#he is very dedicated to his insane friends even when they aren’t great to him

[aceredshirt13]

extremely funny to me seeing people say that Bertie has a heart of gold when his immediate solution to getting Freddie back together with his fiancée was to kidnap a child

#red randomness #jeeves and wooster #bertie wooster #100 and up neat #don’t get me wrong I love him dearly #but I think he like Watson and Bunny suffer from ‘he isn’t actually as nice as people think he is’ syndrome #because Bertie can be a judgy bitch! he’s resentful of several children! he makes unflattering judgments about appearances! #he told Sippy to steal a cop’s hat! he ripped a tag off his uncle’s gift and claimed it was his! #he told Jeeves to send Bingo a telegram telling him to KILL HIMSELF- #like #he is very dedicated to his insane friends even when they aren’t great to him #and he will go to great lengths for the people he cares about #and he will talk about how great Jeeves is to everyone who will listen and is better to him certainly than previous employers #and he’s a generally cheerful and amiable and friendly person #but heart of gold?? Perhaps Not #very few people in these stories are objectively entirely good and a lot of the humor and characterization comes from that #because you like Bertie despite it all. you love him and want him to be happy

[the-bees-cheese]

Oki bestie lore time, here is the entire pantheon, some gods don't have as much fleshed out stories because I simply haven't thought of them.

Erodun Lord of Sunlight (Light/Life): Erodun, the current Sun, was Gwyn’s only child. This was an unexpected tragedy, as Erodun was a skilled warrior who favored polearms. But when Gwyn had to leave for the Dream Realm, Erodun was the only god who was compatible with Gwyn’s place in the pantheon being his son. But while Erodun was strong in his own right, Gwyn was simply in another weight class. So when Gwyn grants a large sum of power to Erodun, it’s too much. Erodun can endure it, but as result his soul had been lit aflame. And now it slowly burns to ash. As his soul burns away eventually to nothing, his power fades, and the sun fades with it. Because of this, Erdalia is actually dropping in temperature very slowly. This change is very slow obviously but it’s happening. This phenomenon with Erodun’s soul has actually been replicated by a Paladin Order called the Candlestick Knights. Who in an exchange for a great sum of divine power, would light their soul aflame. Burning bright, but burning fast, new members are only inducted in great times of desperation. As such it is rare for there to even be a Candlestick Knight alive because they die so quick and are rarely made. 

Erathis The God of Machines and Magic (Arcana/Forge): So Erathis is the god of machines, magic, the forge, and is also the creator of gnomes. Erathis is quite interesting because they actually inherited their domains from two gods. Halondriak, and Moradin. But that is a complicated story involving multiple gods and will be given it’s own section. So the less complicated of the two inheritances is from Halondriak. They simply inherited Halondriak’s status as a god of magic. And took to the role quite well. Beforehand they were already an intensely curious individual and quite adept with magic. So it was a natural fit for them. And because of their curiosity they decided that they would make something, just to see what they could do with their power. So they ended up creating the first gnomes. Small intelligent little humanoids and quite curious little humanoids much like Erathis himself. Erathis was good friends with the god Moradin, and they were thick as thieves often holding friendly competitions to one up each other with their creations. 

Dhemos the God of Chaos and Injustice (Trickery/Death): So Dhemos was the Chaos, Injustice, and Madness. The only reason Dhemos was formally accepted into the Pantheon was because it was a specific request from Krismani, Dhemos’s parent. Being such an angry and violent god, this was purely formal. Due to never being accepted by the gods, Dhemos grew to resent them to an insane degree. And this got to a breaking point. This story will however be continued in another section as there are too many people in it. Worship of Dhemos is still prevalent from murderers, the cruel, and many other terrible individuals. Acts of worship are commonly acts that cause chaos. And there aren’t many shrines actually dedicated to Dhemos, just stories of chaos and bloodshed caused by worshippers passed down through the generations. 

Moradin the Forge Master (Forge): Moradin was the god of the forge, craftsmen, and the dwarves. Moradin was well loved, and he advised many kings and craftsmen. Often giving solid advice, but not really clear instructions as he wanted them to figure things out for themselves. As he didn’t want anybody to grow reliant on him. Moradin was also great friends with Erathis, and when Erathis would create the gnomes, they asked Moradin for a bit of advice which influenced the design of the gnomish race. 

The First Grand Betrayal, Moradin the Mad, his Creations, the Execution, and Mask

Dhemos, god of Chaos, Injustice, and Madness, scorned by the gods, was approaching the breaking point.  So he decided to do something that would shape the ages to come. Whether this was their own decision, or from an outside influence is unknown. But back to the story. Dhemos contacted Moradin, saying that they wanted to try and make amends. Moradin always believed in second chances, and Dhemos knew this. 

So they met, and while they started talking, Dhemos put on an act, lying was like a second nature to him. And while he lied about wanting to change for the better, and defy his nature as a god. He started working a twisted sort of magic. One that burrows deep into somebody's mind, and drives them mad beyond belief. That's what he did, he betrayed Moradin and drove him insane. 

From this point onwards Moradin was given a new epithet. Moradin the Mad. Dhemos escaped, and hid from the gods. While Moradin the Mad wandered the world he created a plethora of creations, many of which were strangely alien. But while Moradin was wandering, the gods, and the rest of the world, were hunting. Hunting a god is a tricky thing. Especially one as slippery as Dhemos. But the gods eventually found him deep under the ocean, disguised as a fish. 

The world rejoiced as Dhemos returned in chains, chains specifically made by Erathis for this purpose. And the gods pondered what to do, and for a while there seemed like punishment fitting his crime existed. But then Moradin the Mad made something. They felt its presence as it was made. 

What Moradin made was a metal called Dilithium. Dilithium was capable of killing gods. In the night while Moradin was away they stole a crude greatsword made of Dilithium, more of a hunk of metal than a sword, but it would serve its purpose. 

In the year 809 PBW, the god Dhemos was executed by the goddess Thumera, with a crude greatsword made of Dilithium. Shortly after this the gods decided that Moradin the Mad’s machines were getting too dangerous, and that it would be safer to seal him away in a demi-plane. Where he couldn’t harm anybody. It was a terrible day for rain. 

While Dilithium is incredibly dangerous to gods, the strongest can survive.

Mask the Embodiment of Change (Trickery): To understand Mask, and what they represent, you have to understand how they came into existence. The greatsword that was used to execute Dhemos was left tainted by the execution. Dhemos was strong, being the child of a god of war, they had to be. Dhemos’s terrible consciousness survived, and clung to the blade. Thumera felt this in the blade, and so she went to the god Ualdin and the goddess Phorus to seek their counsel. Together they devised that the best course of action would be to purify the sword. And when they did, some unexpected byproducts were born of it. Two actually, one that was a deeply terrible thing, and would be thrown away into the world, to hopefully never be found again. The other would grow into Mask. Dhemos was a god of chaos, injustice, and madness. Mask was born from an aspect of that chaos, but because of the purification it wasn’t just chaos. But Mask is rather the concept of Change personified. Raised in secret for a couple years by Ualdin, Phorus, and Thumera, they named themselves Mask and decided to introduce themselves to the Pantheon, and with Ualdin, Phorus, and Thumera vouching for them Mask was accepted into the Pantheon as a god of trickery. Now Mask took their name for a very specific reason, this reason being because they thought it would be funny and also ironic considering they hide a big part of their identity.  This part of their identity is unknown to everybody except for a couple people. Now when it comes to their actual deific nature being a god of change, they are rather proactive when it comes to change. Often playing 5d chess with their plans, and occasionally nudging people in the right direction. All of this isn’t done with any maliciousness, it’s just the will of the universe.

Thumera (Tempest): Thumera is a goddess of weather phenomena like storms, rain, and snow, as well as being a goddess of battle, and endurance. Thumera teaches personal strength, independence, and endurance, as well as respect for the weather, which much like her mood, could change in an instant, and be incredibly deadly if mishandled. Thumera had a legendary hate for dragons, which seems to stem from when a dragon slaughtered a group of her followers. This hatred is passed on to her followers, who have been known to actually hunt dragons as either a rite of passage, or to gain favor with Thumera.  

Ualdin the God of Revelry and Freedom (Life): Ualdin is a god of revelry, as well as freedom and personal expression. Worshipped by artists, musicians, slaves, wanderers and free spirits. Ualdin has always been known to never take sides, often trying to make peace between sides because he disapproves of excessive violence, but doesn’t when it’s used in times of need, like self defense, or a slave revolt. 

Phorus (Grave/Twilight): A member of a trio of death gods, who judge the souls departing for the afterlives, and sorts them accordingly. Phorus takes in the souls who died from age, and sickness, and appears as a kindly old woman. 

Arnir (Grave): A member of a trio of death gods, who judge the souls departing for the afterlives, and sorts them accordingly. Arnir sorts the forgotten and those with strange deaths. Arnir appears commonly as a tired man. 

Baeron (Grave/War): A member of a trio of death gods, who judge the souls departing for the afterlives, and sorts them accordingly. Baeron takes in the souls who died in battle, or due to all manners of violence, natural or unnatural. Baeron appears as a man, without many common characteristics except for the roiling red cloud of souls yet to be sorted, that follows him. Baeron, while he does his duty as a god of death, didn’t want the title, power, or responsibility. 

Oghma (Order/Trickery): Oghma is the god of protection, security, illusions, and the Veil. An odd mixture of deific domains, which lends to being worshipped by an odd assortment of people. Being a god of protection, Oghma is a common household god, many people even if they don’t directly worship Oghma many have a small shrine to him in their home, or carry small religious iconography such as amulets for protection. Guards and those who protect people worship him, and thieves and those who need to hide things or hide themselves also worship him because he is also a god of illusions. This is what the common man might worship Oghma for. However, that last part about the Veil is where stuff starts getting funky. The Veil is basically this magical field that keeps extraplanar threats from just trampling into the material plane whenever they feel like. And while it keeps out a lot of minor threats, the Veil can be broken for short periods of time before it’s repaired. Often through dangerous rituals with sacrifices. Keeping the Veil up and going is incredibly taxing on Oghma. Oghma often appears as a bald man with a beard. 

Agmos (Nature/Life): Agmos is a god of birds as well as medicine. This strange combination comes from when as a young god Agmos had a love for birds and other flying creatures. One day while trying to attend to a sick bird with an injured wing, Agmos discovered they were pretty damn good at medicine and so they practiced this and eventually became a god of doctors, medicine as well as birds. 

The End (Twilight): The End is a concept personified. And is the guarantee that all things will come to an end. Kingdoms will fall, people will die, or you’ll finally quit your shitty job, that one person will stop being rude for no reason. The End doesn’t reveal itself to anybody so nobody really knows it exists, unless they really want something to end. Somebody seeking revenge might wish for somebody's life to end, and the End might reveal themselves to that person and give them the power to simply speed up that process. Being a rather abstract being, most of the Gods don’t even know it exists. 

damn this is so intricate, i love it

thumera seems like such a girlboss omg

[nothing-more-than-hot-leaf-juice]

Ok modern zuko would be an expert at breakdancing and sokka would be the guy who just bi-panicks whenever he does

(whoops, my hand slipped and I accidentally wrote a modern au headcanon turned zukka karate au one-shot) 

Okay but consider this instead: Zuko doesn’t know how to dance for shit and has horrible rhythm, but he is a GOD at martial arts. He’s been doing some type of style since he was a kid and is a full black belt by the time he hits high school. Martial arts was always something he excelled at, but it was also something that made him feel more secure. It was something he could work on to help him protect himself from his home life, even if it wasn’t enough most times. He specifically excels in weapons forms (I’m thinking twin sais) and you DO NOT want to spar with him. Because he may be skinny and shorter, but he’s quick and can hit hard at just the right spots. 

When he was younger he was obsessed mainly because he felt that belt rankings and trophies from competitions were a way to prove himself to his dad, but when he moved in with Iroh (who encouraged him to keep it up and was so proud of how talented and passionate he was about it), he basically used it in place of talking about his feelings. He didn’t talk about his home life or the shit Ozai did, instead, he put all his energy into his black belt levels, learning new weapons forms, and eventually into teaching new students as a junior instructor. 

At school, he’s awkward and asocial and just doesn’t have the energy for people. Zuko has little patience for asshole classmates who ask intrusive questions about his scar or spread rumors about where he got it. He eats lunch in his English classroom and would be a complete shut-in if Iroh didn’t get him to work part-time at the Jasmine Dragon. But in the dojo, he’s focused and is able to direct his energy into improving his forms and teaching younger teens. 

One of his newer students transferred from a different dojo after moving from a different state. He’s actually a freshman at Zuko’s high school but it’s not as if Zuko really interacted that much with him. This kid, Aang, is as talented and dedicated as he is, but has a long way to go to learn all the new katas. Zuko’s been dubbed the ‘scary’ trainer at the dojo. He’s the serious one who will yell if someone is goofing off and everyone’s seen that he has no problem using full force in a demonstration (little kids love him and he’s super nice to them, but he teaches the 12-15 age range). Plus there’s that scar, which doesn’t make him the most initially welcoming person. But this new kid Aang just latches onto Zuko immediately. He says hi to Zuko in the halls at school and works on his katas outside of regular practice times. At first Zuko thinks this sickeningly positive kid is annoying as crap, but warms up to him. He likes that Aang cares about martial arts and isn’t nice as a show, he’s just genuinely nice. 

And maybe he sees Aang hanging around school with a sophomore girl and her brother who just might be in Zuko’s calc class and English class. 

And maybe Zuko thinks this guy is insanely attractive and somehow incredibly funny even though most of his humor consists of the worst puns imaginable. 

But obviously, Zuko hasn’t attempted to ever actually talk to this guy. The most that he could classify as ‘talking’ to the cute, funny guy on the robotics club is the one day in English class when he had to respond to someone’s dumbass comment about Macbeth with what ended up being a ten minute spoken essay about obvious motifs and symbolism. To which Mr. Puns and Ponytail was very obviously paying great attention to and even gave Zuko a smile and thumbs up for. 

Zuko knows it’s pointless to engage. After all, he’s a senior and he doesn’t have any friends anyway. There’s no point in making any this year. Crushing on this guy from the comfortable position of the other side of the room is totally good enough for him. Totally. This is fine. He’s fine.  

Besides, he’s got competitions and if he doesn’t secure the regional championships this year he’s never going to get the chance after he goes to college. And he’s got his kids to train. Aang in particular is gearing up for his first debut into this area’s tournament. 

The tournament’s in October and usually, Zuko focuses on his own matches and performances, but Aang really wanted him to watch his set. So on this day, he stands on the sides of Aang’s zone instead of obsessively going through his katas in a corner.He’s not going to be able to watch the whole set because it overlaps with his own weapons portion, but he stands on the side and gives Aang a reassuring look that, ‘don’t worry, you’ll do great, you’re a talented kid,’ when his student looks over to him nervously. 

And wouldn’t you know it? Aang brought some friends to come watch. And one of them is Mr. Zuko’s Big Gay Crush. 

“Oh, hey Zuko,” are the words that come out of this guy's mouth that give Zuko a near-stroke. And damn if this guy’s eyes aren’t blue and pretty and he usually wears his hair in a ponytail at school, but now he’s wearing it down and Zuko wishes he could take screenshots with his brain because holy moly. 

“Hey.” Is the best that Zuko can get out of his dumb mouth. “You’re Sokka.” 

“Aang invited us to come watch,” Sokka nudges his head to indicate the ‘us’ includes his younger sister, who Zuko doesn’t know the name of. “How do you guys not get heatstroke during these things? It’s like a million degrees in here.” 

“Oh the gi’s pretty cold, I mean, it’s got air and stuff.” 

Zuko decided right there that he would be completely fine with being struck by lightning. Of course, that’s what his stupid brain would come up with. Of course, that’d be the thing he’d say in front of one of the smartest guys in his class. 

They watch Aang perform his set for the judges. Zuko recognizes that Aang took his advice when he said that he wasn’t putting enough force into his hits. He’s never seen Aang be as, well, aggressive isn’t the right word, but he’s definitely putting more power into his form. Zuko wouldn’t admit it, though, but only part of his attention was for Aang at the moment. The other part was for Sokka, who was smiling bright and pumping his fists when Aang completed a row of kicks. 

The small part of Zuko’s brain that wasn’t being taken up by watching Aang or trying to act normal around his crush noticed the clock on the wall indicating that the weapons portion would be starting in five minutes.  

“I’ve got to go do a thing so I’ll just, um, go do that now.” 

“Are you competing too?” Sokka asked. 

To this question Zuko just holds up his sais and raises his eyebrow as if to say ‘it’s a tournament, what do you think?’ Because yeah, he knows Sokka’s super smart, he’s seen him churn out calc answers at the speed of light and noticed his name on the robotics club awards update on the school’s website, but he’d also seen Sokka eat 5 packs of fundip at once on a dare and unironically wear a ‘women want me, fish fear me’ t-shirt for most of junior year. Somehow he had managed to fall for the smartest dumbass on earth. 

“Oh yeah, right.” Sokka eyes the sais and then looks right at Zuko’s face, “Aang says you’re really good.” 

Zuko decides that thinking about Aang talking to Sokka about him was something he didn’t need distracting him during his set. That was something he could anxious about later. 

“Hopefully good enough for those five assholes,” Zuko replies, gesturing to the panel of judges in the weapons section of the gymnasium. To his shock, Sokka laughs. It’s a nice laugh, too. And Zuko really hoped he could blame the blush that was one-hundred-percent creeping up his face on the lack of AC. 

“You know, you’re pretty funny man,” Sokka tells him. Zuko has no clue how to take that compliment, but he really does need to go. 

“Right,” he grins nervously and shifts his left foot around to bounce away, “well I have to go do my thing.” 

“Good luck!” 

That’s where Zuko thinks the beginning and end of his interaction with Sokka would be. 

The weapons portion thankfully goes by age. And since Zuko’s one of the youngest competitions, he gets to go first for his sai katas. This is what literal years of training have prepared him for. At regionals last year, the second advanced kata got him placed high enough to qualify for states. This is what he’s good at. He tells himself that a thousand times before starting his set. 

There’s not a thought in his head as Zuko goes through the form. The sais glide through his fingertips with every jab, block, and hook. The imaginary opponent doesn’t stand a chance. He’s cool and competent and graceful. It’s therapeutic in a sense. There’s enough adrenaline to make Zuko feel like he’s worth something, but more importantly, he knows he’s nailing this. Whatever the judges say about it, he knows that he’s perfected this form after practicing it at least a thousand times over three years. 

The judges agree with him. He’s the first competitor of the weapons portion but there isn’t really a doubt in their minds about who’s going to place. 

Zuko zones back in to the gym after bowing to the panel. He walks off, feeling lighter and letting a satisfactory smile take over his face. 

He expects the hug from Uncle and the proud smile from Sensei Piandao, but what he doesn’t expect is to see Sokka, eyes wide as globes, staring at him from the other side of the mat. 

Because what Zuko doesn’t know is that the second he turned his wrists in his first form during his hooks, Sokka’s brain went into Full Bi Panic Mode. 

And Zuko thinks the one conversation where he couldn’t talk like a human and wanted to die for most of it would be the only time Sokka would decide to willingly talk to him. Zuko is dead wrong. Sokka, in fact, has decided that this, this is the guy his Disaster Bi Brain has decided to latch onto. Sokka’s brain and all his squishy feelings have apparently decided to attach to this aloof kid with the scar who reserved his voice for eloquent, impassioned speeches about dramas and was apparently an actual god with weapons. Sokka decides that Zuko could roundhouse kick him in the side and he’d thank him. And right now Zuko’s looking at him with a dumbfounded expression, prompting Sokka to remember how to function so he can go over to congratulate Zuko and maybe ask if his dojo provides a free trial. 

So yeah, that one conversation ends up decisively not being the end of anything. 

#sorry #not sorry #zukka #zuko #sokka #atla #avatar the last airbender #fanfic #I'm gonna edit and add to this #and probably updated something on my ao3 in the first time in a literal month #thanks babe for the inspiration #the babes are asking #hot leaf content

[couldnt-think-of-a-funny-name]

Ya know, I truly hope Miss Renesmee Carlie Cullen fully dedicates herself to just....being as out there and iconic as possible

first things first- ANYTHING with the loch ness monster on it, she owns. Posters, shirts, jackets, shoes, folders, buttons, iron-ons, there is always at least 5 pieces of Nessie merch on her at all times

once she gets old enough to start high school, the cover story is her and Edward are siblings that Carlisle and Esme took in, and sometimes her classmates will ask her what her biological parents were like and she will flat out be like 'oh, they're vampires' and Edward and Bella are like. 5 feet away trying not to scream

every Halloween she'll show up to school in an elaborate Nosferatu costume

goes out of her way to photobomb people in increasingly ridiculous ways so there will Always be a photographic record of her and in like 100 years she can get a huge kick out of teens on the internet trying to make a conspiracy about her

joins as many school clubs as she can, even if she has no interest in them- she just Really wants a concrete record of herself to exist lmao

ICONIC at school theater though. One of those demon theater kids that come to rehearsal purely to cause chaos and nothing else, but her voice is incredible so she secures every lead. One time she somehow managed to star in a show while also playing in the school band for it- her classmates still have no idea how she pulled it off

Always brings blood out in public in a CLEAR THERMOS and it stresses her family out so much but everyone else thinks she's just like, weirdly into tomato juice so the Cullens can't stop her

to everyone's surprise...her biggest chaos enabler is Jasper lmao. everyone thought he'd be a logical, responsible uncle but they're just. A Problem together. He'll 100% assist her in any prank she wants to pull, he gets her fake id's when she wants to sneak into a club with friends, he bails her out of jail without telling her parents, they figured out if she gets high and he reads her feelings he'll get high too and it's. So fucking funny.

she's always carrying some random instrument around school- like for a while it's a guitar or a harmonica, fine, but then she'll start lugging a cello around, a tuba (she doesn't even play, she stole it off a guy who was annoying her) and it escalates until one day she's wheeling a piano around the building. no one's even sure how she got in in the doors of the school. She keeps running kids over in the hallway with it

You know the Catherine Tate Lauren Cooper skit with David Tennant? Where she's being a terrible student and then perfectly recites Shakespeare? 100% Nessie

when she starts getting dates Jacob keeps trying to wing man and be over supportive and give her a ton of girl advice and it's embarrassing as hell so one day when he was on a spiel about How To Woo A Lady she looks him in the eyes and goes 'oh really? did that work on my mom?' and the Cullens fucking LOSE IT. Jacob had to go live in the woods for a few days because he couldn't cope

Emmet and Jasper: arrive to school in their jeep. Rose and Alice: arrive in a convertible. Edward: arrives in his dumb volvo. Bella and Jake: arrive to school on motorcycles. Nessie: arrives to school on a unicycle while juggling

one year she ended up getting nominated for prom queen and Edward read the minds of the teachers tallying the votes so he knew she won and he and Bella were so excited!! they're like we're gonna take so many pictures of our baby looking like a princess! And then she emerges from her room, actually drenched in pigs blood. Like she just did it to herself and went to the dance and accepted her crown like that

she regularly commits crimes against fashion. If she comes out of her room and sees Alice contemplating turning herself over to the Volturi, she KNOWS she's picked a great look

somehow gets ahold of Aro's cell number and sends him selfies of her blatantly breaking vampire laws captioned 'whatcha gonna do'. he keeps blocking her but she keeps managing to get through to him somehow

she illegally sells soda out of her locker and does people's homework for cash, while also paying other people to do her homework for her. she organizes every single senior prank. she's never gotten a detention in her whole immortal life because every teacher just Adores her for some reason

had 100% used her powers for deserved evil before. Like, if someone's being a dick at school, she'll sneak into their room at night and give them nightmarea threatening them to be a better person lol

sometimes she'll show up at the hospital unannounced and ask Carlisle, in front of his coworkers, 'yo can I raid the blood bank?'

her bedroom looks like a library. every wall, floor to ceiling books.

she's been publishing trashy romance novels under a fake name for almost 40 years now and no one in her family knows

one birthday Jacob takes her on a trip to vegas and they get wasted, at some point they were laughing about how ridiculous their lives are and they're like 'wouldn't it be fucking hilarious if we had a baby'. they then black out, hangover style, and wake up like a week later with a payment on her card to a fertility clinic. Jacob's like 😱 and Ness is just like 'you get to be the one to explain this to my parents'

Their kid is absolutely hilarious, they were correct, and at some point they realized 'wait...drinks blood..doesn't sparkle...can shape shift...we've somehow created a classic pop culture vampire' lmao

Edward had to threaten them to get them to not name the kid Vladimir

Also to be clear: Nessie and Jacob have the EXACT same dynamic as Will and Grace. that's canon.

says its her goal to star in a live action all female production of mamma mia and Carlisle is like 'honey you know you can't do anything on broadway or in hollywood' and she's like, 'no, in real life. I'm gonna go to greece and attract a bunch of women with abba songs' and he's like,,,,,ah

she loves all music but she goes out of her way to Only play stuff she knows Edward hates lmao

one day she remembers she doesn't need to breathe and can see under water and just. books herself a ticket to scotland and Finds The Loch Ness Monster

she actually personally finds a lot of monsters and cryptids like her hybrid aura just attracts all kind of weird shit and she LOVES it. She stops writing trashy romance novels and starts writing autobiographies of her traveling and hanging out with paranormal beings and everyone just assumes its fiction so she becomes a best selling fantasy author lmao

100% she's very into witchy stuff and only like...half in a trendy way. She's like what if on top of everything I've got going on I can cast spells? Think I deserve that power

when she's a couple decades old she catches Edward looking grossed out one day and she asks him what's up and he's like 'I really dont need to hear what creepy teachers think about my daughter' and she's like. oh. Dad we are gonna get SO MANY pedophiles arrested shdndjdn she gets him to expose teachers and she baits them then calls the police. queen.

She finds out she can get tattoos but they fade completely out of her skin within 5 years so she's always getting crazy tats

posts selfies on social media of her just like. hanging out with mountain lions or chilling on top of the space needle. her classmates think they're all photoshopped obvi but it drives her family insane

imagine you're 15 and you're on a nice hike in the woods and you come across your one classmate half naked, sacrificing a bear in some ritual, blood dripping down her face, bigfoot chilling on the rocks behind her filming the ritual on her phone...like on one hand, what would you do, but on the other hand. you've known this girl for a bit and you aren't surprised at all

anyway. stan Nessie Cullen.

#twilight saga #renesmee cullen #nessie cullen #breaking dawn #twilight #molly mumbles

[dibs4ever]

After the latest Nightwing issue I got this thought about Dick’s parents. Before they were together......

He said she said

John splashed water on his face, his Icy blue eyes reflecting at him.

He could also see Meili Lin approaching him from behind. She had slipped on her silk robe before wrapping her arms around him, hugging his backside

“Thank you.” She whispered “The gentle love...I needed it after what Tony puts me through.” She said softly

Jon turned to face her “No Thanks necessary. I’m glad I could make you feel better.”

She could read right through him “You love her. Don’t you? You feel guilty?”

Jon looked up at her questionably “Love who?” He released her and sat on the edge of the bed. She stayed out in front of him

“Mary Lloyd.” She continued

Jon let out a chuckle that was drawn up of both nerves and fake acting to draw away suspicion “Mary is my trapeze partner. We aren’t dating. What do I have to feel guilty over?”

Meili Lin moved to sit beside him “Cause you wished you were more.”

Jon looked at her for a long while “Mary.” He sighed “Is it that obvious? We can’t ever be though” he waved

Meili grabbed his hands “Why not?”

Jon shrugged “Mary is-“ he looked off in thought “Mary is amazing, she’s smart and talented, she picks up on routines like it’s nothing. She is great at communicating with the audience. She’s insanely smart with math and science which you’d be surprised how much that helps with putting together routines and she’s honestly the most beautiful person I’ve ever met both inside and out.” The smile on Jon’s face grew wider and wider with every passing word he spoke about Mary.

“And you feel you aren’t honorable enough for her?” Meili asked

Jon shook his head “I don’t think -I know. Mary deserves the best life possible and I can’t give that to her. Besides--she has a boyfriend back home. A guy her parents approve of. They're trying to get him to convince her to leave the circus.” he explained

Three days later Melili was sitting in the bleachers Tony was observing practice and she had been instructed to sit there still with her head down.

That didn't mean she couldn’t watch her two favorite acrobats practice though. She was in awe of the pair. Jon had mentioned the other night that the two had only been working together for a little over a year yet you'd never know it. The way they moved on the trapeze was as if they were working with one mind. Somehow they were connected. Reading each other without words needing to be spoken. They were graceful and swift. Performing so beautifully together by watching them you almost felt as if you were intruding on a romantic moment.

She couldn't help. but listen as the pair climbed down the post, their feet safe on the ground floor “You were great Mary the way you jumped off that post, whew you got more guts than I do.” Jon said pushing his dark wavy hair back

She smiled “Well I can say the same for you, Grayson, I know when I jump you’ll always catch me”

Jon grinned at her “You’ve got that right. I will always catch you, Mary. And if I ever don’t? Well, it’s cause I’m falling along with you.”

Mary laughed lightly “Please with those muscles? I can’t imagine you ever dropping me.”

Jon flexed “Oh these Ol’ things? If you think my catching you is impressive you should see the other things they’re capable of.” He winked

Mary smiled, rolling her eyes “Oh Jon, what am I gonna do with you?” She bopped his nose with her index finger

He chuckled “Why don’t you tell me after I bring us back some waters?”

She nodded “Sure it’ll give me time to think of an answer.”

Mary watched him walk out of the tent before noticing Melili eyeing them. Mary strode over to her sitting beside her. They’d had a handful of conversations -enough to be friends.

“How’d we look from down here? Think it’ll be good in the show tonight?” Mary asked hopefully

Melili nodded “You two were fantastic.”

Mary smiled, the girl had a gorgeous smile. One that could warm anyone’s heart. Her smile alone allowed Melili to see why Jon was so smitten with her.

“Jon” Mary sighed blissfully “He’s an amazing performer. He has more experience than I do. He’s a 3rd generation acrobat. His grandfather was among some of the very first circus performers. Me? I’m just a gymnast-ballerina who didn’t get into dance school after High school so I opted to join the circus to follow my performer dream instead.”

Melili shook her head “Those American schools don’t know what kind of talent they passed up.” She paused “So you like working with Jon?”

Mary nodded “Whats not to like? In fact, I love it. Jon is caring. He’d give the shirt off his back to help someone in need. He’s dedicated to his work, he’s funny and great at comforting people. Not to mention he is ridiculously charming and handsome. I don’t think I’ve yet to meet someone who doesn’t like him” She added

Melili smiled “So what’s stopping you?”

Mary shrugged “Fistly I don’t know if he feels the same. I’m almost certain he doesn’t. Come on a 3rd generation acrobat vs. the girl who’s 3 years younger than him and ran away to the circus as an act of rebellion when her family told her she had to go to college since she didn’t get into

Dance school? Plus he’s way too good-looking for me.”

Melili shook her head “I don’t know about that. You’re breathtaking “

Mary smiled down at her feet “That’s very kind of you.”

“Your boyfriend isn’t why you wouldn’t work?” Melili asked

Mary shook her head “I like my boyfriend a lot but I mostly am with him hoping it’ll help me forget about my little crush on Jon.

So far it’s not working” she let out a small chuckle

Melili tilted her head “Why don’t you just tell him?”

Mary quickly shook her head “Oh no, and ruin our amazing partnership. Look Jon ...he sleeps around. Not in a bad way, I know he respects the women he does get with. He’s not out there hooking up with random audience members at every city we visit -although he could if he wanted to. But he’s never tried anything with me....kinda a dead give away he doesn’t like me like that.”

Melili furrowed her eyebrows “You mean you two have never-“ she wiggled her finger

Mary shook her head “No—-even if I kinda want to. Which is weird for me cause I have this thing where I can only have that sort of attraction to people I REALLY like-not sure if there’s a word for it. I don’t even have that attraction towards my boyfriend. Which makes me feel so guilty” she threw her head back

The girls watched as Jon reentered the tent, two full water bottles in hand. “Melili thanks for listening to me rant. I don’t have many close friends being on the road all the time.”

Melili smiled “No problem. If I can give you a word of advice before you start rehearsing again?”

Mary nodded “Please do”

“Tell him how you feel” Melili nodded toward Jon who was waiting at the trapeze post, giving the two girls privacy “You never know, you might uncover why he treats you so different than other girls.”

Mary flashed Melili a smile before standing and making her way back to the ring to join Jon.

#dick grayson #nightwing #batfamily #dickbabs #barbara gordon

[onestowatch]

Aidan Bissett Wants You to Know It’s Okay to Be Alone [Q&A]

Photo: Brooke James

Aidan Bissett’s sunny and effortless disposition contrasts the chaotic ode to classic rock that is his latest track “Dumped.” The introspective and cathartic nature of his latest offering speaks to age-old feelings of heartbreak while doubling as an optimistic reminder that cloudy days cannot last forever.

Releasing soft-spoken tracks followed by headbanging, classic-rock inspired hits, this young artist’s music truly feels alive, shifting and evolving from one release to the next. With a soulful dedication to “music first, lyrics second,” Bissett is steadily creating his own lane defined by a relentless drive for experimentation. We had the chance to talk to Bissett about his creative approach, his latest single, “Dumped,” and plenty more. 

Ones to Watch: So, tell me the story behind “Dumped?”

Aidan Bissett: Wow, that’s a good question. I wish when I wrote it, it came from like, I had just been dumped… Well, okay, I had sort of been dumped. I don’t know how to explain that, but let’s just say I was in a relationship, taking time off, in a sense. When we were writing it, it was me, my friends, Ryan and Sean, and we were writing in a zoom session for like three hours. It was not a good song, and none of the three of us wanted to say it was a bad song. So, we were like, “OK, we are going to go take a break for a little.” 

Then I pulled my guitar off the wall and started messing around, because when I get bored, especially in sessions, I like to try and take my mind off things. I’ll play random chords and sing random lyrics, like ad-lib over them just for fun. So, I started playing like three chords that are all throughout “Dumped,” singing this hook line that—it’s going to sound really weird—“I’m taking dumps all the time.” The guy I was producing it with was like, “OK, gross,” but that actually could be really cool… what if we change it to “I’m getting dumped all the time.” And I was like, “Woah.” That’s kind of how it started and we were on a roll and wrote the whole song in two hours.

And the song does mean a lot to me, because I have actually been dumped, multiple times. It sucks, it’s not a fun feeling, so every time I listen to it, it is kind of an “f you” type of song. Like, “yeah, I got dumped but I’m better off on my own anyway.” I always like that feeling better than wallowing in sadness. So, for anyone who does listen to it, I hope that it helps bring you out of the mourn and into a new light.

In the music video, you are seen reading an “Idiot's Guide To Love.” What was the last book you read?

I do love reading, I’ve always liked reading. I have not, in the past year, read a ton of books, which sucks because I actually do like reading. Well, okay, my senior year of high school I read like 13 books but a lot of them were for school. But they were still good books! I’m in the middle of reading Dune, which is very good so far. So, hopefully, I can finish that before the movie comes out. But yeah, I do like reading… when I have the time to sit down with my ADHD mind.

“Dumped” is a noted sonic transition for you. Can you tell me about how you approach your genre-spanning sound?

I don’t really like putting myself in one genre. I’m in a certain lane in the sense I do indie-pop, I do alternative, but I don't want to do straight pop. I feel like it's such a box, and it’s so limiting. I just love exploring different sounds, so even from the start, I put out “Different,” and then the second song was “Worst Girls Of All Time,” which was a completely different sound than the indie-pop wave that “Different” is. So, me putting out stuff like this after “Communication” is me exploring new sounds. To be honest, the things I like to hear always change, the bands that I’m listening to are always changing, and I take a lot of inspiration from a lot of different bands. I just love trying new things. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, but it just keeps me on my toes instead of just doing the same formula over and over again.

What are you listening to right now?

That’s a good question, it’s kind of all over the place. There’s this one girl, Remi Wolf, who I’ve been non-stop listening to… I have been listening to her for a minute. When she put out her first EP, I loved it. But now, she’s putting out these new tracks and Solomonophonic, her producer, he’s just incredible and her voice is incredible. They are doing so many things that just aren’t normal in this time of music; it’s just so her own lane. I find that really inspiring in the sense that she’s carving her own path and not following in the line of others.

I feel like I’m always listening to Wallows no matter what. I always have them ready to go. COIN. Role Model’s rolling out new stuff so I’m excited for that, he’s kind of taking a change in his own discography. [The] sounds that he is doing are definitely a lot different from his earlier stuff. This guy, binki. He’s actually opening for Role Model on this tour. Oh my gosh! His music’s insane, so cool. It’s got so many sounds going on, similar to Remi Wolf, there’s so much going on, you’re like ‘wow.. I’ve never heard something like this before.’

For those who don’t know, you write, record and produce your music all by yourself. Can you walk me through your creative process?

Yeah, I’m very musically-driven. Everyone has their own thing, I feel like a lot of artists, like the Olivia Rodrigo types, are lyrically-driven. I’m definitely music first, lyrics second. So, when I sit down to write something I try and get something I latch onto. I’m like, “Oh, this sounds cool. Lyrics could sound cool over this.” Anytime I go into a session or I’m recording by myself, I try to lay down some form of music, and then I’ll freestyle lyrics or freestyle melodies over the top, or pick a melody I like and throw lyrics over that melody. Whether that’s a hook or a verse, that kind of just depends on how I’m feeling. It’s definitely a bit unconventional compared to other artists. I feel like artists are a bit more put together when it comes to writing music just because I’ve only been doing it for like a year-and-a-half. But I have my own process, and it works. Every time I write something I learn something new. I’m excited to see, even a year from now, what my process will be… and even if it's completely different or efficient, who knows?

Tell me about the influence of music in your childhood and the decision for you to be a musician at a young age - you started playing electric guitar very young - what was your household like? Musical family?

My dad wanted the kids in our family, I have two other siblings, to play an instrument for two years during our young adult life. He wanted us to play piano before we got to pick, so we had two years of piano and then we had to pick an instrument. So, my sister went and played two years of piano and didn’t really stick with it afterward. Then, it was my turn and I was like, “Well, I don’t really want to play piano, can I play guitar?” And since I was the only one who asked, who expressed interest in a different instrument, he was like, “Sure.” I started in second grade and I’ve stuck with it the entire time. I took lessons for years, and that’s how I kind of got into the classic rock scene. My dad was a huge classic rock fan so he showed me all greats… and that was all I listened to for years. It definitely had a large impact on what I did. I would even play in little recitals, and I always played classic rock songs like AC/DC or Guns N’ Roses.

It wasn’t necessarily a musical household, like my dad isn’t musical, my mom isn’t musical. The reason he wanted us to play an instrument is because his mom made him play an instrument as a kid, so he was like, “You guys get to do that, too.” But it is true, one of us ended up using it.

What do you want people to take away from “Dumped?”

It’s an amp-up song. I want them to feel energized, to be happy with yourself. Getting hurt in relationships happens all the time, but it's okay to get hurt in a relationship. It’s kind of how you bounce back, and I want this song to be like a bounce back. Like, you hear it and, “Oh! This is me bouncing back! I don’t need to sit and cry anymore, because that’s not fun.” Sitting and crying is okay, everyone’s done it, but there’s a point that you reach, in that break-up phase, when the crying needs to stop and you need to go out and live and be the person that you are, independently. So, I would hope that it inspires you to be your independent, wonderful self again.

Is there anything else you would like to say about your music, or in general, that you want to take the chance now to say?

Well, I’m sitting on a lot of songs. So, I’m excited to get all the rest out, and again, everything is so diverse. All the music is so diverse, I just feel like each song is its own thing, which I really enjoy. I feel that’s really unique to my own music, where you’re getting something new every time. I’m moving to LA. That’s the other thing. So, if anyone sees me in LA, please stop me and say hello!

#aidan bissett #dumped #interview #pop #indie pop #alternative pop

[quasimyth]

12, 3, and 4?

#12: Every good Pokémon handler can be said to have a strong bond with their Pokémon companions. But what are the specific things that strengthen your character’s bond with their partners?

Volo’s Pokémon are so strongly bonded to him because they’re just as fanatically dedicated to his goal as he is. They went through an extreme rough patch during the ten years he spent just trying to cope with the knowledge he received, but once they Saw the Truth like he did, they began to align more with his goals and ideology. They’ve been united for a common purpose for almost 500 years, and none of them are stopping now. Which is actually really terrifying once you think about it, but hey, at least he treats his Pokémon well?

Cynthia’s Pokémon are so strongly bonded to her because as a Vessel of Giratina, they can feel how deeply she cares for their very souls. Giratina in my and Knight’s shared lore is a god of the dead after all, and so Cynthia can see into the nuances of souls to understand someone and their mental states. Volo has some of this power as well, and in fact taught her how to bond with her Pokémon this way. But Cynthia definitely got better at connecting with her Pokémon soul-to-soul than he is--something which truly impresses him.

As for Cyrus……well. He entirely lacked a bond with his Pokémon after he chose to be a world-destroying nihilist because “nothing matters anymore not even bonds,” but before then, he used to actually be a really good listener to his Pokémon’s needs. He was always a very low-key kind of guy, a man of few words even before he became emotionally dead inside, but he used that silence to listen to and observe the world around him. This was a great asset for him as a Trainer, especially since most Trainers prefer to talk over their Pokémon rather than to listen.

#3: What kind of rival would your character make to someone else?

Volo would pretend to be a friendly rival, but actually seek to undermine his rival at every turn. Whether it’s withholding advice from them, or subtly trying to bring down their confidence, he’ll be a real bitch in sheep’s clothing. Want evidence? Just look at his behavior toward the protag of PLA. That was as close as he got to a rivalry given his insane level of strength, and he spent the whole time not caring about their needs/wants, only using them as a pawn, and literally trying to kill them when they stopped complying…

TL;DR If Volo considers you a rival, watch out. At best, if you appear almost as strong as him but aren’t a threat to his plans, he’ll quietly drag you down out of sheer pettiness that you’re at his level. At worst, if you are a rival in the sense that you’re as strong as he is and oppose his goal of overthrowing Arceus, he’ll be planning your homicide.

#4: What kind of rival does your character have?

Cynthia is rivals to my Wallace on @hisvanity! They’re great friends who constantly push each other to go higher and harder. He got her into Contests too, and while he’s more of a mentor to her in this aspect, there have been quite a few times when she’s proven a challenge for him to defeat--a testament both to her skill and the quality of his teaching. She’s generally a kind-hearted person and it’s hard for me to picture her having a “bitchy” rivalry…though I will say, it’s definitely possible. She does have certain tendencies as a mini Volo, after all!

Cyrus I can imagine being unfriendly rivals with Lysandre. The two of them want to destroy the world, but with completely different rationales behind their actions. Cyrus would regard Lysandre’s ambition to wipe out all of humanity to save a select few as just one more symptom of creation being evil……never mind the fact that Cyrus arguably wants to do worse.

#slyginkgo #headcanon. || CYNTHIA #headcanon. || VOLO #headcanon. || CYRUS

[wovenstarlight]

rambling thoughts about hyj (canon vs ywbk)

yoojin is so so fascinating as a character to me... i think about him 24/7 he occupies every available inch of brainspace i have. like this man and his issues am i fucking right. so i’m going to talk a bit about how i see him working and how i chose to portray him in my time travel series

so canon hyj, right. he’s like. he’s such a funky narrator. he’s like if i occupy my mind with endless work i will avoid falling into the pit of depression and immense grief from all that i went through pre regression. but also what i went through pre regression wasn’t even that bad. but also everyone who hurt me back then is assholes. but anyway ignore all that because i have work to do.

and on top of that the way he interacts with people is very... i won’t say it’s utilitarian but he’s very focused on what he can do for people and what they can do for him. in a currently-unpublished but translated chapter, he says that (SPOILERS!) he’s asked his thoughts on shj, and he answers that sung hyunjae is a useful man, and yoojin has to be polite to him on the off chance he needs to rely on him in the future. a very “he’s useful” kind of answer. this despite the obvious chemistry he and shj have-- not even in a romance way (though i do like jinjae), they just? get along? they banter easily and they have similar senses of humour and even though sometimes hyj gets exasperated at his behaviour, he still chats with him in a friendly way all the same.

and yet he’s also like SHJ Is Useful And That’s It. I Don’t Like Him At All. and he saves him in his contacts as “skill” and generally acts like he’s completely uncaring. which, compared to how much love he has for hyh and then for byr, i understand- shj at the moment quite honestly does not rank up there at all compared to those two? but he does rank somewhere, i think, because then hyj gets annoyed and upset when shj doesn’t show up to help him, and past a “shit, i needed his specific skillset for this situation and now i’m not sure how to manage this”, he does react in a very... i’ve been let down by someone i had high hopes for, kind of way.

so basically he’s got this whole, i don’t care about people1, thing going on, but then he also very much does care. and hyj is a caring person! fuck, shj even says to hyh at one point that han yoojin-gun has a bad habit of letting people into his heart too easily. what that tells me is that hyj has like.... SEVERE trust issues. he won’t allow himself to care about people, to be aware of any feelings he holds towards people- he makes himself only think about the skills people offer him, about how he can use them. and even then, whenever possible, he does things himself and he avoids relying on others, sometimes because he “doesnt want to bother them [with adult matters]” (that one talk with yoohyun) and sometimes because he just doesn’t really trust them with whatever needs doing

1. as an aside i do think hyj’s moral sense is very funny because like. if anyone touches his fucking kids they’re as good as dead! he’ll kill them! he cares about no one but his kids and everyone else can die! [the world is in danger] ah, fuck, maybe he cares about people who aren’t his kids. he doesn’t want the world to die. but don’t BRING IT UP!!! JEEZ!!! HIS PRIDE!!!! but also if you get blacklisted for whatever reason then Die literally Die he will kill you himself. it’s a very funny, he’s a good person but oh, he’s also a little bit insane, actually. that sort of situation. i love him. go crazy go stupid, sweetie, you’re doing great.

WHICH IN CONTEXT MAKES A LOT OF SENSE, WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT PRE REGRESSION! like hyj was raised with the experience of his parents, the people in the world whose unconditional support he was meant to have, being tossed down the drain because he chose to take care of yoohyun. so he’s already like, yeah, i gotta rely on myself. he has that understanding that.... he’s gotta rely on himself first and foremost, rather than trusting people who are supposed to be taking care of him. not just caring for him, actually, caring for him and yoohyun, because then he basically has to dedicate his life to yoohyun growing up. he’s been acting as yoohyun’s primary guardian from age Baby. and age 17 to 22 was literally just him dropping everything he was doing for himself in favor of getting a job and making sure yoohyun stayed in school and was fine. yoojin himself dropped out of school so he must’ve lost his whole friend group and support system. and then post-dungeon shock, he gets thrown aside and pretty much discarded by yoohyun without so much as a goodbye from the kid, which-- wow! ouch! that shit must have hurted! talk about being fucking burned, jeez. and even after that, spending three years running after yoohyun, trying to “regain” his trust and love, yoojin would’ve seen his Unawakened self as ‘not good enough’ for s-rank yoohyun. and therein comes the “if it’s not useful it’s worthless” mindset. and then he Awakened as f-rank-- already a blow!-- and then on top of that he gets backstabbed by the dozens of people who were like “you’re an s-rank’s brother! go get Awakened, i’ll bet money on you Awakening to a good rank!” and then pulled out on him, leaving him with idk how much debt (this is all mentioned in early chapters somewhere, i’ll pull citations later). man, i’m not surprised he has trust issues.

so that’s already part of his difficulty trusting other people. but then it gets compounded when you think about it further because like, His Fucking Skills, Man. he has a whole skill focused around “if you make an emotional connection with someone and then they die, it’s useful to you.” holy fuck! no wonder he’s allergic to bringing people into battle alongside himself! no wonder he throws himself into dungeons solo just to get freebie skills that allow him to be some semblance of independently combat-ready! every time he makes a connection with people he’s wondering if one day he’ll get their dying memories! you ever wonder how many people he had on his list of “keyworded individuals” pre-reg? he’s stated that he used to be at the back of dungeon parties with a spear (the need for weapons with a longer reach because of his low defense, obviously) and so someone else always died before he did? how many teammates that he cared about has he watched die in front of himself, how many times has he gotten the dying memories of those teammates, how many times have the rest of his living teammates turned on him after finding out his ability and accused him of getting the dead person killed on purpose so that he could have their skills? like hyj brings it up when he’s first explaining last repayment, and hyj cares about people so easily that he’d never do it and yet he still thought of it. which means other people would undoubtedly think of it very easily. and they wouldn’t be as forgiving when there’s a body count right there.

just, last repayment basically took hyj’s (largely yoohyun-induced) fear of losing the people he cared about and slammed his head directly into a concrete wall. thanks for that, king. so now hyj forces himself to constantly asses people on a “what skills do they have? how useful are they to me?” basis if they try to get close to him, rather than allowing him to just go “friend :-) i care them“. and it makes him reluctant to get close to and rely on people, because again, Danger Lies Therein

and all of this also must have made him be used to... being unloved, i guess (from his perspective- yoohyun cared, even when he left, but yoojin didn’t know that until yoohyun died). because most if not all of the people who have cared about or pretended to care about him have later left him. he’s got abandonment issues up the wazoo. when people say they care about him (stw, shj) he reacts with distrust. when he reveals the slightest imperfection he’s convinced they‘ll leave him, regardless of how much kindness he’s shown them in the meantime-- remember when he told myeongwoo he’d lied about them being childhood friends? complete confusion that myeongwoo didn’t immediately renounce their friendship. (SPOILERS FOR UNPUBLISHED CHAPTERS!) and later, it happens again with yerim- he tells her that he wasn’t actually a friend of her parents, he just wanted to poach her for haeyeon-- and then wonders why she doesn’t react with betrayal, when what she says is “i’m glad! ahjussi was so kind to me, i was worried i’d bewitched him somehow. i’m glad he actually cares about me. it makes me happy you were so kind”. he expects to lose the people he cares about, if not by outside causes, then of their own volition.

though on the outside causes front, i suppose it does help that like, all the people he’s growing close to now are hypercompetent high-rankers and therefore less likely to get themselves hurt. versus last timeline’s f-rank and e-rank friends, who’d probably routinely get killed, rip. but then there lies the possibility of yoojin thinking “if i pull them into danger then they’re in that much more danger” (see: Literally The Whole Reason Pre-reg Yoohyun Died. he went to help hyj and got in over his head trying to defend hyj and keep hyung alive, when he should’ve been able to defend himself with ease. hyj and diarma both acknowledge this.) which, again, plays into the reason he tries to avoid relying on other people.

tl;dr hyj’s interpersonal relationships are fucked!

but anyways moving on to talk about my fic versions of canon yoojin (hyj): han hyunjae (hhj) and han yoojin jr. (hyj jr). and how i’ve given them both problems disorders based on hyj’s issues

so like right off the bat we have hhj’s major issue, repeatedly brought up in-fic-- his issue with relying on people. let me pull a quote about this from the author notes of ywbk chapter 11:

some of you might be wondering why the yoojins are so [pretends to be okay and centers self on taking care of others], particularly [hhj]. my thinking for that part was mostly... in canon we see yoojin surrounded by people he knows are competent and capable, almost all of them adults. even when he's "raising" them, he has some degree of confidence in their ability to watch out for themselves. plus he's had time to grow out of being the only one in charge of the family; he's seen his brother come into his own and he's pulled back from his caretaking role

but here, [hhj]'s been directly thrust into raising two kids (and yeah even if [hyj jr]'s 18 he's still very much a child). not only that, but his knowledge of the future makes him (in his eyes) more knowledgable than just about all the folks around him, even the adults. mostly, he doesn't want to drop all his baggage on them when he knows they won't be able to relate (and in some cases, he doesn't want them to live with that knowledge). so he kind of distanced himself from everyone and pushed himself further into the caretaking thing as a way of coping, without realizing that's what he was doing.

we have hhj who, as hyj’s au twin, has the same trust issues and forced utilitarian attitude rising from pre-reg experiences. and then we dropped him into a situation where that “prioritize work and handle all issues myself” attitude is-- i don’t want to say rewarded, exactly, but it’s definitely useful for him in the timeline he’s in. he’s the oldest han brother, so handling issues naturally falls to him anyway as the head of the family; with both boys in school, he’s the breadwinner of the family, so prioritizing work is good! he becomes a super-efficient worker and it satisfies the needs of everyone around him!

unfortunately yoojin is a caring person, so hyj jr realizes that hhj is very much overreaching when he’s not even begun to address the effects of the Very Obvious In A Non-Dungeon World pre-reg trauma. so he’s like. hyung. what the FUCK, dude. take it easy and rely on people once in a while.

and physically, sure, hhj can rely on them. he can get yoohyun to do chores, he can get junior to take on a part time job so funds aren’t a constant worry. he gets better at trusting them to manage regular life stuff, honestly! he’s pretty good about that sort of thing now!

but then it comes to emotional needs, and like, hyj jr is a kid? and hyh is a kid? so any trust hhj builds there is going to be a little one-sided, since he can’t dump all his emotional worries on children. whatever yoojin is, he is a good caretaker who addresses his kids’ needs, and the kids do not need to be hhj’s therapists.

and hhj doesn’t really have friends his own age, and even when he does (hello jiyeon and hamin and orv gang), none of them can quite- Get it, because there’s not really an easy way to explain “i have deep-seated trauma about my family leaving me and about the people around me dying brutally” without, uh, (a) a LOT of trusting them to take you seriously and not snitch (b) explaining some Context about his youth and also the dungeons. (like yeah he could say “i’m scared everyone i care about will die on me in horrifying ways, particularly if they try to get close to me”, but that’s an irrational fear (because why would everyone die horrifyingly, why would getting close to hhj be a death sentence)-- unless you know that “everyone i care about” consists of Hunters and getting close to hhj involves getting involved with dungeons, and then his fear is very real and very understandable, even without knowing about pre-reg. there’s a reason why, even though hhj had four years to grow close to jiyeon, it still took the dungeon shock occurring for him to finally tell her even the smallest bit about pre-regression.

(from jiyeon’s perspective, she doesn’t notice much amiss, because the things hhj is keeping from her are mostly pre-reg related. he doesn’t mind talking to her about his current life, though he is reluctant to talk about some personal issues with her. hamin is a little more distant, because he is still hhj’s boss, so hhj tries to stay mostly cordial with him. orv gang is a more casual relationship- not really the type where he can dump his personal issues on them; and anyway, they’re a tight-knit friend group themselves, so hhj feels a little more on the fringes, not excluded but not fully included, either. a little like hsy does, but without the whole “i have to play the bad guy of the team” mindset.)

and this distance he creates without anyone realizing, this inability of his to fully trust them with all the details of his life, is what results in the freakout around the dungeon shock. the whole, You Are Actively Dying, if you don’t explain yourself right now i’ll finish the job. (though i don’t blame him for not trusting them with his trauma! i don’t really think he’s ready to talk about it. especially with people who don’t yet have any context for even the start of the story. hopefully this’ll change post-dungeon shock, though.)

unfortunately even with his newfound ability to talk about things more freely, he’s still in a sticky situation-- over the years, he’s developed his ability to rely on people for non-life-and-death situations like “earn money on the side”. but sending his brother to take out the trash is very very different from sending his brother to fight dungeons and other Hunters without backup. is very different from needing to risk a life and choosing his brother’s. so despite his hard-won Relying On Others abilities, they don’t extend to dungeon world situations.

and what does this mean, practically? it means, like canon hyj, hhj is going to persistently overreach himself in trying to fight alone-- he’ll try to be competent, to take on adversaries, to build strength in every possible avenue so that he can keep yoohyun and hyj jr and the rest of his family out of danger. he’ll try to be a one-man army, just to defend the people he cares about.

(ONE DAY. one day he will learn that it may not be safe to care, he may still be hurt, but that doesn’t mean he should cut himself off in advance. he’s still allowed to care. he’s still allowed to be cared about. oh, hhj. i want to beat him up but more than that i want to hug him.)

and then there’s hyj jr. oh, junior, you’re a delight. i love the concept of a yoojin who’s never had the trauma of being left behind by yoohyun, who’s gotten to flourish and become everything he has the potential to be, fighting at yoohyun’s side and being amazing. it’s too bad the method i chose to achieve this through also left our prodigal son with extreme issues.

(FAIR WARNING: THIS PART WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR LATER PARTS OF YWBK VIS A VIS SOME CHARACTER DECISIONS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. mostly since hyj’s time to shine hasn’t come through quite yet, so we don’t have as much of him)

so our boy junior may not have the various traumas induced by pre-regression, but he does start off with the same parental neglect that makes him hesitant to rely on seniors. and when his parents die, it’s about a week or so before hhj shows up, which junior spends realizing that he’s really going to have to give up his life and completely dedicate himself to guardianship, huh? and then hhj appears, and rips that role out from under him-- not just the “head of the family” role, even the “primary guardian of yoohyun” role. because yoohyun trusts him instinctively, and looks to him with just as much respect as hyj jr. junior becomes desperate to regain that role he’s lived all his life, in whatever form he can, resulting in the chapter 11 blowup. and past me already covered this:

as for junior, he's suddenly gained a new brother out of nowhere who is demonstrably bad at taking care of himself; on top of that, the "head of house + reliable caretaker" role junior's played almost all his life has been stolen out from under his nose without his realizing, and he's not really been able to adjust to suddenly being made to depend on yoojin (and, to a degree, jiyeon). yeah it helps a bit that yoojin's his elder self but even so. so he's attempting to re-assert himself in the role he's familiar with, particularly now that he's due to [go to mandatory service and] not see any of these people for months

he’s trying to figure out where he fits in this new family setup, trying to figure out what he can do for his family. and he would’ve started out on a track similar to hhj, trying to be everything for his family, except then the dungeons start appearing.

and what does hhj reveal? that hyj jr is destined to be an f-rank. that most of the useful skills hhj has, the hard-won power that he has, it’s all earned from other places that hyj jr won’t be able to replicate, most likely. and hyh-- hyh is going to be the pride of the family, as always. s-rank, top of the nation, worldwide hero, peerless and amazing.

hyj jr starts feeling like he’s falling behind. he starts feeling a lot of pressure to keep up. as the dungeon shock hits, he decides he’s going to keep up, one way or another.

and then there’s the aftermath of the shock, and all hyj jr can do is- is sit in the hospital room and wait for hhj to be okay. there’s monsters on the streets, yoohyun is out there killing them and making a difference, and all hyj jr is doing is sitting around. all he can do is offer yoohyun emotional support when he gets back, all he can do is keep jiyeon sane when she calls for daily checkins, all he can do is wait for the nurses to check that hhj is still alive. all he can do is support the people around him without actually acting out himself.

all that determination he had during the shock doesn’t get killed by the realization that he can’t actually do much, with his strengths; by the realization that he can’t be a one-man army like hyung is, sometimes. he decides, instead, that he’s got his handful of things he can do, so obviously the only path left is to do them perfectly.

he throws himself into learning to fight; he throws himself into playing support whenever possible (though allowances are made for being bratty, sometimes, the remaining anxiety from the aftermath of the shock leading to him acting out); he throws himself into working for haeyeon, to the point of becoming the deputy guild leader. he throws himself into perfection so hard that he takes the slightest failure to meet his sky-high expectations hard. (”Why can’t i fight high-ranks without being afraid like hyung can,” says local E-rank without his hyung’s L-rank Fear Resistance) because he only needs to be good at these few things, he can’t do anything other than these few things, so why can’t he at least do this perfect, y’know? why can’t he keep up with his family? why is he never good enough?

(what if he gets left behind again for not being good the way they want him to be? he’d only wanted to take care of yoohyun, and look where that got them.)

so basically, hyj jr winds up with the same Need To Be Enough that hhj has-- but where hhj needs to be able to do Everything, hyj jr needs to be able to do Perfectly at his (self-assigned) Roles. where hhj wants to do whatever he decides needs doing, hyj jr has no illusions about his abilities; he knows he can only be the supportive brother, the hard-working guild leader, the caring friend, the perfect whatever. everything else is something he won’t dare to try for, because he Knows he’ll never be enough. and if he ever fails even slightly at the things he can do, it’s an instant game over, anyway.

congrats, junior, you’ve given yourself clinical anxiety!

but yeah, that’s. yoojins.

#star.txt #hyj let me study you [hand emojis] #my first exam is tomorrow and yet i wrote an essay for an hour and a half. time to do statistics now #i don't claim to be good at character meta. but i will still write it. #ugh i guess i should tag this with the fandom tags #han yoojin #my sranks #work: yesterday will be kinder

[thenamesblurrito]

More teachers! Because I realized I hadn’t posted them yet either smh I just don’t have any idea what I’m doing.

Rung hasn’t seen an Academy like this since he worked with the universities of Crystal City! Truly, it’s brilliant what they’re doing here, with all frames and functions mingling. It’s no wonder he was hired as a counselor with such a clash of cultures, they’ll need the very best, and it’s been his job for so long he’s forgotten when he started! He oversees the mentoring portion of the curriculum, coordinating 13 teachers and their subjects, although he himself is not a teacher as providing both therapy and grades would be a conflict of interests. It also means he won’t have to remember to do the grading, as he’s a little scattered at the best of times. It seems he misplaces or breaks his glasses every day, sometimes even switching his pair with Maccadam’s! His filing system isn’t the best, either, but it’s alright because no one seems to check up on him, aside from that nasty mech Froid who fancies himself his rival. The one thing he does remember perfectly is the problems his patients face, and how he’s going to help them, starting by giving them some handmade model kits for them to put together.

Wing is surprised to be a teacher, but life has brought him to such a myriad of places and occupations that he’s learned to jump in enthusiastically. From model to athlete to charity spokesperson to astronomer, he’s dedicated himself fully to whatever has come his way, with all the grace and benevolence he believes a high class Crystal City mech should have. As an adherent of the sect called the Circle of Light, he’s eager to see a community of diversity and mutual aid. Unfortunately, not everyone seems to agree with him. He tries to negotiate peace in whatever spats and arguments he comes across, but it still gets depressing. One student he’s particularly concerned with is Deadlock, full of anger and bitterness. If there’s anything he can do to ease this youngling’s struggle, he will. His jet alt is unusual for a size 2 frame, but he’s considered gorgeous instead of ungainly.

Perceptor finds his role of teaching scientific theory to be a good fit for him, if his fellow faculty members weren’t all completely insane. That one inventor Wheeljack has a running competition with the actual principal of whose class accumulates more lab injuries! It’s highly unprofessional and he wishes he could work with them in a more measured manner, but he must admit the results of their work is stellar, and the students learn well. His own child Sureshock is a student, and he couldn’t be more proud of her growth in learning and making friends. With a size 2 tracked electron microscope alt like his, he’s always been meant for science, and this Academy has afforded him a chance to meet and mingle with other scientists he never would have met otherwise.

Wheeljack is a bit of a maverick in the scientific world. His ideas are too big, too bulky, too brilliant, and enough of his experiments have ended in, er, “catastrophic deconstruction” that he’s banned from using several volatile materials, and also blowtorches. But here, at the Academy? He’s finally acknowledged for the genius he is. He almost missed the opportunity, as Shockwave had tried hiring his creator Queue first, but Queue passed it on to him, and he’s never looked back. The other faculty are great, especially Shockwave, although Perceptor could stand to cycle down some, and it would be nice if Ratchet stopped hitting him with a wrench every time he ends up in the medbay. It’s not his fault the lab blew up! Teaching chemical engineering is fantastic, along with that friendly competition with Shockwave about who can push their experiments to the limit. Size 2 sportscars aren’t usually scientiests, but with a processor like his, there isn’t anything else he could be.

#rung #wing #perceptor #wheeljack #transformers #transformers redesign #tf original continuity #faculty #i didnt mean for it to end up this way but i love how percy is watching wheeljack like #dont u dare do something stupid rn i know u want to

[twentiethcenturymoviesandtv]

The Goonies: The Characters

No matter how good a story is, how great the cinematography, or how subversive the genre-usage, a movie cannot stand without use of characters.

Characters are perhaps the most vital element of any story ever told.  An interesting plot helps a movie greatly, but without a use of compelling characters, it falls flat on an audience who doesn’t care about the well-being of the people pushing the story forward.  Viewers need flawed, interesting people, moving the story and trying to overcome conflict, in order for a movie to feel satisfying.

Or, they can have a bunch of bickering children stumbling and screaming their way through caves, led by Head Goonie: Michael “Mikey” Walsh.

Only Sane Man Mikey is the glue of the group, bringing the Goonies together in an adventure, instead of just a bunch of kids hanging out in someone’s living room.  He’s got the initiative, he’s the Determinator, and the Leader, and also, surprisingly, the Heart, in a rare combination.  He’s the one jumping at the call, the Kid Hero armed with the Rousing Speeches in his desperate attempt to save the Goondocks.  It would have been easy to make Mikey the most boring of the bunch, but he’s not, if anything, he’s the most interesting.  He’s certainly the most inspiring.

Mikey is the driving force of the entire story.  Despite the fact that he was reluctant to let his friends in the attic in the first place, once he’s there, he’s instantly pushing for his end goal.  As much as Data is the inventor of the group, when you get right down to it, Mikey is probably the smartest of the bunch.  It’s Mikey who figures out where they need to go, Mikey who leads the Goonies through the tunnels, Mikey who convinces them to persevere, to not ride up Troy’s bucket, to leave Willy’s private stash alone.

He’s dedicated to the point of almost insanity at times, judging from how Brand has to pull him back from going back after the treasure when the cave collapses.  He’s also very interested in One-Eyed Willy himself, and acts like he knows him, or understands him, anyway.

“One-Eyed Willy. Hello. I’m Mike Walsh, you’ve been expecting me. Haven’t you? Well, I made it. I beat you. I got here in once piece. So far. So, that’s why they call you One-Eyed Willy. One-Eyed Willy. We had a lot in common, huh, Willy? You know something Willy? You were the first Goonie.”

Apparently, Mikey sees a little bit of himself in this pirate, perhaps as a fellow leader or adventurer, or even a fellow outsider.

Like I said, Mikey could have been the blandest character in the bunch: just filling in as ‘the leader’ of the group, but instead, he’s as quirky as they come.

Despite the fact that this is an ensemble film, with every character sharing about the same amount of screentime, Mikey is clearly the protagonist, no questions asked.  He is the character with the goal here, and as much as it benefits everyone else, it’s clearly his mission, his quest.  The others are just along for the ride.  Mikey is the character the audience is meant to identify with the most: he gets the most insightful dialogue and we as viewers identify more strongly with him as a character.  

Although he’s one of the last characters introduced to the audience, it’s very clear right away who the story is about based simply on the Protagonist Problem: basically, do they have one?  And while it’s clear that the other Goonies aren’t happy about moving away, none of them are taking it as hard as Mikey is.  He is, immediately, the character with a Problem, and he’s also the only one to jump at a solution.

He’s the idealist.  He’s cool under pressure (for the most part).  He easily takes charge, despite his tamer personality in comparison with the others, even over the older kids, and he’s nice to boot.  His goals are easily defined, he’s active, going after his goals and overcoming obstacles, he seems to be the perfect protagonist, if it wasn’t for one thing…

Mikey never really changes.

Sure, he throws away his inhaler by the end, which could be interpreted as symbolic of development, but honestly, Mikey is very much the same kid at the end of the film that he was at the beginning.  Same personality, same worldview…even the same goals, which is another big protagonist no-no.

Most great protagonists have goals that change from beginning to end of the film, as a sign of their own developing character, but Mikey never does.  Instead, he ends the film getting exactly what he initially set out to get: enough money to save the Goondocks.  Sure, he has the relatively minor goal along the way of ‘staying alive’, but in the grand scheme of narrative stakes, to Mikey, clearly the treasure is all that matters.

The question is…is this a bad thing?

Well…no.

The thing is, Mikey is only one in a group of seven main characters, and while some of them have more screen time than others, when you come down to it, that’s a lot of characters to balance, meaning a lot of dialogue split up, and a lot of audience focus divided.  In other words: Mikey doesn’t get development because he doesn’t have time.  There’s just too much going on for the audience to stack character growth on top of it.

While there’s not nearly enough time from a script perspective, there’s also just no time from a linear perspective, either.

The story of The Goonies takes place around, give or take, a day, and while there are a few stories where development is done over that time, (Such as 12 Angry Men, actually) the fact is, twenty four hours is a really short period of time to change who you are as a person, or even change your goals.  It’s very difficult to cram in the story, the characters, and everything else in such a short time span, and heap a deep, meaningful character arc on top of it.  There’s just no time.

So, does that damage the film?

Not really.  Like I said in the genre article, The Goonies is a roller-coaster adventure of a film, without much in breaks.  There’s a lot going on all at the same time, and honestly, in order to keep the pace up, it’s for the betterment of the film that they didn’t try to cram Mikey’s character development within.

To be fair, it’s not as though he doesn’t change at all.  But he changes about as much as the rest of the cast do, in very similar ways: kind of like his brother.

Brandon “Brand” Walsh fills out the other side of the sibling dynamic between himself and Mikey, the older brother who gets annoyed with him, but is also supposed to be taking care of him.  As much as he starts out the film looking like he’s at least trying to be an Aloof Big Brother, when the chips are down, his Big Brother Instinct comes out, protecting Mikey from actual danger.  Beginning the film as somewhat of a Butt-Monkey, ending up Hoisted by his Own Petard in the form of his exercise equipment, at first, Brand looks like he’s not really going to be terribly involved in Mikey’s Goonie adventure.

In the end, though, Brand turns out to be One of the Kids.  But for careful viewers, that’s not really a surprise.

Even Brand’s first scene, where he interacts with Mikey, it’s pretty clear that although there’s a bickering dynamic between them, there’s also sympathy and affection.  Brand knows that Mikey doesn’t want to leave, he understands and he tells him so.  He hugs him and brings him inside when Mr. Perkins comes by with the papers to sign over the house.  And sure, Brand bullies him a little and shoves him around and Mikey repays the favor by tying him to a chair with his own exercise equipment and running off, but that’s typical sibling stuff, as anyone with siblings can tell you.

Although Brand does initially try to ‘take charge’ and occasionally gives the marching orders, in the end, he leaves most of the leading to Mikey, which is a little strange.  Once or twice he takes over, and is the most protective of the group, but while he may do most of the ‘planning’ here, he lets Mikey’s goals and priorities take center stage for a while.

Brand’s other chief ‘item of note’ concerning characterization is, of course, his relationship with Andy.

It’s mentioned fairly early on into the film that Brand is supposed to go out with her, and we see her once or twice, but it isn’t until she and Stef show up to check on Brand that we get to see any of that relationship.  It’s sweet enough, aside from them constantly choosing the wrong time and place to attempt a first kiss, with Brand taking a side-role of protector for Andy specifically, again, showcasing that defensive side that comes in handy for the rest of the group from time to time.

But there’s more to the Goonies than the Walsh kids.

Probably the most recognizable of the characters from The Goonies is Lawrence “Chunk” Cohen.

Chunk has most of the most memorable lines and scenes in the film, elevating himself in pop culture beyond simply the ‘Fat Comic Relief’ and klutzy, cowardly character that the movie seems to be pigeonholing him into at first.  See, even though Mikey’s the one with the goal and character arc concerning the treasure, Chunk’s character arc revolves around the Fratellis.

Of all the Goonies, Chunk is the first one to get involved in the story.  He is the first character we see indirectly interact with the villains of the story, when he spots the car chase, and by the end of the film, he is the character that has interacted with them the most, being drug around, interrogated, and locked up by them as a result of being left behind by the rest.  Fittingly, his arc has very little to do with One Eyed Willy, and everything to do with the criminal family that he happens to fall into, to the point where they’re almost his arch-nemeses instead of the rest of the Goonies.

While an initial viewing could give viewers a very basic impression of Chunk as just the ‘token fat kid’ of the group, the fact is, he is one of the only characters who gets any real growth.

Chunk is established almost right away as the Boy Who Cried Wolf, a teller of tall-tales that have rendered him completely unbelievable to his friends and the local police force.  By the time he has an actual story to tell, nobody around him is ready to buy it, and honestly, it’s hard to blame them.  Some of his stories do sound ridiculous, and even the one that he’s telling now about the Fratellis would be hard to believe, if the audience didn’t know for certain that he was telling the truth.  Of course, although he is able to feel vindicated when the Goonies discover he’s telling the truth, his tendencies to exaggerate backfire on him spectacularly when the police don’t believe he’s in trouble, and he’s left on his own.

Well, not quite on his own, but more on that in a minute.

Chunk primarily holds up the B-plot of the film on the villain’s side, arriving at the end to play hero and bail the rest of the Goonies out, proving to them, and then the rest of the authorities at the end, that this time, he was right, and proving his bravery after an entire film of attempting to chicken out.  But as impressive as his last-minute heroism is, Chunk isn’t in this alone.

Despite being separated from the group fairly early on, sparing them from his complaints, hunger, and clumsiness, Chunk finds another ally in Sloth, the Fratellis’ brother, and befriends him, forming the ‘Brains’ to Sloth’s brawn, coming in to save the day and even adopting him at the end of the film.

Chunk is the most memorable Goonie, not just for the Hawaiian shirt and plaid-pants combo that he’s rocking, but because he has a lot of very memorable and iconic scenes, possessing a pretty unforgettable (and loud!) personality and an arc: from zero to hero, when nobody, not even his fellow Goonies, expected it, complaining through the entire early adventure, and overall displaying an overwhelming desire to Not Be Here, making it all the more impressive when he goes after them with Sloth to rescue them.

But there’s more to the Goonies than just the leader and the breakout role.

Clark “Mouth” Devereaux is not the easiest kid to get along with.  A Deadpan Snarker Jerk with a Heart of Gold, Mouth is the member of the cast with potentially the most Meaningful Name: he never shuts up.  A classic case of ‘With Friends Like These…’, Mouth comes across like the most antagonistic character in the film other than the actual villains at times, abrasive and loud, bullying the rest of the group and picking fights with Stef.

Unfortunately, Mouth’s…mouth, can get him into trouble.  Quite often, in fact, like when he can’t let well enough alone and ends up getting threatened with having his tongue cut out.

With that said, though, Mouth does have his uses, and they’re not all to do with smuggling treasure in his most distinctive trait.

Fittingly, language is where he comes in handy: he’s the only one who can read (and speak) Spanish, leaving him as the obvious choice to translate the map, and also to translate the Walsh’s housekeeper’s exclamations that the treasure is not entirely lost.  Without him, the treasure hunt is impossible.

Mouth may want the treasure as badly as the rest of them do, but he is far less idealistic than Mikey is about it.  He’s the last of the kids to believe Mikey in the beginning, and while it can be chalked up to his overall personality, there is a dash or two of Hidden Depths implied about him, notably in the wishing-well sequence:

“Yeah, but you know what? This one, this one right here. This was my dream, my wish. And it didn’t come true. So I’m taking it back. I’m taking them all back.”

Armed with a comb and occasionally appearing as though he’s deliberately striking a pose in order to look cool, Mouth is actually one of the first to start falling apart when their lives are in danger, crying and panicking with the best of them.  (Again, he’s only thirteen.)

Despite having the loudest personality, Mouth is content to let Mikey lead the group, hanging back and picking on all of them, but by no means not one of them.

There is, of course, one more thing of note about Mouth as a character, and that is his dynamic with Stef.  The pair carry a belligerent tension, bickering and snapping at each other throughout most of the film before demonstrating genuine affection towards each other (with a deleted scene referenced involving Stef promising to keep Mouth alive when they get pushed off the plank).  It’s a hint at something going on between them for sure, but it’s also a fairly good example of Mouth’s relationships with everybody: he’s a lot more bark than bite, irritating and loud for sure, but a loyal friend who’s more than ready to help you look for treasure, even if he doesn’t 100% believe in it at first.

Like the rest, he doesn’t change a whole lot from beginning to end, with the adventure perhaps simply knocking some of his cockiness away and even leaving him a little nicer, but again, just like Mikey, it’s hard to say: this is all over the course of one, very exciting day.  More on that later, though.

After all, Mouth’s hardly the last Goonie of the bunch.

Richard “Data” Wang is the inventor of all things Awesome but Impractical, falling somewhere between Bungled Inventor and Gadgeteer Genius.  The Smart Guy, Data is good with his Homemade Inventions for sure, but there’s a bit more to him than that.

While the other Goonies (especially Chunk and Mouth) can best be remembered for being annoying or clumsy, or dropping things, or talking too much or too loudly, or setting off booby traps, Data is actually pretty even-keel.  He’s excitable, and he really doesn’t want to move to Detroit, but overall, he’s fairly content to be the least talkative Goonie, letting his Dynamic Entries speak for themselves.

He’s a smart kid, and he actually is the only one who one-ups the Fratellis at any time, using his inventions to trip them up and hurt them, after the same inventions saved his life earlier.  Data certainly does have a flair for the dramatic (best seen when telling Mikey that he won’t be taken alive) and is an energetic kid, proving himself as reckless as the rest, but he has a good head on his shoulders.  He’s the one who discovers the counterfeit machine, and it’s fairly safe to say that without him and his Slick Shoes, the Goonies probably wouldn’t have made it out alive.

Like the others, Data doesn’t change much – in fact, he probably changes the least.  This could be due to the fact that again, this is all over the course of roughly 24 hours, but it’s also possibly just a side-effect of being the most even-keeled of the bunch: he’s quieter, and therefore, we hear less from him, meaning we see less of his flaws.  Still though, Data’s a solid character, hugely entertaining, likeable, and memorable.

Now for the other outliers:

Andrea “Andy” Carmichael begins the story as first The Cheerleader and Dude Magnet, and then The Load.  Clearly not used to this style of Goonie Adventure, Andy kind of becomes a Hysterical Woman throughout a good portion of the journey, needing to be comforted a few times in order to keep her head.  It’s hard to blame her: between the skeletons, the guns, and getting locked in a tunnel is pretty frightening, but Andy doesn’t do a whole lot (especially early on, during her Heroic BSoD) and manages to not retain much of a personality throughout most of the film, chiefly appearing at first to serve as a token female character and to be in love with Brand.

But there is more to her than that.  

Even early on, Andy demonstrates a little more backbone when she elbows Troy in the lip and ditches him to go find Brand, and although she initially just follows the Goonies to hang out with Brand (and then to escape the Fratellis), she ends up becoming one of them when she makes the choice to stay instead of riding up the wishing well, sending up his letterman jacket instead.  It’s a big step for her, a demonstration of her true alliances (a deleted scene was to include her being sworn in as an official Goonie at this point, actually), and sets her up for the rest of the film as being more ready and willing to actively participate in the adventure.

Near the end, Andy has to come through to save everyone, as she’s the only one who can play the piano even a little bit, and it falls on her to play the bone organ in order to get them away from the Fratellis and towards the treasure.

Andy actually has some more growth than a few of the others: she steadies out and truly does change, becoming a true Goonie by the end of the film, proving herself more capable than when she began.  Although she doesn’t seem to have a stake in the treasure, she’s just as determined by the end to get it, and celebrates with the rest of them by the end.

In a way, she shares that with the other Goonie outlier: Stef.

Stephanie “Stef” Steinbrenner doesn’t really seem to serve a whole lot of purpose within the story besides being another girl Goonie so there isn’t just one.  She’s a friend of Andy’s, the Tomboy to her Girly Girl, who splits off to join her to find Brand and then ends up swept along with the rest of the adventure, and there doesn’t seem to be much more to her than that.  She’s a Sarcastic Devotee, who feels Surrounded by Idiots: she trades snark with the best of them and tends to feel (rightfully so) that the people she’s around aren’t exactly geniuses.  She’s loyal though, and sticks by Andy and the other Goonies until the end, proving just as determined to get to the treasure and get out alive as the others.

Stef serves as a reality check, another cynic who’s just as frightened as the rest of them, like Andy, without a stake in the final treasure, and while she’s never officially branded a Goonie, the implication by the end is clear.  She sort of takes on a belligerent ‘big sister’ role throughout most of the film, and although she doesn’t have much of an arc, she is entertaining to watch, which honestly sums up the entire cast pretty well.

The characters of The Goonies do not exactly ‘grow’.  There are small things: Andy’s growing courage, Chunk being finally right, Mikey’s growth as a leader, Data’s inventions being useful, Mouth taking some of his snarky edge off, and Brand being a better big brother, but honestly, these are very minor things in the grand scheme of the story.

The characters in The Goonies are not deep, whether it’s the actual Goonies themselves or the villainous Fratellis, who are mostly characterized by striking a balance between being comedic and being a genuine threat.  There are no huge life-lessons being learned by these people, and they aren’t really doing a lot of growing so much as they are running for their lives.

In a film that is essentially a ‘roller coaster’, The Goonies is not designed to have seven major characters with fulfilling character arcs: like I said before, there’s simply no time.  It’d bog the story down for each character to have a moment of growth, to change significantly from beginning to end.  In this case, the best thing about the characters is actually their consistency from beginning to end: there’s little change, and as a result, the audience never has to recalibrate to something else going on within the story.

In other films, this would be a huge problem.

A feature-length film where there is no discernible character change is typically not a good call, but in this case, it works for multiple reasons.  The story is too fast paced and focused on too much to allow for consistent breaks in plot that allow for character moments, and with the extremely short timespan, a big change would actually come across as forced and unrealistic.  The characters are children forced into a tight spot, where their chief concern is their own lives.  There simply isn’t the option open for development.

However, where the film lacks on ‘growth’ of characters, it makes up for in everything else.

The chief purpose of a character is to be there for the audience to like, to be invested in.  There are actually plenty of films where characters don’t change a lot, classic movies that are well-liked because the characters, although unchanging, are hugely entertaining and interesting.  Films like Back to the Future or Ferris Bueller’s Day Off don’t suffer from characters who don’t do any changing due to the fact that the main characters are fun to watch and have the audience’s attention and interest.

Which is just what The Goonies does.

Everyone can find a Goonie to relate to: the leaders, the loudmouths, the geniuses, the attention-seekers, everyone has a place here, and even adults who have hopefully grown out of some of the more immature kid-like behavior, there’s still the glimmer of familiarity in these kids.  Like I mentioned before, we relate to these kids, and we want to see them win.

The Goonies as a story is designed to have simple, relatable characters for the audience to remember, and if that’s the goal, then it works perfectly.  There are no deep characters with complex motivations here, and that’s a good thing: it fits the tone of the film consistently and coherently.  Every character here is likeable in some way, memorable, for sure, and sticks with an audience enough that the audience wants to stick with them too, and wants them to succeed.

In the end, the characters of The Goonies make you care about them, make you root for them.  They carry the story and do it all in a way that’s plenty of fun to watch, and when it comes down to it: that’s exactly what characters should do.

Whether you like or hate them, a character is there to make you care, and The Goonies certainly do their job.  They leave a strong impact, and as a result, we remember these characters and their quirks long after the movie is over for a reason.

Join me next time where we’ll be looking at the 80s cultural impact on the creation of The Goonies.  Thank you so much for reading, and I hope to see you in the next article.

#The Goonies #The Goonies 1985 #80s #1985 #Film #Movies #PG #Adventure #Comedy #Family #Sean Astin #Josh Brolin #Jeff Cohen #Corey Feldman #Kerri Green #Martha Plimpton #Ke Huy Quan #Richard Donner

[crystalelemental]

Sharena: “It’s so cool that you can hear people’s thoughts!  Would you mind reading a few more?  I’m really curious.”

Sara: “Are you sure that’s what you want?  Knowing the minds of others isn’t always a blessing.”

Sharena: “You don’t have to tell me everything, just what their general thoughts are like!  Here, let’s try this one.  Ephraim!  Over here!”

Ephraim: “Princess Sharena.  What can I do for you?”

Sharena: “This is Sara!  You may not believe it, but she can read people’s minds!”

Lyon: “Ah, what a marvelous power.  Could you give us a demonstration?”

Sharena: “Try reading Ephraim’s mind!”

Ephraim: “Yeah!  What number am I thinking of?”

Sara: “His thoughts are entirely about food and battle, with occasional blips to protecting his sister and Lyon.  It’s a clear yet hollow voice.”

Ephraim: “Hah!  That’s not even a number!  It was-”

Sara: “Sixty-nine thousand four hundred and twenty.  I know, I’m trying not to dignify it.”

Ephraim: “...Lyon, I think she might be psychic.”

Sharena: “Ooh!  What about Lyon?”

Sara: “His voice is muddied.  He’s uncertain about his path in life, and the thoughts in his head get jumbled around and he doesn’t quite understand even what he wants anymore.”

Lyon: “That...is true.  It is hard, knowing what course to take in my life.  I want to do what is best for my people, and to lead them well, but I fear my own weakness and seek solace in-”

Sara: “Both.”

Lyon: “I...what?”

Sara: “You want both of them.  It’s okay, Lyon.”

Lyon: “Wh-what do you mean?”

Sara: “Eirika and Ephraim.  I know your heart’s desire.”

Ephraim: “I don’t follow.”

Sara: “The voice of his thoughts.  It’s maybe 20% the dedication to his kingdom, 80% lust for the twins.”

Lyon: “Wh-what?!  That’s not-!”

Sharena: “That is substantially higher than I expected.”

Lyon: “What do you mean than you expected?!”

???: “Alright, I’ve heard all I need to hear.  Book him!”

Lyon, now handcuffed: “What is going on?!”

Fiora: “Horny police.  We’re gonna have to ask you to come with us.”

Lyon: “But I’m innocent!  I’ve been falsely accused!”

Plumeria: “Right.  I’m sure the empath got confused about your feelings in particular.  You mortals make me sick.”

Ephraim: “Wait, since when are you two friends?”

Fiora: “Since always.”

Plumeria: “She’s the only one of you vulgar creatures with a sense of decency.”

Fiora: “She may dress like a slut, but she understands the importance of having a strong moral backbone.”

Sara: “Confusion and inner turmoil.  A deep desire to be loved, coupled by a crippling revulsion for what that love would typically entail.”

Sharena: “Are you talking about Fiora or Plumeria?”

Sara: “Yes.”

Niles: “Oooh, handcuffs this early in the day?  Naughty.”

Fiora: “Niles, you were just let out for parole.  Do you need another trip to the station?”

Niles: “Only if you’re gentle~”

Plumeria: “How disgustingly vulgar…”

Sara: “He cries out for attention, and resents those for whom connetions come easily.  He seeks the comfort of others but fears their rejection, and acts distant and silver-tongued to mask his true nature.”

Niles: “You...are really taking the fun out of this.”

Odin: “Haha!  She has you pegged, my friend!”

Niles: “Kinky, but also wrong.  You try dealing with her.”

Odin: “With pleasure!  A great magus like Odin Dark has nothing to fear from-”

Sara: “Bridges.”

Odin: *runs off crying*

Sharena: “Aww, now I kind of feel bad…”

Sara: “I told you, this power is not always a blessing.  It can cause harm to those around you, and at times, harm to the one reading such thoughts…”

Sharena: “Really?  How would it-?”

Yune: “Yo, we havin a party?”

Ephraim: “Sara here can read people’s thoughts, so we were testing it out.”

Yune: “No fooling?  That’s awesome!”

Sara: “...”

Sharena: “I think we should be done for the day, though.  Sara seems tired out.”

Yune: “Awww, lame.  Hey, another time though, right?  ...kid?”

Sara: “....”

Yune’s thoughts: *through muffled static*

Yune: “Kid?  You good?”

Sara: “Sharena, may I say a swear?”

Sharena: “Huh?  Well…”

Sara: “May I say a swear, Sharena?”

Sharena: “I...yes?”

Sara: “What the fuck are you supposed to be?!”

Yune: “Hah!  That’s about right.”

Sara: “Stay back!  Back, creature of madness!”

Yune: “Come on, I’m not that scary!  Tell her, Edelgard!”

Edelgard: “She is a perpetual blight upon my existence.”

Yune: “...so that’s how it’s gonna be, huh?”

Sara, turning to Edelgard: “You...”

Edelgard: “It’s nice to meet you.  My name is Edelgard von Hresvelg, heir to the-”

Sara: “I know all about you.  Your voice, it’s...very forceful, yet strangely calming.”

Edelgard: “Is that so?  I see my reputation precedes me.  A most encouraging discovery.”

Yune: “No dude, she’s just empathic.”

Edelgard: “No wonder she’s terrified of you.”

Yune: “Now that’s just mean!”

Sara: “Yet your voice, it carries an edge of...resentment.  A deep, unbridled anger against the world.”

Edelgard: “I...suppose that is a fair assessment, yes.  Still, I have no intention of harming you.  And despite her appearance and mannerisms, neither will Yune.”

Yune: “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?  After all my sage guidance and moral support.”

Sara: “The two of you...it’s like a tempest.  One burning in its own fury, ready to rage against the world.  The other a maelstrom of conflicting thoughts and emotions; a cacophony of chaos.  What are you?”

Edelgard: “She is a chaos goddess.”

Sara: “A chaos...goddess?”

Edelgard: “In her world, she is one half of the goddess that created the world.  She embodies chaos in all its forms.”

Sara: “And she...is on your side?  You are allies?”

Yune: “Allies is too distant.  We’re friends!  Great pals.  Right, Edelgard?”

Edelgard: “She latched on to me as soon as I arrived, and I have yet to make her leave.”

Yune: “Edelgard.  Can you not?  Right now?  I’m trying to connect with today’s youth.”

Edelgard: “Today’s youth aren’t interested in vacuous nonsense.”

Yune: “Then what are they interested in, smartypants?”

Edelgard: “Revolution.”

Yune: “Bah, you say that about everything.”

Sharena: “Well, I guess technically she is part of Leif’s liberation army.”

Edelgard: “There!  You see?”

Yune: “It’s a whole kingdom of heroes from across the multiverse who spend their lives doing battle!  That’s not really a representative sample from the general population!  Not everyone’s so invested in overthrowing the government!”

Edelgard: “The church.”

Yune: “To-may-to, to-mah-to.  Point is everyone around here should be down with smashing the system.”

Sara, wide eyed: *giggles*

Edelgard: “Is that a laugh I hear?”

Yune: “Does that mean we can hang out now?!”

Sara: “You two are absolutely insane.  Never speak to me again.”  *leaves*

Yune: “...great, you scared her off.”

Edelgard: “I had nothing to do with this!”

***later***

Lysithea: “And let me guess, the flying gremlin was with her?”

Sara: “Indeed it was.”

Lysithea: “That thing freaks me out.”

Sara: “Finally, someone is talking sense around here.”

#fire emblem heroes #feh headcanons #sara #sharena #ephraim #lyon #fiora #plumeria #niles #odin #yune #edelgard #lysithea

[spaceskam]

Happy birthday @insidious-intent! I love and adore you and I hope your day was fantastic. Sending good vibes via fic ❤️

ao3

.1.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously what?"

"Seriously, why do you think that is legal? I just have questions and concerns."

Alex snorted a laugh, wiping his face dry. He was drenched in sweat after a run and clearly hadn’t expected Isobel to be there. But she was and she made a show of appreciating his physique. It had him blushing and she took pride in that.

"Concerns for who, exactly?" he asked, leading the way into his house.

"Every single person you pass," Isobel insisted, "You probably caused a whole block of people to swoon, caused a couple guys to question their sexuality."

"Okay," Alex laughed, shaking his head, "That's not a thing. I'm gross and sweaty."

"Bold of you to assume that's not exactly what we all need to get us going," Isobel said. Alex continued laughing it off, but he couldn’t hide the fact that he clearly liked hearing it. She figured he didn’t get gased up often enough. Which, in itself, was wild.

He deserved it.

.2.

Kyle did not deserve to be swatted while holding a beer and he stood by that.

"And I thought you were bad at keeping the heart eyes under control when you looked at Liz," Jenna scolded. Kyle scoffed in defense.

"What are you talking about, I have no heart eyes happening right now."

"Oh, sorry, it's 'fuck me' eyes and they're targeted at your best friend," Jenna corrected. Kyle rolled his eyes but didn't really look away from where Alex was bent over the pool table. It wasn't his fault. He was straight, not blind.

"They aren't 'fuck me' eyes. I can appreciate without wanting to touch," Kyle said simply. Jenna hummed her disbelief.

“Does he know it’s looking and not touching?”

“Yeah, he does,” Kyle confirmed, taking another sip of his beer as he watched Alex basically pose while leaning against the pool table. Alex always seemed to be posing, always knowing how to make his body look appealing. Kyle occasionally wanted lessons.

“To each their own, I guess,” Jenna laughed. He let her think what she wanted.

His best friend was a hot piece of ass, someone needed acknowledge that. Who better than him?

.3.

"Since when does Alex write?"

"Since always, what do you mean?"

Max read over the poem that Alex had written for the fiftieth time. He'd left his notebook and, out of curiosity, Max had peered into it. He couldn't help but feel like he was reading some of the most beautiful words he'd ever read.

"I've never read anything like this from a guy who doesn't talk about it," Max said. The poem was about tortured, undying dedication, packed with beautiful metaphors Max could've never come up with and the sheer love that jumped off the page could make even him swoon. "This is beautiful. Like, seriously. I didn't realize he was so talented."

"I can't tell if you're jealous or infatuated," Liz laughed. Max just read over the words again. He didn't really know which one it was either.

“You think I could get him to read this to me?” he asked. Liz gave him a look. “To hear his inflection.”

“Uh-huh,” Liz said, eyeing him, “I guess I could ask.”

Max nodded, re-reading the poem. He really needed to see how Alex looked when he read it.

For the inflection.

.4.

"Thank you."

"No worries."

"No, seriously, thank you."

Liz looked up to Alex in more appreciation than she had in awhile. Honestly, it'd been too long. He'd done so much for them, for her, and she'd never thanked him for it.

"You're a good person and I'm sorry I haven't acknowledged that lately," Liz added. Alex shifted in slight discomfort at the blatant praise, "So thank you."

"You'd do the same for me," Alex responded, shrugging his shoulder. The problem was she wasn't so sure she had proved that to be true.

"Yeah. I will now," she promised, “You sacrificed your family for us. I’ve got a lifetime to repay you for that.” Alex shook his head.

“You are my family,” he corrected, “Blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb, right?”

Liz huffed a laugh, feeling tears build up in her eyes. How the hell had she gone so long not noticing he felt that way? She saw him as family, but on that level? It was hard to gauge. But she supposed it was a process. 

“I love you, Alex. I’ve got your back.”

“And I’ve got yours.”

She hoped she could keep that promise.

.5.

Michael bit down on his thumb and tried to remember how to breathe.

"Stop staring at me like that," Alex laughed as he looked up from his keyboard. God, his laugh was beautiful. He was beautiful. Whatever Michael had done to lead up to this moment, listening to him play music and sing and laugh all while happy and shirtless and beautiful, was absolutely worth all the bullshit that came before it.

"How am I supposed to stop staring at you?" he asked, ignoring the way Alex avoided eye contact, "You're beautiful."

"Stop," he said, shaking his head while his cheeks slowly began to turn red, "I'm not."

"Sorry, have you looked at yourself? I could fill an entire notebook with an itemized list of all the beautiful things about you," Michael insisted. Then he actually considered it. It sounded like a great past time.

"I'm just me," Alex said.

"Exactly,” Michael insisted, “It’s you. And you’re incredible.”

Alex shook his head again, dismissing it. He wondered how hard it would be to convince him that he was perfect. Probably insanely difficult. It was Alex. If there was anyone in the world who was more stubborn than Michael himself, it was Alex.

He was determined to make him believe it.

.+1.

Alex stared at his shiny new degree.

After working his ass off dismantling his family’s alien killing legacy and finishing up his run in the Air Force and going to school again, he’d finally finished them all up within the span of a few months. He felt like he could relax and actually put work into getting a normal job. One that he wanted.

He’d gotten a degree in music education and, while he knew it was extremely difficult to get a job as a music teacher in schools, he had high hopes and had already had a few interviews lined up. Two of them were pretty far outside of Roswell and in not-so-great areas, but it felt worth it. Making a positive impact on kids who needed it most? That was the bare minimum of what he wanted. He could School of Rock that shit.

Alex had gone a very long time without realizing he never truly felt accomplished. But now? He was stable. He had a house, a dog, a degree, a boyfriend, a job interview. He was going places. What he wanted mattered.

When he looked up from the degree, he caught sight of his reflection in the mirror that was mounted in the bedroom at Michael’s request. He never quite understood the purpose of it other than his boyfriend’s weird interest in himself, but right now he understood it a little more.

He could see himself now for what he was. He didn’t look like his father anymore. He looked carefree and happy and hopeful in all the right ways. It took too long, but this is what he’d wanted to be for so long. This is what he was chasing. He was here.

And for the first time, he saw himself as beautiful.

#alex manes #alex manes fic #roswell new mexico #my fic #HAPPY BIRTHDAYYYYY #I HOPE YOU LIKE IT

[hermit-pistol]

stubborn (oldseph x reader)

anonymous asked:  why hello there! i'd like to request a part 3 joseph x reader where the reader is a crusader and joseph's always trying to protect her, but she's always trying to prove herself to him and then they fall in love! thank you so much my joseph fan friend!

Oldseph is literally the light of my life, okay. I don’t usually write super long stuff like this but I was so moved because Oldseph. Here ya go! 

You had never guessed that you would find yourself in this situation: traveling the middle east with a few grown men and a couple of high school students thrown in for good measure.

The dynamic was a bit awkward at first, to say the least. While you were in your mid-twenties and were capable of handling yourself, being surrounded by men always had its downsides.

They always thought that you needed protection, which wasn't true in the slightest. You knew what you were getting into when accepting the offer of defeating DIO once and for all. You even had a stand of your own. Yet, it was always "You should stay out of this, Y/N." or "It's dangerous to go there alone. Let me come with you."

It drove you insane, to say the least.

You've told the other crusaders countless times that you were okay and they left you to your own devices. Except for one. Joeseph Joestar.

He had to be the most stubborn man that you've met in your entire life. After your pleading and constant requests to leave you be, he would still watch you like a hawk all day every day.

Although you had to admit that you found his dedication to you quite flattering. Or...maybe you just craved the attention. You couldn't be sure.

Today was another hectic day, with the gang chasing after another enemy stand user that went by the name of Hol Horse. Just a few short moments ago he had shot your beloved comrade Avdol point-blank. After cornering him; however, the slippery cowboy had evaded their grasp. Luckily they wasted no time chasing him down, and they were quickly closing the distance.

"Get back here! I'll kill you for what you did to Avdol!" Polnareff shouted, Silver Chariot attempting to stab at his heels. Hol Horse had now begun shooting with Emporer at the sand, creating a cloud of dust that had made it hard enough to see just about anything. "Shit!" It was later discovered that Chariot's rapier was stabbing at nothing.

"You'll never take me alive!" Hol Horse had begun shooting like a madman now in a desperate attempt at escape. You had kept up with the rest of the bunch this whole time, but Joseph wasn't having any of it.

"Y/N. You have to stay behind me." He glanced back at you to see that you were following his careful orders. You could feel your blood beginning to boil.

"Excuse you? I can take care of myself, thank you very much." Your stand expertly deflected the stray bullets that were flying here and there. Joseph used his Hermit Purple to create a net around you, lifting you off of the ground.

"Hey, what the- you've got to be kidding me right now..." you were now suspended above the sandy terrain, your stand trying to free you from the vine's grasp. It was no use, as Joseph used a spark of Hamon to keep your quest for freedom at bay.

"Sorry Y/N, I know that you're mad. But Hol Horse isn't taking any chances. He's gone crazy, and we can't risk losing you."

You slumped to the bottom of the makeshift net, the sounds of gunfire still ringing in your ears. The statement really should have been: 'I can't risk losing you' at this point. All of the other crusaders have respected your wishes, but Joseph always went that extra mile to make sure that you were protected and safe. Maybe it wasn't all bad, but you figured that another talk with the old man would just do more harm than good at this point.

A couple of minutes had gone by, with you still trapped in your makeshift prison. It was only when you heard the screams of a certain cowboy that you stood up and leaned lightly against the thorny wall.

Hol Horse had finally been caught. Kakyoin was interrogating him about DIO's whereabouts while Jotaro's Star Platinum had him in a chokehold. "Please, please lemme go! I'll tell ya where Mr. DIO is!" He cried, and Joseph let out a low rumble of a laugh. It was strangely...attractive?

"You really think that we're gonna let you go, huh?" He removed his hat to scratch his head. You watched him run his hands through his salt and pepper locks, and from your practically-aerial view, it looked particularly soft?

No....you were not getting feelings for Joseph Joestar. 69-year-old Joseph Joestar. This can't be happening.

Hol Horse was having none of Joseph's teasing. "Please, I'll do anything!" He pleaded. Joseph looked over to Kakyoin, who looked to Jotaro and so on and so forth. No one looked at you, still trapped in vines. You couldn't help but roll your eyes at the idiotic display.

While everyone was exchanging glances to decide what to do, you were the only one who had noticed Hol Horse reaching into his boot. He had something up his sleeve. "Guys, he's got a-!" you tried to shout out to reach the others, but it was no use.

There was an extra gun stashed away that had been neglected in the patdown after his capture. He shot at the sand once more and then ran as if his life depended on it...which it certainly did.

Jotaro pointed in his direction, ready to send Star Platinum into a frenzy. Kakyoin stopped him before he could begin his assault. "It's not worth it, Y/N was the only one who could have possibly prevented that escape from happening." Joseph began to turn around and walk back to where they had thrown their supplies before Kakyoin could call him out. "Now where do you think you're going?"

"Ah, me?" He instinctively put his hand on the back of his neck. "I was just getting a drink! Was probably gonna grab something for Y/N too." He gave a thumbs up.

"Why am I still trapped in his hellhole?" You yelled down to the group. Joseph quickly released his Hermit Purple and you were safely brought back to the ground. "You are so thick. What makes you think that I can't take care of myself, huh?" Out of frustration, your hand had rested itself upon your hip.

"I was just trying to protect you!" He threw up his hands in defense. "That Hol Horse guy is crazy-"

"You wanna know what's crazy? Taking me out of the chase and lifting me into the sky so I wouldn't be in harm's way." You bit your lip in order to avoid saying something that you would later regret.

Before things could get more heated, Polnareff was the one who finally decided to break the tension. "I think that everyone is just tired since we've been out in the sun all day. Tensions are still high from the loss of Avdol, agreed?" Everyone gave a solemn nod. Losing their friend that day had taken a toll on all of them, Polnareff especially.

"He does have a point," Jotaro spoke, folding his arms. "Today's been a rough day for us all. And to top it all off...I'm starving..."

"Me too..." You couldn't deny the sounds that your stomach was making. All of that rage and aggressive towards Joseph had made you work up quite the appetite.

"I've got a great idea! Let's go somewhere special for dinner tonight. To make up for what I did to Y/N." Joseph gave a grin. It made your anger dissipate almost immediately, but you would never let him have the satisfaction of knowing that. "Even better, I'll pay!"

"Fine, but only because you're paying..." You grumbled as you gathered the rest of your earlier confiscated belongings from the heap of supplies on the ground. At least you were being treated to a good meal. ---- After arguing for a solid 30 minutes about where to eat for the night, you all had finally decided on a steakhouse. Even though they were in India, Joseph had insisted on sampling a classic "American" burger because he was feeling homesick.

The waitress that ushered you in was very polite, and soon the 5 of you were settled into a booth, with you and Joseph sitting on one side, and Kakyoin, Polnareff, and Jotaro sitting on the other.

"Can I get you guys something to drink?" The uncomfortably jovial waitress asked around the table and just wrote down a little scribble here and there.

When it was finally your turn, you asked for an iced tea. But not before being cut off by Joseph who insisted that water was the better choice. Thankfully, the booth was so cramped that you could dig your elbow into his side, making him howl with pain. "I'm so sorry about that. If I could get an iced tea that would be great!"

When the woman was out of earshot. Joseph turned to you, still rubbing his side with his prosthetic hand. It accidentally brushed against you, and the chill of the cool metal sent shivers down your spine. "Now, what was that about!"

"I can order a damn beverage for myself, Joseph."

"Someone could have poisoned the iced tea and we don't even know!" He raised his eyebrows along with his voice.

"I'm done fighting. Let's just finish this dinner and find a hotel...I'm exhausted." You sighed, resting your read on the table. Even though you couldn't see it, you could practically feel Joseph's eyes on you.

The rest of the dinner continued in silence. Everyone stared at their plates when the food came out, and so far the only interaction that had occurred during their outing besides the outbursts from Joseph was when Polnareff started choking on his burger.

"This is what I get for eating American food..." He managed between coughs.

"A rather silent bunch tonight, aren't we-" Kakyoin eventually broke the silence, reaching across the table for the ketchup bottle.

"I just don't really feel like talking, that's all." You answered, just pushing around the leftover food on your plate. In reality, you were just trying to process these newly-surfaced feelings for Joseph. You must have been so spaced out that he noticed.

"Hey, space cadet!" He waved his hand in front of your face, causing you to snap out of it. "You okay, Y/N? You've been acting awfully strange."

You could feel a blush creeping up on your features, so you attempted to cover your face. "I-it's nothing, really. I just- haven't eaten beef in a while and it's upsetting my stomach, that's all!" Really? Like he would believe that.

"I've got some medicine in my bag I can give to ya when we're back at the hotel. I don't want you to be in pain." Curse him for caring about you!

"I'll be okay, let's just get out of here." Joseph shrugs and calls the waitress over to bring the check. The rest of the restaurant outing goes smoothly, you guys even got the fancy mints! You each pitched in for the tip, despite protests from Joseph, and made your way back into the stifling desert air.

The hotel check-in was a relatively painless process as well, Jotaro and Kakyoin had decided to room together, and Polnareff offered to share a room with Joseph. That left you with your own room for the night.

Since you usually traveled in even numbers, finally having a room to yourself for once was pretty nice. Although, you wished that it could have been under different circumstances. When you entered your single suite you all but ran to the bed, throwing your bags on the ground. The soft sheets welcomed you and lulled you into a deep sleep.

That was until you were woken up from your precious slumber by a sharp knock at the door.  

You checked your phone, seeing that only a couple hours had passed since you had checked in and bid the rest of the group goodnight. Looking out the window, you could tell that the sun had already set, giving way to a night sky accompanied by a slight breeze. Nights in the desert could be pleasant sometimes.

"Coming!" You shouted, looking in the mirror quickly to make sure that you didn't look like a complete and utter mess. After giving yourself the once over you peered into the peephole to see Joseph. He was clutching a bag and some water. 'Oh yeah, the medicine.'

You opened the door, and he gave you a wide smile. "Good evening! I came to bring you that medicine. And I got some water too!" He playfully shook the bottle in his hand. What a goofball.

"That's very sweet of you, Joseph." You felt the corners of your lips tug upward, threatening to form a smile. God, you couldn't deny how charming he was. "Why don't you come inside."

"Okay, if you insist!" He stepped across the threshold and shut the door carefully behind him. He handed you the medicine and water and walked across the room to sit on your bed. "I see that you already broke this bad boy in." He gestured to the sheets, which had still been rustled from your nap.

"Yeah, I was exhausted after everything that happened today." You decided to be bold and sit down on the bed next to him. He almost flinched a little when he felt the bed covers dip beside him. Was Joseph Joestar getting a little flustered?

"Y/N, now that we're here. I actually have something else to tell you." The grip on your water bottle tightened, and you took a shaky swig.

"Oh yeah, what's that? You finally want to apologize for all those times that you got in my way?" You tried to avoid eye contact as much as possible.

"No, actually. I find myself doing those things because I can't stand to live in a world without you. I really you Y/N-" The last sentence came out a little rushed, but your eyes went wide.

You were holding the water bottle so tightly at this point that it was a bit uncomfortable. Being taken aback by the confession, you just sat in silence for a bit. Finally, after a few seconds of unbearable quiet, you spoke up. "Well, that explains a lot actually."

"It does, doesn't it." Joseph moved a little closer to you, now gently holding your free hand. "I don't mean to sound like a bother to you, but I just can't stand to see you hurt. I know that you are probably more than a little uncomfortable with the age difference, anybody would be but-" You cut off his rambling with a quick kiss.

You giggled as you watched his face turned red. He was completely speechless for once. "You really need to learn when to shut up sometimes. I've been denying my feelings for too long as well. It's about time that I was completely honest with myself."

"You- you really feel the same way?" Joseph was absolutely bewildered at this point, for he was not expecting this response. You nodded your head in response.

"But, from now on if this is gonna work out, you gotta let me off the leash a little. Or else I'll have to... tickle you or something." You set your water bottle on the nearby nightstand and stood up.

"Empty threats, empty threats I say." Joseph blew a raspberry. He also stood up, and you noticed the size difference between the two of you. His tallness was insanely attractive, to the point where it wasn't fair. "Well, I better get going."

"You don't have to if you don't want to, it gets lonely here at night." You shot him a pleading look, slapping the covers where he once sat.

He walked over to you and picked you up, your legs were now wrapped around his giant torso. "You would like that, wouldn't you." Your lips were dangerously close to touching, but he decided not to close the distance, much to your dismay.

"Well, it sounds like a good idea to me." Your arms were draped around the back of his neck. They reached up to play with his hair, and you cherished the feeling of his soft strands. 'His hair really is that soft...'

"You're gonna have to let me grab my clothes then, I'm not sleeping in these." He was still wearing his daily attire.

You slid off of him reluctantly. 'I guess I'll let you go then. Don't take too long."

"No promises!" He teased, exiting your room, leaving you to shut the door behind him. You leaned against the door before closing it, admiring his retreating assets. 

After shutting the door, you leaned against it and smiled. That was quite the unexpected turn of events. At least you found out the reason behind Joseph's constant nagging, and quite honestly you wouldn't have it any other way.

#part 3 joseph #oldseph #oldseph x reader #jjba x reader #jjba #jojo #jojos bizarre adventure #stardust crusaders #i loved writing this #oldseph just really has me like *this* #he's so incredible i can't #joseph joestar #joseph joestar x reader

[chyuans]

          hello , hello  !   first of all ,  i’m super excited to be here even if i’m like 10 hrs LATE  ( gmt timezone things )  i’m noe ,  a gay  they / them at the age of 19 ,  and this privileged lil disappointment of a jock boy is gonna be filling the position of kong_01 . despite the rumours ?  yuanjun’s actually not nearly as bad as some of the people he’ll be meeting here >:)  but you’ll get to know more about that below  !  if you’d like to plot just light up that HEART , or add me on disc*rd which i’ll give out in im’s , where i’m infinitely faster .  if i’m not gaming .  no tw’s under the cut  .

* backstory. > many people know of yuanjun, but few people truly know him. he's the famous kong families’ son, heir to the kong legacy, now forward position for south korea men’s national hockey team - which brought forth a ton of international fame from back home and amongst hockey lovers worldwide. while his talent is undeniable, he is long overshadowed by his families’ accomplishments, forever reminded that he’d never be the perfect son they’d hoped for, and no one ever lets him forget it.

> being the child of business tycoons who’s art business seemed to never be on the decline, tended to lend itself to an unconventional, pretty lonely childhood. 

> although jun no longer wants to dabble in the stupid shit he probably did as a teen, and escape from their home in a childish fit of rage and make the lives of the various nannies that tended to him while his parents were off being great hell, he still wonders sometimes whether this profession is what he would’ve wanted if he’d just not wanted to spite his parents. he loves hockey - that fact is undeniable. he thanks the nanny who took him there once out of necessity to stop his whining, and he fell in love with it almost instantly. but he also questions whether he gravitated to it because it was something he could throw himself into wholeheartedly to fill a void.

> he's very open to different types of people, and after being scouted at 19 and having a massive shift both in culture and identity as he then begun to travel worldwide, he’s a tiny bit more wordly now than he was back then. he's much more concerned about who you are underneath than superficial appearances, which means developing relationships are few and far between, because a lot of people do approach him because of his fame/fortune. he's unjudgemental to the point where his friends worry about his naivety and how easily he trusts people, but he's absolutely not dumb, just very well versed on telling good people from the bad.

> jun may even come across as naïve, but he's very aware of that perception is nearly important as reality. he's not extroverted in a way that demands conversation, but he knows how to talk to anyone from any background even if its just to maintain pleasantries. after competing in various competitions and versing players from canada to japan, he's become much more sharp and ambitious, a guy who very rarely lets distractions take their course. perhaps it’s with this that his family loathe his choices all the more, with his appetite, he was born with the skills required to run a business - pity he never took to anything of the creative sort.  

> working in a fast, stressful, highly coveted job such as pro-sports is a full time job and then some; jun doesn't spend much time not working on it. outside of his schedule, he likes bettering his stamina at the gym and eating healthy. he likes being surrounded by authentic people or nobody at all. he’s not one for trying new things and having new experiences due to time management, tending to stick to a schedule.

> he gets a lot of bad press though, which is beginning to weigh a little heavy on him. doubly now the murder has people talking. from being accused of performance-enhancing pills, various personality scandals, to being linked with ‘dating’ (see: ruining the image of) idols and chaebol’s alike. right now, he’s currently battling a lot of unwanted publicity because of a misunderstood interaction online against a wealthy sweetheart that went sour. 

> while jun might be generally unsympathetic and analytical when it comes to developing relationships with people that’ll last long-term, he's a bleeding heart when it comes to kids who may have experienced the same lonely upbringing as he did, without the financial gains. right now he spends sunday’s teaching a bunch of local foster home kids how to skate, and is trying to fund a couple of sports scholarships for those who show promise under a fake name, just generally being a good ‘ole guy.

> his family do not approve of his job, ofc. in fact neither of his parents have ever attended any of his matches to this day, and are only on semi-decent terms with him because jun begrudgingly is still tied by name to the business and shows his face at events for all of 30 minutes until he physically can no longer maintain pleasantries. his celebrity image perhaps is one thing they can manipulate, and even then, jun could get into scandals galore and still be doing his job. good press, bad press, it has the kong’s family name at the forefront of peoples’ minds, which always brings forth revenue.  

> pros: could be a lot worse considering his upbringing, collected, and level-headed most of the time. wicked good at sports, and keeps a cool head in a tough situation. ambitious, curious, a little reckless. eager to prove himself, rich? and very endeared to people/places he finds fascinating. which are many. knows where the good, authentic chinese cuisine is. hardworking and very interested in the idea of Progress.

> cons: the most private person alive, will not divulge any palatable information about himself or his feelings. devil's advocate always. will put himself and others at an arm’s length the second he feels (disgusted noises) e-emotions (love, namely). gets bored easily. paranoid, leads with the head more than the heart. friends > > > family. a little self-involved, never fucking sleeps - will be that neighbour you can hear padding around above your apartment at 3.05 am like it’s mid-day, aaaaand Loves Winning Above All Else

* personality & relationships.

> like many others, jun has his fair share of surface-level friends. he’s quick to be interested in people, to get to know them better, but it's difficult for him to get closer than that after a childhood of being picked up and dropped by those who looked over him - which kinda has left him with abandonment issues.

> he’s a curator of neat things that aren’t too overtly complex, and that includes friendships. so if you have something unusual about you, whether it's a talent or a way of thinking, he would be inclined to get to know you better. also, he has a lot of leverage with his job. being friends with a sports star slash million dollar trust fund baby who can get you free shit never hurts, just don’t befriend him for the perks, yanno?

> jun is very dedicated to his vision of things, and can sometimes be very obstinate in the way he a) wants them to be done b) doesn't accept other options, think steve jobs. he's very mercurial and can be nice one minute but isn't afraid to switch to hardass boss to get things done and did.  > he is insanely competitive and his strive is drawn out by always wanting to be on top. truly first child material. that's the kind of guy he is, with standards that do not reflect his passive side too well, which sometimes can get him into some “personality” scandals. he is driven, motivated, always looking for ways to be winning.

> i'm sure someone is bound to hate him, he’s probably got a few accounts online dedicated to a steady stream of shit-talking, given his cutthroat status or holding many hockey cups.

> jun doesn’t think too much about his sexuality - he'd probably best be labelled as pan, but leans towards those who identify as women? because of his current placement in a workspace, and with a cultural identity, that both don’t often lend themselves to lgbtq+ rights, i doubt he’d ever make that public.

> he works amongst some of the fittest people in the world, he knows how to appreciate beautiful bodies, but he's not about to discriminate. he's tragically a committaphobe and isn't interested in anything long-term right now, although i think it'd be funny if someone tried. he's very open for flings and one-night stands and even a friends with benefits sort of set up. 

* wc’s.  >  bring me his baby bro and sis. i command u. i have many thoughts  >  somebody who maybe gets in on his foster-kid situation? idk maybe they have a perception of jun being what he is in the articles they read of him, but they see him and are like <3_<3 he actually real Nice huh. i see this being romantic but it could bloom a really nice, wholesome friendship too. >  enemies. not gonna lie, he doesn’t vibe with rich kids w / a stick up their ass, especially since a lot of the people he works with aren’t from exorbitant families. people who loathe him for declining to take over his families’ business? like the boy can’t even name more than 3 artists off of the top of his head?   > fwb except neither of them know what “just friends” mean.  > i would love if jun had a confidante. a best friend, a partner in crime, a total bromance 'cause i can never get enough of those. whatever label you ‘wanna put on it. wiping up each other’s messes. maybe a Betrayal in the works  > again, gonna be a wc, but i would love a “rival” of jun's on a similar level (or bigger)  that’s entirely fabricated based off of trashy articles or a misunderstood interaction online. bonus points if they’re an absolute sweetheart, well loved by most people, and generally the antithesis of jun with his multiple drug/personality rumours, which in contrast, make him seem like the bad guy. 

> party buddy. this guy hasn’t touched alcohol/cigarettes/any other stimulants since he was underage and wanted to rebel. the word “relax” does not exist in his vocabulary. Help

#cheong.intro

[bluemoon-writer]

Childhood Friends AU: MariKim Headcanons

Part 3- In which Lila fails at ruining Marinette’s life

Part 1 is here

The masterlist is here

(Just a heads up, this is pretty long)

------------

-Lila still wants to destroy Marinette

She has to be more careful now around Adrien though

-So she’s ecstatic to find out about Marinette and Kim

Adrien wasn’t there when Kim revealed how close he and Marinette are

Which makes Kim the perfect target for Lila, she can drive Kim away from Marinette and make her miserable without Adrien suspecting a thing

-So, she starts by flirting with Kim in class

Which, to her frustration, goes miserably

-Because Kim already knows she’s a liar

-Marinette told him about the confrontation she “overheard” between Ladybug and Adrien at the park at dinner that night

Which also resulted in their parents hearing all about Lila

-When Lila comes back, Kim is skeptical of what she says, but he also doesn’t hear a lot of it. He works out before school, so he only got to class a minute before the class actually started

hence why his seat stayed the same

he watched in confusion when Marinette was pushed to the back of the room

he figures he’ll ask her about it at lunch, since they usually go to her house, but Max drags him to the cafeteria, saying he has to help Lila since her wrist is sprained

Kim doubts that because, as an athlete, he’s had several sprained ankles, wrists, ect and he always wrapped them, or wore a brace until they were better

and Lila has no brace

-But Kim follows and helps because maybe Lila doesn’t know that she should do that

When Marinette throws a napkin at Lila he’s even more confused because it’s not like Marinette to randomly throw things at people

unless it’s him, he asked her years ago to help him hone quick reflexes, and she’s been throwing things at him ever since

-He suggests to Lila that she should wrap her wrist to help with healing and to lessen pain, but she just glares at him and storms away

Kim shrugs it off and goes about the rest of his day

-but at the end of the school day Marinette drags him off to rant about Lila

Kim is pissed, when he gets to lacrosse practice later he wipes the field with his teammates. His coach pulls him aside after practice and asks him if everything is alright bc he’s never seen him play that aggressively

-after that day, he’s goes out of his way to avoid Lila at school. He gets to class just before it starts and heads straight to practice when it ends. He and Marinette always go home for lunch so they don’t have to listen to Lila’s crazy stories

-so when Lila suddenly starts focusing on him, he’s a bit suspicious

-he’s not enticed by her (fake) offers to introduce him to world class coaches

he says that he could never betray his current coaches

-he’s not impressed by her “athletic feats”

        “I once did a (insert insanely impossible action here) in (insert sport) and my coach was so impressed! he wanted me to go to the olympics, but I’m not interested in the fame. I’m satisfied just being able to play (insert mispronunciation of earlier sport)”

“huh, not me. I’d never pass up a chance to go to the olympics.”

“Oh, well maybe I can help you train! I am an olympic level athlete”

“No way! I don’t want any of my teammates feeling jealous if I get extra training.”

-stroking his ego doesn’t seem to work either

“Wow Kim, you’re so strong!”

“It’s from weight lifting. You should try it sometime, it’ll give your arms some more definition!”

“You’re amazingly talented at sports! I could never be that good”

“Anyone can do great with enough dedication and practice! I used to be scrawny and weak too, but if you put your mind to it you can be athletic like me Lila!”

-and flirting fails too (bc Kim doesn’t realize she’s flirting)

“Your so handsome Kim.”

“Thanks, my grandma says so too!”

“I hope your girlfriend doesn’t get jealous that I’m talking to you...I’d never want to ruin your relationship!”

“Girlfriend?!? I don’t have time for that, not when there are more important things like swimming practice!”

“To be honest...I like hanging out with boys more than girls...because the girls in our class are just so pretty...and then there’s me :’(”

“Yeah, there are some really pretty girls in our class!”

“Especially, compared to Marinette...she’s so pretty and talented. I must seem like a loser to her.”

“Aw don’t say that! Marinette is pretty, talented, and kind. Marinette will like you no matter how lame you are!”

-Since words aren’t working, Lila has to switch to actions

-She actually starts working out with Kim in the morning

-She dresses up, full make up, brand new work out clothes ready to flirt Kim’s head off

-Only to arrive to see Marinette and Kim full-speed sprinting around the track

-She waits and pretends to stretch bc there’s no way in hell she’s going to run and get sweaty

-Kim barely pays attention to her, he and Marinette are competing to see who can do more pull ups

-Lila pretends to drop a dumbell on her foot to get his attention

-Kim barely looks up, “that’s why you don’t pick a dumbell thats too heavy for you. Try using the 2 pound one instead.”

Lila leaves early, but doesn’t give up.

Kim said Marinette doesn’t come every day, so Lila decides to come everyday until she figures out which day Marinette doesn’t come

-Unfortunately, Kim and Mari realize what Lila’s doing, and Marinette just has a “sudden, inexplicable urge workout”

Lila wants to scream in frustration

She fakes a strained ankle as an excuse to skip morning workouts

-She decides to try switching seats again, except this time to put herself next to Kim, and Marinette in the far back again.

Her “sprained ankle” is very helpful because she can’t climb all those stairs with a strained ankle, so she has to sit in the front row.

It’s easy. Instead of coming up with a complicated plan to get her classmates to rearrange themselves she just goes to Ms. Bustier

-she meets with her before class and explains her sprained ankle and she hates to accidentally move someone away from her friends just so she can sit in the front row, so she proposes a new seating arrangement

”I think I put everyone next to someone they like. I’d hate for someone to be lonely all because of my sprained ankle” 

Ms. Bustier looks at it and it seems like a good seating chart so she agrees. It seems like everyone is near a friend

(scroll down for the seating chart)

-Then, after Ms. Bustier announces the new seating chart, Lila asks Alya is she wants to switch places with Kim

“it’s just that...I know you’re friends with Marinette, so I don’t mind sitting by Kim. He is kind of cute”

Alya readily agrees and goes to ask Kim to switch seats but he says no

-He has no desire to sit next to Lila and tells Alya that if she wants to switch seats she’ll have to ask Ms. Bustier

-Lila is pissed because the second part of the plan was to go to Ms. Bustier at the end of the day and apologize for creating such a disruptive seating plan 

“I had no idea people would be so distracted when they’re by their friends”

add in a fake sob, “I’m so sorry, you must be so *sob* disappointed in me. Here, it’s not much, but I can help you make a new *sob* seating chart that should maximize people’s ability to pay attention”

Ms. Bustier would have no idea that there had been a problem, bc at that point she was used to having students be constantly distracted

but (ideally) she’d accept the plan because it CLEARLY meant so much to Lila (/s)

-But with Kim turning down Alya, she’d have to change the plan a little

-She assumed since Marinette and Kim are supposed to be such good friends then they’d talk through class and she’d be able to separate them since they’re so *distracted*

unfortunately, (for Lila) they’re the best behaved students in class that day

-The moment Ms. Bustier announced the seat change and Marinette saw the smirk on Lila’s face, she knew something was up

so they put on their best behavior during class and double check their bags at all times

Lila is pissed, but goes through with the second half of her plan, figuring she can at least make the seating chart work better for herself

She wants to be surrounded by people who are either easily manipulated or have connections

and she wants to break up any major pairings that might give her a disadvantage (like Chloe and Sabrina)

^(a Chart of the seating changes)

-Ms. Bustier agrees to change the seats again

“I’m disappointed to see that you all are not mature enough to sit near your friends without disrupting class, so I’m afraid I have to change the seats again.”

-Almost no one is happy, but no one is as pissed as Chloe

For once though, Ms. Bustier stands her ground, stating that sitting alone with no distractions should hopefully improve her grades.

-Kim is actually thankful to Lila. He forgot how much fun sitting next to Marinette in primary school was

they figured out how to discreetly pass notes

(and Ms. Bustier isn’t really watching for it anyways. She only notices it when it’s pointed out)

and with Lila in the front of the room there’s no one to rat on them

-Nino hates to admit it, but he does pay better attention when he’s away from Adrien and Alya

Max is a really good seatmate too, he’s always willing to share his notes if he notices Nino getting lost and will explain things to him during their breaks

and Nino’s not completely alone, he has Marinette and Kim behind him. He’s not super close with Kim, but they end up getting along surprisingly well

-Alya is sad to be separated from her boyfriend and best friend, but finds sitting next to Lila to be really fun

she’s always passing her funny notes when Bustier has her back turned and she tells the best stories during the break

-Adrien thinks he’s in hell, his best friend is far away from him, and his only friend near him is to distracted by Lila to speak with him

he eventually asks Ms. Bustier if he can move next to Chloe (just so he doesn’t have to hear another ridiculous story from Lila)

She agrees because he’s an almost straight A student, and he promises to keep Chloe on track

Lila’s not happy about the change, but takes the opportunity to make another minion and convinces Mylène to move into Adrien’s old spot

-Nino’s estatic that Adrien is near him, and so’s Adrien tbh. He also doesn’t mind sitting next to Chloe, she’s been quiet since she was separated from Sabrina

-Adrien’s surprised to see that Marinette and Kim are so friendly, and Nino fills him in on what he missed during the boulder akuma attack

-Marinette was pissed at first that Lila got her way and was able to move everyone around as she pleased...but honestly, it worked out

She enjoys sitting by Kim and she’s still near most of her friends, the only person she’s missing is Alya

But Alya doesn’t look miserable, so Marinette’s willing to leave this be

-ironically, the seat change allowed Marinette to hang out with Adrien more

both Nino and Chloe needed to work on their grades (Chloe had great homework scores, bc Sabrina did it, but poor test scores)

Max likes Nino, he’s less jittery than Kim which helps him pay attention better and Nino writes down really good questions about what he’s confused about

which helps Max immensely bc he likes explaining things, he’s the type of person where explaining something to someone helps him learn it better

so Max proposes a study group that weekend to help Nino out, Marinette offers her place, and Kim, the ultimate wingman, invites Adrien (bc he’s clearly pretending not to eavesdrop) and Adrien casually mentions that Chloe needs help studying too

-thus resulting in one of the oddest study groups in the history of Francois DuPont

but it goes well, Chloe is happy to be hanging out with Adrien so she plays nice.

the group hangs out in Marinette’s living room and after two hours of studying they end up playing the newest game Max is working on

-Lila debates giving up on Kim, but she has a few more tricks up her sleeve.

First, she tries blaming her sprained ankle on Marinette

She corners Kim after class and puts on a sad face, “I know you’re good friends, so I hate to tell you this, but...Marinette isn’t who you think she is. She’s the reason I sprained my ankle *fake sob* she threatened me to stay away from you, and then pushed me, making me sprain my ankle.”

“Huh, that’s weird, because Marinette and I went to her parents bakery for breakfast right after working out that day. You must have mistaken someone else for Marinette, maybe you should get an eye exam? You’ll never make it back to the Olympics with bad eye sight!”    

-Then, Lila tries to turn Marinette against Kim.      

She sends Alya screenshots of a fake group chat with her (Lila), Max, and Kim where the two boys are making fun of Marinette.       

-Omg Alya, I’m in a group chat with Kim and Max for studying and they started talking shit about Mari! What do I do?”        

Alya, of course, immediately texts Marinette who brushes it off.         

“Those are so fake Alya”.         

“Look, Girl, I know you’re Friends with Kim, but maybe he’s not who he seems.”

“No, Alya, Max has never in his life used an emoji. These are definitely fake texts.”         

-Lila is starting to get really frustrated at this point.          

-She straight up just asks Kim out after school one day, with a fancy heart shaped card and everything  

When he says no, she blows up.         

She has spent hours trying to win him over! She’s beautiful, and smart and he’s the stupidest person in the world for not wanting to date her.         

-Hawkmoth akumatizes her into Heart Stealer where she has the power to make anyone instantly love her when hit with one of her heart notes.           

-Ladybug chooses King Monkey to assist her on this one.        

-One uproar and Lucky Charm later and Lila is back to normal.          

She’s hoping that after being akumatized she can guilt Kim into going on a date again.     

but he turns her down again.       

“But why? Marinette has a crush on Adrien you know! She’s not going to date you, so why not go out with me?”            

Lila continues to confound Kim,

 “Haha what? Marinette? She’s my best friend, but I’m not interested in her! Also, aren’t you interested in Adrien?”           

-Lila huffs and storms off, she gives up on Kim. There’s got to be easier ways to mess with Marinette than dealing with her idiot guard dog.      

-Kim triumphantly high-fives Marinette who was waiting around the corner.         

-The akuma took up most of his practice time, so he skips what’s left of practice and they go to the bakery to celebrate          

Marinette and Kim commandeer a stove and make some special (extra sugary) macaroons -they end up starting a flour fight and get the kitchen pretty messy, but luckily the bakery was closing so they didn’t get in Tom’s way.    

they offer to clean the whole kitchen to make up for it            

it only takes 5 seconds for Kim to make a bet about who can clean faster. Within 20 minutes the whole kitchen is sparkling and Kim and Marinette are arguing about who cleaned faster.    

-the macaroons give them such a sugar high that Sabine kicks them out of the house and tells them to go run laps or something until Kim’s parents arrive for dinner.      

Kim challenges Marinette to a race around the park to see whose faster

She beats him, but only barely.        

“best two out of three”.        

The second time Kim wins, and the third lap is interrupted by the arrival Kim’s parents.    

-Sabine is testing a new recipe sent to her by her brother for dinner

she likes to try out new recipes when the two families get together for dinner      

it’s delicious, but Marinette and Kim are actually exhausted from running around the park.        

-it’s supposed to be game night but Mari and Kim can’t stay awake for it.      

filling their stomachs with warm food makes them sleepy and the end up passing out on the couch  

their parents play a quiet card game at the table and take a picture (read as a thousand pictures) of the two cuddling on the couch.           

-the next few weeks of class go rather peacefully.      

-although Lila’s not through with yet      

-and sometimes Kim can’t stop thinking about what Lila said about him liking Marinette

---

This is so fucking long, I’m sorry. 

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[mellomedia]

Youth Culture

For Media & Society’s first blog post, our class watched Euphoria, Mid90s, Mean Girls, Kids, and The Breakfast Club. If you haven’t figured out the theme yet, it’s youth culture. Most of these films were set in the 80s and 90s before this current generation. This is the first generation where our lives are saturated by mobile technology and social media (Divecha, 2017). But no matter what generation, youth culture has many common behaviors, or misbehaviors.

Often when I watch a film or read a comic book, I wonder if I relate to the story or anyone in it. I looked for anything in common I might have with one of the characters in the five films we watched. I can identify with Ray from Mid90s the most. I’m not a die-hard skateboarder like Ray. In fact I can’t skateboard at all, but I dedicate all my time and energy into art and animation. While we have different interests, I can relate to Ray’s passion for something he enjoys and the energy he puts into it. Ray is the top skateboarder in his group and practiced every day. All my spare time is spent drawing and taking online animation courses. My goal is to always do better than what I did yesterday. Words to describe Ray would be the same way I describe myself: down to earth, not concerned with fitting in, my own person, caring, always willing to help, and a very loyal friend. When Stevie joins the skateboard crew in the film Mid90s, he finally digs up some money to buy Ruben’s old, used skateboard. Stevie gets injured while attempting an insane jump over a hole in a roof and breaks his skateboard. Ray sees how much Stevie is trying to fit in, no matter how many falls he takes, he gets back up. Ray has a big heart and builds Stevie a new skateboard. As I mentioned, I’m not a skateboarder, but I enjoy trying to make people smile with my art. I enjoy drawing a cartoon of a friend to help them to get out of a funk or just listen to whatever it is they are going through. 

These films all share a few common themes. One theme is belonging. I admit I looked up the term “fitting in” and it was compared to belonging. Fitting in is defined as to be like other people in a group – what they wear, how they act, how they look. (Pace, 2018) Belonging is a basic human need – it is about acceptance – being where you want to be and being where you are wanted (Pace, 2018). A few examples are Stevie (Mid90s) wants to be accepted into the skateboard crew; Brian (The Breakfast Club) brings a flare gun to school as a suicide attempt because he didn't feel he was good enough; and Cady (Mean Girls) is the new girl trying to get accepted by The Plastics.

My freshman year in high school definitely falls into the theme of belonging. I struggled with speech and have a learning disorder. And at the time I had zero confidence in socializing. I’d walk over to a group of kids in the cafeteria just to try to get involved in the conversation, but I couldn’t form sentences quick enough to jump in. I would be the weird kid just standing there. One day my speech therapist asked me what I wanted to improve and I told her I wanted to gain confidence in socializing. She told me the best way to do this would be to just try to talk to more people. Well in high school that worked with some kids, but not all. I’ll never forget one day in the cafeteria I was trying to find a place to sit and eat lunch. I saw an empty chair at a table where a ‘friend’ was sitting. The group was taking turns roasting one another. At one point another kid challenged me. I was doing fine until he said, “You know people are only nice to you because they don’t want to hurt your feelings.” That hurt like hell. He was referring to my speech impairment. I got up from the table and walked away. And that ‘friend’ at the table didn’t defend me at all. One girl came running over to make sure I was alright. I was pissed and hurt. I was not alright. Just so you don’t think I went off the deep end and had a miserable high school experience, I actually gained a great friend in high school that day. Alex, who was a senior, saw me leave track practice early. My head just wasn’t into track, so I went to sit in the empty cafeteria hoping to clear my head. He asked how things were going and I told him what happened that day. He told me, “It’s not easy finding out who your real friends are. But don’t change for anyone and don’t try to be like anyone else. Just be you.” I’ll never forget how he took the time to talk to me. After his advice, I could care less about belonging.

Another common theme between all five films is rebellion. When they aren’t skateboarding, most of the characters in Mid90s spend their time partying, drinking, and doing drugs. In The Breakfast Club, each character is in detention because they rebelled in some way. Why else would they be in detention? Every character in Kids was a rebel, actually more like a criminal. I bet the writer of the film was too.

A third theme is “bro” culture. “Bro” culture is defined as people who are bullies but at the end of the day they have your back, like a brother (Sloothunter42, 2018). Two great examples of “bros” are John (The Breakfast Club) and Ian (Mid90s). Throughout The Breakfast Club, John constantly insults the other kids in detention. He even insults the principal. The group escapes detention to wander the hallways. When the principal sees them, John saves the group by telling them to go back to the library while he distracts the principal. This link shows you the scene I’m explaining: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Iq7MRlHg5I (Hughes, 1985). Not something you would have expected from a bully, but you would from a “bro.” In Mid90s, Stevie’s brother, Ian, beats the crap out of him every chance he gets. But when Stevie is laying in a hospital bed after a car accident, his brother is there by his side. He even shares his precious orange juice.

Now onto one of my favorite things in life, music! I put together a playlist that relates to my adolescent experience. In no particular order, here are 10 songs and what each means to me. But let me point out that some song lyrics mean something to me, while with other songs it was the energy it gives off. I’m all about positive energy. First song is “Mr. Blue Sky” by Electric Light Orchestra. I first heard this song during the movie Guardians of the Galaxy. This song kept me motivated and positive during high school. If I was having a bad day, this was my ‘go to’ song. I also listened to it every day on my way to school. Next is “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley, a.k.a. CeeLo Green. This song reminds me of my mind, imagination, and the stuff I think about. I always have a trillion things going on in my head. I guess that explains my poor focus skills and super procrastination. “Inner Ninja” by Classified is another upbeat song. A few lines that always stuck in my head are, “I find my inner strength and I re-up; Here we go, I know I've never been the smartest or wisest; But I realize what it takes; Never dwell in the dark cause the sun always rises.” My junior year of high school I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. It has and still is life-changing and as much as I don’t let it change who I am, I’m human. But as the song says, don’t dwell on the negative, look for the positive. I always remind myself of the positive. “Through the Fire and Flames” by DragonForce always fueled my brain when I was tired of doing homework or studying. To me the lyrics mean to keep moving forward no matter how difficult. Just look at what your goal is and don’t give up. Plus this song has one hell of a guitar solo that is very motivating. Michael Jackson is one of my favorite artists and “Man in the Mirror” reminds me how important it is to try to do good in the world and make a positive change. Regardless of culture, color, religion, and disability, we are all capable of making good changes in the world. I tried this on a much smaller scale in high school by volunteering at the food pantry and community events. “Clint Eastwood” by Gorillaz is one of many songs by this group that I like. It’s not so much the words I relate to, but I love the animation in their music videos. I remember the first time I saw one of their videos I thought how cool and mysterious it was that we only see the singers as cartoons. We are never shown who they really are. I like the fact that it’s different. Different is good in my world. “Intergalactic” by Beastie Boys reminds me of breakdancing and dancing in general. I love to dance and looked forward to every prom and homecoming dance at high school. “Without Me” by Eminem reminds me that no matter how much people criticize you, you can be very successful at what you enjoy doing. The last song on my list is “Take Me Out” by Franz Ferdinand. To be honest, I just like the beat of the song and it’s one of those songs I listened to over and over in high school.

So that wraps up my Youth Culture blog. I hope it gave you a better understanding of how I relate to the assigned films. But let me make one thing clear, I do not relate to anything in the film Kids. Not one thing.

Below is my self portrait of what goes through my mind. 

Artwork by: Marcello Laudato