#was I remotely coherent just now? who knows? lol

[brotherhoodoftheblade]

Perhaps the only good thing about Percy so far seemingly not having been cast in the show is that -- aside from my fears of what DG and writers would do with him -- I don't have to look at the actor they chose and constantly think how he's not pretty enough to be Percy. 😅

On the other hand, maybe the casting gods would've miraculously blessed us with the perfect amazingly handsome, delicate featured, beautiful-eyed and soft spoken Percy of our dreams and we're being deprived of the pleasure of gazing upon him as we speak...who knows? 😢

Oh, the cruelty of (most likely) never knowing! Sometimes I'm not sure what I want anymore...😭

But I will always love and protect Percy Wainwright, come hell or high water -- that much at least is certain. ❤

[beaft]

Hi and sorry in advance for using this as an excuse to rant a bit about Good omens 2! I feel the same, I binged it with my girlfriend and at the end we just sat in silence for a minute and then went "...what the fuck was that." It was so incredibly poorly written and plotted in many aspects, though I understand that if one doesn't love dissecting stories piece by piece to analyse it from all possible angles it could be hard to understand why some people are saying it's bad. I feel like it's comparable to a house that looks pretty but is build on really shitty foundations and has a lot of structural issues. Most people can't see anything wrong with it and find it good, but the people who know how those things are built can immediately see all the glaring issues under the surface.

In short, in my opinion a lot of this season's short comings hinge on it's complete lack of thematic coherence and structure, completely ignoring or even discarding what was at the heart of the original story. This season was a disjointed jumble of scenes and concepts that only superficially lead to other scenes that within the bigger picture had no weight at all, plot or thematic-wise. Once you start thinking back to some of the plot threads the show established to move the story forward it's almost ridiculous how little they actually meant for the conclusion. And I don't mean stuff that 'might be resolved in the third season'! Creating a miracle to keep Gabriel hidden from everyone? He could've hid in a closet and it would've had the same effect for the plot. Muriel being set to keep an eye on Aziraphale and Crowley? Nothing, no consequences, in fact Aziraphale fucks off on his investigation right after, which, by the way, served no purpose than to give us some exposition that in the end got re-iterated to us during Gabriel's flashbacks. He doesn't actually figure anything out in a way that impacts the story lol. Even the whole "we have to make these two women fall in love so that Heaven believes us!" is kind of just forgotten by the end of the story, and nobody holds them accountable to their claim. The character of Jim is completely non-existent for half of the season and has no emotional arc or impact as a character on Aziraphale and Crowley - he could've been a magical cardboard cutout that spouts funny lines every now and then. There were so many set-ups within this season itself that had completely lackluster or non-existing pay-offs it's actually kind of ridiculous.

So many of the things people list or write about when talking about this season are there in concept, but they're not acted upon in the writing. A prime example of this is the Aziraphale/Crowley and Nina/Maggie parallels that people are pointing out - but within the season's current day scenes there isn't any romantic or emotional development between Aziraphale and Crowley, and the story doesn't center itself around that parallel or development. The only scene I could think of that even remotely does something with that is the Jane Austen dancing scene - except where Nina and Maggie have a conversation about what is going on right in that moment and how they're feeling, Aziraphale and Crowley are as good as emotionally dead and then the scene already ends.

If you start breaking down the plot elements it could've been made so, so SO much more tight-knit and coherent by focusing on what was important - ergo the character's relationships now and the bigger plot beats. As much as I loved the flashbacks in season 1, in this season they merely serve to tell us what we already know about Aziraphale's and Crowley's relationship and to add some superficial and pointless context to the different locations Aziraphale visits. Another thing I think is a big difference between this season and the original story is that every character, every concept had a Point to it, usually a joke or some sort of funny commentary (whether it was good/actually funny is another thing entirely). That's what made it feel interesting and sharp, whereas the new characters in this season just kind of... are. If you break down the concepts to their bare essence, coffeeshop owner in a toxic relationship and record shop owner who has anxiety are pretty bland as character concepts go. Shax as a character is also just so... pointless lmfao. It's almost badly caricaturing the concept of Gomens demons, which are already caricatures, so the effect is somewhat reminicent of beating a dead horse long after it has died. Anyway, so sorry to clutter your inbox like this but I just needed to get this off my chest. It's so weird seeing the dissonance between what is textually there in the show and how people are reacting to it!

hi! i hope you don't mind but i'm posting this publicly because tbh you really hit the nail on the head with every single one of these points. the whole season felt like this:

over and over again a potentially interesting plotline would get introduced, and then the writers would kind of just. forget why it was there? best example is, as you say, the nina/maggie thing - originally it began as a cover story to explain away the Forbidden Miracle, but that quickly ceased to be relevant, and the "we need to make them fall in love to get heaven off our backs" became a half-hearted running gag that was returned to every now and again with increasing half-heartedness. no sense of forward planning, no callbacks or consequences, just the constant sense of frantic improvisation without an end in sight.

[renewedmotionforjudgment]

I agree to a point about the ccp and the sanitization of content and it's a huge problem that if they keep going we won't be able to get anything remotely good or coherent anyway but the restrictions on numbers of episodes is also a disaster. A lot of shows especially those of the historical/fantasy variety need that number of episodes. The story of ming lan, yanxi palace nirvana in fire love and redemption, almost all of the shows of this kind need 50 or 60 or even 70, ming lan had 70 and the ending was still somewhat rushed they said they cut 30, I know they bloat most of them for profit but that also cuts out the good shows, it should be up to the creatives and if it means bloated shows then they need to tackle that another way but let's be serious they don't actually care about how good this stuff is. Look at destined it was 40 and it was a mess bc they needed almost twice that, LYF has split into 2 and who knows what might happen 12 months from now we might never get the second part, there are so many shows already with more than 40 but they have to butcher them to fit the rules and what kind of stories are we going to be left with. It doesn't help that most cdramas are adaptations of really really long books so this entire thing feels like a joke, these novels make up 90% of cshows. It's disheartening to see what could greatness stifled in so many ways. In a couple of years we might just get actors reciting propaganda to a screen as the only form of dramas left atp

Bc I don’t want to sound inconsistent (lol), I’m basically C+P my response to @dangermousie

I guess feel like the whole discourse about episode limitations overshadows what I find to be a bigger problem, which is the increasing stricter and random censorship by the CCP affecting the actual content of the drama. Like neither BBJX nor Gong — both under 40 episodes — would get aired today. Conversely, CCP could lift their episodic restrictions today and allow 100+ episode dramas, and we still would not get some of the greats from a few years ago because of the content regulations.

Basically, I think that you could lift the episode restrictions today and Yanxi palace or Nirvana in Fire still wouldn’t get the green light, not because they’re over episode limit but because the content is too controversial. So that’s why I don’t love the “episode restrictions is why we’ll never get another great cdrama” discourse. Fundamentally, the issue is the increasing stricter (bc there has been existing) censorship and sanitation of content that exists regardless of the episodic limitations.

[tyrannuspitch]

2,3,7

2. A headcanon you weren't sure about at first, but have come to like

Reading Thor and Loki as (fake) twins! At first I was like... but that introduces so many logistical problems. And isn't it weird to have such strong older/younger brother complexes if they're literally the same age...?

Now I understand that them being (alleged) twins while acting like they have a significant age gap is the whole appeal. Sibling type: Twins, but so fucking weird about it.

3. A character the fandom has helped you appreciate

Hmm... I can't think of any within the Thor franchise, because I'm already independently appreciating a fair number of underappreciated characters, but... There is Steve Rogers, I guess?

I honestly can't remember if I came up with Steve/Loki independently and then went looking for it, or if I stumbled across it and then went "WAIT you're right there's potential here!!", but either way, Frostshield fanfic writers have done more to get me interested in Steve's character than the movies ever did. o7

(Not saying I dislike Steve or think he's a bad character, to be clear - I'm just pretty much immune to non-Thor MCU movies. If they're not chewing the furniture I don't want to hear about it.)

7. Your favourite tropes to read/write/draw

Hmm... I'm not sure about, you know, well-known, named tropes, but in general I tend to write a lot of angst, and it's often heavily focused on power/autonomy/lack thereof. I have two fics on the go that are about mind control. I like it when a character does something really, really awful, but they think they're being kind. I like writing about murder, ghosts, and childhood.

As for reading... Again, not sure what to count as a trope, but I love a good AU. I like angst, dystopia, and, to some extent, horror. (I like my horror existential but not too, like, gross? Minimal goo, thank you.) I also enjoy outsider POV when I come across it - I love contemplating how such publicly and disastrously dysfunctional characters are seen by ordinary people who have to deal with the consequences of their actions, but I think other people are way more equipped to write that as an engaging story than me, because I really struggle to make my thoughts on it coherent lol.

For both reading and writing, I like it when characters have really painful conversations where everyone involved has ten tonnes of baggage about the topic at hand and is incapable of saying anything remotely helpful. Like... we're all neurotic in opposing directions and we all think we're the voice of reason and we are so so wrong!!! Yesss. I <3 melodrama.

And I can't really draw, but if I could, I would probably draw lot of angsty hugs and childhood antics. And illustrate my own bad jokes.

-> Fandom positivity ask game 💛

[rpf-bat]

Everything I Posted On AO3 In 2022

Wishes On Cake - Niko/Joonas. Posted: January 17th. Written for Niko’s 27th birthday.

Niko celebrates his birthday by meeting up with his bandmates at a bar. Joonas gets self conscious, when he realizes he's the only one who got Niko an actual gift. By the time he actually presents the gift to Niko, he's drunk. He knows he shouldn't say how he feels. Not when he's barely coherent like this. But, he just can't hold his feelings back anymore.

Be My Bloody Valentine Tonight - Joel/Joonas. Posted: February 14th. Written for Valentine’s Day.

Joonas comes knocking on Joel's door, the morning of February 14th, to show him the Valentine card he just found. Joel is nursing a hangover, and doesn't particularly want to hear about it...until Joonas explains that he thinks the card may have come from a stalker fan.

Heaven Or Hell - Joel/Niko. Posted: March 27th. Part 1 of the Angels & Demons AU.

Joel is an angel of the Lord, and there's a human boy that he is supposed to protect. Unfortunately, the demon Niko intends to seduce this same boy into sin. How far will Joel go to protect him? Or - is he only telling himself that's why he's doing this?

I Keep On Falling - Joel/Joonas. Posted: April 2nd. Part 2 of the Angels & Demons AU.

After his dalliance with Niko, Joel has become a fallen angel. He hates himself for losing his wings - but, he realizes that there's one positive thing about this whole situation. There's no longer any reason for him to avoid his ex, Joonas.

Joonas had no idea that an angel lost his wings last night - until Satan orders him to bring the new Fallen One to Hell.

I’m No Saint - Joel/Aleksi/Niko. Posted: April 3rd. Part 3 of the Angels & Demons AU.

It's been three years, since Joel and Joonas decided to run from the Devil. It was foolish, to think that they could stay this way forever. Satan catches up to them, and orders Joel to seduce his first mortal soul. Just to twist the knife, the mortal that he's been ordered to corrupt is Alex - the very person that Joel lost his wings in the first place to save.

An old 'friend' appears at Helsinki Ice Hall, all too willing to help Joel carry out his sinful mission.

Run For The Hills - Tommi/Olli. Posted: June 23rd. Written for Tommi’s 26th birthday.

Olli just wants to take his boyfriend on a cute picnic date for his birthday. But, the local wildlife interrupts.

Three Summers In Hanko - Joel/Joonas. Posted: August 2nd. Written for BC Summerfest.

Joonas met Joel in the summer of 2009, three months before he turned fifteen. Joel's family bought a summer home in the Hanko Peninsula, right next to the vacation property Joonas' family was renting. After a chance meeting, they became fast friends. It's hard to part ways when summer vacation ends.

Fast forward to 2010. Joel is so excited to see his friend again, when he returns to Hanko, the following summer. But, an unexpected revelation, threatens to destroy their friendship forever. Can they get back, what they once had? Or will their bond melt away like ice cream on a hot summer's day?

Flufftober With Blind Channel 2 - Multiship. Posted: October 1st - 24th. Drabble collection.

…I only finished the first 23 days of this challenge. Oops. ^^;

My Boys - Niko/Reader. Posted: December 14th. Just 209 words of Boyfriend!Niko + cat lol

You're cuddling with Niko on a cold winter's night. Rommi wants to join.

Castle In The Woods - Niko/Joonas. Posted: December 25th. Vampire AU. Written for BC Blood Mass.

Joonas flees his remote mountain village, hoping to escape an unwanted arranged marriage and start a new life. But, when a snowstorm hits, he finds himself hopelessly lost. He and his loyal servant take shelter in an abandoned castle.

But, alas, the castle wasn't as "abandoned" as Joonas thought. And now the master of the castle won't let him leave....

[onewomancitadel]

002 with reylo :)

Hi anon thank you for playing along with me (: fic ask meme for those who want to play along and reblog

When I started shipping them:

Omg so I wasn't a SW fan, Dad liked the films but Mum always made fun of Luke and I don't think I ever sat down and watched any. I had this sort of friend I met at a music festival who was emotionally... complex and he had a fixation on getting other people to like the correct things (there's a whole backstory with him) and one of those that he worked on with me was SW, so he forced me to watch TFA.

I did so at his behest and er, yeah the forest scene/bridal carry was what did it for me. I was totally enamoured with it and still am to this day, I couldn't fully articulate it at the time but the Death and the maiden vibes were what I was all over.

It touched me on a very deep level that Kylo Ren forewent the practicality of the droid and took the girl instead (in his ARMS). There was so much there that did it for me from there, the interrogation scene where Rey overpowers Kylo was certainly compelling and so was their snow fight (that scene where she closes her eyes when their lightsabres are parrying... beautiful) - in fact there's so much material in TFA lol - so that told me a lot about their dynamic and why it was meaningful, but on a pure emotional level that really touched me.

Made that friend (not a friend anymore) very upset for liking SW incorrectly. Lol

My thoughts:

Everything that could be said about Reylo has been said and there's still yet more to say. It's my yardstick for other ships. Does it touch me on a deep emotional spiritual level? Does it make me swoon? Does it make me cry? Does it explain everything about the story? Is the belonging you seek not behind you, but ahead?

What makes me happy about them:

Forget the droid, we have what we need. I can endlessly quote Kylo Ren and I absolutely adore him and Rey. I just love how they answer each other's wounds and that both of them are really dead-set on what their role in the story is (uncomplicated good girl and painfully evil and intimidating bad guy) and it's so hilariously not what they are meant to be at all. I love Kylo Ren when he's around Rey and I love Rey when she's around Kylo Ren, I love them figuring out stuff about each other, I love how angry he makes her, I love how inquisitive he is, I love how much the dynamic is more complex than at first glance, I love the emotions, the brilliant, brilliant, brilliant hope.

I love what the fandom taught me and I love what the dynamic taught me about my personal taste and allowed me to start liking stuff. I'm a very insecure person and I didn't even have the capacity to fully enjoy things lol. Things that make me happy are bad. So unlearning that is hard and in my fandom life that started with Reylo.

What makes me sad about them:

That they didn't end up together with fat Jedi babies and heal the cosmic wound... that very sadly we got Reylo textual and canon, which was a win, but a Pyrrhic victory - Rose was written out, Poe had racist stereotypes attached to him, whatever the fuck they tried to say with the Stormtroopers was tone deaf and stupid, much of the film was just anodyne, corporate commercial bullshit and it should have been a three-year film (like the previous two films) instead of two and had Rian Johnson directing it. Whether you like him or not doesn't matter because it would've at least been fucking coherent.

It took me a really long time to feel remotely okay about Reylo to think about it in a happy way at all, like probably only until very recently. I was very very very sad for a long time afterwards. When the premiere confirmed our worst fears I cried lol.

This type of mythic romance feels and felt really rare... but I know what I'm looking for now, and though I don't think there'll be anything quite like Reylo - that same cultural and fandom moment - I haven't completely lost hope because I've learnt so much from it and what makes romance magic for me.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me:

Hahhahaha. I hate Dark Fuck Prince Kylo Ren, I hate Kylo Ren being forced to prostrate himself at Rey's feet and her positioned as Superior Being, I hate bad redemption theory (war crimes? War tribunal? Locking him up and making him talk to Rey through bars? Kylo Ren never fully redeemed? Kylo Ren ostracised permanently?), I hate sunshine Rey and Rey not portrayed as messed up as she is in canon and Kylo Ren being the obviously broken one, I hate anything that smacks of copy-and-paste romantic dynamics in general with the smug superior guy and the upstart bossy girl who never has any struggles except being just the right amount of sexy but not slutty (and still virginal, but the guy isn't) which is usually auxiliary to Dark Fuck Prince, I hate rivals-to-lovers... it's quite a list but it's a huge fandom with varying interpretations, made harder by the fact that TFA really led to a lot of people jumping to conclusions about the dynamic and running with familiar archetypes that were not there.

Things I look for in fanfic:

Soft Ben and Rey, Ben and Rey who are both in pain and vulnerable, brooding but not smug Ben, Rey being recognised as Ben's equal, good redemption theory (salvific mythic redemption with Ben fully reintegrated... I can only think of a few canonfics like this), anything that gets Ben's poetic voice right but also his casual voice and his tinge of sardonic humour shared with hers, fic that respects Ben's microexpressions as Kylo Ren - he does not smile and barely moves his face, communicates through his eyes,

but he does when he's 'Ben',

fic that respects that Ben respects Rey... I'm not necessarily looking for particular tropes or archetypes, I'm looking for the canon dynamic (canon with TLJ in particular that respects that Ben and Rey would not go back to being completely cruel to each other) but I read any setting.

In fact off the top of my head a lot of fanfics I've genuinely really enjoyed and touched me on a deep level were not canon-setting, and I think that's in part because writing effectively a third film is very hard as a fic author when something that is mythic might be out of your boundaries as a fic author, and it's a LOT harder to get right. So really I applaud any fic author that tries to do that whether or not we see eye to eye. Onya.

My wishlist:

People to stop being so weird about Reylo and enemies-to-lovers. It's okay to dislike it, just don't moralise it as an issue or make fandom fucking inhospitable for a lot of people and be so disrespectful to people with basic fucking interests.

I don't have any wishes for canon itself. That book is closed. There is absolutely no way they undo the third film and what it did and no way to redeem the wound. I doubt Adam Driver would come back for it because he signed up for SW under the understanding it would not devolve into schlock. Really you can't ignore the injustice done to the other characters with TROS either, so it's not a Reylo happy ending that's needed. What TROS was told us what the storytelling landscape is like now in commercial fiction: barren.

I don't think they can fix it unless they learn how to tell new and thoughtful and individual stories that make textual sense.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:

No. Absolutely not. Never. No one else. Rey is not boon for any of the characters. Poe does not get Jedi pussy (I've never had such singular spite for a writer, but fucking hell Colin Treverrow's script for the would-be third film was appalling). The romance is the thematic point of the Sequel Trilogy, it's the redemption, it's justified by virtue of it being Star Wars. When you canonship and the ship is so hard canon and the canon is the ship it just can't be written any other way. The only other way it could be written is if Kylo Ren is not fallen to the Dark Side and Rey is not the protagonist. You only get the effect of her nobody-status in respect to the Skywalker scion and prodigal son.

Finn would have to be the protagonist. They would really need to capitalise on the angle of the First Order Stormtrooper discovering himself and I wish that there were more of that in the first film or it could've conceivably been its own series but that would be asking for an original story, wouldn't it.

I think this is where the parlance for shipping gets muddy because once you've got a reading of canon intertwined with your ship it's not really just shipping anymore.

My happily ever after for them:

Fat Jedi babies, green Jakku, Jedi Order but with marriage, fully redeemed Kylo Ren/Ben Solo, Ben Solo's tentative and awkward and funny friendship with the Good Guys, full reconciliation, Rey not alone having found her belonging and completed her Heroine's Journey... you know.

It could've been so, so, so easy. I really don't understand how they didn't see the cashgrab there because selling Ben Solo hanging out with Finn is something you could've done in your sleep. They fucked it. They completely fucked it. All of my belief in the hope of pop culture, commercial storytelling, and good storytelling being able to exist died. I don't think franchises can do it; you can't make transformation and you can't stake any meaning. They wanted to turn the Skywalker name into a superhero mantle and they FUCKED IT.

So it taught me that at least and now I know. But I wanted them to be happy together. I wanted a happy ending. I wanted to believe in something good.

I watch this fanvid near weekly, near daily. It's basically the only thing that makes me feel okay about Reylo lol. It's my deep cosmic emotional wound, if you will, and it needs healing...

[entitycreation]

Waddup with the 😈👶📘

Oh god I know the one you are talking about bvcbcv Okay so, this fic went from a simple cute mpreg fic to like.... Lovecraftian horror with far more twists and turns then I could keep track of, and I changed up how I wanted it to go each time! I often think about this along with my dragon AU so much so that they ended up merging together because if I'm to make baby OC's they might as well be dragon demon baby ocs because Marry Sueing characters is fun fuck anyone who says otherwise lmao ...Anyways yea the fic got too complicated and I constantly go back to revise it again and again and cant seem to find the story going the way I like. I figured I start with the dragon AU to at least establish Mephistos and Shiros relationship in that universe before I make them have a kid... or two... or three.. Okay on to actually explaining the plot of... Both? We'll start with the first part, DRAGONS. This AU is set in a world where dragons are separate magical beings that are born from condensed Assian magic. This magic is not at all associated with demons, so dragons, elementals and things made from Assian magic are not bound to any demon king or demons in general, they are their own thing. I hope this made sense (I don't have a way of explaining it just yet) Dragon magic is incredibly powerful too, it can reach world ending levels of power even... However, dragon magic specifically needs a host. Similar to demons, the magic is more so parasitic in that it needs a body that can contain it. The thing is, while demons are picky with their hosts. Dragon magic is not so much. The magic will spend a long time hopping from host to host until something lands and lasts long enough for the host to begin turning into a dragon. Dragon magic, like most magic coming from Assiah, will fade away overtime if its just floating around without a body. No body, no magic container. For that reason this magic will body hop around. It can go into anything. Animals, humans, and in very interesting cases... It will often even buddy up with already possessed bodies too. Which brings us to our good friends Mephisto, Shiro and Yuri! Upon investigating an "anomaly" located in a remote ruins somewhere (don't know exactly where yet) The trio gets into a fight with an enraged and injured dragon. While fighting the dragon, Shiro nearly gets killed trying to take it on by himself mostly, which prompts Mephisto to stop time just as he almost got squashed by the palm of the dragons hand. However, the dragon begins to move slowly on its own, resisting Mephistos magic. Shiro gets out of the way on Mephistos call, knowing he cant freeze it for long... But then just as Mephisto resumes time again, the dragon very quickly switched from what it was doing to lunge at Mephisto, catching him between its teeth. Mephisto ends the fight by summoning a bunch of clock hands to spear the dragon to a nearby hill. The dragons jaw slackened after a minute of being speared and slowly dies... Mephisto gets out of the beasts maw with severe injuries to his abdomen and pelvis. After that battle Mephisto suffers from recovering the injury, apparently demon healing doesn't extend to this type of wound. So he heals at a very slow rate compared to even human standards, which is odd and prompts the order to send in specialists to take a look at him. From there its all a bit blurry as the scenes all changed up a lot and I never have a coherent idea for anything beyond this point. I just know that Mephisto then gains a dragon form that he cannot control and often turns into a dragon either out of stress, anger, or not venting out the magic enough so it builds up until his body cant take it and he goes berserk. Now, the mpreg fic actually was written before but I abandoned it because I lost interest with that one in favor of the new version of it. The new version has been redone over and over because unfortunately I'm indecisive and cant decide how I want it to go lol. I just wanna explore Mephiro with their own little fuck ups- I mean, cute children... That definitely wont eat them alive or anything.. No no >.> its all fluff I swear ^^ I cant get too far talking about this because I cant think of any specifics or how far along it is since its very different from the old one. Best I can do is mention it but uh... If you have specific questions I will do my best to answer those!

[homemade-ghosts]

What do you think about the obstacles Tim mentioned in the interview? Something about Gina being upper class now, that surprised me and that people who watched the documentary will have opinions on them (I assume bad? cheating allegations? I don't know I never seen a plot like that tbh) For some weird reason and I'm a very negative worrier person I'm not worry

When Tim said Gina is an “upperclass person” now, I think he just meant that she’ll be a junior (in high school, typically, freshman & sophomores are considered lowerclassmen + juniors & seniors are upperclassmen) not in the socioeconomic sense.

Based on that hilariously awful/inflammatory doc trailer, if I had to guess, I’d say Channing made it look like 1. Ricky’s plan was to “steal” Gina from EJ (he was tasked with the ‘jilted ex’ role, after all) & 2. Gina cheated on EJ with Ricky. We know he has Ricky looking jealous & walking out after pw sang “Love is an Open Door”, nearly the entire “What Do You Know About Love?” performance, Ricky & Gina hugging at Color War and Ricky getting pissed off at him backstage mid-show (with Gina in the background) all on camera — so, it wouldn’t be hard for him to manipulate that footage and string together a narrative that Rina, potentially, had some kind of showmance-turned-romance behind the scenes.

I could see him editing it in a way that’s open to interpretation for the audience, though. Like, within the show, there are people who watched the doc and think Ricky pursued Gina and might blame him for EJ & Gina’s breakup & there are people who don’t. &/or maybe there are people who think that Gina cheated on EJ & they blame her. & there are some people who, maybe (hopefully?) see through all the bs, ship Rina & think (rightfully so) that EJ was responsible for the pw breakup + they just weren’t right for each other. I hope I’m making at least some sense here lol — basically, viewers within the show see the doc and have differing opinions, a parallel to how fans in real life react to hsmtmts itself.

It would be funny if they had the characters reading people’s tweets about the doc and being like, “This is the worst take I’ve ever seen.” / “I never said that!” / “Did they even watch the documentary?” I can just imagine someone calling Ricky a “homewrecker” in a tweet because, after seeing the doc, they think he came to camp to “get Gina back.” & him reading it like, “What?? C’mon, that’s not even remotely what happened!” & Carlos responding with something like, “That doesn’t even make sense. We all know EJ wrecked that home all by himself.” All of which would be a direct nod to how pws/rinis consistently invent non-existent plot points & misunderstand/misinterpret the show in real life.

We’re getting the OG HSM cast, playing a version of themselves playing their HSM characters in an HSM 4 movie that’s being filmed at East High, which the kids will all be featured extras in — all while they put on a production of HSM 3: Senior Year. Tim & Co. are clearly not afraid to go full meta, so they might as well take it one step further and include a representation of the actual show’s fanbase reacting to the doc the way some people react to hsmtmts irl. I’m not going to pretend I wouldn’t be laughing my ass off watching these characters put #them on blast for getting the show so completely & utterly wrong. 

(Side note: did reading all that hurt your head? Because it hurt mine. There’s a lot of layers to the meta aspect of s4, I’m just hoping I explained them somewhat coherently.)

I know a lot of people wanted Ricky & Gina to be secretly dating in s4, even before s3 aired, and I think there’s a possibility we might get that. If the documentary becomes as huge as they’re setting it up to be, and part of the audience thinks Gina cheated on EJ &/or that Ricky “went after” Gina, then maybe neither of them wants to be seen dating in public because they know that, if someone caught them, it could potentially be used against them to confirm the “cheating” storyline/rumors. The upside of that, for us at least, is that it could lead to some cute private dates that Ricky plans at his apartment because they can’t go out.

& maybe school is the one place they can be a couple in public, post-doc release (no press allowed on school grounds) but then surprise! HSM 4 starts filming at East High soon, which means there will be cameras everywhere and they’ll have to navigate that. Do they keep trying to hide their relationship? Or do they just say “screw it, who cares what people that we don’t even know think about us.” (Hint: if they go this route, it’ll be the second one.)

I’m not sure that I particularly love this idea, but I can’t deny it could be entertaining to watch and it sets Rina up with an immediate obstacle in their relationship that’s relatively easy to overcome.

Apart from anything doc-related, I’m sure there will be some discussions about their future. Ricky’s graduating this year and Gina will still have one more year of high school left after that — but I feel like s4 will pick up close to where s3 left off, so they’ll still have nearly an entire school year to figure all of that stuff out. 

Tim has been building Rina for three seasons and he talks about writing for them with so much excitement, that there’s “a world of opportunity for them to explore.” So I’m not worried either, anon. I think whatever conflict that’s presented to them will, in the end, just serve to prove how well they work as a couple.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 315: I Didn’t Expect This to Blow Up

Previously on BnHA: Horikoshi was all “guess which plot that you thought was dead is actually not dead and is making a comeback!” and we were all “EVIL HPSC??” and he was all “girl you know it,” and that’s the story of how we got a sexy Lady Nagant flashback with lots of guns and murder. Flashback!Lady was all “gotta murder peeps to preserve the people’s trust,” but then a little while later she was like “actually wait that makes no sense,” and so she shot her evil boss and they sent her to jail. Back in the present, Deku was all “okay fair, the hero system might in fact be a little fucked up, but hear me out... have you considered not helping AFO take over the world so he can murder like a bazillion more innocent people??” The chapter ended with the not-all-there Overhaul finally revealing himself to Deku, and I honestly have no idea where this is gonna go.

Today on BnHA: In what is unfortunately the single worst plan ever concocted by anyone in BnHA, Nagant is all “I’m going to try and get this Deku kid to panic and freeze up by putting someone in mortal danger.” Deku is all, “[doesn’t panic and freeze up at the sight of someone in mortal danger].” Nagant is all “omg no way.” Deku, who is now all of a sudden being so OP that even I have to acknowledge that it’s OP lol, is all “[smashes Nagant’s gun arm to bits]”, which sucks but is also really cool, and which also apparently makes Nagant decide that she actually likes this kid after all. Deku is all “NAGANT I REALLY LIKE YOU AND THINK YOU’RE GREAT SO PLEASE JOIN UP WITH ME AND STOP BEING EVIL.” Nagant is all “aw shucks (✿ •͈ᴗ•͈) well okay then” and everyone is all “( ･◡･) ✰ ( ˆᴗˆ ) ( ᵘ ᵕ ᵘ ⁎)” and then Nagant FUCKING EXPLODES LIKE AN EGG IN THE MICROWAVE AND FALLS TO HER DEATH!!!! except not really because Hawks saves her??? In conclusion, (a) THE FUCK, and (b) AFO TURN ON YOUR LOCATION I JUST WANT TO TALK.

so I have to tell you guys something, which is that barely ten minutes after I made that “please don’t send me spoilers” post the other day, someone replied to the comments in a stunning fit of “tell me that you’re twelve without actually telling me you’re twelve” energy and posted what seemed to be the copy-pasted spoiler summary from reddit or twitter or whatever lol. so here is my good news/bad news rundown of all that

good news: I have very well-conditioned ABORT!! reflexes and have trained myself to immediately look away from the screen (usually in dramatic fashion) as soon as I realize that whatever I’m reading is a spoiler

bad news: unfortunately as I was subsequently deleting said comments, I accidentally read the very last one

good news??: said spoiler was so unbelievably, absurdly over-the-top that I’m almost positive this person was just trolling. like, there’s just no way lmao

bad news: but in the unlikely event that it is true I will absolutely lose my shit I swear to god

(ETA: “NAGANT DIES.” that was the spoiler I read lol. like, literally all I read from the person’s comments was “My Hero Academia Chapter 315 Title: “Beautiful Words.” Chapter starts with...” and then I noped out of there, and then of all the comments to read as I was deleting, it had to be that one lol. I seriously was just like “SURE, JAN.” all “just how gullible do you think I am” sob. but I was wrong. a troll, but an honest troll they remain.

but anyways like I’m pretty sure Nagant isn’t even actually dead lol, so in the end this whole little adventure doesn’t even have a point to it, but for me it was a journey!)

anyway, so there are apparently two versions of the chapter today?? no idea what the difference is, but I’m going to go with the Bean version, because it’s the one at the top and I don’t feel like making decisions today

huh, so Overhaul is actually more coherent than Horikoshi was letting on

look at him having a whole back and forth conversation with her. side note, how is he still this jacked when he’s been sitting in a cell doing absolutely nothing for the past six months

anyway so he says he’ll go with her on one condition. I wonder what that condition could possibly be. do you think it could be the thing he literally hasn’t shut up about ever since he reappeared lol

yep! and damn -- maybe this guy will surprise me after all

still would be nice if you also felt a bit sorry for the little girl you tortured and traumatized, but this is something at least. maybe Deku will yell at him for that other stuff lol

(ETA: also can’t help but wonder if he wants to make amends because he put him in a coma, or because his plan was a failure and ended up destroying the family. just hoping you’ve finally had that “hurting other people is bad” epiphany dude.)

anyways so now Nagant’s arm is transforming again, and this particular transformation happens to be the only truly unsexy thing that Nagant has done thus far so I’m just gonna skip right on ahead lol

aaaaand we’re back to the delirious ranting

buddy. just. read the fucking room, guy

wow she really is aiming at Overhaul, then. those theories were spot-on

damn she’s really out here all “it really fucks with kids’ heads when you kill people right in front of them and make them blame themselves” like yo

I’m picturing her saying all this in a very loud stage-whispery tone while making very significant eye contact with Deku lol

uh oh but wait

um. okay. who’s gonna tell her. Nagant I might have some bad news for you about the kid you’re trying to capture here. specifically about the way he tends to do the opposite of what you’re thinking that he’s about to do

holy shit

so it’s basically just “tap x repeatedly to charge up your attack” lol

and okay, so that’s cool and all, but is anyone else wincing at the thought of what that must be like on his knees. oh to be young

anyway, but so to the surprise of basically no one, Deku did not, in fact, freeze. I am very sorry, Nagant. he’s just like this

LMAO

someone wanna tell me how getting yoloed in the fucking ribs by this fucking slingshot kid moving at literal sniper bullet speed is in any way even remotely better than getting hit by the bullet itself lol

(ETA: this is 10x funnier now that we know the bullet wasn’t even gonna hit him lmao.)

anyway so now Nagant is having an extended “!?!?!?” reaction about how Deku just moved with no hesitation, and I’m starting to get an inkling of fear that the rest of this fight isn’t going to go very well for her and maybe that’s what all the “hoo boy” is about

oh my god Deku are you about to Gomu Gomu no Rocket yourself at her you insane little man

now Three is popping up again and he’s all “I see you’ve learned your lesson and are now only using three quirks at once instead of five” like with all this effusive praise about how great and badass Deku is and sob, okay, yeah. this chapter is basically one of those machines that shoots tennis balls at people, except instead of tennis balls it shoots hot piping discourse

OH MY GOD

YOOOOOOOOOO but also, NOOOOOOOOOOO

lol oh my god it’s literally two opposing reactions at once wtf. do I love this or hate this. like just for once can Horikoshi actually let a badass lady character win their fucking fight without getting their arm ripped off, BUT ALSO fucking look at that absurdly cool “SMASH” onomatopoeia though. it looks like it’s about to float right off the page holy shit that’s some seriously good art

anyway so is this really the end?? do I need to break out my ಠ_ಠ faces

lmao okay yeah I can definitely see how this would piss a lot of people off

he basically one-shotted her and she’s all “damn this kid is so amazing that I’m about to do a complete 180 turn on all of my previous angst” lmao. Horikoshi is really shounening it up today

on the plus side though, maybe this means there’s still a chance for her to join up with him after all? unless that spoiler was true lmao, then all hell is gonna break loose

YESSSSSSS

OH MY GOD AND HE SAYS THE BULLET WOULDN’T HAVE DONE MORE THAN GRAZE OVERHAUL ANYWAY, wow, I’m actually more relieved by that than I would have expected. I mean I would have forgiven her either way, but it means that there was still more hero in her than she was letting on

YES!!! FUCKING YES, THANK YOU

lol but I mean, it’s also like, “oh so today they get to have brain cells”, thank you so much lol. sometimes it’s really hard to tell which times we’re supposed to question these character decisions that seem dumb, and which times we’re just supposed to full on embrace them and switch off our critical thinking

but okay, so in this case it really was Nagant going easy on him on purpose, and not just her fucking up for no good reason even though she used to do this for a living and was the best in the game. and I know in this case it’s probably just Horikoshi giving us some consolation headpats to soften the blow of her losing so abruptly, but you know what, shit. I’ll take it

also you guys the light is coming back into Deku’s eyes again for just a moment here and I’m having feels about it?? the way it still comes back when he’s reaching out to save someone, and following his own hero path instead of the much darker and lonelier Christopher Nolan path that’s been laid out for him instead that he never wanted?? it’s both reassuring and also very sad

YESSSSSSSSSSS

DO IT LADY OMG PLEASE?? PLEASE COME BE HIS NEW IRRESPONSIBLE ADULT SUPERVISION YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO

AHHHHHHH SHE’S GONNA DO IT AHHHH

p.s. I am now absolutely scared shitless that that spoiler was actually true sob. swear to god, I will throw this manga into a fucking volcano. but we’re almost at the end of the chapter and this seems just WAY TOO GOOD to be true fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck f

UCK

NOPE NAH SEND IT BACK, NOPE, NUH UH, DIDN’T ORDER THIS. “GULLIBLE” OKAY FUCK YOU?? “COUNTERMEASURES” NOPE, DON’T NEED ‘EM, WE’RE ALL FINE HERE. WE’RE ACTUALLY GOOD SO YOU CAN JUST GO, OKAY. PLEASE

fuck, lol, I don’t wanna do it. I don’t wanna scroll down what have I ever done to deserve this oh my god

WHAT THE HONEY-ROASTED FUCK

WHERE THE FUCK IS THAT FUCKING VOLCANO IN ICELAND THAT I KEEP SEEING ALL THESE PICTURES OF. WHERE THE FUCK IS THAT SHIT. LET’S GO

ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW

can someone please give AFO a really good, sharpish kick in the balls. just really let him have it. I’m so tired, what the fuck

-- ARE YOU KIDDING ME LOL WHAT

bro. I was literally going through my Excel folders to find the spreadsheet about female characters in BnHA that I made back when Midnight died. was gearing myself up for a wholeass rant. and honestly I might just let all of that continue simmering on low to keep it warm just in case lol, because to tell you the truth I have absolutely no idea what’s happening right now

my girl straight up does not have a face. she used to have a face. people usually need those, idk. like, even if she’s alive, her gorgeous eyebrows are definitely not making it out of this and I’m gonna throw a funeral just for them

how the fuck did AFO just blow her up?? how did he know what was going on?? and if he had a quirk that could explode people at will, why is this the first we’re hearing of it?? you’d think that might have come in handy at Kamino or Jakku, like what

(ETA: present!me, who’s had more than three hours of sleep and can now actually remember facts about the series, would like to remind past!me that AFO gave Nagant a quirk, and so this is probably just more Vestige shenanigans now on his part. that’s also probably why Air Walk suddenly stopped working out of nowhere. still doesn’t explain why he doesn’t go around blowing people up more often though but maybe he thinks it’s gauche.)

Hawks just straight up out of nowhere. just Mirioed his way straight into the chapter just in time to be too late sob. here I was looking forward to seeing your face when Deku showed up with his new best friend. can’t believe Horikoshi deprived us of that moment

on the plus side, WELCOME BACK, HAWKS’S FEATHERS. I have no doubt that in this chapter of Deku being an almighty threequirk-mastering god, and Nagant losing anticlimactically only to be immediately blown up because girl characters in BnHA can only be cool for one fight and one fight only, there are still some people who are focusing solely on the “how dare Hawks get his wings back when he is a MURDERER this is an outrage what about CONSEQUENCES” discourse, and to hell with all the other discourses lmao

anyway, so yeah. wow. and now it’s just occurring to me that maybe the real reason why Overhaul is there is so he can get a head start on that amend-making by actually doing a good thing for once in his life, and using his quirk to heal Nagant. assuming he can still do that

and so now Horikoshi has got me out here actually rooting for Overhaul. you know what, on that note I think I’m just gonna go ahead and call it a day sob

[foolcrum57]

YESYESYES TELL US ABOUT YOUR OCS PLEASEEEEEE <:DDD

ok this is message is from me whos about to post this after typing all of it. there is . A Lot here so im gonna put it under a readmore but the copious amount of infodumping is just what i do when people ask about my ocs... hope this isnt too long or overwhelming to read lol..

OMG OK ok so i collectively call all my oc stuff "wttu" (welcome to the universe) but i have 2 seperate oc universes (i have a lot of ocs) ones called godsworld and ones called newsworld. newsworld is really random & spotaneous & where i dump all my silly ocs and godsworld is the more coherent one with a solid storyline & worldbuilding. i feel like talking about godsworld ocs right now so that's what ill do ! ok so quick synopsis. godsworld is a multiverse comprised of many dimensions, all created by three gods named time, choice, and destiny. magic is real and common and magicians have existed since the beginning of time. there's also a few very special super magical very powrful beings / demigods called all-seers which were specifically "blessed"(idk how else to put it) by the gods. these are the 4 all-seers as of godsworlds present:

(sorry for the doodles im drawing these as i type) william and miso were created by the gods and given allseer powers later in life and around 200 years later the same thing happened to gertrude and mitchell after they met william and miso (yeah these guys are like ancient immortal people i call them the four immortals) anyways that's like the ancient stuff lore so now let's get to the main stuff the main storyline of godsworld centers around a kid named tobias , and a guy named cremini finding out they're going to be the next two allseers, mainly because of their connections to tobias' late father (and creminis ex classmate ex roomate and sort of ex boyrfriend) Larry.

and like. that's kinda where the lore and worldbuilding part gets vauge because the present is kind of just these guys having adventures and doing fun stuff while honing their magic skills. there's still a little more to talk about though.

after living out his childhood in a town called santerton, tobias went to live in a magical sanctuary in a dimension that the four immortals made and where miso and william live called the Home(creative i know) where he met 3 other guys around his age that are now his besties ;

parker is royalty from a dimension that's still in the 1800s (hes pretty smug and arrogant both bc of his upbringing and also just because that's his personality), carson is a city kid from a dimension that's still in the 90's (he's a pretty chill guy despite his circumstances and the oldest out of all 4), and daniel's from a remote fishing town in a dimension that's somewhere in the 2010s (who ironically, loves fishing and is also just really energetic and hearty in general). on the other hand, cremini, after finishing college at a very prestigious school for time and dimension studies that mitchell teaches at and fulfilling his childhood dream of time traveling and then accidentally throwing himself into a white void Because Emotions, met. this guy.

his name is dylan. and he is now cremini's boyfriend and they live together. he loves books and reading (which he gained a love for after gertrude [who is a librarian] helped him with pushing through his dyslexia). honestly idk what else to type, that's kinda just the general gist of the main characters in godsworld but there is like a lot of lore and history and a solid timeline with lots of stories and characters in the whole world of godsworld as well as a lot of worldbuilding stuff that i didnt touch on so i think the fact that this is a relatively consice recap says. a lot. anyways if you read down to here i genuinely appreciate it and um please dont hesitate to ask more ocs questions wether that be in my asks or dms or whatever <3

[lunaekalenda]

i really enjoy your writing and i saw that your requests are open!

can i request a fic or a drabble about levi having a massive crush on y/n but later finds out she has a long term s/o (she doesnt really talk about her relationship) and levi tries to get over her but hes stubborn and he can’t ): BUT y/n gets cheated on by her s/o and levi is there for y/n as she heals and it becomes a REALLY slow burn kinda love (-: could be modern au or canon verse whichever you’re comfortable with

thank u sm in advance! i hope you have a great day <3

hiiii!!! thank you so much, i'm really happy knowing that you enjoy it! 🥺 and thats really cool omg!! i hope you like it and it was what you’ve asked for!!! (also I wrote a lot ajajja sorry i got inspired)

𝔠𝔯𝔲𝔰𝔥

❁ levi x female reader!

❁ maybe levi cursing a bit but nothing we haven’t seen before on him lol

❁ and some kicks but again nothing levi hasn’t done before lmao

"That was a good one!" Connie congratulates you when you're again on the floor. The Titan wood figure is now divided in two parts.

"Next time, be a bit more careful." Jean says, looking to the boys that are trying to fix the figure. "I think they will have a hard time fixing it." You blushed when you looked at the boys, both with their hands in their heads. You bowed at them, saying sorry, when they looked at you.

"But that was a-ma-zing." Sasha says. They all agree and Connie looks to the sky.

"I think it's time to eat. You coming?" you moved your head from one side to other.

"No. Jurian is waiting for me to eat." Connie moved his eyebrows and Jean looked with interest.

You usually don't like to talk about your relationship, but this three were your best friends, and you basically threatened them, telling them that if they opened their mouth you would crack them.

"Oooh, then have fun." Jean says. He and Connie smile to each other.

"And try to eat something more than the other’s mouth." Connie laughed right after saying that, and your ears blushed while you walked to the other exit. They waved their hands at you and you waved yours back. You could see Jurian's hair from where you were. But a hand on your shoulder stopped you.

"Oi, wait."

You recognized that voice. When you turned back, Captain Levi was there, looking at you.

"Yes, Captain?"

You were clueless, but Levi's brain was trying his best to form a coherent phrase.

"You're good at it. But next time, try not to break our training models, got it?" You blushed again, remembering the accident. He looked at you, and you thought he was disappointed, but he was totally hypnotized by the way your ears started to get a red color, along with your cheeks. He cleared his throat and looked away. "Try to be more careful next time, but just in the training."

"Yes, Captain Levi." He turned around and went back to the control point, were Hange was waiting for him.

"Wow Levi, that was by far the longest interaction between you two in years."

"Shut up, four eyes"

"I have never seen you so focused on someone."

Levi clicked his tongue, but Hange was right. He had a damn crush on you since you entered the Survey Corps. But, what really caught his attention, was your innocent appearance, that later did not agree with your fierceness in battle. He fell by the grace of your body as it moved through the trees, and your sweet smile every time you come across him. Your voice is driving him crazy and just thinking of all the times you cared for him makes his heart shake. He looks behind him before leaving the control station, making sure you’re gone.

Jurian was playing with a flower when you arrive. He kisses you cheek before holding your hand.

"Did you wait too much?" he moved his head, saying no.

"It's fine, don't worry."

You two walked in silence towards the cantine, but you never ate there. Jur knows a little field apart from the training camp where you can't be seen. He brought a bag with some food, so you sit on the field and start eating.

"How was the practice?" he asks. You swallow the tea and answer.

"It was fine. Levi came to notify me for breaking a figure." he laughs quietly.

You met Jurian on your second year on the Survey Corps. You were being examinated, they were about to decide in which squad they were going to assign you. Your amazing skills on titan elimination and the control of ODMG assured you a place in the best squads: Levi's, Hange's and Erwin's. If you could have chosen, you would choose Levi's, the Special Operations Squad, but the three captains decided to put you on Hange's squad. You're happy to be there, they are really good as captain and you feel comfortable, but you're not into capture titans and experiment with them.

Jurian was also a soldier trying to enter on one of the highest squads, but he didn't pass the test. He was assigned to a little squad on charge of the food and the carts. You started talking later that day, when he told you that you were lucky to join a squad, and somehow both of you started to see each other everyday, which ended in a relationship of four years and a half. You kept this in secret, because

a) the Survey Corps members are really gossip

b) you're not a fan of showing your private life to everybody.

But, that was your error.

Once you two finished eating, Jur said he had to do some training with his squad.

"Now?" he nods "I thought all the trainings were finished for today"

"It's a special one. You know, carts and that things." You nod. He kisses you fast before leaving. You start to walk towards your room. Not surprisingly, Connie is yelling at Sasha, and she's eating something that looks like an onigiri.

You shared a room with Sasha and Historia, but now that Historia left the Corps, Sasha and you sleep alone. Connie and Jean are always on your room, paassing time, and the four of you became a group.

"Sasha just open your mouth, I want to eat too!" she shakes her head. You sigh before unpacking the bag Jurian gave you, telling that he couldn't bring it with him to the training. At the end of the bag, you saw his belt, where the ODMG has to be fastened. You think that probably the training hasn't started yet. You make your way out of your room, almost colliding with Jean, who was about to enter.

"You're going somewhere?"

"I'll be right back, wait a bit!" You started to run towards the training camp. The captains advise not to go out at night, but without that belt, Jurian was unable to train.

"Where are you going?" Levi's voice scared you. You looked around, but you couldn't see him. "Up here." Your gaze runs to a tree. He's is perched on a large branch of the tree, leaning against the trunk. his Maneuvering gear still on. He goes down fast.

"I... I have to give this to somebody, Captain."

"Interesting... May I accompany you?"

If Levi goes with you, he will discover your relationship with Jurian, but if you say no, he probably distrust and lose all esteem he has for you. So you start telling him when you two start walking.

"It's for my boyfriend." his face freezes.

Right now, on Levi Ackerman's head, the remote possibility of you dating someone has gained weight.

"Boyfriend, huh?" he says. He's about to turn back, run and hit something, but he pressures himself to stay calmly. He knows he has now zero opportunities with you, but he keeps in mind the fact that maybe you two have just started and maybe that relationship is going nowhere.

“Yes. We’ve been together for four years.” Levi almost chokes on his saliva, but he hid it well. 

“Tch, I’m just accompanying you, you don’t have to explain to me.” He said. The truth is that hear you talking about your boyfriend hurts him, hurts a lot. But he has to know who is he. You two keep walking. “Wait, where is he? The boy dorms are on the other side.”

“He said he had a training now.” Levi frowned.

“In which squad is he?” He asked. You explained him the position of Jurian, and his eyes where serious. “There aren’t trainings now, and less of that squad. What the hell is he doing?” You looked at him, confused. Jurian is a good and honest guy, it’s impossible that he is lying. “Are you armed?” you shake your head. “Stay behind me and be quiet, got it?”. You nod and Levi starts walking in silence, followed by you. You could see the doors of the training zone from behind him, and two low voices could be heard. You frowned, trying to recognize any of them. One was laughing. It sounded like a woman.

Levi entered the training zone with silent steps, making sure you two aren’t exposed. He pulls a blade out of its sheath, silently, and makes his way to the control station, where a lamp is on. He walks until he’s in front of the door, the voices now can be heard.

“Is it okay, Rian? I mean, your girlfriend...”

“I told you a hundred times she’s so obsessed with being a good soldier and enter Levi’s squad that she’s useless for me. At least she’s pretty and it’s on a good squad.” That voice... That was Jurian. Your boyfriend. The boy you have been dating for the past four years and a half.

And the boy that is cheating on you.

You started crying. You didn’t care about Levi being in front of you our the people inside the cabin. Levi looked over his shoulder to make sure you’re okay. His gaze went a little bit more sweet when he saw you were crying.

He opened the door with one kick, making the two of them yell. Jurian hugged the girl, and you recognized her. She was also in the cart squad.

“What the heck?”

“Tch, I see now.” Levi takes the belt from your hands, and he trows it in front of Jurian. “For this type of training, you don’t need a belt, you bastard.” Levi put his blade again on its sheath. “Do you have something to say?”

“We... wait, why is she here?” He looks at you. Your anger starts to rise at lightning speed.

“You’re a disgrace, Jurian”

“Oh, wait, she’s your girlfriend? I thought it was the girl you were kissing a year ago.” The girl says. You look at her.

“What?” A year ago? So this is not new? You feel your tears running. Levi clicks his tongue once again.

“Look, bastard. You’ll  be cleaning horse shit from now on, and I’ll put in your position someone who takes his job seriously and does not dedicate himself to being unfaithful and flirting with all the women of the regiment”

Jurian opened his mouth before starting to yell.

“You’re no one to give me orders! and I will not tolerate disrespect towards my person withou...”

“I’m tired of hearing you.” Levi kicked Jurian’s knee with strength, making him fall. He growled. “Now, do what I said, because I’ll remind you in case you have forgotten: I’m your Captain. I can give you orders and beat your ass up if you’re being disrespectful towards a comrade.” he says. Jurian tries to get up, failing a couple times, and the girl he was with runs before being scolded by Levi. “Now go.”

“But I’m taking my girlfriend with me.” he says.

“I’m not your girlfriend.”

“We haven’t broke up yet.”

“Huh?” Levi asks. “Do you think she wants to see your face again? Let's go." He says to you. You nod.

"You're really going with him without hearing an explanation?" Jurian says from the floor. You stop, looking at him, but Levi reaches your hand.

It's well-known that Captain Levi avoids all type of contact, so his hand holding yours surprised you. You followed him, letting Jurian behind. Once you have walked a while, Levi stops.

"Are you okay?" he asks. You have your eyes wet, almost crying again. Levi remembers his hand on yours and lets it go. "Well, I'm sorry you saw that."

"Better for me watching it. At least now i know he wasn't a good guy."

"He's a bastard and he doesn't deserve a girl that cares that much." he says. You look at him but he starts to walk again. You follow him. "Go straight to your room, talk with your friends and rest a bit." he says. "I'll go notice Erwin about the use of the training camp on free hours." You nod and Levi scans your face. "You're okay?" he asks again. You nod and show him a little smile. He turns back.

That smile was about to kill him. You returned to you room, the three voices yelling could be heard from outside.

"We should go and search her!" Sasha says.

"But she's with her boyfriend, let her have fun" This time is Connie

"But don't you think she has been outside for a while?" Jean agrees with Sasha. You open the door and the three of them sigh. "How was it?" Jean asks. Your eyes are still wet and your breath isn't rhythmic.

"He was cheating on me. For years." They all looked at you. Connie and Sasha shared a gaze before hugging you. "Did you said something to he?"

"Fortunately, Captains Levi was with me... I'll have to thank him tomorrow." Jean moved his enormous body to yours, and covered you with a hug after Sasha and Connie ended. Your friends, well, you four had a special friendship, and you couldn't be more thankful for having them by your side.

The next day, when you knocked on the official's room searching for Levi, Hange smiled at you.

"He went today on a little expedition with Erwin. He's going to return on a couple hours. Do you want to help me cleaning the titan's place while you wait?"

You didn't want, but Hange looked so happy you couldn't say no. After a couple hours, nobody told you two that the expedition came back. An hour later, there was no sign of return. Another hour later, you two were about to lose your nerves when a cadet entered running.

"Only fifteen from the twenty that went are back, and all of them are injuried, we need help!"

Hange and you ran from the titan's experiment zone to the improvised hospital. There, a lot of soldiers where laying on beds, with several injuries. Levi was leaning against the wall. You walked towards him and he looked at you.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Are you okay?" you asked at the same time. You had that natural impulse to worry about everybody, but now that Levi helped you, you felt a debt to him.

"I'm okay." he says, but he has a long cut in the abdomen, it even tore his shirt from the deep.

"Would you let me help, Captain? I have a little knowledge of injuries, and the one on your abdomen looks bad." He looked at it and clicked his tonge.

"If it is okay for you..." He walks to a empty room and sits on the bed. You look at him, examinating the cut. "Do you need me to undress?" he asks. You nod silently and he starts to unbotton his shirt. His head was a mess. He's not working with normality since he's about to have your hands on his nude body. "Just the shirt, no?" you look at the cut now that it is discovered. A little bit of it is hidden under his pants, but nothing to die for. You nod again while threading the needle. "Have you stitched a wound before?"

"Yes, I helped Connie and Jean a couple times." Levi looks at you, but when you turn around and your eyes meet, he looks through the window. You clean his wound with a little bit of water before start stitching it. You work on silence and Levi is really quiet, not like the other two boys. You let your eyes look his skin. It isn't smooth or soft, full of scars and poorly healed wounds. You kept working on the cut, Levi's face showing pain. His skin was hot against your fingers. Captain Levi has been always a role model for you.

His abilities on battle and the way he speaks to you make you think of him as a true captain. Connie is lowkey scared of him and Sasha says that he's superior to all the army together. Levi could be distant sometimes, but you never experienced that before. The way he always assists your kills and helps you when you're in danger says a lot about him. His grey eyes were fixed on your face, concentrated on making a good work on his skin.

"Does it hurt?" you ask, your voice lowered because of the concentration.

"No." he simply answers. You where about to end stitching. Once you're finished, you cut the restant thread and clean it a bit with water. "Thanks."

"Thanks to you, Levi." his heart shaked. You didn't use Captain before his name. You where treating him like a person, not like a superior. "For helping me yesterday."

"It was nothing." he says, simply. He pulls a shirt out of a nearby ark and dresses carefully. "So you wanted to enter my squad?" he asks, trying to lighten the mood. You look at him, surprised. It's the first time Levi tries to hold a conversation and he remembers what Jurian said yesterday night.

"Yes, that's why I worked so hard." you explain. Jean, Connie and Sasha are part of it, and with Levi as the Captain, they were recognized everywhere. "I really admire the way you fight and help the soldiers. I really wanted to be part of the Special Operation Squad." His face is serious, but he's regretting telling Hange inside. They were who told Erwin, and Erwin decided to put you on a squad where Levi has no business, to avoid him from get distracted or give his life for yours. Damn.

"Actually, I need someone with your strength on battle." he says. He's lying, with him and Mikasa in the same squad... "Move to our squad with your friends." he sounds indifferent, but he's so nervous his soul is about to leave his body. You looked directly at him, happy.

"For real?" That expresion, oh man. You have destroyed the Captain with it. You are so beautiful, looking at him with your eyes sparkling from happiness. "She's so close" he thinks, but then he retracts himself. "No, Levi, no." He just wanted to hug you and tell you he was going to reach you no matter what, and be there for you every time you needed him. He (surprisingly) wanted to kiss you softly to feel you melt against his body and look at your eyes sparkling for the rest of his life.

But he nods. He just nods. You smile at him and bow in signal of respect. "Thanks, Captain!"

"I'll talk to Hange, don't worry about it. Oh, and you can call me Levi. Formalisms are only for threathening." You let out a quite laugh. He kind of smiles, and you tell him how he should take care of the stitches ("I had my wounds stitched before, y/n") before leaving to tell your friends you four are going to train together starting next week.

Hange was sad because you left their team, but they were also happy because a boy who really likes titans entered on your place. In any way, you promised Hange to keep in touch with them.

The trainings with Levi's Squad were hard, but they where worth it. The first day, Levi told you to watch their training, and you were amazed by the way they train. Connie and Sasha making double surprise attacks; Jean and his superior ODMG control and leadership; Eren learning to use his titan form with Mikasa having his back, and Armin making strategic plans on a second. And Levi. The grace of his body, the speed and the strenght, the precision of his cuts. The first day you trained, Levi destined you to Jean's sub-captaincy, but, when he was observing you, he thought maybe you where the one with whom he could make the most effective double maneuvers. So you two started to train together, as a team of two. At first it was difficult for you, Levi is just a born soldier, and your abilities have been born of effort. But, you learned from him, and you quickly joined his movements. He was surprised by the way you understood his next movements without telling you. Months later, you two are on complete sync. He's comfortable with you, but the fact that now he talks with you every day, spend every single minute with you and also works with you is making him go insane. All this months of couple training and couple missions made you understood that Levi really cares for all of you, from Eren to Sasha, and he's having your back on every kill, on every assistance, on everything. All the times you ran out of gas or your blades weren't working well. When a titan tryied to kill you or the times you cried because of the death of your comrades. All those times, he was there for you, holding your hand, letting you cry on his neck or smiling to you after a good mission. The fact that, for the first time, you had someone who understands you and who really cares for you by your side, make your heart flutter.

"You're not going to ask her out?" Hange asked Levi. He clicked his tongue but stayed on silence. On the other hand, Jean was following you to your room.

"You like Levi." he said. You blushed and looked at your friend.

"N-No! Jean, the fuck?!" He laughed but raised an eyebrow in your direction.

"Oh, come on! I'm your best friend, you're obviously falling for the Captain. And I bet he's attracted to you." Your blush increased. But, maybe you liked Levi? You thought. It wasn't impossible. He always treated you so good, and his attractive face and his perfect body... Maybe you were falling slowly for the Captain... For the way you feel protected, important and adored when he fights with you, or the intimacy when you heal each other after a mission. The way he talks to you, and he listens all your ideas. You feel somehow important when he's areound you. Jean smiled slowly. "Go and tell him." You looked at your best friend with surprise. "You like him, for godness sake, you should tell him!" All this months, a little love flame has been increasing on your heart, little by little, but Jean's words made you realice you're about to burn.

You like Levi. You like your Captain.

"And if he rejects me?" Jean laughed before hugging you.

"Then he's a dork. But then keep things profesional. But I'm 100% sure he feels the same. Now go!" You follow Jean's advice and search Levi on the trees, were he was standing guard four months ago. You found him on the same tree, in the exact same position. He laughs when he sees you.

"You're going to return a belt?" he asks. You laugh while he goes down the tree. You shake your head.

"Actually I was searching you." Your hands were sweating and you couldn't make eye contact. He noticed that.

"It's everything okay?" He asked. You nod.

"It's just... What do you think of Captain-Subordinated relationships?"

"They have to be respectful to each other, I guess... Wait, did I made something wrong" You shake your head. Damn, this was hard. Killing a titan was a hundred times easier. "Then?" he was running out of patience.

"Maybe I started liking you, Captain Levi."

He had to blink twice. All the little Levi's working on his head were about to start a fire on his brain. "What?" he asked. His hands were about to tremble, but he hid it while asking you again. "What did you said?" You looked at him, but his face was unreadable, as usual.

"That I like you. Romantically talking. I just wanted to tell you, but now we can keep things profesional and this never happened, but I wanted to be honest with you and with myself." You stretch your hand towards him, and he keeps looking at you, but then he starts laughing. You don't understand anything. Like why the hell is he laughing? Does he think a love declaration is funny? But he looks at you.

"For years, I liked you for five fucking years. I still like you. Hange told me to forget you but I was unable. So I guess all my effort has been rewarded with a caring and pretty girl?" You laugh nervous, is he pranking you? But he's serious. His hand takes yours, but he pulls you towards him. "I cared for you and tried to call your attention, and then discovered you where with that boy. But you didn't deserve what he dis to you. I wanted to kick his soul out so bad. Why he, that had you, was looking for others and make you feel bad? Tch, he was lucky you were there." His hands searched yours. "I'm not a huge fan of physical contact, but every time you healed me I just could think of your hands in all my body. And sorry, but I really like you."

You both stayed in silence for a bit. So it was corresponding? And now? You're dating? You're going to keep things distant?

"So you think we should keep things like we have been doing?" He frowned.

"The hell, y/n? No. If we both like each other, isn't that how relationships start?" he was right. "Unless you don't want to."

"I was the one telling you first, of course I want."

"Cool. Should we discuss this drinking a cup of tea?" He asks. You nod before taking his hand, and looking for his reaction, you tangled your fingers with his. He smiled and took you hand to his lips.

"Let's go, Levi."

[philip-ks-dick]

Philip K. Dick, For Dummies.

I’ve been researching PK.D for a few years now, as he’s my father’s favourite author and I’ve been watching movie and show adaptations of his work for the longest time. I have personally only read the books listed, here’s the order (I think) you should read them in, based on difficulty level and the knowledge you need of the PKD canon to understand the books that follow. This is purely my opinion based on knowledge of the author. by philip-k’s-dick (lol)

Beginner. (These books and stories allow readers to explore Dick’s pet themes and stylistic quirks without falling too far down the rabbit hole)

The Short Stories: Over the course of his life, PKD wrote somewhere in the range of 150 short stories. Naturally, it would be silly of me to dump all of them on you at once, but undeniably, the shorter format allows the big ideas of Dick’s work to come through more clearly, and even the screwier stories conform to relatively coherent shape, making them an excellent jumping off point, especially for an author who wrote almost nonstop throughout his life.

My Favourites:

In The Days of Perky Pat - In this novel, survivors of a global thermonuclear war live in isolated enclaves in California, surviving off what they can scrounge from the wastes and supplies delivered from Mars. The older generation spend their leisure time playing with the eponymous doll in an escapist role-playing game that recalls life before the apocalypse — a way of life that is being quickly forgotten. At the story's climax, a couple from one isolated outpost of humanity plays a game against the dwellers of another outpost (who play the game with a doll similar to Perky Pat dubbed "Connie Companion") in deadly earnest. The survivors' shared enthusiasm for the Perky Pat doll and the creation of her accessories from vital supplies is a sort of mass delusion that prevents meaningful re-building of the shattered society. In stark contrast, the children of the survivors show absolutely no interest in the delusion and have begun adapting to their new life.

(Elements of the story were later incorporated into Dick's novel The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, written in 1964 and published in 1965, in which a Perky Pat simulation game is induced by drugs and miniature models instead. Palmer Eldritch is not a continuation or sequel however.)

What the Dead Men Say - Death is followed by a period of 'half-life', a short amount of time which can be rationed out over long periods in which the dead can be revived—so that, potentially, they can 'live' on for a long time. When attempts to bring back important businessman Louis Sarapis fail, it's clearly more than mere negligence. Sure enough, Sarapis starts speaking from beyond the grave. From outer space, in fact. Yet no-one seems terribly bothered, other than those directly concerned in the plot mechanics. Eventually entire communications networks (phones, TV, radio) are blocked by Sarapis' broadcasts

(Philip's later novel Ubik is a continuation of What the Dead Men Say)

Autofac - Three men wait outside their settlement for an automated delivery truck. Five years earlier, during the Total Global Conflict, a network of hardened automatic factories ("autofacs") had been set up with cybernetic controls that determine what food and consumer goods to manufacture and deliver. Human input had been lost, and the men planned disruption to try to establish communication and take over control. They destroy the delivery, but the truck radios the autofac and unloads an identical replacement, then prevents them from reloading items. They act out being disgusted with the milk delivery and are given a complaints checklist. In a blank space, they write improvised semantic garble—"the product is thoroughly pizzled". The autofac sends a humanoid data collector that communicates on an oral basis, but is not capable of conceptual thought, and they are unable to persuade the network to shut down before it consumes all resources. Their next strategy sets neighbouring autofacs in competition with each other for rare resources and seemingly succeeds, but there is a hidden level

Beyond Lies The Wub - Peterson, a crew member of a spaceship loading up with food animals on Mars, buys an enormous pig-like creature known as a "wub" from a native just before departure. Franco, his captain, is worried about the extra weight but seems more concerned about its taste, as his ship is short of food. However, after takeoff, the crew realizes that the wub is a very intelligent creature, capable of telepathy and maybe even mind control.

Peterson and the wub spend time discussing mythological figures and the travels of Odysseus. Captain Franco, paranoid after an earlier confrontation with the Wub which left him temporarily paralyzed, bursts in and insists on killing and eating the wub. The crew becomes very much opposed to killing the sensitive creature after it makes a plea for understanding, but Franco still makes a meal out of him. At the dinner table, Captain Franco apologises for the "interruption" and resumes the earlier conversation between Peterson and the Wub - which now has apparently taken over the Captain's body

Human Is - Jill Herrick and her husband Lester are in the middle of an argument. Lester deflects his wife’s claim that he is “hideous” with cold indifference. He tells her that he will not allow their child in the house and will have him removed to government custody because he is interfering with his research. Before the distraught Jill can pass this onto their son Gus, Lester gets news that he will be taking a trip to Rexor IV. Despite Jill’s desire to go there and see the planet, Lester insists that he will go alone.

Later Jill tells her brother Frank and she is going to leave Lester. She explains how happy she has been with Lester gone and how he seems to be getting worse every year of their marriage. More cold and more “ruthless,” not to mention the incessant working.

Lester comes home a very different man. He praises Jill’s cooking and expresses disgust with his work on Rexor IV studying toxins. He says he prefers Terra and being home with his wife.

Jill reports these changes to Frank, while Lester is playing in the room with Gus. Frank has Lester brought to a lab for more studies under the guidance of the Federal Clearance agency. Before long they realize that Lester has had his body taken over by a Rexorian.

The Hanging Stranger - The protagonist, Ed Loyce, is a store owner who is disturbed when he sees a stranger hanging from a lamppost, but finds that other people consider the apparent lynching unremarkable.

He finds evidence that alien insects have taken over, manages to get out of town, talks to the police commissioner, who believes him, and after getting all the information about what Ed knows, explains that the body was hung to see if anyone reacted to it, anyone they didn't have control over. He then takes Ed outside and hangs him from a lamppost.

The Commuter - Ed Jacobson is a railway worker at Woking station. His life takes a turn for the worse when his son, Sam, begins experiencing psychotic episodes. When he is selling rail tickets at work, a young woman named Linda asks for a ticket to a destination called Macon Heights that is not listed on any map.

The Minority Report - In a future society, three mutants foresee all crime before it occurs. Plugged into a great machine, these "precogs" allow a division of the police called Precrime to arrest suspects before they can commit any actual crimes. When the head of Precrime, John Anderton, is himself predicted to murder a man whom he has never met, Anderton is convinced a great conspiracy is afoot

Full Books:

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter for the San Francisco Police Department, is assigned to "retire" (kill) six androids of the new and highly intelligent Nexus-6 model which have recently escaped from Mars and traveled to Earth. These androids are made of organic matter so similar to a human's that only a posthumous "bone marrow analysis" can independently prove the difference, making them almost impossible to distinguish from real people. Deckard hopes this mission will earn him enough bounty money to buy a live animal to replace his lone electric sheep to comfort his depressed wife Iran. Deckard visits the Rosen Association's headquarters in Seattle to confirm the accuracy of the latest empathy test meant to identify incognito androids. Deckard suspects the test may not be capable of distinguishing the latest Nexus-6 models from genuine human beings, and it appears to give a false positive on his host in Seattle, Rachael Rosen, meaning the police have potentially been executing human beings. The Rosen Association attempts to blackmail Deckard to get him to drop the case, but Deckard retests Rachael and determines that Rachael is, indeed, an android, which she ultimately admits.

Clans of the Alphane Moon - War between Earth and insectoid-dominated Alpha III ended over a decade ago. (According to the novel, "Alphane" refers to the nearest star to our own system, Alpha Centauri). Some years after the end of hostilities, Earth intends to secure its now independent colony in the Alphane system, Alpha III M2. As a former satellite-based global psychiatric institution for colonists on other Alphane system worlds unable to cope with the stresses of colonisation, the inhabitants of Alpha III M2 have lived peacefully for years. But, under the pretence of a medical mission, Earth intends to take their colony back.

Against this background, Chuck Rittersdorf and his wife Mary are separating. Although they think they are going their separate ways, they soon find themselves together again on Alpha III M2. Mary travels there through government work, Chuck sees it as a chance to kill Mary using his remote control simulacrum. Along the way he is guided by his Ganymedean slime mould neighbour Lord Running Clam and Mary finds herself manipulated by the Alphane sympathiser, comedian Bunny Hentman.

The Man in the High Castle - In 1962, 15 years after Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany have won World War II, Robert "Bob" Childan owns an Americana antique shop in San Francisco, California (located in the Japanese-occupied Pacific States of America), which is most commonly frequented by the Japanese, who make a fetish of romanticized American cultural artifacts. Childan is contacted by Nobusuke Tagomi, a high-ranking Japanese trade official, who is seeking a gift to impress a visiting Swedish industrialist named Baynes. Childan's store is stocked in part with counterfeit antiques from the Wyndam-Matson Corporation, a metalworking company. Frank Frink (formerly Fink), a secretly Jewish-American veteran of World War II, has just been fired from the Wyndam-Matson factory, when he agrees to join a former co-worker to begin a handcrafted jewellery business. Meanwhile, Frink's ex-wife, Juliana, works as a judo instructor in Canon City, Colorado (in the neutral buffer zone of Mountain States), where she begins a sexual relationship with an Italian truck driver and ex-soldier, Joe Cinnadella. Throughout the book, many of these characters frequently make important decisions using prophetic messages they interpret from the I Ching, a Chinese cultural import. Many characters are also reading a widely banned yet extremely popular new novel, The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, which depicts an alternate history in which the Allies won World War II in 1945, a concept that amazes and intrigues its readers.

Frink reveals that the Wyndam-Matson Corporation has been supplying Childan with counterfeit antiques, which works to blackmail Wyndam-Matson for money to finance Frink's new jewelry venture. Tagomi and Baynes meet, but Baynes repeatedly delays any real business as they await an expected third party from Japan. Suddenly, the public receives news of the death of the Chancellor of Germany, Martin Bormann, after a short illness. Childan tentatively, on consignment, takes some of Frink's "authentic" new metalwork and attempts to curry favour with a Japanese client, who surprisingly considers Frink's jewelry immensely spiritually alive. Juliana and Joe take a road trip to Denver, Colorado and Joe impulsively decides they should go on a side-trip to meet the mysterious Hawthorne Abendsen, author of The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, who supposedly lives in a guarded fortress-like estate called the "High Castle" in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Soon, Joseph Goebbels is announced as the new German Chancellor.

Intermediate. (These are the books to pick up once you have the basics of what makes a PKD novel down. They’re obtuse enough to hit a little heavier, but don’t provide the full dose of surrealism Dick was capable of serving up. This is also good spot to jump in if you’ve experienced weird fiction before.)

Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said - The novel is set in a dystopian version of 1988, following a Second Civil War which led to the collapse of the United States' democratic institutions. The National Guard ("nats") and US police force ("pols") reestablished social order through instituting a dictatorship, with a "Director" at the apex, and police marshals and generals as operational commanders in the field. Resistance to the regime is largely confined to university campuses, where radicalized former university students eke out a desperate existence in subterranean kibbutzim. Recreational drug use is widespread, and the age of consent has been lowered to twelve. The black population has almost been rendered extinct. Most commuting is undertaken by personal aircraft, allowing great distances to be covered in little time.

The novel begins with the protagonist, Jason Taverner, a singer, hosting his weekly TV show which has an audience of 30 million viewers. His special guest is his girlfriend Heather Hart, also a singer. Both Hart and Taverner are "Sixes", members of an elite class of genetically engineered humans. While leaving the studio, Taverner is telephoned by a former lover, who asks him to pay her a visit. When Taverner arrives at her apartment, the former lover attacks him by throwing a parasitic life-form at him. Although he manages to remove most of the life-form, parts of it are left inside him. After being rescued by Hart, he is taken to a medical facility.

Waking up the following day in a seedy hotel with no identification, Taverner becomes worried, as failure to produce identification at one of the numerous police checkpoints would lead to imprisonment in a forced labor camp. Through a succession of phone calls made from the hotel to colleagues and friends who now claim not to know him, Taverner establishes that he is no longer recognized by the outside world. He soon manages to bribe the hotel's clerk into taking him to Kathy Nelson, a forger of government documents. However, Kathy reveals that both she and the clerk are police informants, and that the lobby clerk has placed a microscopic tracking device on him. She promises not to turn Taverner over to the police on the condition that he spend the night with her. Although he attempts to escape, Kathy confronts him again after he has successfully passed a police checkpoint using the forged identity cards. Feeling in her debt, he accompanies Kathy to her apartment block, where Inspector McNulty, Kathy's police handler, is waiting. McNulty has located Taverner via the tracking device the hotel lobby clerk placed on him, and instructs Taverner to come with him to the 469th Precinct police station so that further biometric identity checks can be performed.

Time out of Joint - Ragle Gumm lives in the year 1959 in a quiet American suburb. His unusual profession consists of repeatedly winning the cash prize in a local newspaper contest called "Where Will The Little Green Man Be Next?". Gumm's 1959 has some differences from ours: the Tucker car is in production, AM/FM radios are scarce to non-existent, and Marilyn Monroe is a complete unknown. As the novel opens, strange things begin to happen to Gumm. A soft-drink stand disappears, replaced by a small slip of paper with the words "SOFT-DRINK STAND" printed on it in block letters. Intriguing little pieces of the real 1959 turn up: a magazine article on Marilyn Monroe, a telephone book with non-operational exchanges listed and radios hidden away in someone else's house. People with no apparent connection to Gumm, including military pilots using aircraft transceivers, refer to him by name. Few other characters notice these or experience similar anomalies; the sole exception is Gumm's supposed brother-in-law, Victor "Vic" Nielson, in whom he confides. A neighborhood woman, Mrs. Keitelbein, invites him to a civil defense class where he sees a model of a futuristic underground military factory. He has the unshakeable feeling he's been inside that building many times before.

Confusion gradually mounts for Gumm. His neighbor Bill Black knows far more about these events than he admits, and, observing this, begins worrying: "Suppose Ragle [Gumm] is becoming sane again?" In fact, Gumm does become sane, and the deception surrounding him (erected to protect and exploit him) begins to unravel

Ubik - By the year 1992, humanity has colonized the Moon and psychic powers are common. The protagonist, Joe Chip, is a debt-ridden technician working for Runciter Associates, a "prudence organization" employing "inertials"—people with the ability to negate the powers of telepaths and "precogs"—to enforce the privacy of clients. The company is run by Glen Runciter, assisted by his deceased wife Ella who is kept in a state of "half-life", a form of cryonic suspension that allows the deceased limited consciousness and ability to communicate. While consulting with Ella, Runciter discovers that her consciousness is being invaded by another half-lifer named Jory Miller

Difficult. (This section comes with a caveat: within these novels you will encounter numerous hallucinations, drug trips, an entire trilogy about gnostic spirituality and mental illness, and more than a little unabashed nightmare fuel. It’s normal to get tangled up in what goes on in these books. It’s also normal to be weirded out. But with proper grounding, you’ll make it though with your faculties intact. Probably.)

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch - The story begins in a future world where global temperatures have risen so high that in most of the world it is unsafe to be outside without special cooling gear during daylight hours. In a desperate bid to preserve humanity and ease population burdens on Earth, the UN has initiated a "draft" for colonizing the nearby planets, where conditions are so horrific and primitive that the unwilling colonists have fallen prey to a form of escapism involving the use of an illegal drug (Can-D) in concert with "layouts." Layouts are physical props intended to simulate a sort of alternative reality where life is easier than either the grim existence of the colonists in their marginal off-world colonies, or even Earth, where global warming has progressed to the point that Antarctica is prime vacation resort territory. The illegal drug Can-D allows people to "share" their experience of the "Perky Pat" (the name of the main female character in the simulated world) layouts. This "sharing" has caused a pseudo-religious cult or series of cults to grow up around the layouts and the use of the drug.

Up to the point where the novel begins, New York City-based Perky Pat (or P.P.) Layouts, Inc., has held a monopoly on this product, as well as on the illegal trade in the drug Can-D which makes the shared hallucinations possible.

The novel opens shortly after Barney Mayerson, P.P. Layouts' top precog, has received a "draft notice" from the UN for involuntary resettlement as a colonist on Mars. Mayerson is sleeping with his assistant, Roni Fugate, but remains conflicted about the divorce, which he himself initiated, from his first wife Emily, a ceramic pot artist. Meanwhile, Emily's second husband tries to sell her pot designs to P.P. Layouts as possible accessories for the Perky Pat virtual worlds—but Barney, recognizing them as Emily's, rejects them out of spite.

A Scanner Darkly - When performing his work as an undercover agent, Arctor goes by the name "Fred" and wears a "scramble suit" that conceals his identity from other officers. Then he is able to sit in a police facility and observe his housemates through "holo-scanners", audio-visual surveillance devices that are placed throughout the house. Arctor's use of the drug causes the two hemispheres of his brain to function independently or "compete". When Arctor sees himself in the videos saved by the scanners, he does not realize that it is him. Through a series of drug and psychological tests, Arctor's superiors at work discover that his addiction has made him incapable of performing his job as a narcotics agent. They do not know his identity because he wears the scramble suit, but when his police supervisor suggests to him that he might be Bob Arctor, he is confused and thinks it cannot be possible.

Donna takes Arctor to "New-Path", a rehabilitation clinic, just as Arctor begins to experience the symptoms of Substance D withdrawal. It is revealed that Donna has been a narcotics agent all along, working as part of a police operation to infiltrate New-Path and determine its funding source. Without his knowledge, Arctor has been selected to penetrate the organization. As part of the rehab program, Arctor is renamed "Bruce" and forced to participate in cruel group-dynamic games, intended to break the will of the patients

(If this one seems difficult to wrap your mind around, that's because its a fictionalized account of real events, and you may need to read about Philip's life at the time to understand the autobiographical nature of the book.)

The VALIS Trilogy

(Fictionalized account of religious experiences in PKD’s life.)

VALIS - In March, 1974, Horselover Fat (the alter-personality of Philip K. Dick) experiences visions of a pink beam of light that he calls Zebra and interprets as a theophany exposing hidden facts about the reality of our universe, and a group of others join him in researching these matters. One of their theories is that there is some kind of alien space probe in orbit around Earth, and that it is aiding them in their quest; it also aided the United States in disclosing the Watergate scandal and the resignation of Richard Nixon in August, 1974. Kevin turns his friends onto a film called Valis that contains obvious references to revelations identical to those that Horselover Fat has experienced, including what appears to be time dysfunction. The film is itself a fictional account of an alternative-universe version of Nixon ("Ferris F. Fremount") and his fall, engineered by a satellite called valis. (The plot of the fictitious film Valis was that of Dick's then-unpublished novel Radio Free Albemuth.) In seeking the film's makers, Kevin, Phil, Fat, and David—now calling themselves the Rhipidon Society—head to an estate owned by popular musician Eric Lampton and his wife Linda. They decide the goal that they have been led toward is Sophia Lampton, who is two-years old and the Messiah or incarnation of Holy Wisdom (Pistis Sophia) anticipated by some variants of Gnostic Christianity. In addition to healing Phil's schizophrenic personality split, she tells them that their conclusions about valis (which Fat had previously termed "Zebra") and reality are correct, and more importantly, that we should worship, not gods, but humanity. She dies two days later due to a laser accident caused by Brent Mini. Undeterred, Fat (who has now resurged) goes on a global search for the next incarnation of Sophia.

Dick also offers a rationalist explanation of his apparent theophany, acknowledging that it might have been visual and auditory hallucinations from either schizophrenia or drug addiction sequelae.

Characters:

Phil (Philip K. Dick): Narrator (first person), science fiction writer, author of Man in the High Castle, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, and Three Stigmata.

Horselover Fat: Narrator (third person), a schizophrenic modality of Phil himself. (Philip in Greek means "fond of horses"; dick is German for "fat".)

Gloria Knudson: Suicidal friend of Fat's who Fat is unable to save.

Kevin: Cynical friend of Fat's whose cat died running across the street, based on K. W. Jeter.

Sherri Solvig: Church-going friend of Fat's, eventually dies from lymphatic cancer.

David: Catholic friend of Fat's, based on Tim Powers.

Eric Lampton: Rock star, screenwriter, actor, a. k. a. "Mother Goose"; a fictionalised version of David Bowie.

Linda Lampton: Actress, wife of Eric Lampton.

Brent Mini: Electronic composer, a fictionalised version of Brian Eno.

Sophia Lampton: Two-year-old child (personalised incarnation of Holy Wisdom within some variants of Gnosticism), said to be the daughter of Linda Lampton and valis and the "Fifth Savior".

The Divine Invasion - After a fatal car accident on Earth, Herb Asher is placed into cryonic suspension as he waits for a spleen replacement. Clinically dead, Herb experiences lucid dreams while in suspended animation and relives the last six years of his life.

In the past, Herb lived as a recluse in an isolated dome on a remote planet in the binary star system, CY30-CY30B. Yah, a local divinity of the planet in exile from Earth, appears to Herb in a vision as a burning flame, and forces him to contact his sick female neighbor, Rybys Rommey, who happens to be terminally ill with multiple sclerosis and pregnant with Yah's child.

With the help of the immortal soul of Elijah, who takes the form of a wild beggar named Elias Tate, Herb agrees to become Rybys's legal husband and father of the unborn "savior". Together they plan to smuggle the six-month pregnant Rybys back to Earth, under the pretext of seeking help for Rybys' medical condition at a medical research facility. After being born in human form, Yah plans to confront the fallen angel Belial, who has ruled the Earth for 2000 years since the fall of Masada in the first century CE. Yah's powers, however, are limited by Belial's dominion on Earth, and the four of them must take extra precautions to avoid being detected by the forces of darkness.

Things do not go as planned. "Big Noodle", Earth's A.I. system, warns the ecclesiastical authorities in the Christian-Islamic church and Scientific Legate about the divine "invasion" and countermeasures are prepared. A number of failed attempts are made to destroy the unborn child, all of them thwarted by Elijah and Yah. After successfully making the interstellar journey back to Earth and narrowly avoiding a forced abortion, Rybys and Herb escape in the nick of time, only to be involved in a fatal taxi crash, probably due to the machinations of Belial. Rybys dies from her injuries sustained in the crash, and her unborn son Emmanuel (Yah in human form) suffers brain damage from the trauma but survives. Herb is critically injured and put into cryonic suspension until a spleen replacement can be found. Baby Emmanuel is placed into a synthetic womb, but Elias Tate manages to sneak Emmanuel out of the hospital before the church is able to kill him.

Six years pass. In a school for special children, Emmanuel meets Zina, a girl who also seems to have similar skills and talents, but acts as a surrogate teacher to Emmanuel. For four years, Zina helps Emmanuel regain his memory (the brain damage caused amnesia) and discover his true identity as Yah, creator of the universe.

When he's ready, Zina shows Emmanuel her own parallel universe. In this peaceful world, organized religion has little influence, Rybys Rommey is still alive and married to Herb Asher, and Belial is only a goat kid living in a petting zoo.

In an act of kindness, Zina and Emmanuel liberate the goat-creature from his cage, momentarily forgetting that the animal is Belial. The goat-creature finds Herb Asher and attempts to retain control of the world by possessing him and convincing him that Yahweh's creation is an ugly thing that should be shown for what it really is. Eventually Herb is saved by Linda Fox, a young singer whom he loves and who is his own personal Savior; she and the goat-creature meet and she kills it, defeating Belial. He finally discovers that this meeting happens over again for everyone in the world, and whether they choose Belial or their Savior decides if they find salvation.

Characters:

Herb Asher: audio engineer

Rybys Rommey: mother of Emmanuel, sick with MS

Yah: Yahweh

Elias Tate: Incarnation of Elijah

Emmanuel (Manny): Yah incarnated in human form

Zina Pallas: Shekhinah

Linda Fox: singer, songwriter, Yetzer Hatov

Belial: Yetzer Hara

Fulton Statler Harms: Chief prelate of the Christian-Islamic Church (C.I.C), Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church

Nicholas Bulkowsky: Communist Party Chairman, Procurator maximus of the Scientific Legate

VALIS: agent of Yahweh, disinhibiting stimulus

The Transmigration of Timothy Archer - Set in the late 1960s and 1970s, the story describes the efforts of Episcopal Bishop Timothy Archer, who must cope with the theological and philosophical implications of the newly discovered Gnostic Zadokite scroll fragments. The character of Bishop Archer is loosely based on the controversial, iconoclastic Episcopal Bishop James Pike, who in 1969 died of exposure while exploring the Judean Desert near the Dead Sea in the West Bank.

As the novel opens, it is 1980. On the day that John Lennon is shot and killed, Angel Archer visits the houseboat of Edgar Barefoot, (a guru based on Alan Watts), and reflects on the lives of her deceased relatives. During the sixties, she was married to Jeff Archer, son of the Episcopal Bishop of California Timothy Archer. She introduced Kirsten Lundborg, a friend, to her father-in law, and the two began an affair. Kirsten has a son, Bill, from a previous relationship, who has schizophrenia, although he is knowledgeable as an automobile mechanic. Tim is already being investigated for his allegedly heretical views about the Holy Ghost.

Jeff commits suicide due to his romantic obsession with Kirsten. However, after poltergeist activity, he manifests to Tim and Kirsten at a seance, also attended by Angel. Angel is skeptical about the efficacy of astrology, and believes that the unfolding existential situation of Tim and Kirsten is akin to Friedrich Schiller's German Romanticism era masterpiece, the Wallenstein trilogy (insofar as their credulity reflects the loss of rational belief in contemporary consensual reality).

The three are told that Kirsten and Tim will die. As predicted, Kirsten loses her remission from cancer, and also commits suicide after a barbiturate overdose. Tim travels to Israel to investigate whether or not a psychotropic mushroom was associated with the resurrection, but his car stalls, he becomes disoriented, falls from a cliff, and dies in the desert.

On the houseboat, Angel is reunited with Bill, Kirsten's son who has schizophrenia. He claims to have Tim's reincarnated spirit within him, but is soon institutionalized. Angel agrees to care for Bill, in return for a rare record (Koto Music by Kimio Eto) that Edgar offers her.

The Transmigration of Timothy Archer is one of Dick's most overtly philosophical and intellectual works. While Dick's novels usually employ multiple narrators or an omniscient perspective, this story is told in the first person by a single narrator: Angel Archer, Bishop Archer's daughter-in-law.

Characters:

Angel Archer: Narrator, manager of a Berkeley record store, widow of Jeff Archer.

Timothy Archer: Bishop of California; father of the late Jeff Archer and father-in-law of Angel. Dies in Israel, searching for psychotropic mushroom connected with Zadokite sect. Based on James Albert Pike, Dick's personal friend, who was an American Episcopalian bishop.

Kirsten Lundborg: Timothy Archer's secretary and lover. Dies from barbiturate overdose after loss of remission from cancer.

Bill Lundborg: Kirsten's son who has schizophrenia, and who is obsessed with cars.

Edgar Barefoot: Houseboat guru, radio personality, lecturer. Based on Alan Watts.

Jeff Archer: Son of Timothy Archer, and deceased husband of Angel. A professional student who was romantically obsessed with Kirsten.

Thank you, if you read all of this. it took me six hours today to write this all 

[shangsclaws]

Bird

Description: With his crossbow, Fujin 'accidentally' shot you, Shang Tsung’s beloved.

Pairing: Shang Tsung x reader??? i guess??? is this even remotely romantic at this point

and maybe a bread crumb of Fujin x reader

Warnings: the reader is injured

(( this is so random?? like idk why Fujin of all people had to be the one to hurt you?? also i can’t tell you why it’s so dramatic it just came out of my deep fried chicken brain this way lol, good luck reading it))

/

“I am not leaving,” the sorcerer insisted, “not without an explanation.”

In all your anxiety there was little to tell him, save for your torn garments. The deep wound caused by the arrow had been healed by the grace of Shang Tsung’s hands, but he was no tailor. Desperately, you wished the fabric would somehow grow lips and spew coherent sentences on your behalf.

“It was an accident.”

“An accident. I did not know demigods could make mistakes.”

“Don’t you go out and wound-“

“I never implied that I would do anything. Now tell me what happened.”

There was no way of telling whose side he would take. You, like any other person, would be relieved it was your own. Or terrified that it was not, that he would disbelieve you. It would all depend upon him. In his eyes was the rage of midnight, its intensity worsened by the dim candle-lit ambiance of the study, just further in from the courtyard where he’d found you. Shang awaited your answer.

“Very well. If you choose not to speak then you know what I must do.”

“You will not do anything so long as I am awake, sorcerer.”

Shang sighed. Frustrated, he straightened himself in his seat next to your lying body. In your position you saw an unflattering angle of his face.

“Did he intend to hurt you?”

“God no,” was all you could bring yourself to say. Losing to the urge, your eyes gave way into darkness, and he watched you fade away.

—

Fujin stood at the docks of Shang Tsung’s island. He had the nerve even thinking to show his face, you had warned him of that much beforehand.

A servant, with wide and sorry eyes, appeared from behind a large pillar. The thunder god’s brother would strain a smile.

“Good day.” He’d say.

The servant said nothing and only motioned for him to follow. The walk to their destination, only lasting five minutes, was grueling. Fujin sighed quietly, biting his tongue. He figured the sentiment would trickle to Shang Tsung’s followers.

And there the man stood, atop five or six steps of jade.

“Fujin. You’ve come.” The sorcerer spoke. His stance was wide, hands clasped behind his back. “They told me you’d visit.”

“I do not come to argue with you, Shang Tsung. I’m only here to say my apologies to y/n.”

“They said you two were sparring!” He grinned satirically. Fujin could taste the venom in Shang Tsung’s tone — he did not do much to hide it.

“I did not know sparring entailed almost mortally wounding your partner.”

Fujin watched carefully as Shang Tsung began to walk down the steps. His golden armour shone brilliantly in the midmorning’s light. “I did not mean it. I would never try to hurt anyone who means well.”

The sorcerer chuckled at that. “Clearly not.”

That damned crossbow.

“I did not know they’d get in the way of my line of sight. I shot the arrow and then they’d left. Teleported. They didn’t leave me with any chance at explanation.”

“Then what exactly were you aiming at? Why did y/n need to risk their life getting in your way?”

Fujin almost winced at the thought of it. “A bird.”

It was simply ridiculous. And yet y/n had told the same tale. Drawing closer to the demigod now, Shang’s brow furrowed. He would not have it.

“Why did y/n immediately come to me, Fujin? You could have surely done something to help.”

“I don’t know. But do not think I didn’t offer my aid. I would have done something if they hadn't-“

Shang struck the first blow. Recoiling, Fujin only realized too late that the sorcerer had come far too close.

The servants watched from their places around the courtyard.

—

You awoke to a cry of pain from below. Groaning, this could only mean Shang was extracting yet another poor soul. How odd it was of him, however, to be doing it in the courtyard.

The wound on your chest had not entirely healed yet. You were made painfully aware when attempting, and somehow succeeding, to get up from your lying position. Shang had brought you from the study to the bedroom.

Another cry, a terrifyingly familiar one, roared across the courtyard. You shot up from your seat, knees nearly buckling from your sudden dizziness, and began to the balcony.

Fujin was lying nearly motionless on the dirt floor.

You couldn’t scream to stop. It would hurt too much.

With a swift motion of the hand, you found yourself standing in front of Shang, enraged. Bracing yourself for his blow, you turned away but felt nothing.

“What are you doing here?”

“Don’t, please...he didn’t know, Shang...”

The sorcerer’s hands fell onto your arms, holding you firmly. “You should be resting.” He hissed, breathless from his altercation.

“You! Take them back to the bedroom. Make sure they do not leave until their wound has healed.”

“He was only trying to talk some sense into me.” You muttered. “I told him I knew what I was doing the moment I said I wanted to be with you.”

Shang looked to you then, confused.

“And he didn’t believe me,” you continued, “he thought you were deceiving him.”

The sorcerer’s eyes grew wide.

“I told him to tell you he was aiming at a bird upon a tree. It is a terrible lie, but I panicked. I knew you would do this to him. He needed something to say.”

You were delirious, digging the wind god’s grave like this. Perhaps it was the sudden cry that had awoken you, or the raw wrath in the sorcerer’s eyes that compelled you speak of nothing but the truth. This was to be hidden. And still, you panicked.

Gripping Shang’s forearm, you searched his eyes for some inkling of understanding. He only looked at you in disbelief. “Please, Shang. He didn’t mean it. He wouldn’t have done this if he’d known I-“

The servant took you then. The sorcerer turned to look to the man lying defenceless on the ground. You did what you could to fight the servant from dragging you away, but the wound on your chest had prevented you from raising your voice any place above a whisper. The only word you could bring yourself to cry was the sorcerer’s name.

All he saw was red.

[ladder-discourse]

OK you know what, writing a coherent paragraph form reflection on this game is more effort than it's worth, so here's a slapdash list of stuff that I liked about AA5, stuff that royally and irrationally pisses me off about AA5, and stuff that I'm surprised I didn't hate as much this time around.

Obvious disclaimer that if you like this game, that's fine! Shine on you precious diamonds. There's nothing judgy in here about the fanbase or anyone who finds value in analyzing the characters or cases, this is just a self-indulgent breakdown of my personal tastes. I think overall I DID have a much more positive experience playing Dual Destinies this time than I did when it first came out, but... That is a very low bar to clear, because I was pretty damn mad about this game the first time I finished it. Like, the negative impression it left on me was so strong, I was actively dreading reaching this entry in the series when I decided to do a replay lol.

Anyway here're my dumbshit opinions under the cut, please don't try to debate me on these or w/e I'm not interested in arguing I'm just here to vibe 😫

We'll get the bad out of the way first so we can end on a positive note. Things that enrage me in no particular order 1.) The sheer effort that this game puts in trying to pretend that AA4 just... didn't happen??? Like sure, some of the characters from it are here, but pretty much the ONLY time the actual EVENTS of AA4 are even remotely referenced are late in the game... It's like, in case 4 or 5 I think? They vaguely allude to Apollo having a 'hard time' when he first met Phoenix a year and a half ago, and then try to retcon in that Clay was the one responsible for getting Apollo through the whole aftermath of Turnabout Trump, which I... I'm sorry I just find that super cheap and unconvincing, and I don't like it! 2.) Hey this is a super dumb one, but while we're on the topic of Clay and Apollo: I am full of kind of really petty hatred for the decision to turn "I'm Fine!" into like... Apollo's LITERAL CATCH PHRASE/secret friend code thing that he has with his murdered-for-plot best friend? It feels really hamfisted to me and it fills me with secondhand embarrassment! Like, the Chords of Steel thing was such a minor but funny thing that happened in AA4 and to me it feels like they flanderized Apollo by turning it into some kind of plot point? Capcom. Why did you do this. I was perfectly happy and endeared by this weird little dude doing voice exercises to try and build confidence for his court debut. Now it just makes me cringe. 3.) ...OK fine I'm on a roll so I might as well just come out and say the one that I think people might actually be mad about: I don't... care about Clay. I'M SORRY. I KNOW. Like, genuine props to the people who have an interest in him enough to turn him into an actual character and give him substance? Just, for me, what we get in the game just comes so fucking hard out of absolutely nowhere and it's just, really badly integrated into what characterization we got for Apollo in AA4... At best Clay is just a thing that gives me extra cause to be miserable about Apollo for, and at worst he's more like a mascot for all the stuff I hate about the direction the series has taken in the 3DS games. I don't literally hate him but I'm just like... Yeah ok! He exists I guess! Space boy! 4.) WHY DOES THIS GAME HATE TRUCY SO MUCH. NOT ENOUGH TRUCY??? ALSO TRUCY GETS HELD HOSTAGE BY ROBOTS AND EVEN THOUGH WE ARE PLAYING AS PHOENIX WE GET LIKE, ALMOST NO SENSE OF CONCERN FROM HIM ABOUT IT? AM I SUPPOSED TO BELIEVE HE'S JUST BEEN DESENSITIZED BY ALL THE TIMES MAYA HAS BEEN KIDNAPPED/CHARGED WITH MURDER OR SOMETHING? SHE IS HIS LITERAL DAUGHTER, WHY IS HE NOT MORE UPSET, 0/10. 5.) I know everyone says this but literally what the fuck did they do to Klavier. They replaced him with a weird robot or something. The only time he actually feels vaguely in-character is when he's quipping with Apollo. Also his 3D model is REALLY uncanny looking and I don't like it, his eyes feel like they are boring into my soul! 6.) On the subject of Klavier. I was told by the game that he was apparently very close with Professor Courte! Too bad the game just, tells us this, and doesn't like... put even the slightest bit of effort into actually convincing us that this is true. I guess they thought that since they were going to shoehorn in and kill off an (allegedly) emotionally significant backstory character for Apollo, they decided Klavier needed one too. 7.) Phoenix's entirely off-screen recovery from being Beanix. I know why the writers did this, but I still think what they did is incredibly stupid and disingenuous, and we were robbed of a potentially interesting background character arc. 8.) Too much emphasis on Phoenix's POV in general! I love the man but my god! Come on! 9.) DARK AGE OF THE LAW, DO I NEED TO SAY MORE THAN THAT AT THIS POINT, LIKE SERIOUSLY EVERY TIME SOMEONE IN THE GAME UTTERED THAT PHRASE I CAME *THIS CLOSE* TO JUST QUITTING ENTIRELY, IT'S SO DUMB, IT'S SO SO SO DUMB THEY COULD HAVE JUST REMOVED THAT ASPECT ENTIRELY, JUST NEVER HAVE ANYONE EVER UTTER THOSE WORDS OR MENTION THE CONCEPT OF IT ,AND THE

GAME WOULD'VE BEEN LIKE 500% BETTER JUST FOR THAT ALONE. WE WOULD HAVE LOST ABSOLUTELY NOTHING FROM THE STORY. MY GOD. Stuff that I actually love: (The explanations on these aren't as long because like. I don't need to defend myself here, if you get it you get it, yk?) 1.) Apollo and Athena's entire dynamic, I love them. 2.) How much Phoenix loves and supports his lawyer kids. 3.) Simon Blackquill is such a strong entry to the ranks of the absolutely batshit prosecutors in this series and I fucking love him. What a king. What a troll. Bird man of the courthouse, prince of darkness and my heart. 4.) Athena is a fucking excellent addition to the WAA, I love this bright yellow psychologist/lawyer/dumbass competitive jock girl with trauma, I care her! Deeply! 5.) This was my first time playing the DLC case and I actually really loved it? It was cute and fun and I liked that it actually had a pretty happy ending for all the characters. Also I feel very gay for Sasha. 6.) I love the tragic science lesbians. By which I guess I mean I love Aura Blackquill, which if you know me personally is not surprising, I just love mean science lesbians they are like my not so secret brand. 7.) I didn't hate Turnabout Academy AS MUCH this time around, probably bc I was more adequately emotionally girded for the shit w/ Robin's gender stuff (which, I must note, was basically the ONLY THING I still remembered from the first time playing this case). So rather than being completely fucking blindsided by it I went in prepared with headcanons to soften the blow. I still do not think it is a GOOD case? But like. The trio of friends are cute I guess. Also the whole ending w/ Athena dressing up as the statue is probably some of the funniest shit to happen in ANY of the games, why don't people talk about that scene more, those were some top tier shenanigans to rival cross examining a parrot. 8.) Yes, daddy. 9.) (Phoenix and Edgeworth in court again was easily the best part of the game. Was it done for fan service? Almost definitely! Do I care? Nope!)

..................

There's more I could add to both sides of this list but I've already spent way too much time writing this. Replaying AA6 will come... Eventually, which, uh! I actually recall enjoying that one a LOT more when it first came out, but it has also been, what... 5 years since that happened? So who knows how I'll feel this time. I basically played it as soon as it came out and then disappeared from the fandom side of the internet before I saw what anyone else's reactions to it were, and now I get the sense thaaaaaat a lot of people really don't like it, so THAT'S gonna be interesting, whenever I do get around to it.

[monster-bcrn]

name: Cyrus Gold  alias: Solomon Grundy, Marshland Monster, The Grey Knight, Carrion King, Lord of Decay gender: Cis-male sexual orientation: Bisexual/possible pansexual (depends on his level of coherency) romantic orientation: Bi-romantic

preferred pet names: Solly, Grundy, Sol relationship status: Widower (in one verse, he’s currently dating Bizarro)

opinion on true love: He knows it exists, but that’s it’s probably the deadliest weapon. He loved his wife Pearl as much as Victor Fries loved his wife Nora, and slowly realizing that his family died never knowing what happened to him shattered his heart. He felt love for Jade, possibly the first time he had ever felt love for anyone since his reanimation, and that love was destroyed by the Harlequin. He now sees true love as a sick joke.  opinion on love at first sight: He thinks people are cute at first sight, but is naturally wary and stays away from people. You have to get close to him and talk to him for any chance of a relationship forming, otherwise he’ll ignore you.  how ‘romantic’ are they?: Not very romantic. He’s pretty much the kind of guy that would ‘do the wild thing’ just to burn off steam. Very rarely does he do anything remotely romantic, and it usually involves him licking his partner’s face with his tongue like a puppy. 

Unfortunately his spit is absolutely toxic, so you’d probably be paralyzed afterwards. 

ideal physical traits: Someone close to his size and stature. While he finds humans cute at times, he’s largely lost any attraction to them that would be interpreted as romantic (the SOLE exception to this is his deceased wife.)

Basically his version of ‘ideal’ is anyone structured similarly to him, and he’s actively flirted with alternate universe variations of himself including Regime Grundy. 

ideal personality traits:  Just don’t be a dick. That’s basically it. 

unattractive physical traits: Anyone smaller than him. He finds it laughable that there are ‘tiny people’ who really think they are any match for him.  unattractive personality traits:  People being traitorous asses and bastards to him. If someone treats him bad, he reacts extremely negatively. Just be nice to him and he’s less likely to flip out.

do they have a type?: Pretty much pretty girls and guys that are buff AF. So....yeah, he’s attracted to himself. The only guy he isn’t attracted to is Doomsday, because Doomsday is a punk bitch.  opinion of public affection: 

This image pretty much sums it up. He really doesn’t like being touched without permission and gets weirded out by PDA. Mainly because he associates others touching him with pain and misery and death. So he has pretty violent reactions to anyone who touches him that he doesn’t trust. 

Like he trusts John Constantine, but tenses up around Batman. He’s let Superman touch him before once he realized Supes and Bats just wanted to bring him home. 

favourite canon ship: 

Just one? (Only one is overtly romantic. The others are ones he has very strong emotional attachments to at some point, even if the friendship was destroyed by outside forces against his control.)

Cyrus Gold and his wife Pearl and one of their children. 

Grundy and Bizarro (I totally ship them lol)

Grundy and Hawkgirl 

Grundy and Jade (LOL you big goof)

Mikkal Tomas (Starman) and Grundy (”Solly” at the time)

favourite non-canon ship: I actually prefer Grundy’s friendships over overt romance. He desperately needs a friend who can understand him. I love him being friends with @thecursedhellblazer​  John Constantine, because while John is crass and ornery, he’s blunt and tells it as it is and can be brutally honest. Grundy is sick of liars so seeing someone honest is refreshing. Plus Constantine totally got Grundy into being his drinking buddy. XD

Plus Grundy’s friendship with @adventurepunks​‘s Zatanna, and @amazonexile​/ @theamazondiana​/ @ofamazonia​‘s Diana. Because these two can very easily kick his ass and yet cuddle him and he just loves cuddles. 

And chin scratchies. 

Plus I love his friendship with both @brokentoys​ Riddler and @laughter-in-white​ Joker. He’s trying so hard to keep his two friends from tearing each other apart lol. 

​

tagged by: @laughter-in-white (Thanks! >:D) tagging: @gothamprens, @gotham-crusader, @dc-deathmetal, @thanagrian, @fiery-ambitions, @queenxfchaos, @dravcn, @susperfectus, @akasupergirl, @untouchable-lightning, @partcfyouruniverse, @twiceborn, @chaoticblondes, @gemkinetic, @aquatictechie, @yellowskinnedwackyman, @destructo-rp, @maple-syrup-heavy, @malabituin, @ciinderellasyndrome, @jenniferwallters, @bothsidesofaquestion, @gliderslain, @blowhardbase (any muse!), @ecoterrcrist, @musicaltragedies, @the-bctman, @powderedpaws, @thedemonicpunks, @corvidamned, @justiceebound, @folcire, @dearaliceliddel, @sassgardkeep, @cryomight, @jp-todd-rp, @lazarus-born, @gunborn, @jester-of-genocide, @lovesgctham, @themissingprincess, @thecatgoddessbast, @starcityvigilante, @themartlans, @blackwingsbluedings, @ofarkhxm, @adrenalinesaint, @sweet-tea-solly, @mystical-moonstone, @slauhter, @marvelousdamsels, @theirfirstexperiment, @raininginkyxto, @notatomo, @liminalstctic, @jadehearted, @jademight, @dolceclavier, @gobsnacc, @occultsleuth, @raichoose, @gctjinxd, @babydxhl, @bigbadkillercroc, @killcrcroc, @wiisectrpillar, @sleightlyoffhand, @the-arkham-librarian. @bcckwcrm, @brokentoys, @fartemis-crock, @powerhours, @wonderlandcarpenter, @redsleuthed, @themusespace​, @12thlevel​, @lastofmars​, @pluckyingenue​, @seekthedarknesswithin​, @youstolemycoat​, @ufotm​, @blizzardmuses​, @adventurepunks​, @starfirechan​, @squidmanalamort​, @shadcwforged​, @batvvmn​, @bclaur​, @stcrshnes​, @titanicscionofthestars​, @jcinthedance​, @thehouseofivo​, @smartvulpix​ (and anybody else who wants to do this! Multimuses can do whatever character they want. :3)

[melrosing]

top 6 things about the show lannisters?

I love that none of these people have remotely the same accent, it is 100% my favourite thing about them. there’s Cersei who’s just talking standard RP, then Jaime shows up and he’s just blatantly Danish, and then Tyrion with... like honestly I don’t know anyone else who sounds like that. I don’t know where he learnt that accent it’s bizarre. Then there’s Joff, Tommen and Myrcella and Joffrey’s accent is like at least conceivably similar to Cersei’s but Myrcella’s just flat out Irish and Tommen’s lil actor is trying an English accent but I remember it coming out... scouse? the older versions of them are more similar to Cersei at least but I really revelled in the chaos of the early seasons where not one of them sounded the same, it was amazing

the actors are good. lena headey is my favourite of the three of them even though the character she was playing was scarcely coherent lol. ncw did a great job up to S5 where he started just sadly staring into space, and once I got past Peter Dinklage’s accent he was of course amazing. and Joffrey’s actor was also absolutely killing it

Charles Dance my king. your character was somewhat incoherent too but fuck it I had a good time

The Rains of Castamere fucking slaps I see why they were always playing it now

Some of Cersei’s earlier dresses were very nice I remember them fondly

right I’m really struggling now. ok I liked that there were more brotherly moments with Jaime and Tyrion?? they don’t really get those in the books because of timelines, and whilst I still think it was a massive mistake to remove the Tysha lie in the show it was nice to see their rapport in action