#they look kinda boring to modern people but once you learn more about it it’s impressive

[ulmus-spellook]

Made a set of mini runes with polymer clay. I might paint them later. I didn’t have molds or stamps so I ended up cutting out the shape with a little clay cutter (like a cookie cutter but smaller) and then writing all the runes by hand. I rounded them out a bit too because I liked how it looked when I altered the shape a little.

I’ve only been using polymer clay for two weeks so this could have probably gone faster if I was more experienced. I think I left my glass set at my parents house when I moved and i still need to find it. But I saw it as an opportunity to practice working with clay! Well, polymer clay. I miss real clay 🥲

[iloveaustinelvisandmannymore]

Pretty admirer.

Pairing: Toji Fushiguro x chubby reader

Warning: Augst, Fluff, Stalking, Death Threats, Kidnapping, Bondage, Housewife kink, Breeding kink, Daddy kink, Toji's kinda sadistic, Unconsent-photo taking, Masturbation, Yandere!reader, reader's a little creep, stalkerish gifts, Creampie, Slapping, Oral(Male), Degrading kink, Mean Toji, Baby-trapping, Fingering, Multiple orgasms, Face-fucking, Choking, Dirty talk, Overstimulation, Rough sex. Part 2.

Summary: Your love story with Toji Fushiguro was far from normal but you come to love it. By god, do you love it.

Dark, gloomy clouds blocked the Illuminating sun, It was like the weather felt what you were brewing inside. 'It's perfect' you glowered in your mind while you took a sip of the bitter coffee, watching as the sky reflected your mood. Your beloved ex and you were crazy for each other until he met his true love, You wanted to do something to her and you would have done so if he hadn't warned you of what would happen, and you knew better than to test him.

You rolled your eyes at the memory, Now you boredly watched people walk by the cafe window you sat in, the people looked just as boring as you felt. Until he strolled by, you would've missed him at first glance, simply because he was wearing such casual clothes if it wasn't for the flashy woman under his arm you'd completely miss him, through my. He was gorgeous, unbearable mesmerizing the clouds moved for the heavens to shine on him.

Ebony hair reached his ears and nearly covered his irises, they were green like the rainforest, and a scar on his right lip. it made him look ragged yet handsome, and certainly, his masculine body didn't help. His white shirt was two sizes down, every muscle of his was outlined and he wore simple blue jeans.

Your heartbeat quickened, and your breath shorted, it felt like you couldn't breathe, you needed him to live, he was your lifeline. he. was. yours.

You fumbled to get your stuff and rushed out of the cafe, Staying only a few feet behind you followed the couple to a modern, traditional Japanese-style house. The two entered the house, while you stayed back and wrote down the mysterious man's address in the notepad you carried around 'Fushiguro? So that's his last name.' you hummed, checking once again that nobody was watching you and no one was. Everything in you screamed to stay and learn more, watch him but it was daytime people would notice you snooping and you couldn't risk being caught. You left with one last glance at the Fushiguro household.

Day by day, you learned about your love, His full name is Toji Fushiguro, and he's in his early 30s, he has a son named Megumi, who's in college, his number and his hobbies consist of going to the gym your favorite, gambling, and your least favorite, fucking that homewrecker. There was still much more to learn, like his favorite things and what was his job, his work demanded most of his time. You overheard that Toji would be gone for a week on a business trip as he spoke to his employer in his favorite gambling place and you could finally put your plan in action.

You waited for him to leave, wishing him silently to be safe, and hurried to his door after the taxi he left in was out of sight, you took the copy key that you had printed out of the spare key he left under a rock, out of your bag and unlocked the door. You walked in and shut the door unworried that anyone would see you, it was six in the morning and still dark. You leaned on the closed door, a grin on your face, a warmth in your chest, and butterflies in your stomach, you felt like a kid in a candy store. You pushed off the door and walked around his home, clicking your tongue and shaking your head at the small messes around the house .'This can't do. When I'm his wife, I will make sure it is clean around here-' your cheeks heated up, you needed to focus! inhaling you continued. You passed the rooms you were least interested in, and stopped once you stumbled upon the laundry room, it was surprisingly clean, some clothes were on the dryer, towels were on the washer door, and a bin of dirty clothes. You gripped the sliding door and bit your lip, should you? It's not like he'd notice, it was wrong to steal but- without giving any more debate you grabbed a tank top, its dark green with a strong scent of musk, a smell of comfort.

You put it in your bag and moved on. The upstairs, had a second bathroom, a bedroom that looked like would be his son's room, your heart beating fast as you walked down the mini hall, into a master room, his room greeted you. the bed inside was at least a queen, he had a flat-screen TV opposite from his bed. A dark oak dresser and strangely a few weapons lying against or on the dresser, a closet, and a bedside table that had a basic lamb. Overall it was basic and little of characteristics. You sat down your bag and lay on the bed, your eyes slowly closed, you could nearly imagine him beside you, his arm around your naked body after passionate lovemaking, imagine him pushing your rotund thighs to your chest as he humped your pussy, and his balls covered in your slick, smacking against your ass, you imagine-a ring- wait, a ring? Your eyes shoot up as the doorbell rings. You rushed downstairs with your bag "Toji!" a high-pitched voice shrieked, the homewrecker you scowled "TOJI?!" she banged on the door, what the hell is she doing? She is trying to make him look bad? Your eyes widened as you hid as she used the spare key "God he's a fucking jerk, he didn't even tell me he was gone." She huffed walking to the laundry room, unaware of you following her.

You glared at her backside as she bent down in his dirty clothes picking out some of her panties, each more scandalous than the last, she was so..so pretty, seemed just like his type, you wanted to hurt her, you placed a foot in the door, No! no..not here, soon. you reassured yourself, slipping into the other room as she moved to turn to leave the room and the house altogether. You left a minute later, you had some planning to do. Instead of basking in Toji's home, you had to stalk your love's little fuck buddy Mayu, she seemed to like partying, getting shit-faced drunk, and sleeping around, you couldn't believe it. Did Toji have feelings for her? She isn't remotely marriage material. Scoffing you watched her stumbled and trip into her apartment, 'pathetic' You rolled your eyes and put the black hoodie over your head and walked across the street, the door was left unlocked. you quietly walked to the kitchen you had mapped in your head the first time you broke in, the knife block was like a twinkle that shone on a gold bar in your eyes, but what to choose? A thud came from her bedroom, you grabbed a long, sharp jagged knife and sauntered to her room with purpose.

The door of her bedroom was opened a jar and she laid on the bed in a star pose, unaware of the danger she was in. You sneaked in, your stare trained on her akin to a predator, waiting for the right time to pounce on unfortunate prey, Her eyes closed and her breathing evened out. You straddled her waist, pointed the blade to her throat, and slapped your hand over her mouth, her eyes filled with terror shot open "Don't even try." you hissed as she struggled under you, pressing the knife to her neck, enough to scare her to stop. "Now listen. You're gonna stop seeing Toji, and I wouldn't tell him about me, or of course, you want that neck of yours slit." you smiled as she began to cry and frantically nodded. "And just to make sure that you listen." you cut her chest before she could react, ultimately making her cry more. You left her there sobbing, with a wicked grin on your face, and sick joy pumping in your veins. Despite her wild side, she was smart, and knew enough to know you'd do more than simply scare her if you visited her again.

The rest of the week flew by, he came home unexpectedly barely giving you time to hide in his double-door closet. Toji mumbled something you couldn't make out though you wouldn't find yourself caring as you watched with wide eyes, Toji threw off his black shirt on the floor then plopped down on the bed, and his fingers ran through his raven hair. Scars littered his build, big and small, it didn't if not only add to his beauty, but the simple action of moving his bangs heated your core, you wanted to pull on those locks as he took his pleasure from your body. you take your phone from your back pocket, turn off the volume, and flash, you begin taking photos, two, three, or four times. You almost whimpered as he took off his pants and left the room to what you think bathroom, you had to go before you outed yourself.

Even at night, his very being was stuck with you, turning and twisting to get comfortable was futile, sighing you stared at the wall, you itched to do something, show him he was loved, how? You shot up with a smile, love letters! Of course! You tear the blanket away and get out of your bed, you grab some paper and a pencil, turn on the lamp on your desk.

My beloved Toji.

You don't know me, but I know you, and I have come to love you. I fell for your snarky and coarse personality, you can't estimate the length that my love stretches. Nobody would love you like me. I'll show you exactly that.

I'll take care of those who fail to be everything you could want, you deserve the best, and I can be the best for you, only you. I'll spend every waking instant to prove that.

Yours Truly, your devoted admirer.

You hummed this would do for now. You kiss the paper, hoping the love you feel transfers. You folded it and began another. You sent these letters with a flower of different meanings, one with roses, another orchid, and another with Tuberose. Some letters with pictures taken of his beauty. The days you're able to break into his house, the flowers you send are in vases, and your letters are in the bedside drawer, videos of you using his pillow to rub your throbbing clit, yet..yet he continued to find quick fucks, the bitter, burning rage you felt was worse than you found out your ex cheated, the women were met with threats, some times more. He was yours and they won't forget that.

My dear Toji.

Why do you like hurting me so? You know of my feelings yet you keep fucking those unworthy women, you are mine. I should be the only thing you think about when you pleasure yourself. Think about how tight I would be, how the thickness of my body would feel against you.

I will rid those girls of you. You. Are. Mine.

Your devoted admirer.

You sent this with a dead flower, if you had to kill them, you would. You won't live in a world where he wasn't in your life, sure you didn't introduce yourself but you will, it will be so cute, that what you thought.

Toji was gone for another business trip, and you took it upon yourself to watch over his house, it seemed to be in a bigger dilemma than the last time you visited, but you didn't put too much thought into it. You beelined it to Toji's room, tiredness of the hardships of love, became unbaring. You wanted to smell him all around you, once your sight landed on his bed, you flopped on it and giggled as the bed bounced your soft, pudgy body. The comfortable scent of your beloved carried you to sleep, and dreams of him danced in your unconscious mind. When you came to, a few things made themselves known, the bed you laid on was now a swing of some kind, the ground was black marble, and a couple inches away, your ankles and arms were tied together in a thick rope. Looking up from the floor view, you realized that you were in a basement, not a normal one but a sex dungeon, and as naked as the day you were born. a bed with a pillory between the pillars of the bed frames, set a few feet ahead of you, and on the walls were paddles of different sizes, leather whips, and horse whips "Sleepin' beauty finally awoke?" a deep baritone voice mocked, pushing the swing just a tad to have you in motion. Your heart flattered and jumped up your throat, carnivorous butterflies ate at your stomach "Oh the possessive whore can't speak now? Y're fine telling me what I can and can't do in that little letter." it was him, this wasn't how you were supposed to meet! You had it all planned- you yelped, a sudden sharp sting was left on your ass cheek from Toji's hand "Speak." that one word spoke pure, unmoving authority "I-I'm sorry! I-" A smack cut you off "You're sorry? You're sorry? Nah but I'll make you sorry." he gave your ass one last hit before he walked in front of you. You only saw him from afar, never this close or bare..no pants, no underwear nor shirt blocked his sculptured body, his length stood proud, twitching to be touched and licked, and a small bead of pre-cum poured from the pinkish slit, his balls hang shapely, and heavily, a mass of dark hair surrounded the base. Your mouth watered "Like what you see?" Toji chuckled cruelly taking his shaft and giving a jerk "Y-yes. It's so beautiful." you admitted in a trance-like state "Then be a good girl and open wide." he grinned lazily poking your bottom lip with his tip. Your mouth dropped and he didn't waste any time to shove it in, your eyes rolled back and you gagged, it so hard, hot, and heavy, his hands held onto your hand as he humped his cock down your throat, the saltness of his pre-come dragging against your taste buds. Deep grunts and groans heaved out of his chest, his head thrown back and his cum-filed balls smacked your drool-covered chin while he used your mouth as a fleshlight. Drool escaped the sides of your lips and pornographic gagging sounds intertwined with his pleased noises.

He was close, his groans raised in volume and his fingers tightened a bit around your head "Fuck!fuck!fucccck!!" he growled as a thick load shot down your throat, almost causing you to choke. Once he pulled out a string of saliva and cum followed before snapping, landing on the floor. "Ya like that huh?" Toji chuckled looking into your lust-glazed eyes "Answer" "Loved it s'happy..Daddy" you muttered the last part, tasting out what the girls he fucked called him, this wasn't lost on him "Fuckin' whore." he hissed, his dick twitched, he's been called that for so long but the way rolled off your tongue made him want to ruin you, not just ruin you but destroy you for any man. He pulled your hair back and forced you to look him in the eyes "'m finna ruin you." his voice dropped a little lower, he let go of your hair and walked behind you. For a second nothing happened until a big finger forced itself way into your drenched core "So fuckin' wet, might just make ya my personal slut." toji groaned, his finger thrusted into your fat cunt, his other hand kneading the flesh of your ass. You whined and clenched at his words, "More..please Daddy!" you begged tearfully which rewarded you with a harsh smack and a second finger "Since ya asked so nicely." he said, tone akin to conceding, his fingers sped up and a curled right on that spot "yes" you cried, the sound of your squelching pussy brought heat to your cheeks at the filthy noise, a third finger joined the two and it seemed like Toji was holding up against you before because his fingers pounded your vagina. The knot inside became so tight that it snapped, and your juices gushed out, spilling all over Toji's digits and the smooth floor "So messy." Toji tsked, you looked over your shoulder and moaned as he slowly licked his hand clean of your slick, his big hand took hold of your hip while he guided his tip to breach your hot sex once the head entered you, his other hand took its place on your hip and he snapped his hips, forcing himself entirely inside you. "Ya want to be mine?" he groaned, slowly pulled out then slammed back, and set a ruthless pace "Yes, please I'll be a good girl f'you Daddy." you cried as Toji growled and pounded into your cunt, your breast bounced out the slit in the swing "I'll make yar dreams come true, make you my baby mama" he grunted, using the sex swing to reach deeper, his cock head bullying your cervix harder "'m gonna make ya my fuckin' slutty housewife, waitn' for me and clean after me." he hissed, your tight sex clenching at his words, "Please..please! I'll be the perfect wife and m-mama" you babbled, tears falling down your puffy cheeks, Toji's hips quickened, driving his cock into your sweet spot and cervix, his fingers came to rubbed at your clitoris. The overestimation was becoming too much and the knot was about to snap "I'm gonna cum Daddy!" you moaned "Cum." Toji ordered, feeling his own inching closer. Just as the words left Toji's lips, your juices coated his cock, and your walls pulsed uncontrollably, milking Toji's cum as he spilled into you.

You were in a state between unconscious and consciousness, you felt the ropes that tied your arms and ankles together cut free. You felt yourself being picked up and carried to a bed, "Toji?" you muttered as you felt a wet cloth clean your puffy pussy and a stern "Sleep." Was all you got in return. The offer was too tempting to pass up.

You fall asleep in the comfort of Toji's bed.

Toji groaned as he stretched his muscles in the door of his house, his stomach growled and the thought of food was appetizing, Toji set his weapon by the door, took off his shoes, and made his way to the kitchen. Toji felt a small smile come onto his face as soon as he saw your portly body cooking dinner with a baby sitting on your hip, a baby girl that had your skin tone with your eye color, his hair, and eye shape. "I'm home," Toji called out, smile growing more as you made a happy noise and rushed to hug him "Welcome home my love!" you greeted with a smile "We missed you," you said as you handed over his daughter who immediately started to play with his bangs "Dinner will be ready in a minute. Sit." you smiles and kissed his cheek before going back to cooking. Toji sighed contently and sat down in the dining with his daughter, since he had let you live with him and eventually made you his wife, the cold and lonely house was now lively with love, laughter, and pitter-patter of feet.

Toji groaned as he rolled off you after showing how much he missed you and pulled you into him, your head on his pectoral "My love." you spoke up a few seconds of silence, drawing shapes on his other spec "Hmm?" Toji simply hummed as he rubbed his thumb on your love handle "How long did you know I was following you?" you asked, Toji had long ago told you off his occupation, being a hitman. It was a part of his job to beware of his surroundings "Since the beginn'." he answered honestly, you looked up in shock "Why didn't you do something sooner?" And why didn't you kill me? You wondered, "You were intriguing," He smirked "Nobody, no woman had tried that before besides..with a body like that how could not let you have your fun?" he chuckled. You rolled your eyes and kissed his scar "It's time for bed, we have so much to do tomorrow..." you laid your head back on his chest before mumbling "I love you." and like that sleep had taken hold of you. Toji kissed your head and whispered "I love ya too." he fell asleep soon after with you in his embrace.

Taglist: @18lkpeters , @ablondehoe.

A/n: Hey guys, sorry it took so long to upload. I hope you guys liked this like I did writing it. The reason I posted this instead of Guilty Love Three is because the poll I posted ended in a tie so I picked this story. I am still working on Guilty Love it will be out soon. If you'd like to be tagged for more of my toji fanfics you can ask here or in my ask and I will immediately add you to the list.

[tsukasalvr]

Hey!!! It's 🇧🇷 anon here! How are you?

⠀

Can I request Hanako and Tsukasa Yugi with an s/o that is from Demon Slayer? Like... S/o is from Demon Slayer and somehow ended up in Toilet Bound Hanako-Kun... I've been brainroting this for a long time idk why...

If you don't want to make this request, that's fine

s/o from demon slayer

Anime/fandom: Tbhk

Characters: Hanako, Tsukasa Yugi

Warnings: I don’t proofread

A/n: this one person in my third period is kinda fine and Im trying soo hard to get close to them

Tbhk masterlist | Main masterlist

Hanako

It was night and Hanako was wandering around the empty halls, and when he was passing the back door he heard a loud crash.

‘Did some lone break in?’ He wondered and went through the door to tave a look, and was shocked to see a person laying near the garden. He flew over to them quickly and was confused by their attire. It seemed to be a uniform but not one he recognizes, and your haori as well, you don’t see people with those here as much

When he heard you groan in pain he stood in front of your head. When you opened your eyes you were greeted with a ghost boy leaning over you smiling

Hanako was suspicious of you I mean you were flaming to be from the Taisho era and had a sword on you—maybe this was some big scheme to get rid of him

But his suspicions vanished when he saw how sincere and honest you were, and when you demonstrated your breathing style, he fully believe you since it didn’t seem to hurt him

He becomes curious and asks questions about demons and will ask to play with the sword you have to scare Kou

“Man eating demons? And you decided to join the corps to kill them? How noble of you!” He praises you since from what you told him of the past missions you’ve had and described how some slayers were brutally killed, he thinks it’s very kind of you risk your life for others

Will boast about you to Kou and how you’re so awesome and will ask you to show off your breathing style and say how it’s the prettiest thing ever

Even though he’s been dead for years and still doesn’t know some modern things, he will tease you for not knowing something even though he doesn’t know either and will call you old to tease you

“It must get so hot to be in that stuffy uniform all the time, if you want you can take it off!” Hanako said cheekily with warm cheeks

Tsukasa Yugi

Tsukasa was bored, and he was looking out the window that had a full view to the garden. He was tapping at the window at each star he saw in the night sky. But with every tap, he would get even more bored

His eyes were directed a bright light in the garden, his eyes shined with interest when he saw what looked like a portal and a disheveled person with a sword come out of it, and once they were fully out, the portal was immediately shut

Tsukasa immediately went outside, he was very excited. When he went out to see you, he was greeted with the tip of a sword pointing at his neck. He smiled devilishly at you and explained who he was and you did too

You were so interesting to him so he would constantly cling on you and keep you in the broadcasting room. He once licked the sword because of the color

Will ask you to use your breathing styles in the school but when you tell him it can get dangerous, he just brings you to a secret place where it’s only you and him so you can show him

Will ask you about the Taisho period and demons. He learned you came here because of a demon you were fighting who had the power to summon portals.

“So it’s filled with demons who humans? Woah!” He says in awe while stuffing his mouth with honey glazed blueberry muffins then stuffed it into your mouth when he took a bite

Honestly wouldn’t want you to leave, you’re too fascinating to him and with you gone it’ll be too boring.

[headfullofpresley]

𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐓𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 | 𝟏.

Pairing: Elvis Presley x reader

Word count: 5,9K

Summary: Elvis doesn't save lives; he takes them. But when it comes to you, he can't help but wanting to save you every time danger lurks around the corner. The reason for it might just change both your lives forever.

Warnings: vampire!Elvis, kind of modern!Elvis ig, strong language, mentions of blood consumption/murder- ya know, vampire shenanigans, Elvis faking his death in '77, reader is suicidal, reader not being completely... human. the cliff hanger kinda sucks, but we'll get there ;) ;)

A/N: soooo, this was supposed to be a simple one shot, requested by my lovely @breadsquash BUT naturally, i got carried away and have decided to turn it into a mini series! so there ya gooo- enjoy, babes. ♡

masterlist

August 16, 1977.

The day time stood still.

Well, except for Elvis and his inner circle that was. The Memphis Mafia had been running around all day- talking to reporters, keeping Elvis out of the public’s eye, all so they could succeed at their little plan in motion. For them, it was little, but for the thousands of mourning fans all over the world it was anything but.

Elvis felt guilty. When he decided to cut a record two decades ago just for the heck of it, he never expected it to throw him on a rollercoaster of stardom. As a vampire, it wasn’t the most convenient profession but he soon found himself getting addicted to the attention of girls that threw themselves at him at any given chance. At the beginning he considered them to be an easy snack- he never even dared to think that he was going to actually care about these people.

Now in 1977, he figured it was time to pack up and move away. Usually it was much easier, seeing the people he surrounded himself with who weren’t vampires would simply die of old age or a gnarly disease that tore down the human body. The goodbyes were never easy, but for obvious reasons, this one was the hardest.

It was unevitable, though. He wasn’t getting any older and even though he could stay put for a few more years, he was getting bored. He loved making music and he loved getting to know his fans, but he wanted something else. A new environment, new people, a new life.

His soul craved it.

“Are we staying for the funeral, EP?” Joe asked softly from the door opening of Elvis’ bedroom, looking at the frame of the older vampire standing in front of the window to peek at the chaos that had ensued outside.

Elvis knew it was all an act on their behalf, but the screams and cries from his fans outside of the gate once they got the news were real.

“You can, I’m not,”

Joe nodded, scratching the back of his head- he knew it’d probably be best if he and the rest of the Mafia stayed around for a little while, as to not raise any suspicion.

“Where to next?” the smaller male broke the silence that lingered in the room, stepping toward the window as well.

Elvis sighed softly, dropping the curtain from his grip to let it fall back in its place before he turned around and grabbed his coat that he put next to his suitcase, shrugging it on. “Japan,” he told his friend, a small smile on his face. “Good thing I survive on blood and not fish, though.”

Joe laughed softly, taking Elvis’ suitcase from the bed before slapping Elvis’ arm and walking out of the room, moving his former boss' luggage to the car that waited for the singer near the small part of woods behind Graceland.

Elvis released another sigh, a deeper one this time, as he looked around his bedroom for the last time. This place held so many memories- both good and bad, and he sure was going to miss this place. But that was all it was.. a place. A shell that portrayed a home. Having to move away every few decades, Elvis learned to not get too attached to material things- or at least, he tried to. Because vampires didn’t have steady homes, no matter how much they’d like to.

He stepped out of his room, holding onto the door knob. He saluted the Maria statue next to his bed, chuckling to himself before shaking his head at his own antics and closing the door behind him. This time, for the last time.

 

Japan was a dream. People who said New York didn’t sleep obviously never went to Tokyo- it was a vampire’s playground. With the city being so crowded, too crowded, it was easy for people to go missing. Everyone was so busy focusing on their own lives that nobody batted an eye, nobody looked out for each other in the big Metropolitan.

While Elvis’ name was known worldwide, nobody seemed to recognize him. With his immortality and hunger for blood came also the ability to shapeshift, so he looked nothing like he did back in ’77- a form he took on to make the public think he wasn’t doing well, which had been all part of his plan. Instead he opted for how he looked back in 1957-ish, an era of his Japan wasn’t too familiar with and if they did, nobody ever mentioned anything to him.

The excitement of Tokyo quickly wore off for him. The biggest reason for it was because he felt utterly lonesome. Vampires didn’t run in packs like werewolves did and as an outsider, it was extremely difficult to work your way into an existing clan. Plus, he wasn’t fluent in Japanese and there was only so much karate to do during the day and host clubs to waste time at during the night.

It didn’t take him long to get bored and once more, pack up and leave.

 

It wasn’t until 2023 that Elvis found his way back to America. After spending most of his time going from city to city and country to country, he figured no place was ever going to feel as close to home as his own country would. It’s been decades and with his fashion choices forced to change to blend in with the crowds, he had hoped nobody would recognize him anymore.

Naturally, he lived in another big city because it meant less people that would pay attention to him and more necks to tear into without anyone giving a damn. He wasn’t particurlarly fond of New York, but with the large vampire population living there and Joe living in the city as well, Elvis decided to stay and settle- for as long as time would allow him to.

With Joe owning a bar that made it possible for vampires and humans to mingle away from prying eyes, Elvis became a full blown bartender- something he had never pictured himself doing ever, but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy it. Joe had always been there for him when the spotlight was on him and this way, he could return the favor and the job also prevented him from rotting away out of boredom in the penthouse he compelled himself. He loved making small talk with customers and explaining the very sophisticated feeding system Joe came up with to the humans, but he needed more.

He needed someone by his side who he could share his thoughts and worries with. Someone who he could show his literal soul to, someone to take care of rather than the human girls that never left his home alive or the young vampire girls that were running around the city thinking they were above everyone else.

It was all so superficial, so fake- he needed something real. Joe managed to find it, why wasn’t the universe giving him the same?

 

The universe was working hard to push you and Elvis into each others’ direction, but it proved to be a near impossible task.

With him being an immortal being that had cheated his way through life and you being a young adult that was trying to survive by working a shitty job, you didn’t run in the same circles.

To be frank, you didn’t run in any circles. Aside from being courteous to your co-workers at coffee shop you worked at, you didn’t have any friends. You always told yourself you didn’t mind being alone, that you preferred it, but you couldn’t fool yourself any longer.

You were lonely and miserable.

You were at that damned coffee shop most hours of the day and when you weren’t, the shoe box sized apartment you rented wasn’t very exciting to come home to either. You had lost your parents a long time ago at the age of 13 and the more time dragged by, the more you simply did not want to be here anymore.

You didn’t have anyone to miss nor anyone to miss you, so your mind was set- sometimes there just wasn’t another way out and while death sounded scary to most people, it was a peaceful thought to you.

 

The cold air nipped at your cheeks harshly, your hands having lost its feeling a while ago as they were gripping onto the steel railing of the bridge. It was the end of February, so New York was absolutely freezing, but the weather hardly bothered you anymore.

You lost track of time so if anyone would ask you how long you had been standing on the side of the Brooklyn Bridge, staring down at the dark East River below you, you couldn’t give them an answer. The river that would swallow you whole and take you to a better place looked inviting, but also very.. very cold. Still, you had your mind made up- you weren’t going to change it. You were doing this… as soon as you managed to move a muscle and let go of the railing that was.

Because even though your brain was telling you this was the right decision, your heart was racing as snakes coiled in the pit of your stomach. You were nervous, you were scared… what if this wasn’t the right decision? What if there was more to life? You were only twenty three years old, you still had enough time to explore the world. Get out of this city and make something of your life, be someone- but how? You barely had enough money to pay your rent on time and have a decent meal every day.

You were so distracted by your inner turmoil that you didn’t hear footsteps coming closer. It was three in the morning and while New York was a lively city, people didn’t exactly hang out on the Brooklyn Bridge in the middle of the night, especially not in this weather.

As soon as a voice spoke up and broke your train of thoughts, you snapped your head to your right as your hands gripped onto the railing a little harder, making sure you were still standing steady.

“My, that’s a mighty long fall,” the dark haired guy that appeared next to you said with a nonchalant sigh, his arms leaning on the railing as he looked down at the river.

Your first thought was to ask him if he was some kind of nut job- while the rest of the city was clothed in thick puffer jackets to hide from the cold, he was only wearing a thin button up shirt and a brown jacket. The jacket as well as some of the buttons of his shirt were left open, collar popped up. Then your eyes traveled down to his pants and shoes- well fitted fabric and a pair of black Chelsea boots. It wasn’t like he looked completely out of place with his fashion choices, but it had been a while since you’d seen a guy his age who was dressed this well.

“Kinda cold for a swim, don’t ya think?”

The soft Southern accent that he spoke with didn’t go unmissed by your ears but you barely had time to think about where this stranger must be from when a gush of wind brought you back to reality.

Clearing your throat a little, you looked back at the water again. “I’m not going for a swim,”

Obviously.

Elvis was aware that wasn’t your intention- besides the fact that he wasn’t an idiot, he could also hear your heart racing and your subconscious crying out for help. You were in a vulnerable position, but as he tried to dig into your mind a little deeper, he found himself being blocked out. Strange- you weren’t letting him in. Not a lot of humans knew how to shut out a vampire, nor their abilities.

He didn’t think too much of it for now.

Elvis usually stayed as far away from situations like this as possible- humans were his main source of food. He was usually the one taking their lives, not saving it.

“It’s a hit or miss- you might die, you might not,” he shrugged, folding his hands together as he was still leaning his forearms on the railing, turning his head to look at you. “You’re lucky if the fall takes you out. Drowning is a.. terrible way to go, honey, believe me- you might think it’s a quick death, but nuh-uh. You’ll be down there and seconds feel like hours, not to mention that you can literally feel your throat closing up and filling with water, if you don’t swim up. Basic human reaction, you know? And then it’ll all be for nothing and all you’re left with is wet clothes and having to ride the subway home with a horrible stench around you,”

You turned your head to look back at him again while he was in the middle of talking but now that he was done, you couldn’t do anything but gawk at him. Yup, total nut job and not only because of his thin jacket.

“I know how it works, thanks,” you snapped at him, flashing him a sarcastic smile before looking back down and inhaling a sharp breath of air. “Weirdo,” you whispered to yourself, unaware that he could hear you perfectly fine. As well as the sound of your heart beating frantically against your ribcage, even more so than before.

You were trying to look distant, casual, as if his words didn’t bother you at all but the truth was that he had only made you doubt your decision more. Drowning sounded scary and painful as hell and you had no idea what would happen to you when you’d hit the water, until he told you just now.

He could feel you gradually growing more nervous- it practically radiated off of you in waves.

“What made you choose a bridge? There’s more peaceful ways to go,”

“If you’re trying to.. to.. s-save me or whatever, you’re doing a shit job,” you gritted through your teeth, hoping your voice came out steady and confident which to your own ears it did but to his, definitely not.

He let out a soft laugh- it sounded rich and deep, it was a pleasant sound. “I’m not- jus' making conversation. Curious what drove you to this point,”

Suddenly, you felt silly. You didn’t know if it was because the stranger next to you was acting so casually while you were nearly hanging off a bridge or because you were slowly starting to have second thoughts. Maybe your life wouldn’t turn out so bad after all if you’d just give it a chance and actually live it.

“Life just.. sucks, okay?” you told him, heaving a deep sigh out of frustration. As you looked at him and he looked at you, for whatever reason you couldn’t stop the word vomit from coming out. “I wish I could say my life was one big shit show but that would mean things would actually happen in it- my life is useless. I am useless. I’m alone in a city that I hate, wasting my days away at a job that definitely doesn’t pay me enough and I’m just done. I’m done with it all,”

You tore your gaze away from him, your fingers clenching around the railing firmer while tears stung in your ears. If he’d comment on it, you could always blame the wind.

“Everyone is lonely sometimes, honey- that’s life. You shouldn’t throw yours away. Why don’t you try finding a better job first?”

Apparently, he really wasn’t lying when he said he wasn’t trying to save your ass. You felt yourself getting angry at his words- who the hell was this guy? You didn’t need some stuck up asshole telling you what you already knew.

“What do you even know about it? You don’t know me. You’re the kind of guy who’s friends with probably half of the city, you don’t know shit about loneliness,” you spat at him, trying to turn around to get your point across and look him straight in the eye. Instead, your foot slipped and almost like your body had a mind of its own, your hands let go off the railing.

The panicked scream that left you rang in Elvis’ ears. Your body never hit the water and as you opened your eyes, the stranger was the cause of that- he held onto your arm as he leaned further over the railing himself, reaching his other arm out to you as well.

You looked behind you, the dark river suddenly looking like nothing but a black hole that was waiting to swallow you down. You didn’t want your end to be like that- didn’t want to become a crying ghost of a helpless girl on the Brooklyn Bridge because nobody ever found her body.

God, you needed to stop watching those ghost hunting shows.

Looking back up at the dark haired man, you grabbed his other hand too, holding onto him tightly. Elvis didn’t come onto the bridge tonight with the plan to save a suicidal girl’s life- he merely needed some time alone and have a cigarette on top of the bridge while enjoying the view. But as he saw the pleading look in your eyes, he realised you didn’t want this at all. You wanted to live.

And for whatever reason, he wanted you to as well.

Before you knew it, he had lifted you up and back over the railing. Because of your panicked state, you hadn’t even noticed he put no effort into it or whatsoever, as if you were as light as a feather. He kneeled down in front of you as you sat on the asphalt, leaning against the railing of the bridge.

“I know more about loneliness than you think, little girl,” he gave you a gentle smile, caressing some strands of hair behind your ear. “You’re still young, you’re going to get what you want out of life- a nice job, a better apartment, friends to spend your time with. Tonight never happened. You were out for a late night walk on your own and then you went home.”

You had no idea if you were tripping because of the shock that was still coursing through your entire body and you had no idea if this guy was on any type of drug, but you could’ve sworn you saw the size of his pupils widening a little before they returned to their usual state. It looked.. abnormal.

Elvis didn’t give you the chance to respond- before you could, he was already gone and you were left with confusion and a weird feeling in your stomach.

 

You did went home that night, but you hadn’t forgotten about him. You hadn’t forgotten the words he spoke- in fact, you had been thinking about them every second of the day, every day. The first logical thought that came to mind was that he was some kind of weirdo, some old money kid that had too many zeros on his bank account and didn’t know what else to do with it other than experiencing with drugs.

There was no other explanation for the things he told you and the way his eyes seemed to shift so unnaturally.

It’s been two weeks since that night on the bridge and while your mental state hadn’t improved, you weren’t thinking of taking your own life so much anymore. Rather, your mind was filled with him.

He was a weirdo, that was for sure, but he had also peaked your interest. He was on your mind 24/7, which was definitely not normal, but you couldn’t help yourself- you wanted to see him again, talk to him again. Maybe, just maybe, a friendship was in the cards for you two. God knows you could use a friend in this damned city.

Unfortunately for you, this damned city was big. Finding a person you’ve only seen once in the middle of the night on the Brooklyn Bridge was like looking for a needle in a haystack. You felt like a fool walking around places in New York you usually didn’t go to- but what other options did you have?

Give up and go on with your life, maybe- your brain told you, but you weren’t planning to listen to the little nagging voices in your head.

He didn’t seem like the type of person to come into a coffee shop to type the hours away on a laptop, which you realised soon enough when you kept getting distracted at work, daydreaming that he would walk in. And you had no idea where he hung around- maybe he didn’t even live in the city.

Disappointed but not surprised, you made your way onto the platform to wait for the subway that would take you back to your side of town. It was late- you’d been wandering around sketchy neighborhoods after work and lost track of time, and the platform was eerily quiet. Too quiet for your liking, making you a little nervous.

You should’ve listened to your gut when it told you to get back on the street and surround yourself with people, but it was already too late when you noticed a few guys stumbling onto the platform. They made their presence known by being loud and they especially made it known that they had seen you- they didn’t hold back on the wolf whistles and were even as bold as to approach you, asking where you were going and tugging at your purse that you had clamped under your armpit. You kept quiet, trying to create distance without them noticing but when they did, it seemed to anger them.

They got more persistent and more aggressive and as one of them suddenly got hold of your purse’s strap and yanked you toward him, he was yanked backwards with even more force.

Before you knew it, your three assaulters were laying on the floor, scrambling backwards to the stairs as another figure stood in front of them. You only saw the back of his head, but your heart leaped in your chest- as he spoke, you heard the soft Southern accent that you hadn’t been able to forget about. Your adrenaline was too high to hear what he was saying, but it made the guys quickly get back to their feet and run up the stairs.

“Go home, Brooklyn. Your train’s here,” the stranger you had been hopelessly looking for for weeks looked at you. He seemed more serious than he was that night on the bridge, his facial expression oddly pained. You opened your mouth but no words came out- it didn’t matter because as the train came thundering into the station and your hair flew in your face, he was already gone.

Now, the rational part of your brain figured you were never going to see him again. It was unrealistic to fantasize about a stranger you knew nothing about- for all you knew, he could be a total creep, a murderer even. But there was a part in your brain, a part in your soul, that couldn’t shake him. Even more than before, he took up your every waking thought and you just weren’t willing to give up.

Not yet.

 

The next time you saw him was even more unexpected than the last. You wouldn’t say you were a clumsy person, but luck never seemed to be on your side either- when you almost got run over by a taxi while making your way home from work, you saw him again. Standing across the street, his facial expression seemed once more pained- perhaps, even a little angry. While people around him rushed to cross the street and the cab driver had rolled his window down to scream at you, you could only stare at your favorite stranger.

“Walk.”

Now that startled you. It wasn’t the little voice in your head talking to you, it wasn’t your own inner dialogue- it was his voice. There was an urgency in his voice and although you were freaking out on the inside, your feet dragged you forward. Closer and closer to where you wanted to go, who you wanted to go to. But just before you could reach him, someone ran in front of you to try and make the green light and once more, the raven haired mystery man had vanished into thin air.

You looked around and then behind you, your eye catching those of the cab driver that almost knocked you off your socks. He flipped you off for good measure before driving off and you didn’t even think to give him a response, which was unusual for you.

Cussing out terrible drivers, especially cabs, was one of your favorite things to do- but right now, your mind was too busy with cooking up a little plan. Maybe not a very good one, but it was worth a try.

 

Elvis knew what you were up to before you even set your little plan in motion. For the past few days, you had been getting yourself in trouble, making him show up and prevent you from seriously getting hurt. He didn’t know what it was about you, but he knew there was something.

His compulsion hadn’t worked on you because you still seem to recognize him. On that night on the bridge, you were like a closed book- your brain was like the freaking Davinci code. He couldn’t crack it for the life of him. Humans usually did a shit job at closing off their thoughts to other species, because most of them were simply not aware of their existence, but with you it was just impossible.

Until that night you were in the subway station. It was like he could hear you screaming for him- granted, he knew about your whereabouts all the time because he had been following you and keeping an eye on you, but he didn’t think you’d find yourself in actual danger. He was planning on eventually talking to you, maybe try to compel you to forget about him once more to see if it’d take this time- he didn’t plan to follow some little human girl around and be her own personal savior.

But he couldn’t stop himself. He found himself wanting to save you.

When he stopped the taxi just mere inches before it’d hit you and succeeded in communicating with you with his mind, he knew you weren’t like any other human.

There was no other explanation for it; part of you wasn’t human, but he wasn’t so sure you were aware. And he had no idea if it was his place to tell you about it.

“If you tell her, boss, her life will change forever. This isn’t something to take lightly. You know how most vampires feel about halflings, hybrids- whatever the heck they’re called these days,”

Elvis sighed softly as he held up his hand, sitting down across from Joe who was sitting at his desk in his little office at the bar. “We’ve talked about this, I work for you now,” Joe laughed softly at Elvis’ words, nodding as his face turned serious again, waiting for him to continue. “That’s what I’m worried about. Not all vampires are as accepting as we are- if they find her, they’ll dissect her like a damn science project. If I bring her here, into our circle, there’ll be trouble knockin’ on the door in no time,”

Joe folded his hands on the desk and sighed deeply, thinking it over. He knew just as well as Elvis that the supernatural society in New York would get word of what you were if Elvis brought you into this world and if so, vampires from other cities and even states would most likely not be able to stay away.

You were a rare specie- so rare that it was still strange, maybe even scary, to other vampires. There were only so much people like you wandering around and most of them weren’t actually aware of what they were or what they could and could not do. Vampires weren’t aware either, hence the need to use people like you as lab rats. The most common thought about the specie was that their blood could cure vampirism, which wasn’t very far-fetched. It was a possibility, but Elvis couldn’t imagine the procedure of taking your blood was a pretty picture.

He didn’t want you to go through that.

Compared to a few weeks ago, he wanted to be your savior. He was starting to care.

“Bring her here,” Joe said, making Elvis look up from gazing at his daylight ring around his finger. Joe smiled, his brown eyes soft as they smiled along- it was a genuine one, which took some worries off Elvis’ shoulders. “We’ll take care of her like she is one of our own. You and I both know how cruel the world is, especially the one we live in- she doesn’t sound like she deserves to find that out by herself. Bring her here, EP,”

Elvis hated how it felt like a weight was lifted off of his shoulders. He barely knew you, he wasn’t supposed to care… not this much. But for the first time in a long time, it felt like he had lost just a little bit of control over his feelings. Love was a tricky thing when you were human and even more so when you were not; maybe this time he didn’t need to lock up his heart to not get it broken anymore.

 

Thanking Joe, he made his way out of the bar and back onto the streets with a lame little excuse that he needed to take care of something. Which was the truth, he just didn’t want Joe to know what it was exactly.

He had heard you calling out to him, channeling him, the entire time he was in the office. Ever since the taxi accident, you had been getting yourself in trouble on purpose. He knew you were doing it on purpose and he knew why- it was when you found yourself in danger, that he’d show himself to you. You had no idea how he always managed to find you, but he did and your need to see him was so big that you got yourself in situations you’d never think to find yourself in.

Elvis found himself pushing through the crowd of New York’s largest vampire nightclub in midtown Manhattan. Masquerade was owned by a couple of big name vampires in the supernatural world and let’s just say, the Southern vampire wasn’t very fond of them and neither were they of him. He did not want to be here and he definitely did not want you to be here- it was dangerous for humans, even more so dangerous for you if anyone found out what you were. Which they would if they’d sink their teeth into you.

Seeing you standing in the middle of the dancefloor, sandwiched between two bloodsuckers, he groaned to himself and didn’t hesitate to make his way over to you. One could simply think you were having fun and although you didn’t think you were in actual danger, he knew better.

When he grabbed your arm and pulled you out from between the two other men and into his chest, he could smell the sweet scent of cocktails on your breath and see the intoxicated haze in your eyes.

“You’re here!” you grinned goofily at him, shamelessly wrapping your arms around his waist and hugging him. Elvis ignored how his undead heart felt like it skipped a beat and placed his hand on the back of your head, pushing it into his chest to prevent you from seeing his vampiric face when he gave the other two vampires a warning glare.

You were probably too drunk to notice, anyways.

You didn’t stop him when he took you out of the club and just smiled at him with your eyes closed, swaying back and forth on the heel of your pumps as he draped his jacket around your shoulders. It was the same brown one he wore on the bridge.

Elvis made sure your cleavage wasn’t visible to him, because now was not the time to get distracted. He tried to get you to walk further away from the club with him but you gently pushed him off and leaned against the brick wall of the building.

“You’ve gotten.. b-better at it, you know?” you hiccuped, rolling your head against the wall as a giggle escaped you. You slowly opened your heavy eyes, looking at him.

He raised an eyebrow, trying not to laugh at the way you were slurring your words. Seemed like the human part of you couldn’t handle her liquor so well.

“Better at what?”

“Saving me,” you sighed deeply, almost dreamily; you grabbed hold of the collar of his jacket, snuggling into the fabric while inhaling his scent.

It was a very… manly scent. Fresh, but strong. Manly. You liked it.

“I remember the night on the bridge.. like it was yesterdaaaay!” you sang, laughing loudly which made some people look and chuckle at you. Elvis took a step closer to you, putting his hand on the wall next to your head to create at least a bit of privacy. You looked up at him and grinned, poking his chest with your finger softly. “You said you weren’t trying to save me back then, but you were. You like saving me,”

He could stand here for another hour and entertain you with jokes and smart remarks, but he wasn’t going to. You were drunk and vulnerable and you were surrounded by curious vampires who suddenly weren’t so eager to get in the club anymore but rather see what was happening between you and him. Knowing what you were, or rather assuming what you were, his paranoid brain was warning him that everyone else knew as well.

He needed to get you out of here.

“You’re drunk- let’s go. I’m not done saving you,”

You chuckled at his words and followed his gaze toward some people waiting in line to get inside. Suddenly, it seemed like all their eyes were on you and even in your drunken state, it made your skin crawl. You allowed him to wrap his arm around you and take you away from the crowd, stumbling on your heels a little.

“Okay, Elvis, let’s go,” you smiled at him and he frowned as he looked down at you, letting out a small laugh. It sounded awkward, nervous. “You look like him- Elvis Presley. But he was hotter, sorry,” you said, giving him an innocent little shrug of your shoulders.

“Yeah, I’ve heard that before,” he laughed softly, shaking his head as he held you into his side a little more firm before your wobbly legs would give out underneath you and you’d fall face first on the pavement. “Let’s get you sobered up, little giraffe,”

You gasped, trying to sound offended but you couldn’t hold back the laugh that tickled at the back of your throat.

You didn’t tell him your name and neither did he ask for it- it could wait until tomorrow.

taglist: @breadsquash @generoustreemystic @woundmetender @returntoelvis @prayerstopresley @ab4eva @marriedtopresley @steph-speaks @wonka-gifs @notstefaniepresley @ellie-24 @dollksj @webbedwebs @re3kin @wivette @eliseinmemphis @18lkpeters @rosepresley @septembersghost

If you even still knew who you were tomorrow.

[jackredfieldwasmyjacob]

What are some Spanish shows you would recommend to someone wanting to learn more Spanish through shows? Preferably shows that where they’re streamed at have a subtitles option

(Same anon, meant to include movies as well but forgot before sending)

Hello anon!! Let's see:

Shows:

I am currently watching El Ministerio del Tiempo (The Ministry of Time), it's a great show to not only learn about the language but also about the history of Spain as the show is about these time travelers trying to mantain history untouched, it's pretty neat! I've done some googling and it used to be on Netflix, but I don't think it is anymore. I've seen there's some English subtitles you can download, but I don't know how you can integrate that into the original video. Here is a post about someone using like a plugin to see the subs directly through the RTVE Play page (where it's still available) so maybe try there.

I just spent fifteen minutes looking for Spanish shows that have easy access to English subtitles but I haven't found any (at least of the ones I like), so I think they might be a bit tricky to find; I'll recommend them to you nevertheless in case you manage to get a hold on them.

The quintessential Spanish TV shows are imo Los Serrano (The Serrano Family) and Aquí No Hay Quién Viva (Nobody Can Live Here); they both have very simple premises and are just lighthearted sitcoms (Los Serrano is more narrative while Aquí No Hay Quién Viva is more similar to The Office). The latter is probably the most iconic one of the two, it is quoted daily and it is really good, while the former just exemplifies the 00s in Spain (keep in mind the shows are form the 00s so some of the plots might have not aged so well).

Paquita Salas is a modern classic, this one is definitely inspired by shows like The Office and it's also incredibly iconic, memeable and quotable. Anyways, it's about this washed up talent manager and her agency, and it has tons of cameos from famous Spanish people, it's very fun. It is on Netflix but I do not know if it has English subs (I think it does tho. Maybe? There's a possibility that's for sure). Also the seasons are like 6 episodes each so it's very easy to watch.

Skam España :) It had to be here :) And I know it has English subs cause I helped translating it lol. It's basically the Spanish remake of Skam, it's very good and I really recommend it. From season 2 onwards you can watch it completely in Youtube (just search for skam españa season x in the search box and you should be fine), or you can go to the best place in the universe, where you can find all episodes in true skam fashion :)

I am kinda embarrassed cause I haven't watched many Spanish shows so I cannot really speak for myself, but here goes a list of shows that I've heard are pretty good and where you can find them (maybe subbed!): Las Chicas del Cable (Netflix), Sky Rojo (Netflix), Merlí (Amazon Prime), Vis a Vis (Netflix), Veneno (Netflix), and El Internado (Netflix).

Movies:

I have watched even less Spanish movies so yeah. But I can still recommend some let's see

La Llamada (The Call, in English is called Holy Camp! for some reason) is the only Spanish musical I respect, I've seen both the movie and the original musical and I love them both so much, the movie is great (with the original actors of the stage production) and yeah I couldn't recommend it enought. It basically is about these teen girls who are at bible camp and one of them starts dreaming about God. It sounds boring now that I think about it but it's not I can assure you. It isn't really religious either don't worry. It used to be on Netflix but I don't think it is there still, I'm sorry :(

This one's a bit controversial but I'm putting it here cause it really shows the contrast between different regions in Spain; Ocho Apellidos Vascos (Eight Basque Surnames, once again, the English name for this movie is Spanish Affair for some reason???). Anyways, this one was a revolution when it came out, I don't know how many times I watched it in the span of like 2 months, it was a lot. The actors are all great, the story is pretty solid and it's generally funny I think (albeit maybe perpetuating certain stereotypes). It is a very simple premise; guy meets girl, guy falls in love with said girl and follows her from Sevilla to Euskadi. On Google it says it's on Netflix, Amazon Prime and HBO so... yeah.

The most beloved Spanish filmmaker is Pedro Almodóvar, and his movies are classics (that I have yet to see). Mujeres al Borde de un Ataque de Nervios (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown) and Volver (Return) are probably his best works, and I really recommend them! They are both available on Netflix :)

Last week I watched another really famous Spanish movie from a director who passed away earlier this month, ¡Ay Carmela!, a movie about this troupe of itinerant artists during the Civil War that really shows how both sides of the war were. It's on HBO Max.

As with shows, here are some rapid-fire Spanish movies I've heard are pretty good: Los Santos Inocentes (Amazon Prime), Bienvenido, Mister Marshall (HBO Max), El Laberinto del Fauno (HBO Max and Disney Plus), Celda 211 (Netflix and HBO Max), La Lengua de las Mariposas (Amazon Prime), Mar Adentro (HBO Max), and Amanece Que No es Poco (HBO Max and Amazon Prime). I have actually watched the three last ones lol, I just didn't remember them.

Hope these recommendations serve you well, and please let me know if you watch any :)

[originalwinnercheesecake]

The Owl house Season Analysis Bottom 5 and Top 5 episodes of the Owl House

I have wanted to do this post for a while. its what the title says,my opinion on the five worst episodes and the 5 best episodes... Now everybody knows what a good and a great episode are. I have heard some people try to argue that The Owl House does not have bad epsidoes, just less good episodes...

Yeah as much as I love what this show grew into that is pure denial and we are not doing that. Season 1a of The Owl house is mostly bad shooting for passing, with  2 outlier episodes that somehow managed to be good (you can probably guess which ones) I like 3 characters in in season 1a: King, Amity, Tiny Nose. Other characters, particularly Luz an Eda, suffer greatly from the writing focusing more on giving them popular (woke) labels and not really exploring them, which negatively effected the show because instead of making them better it felt like the show could only keep them on top by making all other characters lamer. 1b ranges from okay to kinda good. This was when Luz stopped basically playing pretend that she was Azura, and actually put effort into learning magic, becoming Luz the human whitchlet. Hexside was a great setting and putting Luz in a classroom setting,where she spent more time with kids her own age, gave the show the chance to flesh her character out more and give her differences and weird corks that were cute instead of destructive. Also I love, love, loved that they added learning differences to the character diversity. That is a difference that is largely overlooked in modern media. Eda changed from a mentor (which she failed at) to a parent figure, which was an improvement, but she still felt like a very hollow fusion of the Stan twins. She had what was cool about them, but they were also goofy looking, were often in over their heads and very concerned for themselves and their families. Eda is beautiful, the curse is largely ignored, and she is supposedly to powerful to concern herself with the plans and threat of her enemies.I also felt like it took her until half way through 2a to gain the kind of heart Stan and Ford where both shown to have like 2 episodes into their characters. In a character focused show like The Owl House it’s a poor character who only experiences highs, lows make characters compelling and have you root for them to get back up again.

 Season 2 was when the show took what it had and ran to becoming a great show. The Show finally knew what it wanted to do with Luz and Eda, it also picked which on of Kings three roles (small adult roommate, furry pet, young child) it was going to stick to. These choices allowed it to go deeper into the stories of our three mains and up the stakes. Because the stakes were up it could finally make the villains/anti hero’s (we got anti-hero’s) competent, and the threat became something real. Also the show was finally able to put actual thought and character into the secondary and side characters (see Lilith and Hooty... I am sorry Lulu and Hootsifer’s character glow-ups).

Again I really do love this show, and like to compare its lows to its highs because, like with the characters, the lows make the high better. So here are the worst and the best episodes (in my opinion) of the owl house

Bottom 5 episodes number 5 Once Upon A Swap: Yeah you knew this one was going to be here. Its on everyone’s bottom 5 lists. Body swapping episodes are a cliche. It added nothing to the story in the long game. It could have been a decent stand alone episode if it had been funnier, but the majority of the jokes miss their marks. It’s a very skipable episode unless you are just completely board. All of that being said its only fault is being boring and skipable. I left it low on the list because their is nothing in it that really made upset or disappointed, and nothing in it that negatively effected future episodes.

Top 5 episodes number 5 The Intruder: Remember when I said that 1a had 2 outlier episodes that were actally good. Well you probably guessed that I meant “The Intruder’ and ‘lost in language”. As much as it hurts me to not have the first great Lumity episode we got on this list (to many great episodes in season 2) The Intruder is the better episode. Its the second best episode at handling horror elements. We see King and Luz bond for the first time and its sweet. Luz learns her first (and for season 1a her only) gliph, thus answering if or if not she can really do magic. Also we get the introduction of the curse, which is both one of the most fascinating concepts in the show, and a really tasteful metaphor for a chronic illness or disability. This was the owl houses first brilliant episode, and 37 episodes latter it is still one of the best.

Bottom 5 episodes number 4 convention day: Yes I am listing “Covention Day” as one of the worst. I know some people like to argue that its one of season 1′s best because its the first episode to talk about the covens as more than school tracks, explains the sigils and gives a reason for Eda being wanted a wanted criminal.. oh but not evil. Well even if this episode was plot important, I still strongly dislike it for two very big reasons: reason 1 Luz; reason 2 Eda. What I said up top about how at first the only thing likable about them is that they are label representation,  that in the beginning they are handled badly as characters, and the show forces them on top by dragging everyone else down. Yeah convention is all that at its worst. They both talk like they are the best, but in action they are nothing but a couple of lazy, annoying, fakers, who put no actual time, or effort where their mouths are. I did not want Luz to give up magic ( After “The intruder” I wanted her to actually start seriously studying it and for Eda to actual at like a mentor), but I loved Amity for telling Luz that she had no right to toot herself a “Luzara Greatest witch ever parade’ and calling her out, and I wanted Lilith (an implied accomplished study and teacher) to wipe Eda’s smug “I cheat my way above everybody else because I rule” grin off her face. The twist that Lilith was cheating too was lame, clearly written in to try and save Eda and Luz’s faces as mentor and student, and I hated it, along with being seriously annoyed at Eda. Luz, and Lilith. Amity started this episode by purposely stomping on King’s cupcake and she is somehow still the only one of these four with any actual integrity or honest morals.

This episode is low because the fight between Eda and Lilith is animated totally awesome and a very enjoyable watch... at first. My only complaint is again Eda. Lilith was totally about to win before Eda’s little fake out cheat. This particular fight is one Lilith should have been allowed to beat Eda. Luz won’t have to give up being a witch because Amity and Luz undid their bet spell and weren’t the ones fighting. Eda and Lilith only had a verbal bet going on, and since Eda is such a cheating con of course she wouldn’t honor her end of the deal and would slip out the back door. Lilith beating Eda at the Convention would be a great metaphor for the hold Belos has on the witches and magic. Giving us a small example as to why many witches are fooled into believing that covens and sigils make them stronger (Lilith would still only be stronger because Eda is curse), and why wild magic has become less popular. It also would start the Emperor’s coven out as being competent and seeming more like a real threat earlier on. But in season 1 Eda was rose-colored like crazy and had to come out way on top every time and had to be “better than everyone else” because the show writters I guess did not know another way to make her and wild magic seem cool.

Top 5 best episodes number 4 Labyrinth Runners: This was after Disney cut season 3 down to 3 specials and canceled the show premature. This is likely the last time we will ever have a episode at Hexisde. Our last chance to explore the school tracks, and possibly our last chance to give focus to many side characters the audience had come to love. The show pushed a lot of characters and concepts into the background believing they had time to do them later. Then they were told they couldn’t. So they made this banger of an episode that answered all the fans questions about background characters, showed them in their best light, and also seemed to apologize for upsets fans felt about some o these charcters not getting focus they deserved: Gus did not get the A-plot enough so he gets it here, and the writters want to make sure everybody knows what a great witch he is. Amity and Willow rebuilding thier friendship was thrown out in favor of focusing more on Lumity, so its the B plot of this episode, complete with Amity apologizing to Willow for underestimating her skills as a witch all these years. Fans really really wanted to know what happened to Hunter after he ran away in Hallow minds and were upset Luz did not seem concerned about him? Do not worry, Luz sent a text to her friends to keep an out for him and Gus finds him this episode.

They also included a unclear and idoitic director in the form of Head illusionist Adrain Graye, who was not only a continuation of the coven heads being what you wouldn’t expect; but also his bad instructions, unlikable attitude, and the way he got beaten up by children at the end wasn’t just some throw away comment roasting the Disney producers. Oh no we got a love letter to characters and fans, complete with a full on barbecue of the producers, and it was deliciously petty.

Bottom 5 episodes number 3 I was a teenage abomination: My problems with this episode are basically the same as my problems with “Covention Day” but this ones does not have a cool witches dual to try and save it. I do not mind Eda having Luz do chores, they are a fair payment for room and board. But It was annoying hearing ‘laboring for me is the best job there is, you don’t need no education” every second line. King talks like he is a better mentor to the slug monster, but he gives it no training, and it was obvoius it was going to try and eat him and Eda once it got bigger. Both he and Eda are useless teachers and I pittied Luz... Then I saw how she was acting. Amity is supposed to be the bully right? Let’s see what she did: worked and studied hard on her abomination, accidentally did a bad job of giving Willow a pep talk on taking her studies more seriously if she wants to prove herself as a witch, was proud of her grades, and called Willow and Luz out on committing academic fraud after Willow unfairly stole her top mark. Now let’s look at what Lux and Willow our protagonists and “hero’s” do: Luz with Willow’s help illegally trespasses on a school campus, Willow with Luz’s help commits Academic fraud on an important assignment and steals a top mark from a student who actually did the work. When they are called out by Amity they keep up lying to Willow’s professor and get Amity in trouble even though she is right. Lie to and try to con the Principal. Destroy part of the school. Remind me again why Amity is the bully girl when Luz and Willow are acting much worse?

Because Luz was almost dissected by Bump? Yeah Bump was in abominations growing up, and is a principal. He totally knew Luz was kid and was trying to scare her and Willow into confessing. Also I am sorry but Luz deserved to be scared like that when you remember that again she trespassed on school grounds without permission to help a student commits academic fraud. If Luz doesn’t want to risk being hurt them she shouldn’t rush to situations a toddler would know are dangerous and wrong. Willow being that strong at plants without any training, getting rewarded at the end by being transferred to the plant track, and her dads who previously insisted she take abomination instead and banned her from plant magic accepting this for some unknown reason, was all a terrible choice then unless we were never going to see Willow. again. That is her whole story and arc. It should have taken at least 1 season for her to get transfered, complete with exploring her pasions and learning type, why her parents wanted her in abomination, and why it was a bad fit for her; then another season for her to fully master plant magic once transfered. Instead it's all done in wrapped up in her first episode. I blame this episode for nearly all Future Willow episodes being more about Lumity or Hunter. I blame it for why she was sidelined so hard in season 2, once Luz and Amity did not need her to create situations for them to come across each other. There was just little to virtual nothing that could be done with Willow after this episode wrapped up her whole arc with school and latent powers. This episode had little basically nothing good, our protagonists were worse than out antagonists, and it ended an important characters journey before it had time to be explored; so I have to put it on this list.

Top 5 Best Episodes List number 3: Knock Knock Knocking on Hooty’s Door. Now here is another episode everybody knew would be on the list. If Labyrinth Runners” was the best episode for developing the seondary charecters "Konock Knock Knocking On Hooty's Door" was the best Episode for developing core characters inside the owl house. Hooty now wants to be a life coach after Lilith implied he was a protector in a letter. Side note it is nice to see that Lilith did follow through on her promise to be pen-pals with Hooty after leaving with her mom. It is also nicer to see that they talk about Hooty’s feelings and troubles to. Lilith’s got more going on of course since she is starting over, but healthy friendships are a give and take relationship, and Hooty’s troubles are important too. The animation is beautiful, it addressed very real feelings and fears with all four characters, and it ended with them all getting great development. Hooty’s confidence in his own importance is restored, King has powers, Eda makes peace with the owl beast, who was actually once a demon that was captured in paper by the collector, who threw it away to be discovered by the curse sales man (I had been wondering all season how Lilith was able to find and afford such a strong and complicated curse)... And Lumity are officially girlfriends.

Bottom 5 episodes list episode 2 The First Day: Oh look an episode that took place after 1a? Yes the show got better in season 1b, but it still was not consistently good yet and there were a few episodes that were set backs. This episode was the worst of the set backs, had me scared we going straight back to early 1a episode quality. Luz went to hexise because after “Lost in Language” she got serious about wanting to learn magic, and Eda was not able to tech it to her. At this stage Luz knows only two gliphs and is really novice at controlling both of them, her entrance exam reminds us that. With how psyched she to go to the school and finally start learning you would expect this episode to be about Luz settling into to school, and starting to put more work on finding alternte ways to do magic. Bump even helps her out by sticking her in the potions track. Its an all purpose magic track, she does not need a bile sack because the magic will be in the ingredient, and it was the same track Eda was in so Luz can continue her Legacy... Luz decides  almost right away potions (Potions!) is the most boring of the track, and sneaks out of her first class to go play with the oracle tracks equipment. She is then immediately caught and sentenced to the detention track for the entire semester (harsh! This is her first offense, no warnings Bump?) But then we learn that the detention track is all education loving rebels, who use secret tunnels to learn all the different types of magic. Wow this track is even more perfect for Luz than potions!.. of course she does not stay. By then end of the episode this untrained, novice, witch, who has only been on the isles a couple months at most, and at the school less than a day manage somehow convinces the principal to change the system and permanently allow multi-tracking at Hexisde and protect any teacher and student in that program. A feet that seasoned witches with lots of talent, years of learning magic, and who begged for the chance to do more could not because... they are not main heroines.

That was only my second problem. My first was that the dentition track kids are all written to be idiots and jerks. It was blatantly obvious that the bad stuff Luz told her friends about the detention track was from before she learned about their club. She has been with them since learning it, and has not spoken to anyone else. Plus they know sitting at a desk doing nothing is boring, that is why they sneak into the tunnels. It would be one thing if Gus or Willow were known as blabs and they were afraid of their secret getting out and the tunnels being boarded up, but no. Luz did nothing wrong and they are bullying her for stupid and forced reasons to create drama. I do not like seeing other characters be jerks to Luz in a situation where she did absolutely nothing to them first. I heard Dana originally saw the detention trio as unimportant and was never going to bring them back, but did later because of fan demand... Well of course fans would like these characters and see them as important. They are the first young characters to be shown as negatively impacted by Belos’s one type of magic per witch laws, and the first to mix their magic. They were always going to be important and should have always been written with care.

On the bright side this was the first episode to convince me that Lumity might become a real couple instead of just friends who are supossedly coded as being more

Top 5 best Episodes number 2 Enchanting Grom Fight: Secondary characters had Labyrinth Runners, Core characters had Knock Knock Knocking On Hooty’s door. This is the episode the cliche slice of life episode that did the best job of developing them all together. The episode starts with Luz talking to her mom on the phone and feeling guilt at having to lie to her. SO Luz and Camilia must normally have a pretty hones relationship. We also learnt hat they speak Spanish to each other (representation!). When the school starts talking about Grom we learn Skara had a boyfriend back then and hey were adorably excited to go to grom together. Gus and King are hanging out after “really small problems” and are doing the announcement together. Eda got invited to chaperon. Luz owns an otter suit. when we get to the dance we see that their are gay couples dancing together as well as straight ones, mattholomule trying to boost his status by dancing with an older girl who clearly only agreed to the dance out of pity. Willow confidently handing out homemade corsages to classmates. King gets stage fright (just like Raine) and Gus helps him. Cat and Pufferfish head apparently know each other and went to Grom together. In the beginning of the show it seemed like the mouthhead girl was going to go with the beast-keeping jerk, but I guess they split because she spends the night hanging out with Amelia instead. You would expect Boshca to go with the quarterback but instead she goes stage and spends the night hanging out with other singles...interesting. Poor Ed and Em got stood up (I hope they TPed their dates houses)...

I liked Grom’s take on peoples fears. It starts out with kinda joke fears, things that are a bit creepy or a little embarrassing, then moves on to bigger fears. Nobody’s worst fear is actually as bad as it seems, but all of them are relatable to a degree and nobody is shamed for having them. Then of course that heartfelt moment where Lumity faced Grom together, Luz offering to go to the dance with Amity since she was to scared to ask her crush, who we get actually get confirmation was Luz. Thier dance together was absolutely stunning. Amity has gotten so strong with abominations. Luz is only on single gliphs but has perfected those enough to become  a formidable fighter. And then they combine their powers and their attack gets stronger, metaphorically these two are powerful and capable on their own but better together. Their last go turns Grom into a beautiful pink tree right int the forest: Metaphor the right support can help you find the beauty in a bad situation. This was wonderful.

Bottom 5 epsidoes number 1 Escape of the Palisman: My least favorite episode. I waited all season for the owl beast to reappear and to get more on the curse, and now that it happens, nothing. King takes it to the park to win an argument with a baby about a slide. That’s it? Rip off! Plus with Luz and her friends going to a stadium to watch a sports game from bleachers sounded boring to began with but it would have been better than watching Luz steel from Eda, injure Owlbert in a way that looked bad, get off scoot free (note she never apologized to Owlbert or Eda), and Learn nothing.The trials that were supposed to be exciting were not because the show could not even be bothered to at least pretend they were anything more than the BAT Queen’s chores, again did nothing to strengthen Luz and Owlbert’s bond, and again Luz never had to apologizes or actually make what she did better. The worst part of this was that this was set right before the first hiatus and it left us with with virtually no suspense, questions, or anything to look forward to when the hiatus ended. We saw a blurry shadow of who cursed Eda, but she barely cares and is unlikely to investigate (she never did. Lilith told her). The Bat Queen’s backstory was the highlight of the episode but I knew right when she said that she did not remember her giant we were unlikely to get anymore on it for a very long time (it’s looking like never). At the end o this episode I felt nothing but annoyance and I honestly did not care if the show never came back after hiatus, and that’s a problem

Top 5 Episodes number 1 Hollow Minds: It had to be Hallow Minds. This was the climax of season 2, the one where every mystery and secret that had been built up all came out. Were both The Emperor and he writers stopped playing games and got serious with us. I loved the first part of the Emperors mind (his lies) was beautiful and royal looking, but the deeper parts (where the truth lay) was so dark and sinister. We saw Team Red working together and it was a welcomed laugh. Hunter and Luz are forced to work together again and their enjoyable reluctant sibling relationship from Hunting palismans. Worried mama Eda is back and is willing to protect her children magic or not. How Team Red get the potion to Eda. OF course we all had long sense known the reveals by then. We knew that Hunter was a grim walker clone of Belos dead brother., and not the first golden guard. We knew that Belos was Phillip, and that Phillip was a witch hunter from the human world. We knew that Luz had helped him with Gliphs in the past (when she thought he was some great and heroic adventure/inventer). None of that prior knowledge made it any less suspenseful to watch Luz and Hunter go deeper into the Belos’s mind, and none of that made their shattered reactions to Them learning these secrets any less painful. The one thing I did not expect, but maybe I should have, was that scared kid Belos was the real inner Belos and he wasn’t shaking because he was scared. When we heard him break, unable to contain his laughter anymore and hem morph into himself, when the zombie was revealed to be his palisman victims trying to warn Luz and Hunter... as chilling as Scooby Doo Zombie Island. The moment he tells Hunter "good bye” and tries to get rid of him as Luz cries. When he uses Luz’s fake name and clips of her calling him his real name to torture Luz. Hunter saying Luz’s real name instead of “Human” as he once again chooses to save her over giving Belos what he wants, knowing this time Belos see and he will not be safe... This is a fabulous climax to the season, and in my opinion the best and most engaging episode of The Owl House

[lampmanliveblogs]

Where we last left off, Terra got bored and decided to make some teens fight each other, a favorite sport of the people on the Boiling Isles.

Eda and her new friend Raine of course ended up on opposing teams meaning they are going to have to fight each other. Oh, and I literally just realized the irony in Eda, who would go on to become the most notorious wild witch in modern history ending up on the Coven team, and Raine, who would go on to become a coven leader ending up on the Wild Witch team.

”I would have been such a good mum.”

Press X to doubt.

Some action stuff happens, lots of pretty lights flying around. Raine summons a large pillar of light to get away. Eda mostly runs away because she really doesn’t want to fight anyone right now. At one point she takes control over another kids’ abomination and turns it into stairs for herself showing once again how she is skilled in multiple forms of magic.

She eventually runs into these guys who drag her along to go beat up her new friend.

The reason I paused here specifically is because I wanted to point out that the person on the left has a uniform I don’t recognize. So they might be from a fourth magic school.

It would also seem that bards are the new illusion witches because no one takes them seriously in this episode, just like no one took illusionists seriously in Through the Looking Glass Ruins.

Looks like both Harvey and Gilbert got taken out (I learned their names between sessions. Don’t ask me who’s who though because I also managed to forget that between sessions). But hey, this is probably how they met and then things developed from there with the flyer derby team, falling in love, forming a family, and all that good stuff.

Oh, and I just realized that the guy with the five eyes kinda looks like the guy from the first episode back in season one, you know, the one from the Conformitorium. In fact, it COULD be the same guy. He just lost his hair somewhere along the way. And his shirt.

Uh-oh, how are they gonna get out of this one? Because they obviously don’t want to fight. But at the same time, Eda needs her ribbon to not get expelled.

Ah i see, they decided to try and impress Terra with their little dance routine which they did earlier. And just in case that doesn’t work, they throw in a little attempted murder. That is sure to impress her!

…actually, that might actually impress Terra. Not the dance, the attempted murder.

Something I like about this episode is that we get a really good sense of just how much Eda and Raine ”get” each other. They’re very much on the same wavelength. They’ve known each other for what can’t be more than a couple of hours. Yet neither of them verbally communicates this plan, they just do it.

[happymeishappylife]

Books I’ve Read in 2022 - Part 2

11. The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan (Book # 1 of The Heroes of Olympus)

I took a break from reading the Percy Jackson series and I’m kinda sad about because while he isn’t even in this book, this was such a fun read. I immediately loved Piper, Jason, and Leo, and learning about this new Roman camp as opposed to Camp Halfblood is intriguing. But the adventure to get these three to Camp Halfblood and then out on their quest to also help restore Jason’s memory is quite a story. And thankfully Leo’s sarcastic comments really help to cut tension in this book even if his own childhood is traumatic.

12. Vanished by Kat Richardson (Book #4 of the Greywalker Series)

Seeing a happy Harper Blaine who is committed to Quentin is a refreshing take in this novel compared to her unhappy relationship before, but having to go to London to safe her ex and his little brother was quite a leap and yet super satisfying and intriguing. Getting to see a little bit of Harper’s past and see how connected she was to the Grey even before she died is intriguing. I can’t wait to see that explored more though it looks like the vampires about to ramp up in the novels to come.

13. Essential Muir edited by Fred D. White

Another book I took from my previous office. I was expecting not to like it since I wasn’t that thrilled with Walden, but Muir, unlike Henry David Thoreau, really had some great descriptions of his travels and an appreciation of the world around him though all he did was travel. I also found that through his travels we learned a lot about how the early American wild was and how it interacted with his history. And while there is elitism and racism towards indigenous people, there is also a respect from Muir that makes this unexpected.  My only complaint (and yes this comes from the Landscape Architect) is I did not need paragraphs and paragraphs of Latin plant names that Muir sees everywhere he goes lol.

14. Daemons Are Forever by Simon R. Green (Book #2 of the Golden Torc Series)

I was really curious to see where these novels went since it felt like the climax of the series happened in book 1, but now that Eddie Drood is trying to rebuild his family’s estate and still save the world I found the novel surprisingly more interesting than I imagined and the stakes just as hyped as the first. The only weird part was connecting the Droods as early ancestors to the Deathstalkers from Green’s space opera. Once I get back to those it will be interesting to see how Giles time in modern England compares to his struggles in space.

15. The Travels of William Bartram

Another naturalist book I took from my previous company. I think by this point while I found these interesting, it was starting to wane on me and out of the three this is the one that didn’t keep me interested as much. Like Muir, Bartham really likes to go on about plants and while if you were a researcher that might be interesting, as a reader it is super boring and makes you fall asleep easier.

16. Doctor Who: Corpse Marker by Chris Boucher

Picking up right after the Robots of Death ends, the Doctor and Lela arrive at the same place just many years in the future. Here they find older versions of the men and women they save from the mining ship and learn that there is a new invention making the robots they fought before even more deadlier. It was a great way to build after the show though I was a little disappointed that I hadn’t quite gotten to this episode in my rewatch before reading it. I watched it shortly after though and it still connected really well in my opinion.

17. City of Night by Dean Koontz (Book #2 of the Frankenstein Series)

Having defeated their police captain, who Carson and Michael were horrified to learn was one of Victor’s creations, they now team up with his original monster now named Deucalion as they tackle the task of taking Frankenstein down. But the build up in this novel as both Carson and Michael are hunted and poor Artie is targeted by Victor’s autistic creature is palpable and page turning. Now that things are ramping up in danger too, Koontz suspense is in all its glory and I can’t wait to see what happens in the next novel.

18. Night of Many Dream by Gail Tsukiyama

I never realized that Hong Kong also got invaded by Japan when they invaded parts of China. Maybe it is because I still consider Hong Kong so separate that this never occurred me and unfortunately this isn’t well taught. But this novel was so interesting not only because of its history but because it was focused on the perspectives of two daughters and their aunt and their own individual struggles of relocating to Macao and how that changes them. Then as we see them all get older and deal with the beginnings of World War II, getting into the  Chinese film industry, and the struggles of immigrating to America, we get insight into so many ideas and deep feelings of what connects all of us and it is really beautiful.

19. An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

This has been on my list for years and I generally enjoyed it and am very curious as to what happens next because the sci-fi part of the story really intrigues me. And while I like the deep dives and thoughts from April on fame and how media creates the problems we face as a modern society, I personally had a hard time relating to her just because I really don’t use a lot of social media and generally don’t care about numbers (hence why I am here lol.). 

20. Doctor Who: The Ruby’s Curse by Alex Kingston

Who better to write a song about River Song than the woman who plays her! Alex knows her voice so well that it really is hard not to hear River speaking throughout the entire novel, whether that be her actual self or her fictional Melody Malone. While the story got very wibbly wobbly towards the end I also appreciated that this played with twists in space more than other novels and that River got her own awesome adventure that was solely just being an outlaw.

[merulast]

Tech talk

Tomorrow is kickoff. How do I feel? Kinda. Okay? I fetch a flu on the last days and my credo "do this or die on the road" starts to kick in. But on the other hand we always get a flu when we don't need it, eh? And when had we ever needed one? Anyway.

So far I wrote quite some Blog posts about how to find routes and plan stupid stuff. Stupid, because many things will not work once you start the trip anyway. But planing is still a good thing (isn't it?) because at least you learn about the possible options. And knowing the options is always a good thing!

But lets talk about something else: The Tech!!!!11!elf

It's so tech!!

I want to travel some 'roads' that are not very common for mid Europeans to hit. And what do you do if you want to know more but have no friends that ever leaves the home town? You reach out for social media and videos. And you probably had already noticed that I'm not quite a fan of vtubers and traveling youtubers. I would love to rant a bit more about them. But not now.

I still enjoyed to see the scenery. To see the locations. See the bus or the trains and having the opportunity to create my own, silly incomplete picture of what it is like. And so I decided that I also want to capture media! At least this time. Because last time, I did not even shot an single picture of anything in more then 1 year of living in Xi'an.

What to do with this media. Well. I don't really know! Will I just place them online? Maybe? Make youtube Videos that violate alot of copyrights? Maybe! Make fun on other popular vtuber content that made me cringe? Hell yeah! We will see!

(obviously I will most likely do nothing of all that!)

(Noel Philips - full time 'being not at home to review toilets' v-tuber)

Timelapse

The main brain fart that made me plan this trip was to see and feel the 'world' in between two places. And I noticed that some bored highway guys made timelapse videos of driving from a to b.

And while timelapse videos can have this 2007-warcraft-rouge-in-bw-with-linking-park-music feeling, they also can be interesting. Plus they ripe like wine. They are usually just showing the raw thing. No filters, no effects. No 'selection' of what to see. And I kinda like this. Nobody might be interested into a timelapse now. But it might be interesting later.

Anyway. So I decided to try that. And noticed, that there are not really affordable 'timelapse' Devices on the marked o.o?

Mobile Phones can do the trick. If you use some nice apps, they even could do it well. But for how long? What do you think how long will your power last? Mobile phones are small computers. They are not meant to record something for 4,8,24,48 hours non stop. And im pretty sure that most of the apps had not been written for this kind of 'professional usage', too.

Cameras are bigger devices. The can have a lot more capacity on board and the image quality should be nice. Okay. Do you want to spend more then 500 bucks on them? I .. dont know. Isn't it overkill? Another thing is that this cameras are huge. How to place them in public transport and let them run for 24h without getting robbed?

Build something! Yeah. Sure.

I got my hands on a cheap gopro7. When it comes to timelapse feature, there is absolute nothing positive to get something more modern. It shoots in 1080p and, to my big surprise, the build in power supply was able to last 12 hours straight without external supply. It is smal and I can easily tape it where-ever I want. With one picture taken all 5 seconds there is no shaking visible, even if I tape it straight to the casis of a bus, the picture remains very smooth.

360° Pictures

Why isn't this a thing? You shoot a picture and people can look around the whole place! ITS AMAZING! Fuck selfie with Ninni-Graniny in front of a Town sign. See the whole place! You can even upload them on google 'streetmap'!

See that tiny blue bubbles? Klick on them to see what this part of 'desert' looks like.

✅ Thats amazin! How could you not love this to look around all by yourself?!

❌ Serious cameras that make 360° pictures our of the box start at much moneyz

✅ But every modern smart phone can do that out of the boy if you take multiple pictures!

🆗 And It may looks not very professional for many reasons. You should watch an tutorial for better results

(who told you emojis would look nice on this? Grandmother whatsapp?)

Conclusion

So yeah. I will try both. Making some 360° pictures of locations that have none available, and also record the time lapse. We will see how it turns out!

[floofyhobbit]

Alright I was asked to talk about my OCS :3

Anyways this is the little bastard I’ve been writing for 2 years? He started as a WW1 era character actually but I decided I wanted to make a fantasy character again so here he is. The fantasy world he lives in is most similar to 50’s America with tech, but the fashion is more modern. Though I dress him like a traditional fantasy character. He’s supposed to be a sort of wood elf but I don’t have a name for the fantasy races yet (I need to worldbuild). He looks serious af here but do not let that fool you he is a silly little man most the time. Whenever he’s doing mage duties he tries to be serious. He’s a mage for hire, so if someone has a problem (usually magical) he gets paid to take care of it. The ribbon he wears is kinda like a uniform. Other mages for hire don’t really wear them anymore but he does when he’s on quests so he can look professional.

Also was raised by fae for most of his childhood, and I’m probably gonna write about that in a wholesome little prequel comic. He first starts using magic at 9 or so but it’s super weak, once he’s a teenager to cast better spells.

He left at 17 or 18 so he could become a certified mage and see the world. Before the main story starts he looses his eye but I haven’t decided where or when. It always happens in every draft, the idea stuck with me I guess. I guess the “magical character that doesn’t rely on their vision” trope spoke to me. Uhh what else

he has a bunch of familiars, but the main one that follows him around most the time is his crow named Basil, who’s the son of the crow he befriended as a child. His main magic is nature/Druid? Magic, basically he’s like Bulbasaur. Also talks to animals, and can summon his familiars. He can also shapeshift into animals but only a select few (right now he can only shapeshift into a kestrel, rat, wolf).

I made him into a glass cannon pretty much. Worlds most eepy magic guy. I didn’t want to make him super powerful because I found magic characters like that kinda boring. But it’s also fun to give characters cool powers 👀.

Though he is trying to learn a spell from each type of mage magic. Jack of all trades stuff.

Also his staff is kinda inspired by Sakura’s staff in Cardcaptor Sakura, idk something about wing motiffs…

He’s trans also! I kinda based that aspect on me haha… he was a pretty tomboyish child so when he realized he was trans he was like “oh I see now” and his family was like alright :D. Perks of being raised in the woods by fae, gender roles are kinda non existent ig. He named himself after a character from his favorite childhood book. Also gay aspec (me when I project).

Other stuff! He’s a pretty good dancer and likes fashion which are traits I took from when he was a historical OC.

Basically uhh I just wanted to write a little goober who went through a lot of shit but still looks at life positively and wants to help people. A friend. A little goober even.

I’ll try to get a good drawing of his boyfriend Oswald who is a bard and also a silly goober. Also hopefully Isaac’s familiars and his family members.

uh idk what else to say

[sporadiclilbook]

Fraying Mind pt 1

With this keyboard I vanquish my procrastination. Be gone ye cursed thoughts!

(Yan!Scaramouche x reader), modern-day Teyvat.

Also I'm using his real name in this (Well the banner kinda defeats the point of me spoiler-warning it but it's not that visible).

This was supposed to be a one shot but........I got carried away ha-ha!

There has been an itch inside your mind lately. Like a bug crawling inside your mind, nibbling at your brain to gain an acess.

Another day, another boring day of work. Had you known the office life at the Yashiro Corporate was THIS boring, you would've pursued other careers instead. Not that you hate your co-worker, Archons no, they were lovely people.

But doing the same thing over and over again made you felt exhausted.

Grabbing the canned iced coffee from the vending machine. You stretched your arms and went back to work. It's the same thing always. Sort that and this, check the reports that was send in and then compile all of them to give them to Mr. Kamisato. Simple.

Speaking of your boss, you've heard from the people that he was a spitting image of one of his ancestor. Albeit his personality is similiar to that of his sister. But that's ancient talk. It's not like things are always the same.

Still, you wondered how life was like back then. Would you have been more 'free'? Will there be no one to dictate how to use yours? People with Visions are put into a different class, 'To make them learn how to use their powers better!' they said. What a load of bull, most of your teachers say some things like 'Don't do bad things!' and that's it. Walking back to your desk, you can feel your Electro Vision cackle softly around your neck.

Children was jealous of you, people your age was skeptical of you and old people were constantly praising how you have the same element as the Raiden Shogun. But really it doesn't matter if you had a Vision or not. You're still you. After all it's an era of peace now. There's no need for people with Visions to fight. Hell, most even use it for daily uses.

You sat at your desk and take sips of your iced coffee while scrolling through the emails of reports today. Goodness there was a lot of unnecessary ones. You mindly scrolled past. Half-reading the titles. Took you quite a while to seperate the important from the non-important ones. You yawned as you get ready to type away, only to be interrupted by someone.

"Yo, (L/N). Working on reports again as usual?" Oh it was Kaedahara. He must have been visiting Mr. Kamisato. "Mm, yeah. It can't be helped but these reports aren't going to write themselves. Although I wish they did." He chuckled at your little joke. Kaedahara might be a close friend to Mr. Kamisato but he was nice to everyone here. He sort of became a celebrity. Not that he wasn't already one. It's always told to everyone at a young age that a Kaedahara once parried Raiden Shogun's Musou no Hitotachi.

So cool, you wish you had a chance doing that. But going up against a god is kinda scary.

"I better ask Ezume to raise your salary then." It was your turn to let out a laugh "Please do." He left you with a wave and a goodbye as you return to your work. Typing away mindlessly in front of the computer and occasionally turning your head away from the screen to avoid eye damage. The sun was setting down as you typed away the last few numbers and words in the document. You eagerly send them to Mr. Kamisato and let out a yawn.

Stretching yet again, you proceeded to gather your things. It was nice being able to go home at 7PM but you have to start working as early as 5AM. You're pretty sure that if you quite, your sleep schedule will take a long time to adjust. What a pain. It felt like you were basically trapped with your job despite the good pay.

You wonder how it feels to be free. Having no bills to worry about and all.

As you walked back home, a curious figure catches your eyes. It was an old lady selling various trinkets. You stop in front of her small stall and looked at the things she was selling. Temaris, ornately-decorated fans, ningyo dolls and other things. It was quite the traditional catalogue. "See something you like child? Please take all the time to look." The old lady spoke to you. You hummed as you looked around more. You don't really have a use for any of these but.....

"Granny, how much for this braided cord?"

Your eyes was fixed on a kakugumi-pattern braided cord that was made using a violet and white threads. There was just something about it that was begging for you to buy it. The old woman smiled at you "Oh that's a fine choice dear, you can use it as a bracelet." The woman told you the price, which was surprisingly cheap despite the fine craftsmanship of it, and gave it to you in a small gift box.

"Granny, are you sure you can sell it this cheap to me? It seems so well made..." The old lady chuckled "It's fine deary! That cord has been searching for an owner for a long time you know. It used to belong to a young lord of Inazuma." You tilted your head at her, confused as how an item that belonged to a noble ended up being sold by her. "Well I don't really know the detail. The story was passed down by story so it must have changed a lot. In any case, you better go home now before it gets too dark."

"Thanks granny, you stay safe as well!"

Going into your apartment you stared at the gift box. Goodness even the box itself was fancy. It was black with red and white accents, there's even an Electro Mitsumodoe on it! That's the highest honour from back then until now. Whoever this noble was must have been a personal fighter for the Shogun or something. You weren't that great in history but you remember the Shogun having a tengu warrior as her champion, perhaps it belonged to her? Considering how a lot of warriors used braided cords as decorations for their weapons, perhaps she found it impractical and just gave it away? Ah but the granny said it belonged to a lord....whatever doesn't matter now.

Once a possible weapon decoration now a bracelet for someone like you. you clasped the bracelet around your wrist. Huh, it was quite comfy. Even after years, the threads is still in good conditions. After making dinner, you watched the television. Maybe there's some good shows tonight or reruns of that old show Mushounin. Clutching a pillow and laying down sideways on the couch, you mindlessly cycle through the channels until you found one that you like. Hours later you fell asleep on the couch, unaware of a looming shadow.

"Finally that old hag sold the cord to someone. Now, let's see if you're worthy of me....."

Well this is weird, you didn't expect to be aware that you were dreaming. Even weirder that you're in ancient Inazuma. The Tenshukaku stand tall and the Raiden Shogun statue wasn't hogged by tourists. Actually........where is everyone? Was it because you didn't know much of Inazuma history that not everything appeared? You roamed around the empty city, taking in the scenery. It does appear detailed however. You were able to enter the Uryuu Restaurant without waiting for a line and the Yae Publishing House is quite smaller than it is now.

'Huh, this is a really weird dream.....'

Maybe you should try leaving? You started walking out to the city only to be met with an invinsible barrier. Well, that plan's not going to work. So you guess you have to stay in the city for now. You were about to pinch yourself and wake up but a voice startled you.

"Tch, did you seriously think this was a dream? Just how dumb did people get over the years."

Looking back immediately you saw someone with a slender figure wearing traditional Inazuman attire. He was scowling at you, as if he was looking at a bug. Rude. "Uh, who're you?" You asked him. What did he mean this wasn't a dream? "I'm Kunikuzushi. And you, mortal, will house my conciousness for the time being. You have no right to refuse, you did buy the stupid cord after all."

.....what.

"Sorry I don't think I understand..." He grunts at your confusion muttering something about how he will make 'that traveler' pay for his situation. He snapped his fingers and suddenly both of you were in another place. A gloomy forest with torii gates. He then walked to you and stared at you intensely "Hmph, you even have the same element as her. I guess you ARE something. Whatver go back to your mundane life, I need time to rest." Before you could ask another question you suddenly wake up. Archons you were sweating. Taking a deep breath you went out of your bed. 4:07AM. That's enough time for you to clock in as usual.

You splashed cold water on your face and brushed your teeth. After taking a shower and changing into your working attire you realise something odd.

Weren't you sleeping on the couch last night?

[hanjifuck]

.˚｡⋆ ༊ .˚｡⋆ stray kids ideal types - series .˚｡⋆ ༊ .˚｡⋆

lee know version ʕっ•ᴥ•ʔっ

based on their birth charts! s2

✧*:.｡. t/n: i’ll be using SIDEREAL astrology on this one. it’s also important to say that when we talk about romance in astrology we have to fully analyse the couple’s birth charts individualy at first and only then apply compatibility analysis so we’re able to check out the synastry overlays.

✧*:.｡. t/n: kinda proofread.

firts of all, i'll be taking a different approach to minho's birth chart as his' way different from chris'. with him we're gonna look at other placements.

let's use Lacan (1985) as a method to examine the relationship he has between the "i" and the "others". when we look at a Möbius strip it's possible to see that if we turn one side of the two surfaces of the band, we find ourselves outside, while the other finds itself inside the circle. which leads us into thinking about how much of "i" is in the "other" and how much of the "other" is in "i". even if we look at houses of the self, it's percepcion will only be seen on others. our notion of individuality is created trough the mirror offered by the other (the mirror stage).

the basics:

someone who has the sun in gemini, libra or aquarius;

moon in cancer, scorpio or pisces. leo and aquarius moons are a NO;

venus in aries, aquarius or sagittarius;

jupiter in gemini.

obviously there’s way more aspects to look into to see if a relationship would work but i’d rather not go too deep into it right now.

a person who above all things is his friend first. he wants to make friends with the person he likes because he's not the most romantic.

someone full of surprises, who excites him in differents ways everyday. boi wants an adventurous and unique love. he loves the drama and the unexpected.

a person who has knowledge about unusal things/likes to read about all types of things. interesting personality is a MUST for him. he loves being around strange people because he doesn't want to be bored. when it's about fun he likes to engage in all sorts of not-usual activities, what seems the strangest is also what’s best.

not-into-fairy-tales-romance type of person. he wants to be around someone who's interesting and makes him curious, so their meetings are most of the time unusual. i don't think you should expect the whole wine and dine type of thing from him, specially because he can give you way more. <3

someone who likes being around groups and is good at socializing. i know this can trigger some people but hear me out, he's happy when collaborating with others and functioning in groups. when he's having fun he wants to be part of the noisiest events, so it’s normal to see him at concerts or big art related events.

a non-judgmental person. it's not that he's scared of you "not accepting" him or whatever, believe me he does not care about this. he has to live to the fullest and to be unusual. he expresses his creativity in his own way. he wants to feel excitement when it comes to a relationships, so if you're too worried about what other people will think it won't work.

a person who wouldn't be a strict parent, if it's a long-term relationship we're talking about. his kids are very likely going to have strong aquarius/uranus energy on their birth charts, meaning his chiquitos would be as accentric as he is. he wants his children to express their individuality and be themselves. he's really good with children as well, having a great way of communicating with his kids, making them mentally strong and independent. yet he may tend to stress his kids with education stuff related cus he feels they should pursue their interests. cool dad™. will be good friends with his kids (the children will be as funny as he is).

someone who's not traditional. a rebel when it comes to love and don’t prefer to date the traditional way. he wants to fall in love with your mind. his dating ways can be unusual, maybe online since he has a kick for technological advancements. he can be strange when it comes to sex as well.

but is still a 100% monogamy. the king needs to rule ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. he wants to be the center of attention, he can be a bit domineering even. he may be a bit possessive or jealous, but tries to hide it. expects absolute loyalty from you. his kinks? a lot of love, affection, and admiration.

a person who's not scared of experimenting. he wants to try everything at least once.

a "modern" person. minho has always been interested in technology. he gives me big nerdy energy. he's quick to respond to his creativity urges.

someone who has a longing for learning. he enjoys traveling and learning about technology, psychology, philosophy etc. deep and philosophic conversations are a must (but don't get it twisted he enjoys humor more than anything). he's unhappy with what he's being given, he's always looking to improve things and his thoughts.

a person who's comfortable with silence as well. even tho he loves having fun with other people he's still kinda a loner who doesn't need to interact with other humans or to talk very much.

someone passive. would like it better if the person's willing to give him the spotlight. wants to be paided attention to, wants you to worship him. his fantasies probably revolve around devotion. ofc he enjoys giving his effort to you as long as he receive the same back, too. disobeying is a no.

a feminine and elegant person. rude or harsh behavior and crudeness about sex are a no. you must have a sparkling physical appearance as well.

easy conversationalist. def not into monosyllabic communicators. he's prideful, he won’t back off from a conflict that involves his own principles so it's essential for you to be good with words, too. fights can be commom in the relationship.

someone who enjoys praising him. don't forget to show your appreciation for all that he’s doing. wants you to see him as the confident man that he is and the man that will fulfill all your dreams.

a 100% honest person. you deceive him, he will just leave and not turn back. he finds it hard to forgive. again, he wants his partner to worship him. he works hard to make sure you leave idolizing him, so his feelings will get very hurt if he finds out later on that you were “faking” things. he will feel inadequate and insecure.

patiente. he can be easy to offend or to be hurt quite easily. you may need to walk on eggshells sometimes. when you first meet him, he might come off as a bit unattainable but don't be discouraged.

a person who doesn't get scared by his feelings. when he's actually in love, he will fall head over heels. if he thinks you're a match he wants to make sure nobody else will ever get you. he can easily get caught up in the moment and be impulsive. he wants to attract your attention as soon as possible after he realises he loves you, and it will be in an obvious and eccentric way. he wants you to remember him for a lifetime. his placements makes him one of the most emotional individuals, he feels love, anger, disappointment, happiness and so on, at a much greater level.

someone who stands out. he has always attracted a lot of attention since he has a gravitational energy, so it won't be just anyone who's going to catch his eyes. as a child, he felt very different from the people he was surrounded by. he loved and still love anything that is labeled as odd by others and he likes to feel like he's strange.

someone who's interested in humanitarian work.

a person who's flexible. he needs someone who's willing to take risks with him. someone who's in to enjoy the ride.

[beware-of-you-98]

BAU as College Professors AU

*cracks knuckles*

Penelope

penelope is a graphic design professor

she loves teaching kids about the wonders of photoshop!!

hates illustrator and indesign with a burning passion

(the illustrator pen tool can fucking choke for all she cares)

(AND HOW THE FUCK DO YOU PUT THE FRONT AND COVER TOGETHER IN INDESIGN!?!?)

(she really hates both applications sm 😭)

is always reluctant to teach them but does it begrudgingly

(she’s just glad there’s other professors in the department that teach editorial and graphic illustration)

teaches photography!!

encourages the students to be as expressive as they want to be with their pictures!!!

she’ll be just as enthusiastic to see a close up of a sneaker as she is to see a sunset landscape shot

teaches the graphic design studio classes too!!

she always has music playing!!

half the time, her students come into the class and her glasses are all skewed, her hands are covered in paint or glue and some abstract art piece is sitting on her desk

when the students ask her what it is, she just gives the projects human names

“hey professor... what did you make there?” “oh, this?? her name is... pam.... yeah, pam”

she doesn’t offer up any further explination than that

and the students just accept it

her office light is always off

but she has multiple fairy lights in various colors hung up

her office is v inviting!!!

students come to her to vent or to talk about their problems bc the campus therapist doesn’t help all lmao

she always has on the most unique outfits but she pulls them off so well

a ray of sunshine tbh!!

Spencer

teaches major science and math courses

he teaches chemistry but only chem for majors in chemistry

it’s not that he can’t teach chem for non majors

but he sometimes gets too ahead of himself and forgets he’s teaching a course for non majors

it’s easier for him to teach for majors because the students can follow his ramblings better

he teaches upper level math courses and usually only has like three students in those classes

he’ll sit up on his desk and debate with the students for the entire hour about the riemann hypothesis

he gets excited because the students are just as enthusiastic as he is

he is two extremes

he either shows up to his classroom like a half hour early and writes out all his notes on the board so that when the students come in, he can go right into lecture

or he’ll show up two minutes before class starts with his hair disheveled, his tie undone and his expression glazed over and just be like “listen up i woke up late and just downed an entire pot of coffee i brewed with several cans of monster energy—i don’t exist on this dimension anymore”

on those days, he lets his students work on other projects for other classes because he knows it’s not fair to ask his students to focus if he’s not

he helps them with their homework

penelope brings him lunch sometimes to make sure he’s eating

he appreciates it a lot because between lesson plans and grading, he sometimes forgets to eat

he’s absolutely the youngest prof on campus

sometimes even his students are older than he is

but everyone addresses him correctly and respects him bc he’s really chill

his office is a disorganized mess

there’s files and papers all over his desk

and a sculpture penelope made for him (she named that one “roger”)

JJ

psychology professor

she really has a passion for teaching and learning about human psychology

(she may have started to become interested in psychology bc her sister was in the psch honors course before she died)

she comes across as a little hostile and unapproachable tbh

but she’s young

and she’s attractive

and she’s not conveniently what people think a professor looks like

she’ll respect her students if they respect her

she didn’t graduate the top of her class and work her ass off for the degree to not be respected

if there’s any inappropriate comments aimmed towards her or anyone in the class, she kicks the aggressor out immediately

she stands at the front of the room and lectures for the beginning part of the semester

once she’s built a good rapport with her students (and vise versa), she becomes more chill

she’ll sit on the edge of her desk and encourage discussion rather than following a book or a set plan

(she finds it’s more interesting that way anyway)

sometimes her students will show up ten minutes before class starts just to talk with her once they’re comfortable with her

she always answers her emails students send her (queen shit tbh 👑)

some kids in the psych major course playfully call her “mom” because she always asks them how they’re doing and about their week

(she hasn’t decided how she feels about it, but she also lets it slide)

always wears pants suits but cuffs the sleeves to the jackets

her office always smells like eucalyptus because she has a small mist diffuser plugged in

she also has a small fish tank with a beta fish inside (its the appropriate size too!!)

(she let a student name the fish—it’s name is sir bubbles of argon)

she also has a sculpture from penelope (“her name is maxine”)

her desk is very organized and clean!!

there’s a small couch in her office and her door is always open

sometimes, students will come in if they’re having a hard time and need someone to talk to

they know jj is there to listen and she always seems to understand (she doesn’t judge them either)

Emily

teaches three languages, both for majors and non majors

spanish, french and russian

(she’s also quite fluent in arabic and italian and can hold her own if she’s speaking in german or mandarin, but the students don’t need to know that)

she’s actually very intimidating lmao

students are so scared of her 😭

she’s serious af

(she smiles in class sometimes though!!)

(besides, she’s only serious inside the classroom)

(outside the classroom, she might even be as approachable as penelope)

always dressed in expensive black suits, polished heeled shoes with very dark makeup and a “don’t fuck with me” steely attitude to match

she also wears expensive watches

she always stands at the front of the class and slowly paces the entire hour

one time someone decided to fuck off in her spanish 101 class

she didn’t even yell at him, she glared

rumor has it the kid was never spotted on campus again after that

(BOY SHE SCARED HIM SO BAD HE DROPPED TF OUT)

despite that, her classes are some of the easiest to take

one because emily has a way of teaching that helps all students understand

and two because her voice is naturally very easy to listen to

students taking her french 101 are going to leave the class speaking fluent conversational french

she also doesn’t tolerate people being racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, etc in her class

if she catches a bigoted comment someone makes in her class, she kicks them immediately

she brings in her cat sometimes

he’s all black and his name is sergio

(he’s her esa that she brings in when she’s feeling really stressed out)

he’s clipped on a harness and sits on her shoulder or on her desk

if he meows, she accepts it as an answer

it’s the only time the students ever see professor emily prentiss as soft

well

other than the days she has the class watch foreign films because the students can tell emily has a fondness for them

her office is pretty organized like jj’s

instead of it being light and inviting, emily decorated her office on a more dark side

she has a few animal skulls, crystals and other gothic memorabilia on her desk or bookshelf

she has a small cat bed on the corner of her desk that sergio sleeps in

on the other corner is a sculpture penelope made her

(it kinda looks like a crow and emily named it kurt)

really, the only colors in her office are dark, deep purples and the small lesbian pride flag sticker on the back of her laptop

Derek

teaches history classes

but like modern history

from like 1940s to present

he refuses to follow most western history books bc they’re not accurate like at all

in his first year of teaching, the dean of his department made him use a book and he hated every second of it

how accurate could the information be if they portray king tut as a white guy???

he graduated under one of the best historians in the country

he also traveled a lot after he graduated and met a lot of people that had first hand experience with major historical events

that’s really what he bases his teachings off of—first hand experiences and encounters

every two weeks or so, he’ll invite in guest speakers to his classes to talk about what they went through (depending on his lesson plans)

that’s how he likes to teach and learn (bc he always loves to learn new things!!)

this is random, but also he is the type of professor to randomly box jump up onto a desk

he also sits in chairs backwards and has a more laid back style to teaching

his exams are based on what the students can learn from history rather than the information itself

he’s always dressed super casual!!

solid color, short sleeve button ups are a favorite!! (no tie)

he gets along with all the students

he’ll talk to the athletes about their games but sound just as enthusiastic and genuine talking with students who are majors in fine arts about their projects

he’s just a v down to earth professor tbh!!

he brings in clooney so much

like... every friday

it’s just another bonus of taking his history classes!!

he and penelope are dating

his office is full of sculptures she makes for him 🥺

he drops by her graphic design studio class with clooney to help out or even to just watch

he’s supportive and encouraging of penelope and her art!!

other than the sculptures penelope makes him, his office is a bit more disorganized than jj’s or emily’s, but cleaner than spencer’s

he has a few papers scattered on his desk but mostly he’s a little more put together

his office door has a small basketball hoop attached that he plays around with if he’s bored (and if penelope is busy)

both he and penelope have a dog bed in their office and water bowls for clooney when he comes in

Hotch

law professor

is the most intimidating professor on campus

like

seriously

if students think professor prentiss is intimidating, they haven’t met professor hotchner

he stands in the front of the room and goes over his lecture without pausing or asking questions

his voice is naturally low and intimidating and he actually never smiles

his attire and appearance is always so professional

suits

ties that are tied so tight, they look like they’re choking him

shoes so polished, he can see his reflection in them

hair always styled neatly

pants and jacket are always wrinkle free

his classes are difficult

not just because of the subject matter, but because he has a very organized, straight forward method to his teaching

students wouldn’t dare act up in his class—they’d be absolute idiots to

he’s quiet and reserved outside the classroom

if the others hear anyone talking shit about hotch behind his back, they’re always quick to come to his defense

they actually know hotch

they know he puts on a hardass exterior, but really he’s just a softie

he always lets them hang in his office with him

he listens to spencer’s ramblings and is extremely patient with him

he has lunch with emily every other day

even if she’s a pain in his ass 99% of the time, he likes that she sticks around and that he can trust her

he shows up to all of penelope’s art shows

and sometimes sits in on derek’s lectures when he has guest speakers

jj brings him pastries from the coffee shop on campus sometimes

he knows that he can come to her if he ever has anything he needs to talk about

(he never opens up to her but he really appreciates the sentiment nonetheless)

penelope has definitely made hotch a few sculptures

(he keeps them at home, but he does have one of her paintings hanging in his office)

speaking of his office it’s hands down the most organized out of all of them

his desk is so clean besides the picture of his son he proudly displays at the corner

he always has his lights off and his door shut

he seems so unapproachable, especially in class

but sometimes his lecture notes have crayon scribbles all over the page

or a small sock will fall out of his briefcase

and maybe, even for a moment, his serious demeanor falls when he spots them

and it almost reassures the students that he is human

Rossi

actually he’s the only one besides maybe reid i can see being a criminology professor

is a retired fbi agent

and successful author

so like that hasn’t changed from canon

but because he doesn’t work for the fbi anymore, he has absolutely no chill and tells all secrets

he’ll be like

talking to his class about a case he worked on in ‘83

and be halfway talking about details of cases that were supposed to be confidential

he’ll pause and go “oops” but keep talking lmaooo

penelope actually never made him a sculpture

instead she made him a coffee mug she made on the wheel and glazed herself!! (she even made her own glaze bc she’s extra like that)

carved on the side is “world’s best italian dad”

(this is because when emily introduced rossi to the group she was like “yeah he’s kinda like my dad” and now everyone calls him “dad”)

(he loves it so much though and proudly accepts his title)

he loves his mug so much and uses it every single day!!!

he’s the only professor besides penelope that let his students refer to him without the title of “professor”

he gives off kind old grandpa vibes

and that he’s only teaching because he really doesn’t have anything better to do during his retirement

but he’s chill and his class is interesting to take

(plus he really does love to teach)

he’ll ramble on and on about his “golden years” as an agent

he will especially talk a student’s ear off if they come up to him and tell him that they read one [or all] of his books

he writes a different quote on his board every single day

his attire is always business casual

he sits on the edge of the desk or on a swivel chair because it’s comfy

he was doing a lecture on jack the ripper and just pushed himself around on the swivel chair, slowly spinning around the front of the room

his voice kept changing in volume every few words because of him facing the wall and then a few moments later facing the classroom

his students refer to him as a “living breathing meme”

he has no idea what the fuck that means

but he take it as a compliment

his office is empty because he goes home after he’s done with classes lmao

he doesn’t do paperwork

or fuck with technology (he never fucking responds to emails smh)

so he has no need for an office

[meimae]

01/07/21

I'm finally on time for my June Immersion Overview! ...Well, at least in a different timezone I am! (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧

June was a weird month I suppose. I knew what I wanted to immerse in in terms of listening, but I was so indicisive for reading material. Everything seemed either too hard or too boring, so I just ended up dipping my toes in a variety of stuff until I ended falling back into the stuff I put on hold and have been dilly-dallying with.

It's really not for a lack of media, which makes immersion learning really good for Japanese since there's tons of it to consume all the time, I've just been kind of all over the place, not knowing if I like something enough to continue. Ahh, I miss the days when I could finish entire books and manga series in a month.

Anyway, overview time!

ANIME

Not feeling too good about anime. Maybe I'm not looking into seasonals enough, but I also dislike waiting for new episodes, because the immersion method really requires you to binge media to get better at comprehending the language faster.

HUNTERXHUNTER S2

I'm sorry, but that season was boring. The issues weren't even issues to begin with. I know that there are particularly outstanding arcs in HXH, but I'm not about to skip seasons because every minute counts as immersion.

GREAT PRETENDER

Club pick. I only ended up watching a few episodes. Wasn't really into it. I thought I'd like it because people were really into the animation and art style, but it's kind of meh.

DRAMAS

JDramas saved my entire immersion this month! I know a lot of people feel that the quality falls flat compared to what Korea has been producing, but there really are some gems here that I feel like people keep missing out on because they won't give it a chance.

恋はつづくよどこまでも

Unsubbed rewatch. Okay, I was dumb and included this last month, but I actually watched it very early in June. Anyway, this was 70% romance/drama, 30% medical drama so anything that I missed were mostly related to medical stuff that I wouldn't understand well in English either, so it didn't feel too bad of a watch.

ミス・シャーロック

Excuse me, there's a female Sherlock Holmes? Yes, please! I looove Sherlock Holmes, it's one of my favorite books and characters of all time, and the fact that Japan made a genderbent remake is giving me life. Love that they took inspiration from BBC Sherlock, too, which is one of my most favorite tv adaptations.

The portrayal of fem!Sherlock was very interesting and made perfect sense, really classy and very snooty and almost condencending, but now with realistic female perspective emotions. Ah, so good!

Watson or Wato, however, felt a little flat unfortunately. It did take a good look into the effects of PTSD, and mental health is always good for people to discuss, but it almost seemed that was all that Watson is, which s/he is not. The original Watson is brave and clever in a more human aspect, and would put a lot on the line to help Sherlock, regardless of his physical or mental state. It just didn't translate well, which is unfortunate. I guess the TV Drama Elementary version of Watson was what I was looking for, but it didn't end up that way.

5時から9時まで

Unsubbed rewatch. Kind of a filler drama, and just wanted to watch it to count as active immersion. The three guys in this show are cringe tbh: protag is a guy who can't take no for an answer, friend is a "nice guy" who thinks he's entitled to her because they've been friends for a while, and boss guy thinks it's fine to withhold the truth of him once being married. Female protagonist's personality started okay, but kinda broke down towards the end, and I'm not sure if the ending was to make up for that.

私たちはどうかしている

Uh, hello? New favorite drama! ヽ(^v^)ノ

Between the spicy family drama, beautiful garments and traditional 和菓子屋 in a modern setting, and the electric chemistry between the two main characters, which I'm not gonna lie was kinda toxic too, but for some reason I could not put this down and watched it in two days.

It's a combination of genres I love: "historical" fiction, romance, drama, mystery, and suspense. I'm not even going to discuss it anymore. Just go watch this show!

リコカツ

Interesting concept: two people meet, had a whirlwind wedding with many guests, and almost immediately after decide to divorce, but is too embarrased to admit it to everyone who wished their marriage the best, so they try to work things out while dancing around their feelings even though they are still married. Pretty cute, kind of frustrating at times, but you can't help but root for them anyway.

MOVIES

Why are these movies an 8 on MDL? lmao

君と100回目の恋

Interesting concept that got flushed down the drain in the first 20 minutes. Nobody even explained why the recording can do what it does, and the male protagonist also just gave up on his research just like that. It's implied that he redid things a hundred times, but bro, did you even try as hard as you think you did?

カノジョは嘘を愛しすぎてる

Another one of those standard template romance movies but now with a band as a costume. It's fine, not the greatest.

NOVELS

君の膵臓をたべたい

Finally finished! See stats and 感想 here!

本好きの下剋上 司書になるためには手段を選んでいられません

Was able to wrap up 第一部 兵士の娘I along with the audiobook! Stats and 感想 here!

Also started 第一部 兵士の娘II, but got both distracted and indecisive with my reading material. Also this thing is close to 200k 文字 what the heck. That's a chunky light novel, and if it's going to be like the first one, it's going to talk a lot about the process of making stuff - both interesting and tedious to read about.

三日間の幸福

This is turning out to be another "I Want to Eat Your Pancreas" moment where I just inch forward everytime but never finish, but I'll get there. I'm starting to form an opinion about this protagonist and it's turning out pretty sour, so it's kinda hard to read with that in the back of my mind.

コンビニ人間

Started towards the end of the month, so I haven't actually made a dent in it, but I heard that people in the immersion community usually pick this up as one of their first reads. It's actually really short (60k 文字), so if it's as good as people say, I hope I can sit down and finish it in a few days. Wishful thinking maybe.

VISUAL NOVELS

ファタモルガーナの館

Look man, I'm halfway through this, and between that and the fact that this is an unvoiced 敬語 filled VN which is interesting to read in, makes this really hard to drop even though every door so far has been the standard historical fiction tragedy. And yes, even the "big secret" about the white haired girl is nothing surprising given how heavily hinted it was. Even Morgana's story is what you would expect to happen given the setting and timeline.

Anyway, I'm gonna trudge on because again, it's not like I'm not gaining any language skill from reading this. It's just painfully predictable, which makes it really disappointing coming from a huge historical fiction fan.

白昼夢の青写真

Just trying this out because I'm tired of being held back by unintresting reads, and although the first case feels like it's gonna turn out cringey, I'm keeping my hopes up for the rest. Also, the art for this is really cute?

-☆-

That's it for June!

I also technically read a few chapters of 名探偵コナン, but didn't include it in my overview, because I felt kind of detached from reading it. Like, was I really about to reread something I read (English fan translated) 900+ chapters of for most of my life, well, because I now can read it in Japanese? So I put it on hold only because I don't know if I should reread all of it, because you know, Japanese gains, or just pick up where I left off even though this manga is my childhood favorite and my heart was already crying just rereading the very first case.

Honestly, I didn't know what I was expecting from June. I thought I would have been able to read more, but I just played catchup with some stuff and drowned in the JDrama pit. No regrets though, I ended up loving a lot of my picks this month.

Still hoping to balance out my reading and listening though, as I really feel quite behind with my reading skill. It's just so hard to find something I like so I keep dawdling about. Eh, I'll figure it out.

Thanks for reading! Updates in the future as always.

[dancingthesambaa]

The Smell of Plum Blossom Tea Ch 2

Summary: Just like a butterfly wing, a single act of kindness can change the course of the future, it certainly did for MK as a black-furred monkey put out a hand towards him.

Rating: Teen and up

Chapter 2: What’s in a Name?

It was a week since Macaque had taken MK in and to the child it has been the best week of his life. When he woke up in the mornings he didn’t have to worry about there being no food as he smelt it as soon as he opened his eyes, he could play in the forest with all the monkeys as long as Mac was there and he even had clothes that fit him instead of the same stinky shirt on days end. Everything was just wonderful.

“MK, what should we do about school?”

Or at least it was, but as soon as the monkey demon asked that question, MK's whole body deflated. “Do I have to go to school?”

“Education is important shooting star,” he said as he diced up some plants. “It helps things we don’t know and things we want to know.”

“Okay, but it is really boring, I always lose all my stuff all the time, and the teacher always explains it so weirdly,” the child pouted.

“Everyone has a different method of teaching, so you may have a method of learning as well.”

“Oohh….what does method mean?”

“It’s just another word for way.”

“Oh okay,” MK then tilts his head, “so what are you doing anyways?”

“Well right now I’m cutting up some herbs so I can use to make medicine,” he explained in simple terms as he then picked up the diced up blue plant and placed it into a cauldron and began to stir it.

“I didn’t know you could make your own medicine from home!” He leaped up and tried to poke his head over the counter to watch, “I always thought that you get it at the doctor's office.”

“Well doctors actually get it from a lab where people make the medicine there, this space here is my own lab.” He gestured to the room that was filled with all types of different ingredients all placed in a package inside of one storage cabinet and in another was a cabinet filled with modern lab equipment.

“So you don’t have to be a doctor to make medicine?”

“Well for most yeah, but for me,” he grinned as he picks up MK with one hand and placed him on his hip as he continues to stir with his other “let’s just say that I have been doing this for a little over 500 years, so I have a tad bit more experience and knowledge than regular humans.”

“Can I try?!” He excitedly asked.

“Well I don’t know, sometimes it will be a bit too dangerous for you to even be In here, which by the way, do not enter this lab unless I am here,” he sternly told him.

“Okay, okay got it, but pleaseee.”

“I don’t know, think you can handle it,” he teased.

“I’m a big boy! I can handle anything!”

“Hmmmm,” he pretended to think before conceding, “Alright you persuaded me, so I’ll allow it this once,” he said as he put the spoon down, “so first we make sure we have our safety gear on.”

“Check! Check!” MK adjusted the goggles on his eyes and showed off his long sleeve jacket and gloves.

“Next, what you have to do is go slow and make large circles.”

“Slow and large circles, got it,” he then proceeded to pick up the spoon and do what he said as he stirred.

“Good job kiddo, but how bout we make that circle a little bit bigger,” he gently grabbed MK’s hand and made it a bit wider. Soon enough the medicine's previous light yellow had transformed into a dark green.

“Look, it changed colors!” MK pointed out.

“That’s the beauty of medicine kid,” Mac grinned as he set him down, “now all I have left to do is to let this simmer for a few hours and it will be ready to be bottled up.”

“That’s a lot of medicine, is that all for you?”

The demon shook his head, “no it’s actually for one of my regular clients. His students routinely injure themselves, sometimes in the dumbest of ways, so I usually make batches of this every month.” His ears then slightly twitch as he grinned, “speaking of students, MK come here. I have someone here for you to meet.”

“Who?” He tilted his head as the monkey put a lid on a pot, proceeded to put away both of their safety gear as they left the room.

“Hey old-timer, I know your hearing isn’t that bad!” A voice yelled from down below that MK could barely hear, “come grab me, I’m carrying too much shit to climb up!”

“Someone to help,” was all Macaque said before he leaped out of the open window and less than a few seconds later, returned with a short bluenette woman in his arms. “MK this is Yanyu,” he said. “Yanyu, this is MK.”

“Uhhh, he shuffled his feet awkwardly as he gave a slight wave, “hi.”

“Awww,” she cooed at him, “it’s nice to meet you MK. You're rocking a pretty cool shirt there.” She pointed to his solar system shirt, “it’s really far out man.”

There was a pause as MK stuttered out a thank you and Macaque put his face in his hands.

“That was terrible, I hope you know that,” he groaned.

“That’s what you say, I know my puns are rockin my world,” she smirked at the louder groans.

“Please stop, I beg you.”

“Then beg.”

“Are you human?” MK bluntly asked, which made the two pause.

“Strangely enough that isn’t the first time I was asked that, but yes I am fully human. Though a small percentage of me is most likely full of crazy,” she grinned widely.

“I think you have those backward,” he muttered and didn’t even flinch when she elbowed his stomach. “So your probably wondering why she’s here right?”

“Uhhh yeah,” he nodded.

“Well, I have come to the realization that despite my many years with humans, I have never actually taken care of a human child outside of giving them medication.”

“Which he means that he knows not a single thing about taking care of you tiny ones,” Yanyu butted in as she crossed her arms, “and this is where I come in.”

“Oh well that’s good...I think?” MK didn’t exactly know what she meant, but since they said it’s a good thing, he feels like he doesn’t have any complaints.

“Oh trust me, it will be,” she said as she put down the bag and it was filled with books when she opened it up. “I may be a big sister of five, but even I can admit that I don’t know everything, so I brought some parenting books, nutrition, school, and a lot more.”

He couldn’t help but deflate slightly at the last word, which the bluenette noticed.

“Don’t like school?”

“Not really, it's just that I can’t stay focused sometimes,” he admitted as he lowered his head.

“Hey now,” Mac kneeled and ruffled his head, “you don’t have to feel shame for being distracted sometimes.”

“Hmm, well if you have troubles with traditional school classrooms, then how about you try online schooling?” Yanyu said.

“Online school?” MK tilted his head.

“I didn’t know it was also available for the younger grades, I thought it was only for the college classes like you had,” he admitted as he used his feet to pick up one of the parenting books.

“Nah, it was incorporated for all years a few years back. It certainly helped a lot of students out and one of them being me,” she proudly pointed a finger to herself, “let me tell you, kid, it was the second-best decision to do online school. Made my life so much easier.”

“What was the first?” He curiously asked.

Yanyu walked over to Macaque and patted him on the shoulder, “begging this ol doc here to take me on as a student. It was the cheapest and most informative learning I ever had since high school.”

“Student? You were a teacher!” MK's eyes widened as he looked at the monkey demon.

“Kinda, though I did question my sanity during those times,” he said as he flipped through the pages.

“Oh shut up, if it wasn’t for me you would still know squat about technology.”

“I wasn’t that bad.”

“You were still using the Jiaguwen system when I first met you.”

He winced, “okay yeah you got me there.”

“Anywho, it’s gonna be a right pleasure working with you MK,” she held out a fist bump to him, “we’re gonna see a lot of each other.”

MK looked at the outstretched fist and gave a little grin as he fist-bumped her hand.

“Boom,” Yanyu made an exploding sound as she opened her fist when the two parted.

He looked at her strangely.

“Don’t worry Starbright, she’s just weird like that,” Mac patted his head.

“Hey!”

A few months have passed and MK has taken to online schooling like a fish to water. He found it much better to concentrate and while there were still a few issues over understanding the problem itself, he had the help of both Macaque and Yanyu. The last one herself was helping him with his writing.

“The girl is walking to the market by the river to get milk for her mother,” MK repeated to himself as he finished writing.

“Congratulations kid, you have finally graduated from Yoda writing to a regular language,” she gave him a little applause.

“Thank you, thank you you're too kind,” he also jumped out of his seat to give a mock bow.

“But for real kid, you have really approved with your writing,” she gave him a high five, “nice job.”

“I couldn’t have done it without you both,” he scratched the back of his neck.

“I know that you would have been just fine even without our help and I know your dad would agree.”

“Really!” Then MK realized what she said and backtracked as he flailed his arms about, “Wait dad?! I mean dad is kinda a big word and he just adopted me, so he probably doesn’t even see me as a son, more like a responsibility he has to take care-,” he was stopped by a hand gently covering his mouth.

“Whoa there little monkey easy, I can’t keep up that fast,” she lightly teased as she put her hand down, “now you want to tell me what that was all about?”

“Well,” he sat down and kicked his feet, “I-its just-I don’t really-.”

“Take your time,” the bluenette said.

“Well,” he twisted his hands “is it okay if someone-and I don’t mean me just someone I know-don’t call mom and dad, well, mom and dad.”

“Yeah,” she said easily.

“Wait really?” He was a little more than shocked at how easy she said that.

“Really. You, or my bad that person you know, don’t feel comfortable or don’t want to call their parents so that they don’t have to.”

“But they gave birth to me-I mean that person and they raised them, so shouldn’t they have that name?” He tried to insist but was shut down by her shaking her head.

“They don’t keep that name if they harm the child, no parent ever deserves that kind of title if they purposely try to bring harm to their child. It is wrong,” she stated.

“Oh...and what about those that do?” He shyly said, both knowing what he was implying but not saying it out loud.

“Then you say it when your ready,” Yanyu simply said.

“I don’t think it’s that easy?”

“No, but what is?”

MK just shrugged his shoulders.

“Now how about we put away this stuff for ten more minutes before we get into history,” she pushed away from the materials and made sure the laptop was charged up.

“Yes!” He fist-bumped the air as he then spotted the pencil on the ground and tried to pick it up with his feet.

Yanyu had to press her lips together to fight against the bubbling laugh in her throat as she watched MK struggle to pick the pencil with the socks on his feet.

“Oi bastard I need a little help ova here!” A rough voice yelled out as it was followed by a loud bang, which led to the eight year old flailing off his bed.

“How many times have I told you to stop that?” He heard Macaque's familiar voice being annoyed.

“Too many times to count,” another softer voice replied.

“But you think that gunna sticka?” The third voice laughed out loud. “That’s a laugh!”

MK slowly opened his door and crept quietly to the living room as the voices got louder.

“I guess it is too much to ask you to be quiet for once?” The monkey deadpanned.

“Now why would I do that?” The first voice said.

It was at this point that MK managed to poke his head into the living room and saw three different demons, he knows they are demons this time, and his da-Macaque.

There was one whose skin was dark brown, but lighter above the shoulders. The more he looked, the more he could see that they were actually feathers all along the body, and instead of hands, they had clawed bird-like feet and two large black wings protruding from the back.

Another one was softly glowing a light blue hue that matched the pale blue skin as the creature was gently floating just a smidge above the ground. They had almost a mushroom-shaped hat covering their eyes and dozens of dark blue and purple strings attached all around the bottom of the hat as they hung just above the demon feet.

The final one is something that MK could clearly tell what it was as he had seen a bunny before, though this one was way larger than the other bunnies he had ever seen. The demon had pure gray fur and large white fluffy paws, if he wasn’t so nervous right now he would ask to pet them.

“Well I was hoping that you would have kept it down for the kid that is currently living with me right now,” he cracked a smirk at their frozen faces.

“Huh?” They all said in unison.

“Speaking of kids, you can come out MK. Don’t worry bout them too much, they ain’t harmful, just insane.”

At the prompting MK slowly shuffled into the living room and he saw three heads swivel towards him.

“Uhhh hi,” he gave a little wave.

“You have a kid?!?” They all shouted either loudly or softly.

“It’s not that big of a shock,” he grumbled as he walked over to the child and threaded his fingers through his hair. “Sorry, these knuckleheads woke you up.”

“I know I have not been gone that long for you to have a chick without me knowin!” The female bird demon squawked as her feathers puffed up in indignation.

“Nah, adopted him a few months back.”

“And you didn’t tell us?!” The bunny huffed as they thumped his foot in agitation.

“Nope,” he grinned as he watched their growing frustration.

“There are times where you are the best of us and times you are the worst of us, I don’t know which one this falls under,” the mushroom head demon groaned as one of the strings was massaging the top of his head.

“Are they your friends?” MK loudly whispered to the monkey demon.

“I don’t claim these lunatics,” he bluntly said.

“I think you mean to say that we are your amazing, wonderful, fantastic friends that you hold dear,” the bunny demon pointed out as they put an arm around his shoulder.

“I was forced into this,” Macaque said as a wing wrapped around the two of them.

“Ah just admit that you have a soft fuzzy heart for us,” the bird demon grinned.

“Not even when my bones decay away.”

MK just blinked at the unprompted scene as he saw the glowing blue demon approach him.

“Sorry about my companions, they can be a little much sometimes,” he smiled softly to him.

“It’s fine, you're not the only ones who make a loud entrance,” he thought back to the times Yanyu would kick the door open when she walked in.

“I suppose not,” the demon then held out one of his arms to the child, making sure his tentacles were out of the way, “my name is Bohai little one.”

“I’m MK,” he smiled back and shook his hand.

“Oh, we’re doing introductions?! Well, I’m Daiyu chicky,” the female demon grinned or at least that's what he thought she was doing with her scarred beak.

“I’m Minsheng,” the bunny demon twitched their nose and gave a toothy grin, “you're so small that you remind me of my siblings when they were born.”

“How many siblings do you have?” He curiously asked.

“Pfft older or younger? I stopped counting after we reached the 200s,” they laughed.

His eyes widened, “over 200! That’s a lot of brothers and sisters.”

“Well, you know how bunnies are.”

Before MK could question that he felt two furry hands cover his ears.

“How about we don’t talk about that to a kid who has probably never had a crush before,” Macaque hissed to the bunny who had their hands held up.

“He’ll learn eventually.”

“But I would rather have that explained to him by literally anyone but you.”

“Fair enough.”

“Anyways,” the monkey took his hands off MK’s ears, “what were you screeching about earlier?”

“Oh well I got a bit nicked with some of dem cretins after a territory dispute you know how it is and,” Daiyu turned around and showed her back...which had a few knives sticking out of it. “I got a bit scratched up in the tussle.”

“At least you had the sense not to take it out,” he couldn’t help but sigh. “You at least win?”

“Who do ya think your talkin to?” She proudly puffed up her feathers.

“And people say I have too much pride, you damn vultures take the cake,” Macaque rolled his eyes as the two of them walked towards the infirmary room.

“You say that as if you never met Flicker before,” she chortled.

“Well there’s a stark difference between you two.”

“Wha that?”

“He actually has a brain.”

“Hey!” She attempted to pull his dangling fur, but he ducked away in time.

“Can I stay up a little longer!” The seven year old asked before the door could shut.

“Only for a little bit, but when I get back it’s straight to bed.” He answered back and then the door closed.

“Thank you!” He called out regardless as he fully knew that he could hear him.

“And that’s the whole lot of us kid, we're only half as insane as curly made us out to be '' Minsheng joked.

“Almost all of us,” the jellyfish demon said.

“Who you? Ha! Hate to break it to you, but the last time you lost your patience was when they didn’t make your starfish the way you wanted and you paralyzed the entire cooking staff.”

“You didn’t have to bring that up, but no not me,” he waved one of his tendrils. “I meant Ahmed.”

“I didn’t include him in the first place because that man does not even classify as insane,” he bluntly said. “He has the patience of a monk to deal with our brand of insanity which, in hindsight, is insane itself.”

“Whose Ahmed?” MK asked, “is he another friend of d-Mac?”

The two looked at each other before Baiyu spoke, “yeah, he’s a friend of Macaque.”

“Ouch, that’s a low blow for poor Med,” they grinned then winced as a tendril shocked their arm. “What? You know I’m right.”

“You know as well as I do that he can still hear you.”

“I’ve been craving death anyways,” they then turned back to the kid, “so you want to hear some crazy stories about your old man.”

Needless to say that Mac had tackled the bunny demon to the ground, with two violet glowing escrima sticks in hand, in the middle of their story on how the fierce monkey demon had to dance his way across a road of hot coal as he tried to outrun an angry herd of demon pheasant while wearing a rather beautiful kimono.

Macaque was reading out on the patio when his ears twitched as he heard a soft whimpering coming from MK’s room. He put the book on the table when he walked in and safely crept his way over his room and like many times before MK was crying in his sleep from a nightmare once more.

“It’s okay shooting star,” he gently began to thread his fingers through MK’s hair, “it's just a bad dream. You will be fine.”

At first, it didn't have any effect, but the longer he talked the softer the whimpers began to die down and the kid's eyes softly began to blink open.

“W-what's goin on?” He hoarsely said as he rubbed his eyes as he realized that he wasn’t dreaming anymore.

“You just had a bad dream kid,” he hummed as he continued stroking his hair.

“Oh.”

“Want to talk about it?” He received a firm shake of his head, “that’s okay, do you want to lie back down, sing, water, or want me to give you a little shadow puppet show?”

“Shadow show please,” he muffled out as he gripped tighter onto the blanket.

“One show coming right up,” he used a shadow clone to bring back a lantern as the room began to softly glow. When all was set Macaque began his tale in a low voice, “There once was an old man who lived in a shack.” He used some of his shadows to show a picture of an elderly man and wooden shack, “he was nothing special, did nothing extraordinary, and his life was simply normal. Until one day he happens upon the most peculiar thing.”

He continued to tell the tale of the old man even when he, unknowingly, had wrapped his tail around his child’s hand and MK, who was slowly drifting off into a deep slumber, held a tight grip upon it.

MK was currently sitting on the edge of a large lake as he kicked his feet in the water. He was alone at the moment as the monkey demon was tending to the plants that he needs for various medicines. The lake itself was a beautiful view filled with lily pads, reeds standing tall in the crystal lake, fishes and herons swimming in the water. Though he was trying to guess what that large dark shape was, it was nothing he has ever seen before.

“Hmmm I don’t think it’s a fish...maybe a duck?” He leaned in to get a better look and noticed. “Or maybe a turtle!”

The shape shifted as it appeared to be getting bigger and bigger as MK now noticed that he had never seen a turtle with long arms and claws before. He then saw there was long string hair upon what he thinks is its head until suddenly it disappeared and was replaced with two beady eyes. His heart dropped when the creature opened its mouth to reveal countless rows of sharp, pointed teeth. Then it began to rapidly swim towards him.

MK, frightened, fell on his back as he tried to crawl away, but it failed as the creature burst out of the water and onto the ground merely a foot away from him.

He let out a piercing scream, “DDAAADDDDD!”

At the same time the creature, with his mouth wide, said “hi there human child!”

“What?” He abruptly stopped his screaming right as an ominous force suddenly filled up the area as MK then felt two familiar hands scoop him up and hold him close as the voice spoke almost lowly.

“What happe-oh it’s just you,” Macaque let the pressure go back to normal once he realized that there wasn’t a true threat that was trying to attack his kid.

“Bwahahaha,” the creature let out a bellowing laugh, “sorry sorry. I must have scared your youngin.”

“No!” MK instantly said, but then he wilted and nodded, “just a bit.”

“Sorry about that little child, I just get a bit excited when a new face comes around my lake and all,” the webbed creature gave a toothy grin. “I know I startled the pant off Minzhe when I first met him.”

“Your lake? You live here?” MK, after being let down, carefully tried to examine the waters closer.

“Right on the mark, since being a Shui Gui and all.”

“Shui Gui,” he drawled out as he thought about that familiar name.

“Or Kappa, our damn naming changes so often that at this point I just go with the flow.”

“Oh! I know what a Shui Gui is!” MK brightened as he began to tell what his...mom used to tell him. “Aren’t they vengeful demons that have drowned and are bent on dragging helpless victims underwater, drowning them and finally eating their...flesh to…to...” his face took on a look of horror as he realized what he just blurted out. “I am so sorry!”

Luckily though the two demons chuckled, or at least Macaque did as the Kappa was holding his stomach. Though this did make MK’s face flush in embarrassment, he should be glad that the demon wasn’t angry, but he didn’t find any humor in what he said.

“Well I’ll give you credit,” Kappa said as his laughter died down, “what you said was mostly true, except I’m not a demon, just a ghost.”

“And let’s be clear he hasn't eaten people since two-maybe three millenniums ago,” the monkey demon intruded as he knew what MK was gonna ask next.

“You humans have become much too stringy for my taste,” he joked, but it served the opposite purpose as the small child paled even further.

“And this is why your only friend is an adrenaline junkie who has a taste for his own death,” Mac deadpanned as he soothed MK down.

After his heart stopped thrumming in his ears the human managed to look up at his guardian and his eyes widened as he noticed that Macaque suddenly had three pairs of different colored ears: red, blue, and purple. “When did you get three ears?!”

“You just now noticed?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Did you have them all this time?!?!!”

“Not all the time, but I do when it’s quiet usually.”

“Cooolll!” He attempted to climb the monkey to get a better look, “Is this how you're able to hear things from so far away?”

“Yeah,” he lets him examine his ears as only his eye minuscule twitch when MK accidentally pulls it too hard. “Be careful now, only have three pairs of them you know.”

“Right, sorry.” He apologized as he became gentler with his touches. He couldn’t help but gently drag his fingers through the oddly pointed ears and he smiled, now he understood why some of Mac's clients called him the Six-Eared Macaque. He eventually got down and faced the spirit once more, who was just looking at the two of them with amusement. “I’m real sorry for screaming at you.”

“Water under the bridge young child,” he waved him off, “least you apologize for it. I know that half the ones in these woods won’t even say sorry for ramming into you.”

“There’s more of you?” He tried to look in the lake, but he was once again met with only fish and water.

“Me specifically no, but spirits, demons, and other whatnot. Oh yeah there's hundreds of them dwelling in this here forest.”

“Wowww,” his eyes sparkled, “so does that mean that we are all neighbors.”

It was stunned silence before the Shun Gui began laughing once more as he bends down, “PFFTHAHAHA!”

“Did I say something funny?” MK looked towards Mac who was pinching his nose once more.

“No, he’s just obnoxious, that’s all.”

“You know what I like you kid, yeah we’re all neighbors, man even Ping would get a laugh out of this,” the water spirit said after his laughter died down. “Welcome to the neighborhood MK!”

“Thanks...umm what’s your name again?” He embarrassedly asked as he realized that he never got a name throughout this whole interaction.

“Oh here we go,” Mac sighed as he got comfortable and plucked up a Ravenna grass and began to chew on it. He grimaced as he realized that he had plucked up a weed again.

“Eh, you can call me Kappa if you want, don’t care for the whole naming thing,” he shrugged as he got back in the lake and laid there.

“Why not?” He curiously followed him.

“Why should I?” He shot back with a grin.

“Huh?”

“Why should I care for my name? It’s my name and I can do whatever I want with it, so I just choose not to care.”

“But don’t you like your name,” he was very confused about how this conversation came about.

“Oh I do, but truth be told, most of the time I forget others' names, so one day I just thought ‘you know what, what if I just don't use my name all the time’ and I didn't,” he finger gunned at the blank face child.

“You're kinda weird,” he bluntly told Kappa.

“I’m sorry,” Mac spoke up in disbelief, “You met a trio of lunatic demons that are a hot mess in general, an insane human who likes to add too much ghost jalapeño to her food, one of my clients who have their organs outside of their body and this is where you draw the line of weird?”

“I just wanted to know his name!” He threw his hands up.

“Just whatever is fine,” he laughed.

“Well fine! Your name is Whatever now!” He said in a fit of frustration before he realized what he said, “wait! I didn’t mean-,”

“Pfthahaha!” The spirit once more threw his head back in laughter.

“...what is even happening,” MK deadpanned.

“Welcome to my life Starchild,” Mac said as he ruffled his hair.

“That’s an interesting one, alright Whatever it is then,” he gave him a toothy grin.

“Wha-no please no,” MK almost begged him. “I didn’t-,”

“Nope too late, I won’t respond to anything else but Whatever from you. Hope to see you around short stack, you really know how to bring a laugh to a vengeful spirit face,” he let out a bark of a laugh before diving down deep into the lake.

MK blinked for a few moments before turning to Macaque, “is he really gonna-,”

“Oh yeah he is only gonna respond by that name,” he cut him off, “called him a Kappa once to his face and that slimy frog hasn’t let go since.”

“...I think I want to go back home dad,” said MK as he leaned into his fur. “I think I’m done for the day.”

Macaque’s breath hitched as he then gave him a gentle smile and scooped him up in his arms. “Yeah, I think I am as well.” And with that, the two mentally exhausted people made their way back to their warm home.

MK, who proudly turned nine as of a few months ago, was playing in an arcade as his dad was grocery shopping. He stuck out his tongue as he attempted to repeatedly punch the monster in Monkey Mech, but he keeps getting beaten right before he can land the final punch. He mused up his short ponytail out of frustration that was held by a red ribbon, “Oh man! I swear this guy cheats, alright seventeen times the charm.”

“I thought it was the third time the charm?” He turns around at the voice and sees a pigtail girl around his age looking at him.

“It is, but I lost sixteen other times, so this time I will win,” he confidently said as he put another token in, and just like before he lost. “I almost had it!”

“Move over,” the girl pushed him aside and took over the controls, “let me show you how to really play.”

MK's jaw dropped when the Winner title popped up after she managed to land the final triple axel uppercut to the enemy. “How’d you do that?!”

“Oh just a lot of practice, and searching online, to find the right moves to slain the beast,” she bragged.

He went down on his knees and bowed to her, “oh teach me your ways oh wise one.”

“You may refer to me as Master Mei,” she deepened her voice to sound elderly, “and who shall I call my young student.”

“Call me MK,” he followed along with glee, he hasn’t played with a kid his age in so long.

“Well then let me show you the ways of Monkey Mech,” and with that the two proceeded to play the game, playfully pushing each other as they double battled in a co-op mode. It wasn’t until a few hours had passed, and they had long passed Monkey Mech and went into all the different kinds of games in the arcade when MK noticed the digital clock behind the counter.

“Aww man, it’s getting late,” he pouted as he didn’t want to end, “I have to meet up with dad.”

“Awww,” Mei's shoulder slumped as they walked to the prize area, “that sucks.”

“Yeah,” he slumped his shoulder, as well as the two, looked through the prizes available, which did brighten the mood a bit as Mei left with a strange mutated stuffed dog that had three eyes, a few pieces of candy, and three bouncy balls, while MK was sucking on a swirly lollipop, pieces of chocolate in his pocket, and a sticky hand sling that he is slinging everywhere.

“So you like racing?” MK asked as they left the arcade, besides the Monkey Mech he noticed that Mei tended to go to the racing games more often.

“Yes! One day I will have my own motorcycle and I will be faster than anyone, even the Monkey King!” Mei declared.

“Even the Monkey King? Wow that is fast,” he said in awe, he read the story of the Journey to the West from the library. He was quickly enamored with the story the more he read and he soon began to idolize the great Monkey King. To think that such a being could ever exist in the first place was amazing! He did find it funny that the great Monkey King rival was named Macaque, it was hilarious to think that his dad could ever have powers to fight on equal standing with a god-like immortal. Grumpy? Sure! Easy annoyed? Oh yeah definitely, but scary? Ha! The scariest thing Dad has ever done was glare at his patients when they were being too noisy, but for some reason it always works as they shrink back in fear. He mentioned it to Yanyu and the demon gang one time and well-

“HAHAHAH/PFFTTTTT/SQUAK SQUAWK SQUAAAKK/SHEHEHEH,” Yanyu was rolling all over the floor as Minsheng was banging his feet, Daiyu was slamming the table with her wings, and Bohai was using all his tentacles to wrap himself.

-they burst out laughing when he mentioned this to them. He still hasn’t gotten a full answer for that one, all they told him was to wait.

“I wonder how far that can go?” Mei curiously asked as she watched the green sling attach itself on the top of the door that they were exiting.

“Not far, how high can your bouncy ball bounce?” He asked as he then watched her bounce the ball and saw it soar a bit high above their heads.

“Not that high either...how about we combine them,” she gave a mischievous grin as MK followed suit as he used his sticky sling and attached it to the ball.

“One,” Mei started.

“Two,” MK raised his hand in mid-air.

“Thr-”

“Ready to go kid.”

“AH!” They screamed and watched the sling and ball slip from his hand and instead of bouncing, it was thrown in Mac's face, who easily caught it.

“Not the first time I had something thrown at me,” he didn’t even blink at the outburst, though he did take a second glance at the other child next to his son, “though your new, made a friend Stardust.”

“Her name is Mei!” MK excitedly said though it didn’t look like Mei was paying attention to him at all as her focus was all on Macaque, or more specifically, his head.

“What?” The monkey demon raised an eyebrow.

“You have the longest hair I have ever seen,” her eyes sparkled as she instantly zoomed behind him and started to pull on his fur. “Can I braid it?!”

“It’s actually fur,” he corrected her.

“Can I still put it in a braid?”

“Sure.”

“Then I don’t care!” She happily proclaimed and pointed to one of the benches. “Sit.”

“...” he looked towards his kid who just shrugged his shoulders, “well I guess this is happening,” he sighed as he got a clone to take the rest of their groceries back home.

Needless to say that Mei very much enjoyed putting the demon fur in a messy, but still manageable, braid.

“You know if I had some Morning glories, they would look amazing in your hair,” she mused.

“You know their weeds right?” He pointed out.

“So? They look awesome.”

“You got me there.”

“There!” She proudly finished her creation with her green ribbon tied up at the end, “you have very fluffy hair.”

“Fur,” he once more corrected her.

“Eh fur, hair there the same thing,” she turned back from the monkey and to MK with a nervous smile, “you will definitely come back right? I haven’t finished playing all the arcade games with you.”

MK looks towards his dad with puppy dog eyes and Mei easily follows suit.

“You know those don’t work on me right,” he deadpanned and smirked at their hanging heads, “but yeah, I’ll drop him off from time to time.”

“Yes!” They both jump up in cheer, only for some of their candy to fall out and onto the floor.

“My babies!” MK rushed to pick up his pieces of semi-melted chocolate.

“Noooo!” Mei quickly began to grab as many of her jawbreakers as it rolled away.

Macaque watched them in amusement at their mad scramble to save their sugar fix.

[saanphoenix]

“Why do so many old-school FFVII fans think that Cloud took Zack’s memories?”

Alright, so first things first. We gotta start from the beginning. We gotta start with Jenova.

Jenova is the name given to the alien entity known as the Calamity. “Heaven’s dark harbinger.” This being, assumed to be female because of the body she was in at the Crater, was basically godlike in her natural abilities. Historically, she was able to shapeshift. She was telepathic. She had a nigh indomitable will. And she used her abilities to infect the race of human(oid)s that happened upon her crash site--the Cetra.

Now, Ifalna, within the English translation of the OG, states that Jenova turned the Cetra into monsters, nearly wiping them all out, and that the wee few that remained basically had to be sacrificed to seal Jenova away before she could do anymore damage to all life on the planet. The notes Sephiroth finds within the Shinra Mansion seem to corroborate this version of events, as he tells Zack that the Cetra chose to fight the Calamity while the other humans “hid”, thus being spared Jenova’s shenanigans, allowing them to become the dominant race on the planet, but ultimately being cowards unworthy to be the shepherds of any star, to quote Emet-Selch from FFXIV. Stay with me now.

We also know that the notes Sephiroth reads within the Shinra Mansion do not, in any way, call Jenova the Calamity. They still refer to her as a Cetra. Meaning that those notes are outdated, before the discovery of a living Cetra, a Cetra who is 2000 years removed from her own people’s history. Right? So.

(’Ah, but what about Genesis point-blank telling Sephiroth the truth? He knew what was up!’ Yes, because Hollander and Hojo found out from Gast’s recordings, and Ifalna herself, what Jenova actually was, and then Hollander told Genesis, who then said some stupid ass shit to trigger Sephiroth into looking into the wrong information, and now Nibelheim is not Nibelheim anymore and Cloud is missing one more family member than he was when he joined Shinra. Also, fuck Genesis. Anyway.)

HOJO, yeah? Hojo, in two separate novels written by Nojima himself, states to Aerith and Tseng separately that Jenova 1) will inevitably infect all life on the planet with her “cells” because of the very nature of the Lifestream and 2) turned the Cetra against each other via subtle manipulation and illusions of their loved ones, dead or alive, conceived from their own memories. She didn’t show up looking like the Eldritch horror with the eyeball nipple, she showed up looking like a run-of-the-mill Cetra. And she would further disguise herself as people a Cetra knew in order to gain their trust. And then, after she had gained that trust, she would say shit like, “Hey. Your friend over there hates you,” or, “Hey. Your friend over there wants to kill you.” And thus the Cetra, at the very least morally but probably also physically, became monsters and tore themselves apart.

You ever wonder why everything the Cetra had was booby-trapped and hidden behind riddles and self-sacrificial bullshit like their Temple? My guess is because Jenova made it so they couldn’t trust anyone, even themselves.

“Why did I read all that? What does that have to do with Cloud voring Zack’s memories?”

Because we gotta understand the mechanics of this bitch first so that we know what to look out for.

Now, we have an alien in stasis--presumed dead but definitely not--and a buncha scientists who really want a coveted spot sucking President Shinra’s dick as head of the Science Dept. who all think that taking the genetic material of a Cetra and splicing it into a modern-day human’s DNA will give them a Geiger counter to the Promised Land. Which they want to use as fuel because only some of them really understand what mako is and the others are just fucking stupid. Anyway, my guess is that they archeology their way to Jenova’s still-kinda-alive corpse and do some DNA testing and go, “Ah! We’ve found a Cetra. It has to be one! She’s by the crater, after all, and that’s where some of them were nuked by a Meteor! :) We’re geniuses!” And Jenova, in the Lifestream, went, “GOTCHA, BITCH!”

And through the power of dino DNA, out pops a lot of nonviable lifeforms, some monsters, and, eventually, a relatively normal kid with a flare for the dramatic who will become wholly obsessed with apples and very boring literature that he will insist on repeating every five goddamn seconds. As he was no Geiger counter to the Promised Land, out pops another relatively normal kid who will grow up to have dreams, and honor, and steal food from his neighbors because he was so damn honorable that he just could not ask for a handout.

With Hollander and Gillian’s experiments not producing anything of note other than children that need love and support, Hojo and Lucrecia decide to take a slightly different sample of Jenova’s cells and just start sticking them everywhere. They’re in Lucrecia. They’re in Lucrecia’s fetus. And...something strange starts to happen.

Lucrecia starts to feel the effects of Jenova. Lucrecia’s mind and body start to kind of deteriorate. Not the way that Genesis’ and Angeal’s do later on, but she is plagued by shit like severe depression and fatigue. She falls out on the floor multiple times. Her bodyguard is a little late on pulling the trigger of the gun aimed at her husband and, instead of doing anything productive about her husband proving he’s an amoral murderous fuckhead, she just decides to play doll with her kinda undead bodyguard, get even sicker, and then, finally, pops out a very strange looking baby. In fact, he looks a little alien.

“No, seriously, what does this have to do with anything?”

Genetics. How Jenova cells work. Whatever clump of cells they injected into Lucrecia, clearly different from those used in Project G, seemed to focus more on the mental fuckery aspect of Jenova than the physical, shapeshifting aspect of Jenova. I would also argue that one of the reasons Lucrecia was so adversely affected by the cells and Gillian was not is their mental well-being. Gillian, even when we meet her, seems very upbeat and doing pretty okay despite her husband having died from exhaustion a coupla years back. Lucrecia was depressed and very subservient even before she married Hojo. Losing her mentor--Vincent’s father--probably exacerbated that. And, later in Advent Children, that sort of mentality--hopelessness and despair--is what Sephiroth’s Geostigma feeds off of. That and thoughts of death/dying. But that is more speculation than anything.

So, Sephiroth’s cells are different from Genesis’ and Angeal’s, and they were all three bred differently, but they’re all kinda chimeras of Jenova’s. And once Genesis learns about his origins, it’s like the lightbulb goes off. This guy’s creating clones by infecting his 2nd and 3rd Class SOLDIERs with his own cells. And when he does that, their physical appearance becomes his own. As does their will. Whatever Genesis wants, the clones also want. And then he just grows a wing for shits and giggles. Once he tells his BFF Angeal the sitch, behold! He’s got monster clones--maybe because he realizes how fucked up overwriting a human being with yourself is--and wings, too. ...Why?

The power to do all of this shit was always there. It was genetically always there. They just had to be made aware of it, to have the puzzle piece put into place. When Sephiroth dies, that puzzle piece is put into place. And then he starts fuckin’ with shit. And turns into monstrous angels. And then dies again. And then comes back and finally grows himself his own wing. He did it, fellas. He’s a big boy now.

But we’re not here to talk about Sephiroth--ignore how much I talked about Sephiroth and his mommies previously--we’re here to talk about ZACK and CLOUD.

“What’s up with Zack and Cloud?”

First, what we must realize is that even though Hojo says that both Zack and Cloud are failed clones because they 1) didn’t take on any physical characteristics of Sephiroth, 2) didn’t seem controlled by Jenova (or Sephiroth) and, 3) didn’t exhibit the other signs of a Reunion impulse like the other clones in Nibelheim that does not mean that Sephiroth’s cells, Jenova’s cells, are not working on them.

As we’ve observed in other 1sts, abilities do not always manifest immediately or even noticeably. Clearly, Sephiroth’s physical appearance is a bit of a hint, but Genesis and Angeal look pretty damn normal and, if it weren’t for their mako injections, they probably wouldn’t be showing that much of an increase in physical capabilities. Theoretically. Maybe 10-year-old Angeal had biceps the size of a man’s head. I mean. Pff.

Zack’s tolerance to Jenova was strong due to his previous exposure in the SOLDIER program. Cloud’s mind broke pretty early on. Neither of these results matter to the fact that they both now have Sephiroth’s cells within them--just as Genesis’ and Angeal’s clones had theirs--and that their very wills are now going to be affected by Sephiroth’s. But they are also going to be a little bit like him in terms of power.

Zack’s hair, when ingested by a Genesis clone, a clone of a Type-G SOLDIER, transforms that clone into a monster. Zack doesn’t even have to do anything. The Jenova/Sephiroth cells within his body can just Do That, cause that change in another life form, of their own accord. I’m honestly shocked that, whenever they gave Zack these S-cells, HE didn’t turn into a monster. But that’s neither here nor there. I wanna talk about Cloud.

Cloud has mako poisoning, which the Remake describes as his spirit/soul being stuck between his body and the Lifestream. Weird. Anyway, he’s not fully aware of his surroundings at all times, and he clearly can’t control his body that much. He somehow has the ability to kinda get his feet shuffling, and I’m going to go on a limb and say he can chew whatever food Zack gives him, but most of the time, he’s a puppet with cut strings.

But he is also still recovering from a mind break caused by Jenova cells. The same cells that are just chilling in his body, like they are in Zack’s. And all the months Zack is dragging his ass across a continent, an ocean, and another continent, they and Cloud are listening to whatever the fuck Zack is saying. Cloud is also constantly in physical contact with Zack.

In The Kids Are Alright: A Turks Side Story, Kadaj has the power to not only read surface thoughts and memories just by being near someone, but he can also read deeper ones by making physical contact with someone. Because Jenova. And Sephiroth, whose cells Cloud and Zack have, in the OG demonstrates that he, too, can glean thoughts and memories from others. Because Jenova.

If this power is a genetic trait, as it is with Genesis and Angeal, then, sitting pretty underneath their skin, Zack and Cloud have this ability. Dormant. Snoozing. Kinda like the 1st Class Trio’s wings.

But Zack has a high tolerance and a high ignorance to Jenova and just what he might be capable of. Cloud’s mind is floating in and out at best. He’s not in control of himself. And when you have a situation like that, it is very, very easy to come to the conclusion that Cloud’s Jenova cells are passively absorbing the memories of Zack’s time in Nibelheim. That they are knitting these memories together with what little remain in Cloud’s head. That when Tifa comes across Cloud at the train station and calls him by name and remembers who he is that Cloud’s Jenova cells latch onto those memories in Tifa--as Sephiroth tells them they did--and they knit those memories with Zack’s and Cloud’s and the end result is the man we get at the beginning of the OG.

Because Cloud has visual memory of shit he never saw. It’s not just a visual medium telling a visual story. You wanna know how I know that for a fact? Because, in the Remake, Cloud remembers Sephiroth walking up to Jenova’s tank in the reactor from Sephiroth’s perspective. He is looking through Sephiroth’s eyes, through his memory, up at “Mother.” In that moment in the Remake, Cloud is Sephiroth. He’s not Cloud anymore.

Cloud sees Sephiroth delivering the speech of being an Ancient. Cloud wasn’t there. Cloud didn’t see that. Zack did. That is Zack’s memory.

The man writing the Remake is the same man who’s been at the head of MOST FFVII writing. He was on the OG, he wrote Advent Children, he wrote the novels, he wrote Crisis Core, he’s writing the Remake. He knows what these cells can do because he’s crafted this world-building for decades.

Cloud didn’t take all of Zack’s memories. He didn’t need to. Kadaj, in the novel, doesn’t glean everything from someone right off the bat. Because he doesn’t need to. Only when he needs to learn something else does he go digging. The same is probably true for what Cloud’s cells most likely did to be able to know what he knows. Hell! Kadaj gets punched in the novel and he ACCIDENTALLY picks up the emotions and memories of the guy who punched him. He didn’t want ‘em but he got ‘em!”

There is evidence within the OG, and even more within the Compilation, that lend weight to the theory that Cloud unintentionally read Zack’s mind when it came to the events of Nibelheim.

For years, people have wondered, “How the hell does Cloud know that if he wasn’t there?” For years, people have wondered, “How can he use the Buster Sword if he was just a little grunt that used a gun all the time?” The logical answer is, “Because of his Jenova cells. They can just do that shit.”