#also how tf does his horn work | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sayakxmi · 5 months

Text

[Magi reread; special edition] Episode 1: Aladdin and Alibaba [Part 3]

Sorry it took me literally two days to finish a single episode, but I was having a very not good health day. And night. Bro, I haven't been this sick in... I don't even remember. 0/10 would not recommend. But anyway.

Ok, but the music in Magi is so fucking good, man.

Ok, they look awesome here. I wish we got more Magi roadtrip, and less becoming more powerful god than the other guy, and then him becoming more powerful god than you, and then you becoming more powerful god than him, and then him-

The whole moment when the desert hyacinth appears actually looks pretty damn cool. Makes me wish a bit we saw more weird fauna-flora-things from the magi universe. ("Is the Final Arc a joke to you?" Yes.)

Did Budel just tell to all these slaves that he'll pay them if they help save the wine?

Also, I think Notre Empire's playing again.

F (she tripped)

Nice catch, Morgiana.

But also. Morgiana. Morgiana. You're a Fanalis. You can literally just. Jump away.

Morgiana. Morgiana. WHAT ARE YOU DOING. JUST JUMP AWAY.

Huh... They didn't say anything about it in the weather forecast...

Also, in the manga Alibaba actually warns everybody what this plant is, at least not yet. It's... honestly, neither bad nor good choice. On the flipside, it certainly adds to how dramatic the entire situation is, and overall shows well how fast everything is happening, too. On the other side, the manga showed better both that Alibaba's pretty knowledgeable, and also that he, honestly, thinks and reacts quickly. But oh well. Both achieve different things.

RIP. But also, man, Morgiana looks pretty here.

MORGIANA, FOR FUCK'S SAKE, JUST TURN AROUND AND JUMP OUT, YOU *CAN* DO THIS.

Actually, where tf is Aladdin.

Ok, but also, that's kind of what I was talking about. Like, if you get the impression that I'm overfocusing on Alibaba, which, frankly, I know I tend to do, and also will absolutely keep on doing, then in this specific case it's not simply my horn-shaped lenses. This entire episode is very Alibaba-centric. It's not even subtle, especially since, you know, this is based on his introduction chapter. Aladdin's side is only sprinkled here, and Morgiana's just randomly added to have all three of them present. But this is still centred around "His name is Alibaba", so it's hardly a wonder why he gets so much spotlight. But that does end up giving you the impression that he is the protagonist, even though the title actually belongs to Aladdin. And, frankly, the upcoming Balbadd Arc will certainly not clear that confusion.

Shame I'm not doing gifs, cuz it was such a funny CHOMP moment.

RIP Morgiana and Mina.

Traumatized.

Am I, like, the only person who finds this so hilarious. What's up with the dramatic pose. I wish I could find what it reminds me of, but, sadly, I have no name for it XD

It all ends up being kind of weird when you remember that in the anime they were made slaves. Like, cool of the guy to still value her life, but still very unexpected.

Oh, ok, now it makes sense. Budel's like, don't let her die, cuz I'll have to pay more for it.

It actually makes me wonder if Morgiana could handle a desert hyacinth. Anime tells me she can't, but I don't trust the anime.

Oh, that! That's what I was talking about. Alibaba gets flashbacks here, right before he jumps in to help Morgiana and Mina, which kind of ends up making it look like he's doing it more out of guilt than just... out of wanting to save them, you know?

Oh, THERE you are! Also, this episode does quite some disservice to Aladdin as a character, too, now that I think about it. As in, beyond shifting the focus from him to Alibaba. Like, in the manga he IS trying to help, but there's sand in the flute, and it doesn't work, but here he's just... watching. I actually recall reading some comparison between anime and manga regarding that, but it was looong ago. But in very short, manga!Aladdin was more like the New Testament God, while anime!Aladdin was more like the Old Testament God, as in, in the manga he actively seeks others, while in the anime he's more about wanting others to prove themselves to him. Or something like that. But, yeah, you can get that impression.

But other than that, he just comes off as kind of and ass here? Like, bro, you COULD help. But he's actively choosing not to. Which is in a pretty big contrast with manga Aladdin, who, while still rather passive, is far more willing to get himself involved with others and their troubles. In the anime... he's so insensitive. That's the word I was looking for. Anime Aladdin comes off as far more insensitive than manga Aladdin.

And I'm, once again, connecting it with that focus shifted from Aladdin to Alibaba, because it does feel like it connects itself, no? If Aladdin were to act here, this would've made him an active pariticpant in the events, instead of taking on a more supportive role the anime writers put him into. It would've moved the spotlight back to him.

Anyway. Again. Budel is willing to pay a slave. BUDEL.

Well-earned. Very satisfying. Fuck you, Budel.

Live Aladdin reaction.

Also, again, sounds like Alibaba's more doing it out of guilt, he doesn't want to sit back and regret everything or sth (that's what he's thinking as he's jumping into the hole), while in the manga it was more "somebody has to do this, and since nobody's willing to act, **I** will", and as he jumps he's reassuring the kid, and also more focused on assessing the situation, rather than thinking about how he feels.

Anyway, but I will point out that he jumped to save two slaves here, which at least shows that he doesn't agree with slavery.

Man, wouldn't it be cool if somebody could open it. Somebody with red hair and crazy ass strength. Man.

Like, you won't convince me that Morgiana couldn't move even with all these tentacles holding her back. You just can't.

Thank you for finally doing something, Aladdin! You could've done this the whole time, but nooo.

Ok, but it's pretty af.

-insert Attack on Titan joke here-

Thank you for help, Ugo! But also holy shit, that looks so WEIRD.

RIP loose hair Aladdin, you're dearly missed.

RIP Alibaba

Man, stop being so dramatic about dying.

See? Your soon-to-be bestie's here to save your ass.

Watching Budel's despair is very entertaining.

Sorry not sorry I skipped some Jamil to fit in more Aladdin and Alibaba.

"Will you be my friend?" (A) ;_; And also, that's when we find out that this is what Aladdin asked Ugo for. 10/10 choice. You get a point, anime adaptation.

FRIEMDS ;_____;

Ok, but the sheer hilarity of Budel yelling at them, and Aladdin just turning around like "Let's go Ugo-kun" (flies away).

Hahaha

Ok, now that I see it, it looks like a bit of a parallel to Alibaba and Aladdin sitting in the caravan earlier. Back then they both looked serious/kind of down, but now they're looking forward to the adventure (F).

Honestly, hearing Yubi Bōenkyō play in the bg reminds me, like everything about this arc, how different Magi seemed at the beginning. Man.

#saya's magi reread #saya's magi rewatch #magi #alibaba saluja #aladdin #morgiana

2 notes · View notes

annyankers · 1 year

Note

hi train! you're sucking me back into your lore too (it's soooo good and i'm invested) so tell me more about your version of darla?

dkfghkls Sorry this took a bit to get to I've been in the Pit with some other stuff that kept making me forget this was in my inbox rip

LET'S TALK DARLAAAAAAAAAAA [AIR HORNS]

Darla My Beloved, My One, My Only. My changes to Darla are honestly super minimal on like, a base level. I love Julie in the role and I think she builds a truly Iconic Character.

Mainly my thing is that it's Fucking Dumb And Stupid that she dies. In one s6 btvs/ats crossover/combination fanfic I swear to the GODS I'll finish plotting and writing I use an oc to help make sure she survives the pregnancy but honestly I don't care how you do it. She Just Does.

I like to keep Connor and her pregnancy because I think it creates a really interesting and unique conflict for Darla that plays well with her utterly heartless and self-centered character. Sharing Connor's soul is the second brush she's had having with one in under a year after 400 years without one. That's super duper fun and interesting to work with. It's fun to have her be conflicted about still being a heartless bitch and maybe caring for at least 1 (one) person just on the principle that they're helpless and cannot survive without someone who cares.

I don't really like the idea of "motherhood makes her better" because that's uhhhhh.... that can be ummm....... but I think there's something to be said for "jerkoff takes some responsibility for her actions and the lives of others". At the end of the day, Darla is still a vampire and still soulless but now she's got some Complex Feelings about stuff and also things. She's more in the Spike Zone of soullessness and how to deal with it in the face of doing shit like giving a fuck about people compared to Angel's whole vibe about the topic or the Master's -- which is her previous stance.

Connor is Her Baby, he's an extension of Her which is important to the douchey narcissist in her. Even after some brushes with having a soul I don't think she'd even CONSIDER a change of heart or just an adjustment to her lifestyle for anyone who's not somehow "Hers". Darla is about Darla before she's about anyone or anything else. Connor being From Her forcibly extends her circle of Self Interest and cracks open the Padora's Box of Possibly Giving A Shit About Others.

The things she felt while she shared his soul also have a big impact on her, she does care about him and his well being. Her stance on the rest of humanity's wellbeing? Less concerned lol. She's not interested necessarily in ~becoming a better person~ but she DOES realize she has to make some change, some life choices, and get better at covering some shit up because Connor WILL look to her as a role model as he grows up and she'd like to minimize the damage she does to him lol. Also recognizes she needs to make some lifestyle changes so that she's got more than just Drusilla helping her raise and protect Connor or WORST SCENARIO IF SHE DOESN'T-- have that asshole Angel STEAL HER SON FROM HER AND DENY HER ACCESS because she's "A Psychotic Heartless Murderer" or whatever dumb shit he's wanking about now. Loser.

She's TRULY the Vegeta or the Hiei she IS the Regina George and you DO have to bribe her into helping. She's a barely domesticated villain she's only here because all these numb nut goody two shoes can't muster up the spine to say no when she asks them to babysit. She and Spike actually end up having much more familial relationship because they're both working through all this Weird Shit about being vampires with no soul who're also grappling with doing weak ass pansy nice guy shit like losers but also it's weirdly fulfilling??? tf???? Since when tf did they like kids-- and not just as dinner??? what happened here???

She's fond of Cordelia because she's Mean, they bully Angel for sport. She and Buffy probably end up with a weird chilled out vibe eventually as two very sexy narrative foils of each other. Shadow selves Baybee. Darla and Anya would be ride or die let's just be real about that they're both unhinged. Illyria is the only person Darla is afraid of lol. Darla and Angel have the most CURSED on and off again sex relationship that torments everyone around them.

Basically Darla is the Cassandra Truth in a lot of ways for ATS. She's the Greek Chorus pointing out all the flaws and issues with Angel's dumbass plans and how X is a trap and OBVIOUSLY So-And-So is upset you ninny. She doesn't listen any of them she's the oldest person in the room she's not taking orders from CHILDREN. Angel is 100000x more competent with her around, it's almost like she was always the brains of the operation lol. Basically she and Drusilla are the muppet critics who're also raising a baby and sometimes help fight crime but only because if they don't they'll have to pay rent.

#answered #darla (train's version)#btvs #ats #meta

10 notes · View notes

angrelysimpping · 3 years

Note

youve heard of cow tf pc now get ready for bull tf whitney (or just LIs in general) (also maybe bailey as a treat)

(DoL relationships; noncon, not explicit; hybrids; drugs; food tampering; farm shenanigans)

Alex

General

Energetic bull boy.

Asks you to ‘milk’ him before breakfast every morning. Will also ask you to ‘milk’ him around midday while he drinks.

Cooks with his own ‘milk,’ but will not tell you. You’ll probably figure it out for yourself, anyway.

Farm

Pissed as hell if he's on Remy's farm, constantly charging at Remy.

Remy has a special interest in getting Alex to breed with you for the cameras.

Remy might call in a few favors from Harper to get Alex more compliant during breeding sessions.

When Alex escapes, he’s intent on burning Remy’s estate down.

Avery

General

Hides his bull features.

You find out Avery is a bull boy on a hotel date.

Sure, you've seen Avery's cock before, and sure, it's larger than average. You just thought he was well endowed.

Waking up before Avery is rare, but it happens. Running a hand through his hair gives you pause.

He has horns.

Avery wakes at your touch and jerks away. His gut reaction is anger. Calms a bit if you act like nothing is out of the ordinary.

Farm

Would not do well on Remy's farm.

Might have the connections to get off the farm.

Would prefer to buy his way off the farm, so no one ever knows he was there.

Bailey

General

Has an even shorter temper than regular Bailey.

Flicks people with his tail.

Hides his bull features occasionally, but not around the orphanage.

It’s very noticeable if he gets an erection and he hates it. It is not a wet patch that forms if you get him to cream his pants during fights, but a fucking puddle on the ground.

Farm

Bailey and Remy have a business relationship. It’s in Remy’s best interest not to try to keep Bailey on the farm.

Bailey is more than willing to fuck you on camera, as long as Remy pays up. Bailey wears a mask, as if his tattoos won’t give him away.

Eden

General

Wild bull.

Uses his ‘milk’ for cooking, no shame about it. It’s full of nutrients. It’s important to stay healthy in the woods.

Will make you sit at his feet while he jerks off into your mouth multiple times a week. Says he’s making sure you stay healthy.

Monster cock. Monster cock. Good fucking luck with oral and penetrative sex.

Loves when you grab onto his horns during sex.

Farm

Absolute menace.

Charges at Remy whenever he sees them. Won’t let anyone get near the two of you.

None of the beasts go near Eden. The beasts avoid you because you smell like Eden.

Caught Remy’s whip in his hand and yanked it out of the farmer’s grip.

Not on the farm long.

Breaks out without even having his gun, but he does get to still punch Remy.

Celebrates escape with sex because no matter how horny he was, he would not fuck you on the farm. He doesn’t like people watching. There was no way he was going to risk someone recording the two of you having sex without his knowledge. Fucks you so hard that you have trouble moving afterward, which is fine in Eden’s books.

Kylar

General

Sweet little bull boy. Very fluffy. Hair covers up his horns without him even trying.

Keeps his tail wrapped around his leg, has had people pull on it before.

Has charged at people who have tried to touch you.

Begs you to ‘milk’ him. His cock is so heavy! It hurts so much! Please!

Was already the type to make you home made food with his cum mixed into it. Kylar has absolutely slipped some of his ‘milk’ into the food he brings you.

Kylar does not have to worry about going multiple rounds to have you dripping his seed. This fact will not stop Kylar from going multiple rounds, mumbling about filling you up.

Farm

Goes feral on the farm.

Will not let anyone near you. Snaps at anyone who even looks at you.

Remy takes a special interest in Kylar. He’s so small, yet so feisty!

Kylar has tried to jump Remy. Several times. It never works out that well, but Kylar doesn’t exactly have a lot of options.

Manages to sneak the two of you off the farm, eventually.

Robin

General

Sweet, if a bit timid.

If you insist, you might get Robin to top some of the hot chocolate he gives you with his own, special, ‘whipped cream.’ He doesn’t need that much convincing, really. But don’t tell anyone! People might start asking for Robin’s special whipped cream, even if they know exactly how it’s made. He wouldn’t be comfortable with that at all.

With higher confidence, he will use his tail to thwap people who try to mess with you when he’s around.

Farm

Digging under that fence as fast as he can.

Robin is not cut out for the farm.

Help him, please.

He’ll do his best to keep people away from you, but he can’t guarantee any protection. Robin isn’t that strong.

Sydney

General

Uses his tail to hit people who are being lewd in his vicinity.

Already was a kicker, now their kicks are more likely to break bones.

Likes when you caress his horns like you would his hair.

If you give him head under the library counter, you better have some tissues to help clean up. No matter how hard you try, you cannot swallow all of his cum. Some of it will spill.

If you corrupt him, the prayer room needs cleaning whenever you hook up.

Same with Kylar where he doesn’t need to go multiple rounds to fill you up, but he still will.

Farm

Both corrupt and pure Sydney charge at people who try to get near you, saying that he won’t let sinners touch you.

None of the other beasts will go near Sydney. None of them. They stay away from you as well, what with Sydney’s scent covering you.

Talks the centaurs into helping you escape.

First stop after escaping is the Temple.

Whitney

General

The worst.

Already had a big dick, now he's just monstrous.

Shoves his cock down your throat and says he's giving you premium milk, so you really should thank him.

If he hasn't made you grab onto his horns for dear life, is he even fucking you properly?

Will use his tail to tease you during class, usually while River is asking you a question.

Farm

Would hate it on Remy's farm but he can find some fun in it if he's stuck there with you.

Remy finds Whitney mounting you in the field one day and just rolls with it. Saves them money with having to set things up with pigboys and piggirls, what with you two being so willing to go at it.

Double so if you've been disobedient. Remy would enjoy watching you get domed by Whitney a little too much.

On one hand, Whitney doesn’t like not being completely in control of what’s happening. On the other hand, he can at least be in control of you.

Escape with Whitney is difficult because he’s so hot-headed. You can eventually get him to swim upriver with you. First thing he does after escaping is gathering up his friends for a bit of chaos out in the moor.

#alex the farmhand #avery the businessperson #bailey the caretaker #eden the hunter #kylar the loner #sydney the faithful #whitney the bully #tw hybrids #degrees of lewdity

390 notes · View notes

nyxation · 3 years

Text

SBI + Witch-Hybrid Reader

C OR CC: Character

WHO: Sbi

PRONOUNS: They/Them

WARNINGS: Swearing | Character Death [Mentions]

Okay, so I imagine the reader has vitiligo-type skin, like patches of the grey witch skin ya' know?

Like it's grey and makes them look sick in some places

Reader could probably have one dull purple eye

Also, cats would probably be very attracted to them, like reader just come home one day with 50 cats and Phil doesn't even question it anymore because 'For fuck sake [Y/N] it's the fifth time this week and it's only Tuesday'

Also, reader can trade with villagers easier, they get the good stuff for less money (Techno using this to his advantage and getting items for insanely good prices) this armor is seven gold? nevermind one coal will do

Reader being a master at potion-making and enchanting, trying to teach sbi how to enchant, and just

none of them being very good at it

first off, Wilbur's just shit, okay he got bane of arthropods seven different times. Bitch what?

Tommy's next, he's also shit but not as bad as Wil, he only messed up five or six times, but he was like ten when you showed him so, you can't really blame him for being bad

Wilbur though he was like 16/17-ish so he has no excuse

Techno was okay, a lot better than Wil and Tommy, he got the enchanting down very fast, it was bane of arthropods but he got flame on his next try so reader didn't have to help him too much.

Phil was fine, he struggled with the inscribing but overall he did well (he already knew how to enchant but he wanted to support you and your passion)

Also reader with one of the big mumza hats with the veil on it, just, 6-year-old [Y/N] with a massive hat that they stole from their goddess mom, and it's way too big and keeps falling in front of their face

it probably still does, and the veil is so long it drags along the floor like a train, Tommy would probably steal it from you {like a raccoon}

[Y/N] being the cool aunt/uncle/Auncle/(other name for 'sibling-of-my-parent'), to Fundy and Micheal and taking care of them when Wil and Sally/Tubbo and Ranboo were away

or ftm![Y/N] giving Fundy their old binder (or sewing some for him), helping him bind, setting timers, giving him some of their hoodies, and just being there for him when/if he gets dysphoric

Okay so onto the lore,

If Reader joined L'manberg, they would probably be put in a safe, isolated area, not too far from the center but still pretty far

I doubt Wilbur would have told them about the war, so how did Reader find out?

Maybe it was when you intercepted a letter from Dream, a declaration of war, now that surprised you

Or was it when you little brother showed up at your house rambling a mile a minute about Dream, War, L'manberg

Wait did he just say he died?

You sit him down and start cleaning and healing his wounds while he re-starts his story, starting at the creation of L'manberg and ending with his death moments prior

"So Dream-"

"Shot me, yeah"

"And Wilbur-"

"Did nothing to protect me, no"

"... What the fuck"

You might just take a cannon life, you had always been a more peaceful soul, never really enjoyed the fighting Techno did, or at least not in the way Techno did.

You never thought it was very fun that was about to change

If Tommy hadn't stopped you, you might have just destroyed Dream, and every other person there, family or not.

Onto the election, mainly the results

I doubt Schlatt would banish you, especially since your a witch, he would need potions (which are like alcohol I guess)

So you'd probably leave a join Pogtopia, there would probably be a massive fight between you and the cabinet just so you could leave

They'd probably put you on house arrest, despite not fighting very often you were strong and your potions made it harder to get to you

So you were a pretty well rounded fighter

And they were definitely wary because of you relation to Techno

You breaking out and immediately going to Pogtopia

Wilbur being so relieved that his little sibling is okay

He puts you straight to work, helping ready the weapons

Forgetting that your now a wanted person

Okay, onto Wilbur's death

That fucked you up

Your dad just stabbed your brother and it hurt

Sure the explosion was a little far but killing him?!

Why

You really didn't know and didn't want to stay and find out

So you left, you ran far away into the deepest caves cuz who tf would find you here?

Ranboo

Ranboo found you

Somehow, this bitch is like 8 feet tall how did he fit in the cave

Anyway, he told Tubbo and Tubbo brought the (newly made) Butcher Army to your house, and since you were a criminal

You were supposed to be executed

You escaped before reaching L'manberg and ran to Techno's house

He had told you about Phil through an earlier conversation, he tried to help you

But you lead the army to his house, you also met Ghostbur for the first time

"Is that Wilbur?"

"Ghostbur actually"

"But is he Wilbur? "

"I guess, he's part of brother, like his soul almost"

"Does that mean Wil's with momma now?"

This definitely wasn't what the army expected to hear

"Your siblings?!"

"Yes!" "No"

"Don't deny it big brother, I'm amazing"

Maybe hitting the blood god whole you couldn't run wasn't the best idea you've had

But it certainly wasn't the worst

Ya' know what was the worst?

Breaking off the presidents horn during your escape

Now you were a criminal and a bad person

You and Phil made up and you hung out with Ghostbur

You were happy, Dream was finally put in prison and you didn't have to worry anymore

Your family was back - Broken and no longer the kids you once were - but back

Until Ghostbur dissappears during his visit to Dream

#PH1LZ4 #PHILZA #W1L8UR #WILBUR #6H0ST8UR #GHOSTBUR #T3CHN0BL4D3 #TECHNOBLADE #FUNDY #fUNDy #R4NB00 #T0MMY1NN1T #TUBB0 #N1H4CHU #NIHACHU #Baby doll me up #Not me accidentally posting this

21 notes · View notes

literaphobe · 4 years

Text

season four of she-ra rated by catradora content

the coronation: okay so... rightfully. there’s nothing i should be appraising here. adora and catra didn’t interact or bring each other up at all. but bro... catra’s new outfit... the best character of season four. i’m kidding but also she is so hot. catra seems to be dealing w the portal incident by framing it as a victory, since the rebellion was hurt by it. but also who cares. who fucking cares man. her arc this episode was about her deciding to make hordak her little bitch and design a new sexy outfit. that adora did NOT talk about nor seem visually affected by >:( yes, this entire season will be measured by how much i think it was a missed opportunity that adora did not get to thirst. jk but also am i? 500000000/10 for catra’s new look, 0/10 for official catradora stuff

the valley of the lost: god...... this episode. i know it’s like one of the few catradora moments we have this season already but it makes me LIVID that adora said that flirty ass line and catra never even got to hear it. anyway, let’s begin properly. double trouble seeks catra out and says they’re gonna be her new best friend. catra says “oh, yeah? i’m done with best friends”, making it official that she and adora broke up 😔 like friend broke up oh my god 😔 KFKSKDKD like we been knew but i think it is so dramatic and funny of catra to announce that she’s never having a best friend again because adora broke her heart 😔💔 i mean i know it’s also like sad but let’s keep it light ok uwu anyway. sigh. double trouble! auditions for catra! by pretending to be her in battle! which is great for them, but not for me and my hang ups about adora bringing back a flirty line catra said to her in season one and winking and then catra doesn’t hear or see ANY of it. sigh. let’s go through the scene. adora sees who she thinks is catra run in and say “hey! careful with the goods”, pouncing on adora and taking her down. adora tosses dt!catra into the walkway above and they get a cut on their face. not sure whether this is meant to signify adora pulling less of her punches around catra or double trouble just not being as agile as catra is in combat. it’s probably the latter because when you think about it, throwing catra away is much more of a defensive tactic than an offensive one. anyway! double trouble still does a more or less good job fighting adora as catra. huntara calls adora over and is like hi adora! could you stop fighting ur gf for one fucking second? we need you to do literally anything else. and adora (who has NO IDEA she’s not fighting her ACTUAL gf) is like :( wait no what really?? ok :( one sec tho lemme pull off this super cool sexy farewell thing before i stop fighting catra i’ve been practicing it for years u kno kinda been working up to doing this bit. and then she. grabs dt!catra after stopping them from running away, and grabs this trap thingy to trap them against the side of this wall. “i got something more important to do :) it was fun distracting you though ;)” and she actually WINKS and she looks SO PROUD of her damn self but it means pretty much NOTHING because that’s not ACTUALLY catra :( wtf :( the worst thing about this whole situation is that adora clearly wanted to do her whole super strong super powered thing and then go BACK to catra and like.... gloat or something.... flirt some more.... kiss her.... i don’t know. but dt!catra is gone because they’re good at getting out of tight spots, and adora is like “how did she get out of that? :( i wanted to see more of her tf....” anyway double trouble, scorpia, and catra are escaping in a skiff after this. catra thinks double trouble did marvelously. “i grew up with adora, and you fooled her” well catra. i’m very sorry. but if i were adora seeing you in that new look for the first time, i wouldn’t be checking to see if u were ooc. i would be.... hm idk.... flirting with you as hard as possible? like i know i complained that we never got a proper reaction from adora re catra’s new outfit, but i think we could interpret this scene as a lapse in adora’s morals <3 like she gave catra such a hard stare the last time they saw each other, and the next time they saw each other (after this) adora glared at her too, but somehow this time she’s all 👅👅👅👅👅it was fun distracting you ;) ;) ;) like ok. slow down there horn dog. “if you can do that, we can do anything. this is gonna be fun...” catra :( perhaps you would have more fun :( if you suggestively fought with adora :( yourself? :( 8/10

flutterina: catra’s having bad dreams :( her mistakes and past actions are haunting her and the guilt is messing her up so bad :( so what am i choosing to focus on? the fact that adora was in her dream :) dream!adora looks Angry and dream!catra is scared and backing away :( a quick callback to when adora gave catra an angry Look when she destroyed the portal, and catra looked scared for a second before her face hardened back to something equally pissed off looking. so this dream obviously tells us that the thought of adora genuinely just hating and being pissed off at catra... hurts and scares her. because we all know that she loves adora and just wants adora to love her back! but.... ya lmao. dream!adora asks “why did you do it?!” reminiscent of what she said last season, but angrier this time. and we all know that catra doesn’t really know why. sometimes things torture you so bad and you do stuff that you can’t come up with sound or logical reasons for. u would rather keep running or keep deflecting, and so catra deflects dream!adora’s questions by waking up. i wonder if catra dreams about adora more than what we’re shown in this scene. i also REALLY wanna know if adora dreams of catra. i want more :( why this season gotta be the fucking break up season bro :( like i KNOW they’re thinking of each other. gimme the content :( for now, let’s skip ahead to💔 their only real interaction this season💔 holy fuck. stay strong u guys. stay strong me. i think it’s very offensive of she-ra to not give me a catradora heavy season every season? like yeah this season is good but god at what cost? they should’ve known i was going to do an evaluation? :/ that i was gonna rate each ep out of ten according to how much catradora content there was? :/ the fuck bros. ,,,,anyway, let’s get to the actual scene. catra’s walking around w an ipad and scorpia is talking to her. catra looks like. v serious and :| and >:/ BUT when scorpia asks about she-ra catra becomes >:) and >:D “she-ra was in elberon, which means she’s nearby.” “do you think she’ll try some secret attack? :0” “;D oh i’m counting on it ;)” fucking god catra can you just flirt normally??? like be horny in a normal way??????? u can just ask adora out on a date. have u tried that? i know she blocked u for nearly destroying the world but adora’s a hoe ❤️ she would’ve said yes ❤️ u don’t need to kidnap a town as an excuse to see her ❤️ yes i know she did it to plant flutterina!DT into the rebellion as a spy but shhhhh ❤️ we finally get to the most GORGEOUS “hey adora”,,, ever because it’s the only hey adora of this season 💔 i looked back and we did not get a ‘hey adora’ last ep. honestly, adora should’ve figured it wasn’t catra JUST from the lack of greeting. catra is fucking POLITE ok :( anyway. it’s so homophobic that we only got ONE “hey adora” in THAT LOOK but..... it’s okay. because it’s such a good one. catra’s hand is propping her face up and she just looks so pretty.... the way she SAYS the hey adora too like bros... how we holding up? bad? she’s posing and lounging so prettily... “took you long enough to show up” HHHHH why does she sound like a gf who’s a little :/ that her gf showed up late for their date.... bro....... must she SMILE that prettily..... also adora’s reaction... she goes :0 and her EYES get this like ‘oh wow’ look for a Moment right before she remembers she’s supposed to be mad when she sees catra then she’s like >:( CATRA >:( and like. let’s dissect that look for a moment? it’s almost like AWE but why??? why would she be at all surprised to see catra??? catra is IN the horde like. she got happy for a moment until she remembered she’s meant to be mad. good bye <3 i will now be passing away <3 “seriously. i thought i’d have to kidnap another town to get your attention” TO GET. YOUR ATTENTION. HHHHH HELP THEY’RE GAY...... BRO WHY.............. THE GAYNESS UNMATCHED..... anyway catra continues like OH RIGHT u were at a PARTY feeling SPECIAL and adora.... oof oh fuck she COLD she was like skip the SPEECH i’m done playing your GAMES and she like reminds catra of the portal and they just... oof this really IS the breakup season it’s so brutal bros :( can’t they just kiss :( like nooooo don’t stare at each other angrily you’re so sexy aha OK BUT... at the end after catra runs away and adora’s getting hugged by flutterina and everyone’s cheering for her... she lets her ‘catra BAD’ and ‘yay haha rebellion for the win! :)’ facade drop for a moment... and she gets this really sad look on her face that makes u think.... and the next scene we see catra sitting on the ledge of where she and adora used to sit together? and she looks real upset too???? they hate being enemies. 9/10

pulse: in this ep adora fucking SHUSHED spinnerella and netossa while they were bickering and like... ok wow. rude :/ adora straight up was like ok HAHA WOW we GET IT ur HAPPY y’all have WIVES and iiiiiii don’t HAVE a GIRLFRIEND because my crush is EVIL :( on the other hand, we find out that catra is meeting up regularly with double trouble to get intel. it’s very funny because she’s like yeah yeah WHATEVER what can u tell me about SHE-RA >:( like girl? u are not subtle ❤️ catra literally met double trouble and said let’s be friends with benefits ❤️ the benefits? you spy on adora and tell me everything about what she does ❤️ was she pretty today ❤️ haha jk she’s pretty everyday ❤️ here’s some bitcoin for your troubles ❤️ AND THEN the next time double trouble facetimes catra they transform into bow and glimmer to roast them and catra is at most unamused and annoyed but BUT when double trouble pretends to be she-ra catra’s like HAHAHAHDJSJDJSJD OMG,,,, INSPIRED FAM,,,, SO FUNNY TOP PEAK COMEDY,,,, ABSOLUTE LEGEND,,,,,, SHOW ME SHE-RA AGAIN,,,,, u know that thing where you find people who you’re attracted to way funnier than they actually are? ya :-) apparently catra doesn’t even need the Actual she-ra/adora to lose her shit. she just needs to see a physical representation of her and it’s suddenly Peak Comedy. someone once pointed out that this moment was the last time catra was happy all season and... can we take a fucking second to cry about that. haha 💔 anyway double trouble is happy that they finally cracked the code to making catra go from ARGH >:( to HAHAHAHAHAH :D so they give her she-ra intel as a treat ❤️ “she-ra’s going back out to destroy the bot that hurt her friend” “ugh 🙄 typical heroic adora plan” shut up bitch u dream of her lips on yours!!!!!! 7/10

protocol: no rights for white boys ❤️ 0/10

princess scorpia: well, nothing! but since i’m scouring i might as well say the line where catra says “you don’t need a princess in your life telling you what to do!” to hordak she’s actually talking about her and adora haha i mean duh :-) anyway since i’m here can i talk about how hot catra is again this season. i’m madly in love did y’all see her from behind? even her back view is beautiful i am going to combust <3 2/10

mer-mysteries: what a great episode! 0/10

boys’ night out: catra gets banned from doing war crimes because hordak wants to do the war crimes all by himself and this is a real bummer because there’s an even SMALLER chance she’ll bump into adora now :( jk ik she was avoiding her this season because the guilt was eating her alive haha :-) also glimmer and adora fought and we all know that ‘but the rebellion’s in a worse place than ever since you showed up’ is like a very :( line but when u think about it it’s true because adora joining the rebellion pissed catra off so much she became an antagonistic force driving most of the conflict in the series up to this point in the story JFJDDJDJDJ like imagine if they brought catra up in this convo ‘i’m doing my BEST glimmer :(‘ ‘ok but what can we do about your terrible taste in evil women????? was ur catgirl gf ex really worth it????? did she hit that different???? did the catgirl ***** slap that hard????’ 1.5/10

hero: man mara is so hot! 0/10

fractures: scorpia said catra’s name in front of adora... ‘shadow weaver! and at bright moon! everything is making so much sense about why catra’s been acting the way she has’ and adora’s reaction is so interesting.... she goes from this ‘catra....’ look to this ‘catra >:(‘ look and like it’s interesting to see catra’s psyche explained to adora like this and it’s clearly something that makes adora feel bad but then she remembers the bad stuff catra did and forces herself to focus on that. 5/10 for that alone lmao

beast island: bow being very upset and annoyed and disappointed in glimmer is a fun little parallel to how adora has felt about catra’s descent into the darkness. you feel doubly upset and doubly betrayed when someone you’re in love with goes against what you stand for, and the goodness you know they’re capable of but aren’t showing. 1/10

destiny part 1: ‘i’ll be happy when the rebellion and she-ra are gone for good!!!’ are u sure about that catra :/ 1/10

destiny part 2: catra gets into a huge fight with some dude and right after she sort of collects herself after barely beating him she hears “hey, catra” and she completely freezes up. she’s been so proactive with avoiding adora all season... and the moment in 4x03 nearly doesn’t count because she was acting specifically to get double trouble snuck into the rebellion. aside from a necessary interaction in which she was far away and removed from adora anyway.... where she was far enough away to smile and laugh and manipulate the situation.... she hasn’t wanted to see adora at all, clearly. and having this happen now, right after one of her worst fights, right after she thought she was going to win... “no. you can’t do this. you can’t come in and take this from me now.” “woah, i knew this would get a rise out of you, but still, you really are obsessed, aren’t you, kitten?” and catra’s standing there like 👁👄👁 until double trouble reveals themself and says stuff that :( hurts :( i am not going to repeat until i get to anything catradora relevant because i don’t wanna be bummed out ok hoes 😔 anyway double trouble becomes adora again and is like “didn’t need you... left you” and puts catra’s hand on adora’s cheek...... and then shoves catra???? rude :( 7/10

#text #she ra #catradora #spop #here u go lads uwu #hope u guys like this #reblogs w tags much appreciated!#reacts in the replies appreciated too #s4 was so naked but this also meant it wasn't as hellish to make this <3 #remember s3 remember ep?? fuck that was HELL

143 notes · View notes

dustedmagazine · 3 years

Text

Dust Volume 7, Number 9

Les Filles de Illighadad

Another collection of short reviews closes out this week at Dusted, with selections ranging from avant garde classical to free jazz to whacko punk to an unusually gender-inclusive guitar band from Niger. Writers this time included the usual stalwarts, Bill Meyer, Ray Garraty, Jennifer Kelly, Jonathan Shaw, Bryon Hayes, Tim Clarke, Andrew Forell and Chris Liberato. Enjoy.

All Set — All Set (RogueArt)

youtube

In 1957, serialist composer Milton Babbitt’s All Set applied his language-transforming compositional tool kit to the sonic resources of a jazz orchestra. Six decades and change down the road, such ideas haven’t exactly infiltrated the mainstream of either jazz or orchestral music, but they’ve become as handy for some music makers as hammers and nails are for carpenters. So, when saxophonic colleagues Ingrid Laubrock (who sticks to tenor here) and Stéphane Payen (playing the straight alto) needed to come up with a framework to make music together, out came Babbitt’s notion, which they did not play straight, but used as a suggestions for writing their own tunes, and for good measure named their band after the Babbitt’s piece The formative influence manifests in zig-zagging intervallic leaps, but instead of treating these of ends in themselves, the saxophonists carry on constant overlapping dialogues. The rhythm section of Chris Tordini (bass) and Tom Rainey (drums) can’t help but swing, but they do so in a shifting, discontinuous fashion that occasionally leaves it to the saxophonists to play the gaps as well as the horns they use the fill them.

Bill Meyer

Rodrigo Amado Motion Trio & Alexander Von Schlippenbach — The Field (No Business)

The Field by Rodrigo Amado Motion Trio & Alexander von Schlippenbach

Motion Trio is one of tenor saxophonist Rodrigo Amado’s more enduring combos. But it’s not one that has played often in the years preceding this concert, a consequence of the growth and success of its members; Amado, cellist Miguel Mira and drummer Gabriel Ferrandini all keep busy with other projects. So, this encounter with pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach, which took place in Vilnius, Lithuania in 2019, was not just a reenactment of the trio’s favorite tactic of improvising with a strong fourth musician, but a reunion of the trio itself. This means that the process-oriented can listen for three comrades finding reviving a common language at the same time that they confront with an outsider’s efforts to deal with it. Schlippenbach’s playing brings an unusual harmonic density to Motion Trio’s music, which seems to coax an especially dynamic and at times reflective response from the saxophonist. Ferandini, on the other hand, proposes shapes and timbres that seem to build out from Schlippenbach’s intricate constructions, while Mira keeps up a steady, almost subliminal stream of contrapuntal commentary that is simultaneously assertive and nearly subliminal. But some of the concert’s most exciting moments come when the pianist lays out for a second, and you can hear Motion Trio’s members responding to each other.

Bill Meyer

BangGang Lonnie Bands — H2K On the Way (TF Entertainment \ Anti Media)

youtube

Lots of artists have watched small projects intended only as appetizers grow to surpass their grander efforts. BangGang Lonnie Bands’ recent work, especially his King of Detroit albums, contained a few gems but were bloated in length. There was an ironic twist, as Lonnie’s claimed the throne to the city where he no longer resides. While it remains to be seen what the rapper brings after H2K On the Way, this 15 minutes long EP is his leanest work in years, leaving a long list of LPs behind. Lonnie no longer flirts with scam rap and returns to murder music, fusing gutsiest Michigan-style punchlines with no hostage Californian approach to verse spitting. He’s the naughtiest when he’s trolling the music industry: “Copped a 100 pounds of crank \ should have bought a verse from Drake.”

Ray Garraty

Buffalo Daughter — We Are the Times (Anniversary)

youtube

Buffalo Daughter always caught in the cracks between mainstream and experimental, layering vocal sweetness over chopped up blippy beats, not as wildly original as OOIOO, but not exactly girl pop either. This latest album comes after a long break and a slightly less lengthy COVID lockdown, and it’s got some prickly, dreamy jams, part dance, part pop, part funk, part inscrutable. “ET (Densha)” is the mad, moody single, full of low-end synth blasts and thundering drums, but leavened by high whispery vocals. It’s like Shackleton sound-tracking a Hello Kitty movie. “Global Warming Will Kill Us All” is similarly ominous, with vocoder chants and trippy pop choruses and blown out by phosphorescent blots of synth, but I like “Don’t Punk Out” the best, because it struts like an animatronic James Brown, the funk percolating through gleaming futuristic swells of sounds. If disco’s going to come back, can it be this weird and disorienting?

Jennifer Kelly

Fashion Pimps and the Glamazons — Jazz 4 Johnny (Feel It Records)

Jazz 4 Johnny by Fashion Pimps And The Glamazons

This new EP from Fashion Pimps and the Glamazons manages to fit into the tradition of whacko punk records from Cleveland (and what a tradition that is…) and to comment on the problematic nature of tradition itself. There’s a decided No Wave vibe to Jazz 4 Johnny: listen to it, and you’ll flash on Buy Contortions and on Robert Quine’s attempts to channel Miles Davis and Pharoah Sanders through his guitar. At points you’ll swear there’s a sax somewhere in the buzz and thunder that the Fashion Pimps create — but that’s just Richard Glamazon’s skronky guitar tone, which does Quine one better by not only aping the cadences of a free jazz solo but also the sound of a brassy axe. That’s fun, but we should also recall No Wave’s sharp antipathies for concepts like “tradition” or “perpetuity.” A lot of those bands wanted to neutralize their own existence and thus evade the ultimately conservative action of canonization. Other tunes on Jazz 4 Johnny are more engaged with the later Downtown noise rock scene. The guitar on “Dream Police” gestures toward early Sonic Youth—but even there, the band can’t quite help themselves. Vocalist Steve Chainsaw shouts, “Show me your DNA!” Most of those references are based in Manhattan, so what about Cleveland? The city often recedes into the background when conversations turn to rock-n-roll history, which is too bad. Fashion Pimps and the Glamazons don’t sound all that much like electric eels or Pere Ubu, but the band is tuned into a similarly feral, post-industrial ethos and an avant-garde sensibility that makes anti-art into art you can dance to. Or break things to. Or both. Which may be the best response to the wild and smart tunes on this record.

Jonathan Shaw

Les Filles de Illighadad — At Pioneer Works (Sahel Sounds)

At Pioneer Works by Les Filles de Illighadad

The entrancing At Pioneer Works documents the American touring debut of Niger-based Tuareg ensemble Les Filles de Illighadad, specifically a pair of shows at the eponymous Brooklyn venue. Travelling as a four-piece ensemble, the band created a swirling three-guitar maelstrom, as captured on this pristine-sounding recording. Founder Fatou Seidi Ghali — the first known woman Tuareg guitarist — and her cousin Alamnou Akrouni were joined by Fatimata Ahmadelher, the only other known woman Tuareg guitarist, with Ghali’s brother accompanying on rhythm guitar. Blending the traditional calabash drum and call-and-response vocals of the tende song form with the electric guitar, Ghali and company steep the communal origins of their sound with a gentle clangor. The music is simultaneously hypnotic and driving, the four performers acting as one multi-limbed, multi-throated being. For the most part, Ghali is content setting the pace and playing along with the melody. One exception is the trio of deftly executed solos during “Chakalan,” where she demonstrates her prowess with six strings. Reports from those Brooklyn shows indicate that the band completely enraptured their audience, and if At Pioneer Works represents only a fraction of how powerful Les Filles de Illighadad are live, this writer doesn’t doubt that at all.

Bryon Hayes

Henri Guédon — Karma (Outre National)

Karma by Henri Guédon

You don’t have to be a big fan of R.E.M. to feel overly familiar with “It’s The End of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine).” In dire times, it’s such an easy go-to tune that even adherence to lockdown prescriptions won’t keep it out of your ears. So, deejays, we’ve done your research for you, and found a new tune to soundtrack defiant frugging in the face of disaster. It’s called “Fin Di Mond,” by Martinique-based singer/percussionist/sculptor Henri Guédon. It, and eight more similarly motion-motivating tunes, can be found on Karma, a predominantly celebratory set of retro-futuristic, Franco-Caribbean grooves. Mind you, this music wasn’t retro when Guédon recorded it 46 years ago; the synth lines that swoop through its massed percussion were probably the height of modernity back in the day. Heard now, this music is just the thing to put time itself on pause.

Bill Meyer

HTRK — Rhinestones (Heavy Machinery)

Rhinestones by HTRK

Rhinestones is a sneaky one from Melbourne’s HTRK, a slight but incisive release that seems minor compared to their previous albums but cuts just as deep. Running to a brutally economical 26 minutes, most of the album is built around delayed guitar, drum machine and Jonnine Standish’s ghostly, dejected voice. To a world laid low by the pandemic, Standish sounds startlingly apposite for these times, and track titles like “Sunlight Feels Like Bee Stings,” “Real Headfuck” and “Straight to Hell” signpost the vibe clearly. This is sad, skeletal music, sure to offer a degree of solace if you’re weary, wrung out or wasted — 2021 in a nutshell.

Tim Clarke

Matt Jencik — Matt & Lyra (Trouble In Mind)

Matt & Lyra by matt jencik

Matt Jencik is a member of doomy, spacey Chicago band Implodes, plus he’s released two solo guitar albums: 2017’s Weird Times and 2019’s Dream Character. For his latest, Matt & Lyra, part of Trouble In Mind’s Explorers Series, Jencik focuses on the thick, fuzzy tones of the Russian-built Lyra-8 synthesizer (hence the album title). Having said that, he does pull out his guitars to add some acoustic strumming to “Cmellow Ayellow,” and builds 16-minute closer “Clandestine Half Pipe” around electric guitar drones before the Lyra begins to dominate the frame. Jencik apparently made this music to help him sleep, and while this music is suited to nocturnal listening, with an all-enveloping warmth, there’s also the sense of something looming in the darkness. Whether this presence is reassuring or threatening probably depends on the frame of mind with which you approach this immersive 35-minute release.

Tim Clarke

Joakim — Second Nature (Tiger Sushi)

youtube

French producer and Tiger Sushi founder Joakim’s Second Nature is a reflection on the state of the world. It combines samples of whales, elephants, toads and other wildlife with the kind of pop facing ambient techno from aughts chillout compilations. It is testament to his skill as a producer that the record doesn’t wear out its welcome despite the occasional lapse into the anodyne and the associations this kind of gentle background music evokes. When Joakim disturbs the tranquility on tracks like “Sferics & Whistlers” with its crackles of static and breakdown of discordant notes, Angel Bat Dawid’s klezmatic clarinet on “Waves Ahead” and the komische roll of “Kepler-39” that one is jolts from reverie and pays close attention, but at 16 tracks it feels like Second Nature needs more such moments.

Andrew Forell

The Killing Popes — Ego Kills (Shhpuma)

Ego Kills by The Killing Popes

Thank god this unfortunately named combo isn’t someone’s absurd scheme to crossbreed the sounds of Killing Joke and Smoking Popes. Instead, the Berlin-based project exists at the crossroads of jazz and electronics. I know what you’re thinking, and no this isn’t a modern take on acid jazz; this crew makes a jazz-on-acid sort of racket. The core Popes are drummer-percussionist Oli Steidle and multi-instrumentalist Dan Nicholls, who together conjure up a brew with a myriad of ingredients. Their genre-defying fusion of disciplines does have a center, however. Steidle’s dextrous drumming and the elastic band bass proffered by Phil Donkin serve as an anchor point for the other elements — both melodic and bizarre — to revolve around. The addition of vocals inserts the sense of narrative, creating a gravity that tugs at the sounds and prevent them from spiralling out of orbit. As zany as Ego Kills may be, it’s jazz-like enough for afficionados to appreciate. On their own, each of the instrumentalists demonstrates a mastery of their craft; together, they create an uncanny sort of magic.

Bryon Hayes

Norman W. Long — BLACK BROWN GRAY GREEN (Hausu Mountain)

BLACK BROWN GRAY GREEN by Norman W. Long

Chicago soundscapist Norman W. Long walks his southeast Chicago neighborhood, listens deeply and records the ambient sounds of nature, the echoes of railyards, wasteland and industrial sites both working and abandoned. Adding subtle electronics and treatments to his field recordings, Long conjures atmospheres that speak to space, atrophy and the delicate symbiosis between nature and humanity. On BLACK BROWN GRAY GREEN he immerses listeners in the often unnoticed aural richness at the intersection of the built, neglected and the natural. His choices about when to augment or to present his sources as are forms a narrative of associations, displacements and tensions. Long’s is also a story of reclamation and recognition, a rumination on the situation of the largely minority and migrant populations who live in the neighborhood, many of whom toil as essential workers across the city in the face of ongoing prejudice and hostility. Site specificity is integral to Long’s art but his themes are universal.

Andrew Forell

Andy Moor — Music For Safe Piece (Unsounds)

Music For Safe Piece by Andy Moor

Music For Safe Piece is the antidote for every piece of children’s music that’s ever made you want to not hear another played or sung note, ever again. Electric guitarist Andy Moor (the Ex, Dog Faced Hermans) and dancer Valentina Campora have included their sons, Elio and Milo, in onstage performance ever since they were so young, they had to be swaddled and strapped to one of their parents in order to participate. The recorded results of this shared adventure are raw, unpredictable and exhilarating. Moor’s guitar, occasionally augmented by a child’s vocalization, a foot pounding the floor or some choice tune fragments on a cassette tape, blazes a trail of reverberations, scrapes and wobbles. In performance, the boys are known to get in on the act, helping pop to make his sounds while mom handles the movement. This music isn’t particularly pacific, but it’s pretty close to the way kids actually play when no one’s stopping them. The technologically adept will find a QR code inside the CD’s gatefold, which unlocks the short film, “Safe Piece.”

Bill Meyer

RXM Reality — Advent (Orange Milk)

Advent by RXM REALITY

Long-time Hausu Mountain dweller Mike Meegan has relocated to the Orange Milk abode, taming his frenetic brand of electronic mayhem in the process. The blown-out, off-the-grid beats are still plentiful, but with Advent Meegan injects his tunes with melody. He’s also allowed himself to slow down and relax. The vast expanse of “Character Limit” literally breathes deeply as Meegan allows it to swirl around. He drinks up the pleasant melodic aromas of the track before switching gears and unloading burst after burst of explosive beats. “These Days” comes off as an electro-shoegaze hybrid, with gauzy synth pads that float effortlessly among bouncy percussion clusters. Of course, the signature RXM Reality sound — a hybrid of 1990s video game and blockbuster movie — is present and accounted for in tracks like “Allure,” “Screaming,” and “Grip of Evil.” Yet even these balls of energy are tempered with shades of consonance. Having blunted some of the jagged edges of his frantic brand of electronic music, Meegan fits in nicely among the kooky ranks of the Orange Milk imprint.

Bryon Hayes

Macie Stewart — Mouth Full of Glass (Orindal)

Mouth Full of Glass by Macie Stewart

You might already know Macie Stewart as one-half of the complicated indie rock duo Ohmme or for her regular appearances as violinist of choice in Chicago jazz and experimental music scenes, but this solo LP shows another side. These eight songs are lushly, intricately arranged with strings, orchestral instruments and brass, recorded with precision and clarity, but nonetheless personal and introspective. “Garter Snake” sheathes flaying honesty with baroque instrumental flourishes. Stewart’s voice is bare and unaffected as she confides, “I am addicted…to indecision,” but she makes riveting choices in framing the melody. Old-fashioned movie strings swell in the spaces between talking-right-to-you verses; agile guitar chords mark time. “Finally” begins in bare, Bahian guitar play, as Stewart’s voice flutters and floats an unpredictable but fetching tune. Strings swoop in at the end of the phrase, lavish and lucid. The title track unlooses massed, harmonized vocals on the spare architecture of picked guitar, a shock of extravagant sung beauty in an otherwise restrained palette. Like Wendy Eisenberg, but with different instruments, Stewart weaves post-modern complexity into the delicate fabric of pop songs. The difficulty — combined with the beauty — makes this music memorable.

Jennifer Kelly

Stingray — Feeding Time (La Vida es un Mus)

Feeding Time by Stingray

In places where heavy music is played and endlessly debated, 1982 might be most strongly associated with English street punk — see the ersatz “genre” of UK82, which enshrines the year and ties it to acid green liberty spikes and scuffed Doc Martens. Fair enough. But street punk was thoroughly informed by the dirty working-class metal being made by bands like Motörhead and Venom, and this new EP by Stingray celebrates those noisy intersections of influence. Of course, Stingray’s version of celebration likely involves several cases of Bass Ale, an eightball of something white and a fistfight or two. Or five. The English band features members of other current hard-driving acts, including Subdued, the Chisel and Chain of Flowers, but Stingray doesn’t prize currency. The songs are short, hard and nasty, landing their punches like a “Bomber” and also like a bunch of “Death Dealers.” The guys in Stingray understand the past they’re drawing on, but does music like this have a future? Fuck knows. Do any of us have a future? Does the earthball? The tunes are less interested in such flights of existential angst, and more intent on their rapacious appetites for speed, sweat and raunch. It’s Feeding Time. Get it while you can.

Jonathan Shaw

Nick Storring — Newfoundout (Mappa)

Newfoundout by Nick Storring

You’ll miss some towns if you blink. The ones that have given their names to the compositions on Newfoundout might confound both eyesight and your GPS, since they are all ghost towns in Ontario, Canada. The music that Nick Storring has made to go with these titles is correspondingly elusive. Performed entirely by the composer, using strings, percussion and whatever bric-a-brac happened to be at hand, it is by turns lush, staccato and propulsive. “The sounds are never particularly difficult, but they rarely telegraph where they’re going, so if you listen passively, sooner or later you’ll look up in dismay, wondering how things got from where they were to where they are now. “Khartum,” for example, starts out sounding a lot like “In A Silent Way,” and finishes up sounding like a respectfully paced conference of grandfather clock chimes. So, put your head back and your ears forward, and let Mr. Storring do the driving.

Bill Meyer

Ten Ka — Sonic Geometry: Structures, Patterns And Forms (Jersika)

sonic geometry: structures, patterns and forms by TEN KA

Ten Ka is experimental side project of Deniss Pashkevich, a Latvian woodwinds player. The album title’s invocation of mathematics is apt, since this music is produced by dissimilar musical values acting upon each other. Pashkevich’s sound on tenor sax is full and soft around the edges, which is probably what it takes to be a working musician in a part of the world that doesn’t have much of a jazz tradition; on flutes, and especially the Bansuri, he hints at a far Eastern vibe. He also plays Fender Rhodes and prepared acoustic piano, bringing in further elements of user-friendly jazz, but also some sharp, Cage-y edges. But most of the nine tracks on Sonic Geometry: Structures, Patterns And Forms feature modular synths, which provide a foundation of pulsing bass patterns and some intriguing disruptive, acidic sizzles. It all adds up to something simultaneously familiar and out of the ordinary.

Bill Meyer

Luis Vicente / Vasco Trilla — Made Of Dust (577 Records)

Made of Mist by Luis Vicente & Vasco Trilla

Not many improvisational settings are more exposed that the drums and trumpet duet. The two instruments are sufficiently different in timbre and frequency range that you can’t help but hear everything each player does, and also how those actions fit together. Trumpeter Luis Vicente and percussionist Vasco Trilla approach this situation with a combination of relaxed consideration and wholly earned confidence. Vicente can power-play when necessary, but for this session, he exercises restraint, using mutes to extract the most lyrical and vocal sounds he can muster. Trilla likewise seeks out the extremities of his kit, drawing continuous ribbons of widely differing characters, such as the alarm clock-like clatter and low-scrubbed drumskin heard on “Swirling Mist.” Their interactions are not just sonically novel, but trusting and deeply intimate.

Bill Meyer

Simon Waldram — So It Goes (Self-released)

So It Goes by Simon Waldram

Simon Waldram’s refrain-heavy eighth solo album, So It Goes, is a song cycle on love, loss and acceptance influenced by classic indie pop bands like The Field Mice, The Fat Tulips and The Go-Betweens. Indeed, it was the Grant McLennan-channelling “Don’t Worry,” a plaintive reassurance to a past lover, that initially caught my attention. But “I Miss The Sun” betters it, really laying on the Hammond, and squeezing in something noticeably absent from the other songs: a bridge. “When will we see the lull again/Feels like these dark days will never end,” Waldram sings, reestablishing buoyancy as it winds down repeating the title phrase. There’s promise elsewhere, like on the 1960’s-flavored psych strummer “Boats In The Sky,” before it lifts its bow in harmonic repetition a few too many times without checking its fuel gauge first, stranding itself in the firmament. “The Wild Wanderings of Wildebeests” is another one with potential, but its flawless first verse’s worth of strum and fuzz just recurs instead of building towards something of greater impact. The record hits its lowest point on the nearly nine-minute “Windswept,'' a “Primitive Painters'' rip that goes nowhere productive. When Waldram starts repeating ad infinitum “I miss you so much/ I can’t let go of this dream of ours,” you wish you could step in and save him from himself. A pleasant enough acoustic instrumental with birdsong follows in the form of “One May Afternoon,” serving as a much-needed palate cleanser and bridging the gap to the album’s closer. However, “Shimmer” is another moaner that never quite rounds into shape and instead fades out and then, unremarkably, back in. There’s an EP’s worth of good material on So It Goes, but as an album it only ends up burning itself with the flame its carrying, leaving the listener wondering, “Who hurt you, Simon?”

Chris Liberato

3 notes · View notes

saint-bestial · 3 years

Text

an insane man complains about cartoon dragon’s arms

ok what is with yugioh monsters and being so hostile to being drawn. i was thinking about this earlier and used red-eyes black dragon as an example. let’s start with his classic artwork.

one thing that’s always confused me about this artwork is the spikes near the arm on the right. are they attached to his arm or his back? there’s a spike by his shoulder on his other arm, but it mirrors neither of them. also, his tail is only in three segments instead of the many we see in later depictions. i have no idea wtf is going on with the legs. now let’s compare that to later artwork.

in this, we see the development of the segmented tail. also, he now has long, thin spikes extending from the shoulders. the two back/arm spikes don’t appear to be present, though that could be due to the angle. the legs don’t look like weird blobs anymore. he’s gained a fourth claw on his hands as well. now to take a look at a much more recent artwork.

looking back at the arms again, it appears the spike on his elbow has now moved to be on the front of his arms instead of the back. the shoulder spikes have been shortened and smoothed significantly. again, still no sign of the weird back/arm spikes. his tail has been blessed with spikes and he’s got a second pair of smaller horns on his head. it seems no one can agree on what the hell is going on with this dude’s arms. but that’s enough for the card game’s art, let’s see how the anime handled it.

interestingly, while i was looking at different anime screenshots, his design seems to stay fairly consistent. he lacks a fourth digit and has frontward facing elbow spikes (though they look somewhat different). the spikes by his shoulders are not on top of the joint, but are a part of their own segment. he has spikes on his tail, like he does in the recent tcg art.

so, what’s my point? no one knows how to draw this guy’s arms. whenever i try to find images to use as references i can never figure out how i should handle them. if i didn’t have my red-eyes figure, i wouldn’t be able to see how tf his arms work. and this is why i generally stick to drawing yugioh’s human characters or its simpler monsters. i probably either missed or failed to mention several differences, but i mostly wanted to focus on the arms because those are what give me the most grief. that and those weird arm/back spikes that just disappeared after the first art.

i love you red-eyes but holy shit your arms are hell. thanks for reading my pointless post.

#yugioh #long post #red eyes black dragon

5 notes · View notes

lotus-baby · 3 years

Text

are you insane like me been in pain like me (otsutsuki stuf 😭😔)

disclaimer i don’t think this is what the writers had in mind it’s not rlly theories they’re just funny headcanons, and it's not very interesting or conclusive i just had all this bouncing around in my head. also i dont know any stuff abt physics or biology or anything i just want to babble about alien ideas

ok so under the assumption that the otsutsuki as a species:

have adapted to frequent travel in space and across different dimensions with a large variety of climate and gravity values.

spend most of their time growing and cultivating chakra fruit, farming them as their main energy source

are humanoid*, but physically sturdier than them in an unknown variety of ways.

(*ok why are they so humanoid????? humans are NOT designed for their lifestyle... and some of them think they’re soooo superior too like sit down my guy you’re embarassing yourself we aren’t even reproductively isolated. and why is compatibility even a detail they made canon?? who in the writers studio was like, yeah you know. we have some alienfuckers out there lets print it)

this is all the thoughts i have:

kaguya had the ice dimension and the lava dimension, and she wasn’t particularly bothered by the cold or heat, so they’re probably able to regulate body temperature to a much wider scale than humans. if their lifestyle is based on visiting different dimensions and planets with different climates, they’d need to adjust temperature not to freeze or burn. it’s temperature change or lots of layers and they like, never change their clothes. so i'm assuming it's the former

okay i know naruto doesn’t usually make a lot of sense and i know the otsutsuki are an asspull, but for the sake of conversation, i have no idea how they breathe when they travel. there’s no air in space. so hypothetically, let’s assume that they’re anaerobes (and don't need oxygen) who for some reason are structurally similar to humans. what is their nose for?? or maybe they have a nose because do need air, they just hold their breaths for a really long time? like space whales? blood composition can carry more oxygen? or their respiration doesn’t involve oxygen but a different gas?????

also there isn’t any sound in space (they’re still seen talking though…this is when boruto’s High Quality Worldbuilding really shines through). i don’t think hearing is their most important sense, even if they live in areas with sound, they frequently travel in a soundless environment. unrelated to biology, it would be more convenient if they had a soundless form of communication (some form of sign language?)

their bones are sturdier than the bones of humans/animals on earth. kimimaro’s clan is descended from kaguya, and his bone weapons were strong enough not to break against the metal that kunai were made of. i’m not sure what effect constantly switching between different levels of gravity would have on their bones and muscles though, as they were shown to be affected poorly by high gravity (kaguya’s spiky dimension). may frequently need recuperation time after travel? (inconsistent theory though, urashiki dropped from planet otsutsuki™ to the moon with what i’m assuming is a pretty wack gravity change and was physically ready to beat the shit out of toneri as soon as he landed)

aside from chakra pills or whatever, what can they eat? toneri from the branch family is shown eating human food (where tf did he get it by the way… do they doordash to the interior of the moon...), but his branch is also fairly genetically different from the main family (no horns, exhibits no particular mutations upon absorbing large amounts of energy). It makes sense that their diet needs to sustain the growth of denser bones and maintain their body fat (this is rlly important 4 temperature stuff if you want to live but a lot of them are fairly thin?? where is the energy stored???) but otherwise it would be fun if they could digest things that are like, clearly inedible by human standards, like heavy metals and toxic stuff. or if harmless-to-human foods would make them sick.(maybe acidic stuff :D)

some of the functions they need to perform (space travel, maintaining body functions in varying pressure levels and temperatures, etc.) would require a lot of (non-chakra) energy to complete. would they need to store energy in their bodies somehow?

(momoshiki not conserving any chakra makes me mad for no reason. you have a finite amount of energy! even if you beat them your dumbass will not be able to fly back!)

more of a cultural question, do they age slowly but continuously eating chakra fruit or do they reach a prime at which they start to eat fruit? is it considered a coming of age ritual? “son one day this will all be yours” but parasitic...

they have a lot of weird magic eye powers but it would make more sense to have a higher range of sight on the light spectrum than people or smth. being limited to the human vision spectrum + human senses would be pretty ass if you needed to see anything in deep space. would’ve been more helpful to sense heat or UV better.

they might be so creepy pale + wear white clothing because white reflects light + heat better than other colors (its the same reason space suits are white)?? 😕 temperature regulation and would stand out against space, which appears dark because there are few objects for light to reflect off of. but i like the idea that they are slightly flourescent for jokes and funnies. (i'm just thinking abt the fashion potential, maybe it's more a statement to wear shiny things? maybe duller colors is their equivalent of camo print? what does their wedding clothes being black have to do with this?)

some of their rinnegan may be shiny + gold because it deflects light the same way reflective sunglasses do, because while there’s not a lot of objects in space, the things that are there appear brighter the closer they are to a light source, and the glare can get irritating to the eyes. im kind of bullshitting though.

how do the transformations work? chakra doesn’t usually have mutagenic properties when it comes from the user themself (it usually only happens with sage/nature chakra, ex. jiraiya turning toadlike, juugo’s curse transformation), but urashiki absorbed his own (eyes?) chakra and turned into a bird monster. maybe they’ve all just been sitting in solar radiation too long…

ohhhhhhhh kay thats all good night <3

#like good morning guys i am TALKING #otsutsuki clan #rambles #headcanons #ik ik fake magic ninja show but if i do not obssess over every detail of this one part i will fuckig die #whenever i play video games i consider myself fucked if my mana and health are below half because im brave and confident like that #and Mr. Otsutsuki's fighting style makes me so mad #BCZ LIKE #IT'S SO STUPID #YOU ARE NOT COOL YOU ARE NOT STRONG #YOU ARE 5'2 IN SHOES WITH 5 IN LIFTS AND YOUR FACE LOOKS LIKE A BARCODE #fake alien makes me feel very real rage

15 notes · View notes

slimysnaildaddy · 4 years

Note

Snaddy I love ur fics, makes me feel less dysphoric more chaotic. Can u write dysphoric MC switching bodies with the bros? Their reaction is basically “I’ll keep your body forever now fuck you”. Bonus if they’re going through the monthly blood ritual and the guys have to deal with the pain and shit that comes with it

Thank you, that is literally the whole reason I started writing them. I’ll avoid the blood ritual thing because 1: mine is nonstandard due to medical conditions so i don’t have the usual experience, which means I don’t feel comfortable describing it, 2: i wish periods on no man, and 3: even just talking about the blood ritual too much makes me viscerally dysphoric lol.

Sorry this took so long! I wasn’t sure what sort of dysphoric/euphoric things I was supposed to add.

Lucifer:

Would probably be highkey freaking out and trying to keep calm. While MC is marveling at how tall they suddenly are and how deep and smooth their voice is now he’s like “what the fuck i’m so tiny look at these baby hands”.

MC, feeling up on their new chest: whoa i didn’t know you were so jacked wtf

Lucifer: stop that

If MC wears a binder or trans tape he’s like “why my chest feel like it’s being crushed, damn you live like this” lol buddy..... that just how it be.

MC starts being like “ooh dang you have a nice singing voice and everything, look at these nice shoulders” and Lucifer’s like haha yes prAISE ME bc pride man peacock boy but then MC’s like “i declare that this body is mine forever” and he’s like WAIT NO-

“Hey lulu” “What” “how do i horn up?” “????” “yknow. Poof, feather time. Get wingy.” “what are you even saying”

MC tries to get him to teach them how to go into demon form. He doesn’t. They figure it out anyway and have a great deal of fun petting their new horns and wings. And also knocking paintings off the wall and one candelabra off of a table bc they’re not used to having 4 big ass wings sticking out of their back.

There’s a 30 minute puppy dog eyes session of MC trying to convince Lucifer to let them keep his body.

They’re 90% sure the only reason it didnt work is cause Mammon walked in and saw what he thought was Lucifer begging MC with big puppy dog eyes and flipped tf out

Has a newfound desire to get stools. It has nothing to do with the fact that the coffee tin is on the very top shelf. Absolutely nothing.

Mammon:

Doesn’t realize what’s happened for a few seconds bc he’s so disoriented. Accidentally insults mc as a result.

“Ugh why does my voice sound like that” “that’s MY voice you asshole”

Immediately whines about wanting to get his body back. not cause mc’s is bad or anything he just would really like to be back in his own body please and thank you *sweating emoji*

Ngl he is VERY flustered bc he suddenly has rather intimate knowledge of what mc’s body is like and he’s 100% into it but he’s gotta be cool about it

he’s not cool about it. Not even a little bit.

especially when it comes time to pee or shower. MC has to stand in the room with him otherwise he feels like he’s doing something he shouldn’t lol

meanwhile MC is just running their hands down their new body like “mm flat chest”

Honestly he tries to make a scheme out of it and y’all know it. Probably tries to donate their blood or something. And trick his brothers before they find out what happened. None of them can say no to MC and he knows it. “Hey Satan can i borrow some grimm”

Very seriously considers it when MC is like “hey can we stay switch forever”. OBVIOUSLY for all the scheming potential and TOTALLY NOT BECAUSE MC LOOKS SO HAPPY DEFINITELY NOT NOPE

Levi:

He’s seen anime like this, but he’s not sure he expected it to happen to him. Much like Mammon, he tries to be cool about it and fails.

“Oh my god this is just like in [insert long ass anime title here] where the guy got bodyswapped with his really insecure love interest and they confessed because of it! 🥺” “... Alright then.”

Any time he looks down at himself or accidentally touches his own (previously MC’s) hips or anything of that nature he lowkey loses his mind. Actually apologizes to MC once cause he has to pee.

Meanwhile MC is like holy FUCK levi how are you so RIPPED look at these ABS while running their hands up and down their torso. Levi is blushing incarnate.

MC: wait wait wait. can i change forms?

They can.

“OH MY GOD CAN I BREATHE UNDERWATER NOW??? THIS IS AWESOME I’M STAYING LIKE THIS FOREVER”

Honestly the main reason Levi says no is because he’s pretty sure he’s gonna burst a blood vessel if he looks down and sees mc’s thighs again.

Satan:

Sighs.

“Not this again.”

Much like Lucifer (don’t tell him i said that) he’s a little bit shook when he realizes the discomfort an MC who binds is in. May or may not ask them if they want him to look up spells for that.

Is honestly fine with being in MC’s body for a while. At least it’s not Lucifer’s, right?

He really would like to be back in his own at some point though.

If MC starts feeling up his body while they’re in it he’ll halfheartedly try to get them to stop. He doesn’t mind the appreciation, though, so he’ll let them have their fun. As long as they don’t mind him learning a bit more about human anatomy. From a purely academy perspective, of course. ;)

MC figures out how to change forms and just lounges around on their stomach playing with his tail. He thinks it’s adorable. Then he goes to lay on his stomach by them and is like “oh, I now understand everything”.

Asmo:

Honestly? He probably caused this whole situation in the first place.

“Well, this isn’t too much of a downgrade. I think I can have a lot of fun like this~ ;3″

Is immediately ready to strip naked and get very acquainted with MC’s body. Even if they stop him, he’ll still be feeling himself up. He encourages MC to do the same. Especially if his uncontrollable horny doesn’t transfer over and they get stuck with it

Before you ask, yes he will try and get MC in bed with him with their switched bodies. Does it work? A mystery for the ages.

Instructs MC on how to shift forms. And also about all of his routines to keep his skin and hair etc looking as pristine and gorgeous as possible. He will be very upset if they don’t follow them. He’s going to want that body back eventually, so they better take care of it.

Takes advantage of the situation to dress up in cute outfits and take all sorts of pictures.

Sits down with MC and gushes about their body (haha no it’s totally not to give them a confidence boost what makes you think that >_>), expects them to do the same.

This man has the least amount of tiddy of all of them, and I can imagine a very dysphoric MC being pretty happy about that. When they say they wanna stay switched forever he considers it for a moment but he really would like his own body back. MC’s body is excellent, but nothing compares to the real deal.

Beel:

Initially very shocked at how comparatively tiny he is. Suddenly has a great appreciation and understanding of MC climbing up on counters to get stuff.

“Everything looks so much bigger :0″

Meanwhile MC is Suffering bc Honmngery. Too Homngr to pay too much attention to their new body, since they aren’t used to it like Beel is. He manages to get them fed though, and that’s when they start to realize they’re now tall, buff, and hot.

Has even more tiddy than MC does. I don’t care how big their tiddies are. Mine are huge and he still has more tiddy. But it’s nice muscle tiddy and that’s Lit and MC appreciates.

MC and Beel have to keep reminding each other of their strengths. Beel keeps forgetting he can’t just pick up 200 lb barbell weights and MC keeps having to restrain themself cause Stronk.

Is 100% okay with it if/when MC starts getting friendly with their new muscles. It’s nice to be appreciated.

MC eats even more than Beel usually does bc they aren’t used to managing his hunger. The HOL is cleaned out within a day. No food remains, not even Levi’s shut-in stash.

Very nearly bows to the puppy dog eyes to let MC keep his body, but the spell wears off anyway :(. That’s okay, if MC wants to be tall or strong he can carry them around on his shoulders or try to figure out a workout plan for them.

Belphie:

Honestly? This guy’s a bit of a brat. Perfect Lucifer pranking opportunity.

“Hmm, now I get why you have so much energy.”

Tries to nap as much as usual cause he’s still lazy, but quickly learns about the agony of trying to lay on his stomach with the tid/binder.

This changes nothing, MC is still his nap buddy and he expects to snuggle with them. Or else.

MC literally sleeps for a solid 24 hours after switching bodies with him. He relates hardcore.

If they start appreciating his body, he’ll definitely get flustered. Not that he’s gonna let them know that. (they totally know it lol) He’ll still let them know how to change forms. Mostly so they can experience the struggle of trying to find a comfy position for his horns. Turnabout is fair play.

“Can I keep your body forever?” “No.” “aww why not?” “You’re short.” THE DISRESPECT

#cw body swapping #cw dysphoria #for once i'm actually tagging but it's mostly cause i need to add those cws #asks

44 notes · View notes

autisticsidesau · 4 years

Note

‘The Day Everything Went Wrong’, huh? what exactly happened on that day, just out of curiosity? -🌸

In reference to this post, about Logan

Content Warnings for: ableism, meltdowns, shitty shitty days

It’s kinda just one of those things were literally everything goes wrong and all those small things just build up and make the day The Worst

It starts off with Logan’s muscles just,,, refusing to cooperate

Which is incredibly annoying when he’s trying to get dressed and brush his teeth

He misses the bowl while pouring milk getting milk all over his jeans

And now he has to change because who tf wants to go to school with milk jeans?????

And his dad is fussing over him trying to help but not listening to Logan and what he needs so they end up fighting

And it ends with Logan’s dad saying “fine, if you don’t need any help, I won’t do anything for you” as Logan leaves to change

So because logan had to change pants on a bad muscle day it took him extra long and he was five minutes late for class

Which like technically isn’t a huge deal bc he’s given extra time during passing periods to and from classes

But it’s still annoying and class is already starting

Then he’s searching through his backpack only to realize he left his fucking homework at home

AND NOW THERE’S A POP QUIZ-

Some kid tried to grab his wheelchair during passing period

When he gets to the cafeteria he goes to pull his lunch out but isn’t there

And he groans

Bc his dad usually packs him a lunch, but his words from earlier suggest that he didn’t this time to be petty

So he goes to buy food but it’s Mac n Cheese day but it’s the bad texture mac n cheese

So he’s triple pissed and hangry

The Luna bar he tried to get from the vending machine got stuck

He also can’t find a n y of his friends at lunch so he has no one to sit with or spend the period with

He can’t text them cus his phone died and he doesn’t have a charger

Logan is having a really miserable day

But of course it doesn't just end there

So Logan goes to tutoring and is forced to sit through a particularly frustrating session with Remy

But thank fuck that’s over

BUT THEN THIS JACKASS COMES IN

Now this is a new student and this is going to be Logan and his first face to face consultation and tutoring session

And Logan already knows it’s not going to go well when the student asks him where the tutor “Logan” is

And Logan’s like, “Right here. I’m Logan.”

And this student has the AUDACITY to scoff

Pissing Logan off even more cus Logan knows he's not gonna like whatever’s about to come out of this student’s mouth

“You’re Logan? I think you might be confused, I’m looking for Logan Salvador? Is he here?”

“Yes. I’m Logan Salvador.”

The person chuckles and shifts uncomfortably.

“Do you- do you have someone here with you?”

Logan: “What do you mean?”

The person kind of looks around, “Is there someone who’s supposed to be watching you.”

Logan: “What? I’m not sure I heard you correctly could you please repeat yourself?”

The person, leaning down and making their voice soft: “Do you have a friend here with you? Do you need help finding them?”

Logan: “No. It’s just me. I don’t need help finding anyone. Why do you ask? Do you want to start the tutoring session or not?”

Student: “The what?”

Logan: “The tutoring session, you know, the one you hired me for.”

Logan pulls out his phone to show the text correspondence.

Logan: “You are *student’s name*, right?”

Student: “You’re Logan?”

Logan: “Yes. Is there a problem?”

Student: “Uh no. Well actually- uh well I can’t do tutoring today sorry, that’s what I meant to tell you. My mom- yeah my mom. Has a thing. And actually. I think I’m doing fine in math now. So like, no need to do tutoring actually. Uh, Bye.”

So the student just… leaves

And it takes Logan a minute

But he catches on to what just happens

And he is angry

Fifteen minutes later Patton and Emile show up to pick Logan up and they catch on pretty soon to the fact Logan’s more pissed than normal

So they take him to get ice cream

But they get caught in traffic

And the beeping of car horns is pissing Logan off more than normal

Patton very kindly let’s Logan borrow his headphones because Logan forgot his today

(Which does make Logan feel a bit better bc Patton’s not super great at People Comfort and this is Patton’s way of showing how much he cares about Logan by offering Logan one of his comfort items in a situation when Patton would actually been using the headphones himself)

(But it’s only a little bit better)

Eventually they arrive at the ice cream parlor

Only for the employee working there to recognize them and happily announce

That they’ve changed the name of Logan’s favorite ice cream flavor!!!

Which does not do any good

But it’s still the same flavor so Logan orders it anyway

HOWEVER

The ice cream has a lot of ice shards in it this time making it a bad texture

And this bad texture is overwhelming

And Logan goes Non-verbal

Emile and Patton are now pretty concerned so they all decide to head back to patton’s place to see if that helps Logan calm down

Logan’s still non-verbal and is barely communicating with them at all

And Logan himself? Is not really sure what’s going on?

Because his skin itches and everything's too loud and too bright

But worst of all there’s this pressure inside of Logan, inside of his head and inside of his body and it’s all too much

And there’s so much inside him that he’s not really able to think about things or process what’s around him

If he was able to he’d recognize he was having a meltdown and that Emile and Patton were doing the best to help him

They eventually get home and Logan in his foggy state is able to recognize Saef Place

He moves to transfer himself to his chair to the couch bc generally his chair is Good, Safe but it rubbing against him isn’t great right now and couch is softer

But bad muscle day plus meltdown brain means he falls onto the floor

Which just kinda sucks tbh

So he’s just kind,,, lying there, on the floor,,, meltdown brain screaming everything is Wrong Wrong Wrong

Patton and Emile do their best to help but Logan’s not responding and bc he’s not actively putting himself in danger they’re giving him space and letting the meltdown happen

Emile and Patton just kind of sit down on the floor near Logan and push some stim toys near him which Logan eventually takes

Emile gets up to turn off the lights for Logan and patton and emile silently watch a video while sharing Emile’s earbuds and Rose hangs out on Patton’s lap

It takes a good while but eventually Logan comes back and tries to ask for help the couch but doesn’t really want to and is still non verbal

Logan eventually signs the word ‘help’

Once Emile and Patton figure out and confirm that Logan wants help to the couch, they move to assist him

They help Logan to the couch and Logan lies down

They all hang out on the couch together and Emile pulls up some of Logan’s favorite videos on his laptop and turns the brightness down

They all just stay like that until Logan’s phone buzzes and Logan quietly thanks them and asks if Emile can drive him home

Emile says yes and turns to the both of them and says “Meet you guys at 10?”

They all nod and later they go on a midnight drive and Logan falls asleep in the car, exhausted from his terrible day

43 notes · View notes

tfw-no-tennis · 3 years

Text

mtmte liveblog issue 15

death awaits!

oh god the cover. I aint ready

the cover of overlords open mouth w/rodimus floating inside or w/e,,,,the overlord mouth fixation continues i see

and of COURSE its by nick roche. of course

oh god the tension and dread in the first page, as we get overlords sinister promise to murder everyone, starting with rewind, and then seeing chromedome rush over to open the door, and knowing that 30 minutes have passed already...

that full page spread of everyone vs overlord is amazing

also I always thought that ambulon was trying to kick overlord but now that I look closer he’s actually jumping away from overlord, having just crashed one of those hover...thingys....into him...which is honestly cool as hell. also I'm never over the fact that ambulon kinda looks like he’s smiling here, just having a grand ole time as overlord tries his best to murder everyone

and chromedome just seeing this and saying ‘rewind?’ is fucking killing me thanks

PIPES NO DONT DO THIS. YOURE JUST RUBBING SALT IN THE WOUND. PLEASE don't talk about how much fun you're having on your wacky space adventure oh god, that’s just asking to be murdered,

GOD AND THERE HE GOES, DRIVING TO HIS DOOM. PIPES NO

AUGHHHHHHHHHH AND THERES OVERLORD WITH HIS GIANT FOOT. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

PIIIIIPES ;_;

his messed up goodbye thoughts are brutal...plus the final shot of him laying all busted up....god :(

that guy seriously had some awful luck this trip. rip lil guy

BUT he sounded the alarm!!! so good for him!! that's a pretty amazing final act right there

oh my god I forgot abt this scene where rewind is like ‘so brainstorm why is my husband saying your name in his sleep :))))’ and brainstorm is like ‘haha idk its certainly not because we’re working on a secret project together, so jot that down!’ lmao brainstorm....

also dw rewind brainstorm is not fucking ur husband, just look at his evidentially extensive collection of perceptor-style microscopes...my man is microscopesexual

I forgot abt the metabomb omfg

‘some of my favorite words are monosyllabic’ rodimus ily, himbo of my heart,

fort max :( rung :(

oughhghghg I forgot abt the scene of tailgate making cyclonus a new horn ;_; and then cyclonus materializes menacingly bc tg dared to volunteer their room for movie night hvbfshdjkfbaskj cyclonus anti-social icon

AUGHHHH GOD THE PANEL OF RATCHET TALKING ON THE COMMS AND OVERLORD IS JUST, RIGHT BEHIND HIM, WITH HIS BIG STUPID LIPS, OH MY GOD

what the fuck, is drift a flying car??? hello??? what the hell????

seriously he’s got like, rockets and shit, what the fuck

anyways, the entire exchange b/w ratchet and drift here kills me, for multiple reasons.... ‘my faith and my sword’ lmao love it. and then ratchet refusing to leave drift and calling him his friend ;_; aughhh

rodimus w/the squad like ‘lets go gays!!!’

also I guess cosmos WAS on the lost light lol, totally didn't remember that, I'm guessing he left at some point to go be in the other series lmao

I'm sorry but ‘amazing. you speak entirely in name’ is so fucking funny, but also like stfu overlord you're not allowed to be funny

MAGNUSSSSSSSS

now I'm confusing myself lmao, rodimus DID know abt overlord, didn't he??? wasn't that the whole thing???? I don't remember if he was involved w/the whole mnemosurgery plan but he at least knew that overlord was there...but we haven't been told that in-story yet so now I'm questioning that lmao

oh god I forgot that overlord almost kills magnus, jeeeeesus. good thing he’s a russian nesting doll otherwise he probably would've died fr

also damn that's gotta be scary for everyone else, bc magnus is The Big Guy, and a renown fighter...plus drift got all fucked up...yall are in for a bad time

tailgate gettin his panic on I see

swerve w/the meta narration lmao

cyclonus ily sm.......

rodimus charging at overlord....ohhh my boy not your best idea

cd and rewind both saying ‘I thought you were dead!’ HHHHHHHH I'm destroyed fuck it all

rodimus (inadvertently) saving the day by saying ‘til all are one’...iconic!!

FORT MAX IS HEREEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

drift just casually chillin w/no legs

chromedome going into extreme detail about all the mnemosurgery he’s been doing on overlord for WEEKS while rewind is Right There....my dude.

this issue has a LOT of completely white backgrounds but I cant even rlly blame milne bc this seems like more drawing work than usual

oh god cd don't say ‘we’ll finish this conversation later’ at a time like this, that’s never a good idea,

rewind no don't do it :( :( :(

that panel of cd’s arm getting cut off...AUGHHH

GODDDDDDD IM FUCKING CRYING. AUGHHHHHHHHHHH I.....

so incredibly fucked that cd does what’s best for rewind by blowing the pod up....hhhhh god

and then that last panel of cd laying on the ground....fucking destroy me!!!!!!!!

also I love that at the beginning of the issue we see whirl with the missile launcher thing, and that’s what cd uses at the end here....good bookends. jro is really great about putting stuff in the story that just seems like innocuous filler/fun character building but turns out to ALSO be plot relevant later

HOLY SHIT I forgot about the cast page with the big red X’s thru the dead people’s profiles....jesus christ

AUGH this issue was a rollercoaster, phew...and the emotionally devastating conclusion to this arc is still yet to come!

I will say that it’s super interesting looking back on this, in the sense that rewind & chromedome are introduced as the first ever gay tf couple, and a few issues after we get told this explicitly, rewind is killed. this doesn't really end up being an issue representation-wise bc literally everyone is gay and there are a bunch of other significant gay characters/relationships later on, AND rewind comes back later

but still! it’s interesting to think about how, at the time this came out, the phrase/concept ‘bury your gays’ wasn't really something that was talked about a lot (or like, it was, but not as often as nowadays, and not really under the term ‘bury your gays’ iirc), but at the time of publication this would have fallen under that trope (though rewind coming back later negates it imo). I think it would've been tough for this story to come out nowadays due to the backlash that would've occurred from rewind’s initial death (it also makes me wonder if there was any backlash when this DID come out)

to be clear, this isn't a writing criticism - in fact, the reason this is able to work at all is because of the crazy amount of representation mtmte has. it’s like, youre able to kill off gay characters without it being ‘bury your gays’ if literally all your characters are gay by default, and there are a bunch of significant gay relationships happening - technically speaking, any death in mtmte is bury your gays lmao

this is a completely disjointed rant but my point is like, if this issue came out in 2020 people would probably be pretty put off by rewind dying (understandably), but in the context of the series as a whole I don't consider this to be bad writing/bad representation/bury your gays

and like, WERE people really mad about this in 2013? I am curious now, bc I would definitely feel kinda betrayed if I didn't know all the stuff that happens later

but its pretty nice, because now I'm free to enjoy the writing and be emotionally devastated by rewinds death in a normal way, and not a ‘I'm angry at the writers for killing off one of the only gay characters’ kinda way

anyways I'm tired as hell so I'm going to bed, ill continue the emotional devastation later, phew

#lj rereads mtmte

5 notes · View notes

metalbatandzenko · 4 years

Note

all the numbers owo

GrCUnA gaoh god sdljhdkjshfkjsh

This is gonna get long so I’ll put it under the cut. I’m also gonna remove the ones I’ve answered already.

1. What fandoms do you write for?

OPM and AtLA. I have a Miraculous Ladybug fic, but the creator is a nightmare and I hate the way the show treats the main character (literally the creator said part of the show’s episode formula is the main character “learns a lesson” every episode: usually through humiliation) and all the characters of color so I really don’t write for it anymore.

2. What pairings do you write for?

Batarou, Mumensai, and I do general fics.

3. What is your most popular fanfic?

My Miraculous Ladybug fic. By like. a lot akfdjhlgkjhfdlkg

It’s got triple the subscriptions and bookmarks, double the hits, and more kudos than any of my other fics. And I haven’t updated since January.

4. Do you write original stories as well?

I do! I’m a creative writing major, so I do a lot of memoir nonfiction and poetry, but I also write fictional short stories.

5. What fanfic of yours should everyone have read?

I don’t think there is one! Different strokes and all. But if you weren’t aware, I’m working on an ATLA fic rn about Zuko trying to repair his relationship with Azula. Not for this fandom, but a fun fic for me because it’s a bit out of my wheelhouse.

6. What is a fandom you will never write for?

Out of the ones I’ve been in, voltron.

7. What is a ship you will never write for?

There are...a lot. For the sake of my mental well being, I will not list them. But I will say any ship between a teen and someone in their mid twenties or beyond is a no go for me.

8. Archive of Our Own, FanFiction.net, Wattpad, Tumblr, etc. which platform do you prefer?

Begrudgingly, Ao3. I have my issues with Ao3 and I think I’ve made those pretty clear (and they’ve gotten me into some hot water lmao) but it’s a good place to put fics.

10. How do you stay motivated to finish what you’ve started?

I could not tell you. I am so bad at staying motivated. Certain fics I love writing. Others feel like I’m pulling teeth.

11. What’s your longest fanfic?

Hidden Horns. By a lot. like 20k words a lot.

12. Do you want to break your readers‘ heart or make them laugh?

A bit of both, but I lean towards laughing. The world needs more light.

13. What is your planning process?

Depends on the fic. For short ones or oneshots, there really isn’t one. For longer fics, I’ll have an outline, but a lot of times I’m laying tracks as I go. If I think of a good scene or line, I’ll write it down and just keep it at the end of my doc until it comes up in the story.

15. OCs or no OCs?

OC’s only when they’re necessary for plot. For example, Madame Oshitani in Hidden Horns only really showed up because I needed a piano teacher, and I couldn’t have it be an existing hero. Outside of that, I tend to avoid putting OC’s in fics, because I find them disruptive when I’m reading fics.

16. Do you use sentence starters, writing prompts and/or fandom headcanons for your fanfics?

Sometimes! Hidden Horns was based off of this fanart. If they are, I make sure to note that in the notes.

20. Can we get a list of all of your current available fanfics?

Yeah you got:

A (Not So) Brief Hiatus-Miraculous Ladybug

Promises to Keep-OPM/batarou

Little Boy-OPM/Metal Bat centric

A Game of Chase-OPM/batarou

Not Invincible-OPM/batatou death

Someone Fun-OPM/Mumensai

Date With the Devil-OPM/Mumensai sequel

Something of Note-OPM/Mumensai

Conduct Evil-OPM/batarou

Grief and Other Intangibles-OPM/Zombiedad and CE death

Horns and Fangs Series (Hidden Horns and Fear and Fangs)-OPM/batarou

Spaghetti and Juiceboxes-OPM/Zombiedad and CE

I guess they don't like me but I never figured out why (I guess they think I don't like them either)-ATLA/Zuko reaches out to Azula

21. What’s your shortest fanfic?

Conduct Evil at a whopping 354 words.

23. Long chapters or short chapters?

They vary! Mine tend to be pretty short, like 1k-4k.

24. How many WIPs (work-in-progress) do you’ve got?

*sweats* Like 17 at least

25. How many WIPs will you finish?

Rude to assume I won’t finish all of them eight if I’m lucky

26. First-person-narrative or third-person-narrative?

Third. I hate writing in first person except for in nonfiction.

27. Do you take requests?

Kind of. If people send me an ask that I vibe with, I might write something, but as a general rule, no. I’ve been considering doing commissions though, so if you want to toss a coin to your bitcher lmk

28. I will name you three things (object — scenario — fandom/ship): write a paragraph or two!

I can’t do this one without those three kdjhflkjsdh

29. What’s more difficult? Fanfics or original work?

They’re difficult in different ways, but original is way harder.

Original work means there’s zero scaffolding to build off of except for the scaffolding you make yourself, and there’s a lot of issues with worldbuilding and creating complex and relatable characters.

Fanfic relies on a solid understanding of existing characters and dynamics, as well as the internal logic of the world. The scaffolding is there, but often times it’s stifling.

30. What writing software do you use?

Word and Google Docs fkjhslgkjh

31. Do you use beta/sensitive readers?

Nope. I probably should though.

32. Past or present tense?

Past. I can’t consistently write in present.

33. Do friends and family know that you write fanfics?

Some of my friends do. I’ve shared some with them! I use fanfic as warmup, so a lot of my writing friends know about my fics.

34. How did you find the world of fanfics?

I wrote Adventure Time fanfic on middle school and published them on an Adventure Time facebook group. They were wildly popular in the group.

36. Did you ever delete a work of yours?

I don’t think so tbh.

37. Did your work ever get plagiarized?

If it did, I wouldn’t know. But I highly doubt it.

38. Do you partake in any fanfic/writing events? (Big bangs, zines, NaNoWriMo, etc?)

No because I can’t stick to a deadline.

39. Collaborations or working solo?

I’ve never done a collaboration before.

41. What is something you don’t like about your writing?

I rely really heavily on dialogue and I’m suuuper aware of it. I think the thing is I do a lot of domestic fics, and even my story fics tend to be pretty domestic. I’m looking at you Hidden Horns

My original work doesn’t tend to lean on it as heavily.

43. Guilty pleasure tropes and scenarios?

I am a die hard found family bitch. Nothing guilty about it.

44. Does fanart of your fanfic exist?

Yes, actually. The aforementioned middle school fic got mini fancomic for the first chapter, and I wrote a Miraculous Ladybug ficlet in a fic chain that got fanart.

45. Do fanfics of your fanfic exist?

I think there might be one that was inspired by my fic, but I can’t remember tbh.

47. What fanfic of yours is truly underrated?

My ATLA fic!!! give it some love tf :/ (kidding of course.)

50. Can we get a teaser for an upcoming chapter?

Yeah, here you go:

The hero removed his coat and dropped it on the ground, where it landed with a solid “thud”.

He unhooked the holster under his arms, removed a knife from both boots, and unstrapped the machetes from his back.

They joined the trench coat in the pile.

Garou watched in equal parts awe and horror as Zombieman continued to produce weapons from increasingly improbable locations.

Finally, when the pile at his feet was large enough to arm a private militia, Zombieman stopped.

“I’ve got a pistol in my chest, but I’d prefer not to take that one out,” he said, pushing past Garou. “Feels rude to invite myself over then get blood all over the tatami.”

#hidden horns #Anonymous

3 notes · View notes

moviegroovies · 4 years

Text

been a hot minute but i was going through my lost boys notebook from the summer and i found a list of davidmichael scenarios that i can’t stop fuckin thinking about So:

obviously the classic is any scenario where michael doesn’t/can’t kill david, and they live together with the lost boys (+star? and laddie???) as vampires.

i’m a slut for all that good good vamp content, plus, it opens the floor for many variations on the theme, obviously, but tl;dr: Vampire Boyfriends. i like the scenarios where the two of them are in love but michael also really does find some sort of home w/ the boys, like, really befriends them and feels safe there, too. that’s why the endgame for the fic i’m probs never gonna finish writing is lost boys + emersons + frog brothers + max family time. maybe i’m just super soft for the found family trope and i LOVE the concept of vampirism to facilitate that!

somehow this never occurred to me until i read a super good fic for the concept last night, but basically the opposite of the above: rather than david helping michael get accustomed to life as a vampire, something happens (probs around when max dies) and david reverts to being human, meaning that michael has to help him get the hang of living a life he left behind 80 years ago.

technically, i’m pretty sure this isn’t how vampire mechanics work in the lost boys ‘verse (david wasn’t half, so he wouldn’t have reverted when max was killed), but the concept is god tier so who tf cares.

or how about something that’s almost strictly canonverse?? basically like, following the end of the movie, the lost boys are dead, the emersons regroup, and michael’s (surprise!) actually fucked up over killing four guys who had been friends to him. he never quite shakes the nocturnal nature he picked up during his time undead, but eventually it develops into full-blown insomnia. he doesn’t ever make any other friends in santa carla, instead going back to school bc lucy wants him to and studying his ass off even though he hates it & eventually going to medical school bc the one think he never shakes from those days is an attraction to blood... and david.

who fucking haunts him.

because he’s a ghost.

basically, michael grows up but david never does and over the years his presence goes from threatening to comforting, and when michael eventually dies (idk of what exactly but not old age--i can see him lasting as long as about 40) there’s a hint of relief to it as he and david finally make it to the other side.

also basically canonverse would be a continuation on the comic series, which ended w/ david alive, even after the big bads of the week got staked. let’s say david escapes the wreckage of the cave and, being at full power from the ancient blood he’s now been injected with (presumably) twice, he stalks michael until he starts to lose it, and then turns him with that blood, giving him no choice but to live as a vampire with him.... see #1.

in a more anecdotal way, anything where david listens to michael’s still-human heartbeat and finds that some last vestige of humanity in him is really torn, bc the second that heartbeat stops, he’ll own michael, but at the same time, he doesn’t want to put out that pretty light. actually on second thought i’m 98% certain i ripped this from twilight.

also i have this one p*rn scenario where michael gets frustrated with the hickies he’s leaving on david healing too quickly to efficiently claim him and just ripping david’s fucking throat out to leave his mark.

(nonfatally, bc vampires, and also bc jfc.)

i said davidmichael hades/persephone au, didn’t i? that FUCKS.

not quiiiite davidmichael but basically the canonverse doctor!michael thing except he meets a man named nelson during his residency and is convinced that it’s david, somehow, but eventually comes to accept that it’s not, david is dead, but nelson’s here and they can help each other.

for the uninitiated: that was a flatliners reference lmao

if you can’t tell i’m into semi-nasty blood drinking shit so i guess i’m into like... scenarios where new vamp!michael is really struggling with coping with his new life, hasn’t slept in weeks and even though they don’t technically need to, he’s still looking rough, so david. like. gently drains him to the point of unconsciousness, knowing that it won’t kill michael and that he’ll be okay, but also that it’s the only way michael will rest. is it gross if i say michael becoming really dependent on that? perversely looking forward to being nearly killed?

is it even grosser if i say somnophilia scenario w/ the above where michael’s only like half conscious at best with bloodloss but he’s so turned on that david jerks him off/sucks his dick/otherwise sends him to rest with a very pleasant goodnight?

not sure where this came from but scenario where michael pushing david onto the horns only knocked him out, but when max dies, david is reverted to human and his heart stops from the bloodloss (i’m definitely bullshitting the biology here), counting as michael’s first kill, which condemns him to life as a vampire. (or something. basically, post movie, mike’s a vampire and david is not.) david is resuscitated, as a human. he’s human and michael’s a vampire and they torture each other with it.

in general my most favorite scenario is just michael growing closer to david and david legitimately confiding in him and michael learning that david’s just a boy trying to wrangle a gang of criminals from the turn of the century who were never meant to stick together for more than a year or two into this pseudo-family that he doesn’t know what to do with, and like... realizing that he wants to help him (’:

jfc i’m Certain(tm) that there’s shit i’m missing but that’s it for now. fuuuuuuuuck.

#the lost boys #michael emerson #david #davidmichael #text post #these are so nasty why am i exposing myself like this sdfdgfnhg gfdgfn

31 notes · View notes

thefirstcourtesan · 4 years

Text

The Royal Recap: A Tale of Two Houses

It’s time for my thoughts on chapter 3 of TRM and I almost managed to get this out before chapter 4 aired but Tumblr was working against me. Oops. But I was trying to catch up from the first two chapters, plus Halloween. Hopefully I’ll be on track from here on.

As always, I refer to both Hunter and Kayden as men because they are in my playthrough. I also refer to Kayden as Dante.

We open this chapter with the MC about to get ready for the Grand Hunt and our aunts burst in. Aunt Elise (the nice one) is apologetic. But Aunt Zya is unrepentant and she is also pissed that we are now officially the head of our house. Oops. Maybe we should have consulted them? Nah, they are terrible, they can suck it up.

Thankfully that conversation is interrupted by Renza. Interestingly, Zya seems a little wary of Renza and issues us a warning, and then the aunts depart and leave us with Renza, who is there to extend an offer from House Fierro to escort us to the hunt.

There is a large caravan waiting for us, including Dante (as a guard) and Hunter. We ride in a coach with Hunter and Renza and they, specifically Renza, wastes no time getting to business. But first, she hands us a glass of whatever beverage we chose in chapter 2. This girl is observant.

The twins ask us to formally align with them and support House Fierro’s bid. At this point, that seems like a no brainer, since Hunter has been kind to us and seems like a good man and Cyrus is gross. But I feel like as simple as that seems now, it will be less so later on. However, it’s not really a discussion, we readily agree to the proposal.

Renza informs us that with the support of the MC’s house, they now only need one other house to support them, either Beaumount or Nevrakis. Theodosia has a pretty undeniable crush on Cyrus and I wonder if that will come into play. But Renza has a bit of a curveball for us, our support will come at the price of a marriage arrangement!

Uh, what?

Turns out a betrothal is the best way to secure an alliance and Hunter has to stay single to secure a foreign alliance and Renza is already married (hmmm). So that leaves House Fierro’s new ally to step up and carry the burden.

Thanks.

The MC accepts, saying that we want to fulfill our sister’s dream and then Hunter asks about our dreams. He promises to name us High Chancellor and fulfill any wish within his power. Renza seems a little surprised by his offer, which is interesting.

Viola wants to know the identity of her parents while Livia wants her own lands and estates. Either way Hunter promises to deliver.

The conversation turns back to a potential marriage alliance. Our first target is House Beaumont. If we can win the tile of master of horse, Percival will likely offer us a suitor from his house. Ok, we can do this.

But first, Renza stops us and criticizes our dress. Diamond outfit time. Renza has us try on the outfit in the carriage. The outfit is cute though it doesn’t seem like that much more mobile, but what do I know? The dress is Rosario colours and I think the default dresses will rotate between the three houses. The masquerade dress was Aster colours, this one is Rosario, then next one will be Everhart and so on.

Livia buys it, Viola does not. If you don’t buy the dress, Renza decides that they have enough of a numbers advantage to manage. She also straightens our skirt and promises to find us a spouse. For Livia it is a husband, for Viola a husband or wife (nice touch, PB, acknowledging the player’s choices) and she also assures us that Hunter won’t let us have an unhappy marriage and that the engagement can be ended.

When MC points out that is not fair to the other party who entered the arrangement in good faith, Renza has this gem to say:

If I wasn’t already suspicious of her, alarm bells would be ringing.

Speaking of suspicious, we get to the hunt and greeted by a surly Damon who then stomps away. Hello to you too. Next up is Cyrus, who is condescending and gross at the same time. Unfortunately, he is also our host, which Percival points out when he approaches. If we are wearing the diamond outfit, he also comments on how prepared we look and either way he asks if this is our first hunt and offers us a dagger to protect ourself. First, though, he sharpens the dagger with a magic whetstone, our fourth magic item (useful, but I would still choose the cloth).

Cyrus and Percival leave and Dante brings over four horses, he will be riding with us to protect Hunter since Kendra’s assassins are still out there. Renza may be shady, but she has style. She hates the outdoors and lacks herself wine, cheese and pillows to get through the hunt. I approve (though I actually love riding).

Cyrus reveals this year’s quarry: our house sigil. So a wolf for Viola and a bear for Livia. This is obviously not an accident, which Dante comments on. This was chosen to send us, the newest and most vulnerable house, a message. Message received.

Once the hunt starts, Dante pulls us and comments he is surprised to see us as part of Hunter’s caravan and we tell him that we have agreed to secure the third vote, which he immediately understands means marriage. He wants to say something, which we call him on and he says it is not a place. Viola lets it go but Livia presses and he asks about whether we will be happy and there is a charged moment before Livia tells him that she will be happy to secure her house’s fortune.

The promos promised us a forbidden romance and they are definitely delivering. The longing, the class barriers, the sense of duty holding them back, this romance is going to be tortured and I am here for it.

Back to the group and since the quarry is our animal, the MC is knowledgeable about it and it’s hunting habits. Time to find a wolf or a bear.

First we come across Cyrus and Lord Pompadour and we make noise and throw them off the scent. Next we find Perceval and Theodosia caught in a trap and get them down. Perceval is friendly and appreciative, Theodosia not so much. Hmm.

We find a den and it’s time to look around, it’s dark, so Hunter lends us the last magical item: the glowing sun charm or basically a magical flashlight.

The den is empty and Hunter decides we should split up and look for it. Renza refuses to move but encourages the MC to go, setting up a diamond scene. You can choose to go with either Man or stay back with Renza for free. Livia went with Dante and Viola with Hunter.

We learn that Hunter was Kendra’s High Chancellor and that it is the second most powerful position in the kingdom. This is the position he just promised us, remember, so he obviously trusts us a lot after knowing us two days. We also learn that he didn’t want to take the position because he was too committed to pursuits of pleasure but he also makes it sound like those days are behind him and he is committed to being a good ruler and that could also be a fun dynamic.

The talk turns to the MC and how long we has been away from court and the adjustment we will have to make with Hunter offering advice from a place of experience. We also end up in a garden and have a romantically charged moment before Hunter pulls away.

Meanwhile Livia and Dante discuss their shared circumstances, him rising up the ranks for the guard and her as a scribe.

Dante helps us up a tree and we bask in the beautiful scenery and then the talk turns to the transition the MC has made and then we fall into Dante’s arms and have a romantically charged moment.

I liked both these scenes and how different they were. I like what we learned about Dante and Hunter respectively and the setting up for the respective romantic dynamics. Hunter is committed to putting duty over romance now despite their obvious attraction to us. While Dante is very aware of his position and ours and that will hold him back. There is so much potential for both romances and I love it.

Both diamond scenes end with us catching sight of our quarry and catching up with whichever man we didn’t choose. Working with Hunter and Dante, we capture our prey and we sound the horn, ending the hunt and are declared master of the Hunt.

After that follows an awful scene with Damon, who takes the task of “releasing” the quarry but instead takes the opportunity to warn us away from Hunter and threaten us by killing our house animal.

The one thing I am most looking forward to about the eventual reveal of the MC’s parentage is the look on Damon’s face because I hate him so fucking much.

Damon walks away and Vasco finds us, we tell him what happened just as the bear/fox/wolf’s cub crawls out in search of it’s mama. We then get a chance to adopt the cub ourselves or let Vasco take care of it. Obviously I adopted both pets. I actually switched Viola to Aster just to get a wolf.

The fox is cute but the bear and wolf are such fun callbacks to two of Kenna’s pets and I reused the names I used on TC&TF and called the bear Ursa and the wolf Fenris. After we bond with our pet, we leave him in Vasco’s care and rejoin Hunter and Renza where we tell them what their father did.

Hunter is stunned and outraged, while Renza merely points out his lack of subtlety. Hunter walks away angry and Renza compliments us on a job well done and then Perceval approaches and offers us a suitor: Emery Beaumont.

For Viola, Emery is a woman and for Livia Emery is a man. There is no choice like with Hunter and Kayden, the game decides for you based on your expressed preferences because of this I don’t think Emery is an LI, but I am glad preference is taken into account.

This chapter was good. It introduced Hunter and Dante a bit more as LI’s and we got to learn more about them and explore the relationship dynamic. Damon was solidified as an antagonist while Renza showed herself to be shady AF and worth keeping an eye on. We are only 3 chapters in but so far, so good. The world building and balancing is well done so far and I actually think only have two gender customizable LIs could work in the book’s favour as it is allowing both LIs to be well developed and important to the plot.

#playchoices #the Royal Masquerade #the Royal Recap

22 notes · View notes

ed-edward-blackbeard · 5 years

Text

reflections on the season 4 finale

Or, Why Kelly Needs A Couple Valium and an Ativan

You know, my Mom was sitting here beside me reading before The Magicians came on, and my prediction was, “They’re going to kill off Quentin.”

Also, for having spent eleven goddamn episodes building them up, Monster and Sister were, all things considered, relatively easy to get rid of. Ten, maybe fifteen minutes tops. Ditto Everett, but we’ll get back to him and the Library in a few minutes.

Back to the Monsters. Does this mean the Monster and Sister are no more powerful than the sand-women-demon things in Fillory? Or are the axes just that powerful? If that’s the case, what the fuck, man? Why was anyone sweating this shit in the first place?

On the subject of the axes, way to fuck Margo over. Those were her weapons, her quest to get them because of Eliot, and who ends up with them? Fucking Penny and fucking Quentin. Not the woman who went into the desert to get them, who conquered herself and the desert tribe, who fucking overcame an entire goddamn tribal power structure to take the axes from the chieftan. Margo should’ve been wielding the axes both times. But its kind of awesome that she swung the axe that saved Eliot, because she’s been trying to do that since the first season. She’s always tried to save Eliot.

And then there’s Alice. I’m sorry, I just don’t like the character. I never have clicked with her the way others have, I don’t have a reason why. I think Olivia is an awesome actress, but the character just... clenches fist. And I’m really, really over Qualice as a couple. Been there, done that, own the train wreck photographs. Let them be friends without the liplocking, see if they can get on that way.

Which brings me to Kady. Kady I love, and I doubly love that she is becoming the head of the hedges. Especially if she invites Pete and Julia to help her out, and they set up some kind of a council-type thing. I think that would be a great development story for her, giving her something to work towards, other than just wanting to be Penny’s girlfriend. Which, don’t get me wrong, I get that. But please don’t turn Kady into That Girl. You know, the one who can only define herself by the guy she’s with. That’s half the problem with Alice, and Kady deserves much better.

Not gonna lie, I thought it was going to be her in the elevator for a hot second, until I saw her doing the chemo or whatever.

And then we’re back to Everett. Fucking Everett, who screwed up everything. I’m just... unspeakably irritated with how this was handled, because it could have been done so much better without the sacrifice of Quentin’s life. But I digress. Although the storyline has sort-of been building all along, I really feel like it was horned in at the last moment. For awhile it played like it was going to be all four of the Ruling Librians--Everett, Zelda, Phyllis (Jewel Staite), and the other guy whose name I can never recall. Because there’d been four Gods (Bacchus, Heka, Enyalius, Iris) and if anything, this show appreciates symmetry.

But then it was just Everett, and he was storing?? magic?? in Fillory??? like what the fuck, man. He’d been storing it there, but then there’s been a Fillorian nursery rhyme/game about it for longer than the plot has existed?? And to get to it, you have to have the leaves from the I Love Fillory Flower??? But Q is the only one who can get it to bloom? So why isn’t Everett a fish? Holy shit, that is some bad storytelling.

HOW THE FUCK CAN YOU EVEN HOPE TO JUSTIFY NOT GIVING QUENTIN AND ELIOT A SINGLE GODDAMN SCENE TOGETHER? EVERY SINGLE THING Q HAS DONE THIS ENTIRE GODDAMN SEASON IS TO GET ELIOT BACK. AND NOT A SINGLE FUCKING REACTION SHOT OR ANYTHING??? WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH THAT, DUDES.

Sorry. Ahem.

Even in this episode, Quentin is all about Eliot. “Anything that might kill Eliot is off the table,” or whatever the exact quote was. And yet? There’s no moment of happiness?? No reaction?? Like at all?? Margo is the one?? Deservedly so, yes, but she also chose to stay with Josh the first time?? So really??? What the fucking hell?

And then we have Julia. When will this show give her back her agency? Yet again, one of the most important decisions of her life is made by a person other than Julia!! This is getting ridiculous, and I’m exceptionally pissed at Penny23 for choosing humanity for her. He, more than anyone else in that room, knew what she had gone through to get her godhood (goddesshood?) back, and he rips it away from her. Thank Christ he admits the selfishness, but come the fuck on.

Quentin’s “minor mending” of the Seam!mirror was nothing short of beautiful. For me, it was very reminiscent of kintsugi, or mending broken things with gold. The golden sparks carried that through for me, and in a way, it “mended” Quentin when he was finally able to see how much he meant to everyone.

A-Ha’s Take On Me is one of my favorite songs, and y’all, that’s the only part of the episode that didn’t have me raging. In fact, I was near tears. But, what really sold it? Eliot and Margo. Eliot came to say goodbye, and? He reached out to Alice, the only other person in the circle who loved Quentin the way he did. And throwing in the peach? Peaches and plums, motherfucker. And Q’s expression when he saw Eliot there, and saw what Eliot threw into the fire?

That was almost resolution, folks. Almost.

A few closing thoughts:

300 years? What the actual hog-fucking hell?

If something has happened to Fen, I’m going to kill somebody.

Where is Quentin moving on to with his Underworld Metrocard?

Where was Josh at this memorial?

Is the Dark King or whatever he’s calling himself Everett? How tf did he get to Fillory if it is?

What the actual fuck is going on with this show?

#the magicians #the magicians spoilers

6 notes · View notes