittering in his firm hold when your feet finally touch the ground. Still cradled by his one arm and balancing you against his hip, he shoves open the door to the clinic and helps you inside by lifting you past the threshold and into his arms once more.

It’s already even warmer now, your muddled brain manages to conjure; you can’t help yourself when you snuggle back into his chest. Sampo looks to you, lips pursed, and pale cheeks reddened, before shouting away from you for Natasha. Off to the side, the door to the second floor infirmary opens, and Natasha appears, slightly breathless.

“Sampo?” she says, glancing between the two of you. “What’s with all the shouting?”

“Sorry, Nat— bit of an emergency,” he says, nodding down at you, the “emergency” in question. A single-toned note escapes you in greeting; you’d been winded after the sudden moving around you’d just done. “You got a bed?”

“I-I do, right upstairs; first to the right—” He’s quick to pass her, and even faster in climbing the staircase. Over his arm, you see Natasha following after him, her skirt hiked up half-past her calves in an attempt to keep up.

But really, you’ve never seen Sampo Koski move this fast unless he’d been running away.

You’re jostled once more, and in feeling your body separating from Sampo’s, you brace yourself for the pain that eventually comes from being lowered onto one of the clinic’s cots. Like falling dominoes, the blanket on the cot rubs into yours, which rubs into your sweater and other under layers and into your skin.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry…”

Sampo’s muttering doesn’t go unnoticed by Natasha. For as long as she’s known him, she can’t recall a time that he’s ever behaved so… docile? In the stress of the moment, she’s not quite sure if that’s the right word to use for him, so it would have to do for now.

“So, would either of you care to tell me what’s happened, then?” she says, and pulls on a pair of dark gloves.

“I’m pretty sure it’s frostbite,” Sampo says, awhile helping to unravel your blanket off of you for her. “You were out in the cold for hours…”

Natasha gasps. “In this weather? At this temperature?”

“They’d been waiting for me, but then that happened!” he spits out, panicked. “It wasn’t my fault!” In her flurry of grabbing clean towelettes, she manages to shoot him a look of frustration.

“You did a good thing by saving those kids, Sampo, but you can’t forget your other priorities.”

“I… I didn’t!” he tries swearing. “They helped me out, so I couldn’t just leave them like that! Ahh, I’m so sorry…”

Natasha sighs, placing the collected cloths next to you on the bed. “Apologizing isn’t going to help us here, so while I get these clothes off, can you go heat up a basin of water?” He nods, almost too enthusiastically.

“A hot basin of water, got it!”

“A warm basin.”

“A warm basin of water, r-right—“

He toddles off, rounding the bed from your right and crossing the clinic with a flat bucket in hand. A deep sigh from you has Natasha glancing back at you.

“I’d apologize for him, but I’m sure you already know just how aggressive he’ll be in making it up to you once you’re better.”

Your nodding shifts the pillow beneath your head.

“He… wouldn’t have been late for no reason,” you reason. “I should’ve just come here when I realized… he wouldn’t be on time.”

“Yes, you should have.”

You clear your throat a little. “Respectfully… I don’t need a lecture about it, Nat.”

“Good.” She turns around completely and begins helping to remove your three upper layers. “You’ve lived here long enough to know the consequences of being outside in this weather— if not because of Sampo, it would be because of someone else.”

“O-Old habits die hard,” you grumble, hissing as she decides to be quick in sliding off the lower two pieces of clothing, leaving your chest exposed.

“… it definitely looks like the beginning of stage three frostbite,” Natasha says, agreeing with Sampo’s earlier prognosis. “Any longer waiting out there, you might’ve needed surgery.”

“Surgery,” you repeat. “Sounds painful.”

“It is. Especially since we’re out of the usual anesthetic.”

You neglect to tell her that you likely have hypothermia, but without announcing it, she’s already assumed this just by just your symptoms— shivering, drowsiness, the pure exhaustion reflected in your lidded gaze; in the stress of the moment, she still manages to find amusement in the way your eyelids struggle to raise when Sampo returns with the basin.

“Is this good?” Sampo asks, head inclined toward Natasha. “Is it too warm?”

“It’s good,” Nat nods, having stuck a finger in to test it. She gestures at an empty tabletop. “Go ahead and put it there.”

“Sure, okay—” Sampo pauses, eyes wide with his gaze focused to the corners, at you. Slowly does his head twist toward you, lips parting until his jaw drops, and, like earlier when he’d been running around in the cold with you, his cheeks burn with rouge. Oh, right. My clothes are gone.

Natasha’s own eyes widen in realization. She’s quick to drop your clothes to the side and step towards Sampo, and even quicker to begin shoving him out of your presence.

“H-Hey, Nat! Hold — hold on a second!”

“You can wait outside, okay?” she tells him, her voice sickeningly sweet with the tone she only ever uses when needing to be firm.

“Hey, okay, okay! I won’t look! Just—” you hear him sigh from the other side of the partition. “Just let me wait here, on the other side, alright? Please?”

“… ’t’s fine, Nat,” you pant out, your once calm heart now startled into a steady rhythm. At any rate, apparently having Sampo see you half nude on a medical cot works as a warming tool. “H-He can wait there…”

Nat relents with a sigh, with Sampo groaning in relief from the other side of the partition. You take a breath of your own, unheard over the sound of something metal dragging across the floor of the clinic— another partition.

“Just in case,” she adds.

Besides any general noises you’d often heard from within the clinic before, and the gentle of sloshing of the towelettes being rung out after being dipped into the water in the basin, there’s silence between the three of you. Natasha’s brow is is slightly furled when she carefully lays the cloths along your cold-burnt skin— like your fingers, purpling had started stretching out across it, and in more exposed areas, you’d even begun to blister. Bringing your surface temperature back up safely and slowly is the goal, she’d told you. Upon covering your chest, she clears her throat. “Sampo.”

There’s a slight squeak from the other side of the wall. “I-I wasn’t looking?!”

“Whether you were or weren’t, I need you to now. Come back in here, please.”

“Huh? W-Why?”

“I need you to handle the rest of this for me while I go look for some medicine.” She looks to you with a frown. “You aren’t feeling it now because your body is in shock, but you’ll be in a lot of pain when your temperature returns to normal. You’ll want to be asleep when it finally does.”

“Oh… okay.” The partition creaks, and Sampo slips between the two, careful not to let any other prying eyes see you. You peer down past your feet at him. “Hi.”

“… h-hi.”

Gently still, Natasha pats an unaffected part of your arm. “I’ll be back shortly.”

“Take your time,” you say. “’s’not like I’m going anywhere.”

Her smile is soft; you watch her go, listening to the click of her heels until they disappear through the same doorway as earlier.

Surprisingly, Sampo is already to work— his regular gloves pulled off and shoved haphazardly into one of his pockets, he dons a pair of the clinic’s medical ones that, despite being an average size, manages to squeeze his hands almost uncomfortably so.

“You… don’t have to wear those,” you tell him. “Just Nat’s habit. You’re only putting towels on me.”

He looks down at his hands, lips pursed and his cheeks still pink. You manage a dry laugh at his expense.

“Or are you suddenly feeling self-conscious,” you muse, thinking back to earlier. “Not like anyone saw you half-naked.”

Sampo huffs at you. “J-Jeez…”

This time, you smile at him. “Is it nerves? Or guilt? Don’t feel guilty. You… you saved some kids?”

“… yeah,” he mumbles, and tears off the ill-fitting gloves to throw in the trash. “Had to help them out after they saved me. You know me,” he sings half-heartedly. “I never leave a debt unpaid…”

“Sampo, I-I’m not mad at you,” you swear. You watch him avert his gaze and pick up a towel. “Sampo. I’m just glad you’re safe.”

His eyes widen before he turns back to you. “Huh?”

“That whole time… I was worried you were hurt… or caught. Four hours is… a long time. But I was happy when you finally showed up. I was so cold that… I couldn’t tell you this… And now, I’m so sleepy that I… I just hope that what I’m saying makes sense.”

Those blurred lines… are really getting a lot clearer now, you sluggishly realize, the longer you stare up at him. His own concern for you… the way he looks at you when he does… It can’t be strictly because of his “never leave a debt unpaid” policy he just reminded you of. He’s never looked at Natasha like this, nor any of his other customers or clients.

You suddenly chuckle to yourself. “I’m not drugged up on Nat’s medicine yet, so before I take it… let me say this.” He swallows. “Your debt to me… is clear,” and his eyes widen, “as long as you stop being so reckless… and as long as we can keep helping each other… and if you can… stay with me more. Even if you’re late… I always want to see you. Always… okay?”

The towel slips from his hands. You watch him inhale, his chest seemingly puffing up with the trapped air, and drop the towel.

“W-Was… Is th-that a…? Was that…?”

“Mm… a confession,” you finish. “Yeah. It was. Been simmering on it for a while now, I think. Is that okay?”

Hand on his hip, he finally exhales, flossing through his bangs with his fingers again.

“I-I mean… yeah!” You hold in another laugh at how high his voice had broken to. “Totally fine.” He grabs another towel and throws it in the slightly steaming basin.

Sliding it from the bed, you reach out your hand for him.

“Sampo,” you call, urging him to take it. When he doesn’t, and returns his attention to the water, you reach out a little further, and instead reach for his exposed skin beneath his coat. A small yelp of surprise escapes him the second you trail your finger along his hip, and instinctively, he goes to grab your wrist to stop you until spotting how dark the flesh of your fingers has become from the cold.

“H-Hey!” he hisses lowly, face quick to become splotched with rose.

“… you’re still cold, too.”

“Sampo…”

The man jumps at Natasha’s return, careful to turn on the spot when your hand had still been resting on his one hip, even minutes later and at your insistence at warming him up.

“I at least did one, it’s not my fault!!”

© nc-vb 2023 please don’t repost! reblogs & comments are always appreciated.

[monstress]

favorite 2023 korean album releases

episode1: love — soyoon

i loved her first solo album and i have been ecstatic by how much love this album has received because her skills as a songwriter just grew exponentially. what a suave, confident and powerful album. 'till the sun goes up' and 'canada' - the duality of a woman...i'm in love.

dipuc — cacophony

if you're not up to cacophony discography, i would highly recommend this album. from the first track, it was like she's immediately tucking you into her coat - crooning you an intimate sonic odyssey. the run from 'Lean Your Body On Me' to 'End' had me screaminggg. for the season, the track 'Christmas' is gorgeous.

notwitzki — beenzino

dammit...he's still good. beenzino's technical prowess has not slipped since his last release and while i was ready to be punched in the gut, this was a surprisingly tranquil listen. truly just an album perfect for a relaxing night drive with the boys, the girls, and the theys. 'Travel Again' and 'Change' are standouts to me.

pat pat — risso

if you don't find one track you can't groove to on this, you may be entitled to legal compensation. a citypop album i can't get enough of during the summer. the disco track 'SPF' and smooth r&b 'daydreamer' should've hit them to the mainstream stratosphere. it's soooo unfair how they don't have a romance kdrama ost under their belt already.

love pt. 2 — colde

starting out with my number one spotify wrapped artist. what else is there to stay...impeccably engineered k-r&b album with solid bops, an underrated featuring track ('heartbreak club' is the best track of the year to me - the reggae influence, the smoothest beat switch of the album, chan hyuk's 2000s flare rap line delivery), and a surprise cover of a korean indie classic.

sichimi — sumin

a chill, downbeat album to wind down after a long day with an ending that makes you wanna go back to the start. listen to this album just for 'Closet' where sumin and uhm jung hwa are just trying to out queen each other. obsessed.

zip — zion.t

it's been 5 years since his last release that i actually yelled when i saw the notification he released a music video because i wasn't expecting it all. as a long time fan, i loved the evolution you can see from 'oo' with the detour at 'zzz' culminating on this album. witty, eccentric and earworms galore, it's so solid. the lil ditty 'stranger' and the sweeping 'the things i love' (kim hae sol, you don't give me both a jazz solo and a choir in a track and expect it not being my immediate favorite) are gorgeous.

machine boy — silica gel

amazingggg rock album - i was blown away by the first track alone. you know they'd go so hard at concerts. also shoutout to 'machineboygong' for being a nine minute masterpiece which i recommend for you to listen at least once. it'd be remissed not to mention their latest album 'power andre 99' is astonishingly excellent as well.

no one can hunt me — joonie

my favorite experimental album of the year. if you're into electronic, this is a great listen. moody, dystopian, warped tracks that only spiral downwards to isolating madness. it's only four tracks and my fave constantly changes.

____

honorable mentions: yukika's "time lapse", ashmute's 'this place no longer exists', suzanne's "new life, new mind", dpr ian's "dear insanity...", epik high's 'screen time', code kunst's 'archive 01', voyeur's 'same dream, huh yunjin's 'blessing in disguise', thmoon's 'dormant'

[ashistired37]

I've been wisdom'd

AAAAAAAAAAAA

Alright. Spoilers ahead

Firstly the album art is GORGEOUS. It's definitely my favourite album cover so far!!!! Second favourite is circe.

Legendary - The suitors voice HOLY SHIIITTTT I LOVEE IT but him calling Penelope a TRAMP?????? WHAT. The delivery was amazing on the champ line!

Tel's voice caught me off guard though I'm used to the higher voice Jay did originally but this is a welcomed change I think the singer did really well vocally!

Almost forgot to add but the suitor going

Why don't you open ur moms room so we can fuck her? Insane. 💀

Little wolf- Athena telling him Uppercut him. Now. Will forever be one of my favourite things ever in this musical. Also the ooohh maybe I pushed you a bit too hard was so cute-

We'll be fine- probably my favourite of the saga! The warriors of the mind type beat on the notes??? AAA please tell me I'm not the only one who hears when Athena sings maybe we'll be fine as the same melody as warriors of the mind just slower and less intense?

I'm not a music person idk what that's called but I can notice patterns easily. HER CALLING HIM A GOOD KID IS SO CUTE TOO AAA

Love in paradise- Again is probably my favourite. It's hard to have just one favourite with Epic sagas.

Athena sifting through odys memories was sick!! I loved the sped up snippets of the previous sagas songs. Obligatory:

She's my wife. ... Anyways.

I'm no pet I'm a married man! Reminds me of Nepobaby by Fox Szn. I am not a baby I am 35.

ODY ON THE LEDGE MY FRIEND TOLD ME THIS HAPPENS AND STILL I WAS SO CAUGHT OFF GUARDS ODY NO.

Open arms, Luck runs out AND the underworld all overlapping????? EVIL.

God games - ZEUS' VOICE IS SOOOO FUCKING GOOD IT WAS SO DRAMATIC AND THEN THE GRITTINESS AT THE END OF THE SONG???? AAAA

Apollos part was way too short 😭 I know he's lvl 1 but it's just. He's so easy to convince.

Hephaestus' voice fits so much and I really like it! Again wish it was longer

Aphrodite and Ares are pretty much the same as the first look we got so no shocker I love this! Athena sounds so annoyed when she said ares like he's an annoying sibling like brother don't ruin this for me damn it!

Hera!!!!!! Absolutely love how dramatic she is it feels game show-ey if that makes sense yea it was short but it was effective

Zeus sounds a bit dramatic given how short all the parts have been it really doesn't feel like Athena had to do a lot to convince them but oh well I love the vocal performance

Ares' quiet "Is she dead..?" Then we get snippets of Athenas musical motif till it extends into a full blow warrior of the mind instrumental? AAA live for it.

Tldr. Really liked this saga and the voices were absolutely amazing!! Good work on everyones parts!

Just because I didn't like something or wasn't fully overjoyed by it doesn't mean it's bad! With Epic there really isn't anything that's bad the worst is just something that is still really enjoyable!

[2djdanger]

Just rewatched Astro Boy 09 & man I think the art style choice was good for the times but hoooo I forgot especially after rewatching 03 Astro in Japanese coming straight from that episode 50 into that mess how disappointed English speaking fans would be. I think the writing & some line deliveries weren’t the greatest which is what made the movie weak. More like some dudes fanfiction than an AB movie. But also idk if that’s fair bc I’ve read some rlly top notch AB fic soooo yeah 🤷🏻‍♂️ but also lemme just rant for a min there’s parts of this movie that rlly rlly work & I love I think some of the subtle quick ways were shown Astro’s powers like when he first learns he can fly & then directly afterwards starts digging thru the side of the mountain is great. Also unpopular take prob but I think the president Stone guy kinda works as a surface level AB villain. Def 🤮🤮🤮 @ Tenma’s design ever since I saw the movie in 2010 I’ve always hated bros design but like who doesn’t at this point this is rehashing old news. Also I get that Nic Cage knew the source material & is good on screen but idk if it was his delivery or just his lines written that poorly or if I’m relooking at this post round 2 of 03 anime for me but his char was so off. Also DEF AFTER 03 anime the war between robots/humans getting boiled down to the goofy RRF bots bruh I’d be so pissed if I worked for the companies involved in making this movie. YOU HAD GOOD SOURCE MATERIAL IF U CANT FIT IT ALL IN THE MOVIE DONT INCLUDE IT!!! Also alsoooo again prob reiterating old news but the Amerification & dumbing down of the source material to be more palatable for kids is just sad. Like the movie would’ve functioned exactly the same without a few of those goofy scenes it just stalled the story honestly. You could’ve added more of the other stuff in if that was taken out. Also weird using Tenmas Japanese last name but Ochans English name was always kinda huhhh?? to me. I get it’s for the ease of being able to say their names for everyone outside Japan but if we’re going English names why not just stick with whatever Tenma’s name was in English in the animes since people already knew it?? I kinda prefer Tenma tho & ik not everyone can say Ochanomizu but yeah. The surface kids I used to think in my kid brain were waaaay more fleshed out than they rlly are which is kinda funny since they literally just show up & are there a handful of scenes, handful of lines & then that’s it. I’m torn too bc idk if it was necessary to have the new kids or work in Tamao, Kenichi, & Shibugaki somehow & I liked the new kids too. But man this movies a hot mess. I prob have more thoughts but this posts getting way too long already. This movie was my intro to the franchise when I was a kid & legit did not know what anime was or that a whole thing existed outside of this movie xD I literally always used to wish there was & then like 10 yrs ago at this point after being deep into anime I found out about Astro Boy anime/manga & straight went:

So in conclusion Astro Boy movie ok, has deep place in my heart, animes waaay better & manga: god tier.

[babe-heffron]

webster's 'what the fuck are we doing here?' is soooo...line delivery of all time. i know him standing up and shouting at the germans is kinda funny but also its a good scene! and the desperation for an answer, for any reason for the war, that comes through in its delivery is really good

[stevie-petey]

hello m i hope you are well. i'm finally reading chap 6 and 7 so that i'm ready whenever you release the final chapter of season 3 and once again, so, so good! i didn't realise how much has happened in such a short time!! here are my thought of chapter 6 before i read chapter 7 so you can get the chapter by chapter update.

Firstly, i wanted to compliment you on how scary you make the whole ordeal. obvs st is a sci fi horror show with elements of comedy, but i felt like s3's biggest flaws was not making the stakes feel as high as they were in certain moments. ofc you can't be held at an emotional tension all the time and there are down to be some low tension moments where it's appropriate to do some comedy, but overall, i felt like the scoop troop's dire situation was not always communicated well to the viewer outside of visual flare due to the actor's being instructed to keep things light and easy in their delivery. this was not the case with your chapter. i was very much feeling dread and horror at the thought of leaving steve and robin behind in the mega torture room together. you've always been quite good at making bug her own character and her own sort of adventure that doesn't depend entirely on steve, but do think that choosing to keep her separated from steve during the russian torture was a very mature writing choice.

immediately, right off the bat, this quote was so good at establishing the tone for this chapter, "it diminishes every sacrifice that has been made, it taunts the blood that has been spilled." reading bug be miserable over all the ways she hypothetically did or did not fail the group is so much more terrible when we keep in mind how much all of their efforts have been undermined, and it surprised me that the show itself was no interested in these fascinating questions. also this part, "All you ever do is try, you will die trying, you just can’t let it be in vain", omgggg bug is soooo "this is me trying" coded (affectionate).

ALSO OMG!!!! THE KISSS!!!!!!!! THIS IS BIG FOR BUG X STEVE TRUTHERS!!!! VAL MY SISTER IN ARMS WHERE ARE YOUUUUU!!!!! BUT OMG M THAT WAS SO GOOD!!!! I was soooo stressed out and everything was going a mile a minute and steve kissed her!!!! he finally did it!!!!! i absolutely love we-are-so-desparate-and-we-might-not-see-each-other-again-so-i-have-to-because-i-cant-die-knowing-i-never-did-it!!!!!! "It isn’t death that terrifies Steve, it’s the idea that he almost died without knowing how you tasted." SHUT UP!!!!!! IF HES NOT LIKE THIS, I DONT WANT HIM!!!!!! I was clutching my heart sweating like a victorian maiden feinting at hearing her lover dying on the sea!!!!! "Urgently, viciously, you scream the only thing you can think of that encompasses all the love and terror within you, “Come home to me!" TITLE DROP AFTER THE FIRST KISS!!!!! STUG ENDGAME !!!!!!! LUCAS SINCLAIR YOU *WISH* YOU HAD ACCESS TO THE FIREWORKS EXPLODING IN MY BRAIN RIGHT TF NOW!!!!!!! A smile spreads across your face when you think about him. The words spill from your mouth without any effort. “I do love Steve.” SHES SMILING WHEN SHE REALISES SHE LOVES STEVE AND DUSTIN KNOWS SHE LOVES STEVE AND SHES SMILING EEN THOUGH EVERYTHING SUCKS BECAUSE JUST THE THOUGHT OF THE OTHER IS ENOUGH TO BRING A SPARK OF JOY LIGHT AN EMBER OF HOPE IN THEIR CHESTS !!!!! YAYYYY!!!!! “Tried promising you I’d come home, angel.” Steve is sprawled on your lap. His eyes are cloudy, he isn’t quite here with you." COME HOME TITLE DROP PART 2!!!!!! WE KEEP WINNING STUG GANG!!!!! SEASON 4 GUILT TRIPS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL TORMENT THAT LEAD TO ARGUMENTS IDC IDC IDK IDK THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN!!!!!!

Now I would like to take a moment and discuss bug's excellent additions to the generation of action heroes. "And you’ve always evened out your debts to him." Killer line. Great end for a close up shot of her face while a light flickers in the back and the shot cuts to black before we reset in another scene. A tribute to all the action stars of the 80s, truly a brilliant work my you M.

final note, using the chemical SMART WORK!!! I remember thinking during the episode "wow what conveniently weapon-like substance is this that our heroes have stumbled upon and i know dustin and erica used them as well as dustin and erica and bug, i'll be real, i would started throwing them in the russian guards' faces idc idc!!!!

overall, excellent work as i'm sure you know and looking forward to reading chapter 7!!!!

Ps. "She lets out her own content sigh, and you play with her hair as well. They’re still with you. Still whole and alive." challengers core if u think about it. polycule anon kinda spit game on that one.

HI BABY I MISSED YOU !!!

i really appreciate that u like how spooky i make the chapters. i never really understand the weight of the situations theyre in every season until i write them. season 3 especially has scenes they dumb down to make room for more comedy, and while its silly, sometimes i forget that a literal TEN YEAR OLD GIRL is trapped in a russian lair with very aggressive and armed men who want to kill her. like wtf stranger things ???

as for leaving steve, it simply had to happen. i wanted to do something different since most rewrites have them taken together (which is always juicy and i eat it up every time), i just couldnt do it for this rewrite. bug wouldnt leave dustin and erica behind like that. someone had to stay with the kids, protect them, and bug was perfect for that role !!! plus, it made for a GREAT first kiss scene so it was a win all around (your comments had me DYING LMAO). however, i dread the day i rewrite season 4 because i'll have to figure out how to separate steve, bug, dustin or if i even CAN because the teens and kids pair off differently. bug is the sister, the girlfriend, it will be a challenge :(

my sister and i always joke every time we rewatch the show that we would be so. done with living in hawkins. i think the show forgets its own time canon, because wdym every. single. year. thise kids are thrown inti danger ??? every time they think "hey, we won" MORE SHIT HAPPENS ??? i wanted to really emphasize that defeat, the feeling of doing everything right and it still not being enough. you always see exactly what i want the readers to see, its like you look into my mind <3333 you always know the themes im sprinkling in :')

AND YES !!! TITLE DROP !!! took us three seasons, but we made it!!! now, for the actual scene i have in the come home masterlist, that will be in season 4 when steve can finalllly promise bug he'll come home to her <333 and the ilu scene <333 bug loves steve so much and its so natural to her and i wanna cry thinking about them ugh.

THE DEBTS LINE ,,,, i felt so cool writing that thank u for feeding into my nerdiness and seeing the vision ,,, in my head i have a compilation of badass bug scenes that would routinely get edited and the scene with her preparing to save steve and robin is 100% in there. also for the chemicals sometimes the writers leave me no room to question how a plan gets made so im like ,,,, fine i will do it myself u cowards.

finally for the challengers bit i truly didnt intent for the fic to become so challengers coded but ,,,, whew. it is. and i love it dearly.

n i love u so dearly i saw ur reblog tags for chapter 7 and i am shivering waiting for the analysis i KNOW ur cookin up and u always pick apart my fic in ways i adore so so so much <333