#its a funny title though even if its not grammatically correct

[queen-dahlia]

𝐆𝐢𝐥𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝐯𝐨𝐧 𝐎𝐛𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧

𝗠𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗥𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟵

CW: Mentions of rape

Note: Translation is not 100% accurate. Expect grammatical errors.

// : alternate translation | ⫘⫘ : flashback | 4:4 answer

Gilbert: "Now, again... If you have something to say, I'll listen to you, Little Bunny?"

Before my eyes is His Majesty the Emperor, who rules the great nation of Obsidian—

A commander-in-chief who possesses the power to overwhelm other countries with just one voice.

(… However, it's just a title with a big name; the one inside is Lord Gilbert.)

Looking up at the throne, there is no need to be too afraid.

Emma: "Then, if I may be so bold as to presume..."

Emma: "Why does Your Majesty the Emperor push for the invasion of other countries?"

It was the first thing I wanted to ask the "Emperor," not Lord Gilbert.

Obsidian has always plotted to expand its territory as a matter of policy.

I don't understand the intention of wanting to continue the invasion to the point of trampling on other countries' cultures, ideologies, and lives.

Gilbert: "The ostensible reason is to protect our own people. Obsidian has a lot of barren land compared to how vast the land is."

Gilbert: "We always had the problem of food shortages, and exploitation was necessary to keep the people alive."

Emma: "… What's the purpose behind this?"

Gilbert: "I hate dirty things."

Gilbert: "I hate deception, corruption, bribery, all of it. But the way the continent is structured now, they occur frequently."

Gilbert: "It's not just Obsidian. Wasn't there a trace of corruption in Rhodolite too?"

Emma: "Do you mean the orphanage?"

Gilbert: "Yes, there was some of that, but what about the larger corruption—the debauchery of His Majesty the King?"

(Debauchery... meaning being drowned in women, I guess that fits.)

Gilbert: "He used his power to heal the wounds of a broken heart, and he laid his hands on many women."

Gilbert: "… Do you know the story of Luke's mother?"

Emma: "No…"

Gilbert: "His mother was a mere maid in the service of the court."

Gilbert: "But the king forced himself on her because she looked like the woman he loved."

(…!)

Gilbert: "She left the court heartbroken and secretly gave birth to Luke."

Gilbert: "Do you think the king was punished for this? Yes, of course, he was not punished."

Gilbert: "Because he is the supreme authority in Rhodolite…"

Gilbert: "And because he had the right to do as he pleased with those below him."

(If what you just said is true... I can't defend him even though he is the king of my country.)

(No matter how wise a king he was, it is unforgivable.)

Gilbert: "Do you think that's unusual?"

Emma: "… At least, it's not something that happens very often."

Gilbert: "That's what it is."

Emma: "On what basis…"

Gilbert: "It's the result of statistics on the internal affairs of the countries I've ruled."

(… It's not an emotional story; rather, it's a grounded story.)

Gilbert: "It is not uncommon for a royal family to become prodigal, and in worse cases, there are countries that enslave their people."

Gilbert: "This continent was built on authoritarianism. It is a world dominated by royalty and nobility."

Gilbert: "It is ingrained in your bones that a lowly person like you should not defy those in power."

Gilbert: "You know what I'm talking about, don't you? Remember when you were chosen as Belle?"

Gilbert: "The report is that... you did not hesitate to slap a man who had been disrespectful to Chevalier."

Gilbert: "That was because you quickly decided that if anyone disrespects those in power, they will be killed."

Gilbert: "He actually pointed a sword at you, making sure his judgment was correct…"

Gilbert: "It's a funny thing when you think about it. How can one be guilty of disrespect?"

(I never thought about it before.)

For me, the royal family has always been recognized as "a person to be respected," and even if he was disrespectful and had a sword pointed at me, I tried to understand it because "he is a member of the royal family."

Gilbert: "There is no superiority or inferiority between you and me. As long as we are humans, we should all be the same."

Gilbert: "Of course, it may be necessary to have someone to lead socially."

Gilbert: "An outstanding person brings people together and builds a better tomorrow. That's how a person should be."

Gilbert: "But, you know, on the continent today, it's all about who has the power and who can get others to behave as they please."

Gilbert: "Of course, not all of them, okay? The Princes of Rhodolite are quite excellent in that regard."

Gilbert: "Even Silvio and Keith will be good monarchs."

Emma: "Then—"

Gilbert: "His Majesty the King of Rhodolite used to be a reputable monarch."

Emma: ". . . . . ."

Gilbert: "People are creatures of change. There is no such thing as "absolutes."

Gilbert: "That's why authoritarianism shouldn't exist in the first place."

Gilbert: "There were only a handful of wise kings if you look at history."

(In other words, Lord Gilbert...)

Gilbert: "Because the king of a country that knows so much about deception and corruption…"

Gilbert: "My "ideal" is to trample down all the royal families that spread throughout the continent and free the people from the rule of power."

What I felt from Lord Gilbert was a strong will that resembled a solid castle wall.

No one can change him or stop him. I assume it is that kind of thing.

(A revolution involving not only his own country but the entire continent...)

(I know it would end up as a dream story for normal people, but not for Lord Gilbert.)

(But it's strange.)

Emma: "… It's contradictory."

Emma: "Isn't Lord Gilbert the epitome of that power?"

The figure sitting on the throne and looking down at me is exactly the "authority" that Lord Gilbert hates.

(Even though you once threatened me with that power...)

Emma: "Are you an exception?"

Gilbert: "Ahaha! No way."

Gilbert: "If the people in power disappear and a new era comes, I will be the first to become unnecessary."

Gilbert: "I might as well die then, right?"

Emma: "… Uh."

(What are you... saying...)

His usual refreshing smile shines brightly on his throne.

I couldn't believe my ears and wondered if I heard him wrong.

Gilbert: "Because it's natural. I want to wipe out those in power, but it's not right for me to survive."

Gilbert: "Especially the Obsidian royal family, the most evil bloodline on the continent."

Gilbert: "It's better for the world if it's destroyed... Ah, but if I'm going to die anyway, I want Little Bunny to kill me."

Gilbert: "If you do that, you'll remember me forever, won't you?"   //   "That way you will remember me for the rest of your life, right?"

Emma: "That's... of course I'm not going to do that!"

I screamed without a moment's delay.

Even if it is a joke, it is a bad one.

(Lord Gilbert's ideal is based on the assumption that he will die in the end.)

(And he doesn't think anything of it.)

It would have been better if he had said, "I'm an exception," like a villain.

Emma: "… Why do you go to such lengths to exile those in power?"

Emma: "Lord Gilbert should have benefited from the power...even to the point of killing himself..."

Gilbert: "That's..."

Gilbert: "… A secret."

(… That part is a secret.)

Gilbert: "But I don't think it's a bad deal for you."

Gilbert: "Rather, it would be more convenient for you if I died."

(…!)

Gilbert: "If I'm gone, maybe Rhodolite won't be trampled and the world will continue like this."

Gilbert: "Besides, when I die, you will be properly released."

Gilbert: "You can settle in Obsidian or go back to Rhodolite, whatever you want."

Gilbert: "Because the "power" that holds you back is gone."

(What is that...)

The front of my eyes were pure white, and the back of my head felt hot.

Emma: "… Are you serious?"

My voice spilled out unintentionally, and it was lower than usual.

Gilbert: "Of course—"

Gilbert: "… What's wrong?"

(What's wrong... with me?)

I look down, and my fists are shaking.

(Even if you're a big villain, I've never wanted you dead. I didn't even think about it.)

(Lord Gilbert... was not the kind of person who could think such a thing.)

It may be possible to think that it is a great villain who cannot be saved, I am already poisoned by malicious kindness.

And that kindness itself shouldn't have been a lie.

I suffered at Rhodolite because I was repeatedly exposed to Lord Gilbert's good intentions.

What he just said was an outright denial of that suffering and struggle.

(After acting like he was such a good friend of mine...)

(When the time comes, should I kill him? Is it better if he is dead? **

(… Don't be silly.)

I have no right to say anything about Lord Gilbert's ideals.

But for those few words, I should have the right to be angry.

Gilbert: "I don't get it. I don't see anything to be angry about right now..."

Emma: "Because you don't know that, it means that Lord Gilbert is not really my friend!"

Emma: "If you thought that I was the kind of person who would be happy to see you dead, that is beyond disappointing!"

The voice echoes to destroy the intimidation of the throne room.

Lord Gilbert, who could be seen in the distance, seemed taken aback.

(… I wish I were so evil that I wanted to kill him anyway.)

(Oh, this is bad...)

I feel like my vision is blurry.

As I wrinkled my brow and held on, I suddenly felt a breeze behind me.

???: "Lord Gilbert!!!"

(Whoa, what the!?)

A man in military uniform pushes open the door to the throne room and walks in,

Without paying attention to me, he pushes his way to the bottom of the stairs as if he were about to attack Lord Gilbert.

???: "You... you left the castle without saying anything again!"

???: "How much more do you want to shorten my lifespan?! Come on, now, let's test—"

???: ". . . . . ."

(... Oh, our eyes met.)

The man with curly hair stiffens, and so do I.

A strange silence fell.

Gilbert: "Good for you, huh? If you had slipped up just a little bit more, you... today would be the anniversary of your death."

???: "Who is she?"

Gilbert: "The Lady of Rhodolite."

???: "Rhodolite's… Ah! What? She really exists? Lord Gilbert's first—"

Gilbert: "Huh? You must really want to die."

(…?)

The man deliberately clears his throat and turns to me.

The salute-like gesture may be Obsidian's way of saying "hello."

Walter: "You are Emma, right? I've heard rumors about you... I'm Walter. My occupation is—"

Gilbert: "My aide. Servant. A maid. I'm having an audience, will you leave?"

(… I feel like he's deliberately covering his words again just now.)

(How did you know my name in the first place… What's the rumor?)

(I wonder if Obsidian has heard about the story of Rhodolite...)

As soon as the man finished his greeting, he pointed his finger at Lord Gilbert.

It felt like an obvious act of disrespect, but there was no one there to reproach it.

Walter: "I will definitely visit you later. Listen, please don't run away. Even if you do, I will let Roderich catch you."

Gilbert: "Alright, alright. I'll act like an adult when I feel like it."

Walter: "Not when you feel like it... but absolutely!"

Gilbert: "Okay, okay."

After a strong tone of voice and a reminder, the man leaves.

It was like a storm.

Gilbert: "… I've lost interest."

With a resounding sigh, Lord Gilbert stands up from his throne.

The audience is apparently over.

(Me too... I'm not sure I can speak well right now.)

Lord Gilbert descends the stairs with the sound of his cane.

He came right next to me, and I didn't make eye contact with him.

Gilbert: "Yes. The fact that I am His Majesty the Emperor has only been revealed to a limited number of people."

Gilbert: "You know what I mean… right?"

(He'd like to say he'd kill me if I ever told anyone about it.)

I nodded while looking away, and Lord Gilbert took another breath.

Gilbert: "What can I do to put you in a better mood..."

(... I really don't know.)

(A genius like Prince Chevalier, who can easily manipulate people's minds...)

Gilbert: "A whole day's sleep will do it, right? By the way, I've got your room all ready for you."

Gilbert: "I asked them to make the interior as similar to Rhodolite as possible, but I hope you like it."

(I can't believe he even had a room ready for me.)

This is Obsidian. There is no need to isolate me by daring to be friendly, like in Rhodolite.

Still, Lord Gilbert's poison-like kindness hasn't changed.

I am tormented again by being treated not as a hostage but as a guest of honor.

Emma: "… That's the point…"

Gilbert: "Hm?"

Emma: "Nothing..."

(I hate… this feeling.)

══════════════════

—After taking Emma to her room, he returned to his own room for the first time in a long time and found himself in an unusual silence.

Walter: ". . . . . ."

Gilbert: "How much longer?"

Gilbert laughs as he buttons his shirt.

But Walter, sitting in the chair across from him, said nothing.

Walter: ". . . . . ."

Gilbert: "I'm asking you, so tell me."

Walter: "… You really..."

The chair falls over in the moment of a vigorous standing up.

Walter: "I beg you, please stop. This country goes on without you. That's how you were raised. So..."

Gilbert: "You didn't answer my question."

Walter covers his face with his hands under the pressure of his compelling smile.

His fingertips trembled, and his breath spilled from the gaps.

Walter: "… I don't want to say it."

Gilbert: "I see... it was the right decision to return home a little earlier."

Walter: "Hey… That story you've been telling me for a long time—seriously think about it. Now, I really believe you." **

Gilbert: "It's not a matter of believing or not believing, it's not necessary in the first place."

Walter: "Then why did you bring that woman here!"

Gilbert: "… That's terrible."

Gilbert: "Because I’m a big villain who couldn't be saved."

Walter: "You..."

A blood-colored, cold gaze pierces Walter, as if to interrupt his fury.

A pressure resembling murderous intent dominated the place in an instant.

Gilbert: "Never speak of it. She is no exception."

Walter: "That woman... she doesn't know yet?"

Gilbert: "She doesn't know, and she never will. And I have no intention of telling her."

Gilbert: "I'm going to rest now. Good night."

Walter: ". . . . . ."

Walter: "I'm not giving up."

Grabbing a sturdy-looking bag from the desk, Walter leaves the room.

Gilbert: ". . . . . ."

Gilbert: "… Why…"

Gilbert: "Why wasn't Little Bunny... happy about it?"   //   "I wonder why the little rabbit... wasn't pleased."

══════════════════

Obsidian is synonymous with evil, so much so that it was called the land of deceit and corruption.

When it comes to life in the castle, which is its home base, I imagined it to be brutal.

I was prepared for the fact that I would not be treated well, including being in a vulnerable position…

Gilbert: "Look, Little Bunny. So, how do you like it?"

Emma: "This... is a kitchen."

Gilbert: "Yes, a kitchen. Your very own kitchen."

Emma: "!?"

(Next to the guest room, there is a kitchen! W-What do you mean...)

Far from being treated badly, it is rather too good to pull off.

I had been dragging out yesterday's events until a few minutes ago, but it was such a shock that it blew away, even if only temporarily.

Gilbert: "This is the same as the room, I had them prepared in advance."

Gilbert: "Do you know why I... prepared the kitchen?"

(I see... that means...)

Emma: "You want me to make sweets."

Gilbert: "As expected of Little Bunny. I'm glad you know me so well."

Gilbert: "—… Actually, I just wanted to please you."   //   "—… I really just wanted to make you happy."

Emma: "… What is it now?"

Gilbert: "No, it was nothing."

(I can't believe you liked it enough to prepare a kitchen…)

(I've only served amateur sweets... and they were as simple as cookies.)

Lord Gilbert's smile was so bright that he seemed like a different person from the emperor who sat on the throne yesterday.

Gilbert: "You are free to use any of the ingredients here."

(Let's see... eggs, milk, flour, sugar, fruits, vegetables... that's quite a lot of variety.)

Emma: "I have heard that Obsidian is suffering from food shortages..."

Gilbert: "It's not like that these days, you know?"

Gilbert: "Because we have built supply lines and established stable food production technology in the last 10 years."

(That's right... just like Prince Chevalier said.)

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

Chevalier: "—Second, I want to know the degree of development of Obsidian's technology."

Chevalier: "Obsidian's military engineering technology seems to be quite advanced..."

Chevalier: "Those technologies must have been applied to many things related to daily life."

Chevalier: "Aside from the rural areas, the central areas may be even different."

Chevalier: "Go and see for yourself."

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

Gilbert: "—Obsidian has a lot of barren areas despite its vast land. But just because it's barren doesn't mean it has land."

Lord Gilbert spun his words without any hesitation. His eyes were somewhat lively.

Gilbert: "If we can build facilities that can grow crops regardless of the soil, it will take a lot of work, but there is no reason why we can't provide food in our own country."

Gilbert: "If we can produce food, we can also produce the fodder necessary for livestock. That's why we don't have food shortages right now."

Gilbert: "By the way, most of the food here comes from the research facility in the castle."

Gilbert: "We can't put those on the market... but we collect things that are a waste to throw away."

Gilbert: "Then it's also sweets that help eliminate the loss of ingredients."

Gilbert: "That's what I mean."

(Though the way you spoke just now was like your own achievement…)

Emma: "… Did Lord Gilbert solve the problem of food shortages?"

Gilbert: "Of course, it's my job. The food supply is an important issue, necessary to guarantee a minimum standard of living."

Gilbert: "Did you think we were always at war?"

Emma: "… I'm sorry."

(As expected, the idea was shallow.)

I had the impression that Obsidian was focusing on military affairs and neglecting domestic affairs, but it seems I was just being shallow.

Gilbert: "Hehe... your image is not wrong either. The Emperor has always had that policy."

Perhaps the "emperor" here was the late former emperor.

Gilbert: "He won a lot of countries, but he didn't look inward at all."

Gilbert: "They were almost lawless, so Albert and I spent a lot of time trying to improve it."

Gilbert: "Well, the regions are still so corrupt that I think I'm only halfway there."

Emma: ". . . . . ."

Gilbert: "More than—"

(Whoa…!)

Suddenly I am hugged on the shoulder, and my body leans back.

I fell into his cold chest with all my might, but he held me.

Gilbert: "What? Can't you just read the atmosphere and leave us alone?"

(… What the…)

(!?)

When Lord Gilbert calls out to the doorway, a crowd of soldiers appears.

1, 2, 3 — Surrounded by about 10 male and female military personnel, my body stiffened.

(I didn't notice it at all. I guess they were waiting for Lord Gilbert outside.)

Soldier 1: "I am sorry. Lord Gilbert, the military has asked me to consult with you concerning the budget..."

Soldier 2: "I, too, would like to ask Lord Gilbert's advice on lifeline capital investment—"

Gilbert: "You know, I've been telling you for a long time. You don't have to rely on my judgment every time."

(... Eh, even though he's the Emperor?)

Gilbert: "You are professionals in each field whose abilities have been bought."

Gilbert: "I'm giving you full authority because I think you can do it. Or what? Do you doubt my eyes?"

Soldier 1: "No, sir! But I would like to have your opinion, Lord Gilbert, because it would be very helpful..."

Soldier 2: "Please. After all, there is no one better than Lord Gilbert's keen eye!"

Gilbert: "Nope. Everyone, you can see that I'm busy, right?"

Instead of letting me go, he holds me tighter.

The gazes of the soldiers were clearly perplexed and bewildered.

Emma: "Uh… No! No, he isn't! Please give priority to your official duties." **

Gilbert: "Ehh..."

Emma: "In the meantime, I'll make you some sweets, how about that?"

Gilbert: "… I think I'm the one who's sulking."

Emma: "Lord Gilbert…"

Gilbert: "All right, all right. Just for today."

With a deliberate shrug, Lord Gilbert finally moves away from me.

Gilbert: "All of you, make it quick. Each of you has two minutes."

Lord Gilbert walks into the circle of soldiers, and the atmosphere changes.

I could see that the people gathered were tense and straightened their backs.

But that is not a bad thing.

Rather than dominating through fear, they seem to be voluntarily respecting Lord Gilbert out of reverence.

(… It became clear to me when I came to Obsidian).

(Lord Gilbert is an emperor who can act for the people.)

Looking back on our discussion of ideals the other day, it was also about being close to the weak.

While he acts like a big villain in other countries, he appears to be a perfectly good emperor in his own country.

(But there are some things that bother me.)

What the soldiers are talking about is the kind of thing that the nobles and bureaucrats bring to Rhodolite.

However, there are no signs of nobility at all in this castle.

(Even though Obsidian is a country of military and ore, it's unnatural that there are only soldiers—)

══════════════════

Gilbert: "Ah, is that so?"

In the end, soldiers gathered one after another under Lord Gilbert, and even though each person had two minutes, it was nighttime by the time they had all been processed.

Lord Gilbert, who was in a very bad mood because of this, took me back to his room with the baked cookies,

He started a tea party on the bed in a bad manner.

(Actually, I was surprised that Lord Gilbert's room was like a library…)

(I have a lot of questions, like what kind of books are on the bookshelves…)

What I asked before them was about the wonder of the absence of the nobles.

Gilbert: "It's the same as His Majesty the former emperor."

Emma: "The same...?"

Gilbert: "Yeah. I killed them."

I felt dizzy.

Emma: "… Not only the emperor, but also the nobles?"

Gilbert: "Of course, I didn't kill them all, okay? I just wanted to clean up the deceit and corruption, and there are still a lot of nobles out there."

Gilbert: "The people who work in the castle are all highly qualified, chosen from a wide range of people, from commoners to nobles."

Gilbert: "The reason they are all dressed almost entirely in military uniform is to break down the barriers between the nobles and the commoners."

Gilbert: "The castle you are in is still not perfect, but it's better than it was a decade ago."

Emma: ". . . . . ."

(I knew it, but life may be the same as dust for Lord Gilbert.)

(So he lost the value of his own life as well... the more he killed people, the more he lost the importance of his life.) **

No matter what the reason may be, the act of killing is inherently unforgivable.

Perhaps Lord Gilbert knows this, which is why he doesn't cling to his own life.

(… Even though I'm calm.)

My chest feels murky again.

I can't taste the cookie in my mouth.

When I cast my eyes down, cold fingers grabbed my chin as if to say no—

Gilbert: "Hey, I want you to tell me one thing too..."

#サイバード #イケメン王子 #ギルベルト=フォン=オブシディアン #ikemen prince #ikemen prince gilbert von obsidian #ikemen prince gilbert #ikeprince #ikeprince gilbert von obsidian #ikeprince gilbert #gilbert von obsidian #ikeprince jp #ikepri jp #ikeprince translation #ikepri gilbert route spoilers #ikemen prince spoilers #ikeprince spoilers #ikepri spoilers #dahlia's bad translation

[council-of-readers]

Hate You, Two

Request: Could you do a Spike x reader, where they hate each other, but gradually their feelings change, and they start to fall for each other (neither of them know). Spike could kiss the reader as a confession, it would be much appreciated💖

This is done as a sequel to one of my earlier stories, 'Hate You, Too'. I hope you enjoy!

~•~

That slimy, creepy, no good, stunningly handsome bastard.

When the hell did this happen? Since when were you the type to be left speechless by a guy? By Spike, no less. You hated his guts, and he made it clear the feeling was mutual. When did things change?

No, they didn't. No way. You were a little too tired, probably. You didn't have feelings for him. Nope. Not a chance in hell. Even if he was genuinely funny and gorgeous, he was still a prick. A prick who has tried to kill you, and your friends, on multiple occasions. You'd have to be insane to feeling anything other than loathing for him. So what if the other Scoobies trusted the guy?

Still.

You couldn't stop thinking about that moment. His face was so close to yours, and the way his expression changed...

Dawn waved a hand in front of your face, "Hello? Anybody home?"

"Hm?"

"I wonder who you were thinking of." Dawn smirked. For such a small being she could really get under your skin. This was the third comment she'd made alluding to him in as many hours.

"And I wonder how I got stuck on babysitting duty again."

Dawn stuck her tongue out at you and went back to writing, "Whatever. You know I'm right."

You did, and it bothered you to no end. You couldn't get Spike out of your mind. It didn't stop you from trying, of course, but your thoughts would always creep back to him. You'd been avoiding him for a few weeks now and even that didn't help. He was infectious, and you hated him for it.

The sound of the front door opening took you out of your head for a minute. You looked over your shoulder and waved at Buffy. She smiled back at you and came over to the table.

"Hey, thanks for watching Dawnie for me."

You laughed, "Course! Glad I could help out."

Buffy walked over and ruffled Dawn's hair, earning a protest of, "Hey!" from the younger Summers sister.

"She didn't give you too much trouble, did she?"

You shook your head no, "Nah, she was fine. A little annoying, but no more so than usual," you shot her a grin and Dawn rolled her eyes.

"I wasn't that bad." Dawn said. "We watched a movie," she told Buffy.

Buffy's head was buried in the fridge, looking for a post-slaying snack, "Yeah? Have fun?"

"We did. And, we got some homework done," you said.

She pulled out the milk and walked over to the cupboard to pull out some cereal, " Oh, that's good to hear. I was worried you two were just gonna spend the whole evening chatting."

"Nope, I helped keep her on track. Wanted to make sure you had a stress free evening after patrol."

Buffy gave you a grateful look. It was clear from her appearance that it had been a tough night. Probably a group of vampires or a demon that roughed her up. She didn't seem hurt, though, so you thought it best to just leave her be.

The conversation died down and you took that as your que to leave. You grabbed your keys off the counter right when Buffy spoke up.

"Oh, I forgot to mention. I ran into Spike."

You stopped dead in your tracks. Dawn started giggling.

"Yeah?"

"Mhmm. He asked about you."

"What did he say?"

Dawn giggled harder. She clamped a hand over her mouth in an attempt to stifle them and tried avoided your eyes. She needed to be quiet.

Buffy cocked an eyebrow at both of your reactions to her statement, "Am I missing something?"

"No-"

"They have a crush on Spike."

Dawn was dead meat, and she knew it. After she blurted out your little secret, she put down her homework and sprinted away from the table before you could reprimand her. You groaned and sat down as Buffy motioned for you to do so. She looked concerned, and you honestly couldn't blame her.

You sighed and began to explain, "Listen, it's not quite what Dawnie said," you left a pause in case Buffy wanted to interject, but she stayed silent, "but she's not wrong, either. I don't know. It's complicated."

"He's a vampire. An evil one," she cautioned, reaching out her hand. You took it and squeezed. It wasn't an easy conversation to have, especially given Buffy's history. "But, I'm not surprised."

She let go of your hand before continuing, "He's not hard on the eyes. Not really my type, but I'm not blind. And, I've noticed the tension between you two, lately. You haven't even wanted to be in the same room as him. You bitched at each other before, but you've never avoided him. Not like this. What happened?"

"I don't know." You tossed your arms into the air. "I was walking home, I ran into him, we exchanged insults, and something just... Changed. I don't get it."

She took a breath before looking you in the face, watching your expression, "Do you like him? Like, like like him."

You shrugged, honestly not knowing how to respond.

"If he told you he was into you, how would you feel?" Buffy asked. Your involuntary smile betrayed you, and your friend chuckled sadly, "Guess that's that."

She stood up, and you did, too.

"Listen," Buffy said, "he's evil. I don't approve. But, I'm not going to stop you. If you decide that he's what you want, I'll support you. Even if it goes wrong."

You hugged her tightly. Buffy returned the gesture. She handed you your keys. "Be careful going home. It's one of those nights."

You told her thanks and walked out the door. The lock clicked behind you and the porch light flickered on. Thoughtful, but it wouldn't do you much good. You lived about a block down from her, and though it wasn't far, it was just far enough to make you nervous. If she hadn't been exhausted, you knew Buffy would have walked you home.

You weren't bad at taking care of yourself; it was a necessary skill set for the kind of life you lead. The friends you kept. But you knew enough to know that you should be afraid of the dark.

When you heard footsteps behind you, your heart sank. You gripped your keys tighter, fitting three of them between your fingers and making a fist.

"Feeling a bit feisty, aren't we, love?"

Oh, you so wanted to deck him.

You spun around and scowled at Spike, trying to keep your conversation with Buffy out of your mind. The last thing you needed was for him to have more ammunition to use against you.

"The hell do you want?" You spat.

His cocky grin fell off his face for a second and was replaced by what seemed like genuine hurt. He quickly masked it with an annoyed grimace and clenched his jaw.

With a scoff he pulled a cigarette pack out of his coat pocket, "Aren't you a lovely one to be around."

He stood silently as he tapped one out of the box and fished around for his lighter.

"Help a bloke out?" He flashed his teeth at you again and you had to pray he didn't notice the heat it brought to your cheeks. Now that you knew you had feelings for him, every interaction you'd ever had with Spike was recontextualized. Including this one.

You pulled a lighter out as he placed the cigarette between his lips. His eyes roamed across your body as you lit it for him, making your cheeks burn even more.

Spike nodded his head in thanks and began to walk along side you. You didn't move for a few beats, before deciding you'd rather have him with you than be alone while you walked. It seemed Spike had the same idea.

"Not exactly bright of you to walk home alone. All sorts of nasties out."

You laughed, "So I've heard."

There was silence between you two for a while, and you got the feeling it wasn't just you that felt uncomfortable. It chilled you to think that he might have picked up on your little crush. Buffy was right. He was evil, and he hated you.

That didn't sound right, though. The thought felt more like an anxious fear than an actual reading of the situation.

"You've been avoiding me." He said it like a statement, but you knew it was a question.

You didn't respond.

"I mean, s'not like I've missed you or anythin'. Just that those bloody Scoobies are insufferable on their own."

You stared at him in surprised and he stammered.

"Not that you're any less insufferable. You're just the only one with anything interesting to say."

"Even if it's at your expense?" You asked.

Spike laughed, "Yeah. Least you've got balls," he took a drag off his cigarette before continuing, "I do something extra to tick you off?" He almost sounded sorry.

You stayed silent again.

"Suppose that fits. Well, it's a pity. I like having you around."

It was your turn to smirk, "I thought I was insufferable?"

He didn't have a comeback. It didn't matter much, though, as you were only one house away from your home. You debated thanking him for walking you home, but thought better of it. It surprised you when, as you turned and walked up your steps, Spike didn't keep going straight. He stayed beside you all the way until you got to your door.

You'd never invited him in, and you both knew that wasn't going to change tonight. Even if a part of you wanted to.

"Listen..." Spike said softly. It was a tone you'd never heard him use with you before. "Something changed that night I caught you and the niblet on the way home. Between us."

You could feel his confidence waver and you didn't dare look at him when you spoke.

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean, pet."

The term of endearment, usually said in condescension, actually felt endearing this time. Genuine. Your heart was beating loudly in your chest.

You swallowed and dared a glance at his face. He was wearing the same expression he had on that night. You still couldn't quite place it.

His look changed again to one of minor distress.

"I don't have the words right now," he put forward, "but I can't leave things like this."

Your thoughts were racing as he took a step closer towards you. Everything was spinning and you couldn't be sure if this was even happening. It all felt so surreal. When he kissed you, your world fell apart. Everything shattered around you and you were left floating there. Alone. With Spike. And it felt okay.

When he pulled away, a little, "Oh," was all you could manage.

He cocked his head, "That a bad 'oh' or a good 'oh'?"

"Good."

Spike dropped his cigarette and put it out with the heel of his boot. He looked at you with that same soft expression, "Good."

#starting off with a pun is #a choice #that i made #its a funny title though even if its not grammatically correct #anyways heres the long awaited sequel #spike x reader #btvs #btvs x reader #buffy the vampire slayer #spike btvs x reader #spike x you #buffy summers #dawn summers #spike btvs

[ecoamerica]

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[ashtray-girl]

Songs that are about Johnny Marr (probably)

THE SMITHS

The Smiths

Hand In Glove → the lyrics are about a deep friendship and Johnny himself said he thinks it’s about his relationship with Morrissey because they were “only hanging out with each other at the time”.

Meat Is Murder

I Want The One I Can’t Have → all about unrequited love. A possible reference in the title to Elizabeth Smart’s novella By Grand Central Station I Sat Down And Wept – “I want the one I want.” Also: “Meet me in the Alley” is a 1972 song by John Mars.

Well I Wonder → a desperate plea by Morrissey for someone to keep him in mind. There are several loans from By Grand Central Station... (which by the way is about a deeply emotional, doomed and unrequited love), namely: “Well I wonder, do you hear me when you sleep?” / “Is it possible he can not hear me when he lies so close, so lightly asleep?” , “My dear, my darling, do you hear me when you sleep?” “This is the fierce last stand of what I am.” This song was never performed live and Johnny said it was because they were afraid they wouldn’t be able to capture its full magic, which makes sense, but I also get the feeling that this song was particularly special to both Morrissey and Johnny, for reasons which went beyond its lyricism and music.

The Queen Is Dead

I Know It’s Over → conceived just a few months after Johnny married his girlfriend Angie while The Smiths were on tour in the US. Morrissey was Johnny’s witness. The lyrics mention a wedding and a failed relationship that “never really began” because “love is natural and real, but not for such as you and I, my love” (where “natural and real” could easily be interpreted as “straight”.)

The Boy With The Thorn In His Side → even though Morrissey said that this was a song about his tormented relationship with the music industry (that being the “thorn” in his side), in my opinion there’s also another interpretation. Just as in Well I Wonder, there are a few loans from By Grand Central Station… namely: “How can they see the love in our eyes and still they don’t believe us?” / “They intercepted our glances because of what was in our eyes.” “And if they don’t believe us now, will they ever believe us?” / “Did they see such flagrant proof and still not believe?”. These are especially relevant because they come from a point in the book in which the author is specifically talking about her love for a married man (poet George Barker) and about how they were attempting to see each other in spite of that, which caused them to get arrested while together in Arizona for “moral turpitude”.

There Is A Light That Never Goes Out → references being driven around in someone’s car. Morrissey and Johnny apparently used to go on long car rides together, Morrissey talked about how he found cars to be “erotic” and there are multiple examples of that in his lyrics (see This Charming Man, That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore etc.). Also, the lyrics are, once again, about unrequited love.

Strangeways Here We Come (the pining here was at its finest imo)

A Rush And A Push And The Land Is Ours → the title is a reference to a traditional Irish rallying call which Oscar Wilde’s mother, who wrote Irish nationalist prose and poetry, used to urge the Irish to rise up against the British army. “Some eighteen months ago” could be a reference to Oscar Wilde being sentenced to hard labor for soliciting male prostitutes. The lyrics are about the “pain and strain” of being in love despite not wanting to. Also, the way he sings “so phone me, phone me” sounds like he’s saying “f*ck me”. (I thought I was the only one who thought that, but apparently not.)

I Started Something I Couldn’t Finish → the lyrics are about going too far with someone who can’t/doesn’t want to be pushed. Another reference to “eighteen months’ hard labor”. The “Okay Stephen, do that again” at the end is aimed at producer Stephen Street, but Morrissey is also called Steven. Why was that left in the recording? Was it fully intentional? Who wants Stephen to do what again? Maybe the other person mentioned in the song doesn’t actually mind being pushed out of their comfort zone by Morrissey, they just lack the courage to seal the whole deal for whatever reason.

Girlfriend In A Coma → according to the lyrics, Morrissey doesn’t seem to like this woman, yet he feels guilty about it and doesn’t wish her ill. Could this be a reference to Angie Marr, who he sees as an obstacle between him and Johnny, despite having a good opinion of her as a person?

Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before → by now, Morrissey may have realized that he has written an awful lot about being in love with someone who doesn’t reciprocate. Also, his love for this other person must be so obvious by now, he’s said almost everything on the subject and yet he still wants to make clear that: “Nothing’s changed, I still love you, only slightly less than I used to, my love.” By now, his working relationship with Johnny was starting to deteriorate. Another interesting note is: “Oh, who said I’d lied to her because I never? I never!”. While this is grammatically incorrect, it’s also a common way of speaking in most Northern cities, so this reads like a quote that someone may have uttered at some point and this may be why, when called out on it, Morrissey said it was meant to be written that way. It’s worth pointing out how Morrissey liked to correct Johnny’s grammar in interviews and he even mentioned in his Autobiography how Johnny’s way of speaking was “shockingly bad”.

Death At One’s Elbow → the song’s title was taken from the diaries of 60s playwright Joe Orton, beaten to death with a hammer by his lover Kenneth Halliwell. Johnny’s opinion on the song was ambivalent. He stated that: “It was good sometimes to have a track that wasn’t trying to win the war like There Is A Light That Never Goes Out,” he said. "It was almost like, ‘We have the right to be slightly less intense.’ I liked Morrissey’s singing and I liked my own backing vocals” and yet, when asked by Johnny Rogan about it for his book Morrissey & Marr: The Severed Alliance, he sounded much less pleased with it, saying: “Oh God, did we really write that?”.

I Won’t Share You → widely believed by everyone to be about Morrissey’s possessive feelings towards Johnny (who not only didn’t mind, but seemed actually quite pleased about it).

Others

Wonderful Woman → It was originally titled “What Do You See In Him?” and included lyrics such as: “Cheat the Life out of me as you walk hand in hand / And I try, and I try, but I will never understand / What do you see in her?” “That she will plague you / And I will be glad / Yes, she will leave you / And I will be glad.” The final version, albeit quite different, is still about a woman who seems quite unpleasant but to whom the protagonist feels irresistibly drawn to. With the final: “When she calls me I do not walk, I run” there’s an acknowledgment of co-dependence in the relationship but, even though the first person is used, this could have been a way to write from someone else’s point of view. Specifically, the boyfriend of someone with a very domineering personality. (Basically, he’s writing from Johnny’s perspective).

Ask → the lyrics are about being too shy to make a move on someone, yet Morrissey seems to be eager to take on board whatever the other person has in mind. There’s pining and there’s the possibility of a relationship which looks promising but never amounts to anything substantial because the people involved don’t have the courage to take it any further, despite wanting to. 

These Things Take Time → mentions of a relationship which is impeded by the fact that the other person is engaged to someone else (“I’m spellbound, but a woman divides”). Johnny was already with Angie at the time. “And the hills are alive with celibate cries”. Morrissey had been talking to the press about being celibate and not really interested in romantic/sexual relationships, but the fact that the object of his desire was someone he knew he couldn’t have could have been part of the reason why he felt he had to take that stance. Also, it seems like he already felt like this relationship wouldn’t last, with the other person “leaving him behind” in the end.

Is It Really So Strange? → I’m not so sure about this one, but I’m including it because the lyrics are about traveling from North to South and about loving someone in spite of unfavorable circumstances. Also, according to Johnny (from Mozipedia): “Road trips were a big part of the group. We opted to live in Manchester most of the time but were always traveling back and forth to London. It was in cars on the motorway where myself and Morrissey did a lot of our profound talking and thinking and listening. We loved it, because we’d take off at half three in the morning back to Manchester or down to London, just razzing about. That came out in ‘Is It Really So Strange?’”. As a matter of fact, Morrissey included the track on Rank, which he compiled alone a year after the band’s demise, and I feel like every song on that record was put in that particular order for a particular reason (if you look at the tracklist it basically tells the whole story of The Smiths, from start to finish… he even included The Draize Train which he claimed he didn’t like, which is why he refused to put lyrics on it, so I can only assume he did that as a conciliatory gesture towards Johnny).

I Keep Mine Hidden → the last song The Smiths ever recorded, it is, like “I Won’t Share You”, widely believed to be a direct message from Morrissey to Johnny, who was about to leave the band. A plea for understanding, he seems to imply that for Johnny is much easier to lie (about what?) while hiding in plain sight (“But it’s so easy for you, because you let yours flail into public view”), while Morrissey is forced to keep HIS hidden. IT could be his emotions and the fact that he feels the need to repress them because of some trauma in his past (“I’m a twenty-eight digit combination to unlock, with a past where to be touched meant to be mental.”), but IT could also be a relationship. Johnny was married, while at the time Morrissey showed no public signs of being involved with anyone and had yet to relinquish his celibate image, which may have been frustrating if he was actually interested in someone but couldn’t voice it.

MORRISSEY

Viva Hate

Alsatian Cousin → literally the first sentence on the first record Morrissey released post-Smiths is: “Were you and he lovers? And would you say so if you were?”. While the rest of the song is pretty ambiguous is interesting to note that, according to Mozipedia, Johnny was, at the time, the proud owner of two Alsatian dogs.

Angel Angel Down We Go Together → Morrissey himself admitted that this song was about Johnny. He also said it’s the only song he’d written with him in mind, post-Smiths, and that it was about how sorry he felt to see him being taken advantage of by the music industry. While the full truth of this statement may be debatable, it’s still worth noting how the lyrics end with the repeated: “I love you more than life”.

Late Night, Maudlin Street → While Morrissey said that this song was about his isolating childhood during the 70s, I think the lyrics go much deeper than that. Apparently, when Johnny wanted to leave the band, Morrissey took it badly enough for people to start worrying about the fact that he might take his own life. Both Stephen Street and Grant Showbiz admitted to this, with Showbiz even spending the night at Morrissey’s house to keep an eye on him. There’s also a rumor about the fact that Morrissey actually did attempt to kill himself by baking a cake with loads of sleeping pills in it, eating it and then phoning Johnny, admitting that he loved him and asking him to come seeing him before he died, with Johnny calling an ambulance instead. (“I came home late one night, everyone had gone to bed, nobody stays up for you, I had sixteen stitches all around my head / The last bus I missed to Maudlin Street so, he drove me home in the van...”) This would also explain the lyrics: “And I know I took strange pills, but I never meant to hurt you”. If this story was true, then I feel like moving away from Maudlin Street could actually be a metaphor for committing suicide. (“Good-bye house, forever! I never stole a happy hour around here”, “I am moving house, a half-life disappears today / Every hag waves me on, secretly wishing me gone / Well, I will be soon / Oh, I will be soon.”) There are also more loans from Elizabeth Smart’s By Grand Central Station… namely: “They took you away in a police car / Dear Inspector, don’t you know? Don’t you care? Don’t you know about love?”. This part comes from the same chapter which probably inspired part of the lyrics for The Boy With The Thorn In His Side and which is about people putting themselves between a loving couple. Also, according to Mozipedia, during the making of Viva Hate, Morrissey prepared the artwork for the final Smiths single, Last Night I Dreamt… which was originally going to include an inscription on the back sleeve saying: “When I sleep with that picture beside me… I really think it’s you.”, which would explain the lyrics: “When I sleep with that framed picture of you beside my bed / Oh, it’s childish and it’s silly, but I think it’s you in my room, by the bed.” The single’s inner sleeve was also going to feature a lyric from Well I Wonder, “Please keep me in mind”, so these may very well have been messages for Johnny. Worthy of interest are also the parts about love at first sight and seeing each other with no clothes on.

Suedehead → the lyrics are about someone sticking around Morrissey even though they know it hurts him. Suedeheads were a subculture in early 1970’s England that split off from the skinheads and came to popular notice in a book by Richard Allen. Morrissey apparently read the book, but according to Len Brown’s Meetings with Morrissey interviews, the title has little to do with the subject matter of the song: M: I did happen to read the book when it came out and I was quite interested in the whole Richard Allen cult. But really I just like the word ‘suedehead’." LB: “So it’s not even based on an episode from Suedehead?” M: “No, not really.” LB: “And it’s not about anyone in particular?” M: “Yes, it is, but I’d rather not give any addresses and phone numbers at this stage. But the most interesting nugget of information comes once again from Mozipedia, which says it may be worth taking into consideration a recollection from Johnny about a period during the latter half of The Smiths’ career when he decided to ‘get a motorbike and get a suedehead’. ‘That was my mantra for a while. Gotta get a suedehead! Gotta get a suedehead!’ […] ‘I think I may have brought that word into the vernacular, I might be wrong. But that’s what I did, got myself a motorbike and a suedehead haircut. To cloud further autobiographical analysis, Morrissey also said that he has never kept a diary, even though “I make so many records that in a peculiar way that becomes like a personal diary”. And as far as the repeated “It was a good lay” at the end, he said he just made it up (which I personally doubt, but I guess we’ll never know for sure).

Break Up The Family → I feel like the title is a metaphor for The Smiths splitting up. “You say break up the family and let’s begin to live our lives”. It was Johnny who wanted to ‘take a break’ from the band, which Morrissey didn’t approve of, so this may very well be about that particular moment when Johnny told him he’d had enough. There’s yet another reference to being driven home by someone: “Hailstones, driven home in his car- no breaks? I don’t mind.” Which reminds me of There Is A Light… “And if a double-decker bus crashes into us, to die by your side it’s such a heavenly way to die.”

I Don’t Mind If You Forget Me → when Morrissey started working on Viva Hate, one of the earliest songs he was working on was called I Don’t Want Us To Finish, with Us probably being him and Johnny. It’s said the song was later scrapped, but I feel like it may actually have been turned into this one instead. In the lyrics, Morrissey is trying to convince himself that he doesn’t mind if the person he cares about the most ends up forgetting him, but clearly he does care, otherwise he wouldn’t have written an entire song about it. “The pressure to change, to move on / Was strange and very strong / So this is why I tell you / I really do understand / Bye bye”. I feel like this is another reference to Johnny’s departure, because it was him who wanted a change of direction for the band’s future, while Morrissey seemed to be happy for them to stay as they were.

Treat Me Like A Human Being → this was a demo which was abandoned and later released in 2012 on a Viva Hate reissue, taking the place as track 9 instead of The Ordinary Boys. The lyrics are a plea by Morrissey for someone to acknowledge his feelings and have some compassion for him. The reason I’m including it in this list is because of the lyric: “Leave all your hate behind you”, which could be interpreted as a reference to the fact that, after The Smiths split up, Johnny had started bad-mouthing him in the press. Worthy of interest is also: “Three words could change my life / Yet you treat me like you never care”. I wonder what those three words might be… “Stop being racist”, maybe?

Oh Well, I’ll Never Learn → Suedehead b-side, there’s not much to say about this one but I do find the lyrics “I found a fountain of youth / And I fell in / How could I ever win?” interesting, if anything because they make me think of the fact that Johnny, being four years younger than Morrissey, was the one who put The Smiths together. It’s also been mentioned how energetic he was, fully in contrast with Morrissey’s coy personality, and yet Johnny’s energy would prove infectious, providing him with an unexpected source of drive and creativity and making him feel rejuvenated, much like a fountain of youth. Also, right at the beginning it says: “Looking up at the sign / It said: PLEASE KEEP AWAY / And so in I ran” which can be read in many ways, but would make perfect sense in the context of falling in love with someone you can’t have.

Bona Drag

He Knows I’d Love To See Him → the lyrics are about Morrissey wanting to rekindle his relationship with someone he hasn’t seen for quite some time. Even though he’s never admitted to it, I feel like this has to be about Johnny because of the line: “’Cause when I lived in the arse of the world”. It’s common knowledge that Johnny was the one who first reached out to Morrissey about forming a band by showing up to his house and later, in an interview, he said that Johnny’s initiative probably saved his life. Also, the lyric: “My name still conjures up deadly deeds / And a bad taste in the mouth” could be yet another reference to the fact that The Smiths’ split-up hadn’t been exactly amicable and Johnny was talking badly about him in the press. Still, even though Morrissey makes his feelings known right from the title (he wish he could see him and still wishes him happiness), the final: “He doesn’t know” suggests that the other person is not aware of Morrissey’s magnanimity. Also, in an interview of the same period (1990), he was asked: “If Johnny phoned and asked to work with you again, what would you say?” to which he replied: “It’s no secret I would be on the next bus to his house”. So, it seems like the song might have reflected his actual feelings.

Yes, I Am Blind → the reason I’m including this is because of the lyric: “Yes, I am blind / But I do see / Evil people prosper / Over the likes of you and me, always”. Which reminds me a lot of: “And people who are weaker than you and I / they take what they want from life” from A Rush And A Push… which I think was directed to Johnny as well. Pretty interesting are also the lyrics: “Love’s young dream / I’m the one who shopped you / I’m the one who stopped you / ‘Cause in my sorry ways I love you” and: “Love’s young dream / Are you sorry for what you’re done? / Well, you’re not the only one / And in my sorry ways I love you”. This sounds like ‘Love’s young dream’ was the one who made the first move towards Morrissey but was then pushed away by the man himself, maybe because he realized this person didn’t actually love him as much as he thought. Also, that repeated: “And in my sorry ways I love you” reminds me a lot of that line in Speedway, “In my own strange way / I’ve always been true to you / In my own sick way / I’ll always stay true to you” (more on that later). This is one of those songs that has no explicit references to Johnny or to events surrounding him, but it has such a feeling of longing to it, I can’t help but think it may have been written with him in mind.

Happy Lovers At Last United → Johnny and Angie split up for a brief period back in 1983, just before The Smiths were to go on tour in the USA for the first time, but got back together once the band were back in the UK. This song talks about Morrissey helping a couple of friends reuniting and then feeling sad because he feels like they don’t want him nor need him anymore. Obviously I don’t know why or how Johnny and Angie actually got back together… according to The Severed Alliance, they had split up in the first place because Johnny had gotten closer to an ex of his and it was actually Joe Moss, the band’s first manager and Johnny’s friend, who suggested he and Angie should get married. Morrissey’s role in this whole thing, on the other hand, is never mentioned, so the only thing we can rely on are these lyrics.

Kill Uncle

Tony The Pony → This song is a pretty harsh condemnation of someone who lets himself being repeatedly taken advantage of by anyone and personally, I see it as the flipside of Angel Angel Down We Go Together. The reason being, they both deal with a similar theme, but in two completely different ways. While Angel Angel is sad but compassionate, this one is resentful and dripping with exasperation. “Just don’t say I didn’t warn you / Always nagging big brother / He’s only looking out for you”. Being older than Johnny, Morrissey was the one who tried to refrain him from doing stuff he didn’t approve of (like working with anyone who wasn’t him). “Tony the pony / So, that’s what they call you now? / When you’re free outside / So cold and hard and in control / And… there’s a free ride on Tony the pony”. Again, Johnny was the one who left the band, who wanted a change of direction and who, right after The Smiths split up, started playing with loads of different people (Bryan Ferry, Talking Heads, The Pretenders, Bernard Sumner…) and that would make any control freak (such as Morrissey undoubtedly is) very bitter very quickly. He’s basically calling Johnny a (music) slut, who anyone can try and hire for a while. “Oh, why do you always want to stop me / From doing the things in life that make me happy? / And when I’m outside with friends, laughing loudly / Why do you always want to stop me?” and immediately after: “Oh, I would never / I would never”. This reads like a dialogue, with Tony the pony first asking Morrissey why he always has to spoil his fun and Morrissey replying that he would never dream of doing such a thing. Right at the end though, the bitterness comes right through with: “I will never say I told you so / or how I knew that something bad would happen to you / I don’t want to say I told you so / oh, but Tony, I told you so!”. I wish there were more specific references (like… what did happen to Tony that was so bad?), but I feel like my initial point still stands.

The Loop → Sing Your Life b-side, the lyrics are a plea for someone to call him if he needs him. “So one day, when you’re bored / By all means call / Because you can do / But you might not get through”. I find the last line particularly interesting because it reveals that Morrissey’s professed availability has an expire date after all. As for the identity of this plea’s addressee, I’m just gonna quote Mozipedia: “The singer’s short message to an old friend telling them ‘by all means call me’ and inevitably interpreted by Smiths romantics as being directed towards Marr.” Apparently, Morrissey was especially proud of this song, even calling it his favourite at the time.

Your Arsenal

You’re Gonna Need Someone On Your Side → This is another one which I have doubts on (the lyrics are so vague they could be about anyone, really), but Verse 2 is the one I find the most interesting: “Someone kindly told me that you’d wasted eight of nine lives / Oh, give yourself a break before you break down / You’re gonna need someone on your side”. Johnny was known to be a workaholic, even compromising his own health by devoting all of his time to any project he was working on. He also mentioned how alcohol and drugs became a problem for him in the 90s, how he used them to cope with stress, and by this time he was working with Bernard Sumner on Electronic, so my guess is that they were leading quite a hectic lifestyle. Considering him and Morrissey were still not talking to each other, it would make sense for Morrissey to know what he was up to through friends they had in common and if they had told him Johnny was still working himself to the point of exhaustion, it would make sense for him to get worried about him, hence this song, which is about being supportive through concern for someone. The other interesting part is the ending: “And here I am! / Well, you don’t need to look so pleased”. It feels like Morrissey knows the other person wouldn’t necessarily want his support, even though that doesn’t stop him from providing it, hoping the other person might come around eventually.

Tomorrow → The reason I’m including it on this list is this part: “All I ask of you is one thing that you’ll never do / Would you put your arms around me? / I won’t tell anybody.” which, even though the connection is tenuous, reminds me of this bit from by Grand Central Station… “I am lonely. I cannot be a female saint. I want the one I want. He is the one I picked out from the world. I picked him out in cold deliberation. But the passion was not cold. It kindled me. It kindled the world. Love, love, give my heart ease, put your arms round me, give my heart ease. Feel the little bastard.” It could be about Johnny or it could be about someone else entirely. At this point, some time had passed since The Smiths’ demise and who knows what Morrissey had been exactly up to (and with whom)? The one thing I’m quite sure of is that, considering how much he took from it, Morrissey used By Grand Central Station… as a way to express and sublimate his conflicting feelings towards Johnny (I might make a separate, more in-depth analysis on that in the future).

Vauxhall and I (Vauxhall is both an area of London noted for its gay clubs AND a British car manufacturer, so it looks like Morrissey’s car kink is still alive and well).

Billy Budd → from Mozipedia: “Taking its title from the 1960 film Billy Budd, based upon the posthumously published novella of Moby Dick author Herman Melville, Morrissey uses the term as a playful nickname for a long-standing and long-suffering companion. As he describes, their relationship provokes public ridicule and discrimination, so much so that Morrissey comically volunteers to have his legs amputated as a sacrifice for Billy’s freedom. The elusive nature of the lyrics offers few clues as to the identity of ‘Billy Budd’ beyond the mention of ‘12 years on’. Since the song was released in 1994 (though recorded in 1993) the line was interpreted by many as a reference to Johnny Marr whom he ‘took up with’ 12 years earlier in 1982. This theory is somewhat compounded by the outrageously spooky coincidence that in 1888 Melville published a collection of poetry titled John Marr and Other Sailors. The song also includes what appears to be another fleeting citation from one of Morrissey’s favourite sources, Elizabeth Smart’s By Grand Central Station… ([‘they intercepted our glances because of] what was in our eyes’)”. There’s also an audio floating around in which Morrissey changes the lyrics from “but now it’s 12 years on” to “now it’s 15 years on” in 1997, 15 years after he met Johnny. As for the Melville references, I highly recommend you go and read his ‘John Marr’ poem in its entirety, but this is my favourite part: - I yearn as ye. But rafts that strain, Parted, shall they lock again? Twined we were, entwined, then riven, Ever to new embracements driven, Shifting gulf-weed of the main! And how if one here shift no more, Lodged by the flinging surge ashore? Nor less, as now, in eve's decline, Your shadowy fellowship is mine. Ye float around me, form and feature:-- Tattooings, ear-rings, love-locks curled;

  Speedway → from Mozipedia: “The detail that Johnny Marr once worked at a speedway in his teens is enough to satisfy some theorists that the song is a coded address to the ex-Smiths guitarist, ignoring the fact that at the time of recording Morrissey and Marr were on cordial terms”. Personally, I don’t agree with this (partial) dismissal. The fact that they were on good terms at the time doesn’t mean that everything between them had necessarily been solved. I’d like to focus on this part, specifically: “I could have mentioned your name / I could have dragged you in / Guilt by implication, by association / I’ve always been true to you / In my own strange way / I’ve always been true to you / In my own sick way / I’ll always stay true to you”. Let’s go back to Billy Budd for a moment: “I said, Billy Budd / I would happily lose both of my legs / Oh, if it meant you could be free”. Free from what, exactly? From expectations? From life itself? Looks like Johnny/Billy Budd had a secret burden weighing down on him, and now onto Speedway: “I could have mentioned your name” in regards to what? “Guilt by implication, by association” so, the burden Johnny/Billy Budd carried was also shared by Morrissey? And what could be so heinous, so scandalous as to require this eternal silent loyalty? Could it be that the relationship between Johnny and Morrissey went deeper than everyone thought or liked to admit? Could it be that they shared a bond which wasn’t just professional or even friendly, but that bordered instead on all-consuming, romantic obsession? He then says that, in his own “strange way”, he’s always been loyal to him. The way he sings it though, putting quite a bit of emphasis on these two specific words, makes me think he’s hinting to Strangeways Here We Come, which both him and Johnny claimed was their best album and also the last one they recorded together. Talking about the song, he said: “I believe in my loyalty which is as developed as possible.” So at the end, when he goes: “In my own sick way / I’ll always stay true to you” it looks like whatever happens, the secret they share is so big and important it has to stay hidden no matter what. Morrissey is reassuring him that, if it ever gets out, it won’t be because of him. “All of the rumours keeping me grounded / I never said, I never said / That they were completely unfounded.” “And all those lies, written lies, twisted lies / Well, they weren’t lies, they weren’t lies, they weren’t lies.” According to Mozipedia: “It was only a decade later that Morrissey ended all further debate by admitting, somewhat flippantly, that the lyrics were ‘probably’ just his way of winding up his detractors at the time.” We all know that Morrissey has been at the center of many a storm throughout his career, but what’s the oldest one, the one that has been the most recurring, the one most journalists seem to always come back to, in the end? His sexuality. His sexual and romantic relationships (or lack thereof). His self-admitted celibacy, right at the beginning of his career, which immediately set him apart from the rest of his colleagues and sparked instant curiosity. The vagueness, the hints, the lack of evidence. Is he gay? Bisexual? Asexual? Or really just hopeless when it comes to human connection? When they don’t have a definite answer, some people invent it, even if it’s just to make things more interesting. So, there you have it. Journalists creating rumours out of thin air just to sell a few more papers. Journalists who encourage endless speculations on the most private aspects of an individual’s life. His lyrics are dissected, his friendships scrutinised just to find that final puzzle piece, the one which will make everyone go: “Ah, finally, there it is! I knew he was!”. But more often than not, Morrissey ends up beating them at their same game. He muddies the waters, he hides his tracks. Many of the songs which people could argue are about Johnny are released as b-sides. Is this really a coincidence? To me, this song represents closure. It’s Morrissey’s way of saying: ‘Look, I know we’ve been through a lot but, no matter what, I will protect you. I won’t rat you out’. At the time, it looked like Morrissey had finally found love with Jake Walters, his driver, and I think most of this record and the stuff he wrote after is about him. But if Johnny was his first real love, then this sounds like the final vent, the definite acknowledgment of what has been, before leaving the past behind for greener pastures.

You Are The Quarry

Never Played Symphonies → B-side of Irish Blood, English Heart, the lyrics are about Morrissey laying on his metaphorical deathbed and looking at all the people who cared about him, but he’s not able to see them because he’s focused on the Never Played Symphonies of the title, which are the people he didn’t get to be with. “You were one, you meant to be one / And you jumped into my face and laughed / And kissed me on the cheek and then were gone forever… not quite”. This is a bit of a reach, but there’s a gif floating around from an old movie of The Smiths backstage in Sheffield in 1984 where Johnny and Morrissey are looking at the camera, then Johnny leans into Morrissey as if he’s about to kiss him on the cheek, but Morrissey raises his hands and points at him, stopping him. I don’t know for sure if he wrote this whole song with Johnny in mind, but that was the first thing I thought upon reading that line. Also, that final “… not quite” becomes significant if you think about their relationship post-Smiths. They spent years not talking to each other, then they made up and were on good terms for a while, then there was the whole Joyce trial and they grew distant once again. But even if Johnny has been gone from Morrissey’s life for quite some time, he has never really gone, if you know what I mean. And he probably never will be, because their shared history is impossible to ignore. The final part: “You were one, you knew you were one / And you slipped right through my fingers / No not literally but metaphorically / And now you’re all I see as the light fades.” makes me think that whatever happened between them, even if it was physical, was mostly felt on Morrissey’s part (it reminds me of that quote in his Autobiography, “It was probably nothing, but it felt like the world”). The reason I think this is about Johnny is that “you’re all I see as the light fades”, as if to say: the light has finally gone out, and now it’s just you.

World Peace Is None Of Your Business

Forgive Someone → a bonus track on the deluxe edition, it sounds like Morrissey’s been reminiscing on past grievances. “Betray you with a sword / I would slit my own throat first of all, I will”. This reminds me of Speedway’s repeated declarations of eternal loyalty. “The black peat of the hills / When I was still ill”. This has to be a reference to The Smiths’ song Still Ill, even though “the black peat of the hills” also reminds me of These Things Take Time: “… and the hills are alive with celibate cries”. It’s like he’s thinking about his late adolescence, when he was lonely and depressed, before Johnny came to save him. “And then recall if you can / How all this even began / Forgive someone”. This looks like Morrissey is asking Johnny to think about how their legacy came to be and to forgive him for any mistakes he made. “Shorts and supports and faulty shower heads / At track and field we dreamt of our beds / In the bleachers you sit with your legs spread, smiling / ‘Here’s one thing you’ll never have’”. I feel like Morrissey’s past car kink has been replaced by a runner kink, especially considering the fact he later wrote List of the Lost, in which the main characters are track runners. The final, repeated “Our truth will die with me” reminds me once again of Speedway’s ending: “In my own sick way, I’ll always stay true to you”. In conclusion, whatever happened between Johnny and him will remain between the two of them, at least until Morrissey is alive.

#the smiths #morrissey #johnny marr #marrissey #this has been quite a ride my dudes #good luck to anyone who decides to read this

[missneko-otaku]

A Faint Affection (MC x Yasumasa)

(Writer’s Note: I am new to SLBP fandom. I just discovered it recently. Even in the fanfiction world, I am new. So there are terms that are new and alien to me, like headcannons, fluff, the like– tho some I have a bit of a clue (just a tiny bit) what it is, but, still, I am clueless in so many fandom/ fanfiction terms. This will be my first time, writing a fanfic. So, please, be a little forgiving if my work seems not to satisfy you for I am not perfect ^ↀᴥↀ^ .  And if there is some bit of grammatical errors (or regarding characters), please do forgive me (and correct me in what part, etc. too), for English is not my mother tongue. I am more of a reader than of a writer by the way. But I write from time to time. So, yeah..umm hope you like it. ʕ⊙ᴥ⊙ʔ

 PS. I want to say thank you for these blogs: ieyasu-tacogawa.tumblr.com and bmp-slbp-matchup.tumblr.com (Rose-chan..!!˶⚈Ɛ⚈˵) Some of their posts provided info that helped me get a better understanding of Sakakibara Yasumasa’s character (and confirmed some of my assumptions about him). I only knew him mainly in Tokugawa Ieyasu’s (hey hubby~! ♡ ♡ ♡ (ㆁᴗㆁ✿) Look, I finally finished writing a chapter!) main story route. I didn’t know if he had many event stories in the past, if it is then too bad I wasn’t able to play it! Anyway, I have this little crush on him. And I can’t help but imagine some sweet scenarios about him (≖ᴗ≖✿) so here I am, ended up writing a fanfic for him. I hope that you like it as much as I do!)Sakakibara Yasumasa

A Faint Affection (MC x Yasumasa)

-Chapter 1/ Chapter 2/ Chapter 3/ Chapter 4/  Chapter 5/ Chapter 6-7 *new

Chapter 1

Pale Moonlight, Burned Fishes, Sighs

It’s been a few weeks since I have begun living as Yahiko, under the care of the Tokugawa Clan. Replacing my brother as a poison taster to save him from the magistrate’s irrational displeasure because I turned him down, bluntly, not letting myself succumb to his desire for me to be his bride. I disguised myself as a boy and let that fool magistrate sent me here, unknowingly, instead of my little brother Yahiko.

It was the only best solution at that time. Well, as if I had any other options to begin with. We are just a normal family who owns a small restaurant in Kyoto, born under no titles. Powerless and weak to those who have it.

I’m the eldest daughter. And being the eldest just means the responsibility falls on my shoulders: to protect my mother and my little brother. Since my father passed away because of war, leaving us and the restaurant behind, and a duty for me to take, it is no surprise for me to think and act this way. I will do anything to protect my family. That, I swore to myself ever since he left us.

Of course, it is no easy feat. Who on earth in their right mind would throw themselves unprepared in such situations just that so easily without thinking first the consequences that will come later? Right?!

Oh yeah, there is one. Me.

I may not look like it right now but living and pretending as a boy here in this place full of lords, samurais and who knows what’s more, is surely very difficult. Even mentally. It is like throwing yourself into a lion’s den or getting cornered by a pack of wild dogs. Everyday feels like I’m stepping on a sea of needles, giving me an unpleasant feeling in my stomach every now and then. Anxious that someone might know my little secret.

To make matters much more challenging than it already is, I have to not let myself get in trouble. And when I say in trouble, get into the nerves of Tokugawa Ieyasu. The young lord of the Tokugawa clan who seems around the same age as me or so, I think. An ally of Lord Oda Nobunaga, the Lord of Fools. He’s deceptive and ruthless young lord masking himself with that trickster smile of his.

.

As I remind myself of these, I almost cut myself with the knife I am using. The kitchen ladies here have asked me to lend them a hand as they prepare an early feast. The Tokugawa clan won a recent battle, making the cause of all these ruckus in the kitchen. Looks like it will be a busy afternoon for all of us.

“Yahiko!”

A sudden loud voice calling me, snapping me back to reality.

“Yes..!” I reply back hastily.

“After peeling those potatoes, can you wash the greens on the basket please?” asks by an old kitchen lady with a basket full of freshly picked mushrooms who is in a hurry as well.

I nod at her and before I get to say something, she rushes inside the kitchen without even looking back at me.

“Sigh..” I exhale as I finish the last remaining potatoes I have yet to peel.

***

I finished peeling the potatoes after what seemed like endless to me. I peacefully go with a hint of smile painted on my face, a wooden bucket in my right hand and a basket full of vegetable greens on the other to the well. Just a few walking distance from the kitchen. I stride, looking up into the huge clear sky above me when suddenly–

“….?!”

Before I know it, I stumble upon something hard in front of me, making me lose my balance, fall to the ground and sending my vegetables flying mid-air.

“Hey!! Watch out where you are going!” a familiar irritated voice, snaps at me.

When I look up it is no other than Yasumasa Sakakibara. Oh great. Of all people that I have to bump into, why this guy?

“..I-I’m sorry.” is all the word I can utter under my shaky tone, afraid that I might annoy him even further. I don’t want to put myself on his bad side after all.

He looks down at me with eyes full of usual contempt in them. He is mean and ruthless to almost everybody who is below him. But he isn’t usually like that towards other retainers who he thinks is the same level as him or to someone above him. I don’t even know why he is always mean like that, especially to me. I can feel it somehow. It’s as if he hates me like how he naturally dislike women. Or is it just me? Or because I look like one a bit that’s why he’s more irritated?

“What are you looking at boy?!” hisses lord Yasumasa back at me, his eyes glaring.

Ugh.

“Nothing milord.” I hurriedly pick up all the vegetables that have fallen on the ground while he walks pass at me, arms crossed, still hissing like I even inconvenienced him badly or something.

That man.

I can only sigh in my mind as I think him together with lord Ieyasu, a pair that I would like to avoid getting into trouble with.

Oh well…

Though I find myself amazed by the fact that despite his horrible attitude to me all the time, not once it did give me enough hard ill feelings to harbor against him. It’s like I became a bit accustomed to it now. But, I do now wonder if he ever been even kind to anyone in all his life.

***

The feast ended nicely. It is past evening, very late, silence hangs over the still cold air of the night. Tiredness starts to creep within me as I clean the tatami floor by wiping it with a dry cloth. They sure had totally enjoyed themselves seeing the place is a real quite a mess. You can smell the alcohol lingering in the room. Bottles of sake everywhere.

Well it can’t be helped, not only they won but the fact that they returned alive from the battlefield is a big miracle to be joyful and thankful about. Thinking about it, I feel a little happiness flow within me for their families and loved ones.

After wiping the entire tatami floor, I go out with my hands full of bottles of sake when I pass lord Yasumasa on the hallway. I bow and greet him with sincerity because he returned safe as well– knowing that he, of course, sure has a family too that waits for him.

“Hmpf.” sighs lord Yasumasa in an irritating manner as our eyes meet after I took my bow at him.

What..?! (sighs)

I try not to let that simple act of his usual meanness towards me to bother me at all. As I stare at his back where the moonlight showers his silhouette with its pale light, I notice that there’s something odd on the way he is walking. I fix my eyes on him for a few more seconds when he–

Whaa..?!

Right.

He topples on the side of the hallway’s veranda and lands himself onto the outside garden with a loud thud. From the sound of it, you could assume that it is a painful fall.

It happens so fast my body isn’t able to react at all. I am staring at the somehow funny scene while my mouth agape and my eyes in huge astonishment at the very, very rare scene that only, I am able to take a hold of. Though it lasts for only seconds.

After a delay that lasted with a blink of an eye, my senses come back to me. I hurriedly let go of the sake bottles on my hands and go straight at lord Yasumasa, who is still unconscious, unmoving from where he landed himself.

Is he dead??

He is sprawled out, lying flat on his stomach.

I try calling his name, but no response. I move him, now his face upwards towards me. I try again calling him, lightly tapping his face, his cheeks and forehead that feels a bit hot because of the shock it took. Still he isn’t responding at all.

There we are outside in the broad moonlight, his face completely bare for me to see. His caramel brown hair bit tousled in a mess, his eyelids, his cheeks…his forehead and his nose, faintly glowing because of the pale moonlight above us. For the first time, lord Yasumasa looks…so beautiful and vulnerable.

Whaaat?!

Waiit!!! Get a hold of yourself! It’s the moonlight that does the trick..!

I unconsciously slap him a bit hard out of surprise from the sudden unusual thought that came to me.

“O-ouch.” Yasumasa murmurs. The sprawled out man at last has got his senses back. Or so, I thought…

He moves a little bit, his eyes twitching from the slap I just gave him. Then like a child in pain, he falls asleep again.

Oh my… I give up.

Surely, I can not wake him and get him back into his senses nor lift him by myself up to his chamber. So, I, at last call for some help.

***

It is morning.

The weather is nice because I can see the sky above me so clear and blue. Even the sight of the warm morning light is breathtaking. I always wake up early to help out, mostly the kitchen ladies. Somehow because of the good job I always do aside from laundry, it became a habit for them to ask me out for some help they needed in preparing to serving meals all day. (And if you’re wondering what happened to my previous job title, I don’t know how it happened but seeing my usefulness on how I help out the kitchen ladies much better than being a poison taster, lord Tadatsugu promoted me into an errand runner. Yes, for me this is a promotion because at last my life wouldn’t be in death’s door anymore.)

I am in the kitchen grilling some fish for the lords’ breakfast. The breakfast we are preparing for today is a light, typical one: hot rice, grilled fish, miso soup, some pickled vegetables and tamagoyaki– knowing they are exhausted for sure from drinking hard last night.

While doing so, fanning the grilling line of fish in front of me, the last night’s events seems not to get away from me. Or should I say, the many scenes from last night’s are etched completely in my head.

I was able to get some help last night. A young man, one of the servants of Yasumasa himself, who was cleaning heard me and offered some help for the old ones were still busy having their lively, idle talk. We were able to drag and get the drunken lord Yasumasa to his chamber. I thank his young servant but soon he left us to get back to what he was doing.

We were alone. The candle light flickering, casting some shadows on the walls and giving lord Yasumasa’s sleeping face a glimmer.

I laid out nicely his bedding on the tatami floor.

“Lord Yasumasa, I will put you into your bed now.” I said almost like a whisper to the man sleeping like a log.

I tried to lift him up but ended up dragging his body into his bedding.

“Sorry.” I sighed, feeling guilty and apologetic because how I dragged him like a rice sack surely wasn’t a polite and proper manner to do so to a samurai lord like him.

I lightly put his arms on both sides and tucked him into bed. I found myself, unconsciously, looking at him in his sleeping demeanor. I stared at him, almost tempted to touch the features of a sleeping Yasumasa who was defenseless.

He looked very different. Like the man in front of me was a another whole new Yasumasa. Kind and innocent, not in his usual snarling, mean facet. It was very strange to me and intriguing at the same time. I never thought he could look so innocent as this just in his sleep.

“Oh..you are really handsome.” the words loosely slipped from my mouth without hesitation after the realization that it wasn’t the moonlight’s trick outside nor the flickering effect of the candle around us. Lord Yasumasa, without his usual meanness, indeed is really handsome.

Come to think of it, I was, like, in a trance. I was weirdly staring at him, kneeling beside him without a flinch, for some time.

I left him in his chamber, quietly closing the wooden sliding door.

Hm.

Waiit! Why am I thinking about him?! Get back to your senses, girl! You should be focusing on your work right now. Grill the fish well until it’s nicely cooked.. Yep, that’s the smell of grilling fish starting to cook wel—???!!!

Puff of clouds and the smell of burnt smoke was spreading into the still morning air around me. My fish are burning to a crisp!

***

We go and start to serve their breakfast in the main room. Everyone is visibly tired, yawning and if not, looking half-asleep still. Together with the maids, we serve one by one their trays, chopsticks. Soon, follows bowls of brown rice, pickled vegetables, sliced tamagoyaki rolls and lastly my perfect burned grilled fish. The head cook is really angry at me but because there is no time and to top of it, there is nothing to substitute for it, we don’t have a choice but to serve it and think of an excuse which up to now– we haven’t thought of yet.

But, oddly, my mind is afloat to something else. My eyes are wandering in the room, as I serve and put down lord Ieyasu’s less burnt grilled fish– the only, if not the best, not totally burned one.

He’s not here, huh? I think to myself.

“Ohh..seems something is different on today’s fish?”

Hearing those words, my attention drifts back to lord Ieyasu’s sudden morning remark. Through his eyes and feigned childlike smile painted on his fair face that is directed at me, I know then that he has seen through me the blunder that we or more exactly, I did earlier just this morning.

I feel a cold sweat run through my skin as I am kneeling just beside lord Ieyasu. And I could see that he sensed it. If glares could kill, so does lord Ieyasu’s blank eyes and his quiet smile.

Before I could say anything, he cut me so swiftly.

“I hope this will be the last time. I am not fond of someone playing with my food, whoever did this, tell him, he should throw himself into a cliff or something instead of ruining my morning appetite. Maybe perhaps I’ll be more glad. Don’t you think?”

And all I can do after that what seemed like a death wish to me is to gulp inaudibly.

***

I remove lord Ieyasu’s grilled fish from his tray and go out of my way from the main room. I walk, feeling thankful that he didn’t cook me alive and that the others are so tired that maybe they didn’t bother complaining about theirs.

I stride nonchalantly now in the hall when my eyes catch a glimpse of a figure. He is walking on the other side of the hall. He is yawning and slightly dragging his feet. He overslept? Well, who wouldn’t. It is the first time, though, that I see him late for breakfast.

If it wasn’t for last night, I wouldn’t bother thinking at all about it, dragging his feet, waking late for breakfast and all. But because I know, I can’t help but get distracted by his trivial movements.

As I expected, he is wearing his usual meanness, self-confident facade again. It’s like what I saw last night was just all but a dream.

I bow at him as he passes me without even giving a glance.

Sighs.

..! Why am I sighing? Am I disappointed?

I shake my head deliberately and head to the kitchen.

乁༼☯‿☯✿༽ㄏ

@ieyasu-tacogawa @shiranata

#slbp #fanfic #mc x yasumasa slbp #slbp yasumasa #fic

[eggheadsguidetorunning]

The Darkest Minds

Hahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha*snort* hehhehehehhehehh! First off, movie, how did you think anyone would take you seriously if that is your title. Look, here are some random titles I found on Watpad that are better: My Little Red Rose, What he Wished, and Harder than Dying. Well the last one was on Tumblr but still those titles are at least grammatically correct. Also a little aside, I don’t know who the authors for those titles are expect for one and they aren’t worth mentioning. If you are interested go ahead and find them and read them the titles are right there, but I have no clue what they are about besides one but screw that one yeah the tumblr based one screw that guy, aside over.

Worse the title seems to have very little bearing on the story. The story is about kids who have superpowers and some of these powers have little to do with the mind, and the darkest power, mind control, which isn’t used for any greatly dark purposes here and when it is it often isn’t shown as being very dark at all. Mainly because the cruelest things done with mind control are done by the main character and she can’t be evil.

Maybe it is trivial to make fun of a movie for its title, but I just can’t take this movie seriously enough to give it any sort of fair review so don’t expect one here. Honestly, it is hard to see anyone taking Darkest Minds seriously, though I know people did, it feels like a story for a film you would see characters in the Simpsons or Futurama watching for like a second before going on to their normal lives. The Darkest Minds is about all of the kids in the world dying or getting super powers but the evil government is afraid of these kids with special power because of course they are. The government then takes these kids and organize by giving them a color that shows the power they have like a ranking system. Can these kids escape the not concentration camp concentration camps to start a rebellion to save the world, or will they be betrayed by totally not bad guy bad guy?

The characters and the story are a chosen one prophecy away from being Harry Potter, except Harry Potter was original, and The Darkest Minds already are Hunger Games but there is nothing interesting happening like a fight to the death, so it is more like Divergent but more boring and stupid.  The story feels like a check in the boxes movie. Let’s see going down the checklist in no order, there is this older attractive boy who falls in love with main character girl because… yeah that about sums up the romance. The main characters have a road trip and even have a scene where they run around an abandoned shopping center with shopping carts to music. Also, a scene were the main characters spend about a minute talk about Harry Potter. In another scene one of the guards are trying to stop our hero’s escape from the camp at the gate by checking the car. He looks in to see the hero who brainwashes the guard and our hero then tells him she isn’t here and he repeats her saying the girl he is looking for isn’t here or something along those lines. Our hero then tells the guard to let them pass and the guard says “move along move along,” no joke she Jedi mind tricks him. I swear I think you could find this exact story on fanfiction.com if you looked.

Then there are the plot holes. Let’s see, for starters the hero is put in camp at age 11 or maybe 12 the movie isn’t clear, at first, and fools the doctor or mind wipes the doctor into thinking she isn’t a threat. Six years later they run a test that test everykid in the base so now the whole base knows she is a threat. Let me point out they wait six years to do that and the way the test is presented it is shown as being like a routine thing. How the hell did it take six years to notice this girl?

In a creepier story problem, the main character is 17 and admits to being 17 in the movie. Her boyfriend 22. Like they couldn’t make the main character a year just a year older to make it so this relationship isn’t considered illegal in most states just like a year are you kidding me?

This movie sucks but at least it is stupid and funny.

#Harry Potter #hunger games #divergent #the darkest minds #watpadd #wattpad #fanfiction #fan fiction #plot hole #stupid #movie review

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS 2020: BRIT AWARDS SPECIAL

So, welcome to... a Tuesday? Yeah, it’s not exactly a usual time for me to post on this blog but it’s not just your everyday episode of REVIEWING THE CHARTS – That’s right, it’s the 40th ceremony in the annual BRIT Awards celebration, where we – or at least ITV – commemorate the greatest in British pop music. I’ll be celebrating in full force this year, but not by tweeting manically like I did last year – well, there will still be some tweeting; follow me @cactusinthebank – but instead by writing my live commentary right here. I did this a couple years back so I figured I’d bring it back again in traditional, over-analytical, unnecessarily nitpicky fashion. I’ve got an Excel document like I had last year to make not of who wins and compare it to who I think should win. I’m all prepared – it’s time for the 2020 BRIT Awards... unfortunately hosted by Jack Whitehall.

COMMENTARY

Interestingly (This is 10 minutes before the show begins), the International Group Award, Best British Video, Outstanding Contribution to Music and Global Success Awards have been abolished, and British Breakthrough Act, Critics’ Choice Award and British Single of the Year have all been renamed. Also, the BRITs caught flack for less female artists being nominated although last year there was a record amount nominated so I feel like sexism claims can’t really ring all that true in my opinion. It does often seem like male artists have dominated that year of pop music, just as it feel female artists have the previous year, and the BRITs have noticed that, so it just feels a tad lop-sided towards the males this year. I’m playing Devil’s advocate, sure, and I wouldn’t say 2019 has been a bad year for British women in music, but I am able to somewhat defend this decision. I feel like I’d just say that as a little pre-amble. In fact, I’ll add this: this will be less formal and grammatically correct than a normal RTC episode, and perhaps a bit less wholesome or family-friendly. Also, if none of this makes any sense, that’s because it’s out of context completely, and this will make absolutely no sense unless you’re watching it with me or had watched it prior to reading this, but that’s the joy in this! Scorecard at the ready, 19:58, it’s the BRITs in two minutes, and I am prepared to make fun of every issue I pick out.

Jack Whitehall is so unfunny lol Like Haha She Is Cleaning Lizzo Flute But He Look Like Masturbate Ha Ha

I feel like they did not know what they should do for this year

The intro with him trying out iconic BRIT Awards outfits is kinda cool actually

I wonder how far into the future they plan for these. Like are these skits pre-recorded by three months or so

Mabel didn’t really hit that note huh

I won’t really be paying attention to this one because I’m filling out scorecard and all to update it for this year but Mabel is less energetic than she was on the Graham Norton Show months ago

Can’t tell if Don’t Call Me Up has soured on me a lot or this is just a bad performance. Probably the latter

Is this the vocal loop from Mad Love or something I don’t recognise it

Nevermind I’m so dumb it’s from Don’t Call Me Up

The telephone on the screen Because Ha Ha She Says Call Me Up is a bit on the nose

I don’t think they realise she also has a song called Ring Ring

“Please welcome your host Jack Whitehall” No go away

Audience did not like the Boris Johnson joke or even the Chris Martin one lol this gnarly dude is BOMBING

Rod Stewart has eight children what the f

“Horny scarecrow of rock and roll Ronnie Wood” I hope that is on his CV

“A bit of witty banter from Dave” Jack Whitehall Shouted Out The TV Channel Dave

Lewis Capaldi – Someone You Loved genuinely makes me want to eat a living frog this live version is better though he’s not straining that much

I saw a BBC News piece on a boy with cancer and this was used in the background and I understand it’s a sad, sappy piano ballad but it’s literally just about a break up like that’s a tad unfitting and kinda undermines the illness and tragedy surely

Niall Horan looks SO infused

The production value for these little transitions seems to have improved it actually looks cool and not dated garbage

Lewis Capaldi will win Best New Artist

Lewis Capaldi won Best New Artist

It’s his first BRIT Award but what’s the point in celebrating he’s gonna win like seven more

Dude is coming up to the stage with a bottle of beer in his hand bruh

I bet this dude is going to be the Adele and just get drunk and swear every time he gets an award

He hugged Niall Horan for a concerning amount of time

The audience chanted ‘DOWN IT DOWN IT’ he did not down it

He just shouted profanities into the mic after 40 seconds of delaying it, but the audio was muted so I have no idea why Jack Whitehall Loves This Man

Lewis Capaldi’s music and personality clash so hard like I saw an advert of this man making funny faces set to Someone You Loved and it was so odd

That advert played right after the BRITs by the way lol

Why is Lewis Capaldi on another advert singing Someone You Loved again like stop stop stop pelase i ccant getsv awytsuavforrnjeofityre

JHE’S BACK FOR ANOTHER ADVERT GO AWAY YOU DRUNKEN IDIOT

Why would Mastercard proudly sponsor this sh

How the hell is FKA twigs nominated for best female artist like cool and all her album was good but Huh

I guess they put one alternate win each time

Mabel will win Best Female Solo Artist

Mabel won Best Female Solo Artist

Oh yeah I forgot people actually make speeches

“There are so many amazing women in this category” Mabel Listens To FKA Twigs

Don’t thank your record label they are crooks

I forget that Mabel is Neneh Cherry’s daughter that’s wild. Neneh Cherry won a BRIT too, I think this same award. Cool. Neat.

Jack Whitehall’s sarcasm and dryer wit is not exactly the best fit for the BRITs. For once I miss Ant & Dec

Harry Styles Is Literally Wearing Pajamas

This is an ok song and with actually good vocal mixing it’s better but he does sound a bit off. He did get robbed before the awards happened though lol

I am sick of guys singing ballads with a e s t h e t i c backgrounds like can we get some volcano eruptions up in this

The Rising Star and British Producer Awards (new awards) were already given out I feel like cheating

Literally the only nomination for the British Producer of the Year was fred

He won

Another break bruh bruh bruh give me a break

Harry Styles’ Pajamas Are Wet Now He Was Standing In Water

Little simz is on an advert afterwards with an amazing song from her amazing album but she’s not nominated for any award

Im so tired like this shit is keeping me awake last year i fell asleep during a jess glynne performance

Liam payne performed a month before the ceremony and his album fell 31 places on the chart in response

Jack Whitehall called himself a lanky streak of piss this man might get an Ofcom Complaint

Lizzo’s really pushing that title track huh

Lizzo didn’t censor herself on the Grammys but her breathy ‘uh’s are making some lines unintelligible lol

This is a good song though

LOL SHE STOPPED FOR THE AUDIENCE TO CONTINUE HER SENTENCE BUT NOBODY SAID THE LINE YIKES

I guess she forgot Truth Hurts didn’t even peak in the top 20 here

Good as Hell is the one people here care about

She knows that they didn’t respond in Truth Hurts because she said ‘sing along if you know it’ lol

She kinda messed up but to be fair she is walking and singing with the audience

That White Guy With The Crap Hair Killed It

Drummer is going wild

I love the extra guitar flourishes in Juice this is pretty cool actually, her interpolating Cause I Love You at the same time is pretty epic this actually sounds pretty great I’d love for this whole medley to be on streaming

She yelled ‘biiitch’ but the mic did not catch that

Ronnie Wood Really Got The Positive Vibes

Lewis Capaldi will win Best Male Solo Artist

(Michael Kiwanuka got like no applause god damn at least give them pity applause)

ROIGHT and tha winna ***upside down*** is STRORMZY

Stormzy won Best Male Solo Artist

(Second time by the way)

Clean version of Vossi Bop kinda slap Ngl

Stormzy TOWERS over Ronnie Wood lol dude is tall

“Um.”

“Best Male is nothing without incredible females” Cool cool

Ronnie is about to tell Stormzy why he thinks he should go back to his own country and that He’s Not Actually Racist

(Those allegations are baseless. My lawyers advised me to say so.)

Jack Whitehall touched audience feet

We’re already nearly an hour in wow

WHY ARE THERE SO MANY ADVERT BREAKS

Yes Yes

Hell yeah dave is awesome, he got his Top Boy co-star to work as a hype man before him

I think this is Black? If so that’s amazing I love that song

It’s Black he has it written on his white piano

The only white piano is slowly turning more black

I like the headlines and all the imagery on the piano it’s really cool

Dave is a tad off beat but he’s also playing a double-sided piano so understandable

A white dude is playing the other side of the piano I’m sure that’s symbolic

He is aggressive in this delivery damn he’s killing it

Some of this imagery is beautiful – especially the BRIT Award being covered by black snakes and the Arabic writing transitioning into an Africa with colonial borders

This was an amazing performance, especially with the violins. Incredible.

OH THERE’S ANOTHER VERSE ABOUT BORIS JOHNSON

The least racist is still racist damn right

This works as an obituary as well damn.

I’d have to analyse this whole thing but this was an incredible performance oh my god

I want this on streaming

When did this man help a terrorist plot wh

Paloma Faith Sounds Like A Robot Who Is Vaguely Feminist

Burna Boy will win International Male Solo Artist

(I so want Tyler to go home with it though. Could go to Post as well)

It’s just whoever shows up gets it though so

WHOA

WHAT THE HELL

TYLER THE CREATOR WON HOW

TAHT IS AMSGWYUFE

THE RADIO HOST SAID IGOR WRONG BUT ITS OK TYLER WON

Tyler, The Creator won International Male Solo Artist

This gnarly dude just said ‘errr yeah errr’

“Shout out to all the British funk from the 80s I try to copy”

LOL THE THERESA MAY CALL OUT HAHAH

I FORGOT HE WASNT ALLOWED IN THE UK

Bts is not a british group, presenter

Coldplay will win Best British Group

Foals won Best British Group

I am actually so surprised lol at Tyler and Foals winning their first BRITs

More alternative dudes winning I guess. Neat. Means a lot

Stop thanking your corrupt labels

The name’s eyelash

I haven’t actually heard her Bond theme yet

Finneas do be lookin kinda handsome tho

I like it. The whispery tone of her voice, the eerie strings (cello?), and slick guitar really fit the Bond franchise. Thank you Billie Eilish, very cool!

No Don’t Talk To Lizzo Don’t Talk To Anyone Jack Whitehall

“There was so much energy they could have done the whole performance for me” well not exactly mrs. Lizzo

This is so awkward we can’t hear what Lizzo is laughing at Harry Styles looks pissed

‘floutists’ is the name for flute players huh

I’m so confused what is going on

Lizzo is threatening jack Whitehall with a flute and within the transition to the break i could hear a slight faint shout from jack in the background

Is everyone ok

More people that i wanted to win than who i expected to win are winning

Sam Fender is haha funnie but nobody in the audience thinks so lol

Celeste is performing she’s the new Rising Star award she has already had a bit of a crack but I’m pretty sure that’s part of the song

This song is ok

Bit boring tbh. Audience is getting tired too. This is lasting like 5 minutes and the song is pretty flavourless and repetitive. Yawn snore

We’re about half way through and I’ve kind of lost interest ngl

Honestly lewis capaldi did better than celeste on jah

Jack Whitehall is having a mental breakdown right now. Understandable

Billie Eilish will win International Female Solo Artist

Billie Eilish won International Female Solo Artist

Lizzo looks so disappointed for whatever reason lol like did we really think anyone else would get this award

Sporty Spice is in the background dancing to everything i wanted that is not a song you dance like that to it’s about suicide

This speech is going terribly

Why are so many of these gnarly dudes signed to polydor

Thank you Billie Eilish very cool

No Jack Whitehall Don’t Talk To Harry Styles

Harry Styles looks like he hates Jack Whitehall so much

The Lizzo-Harry-Jack Whitehall love triangle is Awkward And Awful

Lizzo is the only reason the brit awards are good

Ok the exchange about Harry Styles not being taken seriously was pretty funny

In fact this whole exchange was very funny And Partially About Incest

“Is one of these lucky ladies your date?” “That’s my sister”

Lizzo is chugging the tequila

Harry Styles Looks Like He Pissed Himself

The BRIT awards have suddenly become very confusing

Epic Stormzy Time

Genuinely have no idea what song he’ll perform. Probably Vossi Bop?

Stormzy Should Keep The Singing To His Backing Vocalist And Choir

Gospel beat sounds sweet

I think this is supposed to be Lessons but the studio version is so much duller than this version. This one is pretty cool. I think it’s the choir

I’d be surprised if he only does Lessons. Also the production value here was crazy. Full band, pyrotechnics and all.

Oh yeah it’s Vossi Bop time he’s got the red lighting

Nevermind it’s Wiley Flow lol but still

Reminds me of when Kanye did All Day (also the audio got muted for a long period of time just like when Kanye did that)

This one is more choreographed though lol

Why did he perform two of the least popular songs first though

Burna Boy is coming out for Own It alright, he sounds just as good as studio, probably because He’s Not Actually Singing

I don’t like this song but the choreography is great, stage presence is good and the visuals are incredible. Really shows that even with the worst material, you can make a song sound as lively as ever. The horns the live band added to Own It sound beautiful

Burna Boy’s little solo bit was great

He got away with saying “Sucking on their mums” nice

I hadn’t heard Rainfall before this I don’t think (it sounds familiar though), but the mashup with Praise You was great. I love the sight of Stormzy in front of family members, the young men in black outfits from Wiley Flow, the tropical clothes-bearing women from Own It, Burna Boy, the live band, and all. It’s really a nice diverse sight to see. Cool cool. This probably means absolutely nothing but I Am Knackered

Someone You Loved will win Song of the Year

I really hope it’s Ladbroke Grove though. It and Location feel very emblematic of 2019, in a way that I Don’t Care by Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber DEFINITELY isn’t

Someone You Loved won Song of the Year

“Biggest winner of the night so far” there’s only one award left mate

Lewis Capaldi Is A Very Funny Man

“Thanks to my grandmother for dying”

Finneas do be lookin kinda handsome tho [2]

Heard a very british voice say “i luv yoo bilie” in the audience lmao

Lewis Capaldi will win Album of the Year

I’d prefer literally anyone else to win this award. Only one of these albums was a 7/10 or above but Lewis Capaldi’s album was unlistenable

OH HELL YEAH THE ONLY GOOD ONE WON

Dave won Album of the Year

Epic I love that album. It could very well have been Capaldi but since Dave won the Mercury Prize I guess he would have been a better prediction

People are screaming man’s lost for words

“Jesus Christ!” dude’s so astonished lol

I loved Dave’s speech actually very inspiring

“Jack, I’m gonna do this one for your mum, Hilary” bruh  rod stewart really saying ‘ur mom’ jokes out here

I love Rod Stewart’s raspy voice man. Orchestra’s great. This is beautiful lol

Gnarly dude got the guitar solo

Conclusion

I cannot be bothered to write some massive conclusion but most of the performances were great and emotionally powerful, especially Stormzy, Dave, Billie and Rod Stewart, and even those who were a bit crap performing were very funny on stage, like Lewis Capaldi. The on stage banter was really cringe-worthy but Jack Whitehall, Harry Styles and Lizzo had this really funny triangle going on. The outro with Ronnie Wood and the rest of Rod Stewart’s band was great, Stormzy’s extended performance was sweet. This was actually a pretty great BRITs, to be honest, and all of the winners, except a select few, deserved it, and if they didn’t, it was pretty expected. There could have been some more winners – off the top of my head, Slowthai and Little Simz weren’t even nominated, but hey, Tyler won. That’s great. The scorecard will be on Twitter. In the words of the BRIT Award winners in 2020, “errr yeah errr”, and thanks for reading!

REVIEWING THE CHARTS 2020

[ecoamerica]

Watch the 2024 American Climate Leadership Awards for High School Students now: https://youtu.be/5C-bb9PoRLc

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[theythemsam]

spn 8x13, liveblog, collected posts (all 20 of them) or as i like to call it: Everybody DOES hate Hitler.

 Oh No It’s the Golem episode

#yiketh

 Also the german is atrocious!

#like idk if I just cant hear him right but he either says `sie spät` which is not grammatically correct (should be ‘sie sind spät’ (youre late) OR ‘wie spät’ which would be a question (how late is it?) #so im going with my interpretation of the grammatically incorrect one

 The most accurate german thing TM they said so far was the one dude just going “eh was ist hier los?” (whats going on here) bc we do say that A Lot and also it’s a Mood

#like I have the same problem with grimm #if you want to use a different language in your writing: that’s cool go for it!!! #but please please please just hire a translator and language coach to make sure its correct and sounds good

 “schmeißt den Tisch um!” (throw the table down) me during parties asdfgh

#im sorry its just so funny to hear german in tv that’s not german #i know the context is bad and of course its nazi bs #but still asdfghjk

 Bunker! Its bunker time!!! HELL YEAH!!!

#fuck me I love the bunker #like I also want it to be destroyed soon bc I need them to get back on the road but!!!

 Also as much as I find the premise of this episode weird I do kinda like that they have one episode titled ‘everybody hates hitler’ and another where they kill hitler

 Dean: “Lets not go all geek!”

Also Dean: Immediately goofily poses with a sword and cuts his thumb bc he likes that whole thing too and also hes a big geek

#i need to at some point make a gifset that’s like Dean Vs Nerds #bc dean hates nerds so much when he himself is a gigantic one #and honestly? I can related asdfgh

 Having a jewish old dude scream at the Nazi bastard outside (whos also like so typical Evil German TM with the blonde hair and the haircut and everything) and then have him go up in flames and burn alive is… uhhh…. Kinda not good?

#like the connotations are… Big Yikes

 Time for “Deans gay thing”

#aaron really plays the flirty gay dude well #but alas of course its not true in the end and aaron actually just pretended to be gay to get close to dean #why am I watching this episode during pride month #i deserve better

 Yikes @ dean calling those very young college girls hot

#bi!dean stans would probably say its cause he wants to reassert his heterosexuality now #when like nope dean just continuously hits on underage/barely overage girls constantly bc hes a creepy pervy bastard

 I hate Dean talking to the golem that way

#like just cause he doesn’t talk a lot doesn’t mean he cant understand normal speech #dean just went into the complete ‘this is how you talk with children and people with mental disabilities mode’ #even though that’s also bullshit then lmao #ugh that way of talking just pisses me off so much!

 Sam, library nerd!!!

#hnnnggg I really need to get back to writing my story where sam works in a library bc yes he would!

 Sam just booking it up those stairs with his long legs

#also the pat pat pat of his shoes is so funny to me

 Uhhhh yes, more hurt Sam!!!

#like even drugged and bruising from the poison Sam still manages to fend him off and alert his family #also uhhhhh sam pretty when sick and I do make the rules #also Neck Romancer ahahaha

 Im seriously those stairs have the worst sound effects ever

#first sams pat pat as hes running up there #now the schlep schlep as the golem drags the nazi down #ufff I hate

 Sam just fucking chilling by the fire warming his hands asdgjl

#like burning a body is bad enough but sam just rubs his hands and warms them

 The atrocious German Continues

#hey spn let me timetravel back for a couple of years and translate this for you ok?

 Also Aaron I do support your life choices but rolling paper is just so fucking cheap my dude, just buy some

#no need to smoke ink like that’s so unhealthy!!!

 And bye bye Nazi prick

#double headshot uh la la

 This season is really deep in this family legacy thing huh?

#spn 8x13 #collections #sam liveblogs

[recentanimenews]

Bookshelf Briefs 2/12/18

Ace of the Diamond, Vol. 8 | By Yuji Terajima | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – After a great deal of effort, Tanba shows himself to be in excellent shape for Koshien. This, plus the trust his teammates have in him, makes it even more devastating when he’s hit by a ball in a practice game right before the tournament begins, fracturing his jaw. He’ll be able to return by the quarter-finals, but meanwhile it’s up to the younger pitchers to keep things together until then. I’m a sucker for a good training montage, so enjoyed Chris drilling Furuya and Sawamura on their control and defensive fielding skills. The coach has some nice moments where he shows appreciation for both the team and the female managers, and it’s also satisfying to watch Seido crush their first-round opponents. In fact, this is quite a satisfying volume all around, aside from a couple of grammatical errors in the translation. – Michelle Smith

Gabriel Dropout, Vol. 2 | By Ukami |Yen Press – There’s very little actual forward plot here—the series runs on its gags, so mostly what changes is the situation. We see the girls going to the beach; the story of how Gabriel and Vignette first met; the absolute ludicrousness that is Satanya buying a gun (no, not a real gun); Halloween costumes; and the class president, who is 100% human and a bit horrified by the out-of-context dialogue between the class angel and devil. Of course, the question here is “does it work? Is it funny?”, and the answer is yes, this is still funny. Raphael and her trolling continues to be my favorite, though we do see she does have one weakness. If you like light fluffiness and laughs, this is an excellent series to pick up. – Sean Gaffney

I Hear the Sunspot: Theory of Happiness | By Yuki Fumino | One Peace Books – One of the debut manga from last year that left the greatest impression on me was the deceptively quiet I Hear the Sunspot, so I was very happy to discover that it had a sequel, Theory of Happiness, that would also be translated. While ostensibly a boys’ love manga, the beautifully nuanced, evolving relationship between the series’ two leads—Taichi and Kohei—is rarely at the forefront of the story. Even so, it remains an essential underlying component constant to both the narrative and its characters. Theory of Happiness also introduces Maya who, like Kohei, has partial hearing loss, but whose experiences and perspectives are uniquely her own. As was the case with the first volume, Theory of Happiness is an exceptionally lovely and thoughtful manga with marvelous characterization. Apparently there is at least one more volume in the series; I hope to see it released in English, too. – Ash Brown

Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic, Vol. 28 | By Shinobu Ohtaka | Viz Media – The war ended up being a bit of an anticlimax, mostly as we find out late in the volume that Harukyuu had a ringer from the start who was going to make the outcome obvious. I continue to wonder if Sinbad is going to end up being the major antagonist of the series, but I suspect that may have to wait till Alibaba’s return. Which isn’t happening just yet, though his chibi-doll form is certainly proving more mature than the petulant Judar. As for the war itself, I definitely enjoyed the character development for Kogyoku, who is forced to fight and kill in order to protect those closest to her and make sure they don’t lose themselves. It’s a big step forward for the former petulant princess. As for Aladdin… he’s still a bit lost. Great stuff. – Sean Gaffney

Murcielago, Vol. 5 | By Yoshimurakana | Yen Press – Kuroko may be the star of the series, and she’s very good at being clever and solving the problems the police give her, but she is an absolutely horrible, despicable person. The only reason we read this series is because her over-the-top horribleness is so hilarious—when she sets out to seduce the mother of the missing nine-year-old girl who’s been captured by a serial child killer, your jaw wants to drop but you can only laugh. I actually wondered why we never got a follow through on it, but given the volume starts with Kuroko in bed with the victim from volume four, I may simply have to wait patiently. This is not a series for the timid—the graphic child strangulation is as bad as it sounds—but oh my god, it’s fun if you have a certain twisted mindset. – Sean Gaffney

My Hero Academia, Vol. 11 | By Kohei Horikoshi | Viz Media – The grimness of this arc doesn’t let up—Bakugo is rescued, but the sacrifices are significant. I appreciated their teacher explaining that if they weren’t in a very unusual situation right now, he would have expelled the entire class except for those kidnapped and/or injured. Being a hero means following the rules—that’s why they aren’t vigilantes. (No, I haven’t read the side series yet.) We also get some home visits to the class’s parents, which range from hilarious (Bakugo) to dramatic (Izuku) to rather sweet (Kyoka). Next time we should get preparation for provisional hero licenses. In the meantime, enjoy the best thing about the volume, which I never mentioned: the epic All-Might fight in the first half. (OK, yes, and the new dorm chapters.) Top-drawer Jump. – Sean Gaffney

No Game No Life, Please!, Vol. 3 | By Kazuya Yuizaki and Yuu Kamiya | Yen Press -The laughable schedule of the NGNL novels, which have been delayed so often that people now simply roll their eyes, means that this third volume of the spinoff introduces characters from novels which aren’t out yet, and expects the reader to be familiar with them. That said, hardcore NGNL fans are famous for boycotting the Yen Press novels anyway, and are likely getting this solely for the laughs and the fanservice. There’s plenty of both, so they should feel at ease. We do see a bit of the point of this series, which is trying to give Izuna more experience. But for the most part it’s a goofy spinoff manga, not to be taken seriously and meant to be forgotten after it’s read. It does what it wants to. – Sean Gaffney

Orange Junk, Vol. 3 | By Heldrad | Chromatic Press – Oft described as a love letter to shoujo manga, Heldrad’s ongoing webcomic Orange Junk is a wonderfully energetic and addictive series. The third volume sees the conclusion of the male modeling competition which Bruce initially entered in an attempt to pay his mother’s hospital bills. Miles, the son of the man who financially ruined Louise’s family, unexpectedly turns out to be Bruce’s rival in the contest as well as in love. Louise, of course, remains rather oblivious to that particular fact; she hasn’t realized that Bruce has romantic feelings for her and the grudge she holds against Miles and his family overshadows most everything else. Orange Junk is intentionally ridiculous and melodramatic with explosive chemistry and surprising friendships among the increasingly large cast of strong personalities. While it isn’t exactly a parody, the series is most definitely a comedy, and a highly entertaining and legitimately funny one at that. – Ash Brown

Plum Crazy! Tales of a Tiger-Striped Cat, Vol. 4| By Natsumi Hoshino | Seven Seas – You’d think that I, a fervent cat lover, would adore Plum Crazy!, but sadly that is proving not to be the case. Maybe the problem is that I love cats for how they actually are, but that the cats in Plum Crazy! are given so much inner dialogue and human motivation that they hardly feel like cats anymore. They exchange Christmas gifts, for example, and there’s a running gag (I use the term loosely) where Plum is concerned about the environment. Occasionally there are some cat-like behaviors, like Plum getting stuck above the ceiling (this really happened to a cat of mine!) and Snowball’s search for a snuggly sleeping spot, but they’re just not enough to make up for the rest (and it bugs me that nobody tries to correct Snowball’s bad behavior). Alas, I think I might be dropping this series. – Michelle Smith

The Promised Neverland, Vol. 2 | By Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu | VIZ Media – After a fantastic and surprising first volume, I have no excuse for being taken completely unawares by the big reveal in this volume, and yet I was. The nuanced way Norman managed to turn this information into an advantage was well handled, and boy, do I have sympathy for his position going forward. Meanwhile, a game of tag with Krone reveals it’s not impossible to get the jump on her, and the three leads decide to bring the next oldest pair (Don and Gilda) into the loop. The thing is… they don’t tell them the whole truth, and I’m sure this is going to come back to bite them, especially since Don is potentially about to discover it on his own by snooping in Mom’s secret room. What a cliffhanger! – Michelle Smith

Welcome to the Ballroom, Vol. 9 | By Tomo Takeuchi | Kodansha Comics – STILL no amazing breakthrough, though it’s hinted we may FINALLY see it next time. Instead we mercifully get a bit less of Tatara and Chinatsu torturing themselves and more perspective from the rest of the cast, who can’t take their eyes away from this train wreck. We also see the return of Chinatsu’s rival Akira, who gets a flashback which shows, unsurprisingly, that her attitude stems from a severe case of hero worship gone wrong. (It could also be read as sort of yuri if you want to, but I suspect that’s not what the author has in mind.) There’s also a lot of dramatic dancing here, with lots of the art that is probably the best reason to read this title. I’m still reading it, but mother of God, END THIS ARC! – Sean Gaffney

By: Michelle Smith

#Anime #News #Manga Bookshelf