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#It's the same with my Marco blog. I talk and think so much about his survival verse that it's sort of... become the canon in my head...
teufelme · 8 months
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Fr I spend so much time thinking about my muses and their survival verses that I forget they died in canon...
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xamaxenta · 1 year
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This might be too late soz but to go off of the modeling au too Ace is more than used to hearing sexual and objectifying remarks his entire life, even when he modeled as a kid.
And Marco’s like,, the only person who’s never said anything to him even remotely bad?? Ace thinking like ‘well that’s his job Ace of course he wouldn’t slap your ass and say nice work hot stuff when you finish a rep’ but there’s just something,, different with Marco. Even when Marco has to touch him either to position him or show him something or just a quick gentle massage, his hands are always nice and big and warm and don’t wander or linger and it’s a comforting, grounding touch and he misses the contact whenever Marco’s hands leave him
Its never too late to talk about any au on this blog anon im very happy to rocket around them
Yeah like Ace would catch feelings so fast and hard like i cannot misjudge and twist this mans kindness and professionalism as anything but that! He’s just doing his job!
But he’s also a little sad like I can’t believe this is what its come down to im just being dramatic, but im just tired of being so obviously desired i guess :((
In model aus i like to think he’s friends or acquaintances with Hancock who absolutely understands Ace’s plight, and thus has the extreme rule of only working with women, all staff must be women no men whatsoever
Ace is the exception because he was immediately respectful of her space and didnt seem to give a shit about who she was and then after talking to him realises he was very much in the same boat as her, too attractive; too desired, too
Objectified .
But yeah Ace texts her like help me i think im losing my head
Hancock: over?
Ace: my physical therapist
Hancock: ?
Ace: hes nice, he doesnt overstep, he’s never made any sort of comment
Hancock: wow, sounds like a keeper
Ace: i just want to know if im mistaking his kindness and warping it to my own wants
Hancock: what do you want from this then?
Ace: dunno. Him ?
Hancock: be careful, men are sly and cunning
Ace: i know
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kevjrr · 1 year
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Idk but maybe neymar will make a good decision that he feels is right for the time?
He's always been brave at making decisions. Leaving Barcelona at that time was what he thought was best for his career. Choosing Barcelona over Real Madrid when he was a kid.
He did do well in psg, he might not have been as much in the spotlight as he was, but idk his football improved in different ways?
I think he'll do what's best for him, he's a superstar
And nice blog :)
Hi darling,
You’re right he’s made quite a few imp decisions in his life. And yes, he has become more refined and his first season at psg was out of this world, he was thriving. I know that no one will know what’s best for him more than he himself…
It’s just that while I love psg, I’ve been here for a while now but as a Neymar fan, I still think him leaving might be for the best. If not because the club itself wants to get rid of him then because a number of other things. Firstly, bcs of the constant disrespect he receives from psg fans. They will never appreciate him the way he deserves, you saw the mc donald scandal? What on earth was that? They didn’t even know what he had ordered or if he had even ordered smth yet they made such a big deal out of this. They act like he brings nothing to the team when he’s literally one of the only players actually trying. Someone of his caliber deserves fans that recognizes what he does. I don’t need them to like him (I know he’s not at his best right now) but the least they can do is acknowledge what he does for this team.
Secondly, the ligue 1 refs don’t like him. I know there are shitty referees everywhere but these ones are ridiculous. They always give him yellows for the slightest things, but his opponents get away with doing the same thing/worst things to him. The sheer number of times I’ve wanted to throw things at my tv when this happens is unreal.
Thirdly, psg isn’t what it was when he first got here anymore. Some of the players (midfield especially, except Marco) are average at best. Soler gives me nightmares, Vintinha is unreliable( good one day, bad the next), I don’t even what to talk about Hugo (he needs more time ig). As long as Luis campos is in charge, psg is going to remain at the level they are right now; I do believe they will improve but not by much. Out of all of the players he could’ve bought I don’t understand why he chose the ones he did. He has so much money on his hands yet he doesn’t know how to use it efficiently. Galtier…Just please bring Tuchel back. If it continues like this, psg is in serious trouble.
Again, I love psg, this team raised me but I don’t want him to spend his last years in a team that might as well be cursed atp. His contact is till 2027, he’ll be 35. If he keeps getting injured like he did during the past years and the way he said that he might not be mentally strong enough for another World Cup, if he starts to feel like this with club football…I’m scared that psg is sucking the joy that football used to bring him, out of him.
Ohmygod I didn’t mean to write this much I’m sorry…I just wanted to let this out.
Thank you so much!! Im glad you like my blog, I’m kinda insecure about it haha
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tropicalrpg · 10 months
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28 i'm not exactly questioning post 27 but i'm having a hard time feeling peace and love right now. i was happy earlier today, truly genuinely happy
i know this post won't be long, but it could be. i have a lot of thoughts on the topic that's troubling me. there's a soccer game soon on the telly—a football game. i should deamericanize myself. i feel like shit. a pain, a loneliness in my chest, and if my team loses i have no fucking clue how i'm going to get out of the house tomorrow. though i guess the thing i'm going out to do will cheer me up.
i have this faith in my heart that my love life would be tremendously easier were i cis, straight, or both. were i into women at all. the fact that i'm ftm and gay is a big stressor in my life, is my point. my love life. being trans doesn't really affect my everyday life anymore, not really, not past passing anxieties. (not passing as in passing, although yes that too, but passing as in ephemeral.)
if i were a cis girl, a lot of my attributes would have ended up attractive, not incongruous. i would have more control over them. even if not ideal, they'd be less frowned upon. not in the sense that women are put up to less of a standard, because i'm not stupid, but in the sense that they're seen as attractive, still. women are prettier than men. women are easier to find pretty than men. i don't know. there's so much fucked up about what i say, what i want to say, what i feel and might be incorrect, but i need to say it. if anyone even reads this, my vent with its scary title, feel free to, i don't know. dm me. i have no friends on this blog. i kind of wish i did. i wish i had a friend i could be completely honest to. instead i have this fucking thing and a therapist who i don't have the time to say all these things to.
and if i liked women, i wouldn't be as deeply scrutinized, because gay men fucking suck. they aren't going to be attracted to me for years. no fats, no fems. there i go. women have been into me. several. not that i'm bragging, i'm not, i really hate myself for being unable to reciprocate and find joy in my life. no boy has been interested in me in years, i don't think. and i've been fooling myself.
yesterday i was flirting, or trying to flirt, with a guy who my friend fucked in a party bathroom last year. a guy he kissed the first night they met. i didn't kiss him yesterday, i think we barely flirted. our legs touched underneath the table, our arms touched on top of it, and my touch starved self (i haven't kissed anyone in three and a half years; in 2018 alone, i kissed twenty people) was so pleased with that, i despised myself when i made him scoot over. i want to ask him out tomorrow, but the last boy i asked out ghosted me. again and again. he makes me feel good then like shit.
there's this boy i used to kiss. we kissed every time we met. and i thought maybe he'd still want to kiss me now. but i have no way of meeting him, and i fell into the trap of situationship-adjacent instagram flirting, delusionships, whatever, and god. i just wish i could see him in real life and get this shit sorted. i wish i had ever talked to him, and had the power, the strength, to dm him like i did joão and like i'm going to do to marcos tomorrow.
and the worst part of me considers someone else. someone i don't want to kiss, but someone who, in my heart of hearts, would always want to kiss me. which is mean to him. X; i've been so mean to him, i never even wrote out the promise of his story. i wonder if he would want to kiss me still. his life has changed so much. he and that same friend of mine fucked at another party. this friend of mine whom i love deeply but who shatters all prospects of my joy. because who can compete with a tall twink with blond hair and blue eyes? not a 5'3 overweight trans guy with hair everywhere; too young to be a bear, too small to be a cub, too unattractive to even kiss someone. the utmost failure of a gay guy.
i hope i find love eventually. i hope, and like to believe it is to come; if i say it's not, my sister will bring out the stats to prove me wrong, and she'll argue that i find myself unlovable on the grounds of my body or identity. i don't find myself unlovable. i just know i'm hard to love, because i'm the opposite of everything anyone has been taught to love. boys are taught to like girls; boys who don't are taught to like twinks or jocks; boys who don't, or who aren't, are taught to like big, burly, manly. not a tiny guy with a pussy. (though i know this is probably appealing to someone, somewhere, that someone is hard to come by in my current circumstances.)
i'm just frustrated. alone. horny. alone. sad. i wrote a letter to a friend today and came up with some hypotheses as to why loneliness is a universal human experience. i don't think i listed my own, the one i think would explain why i feel so gutturally, fundamentally alone. i'm not sure i've come up with it yet.
23 07 17
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daresplaining · 2 years
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Sorry if this has been asked before, but are there any panels/comics that reflect/point to Matt's taste in music? I feel like there's maybe one or two, but I don't remember what they'd be... And if you find any, or don't, do you also have any personal headcanons regarding the matter? What do you think he likes listening to? If you're up to answering any of this, that is. I know it's maybe an odd question. Thank you so much if you're able to, and even if you aren't! I love your blog and have an awesome day :D
    Hi! It's not an odd question at all, and it's something I really enjoy thinking about and haven't discussed in a while. Matt's taste in music is an aspect of his character that I'd love to see explored more, since it is compelling from both a character/personality angle and a sensory one (much like his food preferences, another woefully under-explored topic). However, it has been touched upon. Notably, we have evidence from multiple runs that Matt is a jazz fan.
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[ID: Panels showing Matt Murdock and Glori O’Breen walking arm-in-arm through Chinatown during the day. Matt is in a blue suit and tie, Glori is in a long green coat.]
Glori: "I won't mention a word of it when I take you to a certain pub where they're playin' the real Irish music Wednesday night."
Matt: "If that's an invitation...thanks, but sorry. Not tonight. But tomorrow night I'll take you to a jazz club in the Village. Dave Samuels is performing--"
Glori: "Ah, Matthew, an' aren't we star-crossed! For 'tis I who're busy then!"
Matt: "Okay. I won't feel rejected if you won't."
Daredevil vol. 1 #216 by Denny O'Neil, David Mazzucchelli, Steve Mellor, and Joe Rosen
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[ID: A panel of Matt standing in front of a record player in his darkened apartment, pulling a Chet Baker record out of its sleeve.]
Daredevil vol. 3 #5 by Mark Waid, Marcos Martín, Javier Rodriguez, and Joe Caramagna
    He and Maya Lopez also go to a jazz club during their day-long first date in Daredevil vol. 2 #11. I love that this is such a consistent detail (having examples from three different volumes is pretty unusual for such a minor piece of trivia), and it makes a lot of sense. The complexities of jazz would likely appeal to him on an intellectual level and, of course, a sensory one.
    There is a question I've always had about Matt's food preferences: Would he like foods with complex flavors, because he would be able to appreciate the nuances, or would he find them overwhelming and prefer bland foods? And I feel like this same question can be applied to his taste in music: For someone who can perceive beyond the range of normal human hearing, would the sub-sonics and harmonics of complex chords turn them into discordant mush for Matt? Or would they just sound extra cool to him, making simpler, more straightforward music styles boring? I don't have an answer, obviously, but it's a thought exercise that I enjoy because it's always fun to try to get into Matt's head. With this many creative teams implying the latter, I'm happy to accept it, and I love the idea of Matt being a jazz fan. Jazz is bold and spontaneous, just like him.
    Another of my favorite music preference details is this funny moment from the DD/Black Widow era, in which Matt tells some members of San Francisco high society that he's a fan of The Who (I think that he, like Natasha, is having fun at the expense of their snootiness here, but I'm sure he does genuinely like The Who. He also seems to like the Police):
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[ID: Panels showing Matt Murdock and Natasha Romanov in a room full of fancily-dressed people. Matt is in a black suit and tie, Natasha is dressed all in blue with big yellow ruffles down the front of her shirt. She is talking with a group of women and Matt is talking with a group of men.]
Men: "...So we left the yacht for the opera! Great stuff, opera! Do you like it, Matt-boy? Yes, what is your favorite?"
Matt: "My fav--? Oh! Uh, 'Tommy,' I guess...by The Who. It's...a rock opera. Very, eh, avant-garde."
Man: "Humph. Hippie music, if you ask me!"
Woman: "So you live alone-- with two men?"
Natasha: "On separate floors, deary. Does that scandalize you-- or just make you jealous?"
Daredevil and the Black Widow #104 by Steve Gerber, Don Heck, Sal Trapani, C. Jetter, and P. Goldberg
As far as dislikes go, Matt doesn't seem to like disco...though Foggy does.
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[ID: A panel showing Matt and Foggy standing together. Behind them is a darkened area and the silhouettes of a crowd of dancing people. Foggy is in a brown collared shirt and green pants. Matt is minus his dark glasses, and is wearing a very stylish bright yellow jacket.] 
Matt (caption): "We step inside and it's like walking into an explosion of sound! The music! So much bass-- throwing my senses out of whack-- And worst of all-- it's disco night."
Foggy (singing): "...I'm here to do... whatever I can... be it early mornin'..."
Matt: "Foggy."
Foggy: "Sorry."
Daredevil vol. 1 #374 by Joe Kelly, Jonathan Barron, Ariel Olivetti, Pier Britto, and Ed Lazarelli
    This may be a topic for a whole other post, but I also wanted to say a little about Matt making his own music, because we have examples of that as well.
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[ID: A panel with a background of yellowed, stained sheet music. Over top of this is a smaller panel of a hand on piano keys, and swirling past this is a musical staff filled with cartoon images from Matt’s past: boxing gloves, his father, young Matt being bullied, and barrels of toxic waste.]
Matt (caption): "The truth is I hardly read a note of sheet music. I always play by ear. For me, music is the closest thing to seeing. I don't mean knowing where you're going, I mean seeing, the way you'd look at a painting. Every chord has color-- the way memory has a scent. C major smells like an old pair of boxing gloves. D major and D minor are left and right jabs. They are the color of my father's face when he would get mad. E major is coppery-- the aftertaste of a bloody lip."
Daredevil vol. 2 #9 by David Mack, Joe Quesada, Jimmy Palmiotti, and Richard Isanove
    There are a lot of great music details in this story arc, and this scene is one of my favorites because it explores the idea that the experience of listening to/playing music is intensely personal for Matt. You don't need super-hearing to associate specific chords with different emotions-- everyone does that-- but I love how this scene builds on that by drawing connections to Matt's other sense memories and the emotions attached to them. It suggests a visceral, intense experience of music that extends beyond just normal enjoyment. Matt is transported into his past when he plays the piano. (If you take this scene literally, it also could suggest that Matt has some degree of synesthesia, which is also fascinating).
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[ID: Panels showing Matt and Foggy in a subway station. Foggy is wearing an olive-green business suit, Matt is wearing a red shirt and blue pants. He hands his white cane to Foggy while holding out some money to an old man who was playing the violin. Several bystanders are looking on.]
Matt: "Sounds like one hell of an instrument. Is it for rent?"
Violinist: "For that kinda money, I'll lend you my feet."
Foggy: "Can you play?"
[ID: Matt puts the violin under his chin and rests the bow on the strings.]
Matt: "Dunno. Let's find out."
Daredevil vol. 3 #1 by Mark Waid, Marcos Martín, Muntsa Vicente, and Joe Caramagna
    This scene is wild and I love it. It's quite long, so I didn't want to stick the whole thing in here, but if anyone hasn't read the issue (What are you doing?! Read it! Now! Go! I'll wait), Matt teaches himself to play the violin within a matter of minutes. The mini-story that this excerpt is from features Matt showing off his hypersenses as he and Foggy travel around Manhattan. Its practical purpose is to introduce new readers to Matt's power-set; in-universe, Matt is doing this to prolong the trip and distract himself, because the destination is the cemetery where his father is buried. I don't think Matt makes a regular habit of playing every instrument he sees-- he's clearly stalling for time here. But he does seem to enjoy it! In any case, I wanted to point this out because it tells us some pretty major things about Matt's abilities. To be clear: this is superhuman. No one learns to play an instrument with any amount of skill this quickly. If they were learning the violin and had extensive viola experience, maybe. (I don't think Matt has viola experience. At least, not 616 Matt.) I'm also going to say that this requires a bit of suspension of disbelief, just like Matt swinging around Spider-Man-style without super-strength does.
    With that said, here's what we know: stringed instruments require some coordination. One hand is doing one thing, the other is doing another. Matt is extremely coordinated-- not a problem. The tuning on stringed instruments is delicate. Your fingers need to land in exactly the right spot on the strings, with the right kind of pressure. There's also bow pressure and placement to take into account: putting just enough force and motion on the bow to get the right tone, and shifting the angle just enough to switch cleanly between strings (this is extra tricky on a violin, where the strings are very close together). This is a neat instance in which Matt would be applying both his enhanced hearing and sensitive touch to the situation. Armed with his super-sensitive fingers and proprioception, he is apparently able to figure out the pressure and bow placement issues. Tuning, though? This is solid evidence of Matt having excellent relative pitch. (Personally, I like to think he has perfect pitch as well, though I don't have direct evidence for it.) If anyone is unfamiliar with the distinction, perfect pitch is being able to sing a specific note (say, A#) without any reference point. Relative pitch is hearing A# and then being able to find other notes based on an understanding of the intervals between them. Matt's super-fast violin mastery suggests that he could play a note and then figure out where his other fingers needed to go in order to play the other notes he wanted. If you're playing an instrument you're not used to, especially a stringed instrument, in which the tuning is so tricky, it takes a while to get the hang of this at all, never mind making it sound good. But Matt, hypersensory badass that he is, just casually does it on a subway platform while waiting for the train.
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[ID: The same scene. Matt finishes playing with a flourish, with the notes shown swirling around his head, as a train pulls into the station. The bystanders clap. Foggy looks stunned.]
    ...In any case, my point is that according to this scene, Matt's powers have rendered him superhumanly musical, and I love it. Join a jazz band, Matt.
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tripleaxelmay · 2 years
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~ Pink Lemonade (Part 15) ~
Discussions are had, dates are scheduled, and Reiner reappears at an inopportune moment.
Prev - Next
Warning(s): language, mentions of cheating, descriptions of injury
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...Meanwhile, Jean stares at his phone, switching back and forth in his mind between hit send or delete message. Ultimately, he decides on the former — after all, it’s not like he’s asking to be your boyfriend again. It’ll just be a friendly chat between two confused exes. Nothing romantic about it.
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--
At 3:15 sharp, Marco arrives at the on-campus Starbucks to see an anxious-looking (Y/N) waiting for him, two drinks in hand. She shoots him a meek wave as he approaches and sets his stuff down at her table. 
“Iced White Mocha, right? Had to ask Historia.” She says. 
“Yeah, thanks!”
There’s a lull for a moment as (Y/N) fidgets with her jewelry. Marco decides to put her out of her misery.
“Just ask away, alright? I’ll put it all on the table.”
She doesn’t hesitate.
“Can I ask what happened that night you got injured? Eren said it was Reiner’s fault, but what does that mean? And do you know about the whole cheating thing?”
With a sip of his coffee, Marco takes a second to ponder all of her questions. 
“I’ll start by saying that we figured out about the cheating lie the same time you did. We hadn’t heard anything about it until Jean brought it up in the group chat. I imagine Historia knew because when we talked about it, she seemed very... heated about Jean. But she never explained why.”
“Yeah... I told the girls what happened when it did. It’s a long story, but Reiner told me not to say anything because it would out him as the snitch and he didn’t want to start drama.” (Y/N) lets out a small laugh. “I’m honestly surprised Sash was able to keep a secret for this long.”
“It’s a miracle Connie didn’t hear about it. But I have a question for you. Why did you take what Reiner said at face value?”
She squirms. It’s a genuine question, she knows, but when it came down to it, she simply abandoned her faith in Jean. She doesn’t really know why she went with it other than the fact that Reiner was one convincing son of a bitch.
“I’m so stupid, Marco. I don’t know why Jean forgave me so easily.”
“I do. But that’s a conversation for another time.” He shoots her a smile. “Back to your questions - I don’t remember anything about the night of my injury, so I won’t be much help there.”
“Huh?”
“I had a bad concussion. The only thing I can recall clearly is exactly before we went onto the field for practice. I had run back to the locker room because I couldn’t find my mouthguard and Reiner and Bertholt were there, and that’s about it.”
“Shit, I didn’t realize it was that bad, Marco!” (Y/N) exclaimed. “Did anybody tell you what happened?”
“I think it’s unclear. A lot was happening at once and because it wasn’t an actual game, nobody was filming.” Marco’s brow furrows a bit in thought. “Eren and Jean said that we were running tackle drills. I was paired with Reiner, and I guess he came at me really hard, and then the next thing you know, my helmet flies off and I’m unconscious.”
“Oh my god.”
“Certainly not ideal.”
“Marco... do you really think it was an accident?”
For a moment, there’s an uncomfortable silence. Marco stares into his cup with a frown etched deeply onto his face; he had believed it was an accident because Reiner was always a nice guy. But now...?
He sighs. “Honestly, (Y/N), I don’t really know anymore. I had a lot of faith in Reiner being a good person, but--”
Buzz.
(Y/N) glances down at her phone, and suddenly her blood runs a little cooler than it did just a second ago.
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A/N: help idfk how football works
Taglist: @mygreat-perhapes @merry-kuroo @primusk @smollcinamonroll @1-800-simpingcowbaby​ @lucidliving1205​ @expectoscamander​ @sabrinakishi​ @mywldflwers​ @harmonics0537​  @aureoapollo​ @yuptha-tsme​ @lagrimasdeglitter-blog​ @kyojinsimp​ @mangobubblet3a​ @b10h4z4rd​ @holybatflapexpert​ @tirzamisu​ @signoraas​ @stupidbitch28​ @gabi-moureira​ @sparklekitteh​ @id-rather-be-an-outsider​ @punicorn999​ @angelbaby-rose​ @vintagexparker​ @bbs-unread-books​ @rirk-ke​ @tropicsoda​ @yqshirov​ @ravensleepyeyes​ @keithandlevi-ontheroof​ @mrsryuguji​ @ezgithechaotic​ @lvntsovs @the-shota-king-masayuki @maxi-ride @usernamehere91 @w31rdg1rl @zesimp09
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pink-duda · 2 years
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Hiiiii helllo!!!!! Happy Holidays !!!
Ahhhhh I love the aesthetic of your blog sm its so cute and endearing 🌺🎀
I was listening to this song Sinatra by Forrest Nolan and kinda thought of Marco so if of coarse you're not busy and if it's alright can I pretty pretty please request a slightly bittersweet but fluff ending for Marco like GN reader that is an apprentice on the WB ship and is lovestruck for the pineapple bird 🍍🐦
Oh my god, anonymous thanks so much for asking, i loved this song 💖🥰
Here is the music for you to listen now, later, or when you read.
And I think I didn't take advantage of your idea so much, but it was nice to write...
The reader doesn't have a specific gender, on the cover there's the silhouette of a straight couple dancing because I couldn't find something more neutral 😅
Ask you to dance
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When you joined to be an apprentice, you thought you would live a thousand moments of adventures, robberies and wars, but you get party after party.
It's not bad, but it gets tired with time.
The only explanation you could find for all this partying is that this is the first lesson they are giving you, to be a pirate you have to love parties.
And now you were in the corner of the party that was having the night, listening to the music and trying to have fun.
You look at the crowd as a force of habit and see Marco, the first division commander, alone in the corner just like you.
You have a big crush on him, and you could ask him to dance, what do you have to lose?
You walk through the crowd as best you can to not lose him in your sight, but then unfortunately some men cross in front making you not able to see the blonde anymore, you try to dodge it but couldn't do it anyway.
After a few seconds of struggling to get back the way you were doing, you saw him again, but this time with company, one of the many nurses on the ship.
Obviously they to chat him up, he is a handsome man, has a natural seduction and occupies an important place on the ship.
Yeah, maybe you better go dancing alone.
When you get into the dance circle you get pulled in and start dancing with several different people at a time, well you really aren't alone.
After a while of being twirled and tugged, a different hand was placed on her hip.
"would like to dance with me?"
It's Marco with a carefree smile, you didn't expect him to ask you to dance, he's certainly a man of surprises, by the way, why would you refuse this invitation?
"Sure."
You replied with a shy smile, and it seems like the musicians knew you were going to dance, because before it was a lively song but it was switched to a slow and romantic one, how lucky you are.
With gentle moves he pulls you close, you put your hands on his shoulders while he puts his hands on your hips, that way maybe he can hear even your heart.
Unable to stand being silent for a long time and glued to him, you start talking.
"I thought about asking you to dance."
"true? And why didn't you ask??"
"I saw you were busy."
"I'm never busy for you-yo."
He gives you hope that someday the two of you could be together, and you like that.
It is not known how long the two of you stayed dancing but it was a long time, because the sun was already in the sky.
You guys were sitting on the floor talking softly with both shoes in your hands because your feet were uncomfortable from hours of dance.
The party is basically over, most of the people who were at the party are either gone or are sleeping on the floor of the ship without caring, you really didn't want to stop, it's not every time you'll be lucky to be alone with your crush.
"We should go to bed by now -yo."
And as a way of agreeing with him, you get up, and he does the same quickly, now you two are facing each other.
"Well, thanks for the dance, Commander."
You kiss him goodbye on the cheek and go to your room, leaving him on deck speechless and surprised.
For sure, at the next party you will ask him to dance.
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pepperonitimeline · 4 years
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There is an interesting emphasis on timelines in Steven Universe
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but like. Why?
Hypothesis: Steven Universe is made up of multiple timelines, but shown in an order that makes the events seem linear. read part 2 here!
I'm not the first person to speculate this at all. A lot of this stuff has been pointed out by @dogcopter​ @arrozbrillante​ @stevenutheories and many others on various platforms!
I just gathered the most conspicuous "evidence" into 1 post. If you’re interested in SU theory and analysis you should check out their blogs. :o) This was as short as I could make it..
And a big thank you to @love-takes-work for her podcast summaries!!! 
So, most ostensibly there’s Garnet, who can see multiple futures. In Pool Hopping she begins to call her visions timelines specifically.
Garnet: In this timeline, we do the opposite of that. Hey, you! Have a pizza!
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Steven: Hey, Vidalia's house is around here. Let's bring her the last pie.
Garnet: Now, that would be nice. She must be upset that her son was taken into space by those Homeworld Gems. (referring to the events of I Am My Mom)
Steven: You mean Onion? He isn't in space. He's right over there. *points*
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Garnet: Sorry, I-I must be thinking of a different timeline.
-
Garnet: My bad. I was sure we were in the pepperoni timeline.
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Garnet: It's important to keep in mind that all these horrible things did happen to you in alternate timelines. Safety is fun.
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In Steven and The Stevens:
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Yeah
It was confirmed on the podcast that the Steven we see from that episode on is a different Steven than the one from episodes 1-21. In “The Fantasy of Steven Universe” Sugar explains:
"I think, early on, we knew for sure what we wanted to do was to create episodes that feel self-contained but give you a new piece of information or change the characters fundamentally. So, Steven and the Stevens, is tight but Steven does change fundamentally after having that experience. He's not the same- in THAT case he's LITERALLY not the same character..."
It’s muffled because they're all laughing but right after they say this Matt Burnett goes “He died.” 
Link to the episode
Love-takes-work also has a text summary of the episode
youtube
But something I haven't seen discussed very much is the time travel chase scene. Granted it’s very blink-and-you’ll miss it, there are some Stevens who witness the other Steven’s fighting but that don’t end up in the Sea Shrine at the end.
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Way back in 2015 @stevenutheories already did the math as to how many alternate timelines may have stemmed from the time shenanigans: 3 to 5. Not counting the original one who is definitively gone. 
Technically quantum mechanics don’t work like that and those Stevens should have been Thanos’d too. I’m not going to pretend I understand physics, that is just what I’ve been told by someone who does. But then again the magic time thingy wasn’t bound by rules of real-life physics in the first place… so ??
Let’s cross-examine SATS’ accompanying KBCW post.
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“At any given moment, if you asked me what I was thinking about, the answer would be one of two things: katana swords, or THE POSSIBILITY OF ALTERNATE TIMELINES RUNNING PARALLEL TO OUR OWN!
Proving the existence of these timelines can be pretty tricky, even for a seasoned paranormal investigator such as myself.  An inter-temporal incursion caused by the momentary weakening of the time-space continuum doesn’t really photograph well.  And all the cross dimensional time travelers I know don’t want to go on the record about their experiences.  Frankly, the only thing I can submit as evidence of alternate timelines is the fact that THEY ARE PROBABLY JUST SO COOL AND AWESOME THAT THEY HAVE TO BE REAL.
Think about it!  What about a universe where that asteroid missed Earth and we had DINOSAURS for pets instead of dogs?  Or a universe where someone was like “Hey, zeppelins are way cooler than planes, let’s just do that!”  Or a universe where AN ALTERNATE VERSION OF ME CAN GROW A FULL BEARD?!  What an amazing life that Ronaldo must have… in THIS stupid reality I have a really hard time getting my moustache to connect to the rest of my facial hair and it’s incredibly frustrating.”
KBCW and Ronaldo’s commentary in general are usually half-right. Like the “Polymorphic Sentient Rocks are aliens who want to hollow out the earth… to make it lighter so they can transport it back to their star system” thing.
I can't help but think the "Dinosaurs for pets instead of dogs" is a reference to the live action Super Mario Bros. movie- where the meteor that killed the dinosaurs sent them to a parallel universe instead, causing mammals to go instinct in said universe. (Don’t know about the zeppelins.)
And then, and THEN there’s Keep Beach City Safe, KBCW’s more obscure rival blog run by (most likely) Onion under the pseudonym "The Observer". Apparently he’s planted cameras all over town to record Steven’s adventures. There's also a "Recruiter" and second mystery narrator calling themselves "Marco Díez", it's a whole thing,
Assuming it’s real, here’s one of the posts I think are the most relevant.
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“I have been on zero gem hunts over the years, and what i have learned over the years is: always be prepared for anything, and everything. Connie’s already knows that and this her first mission. I, wasn’t so fortunate on my first mission. It was a crisp Autumn morning, - with notes of cinnamon in the air. I was the mountains, the air temperature, humidity and level elevation levels, were perfect.
Then, I noticed the creature, it was charging me. I tried to evade the gem monster, but it just kept on coming, and coming! There was no escape! And then- Wait! I just remembered. I never been on a gem hunt! So where did I get that story from?”
This was posted on August 1st alongside Gem Hunt… and the day after the Greg The Babysitter post, which was deleted earlier this year, right after people started interacting with it again.
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Being a Babysitter is hard, especially if your Greg Universe. This guy, in the picture above me. Wait did I just become self aware? Hey, I did! Haha, I always knew I was more to me than just a narrator. Actually this is the first time I thought about, Because I'm self aware baby! Woohoo, yeah! Wait, what was I talking about? Ah yes, Gregory. So this Greg guy,Has to Babysit this cool baby, because he owes her for letting him mooch off her. And Greg, is like totally irresponsible, he some how lets the baby climb a Ferris Wheel. How does that even happen? This dude is so not getting payed. And what's up with his hair!?!
So here it is, another story, told by Greg, about his past self. I wonder how many times I started a paragraph with the word so. And when he was telling this story, we got some clues that could finally tell use when all of this started. We know about the gems and what happened  thousands of years ago, but we don't know about the hems and  what happened thousands of years ago. They wee being very vague about the whole thing. Almost intentionally, well it was obsessively intentional.
?
There are subtle inconsistencies in Beach City's layout. ("The Observer" points this out, too.)
Remember Danny’s? In Bubble Buddies and Joking Victim, there’s a shop named Danny’s Salt Water Taffy.
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Then in Watermelon Steven it’s gone.
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As for a prop: Chaaaaps used to just be Chips
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That’s from Monster Buddies, the episode right after Steven and The Stevens.
It's just as likely someone on the show simply thought the background/chips looked a little too busy or whatever. But re-doing stuff costs a lot of time and money, yknow? Neither of which is the animation industry very generous about. Did you know even props have model sheets?
Of course it could just be another brand of chips. Maybe Utz got involved somehow.
Lastly I want to highlight a quote from a Rebecca Sugar interview regarding SU ending.
“The story is continuing off screen and I do know what happens next, at least in certain timelines, for the characters,” Sugar says. “But I would have to decide how and when I’d want to dig into that, or if it’s best to give them their privacy.”
yeah so like what the fuck
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Silva Lining (Saul Silva x Reader) Chapter 13
Warnings: None
Word count: 1.6k
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It was quiet, too quiet. The voices of your friends and peers had almost disappeared, screams and shouting all but a whisper on the breeze through the spindly trees. You were alone now. At the same time, you weren’t. You could hear the crackling of skin, the rattle as they breathed. The screeches they made as they got close and closer to the opening where you were standing. You knew they could see you, it would only be a matter of time before you could see them too. The bright red core glistening and moving like a flame, inside of their charcoal bodies. Their claws slick with venom, their faces contorted and twisted in pain. You felt no fear. You were oddly calm, sensing that somehow, they couldn’t harm you…. wouldn’t harm you. They moved in closer, branches and dry debris cracking beneath their heavy steps. You could see them now. Shadowy figures creeping out of the darkness and stepping into light. They seemed to regard you with a title of their heads, a look of wonder perhaps? The tallest of them all stepped forward, they were different from the rest.
Taller, much taller, broader. The red core more fierce and prominent. The top of its head almost had horns, that curled round into a kind of crown like shape. It was in front of you now. So close you could feel it’s warm breath fan your face. Your heart stuttered as it screeched out a single word.
“Daughter.”
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You woke with a jolt, your heart pounding, eyes blurry, black swirls of magic surrounding the bed you shared with Saul. Your skin was slick with sweat, a scream escaping your chapped lips. Saul was hovering over you, his hands on either side of your arms, trying to shake you awake from the 3rd nightmare that week. You clung to him desperately as he incased you in his arms. It was still dark out. You’d had a nightmare every night this week so far but you did as you did the other two times, fell back to sleep in your mans arms and were going to ignore it when you woke up.
Morning seemed to come around faster than you wanted it to. You were always too cosy sleeping next to Saul. He was awake and up before you, his teacherly duties leading him away from the confines of your luxurious bed before you had the willpower to peak your eyes open just a fraction.
The morning was met with Bloom complaining again about the treatment of Beatrix. The killer fairy was still in her temporary jail cell, power restricting bracelets still very much around her wrists. You and Aisha shared a look, you rolled your eyes earning a snort from the water fairy and in return a glare from Bloom. She didn’t even know the girl! She thought she now had some sort of weird connection just because she might have been from the same place as her? She seemed to forget that Beatrix did in fact kill Callum to shimmy past Farah’s protective barrier. What she was protecting, you didn’t yet know. You had a feeling Bloom did though.
Stella had filled you in about what was going on back in your old Suit. Bloom was more on edge than ever and had been talking about ways to break the captive fairy free. Was she mad? It was lucky that Aisha and Terra had intervened, otherwise she would have been free by now. They didn’t need the added drama.
Your thoughts were pulled in a different direction as you sat with your friends in the outside courtyard. Aisha, Bloom, Terra and Musa were arguing about how Beatrix getting out would be a bad thing. You and Stella, well you were still just gossiping, catching up as always.
The whispers came all at once. You could see Stella’s mouth moving but you couldn’t actually hear her words, instead your ears were overcome by the whispers of the Burned ones that you knew were outside of the force field. Your eyes could see Specialists running back and forward, something was wrong, the school now seemed to be busy, people were worried and panicked. You noticed Saul off to one side with Farah, Ben and Marco, who…. had been attacked by a burned one by the looks of things. You don’t know what made you stand, but you did, it was like your legs were on autopilot, already aware of your destination even if your brain hadn’t decided yet. Stella kept asking where you were going but it was like you were in a trance. You ignored you friends pushing past them, walking at a steady pace across the grass and in the direction of the woods.
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-Stella’s POV-
Stella was happy to be back at Alfea, even more so now that she knew Y/N was in fact her long lost cousin. Since the beginning she knew she had a special connection with the dark powered fairy, she liked to joke that she was her Yin to her Yang, light and dark.
She’d noticed a difference in her cousins behaviour and well being over the last couple of days. Something that hadn’t gone un-noticed by Silva either, who had in private, asked Stella to keep an eye out for her. Obviously he didn’t have to ask her twice, she naturally felt the need to make sure her cousin was okay anyway. Y/N’s eyes looked heavy, like she hadn’t been sleeping well, it was most likely an effect of the nightmares she’d been having which she’d conveniently forgot to tell anyone she’d been having.
Stella and Y/N finally had some alone time while the other fairies bickered. She frowned as she looked at the girl in front of her, she was completely spaced out. Her eyes had gone black, no white showing at all.
“Y/N, are you okay?” Stella’s hand came to rest on her cousins shoulder and gave it a slight shake. Nothing. It was like she was in a trance. She was even more concerned when her pleas went ignored and Y/N stood up, walking through the girls and towards the edge of the woods. She panicked, she couldn’t go outside the barrier again, it was far too dangerous. Marco had just been attacked and who knew how many Burned Ones there actually were by now. Reports had been coming in that they travelled in groups, it was almost like they were searching for something and she wasn’t about to let her friend be the next victim.
Stella did the only thing she could think of and ran in the direction of Silva and Miss Dowling. Musa and the others ran to Y/N, hoping that someway they’d manage to get through to her before she did something reckless.
The teachers were talking quietly to a few senior Specialists. From what Stella could make out, Laura, Marcos partner, was still somewhere in the woods, fighting off Burned Ones with a broken leg. She had managed to seek shelter in an underground bunker, one like they had used in the woodland training, the only difference was this one wasn’t within the safety of the school and if someone didn’t do something quick, Laura would be dead in a matter of minutes.
“I hate to interrupt but something is really wrong with Y/N.” That got their attention. But then so did the screaming and shouting of Stella’s Suit mates. She looked towards where she had last saw you. But you weren’t there anymore, instead, you were on the other side of the glimmering shield that saved you from harm.
-Your POV-
Somewhere in the back of your mind you could hear the screams and pleading voice of your friends and you were kicking yourself for being where you were, but that was way way in the back of your mind. At the moment, you felt like you didn’t have control at all. Your feet were guiding you. The crackled breath of the Burned Ones could be heard all around you. They were right there, but you couldn’t see them… just like your dream.
Maybe it hadn’t been a dream at all, more like a premonition, for the next thing that happened, basically knocked you out of your magical trance. The largest of them all, King of the Burned Ones, stepped forward, horns upon his head twisted into a crown like shape, red fire seemed to burn in his core. You knew it was your father, or at least a version of the man who helped bring you to life. Something told you deep down.. it was him.
“Daughter, at last we meet.” The giant Burned One came to stand in front of you, you were now surrounded by others.
“What do you want, why are you here?” You were cut off by a snarling sound as shouts from Saul and the others could be heard getting closer.
“We are in a deal with a she Devil called Rosalind, after the deal is complete, we will come for you, so you can fulfil your destiny and sit upon the throne which is rightfully yours.”
“What deal? I’m not going anywhere with you! Why do you keep killing people!” The questions were meant with a gruff laugh.
“Why, because they’ve kept you from me long enough child. Mark my words, once the deal is fulfilled, we will come for you.”
The voices of your loved ones were closer and closer, you turned you head back to see if you could see anyone through the foliage.
When you turned back, your father was right in front of you, his hot breath fanning your face, in seconds, the Burned ones jumped you all at once and you screamed as you felt their talons slice against your flesh.
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Hi please don't hate me lol. I've gone back to work so when I get home I'm always tired atm so trying my best to write and all that <3 It's a little shorter than usual but I hope you still enjoy. As always please let me know what you think in the comments and like/re-blog/commet/follow! xx <3
CHAPTER 14 ----- CLICK HERE
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honey-dewey · 3 years
Text
The Domestic Dream
Pairing: Frankie ‘Catfish’ Morales/Fem! Reader
Word Count: 1,802
Warnings: Female reader, reader is pregnant with twins, mostly fluff, mild/moderate descriptions of childbirth, I think that’s it.
Permanent Taglist: @phoenixhalliwell @star-wars-hell
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The prompt for this week’s Writer Wednesday was given, as always, by the lovely @autumnleaves1991-blog.
You sighed, bending down as best you could before groaning and straightening. You could hear your husband in the other room, putting together the crib. Barely two weeks away from your due date, and you and Frankie had yet to fully put together your nursery. 
Rubbing a hand over your swollen belly, you breathed deep, squatting down and finally sitting on the floor in front of the laundry basket. It was overfilled due to your negligence and your pregnancy, but you could ignore it no longer. Picking up a shirt on the top of the pile, you began the slow process of folding the laundry. 
“Babe?” 
You looked up, smiling. Frankie had emerged from the nursery, sweaty and tired. He sat on the floor beside you, leaning slightly against your shoulder. “You’re so warm,” he said, face mushed against your skin. You laughed, kissing his curls. 
“I’m pregnant,” you reminded him. “How’s the cursed room?” 
Frankie chuckled, sitting upright and grabbing a pair of his jeans to fold. “Fine,” he said. “The Miller boys are coming around in a few hours to help me put everything else together. Santi’s gonna be here for dinner, and I think he’s staying the night.” 
You shrugged. “I’m always happy to see the boys,” you reminded, wrinkling your nose at one of your permanently stained maternity shirts. “This is bull.” 
“Agreed,” Frankie said, taking the shirt from you and folding it anyway. “Is now the appropriate time to ask about more kids?” 
Groaning, you flailed at the far away basket Frankie had pulled towards him. He kicked it back to you, and you gave him a pointed look before grabbing a pair of shorts. “No.” 
Frankie laughed. “Worth a shot,” he said with a grin. “Need any more help? I’ve still got to finish that crib.” 
“You said you were done already,” you reminded him, tossing a pair of socks into the sock pile. 
“With one of them,” Frankie said, scooting close so he was behind you, leaning against your back with his head resting on your shoulder. “We have two babies coming, remember?” 
You sighed, feeling Frankie snake his hands around your belly, his thumbs rubbing the sore spots. “Don’t remind me.” 
Frankie chuckled, going still when one of the babies kicked his hand. “Feisty,” he said. “Just like her mama.” 
“That might not be Amara,” you said, putting your hands over Frankie’s. “Marco is in there too, you know.” 
“But consider,” Frankie murmured, kissing the soft skin behind your ear. “It probably is Amara. The doc said she had spirit.” 
You leaned back into Frankie, both of you supporting each other. Softly kissing his cheek, you smiled, enjoying the stretch in your aching back. Frankie hummed, tracing nonsense shapes over your belly. 
“What did I ever do to deserve this?” He asked, breaking the silence. “A beautiful wife, two babies on the way, the house of my dreams. I must’ve been a saint in my last life.” 
Smiling, you kissing Frankie again, targeting the hairless patch in his facial hair. “You’ll never believe me, will you?” You said. “You’re a good man, Frankie. You’ve earned this.” 
Frankie pressed a kiss to the back of your neck. “I know,” he promised. “I know.” 
You two remained on the floor for a while, the laundry completely abandoned. Sunshine crept across the hardwood, and you made a quiet remark about how cute a dog would look curled up in the sun. Frankie hummed, nodding, but didn’t say a word. Time continued to pass, the sun coming in from the window moving slowly as an hour elapsed, and you only managed to haul yourself upright when the doorbell rang. 
“I can get it, Frankie said, still sprawled out on the floor. 
“I’m already up,” you replied, putting a hand on your back and groaning. “Plus, I can’t sit for too long. I’ll never get back up.” 
Frankie laughed as you shuffled through the house and opened the front door. 
“Boys!” You said cheerfully, hugging Benny and Will in turn. “Frankie’s on the floor in the living room, go nudge him until he gets up.” 
Benny smiled, running through the house to go bother Frankie. Will stayed with you, watching as you winced. “Kicking?” 
“Moving,” you said, smoothing a hand over your stomach. “They’ve been doing that a lot lately. Feels like they might be a bit premature, although that one really hurt.” 
Will shrugged, following you into the living room, where Benny was laying on top of Frankie like the world’s weirdest weighted blanket. “I’ll go start on that crib.” 
You smiled, chuckling a bit. “Thank you,” you said, watching Will head into the nursery. Meanwhile, you stood above your husband and his best friend, crossing your arms. “Boys.” 
Benny looked up at you, grinning. “Yes?” 
“Don’t you have a crib to be putting together?” 
Frankie nodded, trying to shove Benny off. “We do,” he said, smiling despite his trapped situation. “Babe, why are we having babies when we could just take care of Benny?” 
Benny gasped, and you laughed. “I agree,” you said. “I’m sure it can’t be that much different.” 
“You people are mean!” Benny insisted, sitting up and firmly planting his knees into Frankie’s stomach. “I’m leaving.” 
Frankie followed him into the nursery, and you took a minute before bending down to grab the laundry basket. Putting it on your hip, you headed into the nursery as well. It took some shuffling, but you eventually sat in the rocking chair, out of breath and exhausted, but happy to be in the same room as everyone else. Setting the basket at your feet, it took you minimal effort to fold and sort everything while the boys did what most people did while attempting to put furniture together. They argued. 
“You have the wrong piece!” Benny insisted, holding out a different bag of screws. “This goes in that hole.” 
“No it doesn’t!” Will said, grabbing the drill. “I know what I’m doing.” 
“Do you though?” Frankie asked, taking the drill back and pulling a bag from his pocket. “I’ve got the right screws.” 
“Knock knock!” Santiago poked his head into the room, smiling. “I heard the joyous sounds of arguing, and I’m here to take a side!” 
You smiled, standing as best you could. “Santi,” you said, gesturing him close for a hug. 
“Hey Sparky,” he said, hugging you. “Dios mío, you’re massive!” 
“Aww thanks,” you said with an exaggerated pout. “Can you start on the changing table please? Grab Will to help you. We only need two people on the crib.” 
Santiago nodded, pulling Will away from the crib debacle and towards the guest bedroom, where the unassembled changing table pieces sat. You sat back down, half supervising and half finishing the last of the laundry. Finally, when it was done, you sighed, standing and bending down to pick up the basket. As you straightened, you felt your entire middle shift, as if someone had just twisted you around. A warm and wet something slid down your legs, and you prayed you were imagining it. 
“Hey babe?” You said, turning slowly to put the laundry basket down on the rocking chair. “Go start the truck.” 
“Hm?” Frankie looked up, confused. “Why?” 
You took a breath and looked down at the puddle on the carpet. “My water just broke.” 
The silence that filled the house was immediate. Even in the guest room, Will and Santiago heard you and stopped what they were doing. Frankie was frozen to the spot, his eyes wide with shock.
Benny was the one to break the silence, standing and taking a breath. “Well fuck.” 
“Well fuck,” you repeated quietly. “Well fuck indeed.”
The silence settled back over the house for a fraction of a second before it exploded into chaos. Frankie ran to start the car, pushing past Will, who had come into the nursery to put an arm around you and ease you back into sitting. You took a breath, breathing against the pain that had erupted in your body. Benny grabbed a few towels and your hospital bag, taking them out to the car while Santiago frantically went from room to room, talking quickly to himself in Spanish. 
“Ready!” Frankie called from the house’s entryway, and Will helped you up, supporting you as you walked to the truck. He passed you to Frankie, and your husband wasted no time scooping you off your feet and carrying you to the truck. 
Benny gave you a thumbs up as Frankie drove away, his grip on the wheel turning his knuckles white. You gritted your teeth as another contraction hit, and set your hand on Frankie’s hand. “Relax,” you said softly. “Relax. It’ll be fine.” 
Frankie shook his head, eyes wide. “What if it isn’t?” He asked. 
You sighed. “Francisco,” you said firmly. “Everything will be alright.” 
Everything was not alright. The hospital was too far away, and Frankie ended up having to pull over in the middle of nowhere because the babies weren’t going to wait another second. He frantically called the house while you screamed from the truck, laying on a towel that had been spread across the backseat. 
“The boys are coming, and they called an ambulance,” Frankie promised, getting back into the truck and taking your hands. “Just hold on, please.” 
“I can’t,” you panted, eyes screwing shut as another contraction tore you in half. “Frankie, I have to push.” 
Frankie went white as a ghost, but he nodded, helping you scoot back. He rolled up a second towel and gave you a kiss before you positioned the towel between your teeth, letting your head fall back. 
“You know what to do?” Frankie asked, moving back down and putting his hands on your knees, suddenly glad you had decided to wear a loose dress instead of pants.
You nodded, waiting until the right moment to push, every part of you lighting on fire. It was pain beyond description, and everything faded away, leaving nothing but you and the unbearable agony behind. 
“I can see the head!” Frankie’s voice burst through your cloud, and you nodded, pushing again. And again, and again, and again until it was over. Marco and Amara were carefully swaddled up after Frankie cut their umbilical cords, and you were each holding a baby when the boys and the ambulance showed up at the same time. 
“I’m so proud of you,” Frankie murmured as the paramedics checked your babies over. “Next time, let’s aim to have the kid at the hospital, okay?” 
You chuckled weakly, leaning against Frankie’s shoulder. “If there is a next time.” 
“That’s a conversation for later,” Frankie murmured, kissing the top of your head. “Get some rest now, you deserve it.” 
Nodding, you slipped into sleep, surrounded by your husband and children.
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natsubeatsrock · 3 years
Text
Should Hiro Mashima die?
My answer is no. 
Though, this isn't about actually killing Hiro Mashima. Kinda got you with the title, though, huh? (This was originally going to be titled “Is Hiro Mashima dead?” and released on his birthday. You’re welcome.)
This post is about a widely debated topic of analysis known as the "death of the author." I've talked about this a few different times in passing in a few posts over the years. You could argue that this belongs in my series rewriting Fairy Tail and I considered placing it there. However, I feel that it's better that I keep this detached from that series. This topic concerns criticism of any series. Naturally, being a Fairy Tail blog, I plan on engaging this with the context of Fairy Tail's author being dead or not, hence the title. Still, this is helpful to think about for analysis of plenty of other series.
Again, though, my answer is still no.
Let's start with the origin of this term. The term comes from an essay by Roland Barthes called "La mort de l'auteur". Use your best guess as to what that translates to. I highly encourage you to read the essay as it's pretty short. It's about six or seven pages, depending on the version. There are three main points to his essay.
Creative works are products of the culture they come from and less original than people expect. 
The idea of the author as the sole creator and authority of creative works is fairly modern. 
The author's interpretation of a work shouldn't be considered the main or only interpretation of a work.
Of these three points, I'm sure you recognize the last point. But first, I want to talk about the other points. I believe it is important to understand the arguments being made as a whole.
The first point should be fairly uncontroversial. The vast majority of creative works use established language, tropes, and elements to create a new thing. I wouldn't go as far as Barthes does in this regard. Not to mention, this is somewhat weird to know considering his third point. However, I agree that creative works should be considered products of the culture and genre they come from.
The second point is a bit trickier for me. To be clear, the point is true. You only have to look at various cultural mythologies as an example. There isn't a single version of the Greek myths. There are several versions and interpretations of the various stories and myths. 
Even recent popular fictional characters have had several different interpretations. This is especially true with comics. There have been multiple different Batman interpretations, Spiderman runs, and X-Men teams that fans love. Fans even love and appreciate numerous forms of established characters like Frankenstein's monster and Sherlock Holmes. So, as a consumer and critic of art, I can understand this.
My problem is as a creator of art. I understand this being contentious when it comes to something like religious myths. But, if I create something, I want to get the credit for it. I want people to love my music or writing. But I also want people to recognize me for my skill in crafting it.
This is true even if you hold to the first point Barthes made.  Even if you believe that no art is truly unique, isn't the skill of synthesizing the various tropes and influences around a person worthy of credit in and of itself?
Then again, I am not without bias in this. Barthes says that the modern interpretation of the author is a product of the Protestant Reformation. As a Protestant myself, I get that my background plays no part in my view of this. Barthes also blames English empiricism and French rationalism, but personal faith is the biggest influence on me that Barthes lists.
That being said, there's also something Barthes completely misses in his essay. In the past, stories were passed down by oral tradition. As the stories were passed down from generation to generation, they slowly evolved and became what they are known today. Scholars today can gather a general consensus of what a story was meant to be and some traditions were more faithful about passing traditions down than others. However, you can't always tell the original author of a mythological story the same way we know who gave us stuff like the Quran or the Bible. 
As time passed, stories were written down. With this, it was easy to share single versions of a story and identify its creator. We know who made certain writing of works even before the 1500s. For example, we have the Travels of Marco Polo and Dante's Inferno and know their authors. We could tell the authors of works were before the Protestant Reformation. 
By the way, the Reformation happened to coincide with one of the most important inventions in human history: the printing press. Now you can easily make copies of an individual's works and you don't have to rely on word of mouth to share stories.
I can't stress how important an omission this is. The printing press changed the way we interact with media as a whole and might be the most important invention on this side of the wheel. And yet Barthes doesn't even mention as even a potential factor in "the modern concept of the author"? In his essay about understanding written media? That’s like ignoring Jim Crow in your essay about Birth of a Nation bringing back the KKK.
Now, we get to the final point. The author's original intentions of their works are not the main interpretation. This is understood as being the case after they create the series. Once the work is written and sent into the public, they cease to be an authority on it.
It's worth recognizing how this flows from the other two points. Barthes argued that works of fiction are products of their culture and our current understanding of an author is fairly modern. Therefore, the interpretation of the reader is just as valuable as that of the author. As Barthes himself wrote, "the birth of the reader must be at cost of the death of the author." 
At best, this means that a reader can come away with an interpretation of a work that isn't the one intended. With Fairy Tail, my mind goes to the final moments of the Grand Magic Games. My view of Gray's line "I've got to smile for her sake" has to do with romantic feelings for Ultear. I don't know of a single person who agrees with this. Mashima certainly hasn't come out and affirmed this as the right view.
It's good to recognize that a work can have more meanings behind it than the ones intended by its creator. Part of the performing process is coming to a personal interpretation of a work. In many cases, two different performances will have different interpretations of the same work, neither of which went through the creator's mind. At the same time, both work and are valid.
That being said, there is an obvious problem with this: readers are idiots. Not all readers are necessarily idiots. But enough of them are idiots. The views of idiots should have as much weight as that of the creator. Full stop. Frankly, I maintain that idiots are the worst possible sources to gauge anything of note. (At the very least, policy decisions.)
I know this as a reader who has not been alone in misunderstanding a work. I know this as an analyst who has had to sift through all kinds of cold takes on Fairy Tail. (Takes that are proven wrong simply by going through it a second time. Or a first.) And I definitely know this as a creator who has to see people butcher my works through nonsensical "interpretations."
At the same time, the argument Barthes made comes with an important caveat. He also argued that works are the products of the culture and surroundings of the author. Barthes isn’t making the argument that author’s arguments don’t matter.
As far as I can tell, Barthes doesn't take this to mean that those influences are worth analyzing. Doing so would be giving life to the author. However, there should be some recognition that a creative work didn't come to exist out of nowhere. There's a sense in which Fairy Tail didn't just wash up on the shore chapter by chapter or episode by episode. It came to be as part of the culture it came from.
Now, you'll never guess what happened. Over the years, the concept of "death of the author" lost its original intent. Nowadays, people usually only care about the third point. "Death of the author" is only brought up to dismiss "word of God" explanations of work, after its release. I'd venture to guess that most people using the term casually don't know anything about its roots. I honestly don't know how Barthes would feel about this.
I can understand what might fuel this view. A writer should do their best to write their intended meanings in a work. It would be wrong of a writer to make up for their poor writing after the fact. I don't love Mashima's "Lucy's dreams" explanation for omakes. I know Harry Potter fans don't love the stuff J.K. Rowling has said over the years.
At the same time, my (admittedly Protestant) understanding of "word of God" and "canon" is that they have the same authority. After all, the canon IS the word of God. It is a small section of what God has said, but it isn't less than that.
Of course, it's worth recognizing that nearly every writer we're talking about isn't even remotely divinely inspired or incapable of contradiction. This understanding should cut two ways. An author should never contradict their work in talking about it. Write what you want and make clear what you want to. On the other hand, writers can't fit everything they want to in a work. I'll get to this soon, but their interpretation should be treated with some value.
By the way, people will do this while throwing out the other arguments made by Barthes in the same essay. People will outright ignore the culture and context that a work comes from in order to justify their views. Creators are worshiped and praised for their works or seen as the sole problem for the bad views on works.
What worries me most about this modern interpretation of "the death of the author" is its use in fan analysis. People seem to outright not care about the author's intent in writing a story. They only care about their own interpretation of the work. Worse still, people will insist that any explanation an author gives is them covering up their mistakes. Naturally, this often leads to negative views of the work in question.
This is just something I'll never fully understand. It's one thing if you don't like something. If you don't get why something happened, shouldn't your first move be to figure out what the author was thinking? Instead, people move to the idea that it makes no sense and the writer's a hack.
If all of this seems too heady, let's try to bring this down to earth. Should Hiro Mashima die so that his readers can be born?
Hiro Mashima is one of many mangakas who were influenced by Akira and Dragon Ball. He considers J.R.R. Tolkien to be one of his favorite writers. Monster Hunter is one of his favorite game series. He's even written a manga series with the world in mind. 
It would make sense to look at Fairy Tail purely through this lens. You could see Fairy Tail as a shonen action guild story. Rather than seeing the guild as a hub for its members, Fairy Tail's members treat those within it as family. Rather than focusing on one overarching quest, the story is about how various smaller quests relating to its main characters threaten their guild. Adopting this view wouldn't necessarily be an incorrect way to engage with the series. (Mind you, I haven’t seen this view shared by many people who “kill Mashima”.)
Though, there's more to Fairy Tail than the various tropes that make it up. If you were to divorce Fairy Tail entirely from its creator, you'd miss out on understanding them. There are ways Mashima has written bits of himself into the series. Things that go farther than Rave Master cameos and references.
My favorite example is motion sickness. I often think back to Craftsdwarf mocking motion sickness as a useless quirk Dragon Slayers have. It turns out that its origin comes from his personal life. Apparently, one of his friends gets motion sickness. He decided to write this as part of his world.
This gets to the biggest reason I don't love "death of the author" as a framework for analysis. I believe the biggest question analysts should answer is why. Why did an author make certain decisions? You can't do this kind of thing well if you shut out the author's interpretation of their own work. Maybe that can work for some things, but not everything.
I've had tons of fun going through Fairy Tail and talking about it over the past seven years. More recently, I've been going through the series with the intent to rewrite the series. I've made it clear multiple times in that series that I'm trying to understand and explain Mashima's decisions in the series. I don't always agree with what I find. However, trying to understand what happened in Fairy Tail is very important to me.
It's gotten to the point that I love interacting with Mashima's writing. I talk about EZ on my main blog. I can't tell you how much fun I've been having. I'll see things and go "man, that's so Mashima" or "wow, I didn't expect that from him." HERO'S was one of my favorite things of last year and I regularly revisit it for fun. It's the simplest microcosm of what makes each series which Mashima has made both similar and distinct.
Barthes was on to something with his essay. I think there should be a sense where people should feel that their views of the media they consume are valid. This should be true even if we disagree with the author's views on the series. But I don't know that the solution is to treat the author's word on their own work as irrelevant.
There's a sense where I think we should mesh the understandings of media engagement. We recognize that Mashima wrote Fairy Tail. There are reasons that he wrote the series as we got it and they're worth knowing and understanding. However, our own interpretation of the series doesn't have to be exactly what Mashima intended. We can even disagree with how Mashima did things. 
I know fans who do this all the time. They love whatever series they follow, but wish things happened differently. Fans of Your Lie in April will joke about [situation redacted] as well as write stories where it never happens. You love a series, warts and all, but wish for the series to get cosmetic surgery, or take matters into your own hands.
And who knows? It's not as if fans haven't affected an author's writing of a series. Mashima's the perfect example. I've said this a few times before, but Fairy Tail has gone well past its original end at Phantom Lord (or Daphne for the anime fans). Levy rose to importance as fans wanted to see more of her.
Could Mashima have done that if we killed him?
Before the conclusion, I should mention another way “death of the author“ comes up. People will invoke “death of the author“ to encourage people to enjoy works they love made by messed up people. Given everything we’ve said up to this point, that’s obviously not what should be intended by its use. For now, though, I do think that we can admit that we like the works of someone even if we don’t agree with everything they did as a person. (Another rant for another day.)
In Conclusion:
“Death of the Author” is an imperfect concept, but it’s not without its points. I don’t think we should throw out the author’s intent behind a work. However, we should be able to have our disagreements with the author’s views without killing them.
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I'm dead, this is my spirit talking.
I really love the supernova team work and I must say it, Kid's power is so cool, it makes me wanna go and do some karaoke to Megadeth, I can see how he's been able to become such a big name, also *breathe in* Killer
Did you all saw how cool he was? He walk right into Kaido's back, all confident and shit, I had the same face as Kid when he got electrocuted, but I don't worry about him, i trust his coolness, if not Oda will receive some passionate letters.
I like how they work so naturally well together, that attack from Law has been cool ever since he used it on Doffy. Now, how could they forget about Big Mom? she's the same size as Kaido, why are they both so big, and all our boys are tiny hahahaha I love one piece.
So, Big Mom is in the sky tormenting everybody, i loved when Zeus was like "hiiiiii" and then electrocuted Kid. I find it interesting that Big Mom got immediately alert when she saw Enma, is it because she can sense Oden's presence radiating from it? The fact that Oda made it clear that it was the sword what really made Big Mom get worried, instead of just be laughing as she has been doing up to this point, so of course it will be key in battle. Zoro can't control it yet though, and he also got electrocuted, i don't know how it will happen, Zoro is clearly related to Wano, he is the spitting image of young Ryunma and we all KNOW Oda loves to foreshadow, his sensei and Kuina were descendants of the Shimotsuki clan, i think it was Koshiro's dad who made Wado and Enma, maybe that's the key! He has to wield both Wado and Enma or something, but Enma is still tied to the will of Oden, I'm just ranting now but this blog is my weed diary after all.
Now, i cannot convey in words how much I love Luffy, everyone got electrocuted, but he was like "I'M RUBBER" and it's Enel all over again, i died laughing, kinda disappointed we didn't get an Enel face for Big Mom though. The moment I died was when Kaido threw his flames at him and he was like "why won't my flames hurt u" and a clearly burned Luffy said "GUTS", that's just too much he reminded me of Oden, Luffy carries the will of the D, maybe the will of Joyboy along that, of Roger, but above all he carries his own will to be the freest man in the whole sea and I stan.
I like that Oda keeps showing that Big Mom and Kaido are clearly stronger, i mean they all attacked at the same time and we still can't see them get a critical hit, they've just started to take them seriously, that along the whole Enma thing makes my heart flutter. Also, what the fuck is going on downstairs, it brings me peace to know Marco is there to help with King and Queen but let's not forget that Big Mom's fucking children are on their way there, and they're like all super strong as well as the Tobi Roppo, we've seen that Nami and Usopp are just not as strong as Ulti or Page One, but they can still win since not everything is strength of course. I just want to see whatever Oda has in store.
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raayllum · 4 years
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just a fun lil fandom question, did the tdp fandom go crazy for rayllum after s2’s finale?
Let me take you back to pre-s2 days. It was a six month period I remember very fondly between September 14th 2018 to February 15th 2019. Most of the focus of the fandom was going through the show again, worldbuilding speculation, and individual characters. TDP had done so much in its first nine episodes, but a ton of shipping wasn’t one of them—notThere are only four or five real ships in the fandom back then, most of which had the same amount of content. There was Runaan/Tinker (end credit art unnamed Ethari), Raydia, Rayllum, Gren/Amaya, and Viren/Harrow. 
There was a handful of other ships (Amaya/Opeli, Soren/Marcos, Soren/Callum, Callum/Claudia) but the two biggest ships, I think, coming out of s1 were Raydia and Rayllum. Which makes sense. None of the other ships besides Rayllum I mentioned really get content outside two or three episodes in the season and are naturally given obstacles. We know absolutely nothing about Tinker. Gren and Amaya are separated for the foreseeable future. Soren is told to kill the princes. Viren and Harrow’s relationship greatly sours after 1x03 and continues to do so.
But I’m getting off topic (although I could talk about early day shipping to feel free to send in as many asks related to that as you want). So, overall yes, post season one, Rayllum and Raydia were the biggest ships in the fandom. Rayllum through actual screen time and dynamic, and Raydia through possible potential. Raydia was also the biggest ship in the fandom before the show came out when, although the fandom was Very Tiny, Rayllum was comparatively a tugboat. 
My actual point here is that post season one, pre season two Rayllum in fanon was a very different thing. I know I’ve talked about it on my blog here before, but post season one Rayllum was an overall small fandom. Bigger than it had been pre show, and probably slightly bigger than Raydia, but not by much. We had a slew of very talented oneshot writers (hi @jellyjay) and “Sides of the Moon” as the main multi-chapter (hi @kuno-chan) and that was about it. There were 5ish pages of fanfics on ao3 with Rayla/Callum as a ship pre-s2. Granted, there’s probably a lot of smaller fics / drabbles, like my own, that didn’t make its way from tumblr to ao3. 
Which again, made sense. By the end of season one, Rayla and Callum were good friends, and there were plenty of hints that they would lend themselves well to a future romance, but there were no real explicitly romantic indications the show would go that route. It truly felt 50/50 (or maybe 40/60, 60 being romantic to me, personally, anyway) and that would be the presumed status quo for many seasons, if not the whole show. We thought there would be six seasons back then — one for each primal — and I thought we would maybe start getting hints of a romance in season four and maybe, maybe see them get together in season five. I was prepared to do a two year slow burn at least. Or, really, to just see them be good friends for the rest of the show and I would’ve been perfectly content with that. All I wanted was them continuing to have cute/enjoyable interactions and a positive impact on each other.
Going into season two, all I expected was that Callum would get over his feelings for Claudia, and all that I hoped for was more of the same five course meal season one was. (My previous otp had a wonderfully supportive dynamic on a show where character’s didn’t Talk to each other, and they didn’t end up together and worse of all, took eight seasons, six of which were terrible, to end up both smiling at each other at the same time. So Rayllum smiling at each other all the time in s1?? I did not know what to do with myself, lemme tell you.) My one big wish for the season was that Callum and Rayla would share a hug and then that was shown in the season two trailer. 
I was not expecting another hug. I was not expecting three more.
Which is to say: season two came in like a sledge hammer. Suddenly, the romantic subtext was not only there, but not subtext or implication, but gobsmackingly canon. Implied (Callum) or explicit (Rayla) feelings on both sides. Multiple hugs, greater emotional and physical intimacy, so many shoulder touches, heartfelt confessions, hurt/comfort whump. A season ending of the two of them alone, travelling in Xadia, that was naturally rich and engaging fanfic fodder. 
To help illustrate my point further, as I think it can be hard to explain the leap in Rayllum from season one to season two in every single way to someone who didn’t experience it, I have enclosed a graph.
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Like, I thought we would maybe get the type of shit we got for Rayllum in season two in like, season five. It’s one of the reasons I’ve been baffled that people have claimed Rayllum is rushed post season three, not only because of how much legwork season two put in to earn that relationship, but because the leap from s1 to s2 vs from s2 to s3 is shown above and... it’s clear which one is bigger. Now the leap, while massive, feels very natural. 
But there’s a reason why yes, the fandom went ham for Rayllum after s2. It gave enough shipping fodder for people to be excited for it to be canon or won over if they were on the fence / wanted them to stay friends post season one. There was also a really nice bout of romantic potential leftover ahead, after all. 
No other ship (Soren/Rayla, Callum/Claudia) could compete in screentime, future narrative, or for whatever reason what people latched onto. Rayla/Claudia was almost completely obliterated. (Which is kinda too bad because people shouldn’t let canonicity dictate what they give their time too... but I’m also slightly petty and Raydia was another white gay ship being privileged over a healthier interracial het ship, and requited Raydia — ie. Rayla liking Claudia back — squicks me out, so... It’s also kinda nice?) And I get it because again, season two did not fuck around. 
You had pining. You had increasing concern and closeness. You had softness. You had battle couple vibes. Best friend vibes. Keeping secrets and supporting each other. The admiration. The trust. Everything that season one had but like, x5 at least, with a cute romantic slant to boot. 
Suddenly, Rayllum was on its way to not only being canon but endgame by the next season, with a boatload of new, cute, and emotional interactions to enjoy from season two. They would be travelling Xadia, alone. Callum had gotten over Claudia, leaving the path clear. Rayla had clearly fallen head over heels. He’d drawn her, which was a very early, post-s1 wish for the tiny ship fandom. The ship soared in popularity with an explosion of fanart and fic, and more than that in some ways, but way more multichaptered fic. My own included, as I also started writing far more meta than few pieces I’d had before.
It was sort of a positive double whammy of an experience, tbh. Normally I tend to like either canon ships who don’t tend to get as much screentime as other ships (with one exception getting more but still being unpopular), less / pseudo-popular ships, or both. So to have Rayllum always receive the most screentime (and crazily enough as of season three, might honestly have the most screentime out of any relationship whether platonic or romantic in the show?) and be decently popular in the fandom when it was small? Already a delight.
Having Rayllum greatly increase in both fanon and canon content simultaneously? A great and surprising boost of joy in my life, tbh, and what I hope every shipper can experience at least once because... It was truly incredible and was (and has continued to be) one of my best fandom experiences of my life. 
Almost nothing will compare to watching season two of the first time with no spoilers and thinking that the 2x03 scene on Phoe-Phoe was the peak for the season, and getting Romantic Vibes from 2x04 and a hug and thinking “omg are we actually Doing This??” and then having 2x07-2x09 be a resounding Yes. 
This long, rambling answer is just my way of saying yes, people lost their ever loving shit over Rayllum post season two, myself included, and I enjoyed every single goddamn minute of it.
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icequeenoriginal · 4 years
Text
The Meaning of FamILY
Note: I am so sorry for this taking centuries to come out, I blame laziness and writer’s block. So here it finally is, @khadij-al-kubra, the fic you requested. Again, I am so so sorry this took so long to get out. Also, this takes place a year after Intimacy and All Its Forms. Also Happy Late One Year Anniversary of this AU’s blog. 
Thank you @theromnempire for editing. You’re the best!
Names of side characters belong to @hi-i-love-u-bitch. This AU belongs to @ask-spiderverse-virgil and @sugarglider9603
Trigger Warnings: Deaths mentioned, two past minor character death, crying (Let me know if I missed anything)
Pairings: Prinxiety and Logicality
~
Roman was ushered into the living room by his older sister. He couldn’t understand why. Normally when his father came home, he would see Roman sitting at the kitchen table, doing his homework and his father would walk over and ask about before changing out of his work clothes.
Maybe it was a celebration! Or maybe a surprise! But…why was Amá crying?
Roman’s mother looked up and locked eyes with her confused, innocent son. It made her burst into more tears and Roman ran to comfort her.
“¿Amá?¿Por qué lloras mami?” Roman asked while tilting his head to the side. 
Lupita couldn’t help but smile at Roman, almost forgetting what had just happened. She frowned, and more tears fell as she realized what she had to do now.
“Roman ...mi Valiente chico…tengo algo que decirte...se trata de tu padre…”
~
Roman woke up with a start like he did every year on this day. It’s always the same memory that would wake him up like clockwork, ending right before his mom said the words that shattered his world forever. Roman’s brain liked to torture him but pretend to forget the worst part.
He decided not to think about it and just dressed. 
Roman never noticed how quiet the house actually was on this day. Any other day of the year, even if he was the first to wake up, there was some kind of noise. It could be anything from the humming of the ceiling fan or people rushing to get breakfast ready. But today, nothing. All the sounds of the apartment were swept out as if the family occupying the house needed a reminder of what was happening
Maybe Roman just lost his touch with reality on this day. He was never sure, not that it really mattered. He knew the world did not stop just because he is in a shitty mood. Did that ever make him feel any better? No, but it gave him a false motivation to get up and get ready for school.
He walked to the twins' room, like every day, to get them ready for school. Any other of the 365 days of the year, the twins would already be awake, fully ready to run around and make Roman’s morning even more hectic. Today, both had a blanket over their heads and he could hear his little sister sniffling.
He wished it was because of a cold. It never was.
“Vamos, es hora de levantarse,” Roman said, just loud enough for the twins to hear, worried if his voice went any height they could hear how broke it was. 
“NO!” both Jenni and Marco shouted, pulling the blanket simultaneously over their heads. Roman wanted to laugh at the sight, badly.
Instead, he sighed “No no, you guys gotta get up and go to school.”
“NO!” Marco shouted 
“It’s a bad day today!” Jenni cries
“I know guys but we can’t miss school,” Roman said softly.
“We’ll go to school tomorrow!” 
“Yeah, when it’s not Papi’s death day!”
Roman inhaled sharply, it was the first time of the day someone acknowledged what the 17th of February meant. The house somehow got even muter, if that was possible. His sister and brother burst into tears and Roman felt his face heat up. But he couldn’t cry, he was-
A soft, reassuring hand landed on his shoulder as he took a step forward. 
“Amá…” Roman said, his voice strained
Lupita’s eyes were full of storms of sadness, threatening a downpour. “Roman ... ve y desayuna.”
Roman shook his head. He could do it, he had to. His mother had enough on her plate. “Pero Amá--” Lupita cut him off.
“Está bien. No te preocupes por eso”
Roman sighed “Okay.” He was too tired to argue. This day seemed to already take so much out of him and it had hardly had started.
Roman sulked to the kitchen and made himself some toast. Something quick, easy and he was least likely to get sick from. He stared absently, unfortunately making eye contact with his father in an old happy family photo. He sucks in his breath as silent memories began to haunt him like they always do. He hated those more than any amount of his siblings sobbing or screaming in agony. He could tune those out with music, his one constant. These just got louder and louder no matter what he tried.  
What snapped him out of the pitiful void was a vibration from his phone. He pulled it out to reveal a text notification from Patton.
Bestie <3: I’ll be on the fire escape in a minute! Alex stole my sweater again :(((
Roman frowned, had he really taken that long to get ready? He hadn’t even made anyone’s lunch or even breakfast. He wasn’t even sure he was ready to talk to anyone today. Much less to get their glances of pity. Constantly hearing “sorry for your loss” got old quick. Besides, he didn’t want to bring anyone down, especially his best friends, just because of what today is. He sighed and texted Patton back:
Romaine Lettuce :): It’s okay. I’m gonna swing over to school today, go on without me.
Roman saw that Patton had read his text but he didn’t reply. Roman didn’t think much of it, he figured he was still chasing Alex around, and just grabbed his toast as soon as it was done in the toaster.
“Amá! I’m heading out to school! I love you! Bye!” Roman didn’t wait for a reply and ran up the stairs that lead to the roof as he put on his costume. Web swinging always seemed to calm his nerves, or more accurately, distracted him. Something about one mistake and you can fall to your death really makes your other problems seem small. As he was about to fire his first web, a voice shouted for him to halt. 
Patton ran up to him, also in full costume “Wait for me!”
“Pat?” Roman asked, not trying to hide his confusion. “What are you doing here?”
Although Patton had the mask on, It wasn’t hard to tell he was smiling. “I’m going to swing with you.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I know but I want to head to school with you like I always do.”
Roman felt a mixture of happiness and guilt swirl around in his stomach, creating an unpleasant cocktail make just for him. Not that he knew what a cocktail tasted like. 
Roman gave a small smile behind his mask “Okay then Pat, I’ll race you” and took off without another word.
They swung without another word, which relieved Roman. He didn’t want to be asked about how he was doing, the answer was obvious and Roman was tired of being asked it.
Unfortunately, this feeling did not last and Roman quickly returns to his self-pity and dark thoughts. Roman was so lost in his brooding thoughts of the bombardment of sympathy that he would receive through the day that he did not see the tall building in front of him. Thankfully, Patton did and webbed Roman quick enough so that he landed on the roof.
Well...landed is a generous term here. With how fast Roman was going, Patton had to quickly web him and throw him on the roof of the building.
Patton landed gracefully next to him. He placed his hands on his hips and said: “Okay, that’s enough swinging for you, mister!”
“I’m fine Patton, I just wasn’t paying attention this time.”
Patton shook his head, “You’re distracted, understandably so and I know you don’t want to talk about it, even though you should, but I won’t make you. It’s not safe Roman! I can’t let my best friend get hurt again! Not on my watch…”
Roman could see the agony swept into Patton’s eyes. He knew that memories of the year before, bad ones brought nothing but pain, were swarming Patton’s mind. Memories of Roman avoiding him, the fighting, the robot battle, all were tearing Patton down. It was a look far too familiar to him.
Roman ran to Patton as he began to shake. Roman muttered an apology that seemed small to himself but was perfect to Patton. Once Patton was able to calm himself down, he hugged Roman tightly, to show he was never going to let him go. 
“Let’s walk to school okay? I know a game we can play. It’s called “Beautiful Things’. As we walk, we point out the beautiful things we see and why we find them beautiful. Alex and Georgie made it up after Frankie…passed…and we played it all the time”
Roman raised his mask just above his lip to show that he was smiling “That sounds great, Patton, I’d love to.” 
So they snuck off the roof, changed, and walked. They pointed out birds, children, babies, and music playing from cars. Roman had no idea that such a simple game could bring him so much calm, but it did. He never realized there is so much good in the world, that was what they, as heroes, fought for. 
When they got to school, Roman headed to his locker. To an outside viewer, it was nothing out of the ordinary. But for the four, it was breaking the sacred tradition. First, they would meet at Logan’s locker as it was the closest to the entrance. Then they would make their way to their own lockers while catching up with one another. Finally, they would arrive at homeroom to get ready for the school day. 
However, as Roman watched Patton saunter over and embrace Logan, his feet didn’t want to go anywhere except towards an island of isolation. He didn’t want to ruin the happy mood, especially after making Patton think of Frankie so early in the morning. What best friend forces you to remember your dead brother?
He opened his locker and slowly pulled out the books he would need until lunch. When that took less than a minute. He stared at the objects he taped onto the door of his locker over the course of the year. At the top was a small mirror that he suddenly did not want to look into. At the bottom is a whiteboard with reminders of tests written by Logan, supportive messages from Patton, and quick doodles by Virgil. He felt the tug of a small smile on his lips, though it went away quickly.
He had only begun scanning the dozens of photographs he had before two arms snaked their way around his waist. He felt warmth in his chest as his boyfriend’s lips were pressed on the space between his shoulder blades.
“Morning” Virgil said, tiredness leaking into his speech.
Roman smiled softly and leaned slightly into the touch. “What leads you to my neck of the woods?” Roman asked as if he did not already know the answer.
“I needed to escape before I drowned in the puppy love.”
It wasn’t the answer he was expecting so he pressed on, “What do you mean?” Roman turned his head slightly to look at Virgil. Virgil, without lifting his cheek off Roman’s back, unfortunately, removed one of his arms from around Roman and gestures to his right. 
In distance, Patton has Logan’s shirt held carefully in his fingers, playing with the buttons as he talked to Logan. Logan watched with nothing but love and appreciation in his eyes. Roman couldn’t help but sigh at the couple, he was part of the team that got them together after all. One of his best accomplishments, if he’d say so himself.. 
“It’s so sweet...disgusting.” Virgil continued. Switching from resting his cheek on Roman’s back to his chin, he looked up and said, “Now give me my good morning kiss.”
Roman chuckled and happily obliged. When they pulled apart, Virgil asks “I’m going to ask you a stupid question.”
“No question is stupid, love, ask away.”
“Are you okay?” “I stand corrected.” Virgil elbowed Roman in the side, both happy for their spider-strength for the opposite reasons. 
“I mean it, Ro. I know you hate being asked that question, especially today, but I rather you get annoyed with me than let something happen like last time. So I’ll ask again, are you okay?”
“I am.”
Virgil raises an eyebrow “Am what?”
“Fine.” “I asked you if you were okay”
“Same difference.”
“Big difference, people only say they’re fine when they don’t want to admit they aren’t okay.”
Roman just looked away, having nothing to really say, plus he didn’t want to argue. Virgil sighed and hugged him again. Roman doesn’t push away, the pressure behind his eyes getting more and more unbearable. His emotions were already becoming too much for him to handle. He hugged back, relishing in the warmth of another person. It was stupid, in his mind, since Virgil was just hugging him moments ago. 
With a sigh, Roman pulled back. He brushed his knuckles gently against Virgil’s cheek and whispered “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay because I’m sorry too,” Virgil said softly.
“You have nothing to be sorry for.”
Virgil couldn’t help but smile at that. “You know what? You’re right. I don’t. And with that, I’m going to spend this whole day cheering you up.”
“Virge…You don’t have to. Really! There’s no reason to-“
Virgil suddenly poked Roman chest, silencing the boy. “Do you remember the day that marked the anniversary of my grandpa’s death?”
“Of course I do, you were so upset. You didn’t even want to leave your room”
“Yeah, and you know what you did? You broke into my room, like some lunatic by the way, wrapped me up like a burrito-“
“It’s called a blanket burrito for a reason.”
“Don’t interrupt me. You wrapped me up, put on all my favorite movies that I wasn’t even aware you remembered and fed me snacks as we cuddled. Not even Logan had thought of doing that, he would just let me lie under my blankets while he just sat in the room.” Virgil paused to smirk before continuing  “And I was never more grateful for you than at that moment.”
Roman’s face began to heat up. He couldn’t help it. No matter how big or small the compliment that Virgil would give him, he would turn into a blushing schoolgirl, ready to throw himself at Virgil and pepper him with kisses. 
He opted to just hug Virgil again, a silent thank you. They were in public after all. They had some class.
Virgil embraced him for a few moments before the warning bell went off. “Listen, I’m going to make sure today is not going to be total shit for you.”
Roman chuckled in response, “Thanks, stormcloud.” Roman took a step to walk to his class but stopped when Virgil firmly grabbed his hand, “Huh?”
“What? I can’t hold my boyfriend’s hand as we walk to class?”
Roman chuckled, if there was one thing he knew about Virgil is that despite his boyfriend’s wariness of physical affection, Virgil always saw things through. Roman gently squeezed Virgil’s hand, absorbing the love that came from that simple gesture. Logan told him a few months ago about Love Languages and how physical touch was definitely his. It was a nice bonding moment for him and Logan, and it made Virgil really happy. Roman was rewarded handsomely for it.
Compared to every other year since his dad died, this was actually a pretty good day. Virgil would bring him to every class, even the ones were Virgil’s classes were nowhere near. Virgil had to keep reassuring Roman that it was fine, “I will just use my invisibility and sneak in. It will be funny to see how confused my teachers will be.” It made Roman genuinely laugh, something seemingly unachievable on this day.
The classes he did share with Virgil were the best. Virgil left his non-writing hand resting on Roman’s shoulder, giving him a gentle squeeze whenever he felt Roman quiver, shake or tense up. Which was often since their teacher would not stop shooting Roman sympathetic looks, even after Virgil glared at her. Other classes that Virgil wasn’t in, Virgil would wrap his hoodie around Roman before he headed off to his next class. People would focus on this action and how cute it was that Roman would forget, even for a few minutes.
Around lunch, Roman’s mood changed from melancholy to calm, relatively speaking. He wasn’t walking with his head down, and even partaking. The numb and somewhat painful feeling in his chest was still present, but it was no longer the black pit sucking his emotions into it like usual.
Already seated at the lunch table were Logan and Patton, whispering and smiling at one another. Before Roman could announce his presence to the couple, Virgil tugged him back. He nearly made Roman fall backward in the process, but they both knew it wasn’t intentional. They always forgot how strong their spidey strength actually was.
“Sorry!” Virgil said instinctively though he did start laughing as Roman caught himself.
“What was that for?” Roman asked once he regained his balance.
“I needed to tell you before I forget, I asked Thomas if we could borrow his living room for a movie night and he said yes. Ask your mom if you can stay over.”
Roman smiled, “That sounds great”
Virgil smiled back as the two sat in their normal seats. As soon as the two entered Patton’s vision, his eyes light and he pushed a plate covered in tin foil towards the couple. It wasn’t anything uncommon, Patton using any excuse to make people food, from “Virgil had a headache” cookies to “You saved a bus filled with little kiddos and the city still won’t give you a key!” double chocolate cake. Roman removed the tin foil to reveal donuts. It shocked Roman, he had a bit of an expectation that Patton would make one of Roman’s favorite desserts; like he always did in years past.
Roman looked up at Patton puzzled and Patton reached over the table to squeeze Roman’s arm as it rested on the cafeteria table. “I know you don’t want to make this day all about you, so I made something we all consider a normal snack. Is it okay?”
Patton’s eyes read desperate and Roman, half because he wanted to be a good best friend and half because he did not want Patton to use his Empath powers, smiled, and nodded.
“This is perfect, Pat.”
 Patton pulled back so he could properly muffle his squeal of delight since they were still in school and he did not want to get into trouble for “starting a disturbance.”
Logan whispered to Patton “You told me it was because you did not have enough time to make Roman his favorite cake.”
“...I can have multiple reasons” Patton whispered back, glad that Roman and Virgil were too busy bickering about the best Avenger to listen in. 
Everyone ate their lunches and donuts, just enjoying the time they had together. Logan commented on how he heard that Roman and Virgil would not join them on patrol and he hoped that they “don’t burn down Thomas’ apartment”. That earned him a look from Roman, a “Logie!’ from Patton and a kick in the shin from Virgil all at the same time.
“It was a simple precaution!” Logan shouted, only to be told to quiet down by the cafeteria monitor.
It would later become a memory they would always look back on, Virgil even including it into his best man speech at Logan and Patton’s wedding, much to Logan’s dismay.
~
Once lunch was over, Roman snuck into the bathroom and sent off a text to his mom asking if it was possible if he could stay over at Virgil’s, adding that if she needed him to come home then it would be fine. He didn’t want to be selfish. 
Roman figured he would get his reply by the end of the day since he knew his mom would be really busy at work and he wasn’t exactly sure when his mom had her lunch break. He put his phone in his pocket only to scare himself when his notification sound went off in the silent password. He pulled it out and his phone and had a new text from his mom.
Amá: Of course you can, Your sister is watching the twins today, go have fun. It’s what Papí would want. 
Roman smiled, a single tear fell down his face. His mom was the best.
~
Roman’s afternoon classes came and went, nothing exciting or saddening happened of note. Though it wouldn’t have mattered, the prospect of cuddles and Disney movies filled him with so much excitement and joy. 
As faith would have it, he had no play practice since their show season had just ended and Mr. Bell always gave them a week off so he could tie up any last loose ends and decide the dates for the next auditions. This gave him an extra two hours to spend with his boyfriend, perfect!
Roman ran up to Virgil’s locker and bounced on his toes as his boyfriend got his stuff together so they could head off. Virgil smirked and tilted his head to Roman, “You seem excited.”
Roman smiled and nods “I’m really excited for tonight”
“Oh?” Virgil teased “What’s happening tonight? I can’t remember anything important”
Roman lightly punched him in the arm “You’re so mean, remind me why I love you again?” “It was your choice to get into this relationship, Princey, don’t forget that” Virgil waved his hand as he spoke and Roman, to Virgil’s surprise, quickly snatched Virgil’s hand.
Roman smirked back “I am very aware, and I am so happy to have you.” He then kissed Virgil’s knuckles.
Virgil cursed his cheeks for the blush that always came when Roman did something romantic. He pulled his hand back and nervously giggled “Oh shush, let’s get going already.” 
Man, did he love that boy.
~
After swinging over to Thomas’ apartment with Patton and Logan, Roman and Virgil quickly went to work on their pillow fort as the two other spider children spoke to their spider dad about the details of the patrol. 
Once everything was set up, Thomas said “Great. Patton, you and Logan get my snack bag and go to the bodega on the corner, there is money in the bag so don’t worry about using your own money. Meet me on the roof in half an hour.” 
Patton and Logan nodded and left to get their favorite snacks. 
Thomas turned to Roman “Hey, Ro? Before you guys start, could you come with me to the roof?”
Roman was confused but agreed. He was a bit nervous, he felt like a child about to get yelled at and tried to think of what he could have done wrong recently.
Once they got to the roof, Roman asked, “If this about keeping your apartment clean, I promise Virgil and I will not burn it down. Logan already gave us the rundown.” 
Thomas put his hand on Roman’s shoulder and softly smiled “I can feel you stressing out, even without Patton’s power. Don’t worry, I trust you. I just wanted to tell you something. Sit with me” Thomas patted Roman’s head when Roman released a sigh of relief. 
The two sat on the edge of the roof, Thomas in his Rainbow Weaver costume with the mask on and Roman in his civilian clothes. 
Thomas gazed over the city before saying “I know you are probably expecting me to give you a speech about grief and how to handle it, but I hated those speeches at your age when I got them because of my Aunt Patty. In fact, you remind me a lot of myself when I was younger, and I’m not just talking about being a fellow theatre geek. I never wanted to think about when she died and I would throw myself into helping people, with or without the suit. One thing led to another and I ended up beaten and bloodied in an alley on the anniversary of her death. When Talyn and Joan found me, I swear my Aunt Patty possessed them to yell at me for it. I thought Talyn might kill me themself.”
Roman laughed “I can see them doing that.”
Thomas chuckled and nodded “Oh yes. But what they and Joan did instead was patching me up and we had a FRIENDS marathon, ‘the police will handle crime for now’ Joan said. I broke down after three episodes because I love my friends so much. So before I start crying again at the memories, I just wanted to tell you that your friends--including Joan, Talyn, and I--are always here for you. Don’t make the same mistake I did and forget” Roman threw himself at Thomas for a hug “Never again, I promise.”
Thomas hugged back “Thanks, kid. Now go have fun.”
~
Virgil looked up from his phone when he heard footsteps coming towards him “What did Thomas want? Hey, are you okay?” Virgil pops out from under the fort and cups Roman’s face to wipe the tears away.
Roman smiles “I’m fine, really. I’m just...thank you, for putting up with me”
Virgil kisses him “It’s not putting up with you, it’s loving you. Ready to start Tangled” “Of course my love”
~
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magpieinthemorning · 3 years
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Up next for rage blogging a netflix show as I watch it: Next in Fashion
- Omg everybody’s outfits and their personalities!!! <3 <3 <3 It’s really painful that every episode someone gets eliminated because they are all so amazing.
- Really hated Isaac’s attitude, though, and the dynamics that resulted from pairing him with Nasheli. She deserved so much better! She would have done so much better with another partner! It was extremely unfair to her.
- I especially loved Carli and Daniel’s pantsdress in ep 1 - I really wish I could wear it! :O
- Painful watching Hayley and Julian - he was such a character and I would have liked to see more of both of their work, but they just did not fit together. No surprise at all that the teams who know each other well and have worked together a lot already are the most successful. 
- In the streetwear competition, on a scale from 1 to 10, how racist was it that both of the teams chosen as the bottom two had the only Black women, and the only Black people left in the competition? In streetwear? Seriously? Bless guest judge Kerby Jean-Raymond. The show is edited and scripted to be extremely emotional (literally people are crying all the time, it’s fantastic), but at that point, when he decided to walk out, I truly felt it so much. Love him. Love Kiki and Farai, who are constantly being judged much harsher than the other contestants. Thankfully here the “nobody gets eliminated” move was used for good, and not to keep in boring old white guys like in Blown Away ... because there are no boring old white guys in this show! Yay! :D
UPDATE 1:
Ep. 5 - I’m not that interested in underwear, but I really enjoyed all the boxer shorts for the women’s looks. And Angel’s men’s look was amazing! I wish they would have shown it without the jacket. There was way too much focus on the made-up bra support issue. Women actually like to feel comfortable, and wasn’t it interesting that both of the all-women teams made bras without wires ... maybe because they know how uncomfortable that shit is?! So yeah ... :-/ To be honest it felt like a setup that the tops MUST have underwire and pushup. (That’s so 90′s though?) The judges didn’t ask Farai and Kiki’s model how she felt in it, like they asked one of the others, they just straight up decided to hate their creation because of the missing underwire. They acted so rude when they were looking closer at their design, the whole “What’s this?!” and pawing right under the model’s boobs. :/ Also I didn’t like Claire’s attitude and being angry that nobody was eliminated last time - so she’d have preferred if her own team was eliminated? And guess what ... 
Ep. 6 - Claire and Adolfo were eliminated, so maybe it taught her a lesson to not throw her own people under the bus? Or not ... I don’t know, it was somehow interesting how she stressed her Asian half at the end (in the speech about how she is still to be taken seriously even though she is small and half Asian), as if she wanted to distance herself from her Blackness, and look away from how racist the elimination process was? I may be reading too much into it - I’m also mixed race and really interested in how other mixed race people experience it. Still impressive that Claire and Adolfo got so far without having worked together before, if I’m not mistaken. Btw one of the judges went out of their way to compliment the unfinished edges on one look, while it had been so harshly criticized when Farai and Kiki did unfinished edges on the streetwear challenge. Sigh. All the looks in this challenge were really great, and I guess that says something about my own style ... \m/ 
I don’t know if I want to keep watching, because the judges are so irritating (sorry Tan :( ) and the elimination part is so stressful ... But I also want to see more amazing clothes and how these amazing people make them in such a short time!
UPDATE 2:
Ep. 7 - Nooo, Angelo ... It was totally fair that he was eliminated for his grave lack of technical skill, I just loved watching him on the show so much. Together with Charles they were unstoppable and complemented each other so well, but apart? ;___; Same with Carli, together with Daniel they were awesome. I could relate a lot to wanting to quit instead of finishing something half-assed. :/ So nice that other contestants were looking out for her. It felt a bit more relaxing to watch now, although the stakes keep getting higher and the contestants fewer, but it seems like they are being judged more fairly now that Anti-Black racism is off the table lmao ... Sigh, I’d really love to watch arts and crafts contests with only Black judges and contestants. + I adore Adidas and wear way too much of it, but cringe at Jo Aberg’s heavy Swedish accent, haha (I used to live in Sweden and way too many of them go around telling foreigners that Swedes don’t have an accent when they speak English *eyeroll*).
Ep. 8 - Daniel seems like such a genuinely nice and caring person, so it’s kind of okay that the white guy stayed in the game over the two Asian guys. Charles on his own was perhaps missing Angelo’s pizzazz ^^ ... I liked Marco and his stuff a lot, and it seemed a bit like a setup here, too, that they criticized his design for being “too costumey” (I kind of hate that word now thanks to this series) and he got thrown off, instead of just doing his thing the way he wanted it, regardless of whether he would be eliminated for it.  Kind of “pro wrestling” that Minju was so freaked out by the challenge and then she made the best look hands down. Loved it! Especially with the leather band/harness - I don’t get why they criticized it. Overall I was a bit disappointed in all the other looks, because I like a lot about military style, but very few except Minju used the kind of stuff that I like. I didn’t really like Angel’s look that much - the concept was amazing, but that coat seemed a bit awkward to wear and I’m a bit confused about why everyone liked it so much, but maybe I just don’t get that about fashion. Happy for her though! Many of her other looks have been really great. + Judge Elizabeth’s crooked tie drove me bonkers. WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE FASHION WHEN YOUR TIE DOES NOT COVER YOUR TOP BUTTON. lol
UPDATE 3: SEMIFINALS
I’m happy for Minju and Daniel and can’t wait to see them in the finale! I liked Ashton’s looks so much! I’d love to wear the women’s top (and maybe I will try to sew something similar for myself :-p). Loved the reference to hakama - I thought he made all the right choices of what to adopt from the inspiration. A bit bummed that he got eliminated, especially since he was so community oriented when he talked about what it would mean for him to win.  I squealed when I heard Angel’s inspiration, Tibetan horse racing! Here I felt like the looks were a bit far off from the inspiration. But they looked so gorgeous. Maybe if she’d used the bleach lace pattern (on the edges for example) it would have been even more amazing. The women’s look was so great! Though I was a bit concerned about the crotch exposure :D Overall maybe Angel didn’t need the win so I guess it’s fine that she got eliminated. I’m a bit confused about why they were so in awe about Daniel’s looks. Both of the looks were really nice and clean, but I didn’t think they were all that interesting or innovative, and the message was a bit simplistic. And I literally made a similar quilt a few months ago, so I can’t really agree with the “it’s NEVER been done before” sentiments. I’m really looking forward to his stuff in the finale though! For Minju I felt the same, it was great, but I couldn’t really relate to how they thought it was so new and fresh. The men’s pant length would have surely gotten her eliminated if she’d been Black, haha. Can’t wait to see what she makes in the finale - I’ve loved almost everything she did so far.
UPDATE 4: FINALE!!!
OMFG MINJU!!!!! YAY!!!!! Aaaaah, her collection was so beautiful and fun! And all women’s looks! It was so nice!  It was so nice that Minju’s sister also realised that she had held Minju back creatively and that it was wrong to do that. I didn’t read spoilers about the ending, and kept nervously thinking that it wouldn’t surprise me if Daniel the white guy won the entire competition, but then Minju won and Daniel was so happy for her! <3 <3 <3 I cried so much!
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adultswim2021 · 3 years
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Ephemera Week (2002)
I really wonder how effectively I’ll be able to do this in 2003. In 2003, Adult Swim started doing the black and white text bumps, where they give max sass and NO EFFS (fucks), so every week had unique content. I definitely don’t have the resources to catalogue every bumper or even come up with a decent “best of”. Ephemera Corner 2003 may look very different. To quote my good friend Zorak, “Brak, do you ever think about the future?”. To this I say, yes. Yes, Zorak, I do.
BROADCAST ANOMALIES AND SPECIAL NIGHTS!
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Adult Swim Action (and other stuff) | February 23, 2002
February 23rd was the first installment of Adult Swim Action. Up to this point, Adult Swim aired a block of mostly comedy capped off with Cowyboy Bebop. This was the first formal separation of Action and Comedy. I remember the bitter rivalry between the two fandoms on various message boards I posted on. It really did seem like a venn diagram with almost no overlap; action fans hated the comedy shows (maybe they liked one or two but hated the rest) and the same went for the comedy fans, except most of the comedy fans I knew were devout anime haters.
At the height of my anime animosity an internet ex-friend of mine started a message board called ANIME SUCKS. It was an experience I’ll always remember fondly. At it’s peak it had over 1000 members. All but about a dozen of those members were actually ANGRY anime fans who just stumbled on the board and were FURIOUS at us for being anti-anime, and we’d just act like obtuse dickheads about it. Like, we’d act stupider than they were and just wind them up.
We developed a few tricks to really set somebody off. For example: they’d write an impassioned defense of anime as an art form, and say something like “it’s not all like Pokemon or Dragonball Z”, to which we’d reply “actually those are the only two animes I like”. This really got them. There was a special thrill to just replying “miyazaki is an idiot” to a guy’s 6-paragraph essay about why anime was “good, actually”, prompting an even longer response. It was really fun! We didn’t have to harass people online, they’d just come to us to get abused. I’ve never seen bait get taken so effortlessly. One day that guy just closed the message board, locked everyone out, and disappeared forever.
That was some aside, huh? Anyway, the arrival of Adult Swim Action meant that Adult Swim stopped airing the Thursday night repeats of Adult Swim Comedy, which was a shame. It Also meant Adult Swim’s Sunday night had an extra hour to fill, which they did with Rocky & Bullwinkle and the Popeye Show. People complained. I didn’t. Vintage animation is just a different take on the “adult” label. Besides, I was used to tuning out by 12AM anyway, so even if I didn’t like those shows (I did!) I wasn’t missing anything, really. But yes, if it were a full hour of Space Ghost repeats I guess that would’ve been better.
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The Lewis Lectures | May 19, 2002 - 12:45 AM
A repeat of Lewis Lectures? IT HAPPENED! But what was so different about this broadcast of Lewis Lectures? Well, they accidentally scrambled the SAP audio with the default English audio, causing the Spanish soundtrack to play in tandem with the English one. It was bloody well fucked mate. This is simply no longer England.
I remember becoming an Adult Swim completist and taping this, considering it some kind of void in my collection. Part of me wishes I saved the recording, so I could combine it with the inferior YouTube rip currently up and have a closer-to-pristine copy than the one that’s available. But also, JESUS FUCKING CHRIST THIS IS LEWIS LECTURES WE ARE TALKING ABOUT. How much pain can I inflict on myself?
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Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law Mini-Marathon | September 15, 2002 - 11:00 PM
On this night they aired a little Harvey Birdman marathon of the 4 episodes. This was kinda baffling, as Birdman had 6 episodes to its name and they’d been repeated into the ground by this point. I guess it goes to show that Adult Swim kinda considered Birdman to be their prestige program. I’m hard-pressed to call any one Adult Swim show “smart” in a way that’s apparent on a shallow level. Birdman is set in a courtroom, animated the most competently out of all their other shows, and involved cultural references in a showy way. Like, Space Ghost having Dave Willis absurdly shout “UP THE CHAIN” in the background of a Space Ghost episode is almost just a weird easter egg. But Birdman? Birdman was name-dropping Hanna Barbera characters the same way Frasier would talk about whatever gay shit Frasier talked about.
They aired The Dabba Don, Shaggy Busted, Shoyu Weenie, Very Personal Injury in that order. I would’ve swapped Shaggy and Shoyu and for Bannon Custody Battle and Death by Chocolate, but that’s just me, I guess.
vimeo
Adult Swim New Years Bash hosted by Carl and Brak | December 31, 2002 - 11:00 PM
Adult Swim officially ended 2002 with this: a night hosted by Carl and Brak in Times Square, watching the ball drop (which was FREAKING MEATWAD!!!!). I remember this night fondly. Unfortunately I can’t find the whole thing, but here’s a single segment I found on vimeo to give you some idea. I think I had it up at one point and Turner very annoyingly had it taken down.
I used to have this massive physical media collection; stuff on VHS and DVD and DVD-R that was meticulously catalogued. I ditched a lot of it in favor of digitizing stuff like this, eternally keeping it on hard drives that I meant to back up but never did. It seems more convenient, but it isn’t. If this were 2003 and I needed to show you this, I would be able to retrieve it from one of my many shelves. I might still have this, but would have no idea where to look for it and it would probably involve me getting in my car and going out to my storage unit and pulling every single box out. I turned it into ones an zeros and stuck it on a nondescript black box that could very well be dead. And now it’s not even on YouTube. Sad? Sure, it’s sad.
PEAK EPHEMERA
(phrase stolen from Grifthorse podcast)
Hey, here are some videos I found on YouTube in case you wanna go down a wormhole of watching old Adult Swim commercial breaks. May the gods of posterity keep them online forever:
February 4, 2002
Spring 2002
June 16, 2002
June 30, 2002
July 27, 2002
August 2002
November 17, 2002
November/December 2002
MAIL BAG:
This ends EPHEMERA WEEK. We’ll do actual episodes soon!
What's the scariest thing you seen on adult swim?
I don’t know if I have a real answer for this. I don’t think I actually get scared by stuff in movies or TV shows. I can’t even come up with a funny answer. Remember the end of that Metalocalypse episode where the little sick girl is dead and her eyes turn into maggots and you hear that screechy voice was like I’M DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!!! I’ll just go with that even though it made me laugh really hard
Ever watch Limmy's Show
I am content just being vaguely aware of Limmy (no, I never watched his show. Seems good).
Please don't do such a big mailbag. I couldn't believe how many r-words wrote inane bullshit to you. Let keep this blog about the real stars: Master Shake, Space Ghost, Brak, Zorak, Meatwad, Frylock, Debbie, Black Debbie, Carl, Sparks, Stormy, Hesh, Moltar, Harvery Birdman Captain Murphy, Dr. Quinn, Paula, Marco,  Brendon, Jason, Melissa, The Mooninites, the Plutonians, Peanut, Coach Mc Gurk, Mentok the Mindtaker, Virjay, Antoin, Colby, Trotter, Adair WE ARE THE UPRIGHT CITIZENS BRIGADE :)
I can’t believe this IDIOT doesn’t get that by typing such a long message he very IDIOTICALLY contributed to the length of the Maili Bag... LMFAO, what a IDIOT
This is maybe the funniest blog on tumblr. You really think these nasty little cartoons are special, huh?
Hey than-- oh :( Yeah, I guess so :(
would you like master shake if he did the whole thing
I’m sorry what
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