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officialgleamstar · 9 months

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MNMOMS??? 👀👀👀👀👀

hmmmm I’d like to know more about the relationship between the moms and their kids maybe? if you havent answered that already?

oh or anything about the relationship between any of the moms

really just anything about mnmoms, im obsessed GSHSHSHGSHEH

HIII LEX!! oogh. relationships between the moms and their kids... i think ive mostly only talked about morgan and nick/nicholas, on tumblr at least, so i can definitely get more into that :D

morgan and nick... well-trod ground. morgan is severely paranoid and over-protective of nick, while nick is severely clingy but also has to pick a fight with everything she say, etc etc. i havent spoken as much about morgan's relationship with nicholas i dont think beyond establishing that she loves him and that hes a total mama's boy gbhjfdhjbj so i can talk about that!! though shes more well-managed by the time he is present, morgan is still very protective of nicholas, helped by the fact that he is the most high-strung kid on the planet. hes very jumpy whenever jodie isnt around, seeing him as his main source of safety, and hes also like... pretty aware of morgan's conflicted feelings on him? nicholas is exactly what morgan always wanted nick to be, well-behaved and careful, and it just makes her so much more aware of everything she lost. nicholas knows he is loved, and morgan does love nicholas, but hes also very aware of... well, his mom is different to him now, too. he can understand that he is just as foreign to her, hes a smart kid. they love each other very much, and honestly, morgan's relationship with nicholas is a lot healthier than it was with nick, but theyre both overly aware of the elephant in the room.

carol and grant probably have the most consistently positive mother/son relationship throughout the entirety of mnmoms, besides mercedes and lark at least! however, this... isnt for good reasons LMAO. pre-forgotten realms, carol generally wasnt home much, preferring to work herself to death at her office job. so grant literally prefers her to darryl just because she was never the one around to get mad at, she was never trying to talk to him, he didnt have to worry about helping her with chores because she didnt do housework, etc. they love each other very much, but once they get to the forgotten realms, carol becomes very aware that she cannot remember the last time she had a proper conversation with her son. just, no comprehension of whats going on in his life at the moment. its BAD, yall, but the two never really question their love for each other, which cant be said for all the kids. ive talked about this before, but they do have a plot of bonding over their sexuality journeys, carol works really harden to soften her sharp edges for her son and to be more present in his life, and they come out of the forgotten realms in a much better place than they went in! (though, take this with a grain of salt, because its definitely the same way that darryl and grant came out better in canon. this does not mean that they werent both traumatized LOL)

samantha and terry junior... start off the worst, for sure :') i have talked about their relationship before but it was part of a longer ramble about sammy, so i will reiterate it here! samantha has a bad habit of going therapy mode on terry junior and he is very aware of it. she is of the opinion that she should not put her emotions on her son at all, because she is his mother and thats not his responsibility (which actually stems a lot from samantha's relationship with her own mom but i think im gonna get into that more for isadora's ask--). however, terry takes her facade of calm as her being utterly in denial about terry senior dying at all, and he cant understand why she wont even show that shes upset. this already puts their relationship in a tenuous space over a few years, and when samantha starts dating and then marries ron, terry's trust in her is. utterly obliterated. at the end of their time in the forgotten realms, like with ron, they arguably have the best relationship though! samantha learns how to show her emotions without having terry junior feel obligated to help her and does her best to be more vulnerable with him in general, and terry junior learns how to accept that his mom is allowed to have a life beyond his biological dad. they make me so fjhbghjbghj <3333

and okay. right. finally. haunted expression. mercedes and the twins.

firstly, mercedes and lark. consistently a good relationship! they have the typical oak-garcia issue of lark running all over her, not really treating her as an authority figure, but its obvious that he absolutely adores her and that she adores him in turn. this is helped by the fact that mercedes is definitely the "fun" parent - glenn parallels, lol - so she has even less control over the twins than henry did, mostly because she never thinks to exert any. still, even though lark and sparrow are absolute agents of chaos, they love their mom and lark never stops loving their mom. by the end of their journey, he's a little more distant from mercedes out of guilt, mostly. lark is still the one to stab henry in this au without any of the deep rooted rogue card anger to validate it for himself, and he has a very hard time looking either of his parents in the eye afterwards. however, he also considers them both his main source of comfort, and tends to trail them quietly around the house when hes upset.

mercedes and sparrow. haunted expression intensifies. "Is there anything as undoing as a daughter?" sorry for quoting arcane but LITERALLY MERCEDES QUOTE OF ALL TIME. it starts... the same as mercedes and lark: no sense of authority, but very positive emotions! sparrow is not out as transfem at the beginning of their journey, its still something she is working out throughout their time in the forgotten realms (she very much has a moment of like... "i'm in a new place where nobody knows me, so i'm going to pretend to be a girl and see how many people are fooled! that's a very normal thing for boys to do!" and lark plays along lol), and a lot of their time pre-rogue card is dedicated to that! mercedes and sparrow bond a lot as sparrow warms up to the idea of coming out as trans, and mercedes. well. mercedes already knew before going into the realms and has been reading a million different pamphlets and consulting advice columns and talking to morgan on how to perfectly handle this situation LOL. so their relationship is kind of perfect, actually, and they are doing really really well until the deck of many things comes into play :')

post deck of many things, sparrow is... very openly Not A Fan Of Mercedes. she is still the upbeat positive lovewolf twin in this (though i think she more wants to generally be a witch than a lovewolf, since her mama's a bard and not a druid!), so it is even more obvious when sparrow suddenly is not giving mercedes the time of day. sparrow is utterly convinced that she is destined for greater things in a very negative way, and blames her discovery of this on mercedes getting them stuck in the forgotten realms. she also, similar to lark in canon, blames the moms as a whole for the fact that walter was hurt and sees them widely as useless. mercedes, for her part, does everything she can to redeem herself to sparrow, and is endlessly frustrated by the fact that nothing she does works. post-forgotten realms, they argue pretty relentlessly, sparrow locks herself in her room and screams herself hoarse, mercedes storms out into the back garden and cries until she gets a migraine, and henry takes lark out for ice cream-- despite this, sparrow does still seek out a lot of comfort from mercedes, and she has a habit of casually finding herself, at night, in wolf form and curled up at the foot of her parents' bed. strange and so weird how she ends up specifically sprawled out across her mom's feet at least once a week, if not fully laying between her parents. crazy. what a coincidence. shes a fully independent child with no need for comfort for sure though

#every time i talk about mercedes and sparrow i feel like my mommy issues are showing LMAO #SUCH A FUN QUESTION THANK U LEX #mnmoms au #ask #lex the lesbiann #dndads

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yandere-monoma · 7 months

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WHOOO KYM 2 COMMENTARY while i stall on working on kym 7

lots to discuss about a chapter literally called 'the exposition' hjgkfsg. if you didnt know, the way ao3 multichap updates works is that you dont necessarily have to title a oneshot chapter but the second you update it, you really get shown the option to title your chapters. so it didnt actually occur to me that i needed names for each one until chapter 2. i believe originally i was going to use a similar system as kyd where every chapter title was a command a la homestuck. however, i wasn't really utilizing the commands in the same way, i didn't really end the previous chapter with one and the plan for the next chapter... technically involves a command but not one i wanted to spoil via the chapter title.

the current naming system came into existence probably 3/4s of the way or more into writing this chapter, once i made the realization that the fic was, in fact, going to be at least five chapters. at this point in time, the plan was the following: the introduction, the exposition, the climax, the ending, the epilogue. this changed even more as time went on and more chapter ideas rudely crammed themselves into my brain, though it helped the structure a lot, because giving me time to fill out the space between exposition and climax made my brain happy HJSKFG

so, moving on, the fun part about chap 2 is that it really establishes the 'narration' as its own living function, something that is vaguely independent of the story rather than just a tool to present the story with, that both voices the author's and the character's thoughts depending on who is grabbing for control. this isn't an aspect i planned when outlining the fic but it's definitely influenced by 1) how much fun i had reading the epilogues and subsequent epilogue flavored fics 2) my desire to find some way to one-up the first chapter despite the topic matter not being nearly as extreme 3) the impulse to add in another experimental element to the story, especially now that the more abstract and poetic style of the first chapter was being removed

it's also incredibly fun to play with, because every time i struggled with describing something or wondered how i could transition from one point to the other, i realized - oh! i can just make the narrator state that very thing. don't know how i'm gonna build up from the end of chap 1 to the narrative goal of chap 2 (rose's mkultra moment)??? let's just get that all out in the open, then! problem SOLVED

it ended up being a hugely fun choice that allowed me to inject some humor into what's otherwise just a big ole pile o' unrelenting angst. it also helped me take myself less seriously, which lent me even more creative freedom than usual, like. GOD. it really helped turn this piece into something so rewarding, it overwhelms me. goddamnit homestuck why do you have to be so good

i just rewatched butterfly effect recently, god. back to the future i've never seen though. time references haha get it cuz his aspect is still time-

speaking of time, this chapter was the first attempt to really try and describe a zeta kid's classpect without coming out and stating it. there's a few interpretations of different phenomena's in homestuck that point out the implication of classpect powers being active before reaching god tier, or even before entering the game (though, usually in a way that is incredibly weak, premature and subtle enough to be missed by the user). one of the strongest examples that i based this chapter on was something the epilogues described: the idea that rose's obsessive writing as a child was based on her light powers feeding her vague visions of her future character arcs and plotlines. i really loved that and wanted a similar sort of plight for dave. i'll go off about what his specific title is at the end of this chapter but it's really fun poking at it now and then

the multiple narrators? seriously??? bit was me realizing i had to add a Multiple Narrators tag on ao3 after this. at this point of writing, i had no idea if i would be visiting anyone else's pov besides dave's, though.

attempt at homestuckian humor GO

™️ jokes are so funny to me for no reason

wink wink hint hint this is one of dave's powers at work, actually!! so, dave egbert actually has a perfect memory. like, there is not a single thing he's ever forgotten in his life, if he's experienced it, he can recollect that knowledge. this power also extends to the imaginary, the subconscious, and the supernatural, ie: in the event that dave experiences any visions of the future, he will retain that information. likewise, he has memories of every dream and nightmare he's ever had. which is fun because considering he's a dersite and also a time player and also dave, he has a lot of them HAHA. more on that later

The two of you had hit it off instantly despite this, like you had known each other your entire lives, like any and every other relationship that had come before it had merely been a warm-up for the monumental connection that would spark instantly between you both. ... You’re pretty convinced she’s your soulmate. If not that, you’re at least assured by the fact that you’re absolutely head over heels in love with her.

sentences i had so much fun writing knowing how badly it's going to mess dave up to learn that they're actually related HA HA

Especially at the start, Rose was mysterious and she was hilarious and she was overwhelming, the brightest thing you’ve ever had the fortune of witnessing.

get it because she's a hero of light get it she's the light of his life because shes a hero of light get it get it she's mysterious because her class mimics its opposite at the beginning of the story so everything about her pre-canon arc clings to void but she!! is bright! like light haha get i- 💥

see, reading sentences like this means i HAVE to at least write enough of their session to let dave both die and kill for his rose, like

also i need to write her killing and dying for him. well. killing for him. well.

killing.

perhaps just killing him. HAHAHA.

it is very fun to think about this because rose honestly just. does not talk about her relationship with dave much outside of mentioning that they're together. her narrative is so focused on the things that she wants the audience to focus on, so this was such a fun chapter to reveal the things she decided isn't important enough to ever let us in on.

like, she is so adamant that bro is the only important person in her life and the only person she loves, but she deeply cares about dave. she feels the same way, that they're connected in this way she can't pinpoint or name. and claiming him is exactly the right way to put it, because i don't think she knows how to acknowledge those emotions in herself, but she knows that she needs him with her always and wants him entrapped in a way where he can't get away from her.

i think rose is just incredibly attracted to what dave represents: safety, normalcy, the mundane, a reprieve from pain, but there are things about him that she just inherently gets. he's an outsider despite how much he attempts to fit in and i think there's something about that she relates to but also wants so badly to destroy and keep for herself.

also, this is a thing that belongs more in hcs than in kym specifically, especially because i imagine this taking place way earlier in their relationship, but bro absolutely knows about her relationship with dave. it isn't a secret. it's a thing that amuses him greatly. i actually imagine she shares a lot of details about him to bro, like allowing him this voyeuristic entertainment because dave isn't a threat to him, not really, and she shares every single one of her belongings with him.

in a perfectly pornographic world the two of them would spitroast the fuck out of him but this is a partially pornographic world that involves a meaningful plotline or whatever 🙄 smh

siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh

this part was incredibly hard to write. not because it was difficult or emotionally taxing but because i reached this unfortunate impasse i find myself at every now and then while writing a lot of darkfic where i struggle with... it's not exactly the impulse to project, necessarily, more just.... feeling forced through into inevitability of it? or maybe it's the reluctance to use personal experiences vs the knowledge that doing it can benefit your writing (but also can hamper it).

like, very hard to write about a self-destructive teenager with violent tendencies without being reminded of the time when you were a self-destructive teenager with violent tendencies.

that reluctance is born from a rant i'm definitely not gonna get into unprompted but i'll just say that it definitely complicated things HAHAHA. i've definitely gone through a 'i'm going through a psychotic break and i'm going to ramble out 7835963463 crazy things into this dm window because the person on the other side said i could' phase. i've definitely just. been insane and vomited so many words out and ngl for a second there in the final draft when i was feeling too lazy to get into Stream Of Consciousness mode i was very tempted to dig up an old vent post and copypaste those thoughts in for rose but ultimately i thought that was disingenuous and a betrayal of her character SO

a fun but unexpected surprise was rose sounding far more like herself during her drugged moments of honesty. it's especially fun because even in the future when she doesn't have access to any sort of drugs or contact with bro anymore, i don't think she'll sound this much like rose lalonde either. it's like in her desperate search to find more of her brother, she's really just found a core part of herself that she doesn't have access to in this universe

'Is there a mechanical soul within me?' there is and his name is hal hi hal

it is actually incredibly fun playing with typing quirk punctuation. it's actually a style i utilized a lot in chatroom roleplay groups yeaaaaaaaaaars after homestuck ended, very much inspired by tumblr ventblogging typing styles, crytyping and all that. the idea that someone's mental state can and should be reflected in their typing style, which is something you really only see in canon in a character like gamzee (i cant remember if other trolls drop the quirk in times of duress in canon??? i think karkat drops his as a joke about volume sometimes but that's it). i don't even know if it even really comes across as blatantly as it feels when i write it, but it's so fun to see the consistencies in a way a character types slowly but surely fall apart as they grow unstable

so the way this is designed, it's as if rose had a moment of finally being in touch with the core of herself, with what ultimately makes her rose (complete with proper punctuation), before slowly but surely lapsing back into ro-stri as she loses her punctuation piece by piece, and then ultimately devolving even more as she abandons her capitalization to type in a way that's reminiscent of dave but, more importantly, bro's typing quirk

'I think there are lives inside me/the life inside me is his' is so funny to look at in hindsight. this chapter was halfway finished before the pregnancy plot had even come into being, and this was only ever supposed to be a reference to the identity blurring she's experiencing, and this half-truth, half-delusion about being able to sense everything lil cal has injected into her and her brother. it is so STRANGE to reread it now knowing that it's become foreshadowing to her pregnancy, especially with that next sentiment following it:

'Sometimes I wish it was yours'. again, that idea of being soulmates, being connected with someone permanently. and, again, that idea of codependency, and rose being unable to express or understand love without that need to merge herself with the object of her affection. and again this was befORE the pregnancy plot was a thing so now every time i read this line i sit here hoping people dont interpret it as rose wanting dave's baby HGJFKGSGSG i swear im not into breeding i sWEAR

🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺😭😭😭😭😭😭

DAVE IS SO CUTE I ALWAYS DIE REREADING THAT PART HE'S SO CUUUTE

also i struggle so SO much writing comfort scenes especially dialogue meant to comfort someone but this came out so easily. perhaps because it's a futile attempt and i didn't have to worry about the recipient of that comfort actually feeling soothed...? hmmm!

i have nothing to add to the romantic cannibalism confession besides :3c

i don't actually reread this chapter all that often anymore so finding this paragraph was lovely damn shoutout to this sentence that made me choke on my water as i was reading it cuz i was so distracted by how much i didnt remember writing this that i forgot to swallow and my drink just slid down into my lugnshjskdfg

then it is a series of letters in a language you wonder if she’s made up, that is somehow so cohesive in its chaos that you start to doubt even that.

more horrorterror references as if the literal last paragraph wasn't enough HAHA

a very fun part of designing and outlining the killswitch au is deciding who gets what plotline. for example, does rose strider get to go grimdark because she's rose? or does jade lalonde get to go grimdark because she's the lalonde with library access to the grimoire? unlike the characterization formula, there isn't an easy answer to this one. i'm mostly just going with what's more fun narratively and what makes a better and more cohesive storyline for the verse.

either way, though, ro-stri still has a connection with the horrorterrors, simply because she's a dersite and because i love a character that is so utterly doomed that every evil force on the face of the planet wants to take a turn on them. what's better than this... getting psychologically gangbanged by every demon in existence...

DID YOU KNOW I AM SO VERY FOND OF DAVE EGBERT AND HIS LOVELY PAPA WHO LOVES HIM SO MUCH

i am also so very fond of a dave egbert who cries alone in front of his computer cuz his girlfriend makes him so very sad every night like poor baby does Not Sleep and its so cute gjkgs

'its just prose' annoys the shit out of me to see because i wrote a similar line in a published piece of writing a couple of years ago so i can't reread this without being reminded of That hgjfkg

i will never write a strider rap i have the highest respect for any author who can but it'll never be me

their dynamic kills me HJKGFGKGS peak toxic romance right here god i wish i could write even more of it... i need to write more daverose so fucking bad....

a fun line because 1) i rly enjoy dave's half-forced half-genuine emotional voyeurism it's just a rly interesting aspect of his personality to write and 2) it's fun to have a moment with dave e's specific brand of humor since it's not as long-winded as a strider's would be

i rly forgot so much of this chapter HGFKGSGS oh dave... i love you... i love writing you so much...

stream-of-consciousness style writing is really fun like you get taken to so many unexpected places in the process. generally when i go SoC style i tend to have a few goals i want to land and this image, dave watching over rose in derse, was one of the big ones

ALSO THE IRONY OF DAVE CALLING HIMSELF HER PRINCE WHEN SHE IS ACTUALLY THE PRINCE OF THE SESSION HEHEHEHEHE

the lil cal staring contest is also another big one. it's just such a fun image to allude to like goddamnit i wish i could draw. it feels like an image that i can't even really describe properly what i want it to mean because it explains itself and there's not much minutia to pry free, it's just. them. rose inexplicably and perpetually being drowned in this cancerous evil at a rate that not even dave strider got to experience.

lmfao shout out to me explaining his memory power earlier forgetting that i explain it in the chapter HJSKFG

oh well NOW I GET TO ACTUALLY DISCUSS HIS CLASSPECT

so dave egbert issssss....

🥁 [drumroll] 🥁

the MAGE OF TIME!!!!

and changing classpects actually did something incredibly interesting to the story. killswitch never would have worked as a simple homestuck rewrite, because i dont think swapping the guardians is something that can ever be simple. so it didnt make sense to keep their classpects exactly the same, because they wouldn't have the same personalities or the same backgrounds to craft those personalities, or the same issues that were born of their uniquely shitty backgrounds. it also didnt feel as easy as making rose a knight of light and dave an heir of time, etc etc. like, while rose is not insecure in the classic way that knights should be (it can be argued that the 'i am my brother' facade can count towards knighthood... but her role in the story and what it will turn into once she joins the game definitely brands her a prince through and through)

through researching for killswitch i ended up coming to this conclusion about sburb and how i approach classpect and hs narratives in general:

and because of that, it was super easy to reassign everyone based on what they've been turned into through the switch in their roles.

it also made for another easy characterization formula: their aspect represents their 'nature' while their class represents their 'nurture'. so all the zeta kids still belong to the same aspect while their class changes rapidly, though how close or how far it is from their original class really depends on their character

anyway, mage of time is an incredibly fun role that actually breaks the rewrite narrative almost more than rose's classpect does. as the mage of time, dave actually steals the cryptic psychic role from jade and john harley (though, i do have thoughts on that matter, because there is still going to be a benefit for them from having access to prospit, and that plotline will still be involved in some capacity... probably).

and it's a very fun, partially accidental discovery within the au that the zeta kids are all... just a tad more prepared to enter sburb than their predecessors. rose is completely aware of the fact that she's training for something specific and dave... dave knows that the game is coming. he doesn't know the specifics, he doesn't know that it's sburb specifically that will bring them all together, but he knows there's an it, he knows the day he'll meet all his friends in person will be a day for the history books, and he knows that rose is in danger and that he'll be able to help her in a way no one else can.

some mage of time thoughts, many of which inspired and/or describe dave egbert's storyline:

source

the above was probably one of the first interpretations i read and really what solidified him as a mage, my initial thoughts to his classpect and how it interacts with rose's was the following:

and it's just so fun GOD rly hope i get to write in his perspective more in the future

haha yeah if we ever get to it yEAH if i ever get off my ass and actually finish writing this wholeass au which i nEVER WILL CUZ I DONT WANNA WRITE 500K WORDS GODDDD IM NEVER WRITING A HOMESTUCK AU AGAAAAIINNNN

#fic: kill your masters #director's commentary #meta #verse: killswitch #rose strider #dave egbert

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quercus-queer · 2 years

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The importance of Barbara:

I didn’t realize this but apparently “Barb gets brought up for no reason and was a bad friend to Nancy” is a common sentiment. This actually rubs me the wrong way because it takes away from Nancy’s character and obviously Barb’s limited influence in the show.

She gets brought up because of Nancy’s guilt for getting her best friend killed. Her only friend btw. I think Nancy’s writing is something a lot of people ignore the deeper parts of. Nancy had no other close friends besides Barb, that scene where El looks at her stuff? It’s just Barb. At school? Just Barb. Nancy mentions other girls like Ally but we NEVER see her interact with anyone else. Nancy and Mike are very similar. Imagine if Mike ONLY had Will and he actually died. We have never seen Nancy interact with another teenager as friends since Barb. Her and Fred and any of the other kids at the newspaper? She’s in charge of them, it’s different. We never get to see or hear Nancy spending a weekend looking for the perfect shirt or doing dumb teenage girl shit ever again. Losing Barb destroyed Nancy, her wanting safety in Steve and returning to that whenever things go south and her always having that “Barb moment” is great writing actually. (As long as Steve and Nancy don’t actually get together again)

Also Barb was a good friend to Nancy. She didn’t want to go to the party but did after Nancy pressured her and told her to “make sure I don’t do anything stupid.” Nancy pressured her to drink, which resulted in her cutting her hand which is why she died. When Barb tried to make sure Nancy didn’t do anything stupid like sleeping with a guy after she’s been drinking, Nancy told her to go home… but she DIDNT. She stayed there to make sure Nancy was okay afterwards and drive her home but ended up dead. She wasn’t being clingy because Nancy was “branching out.” Steve was a dick! He was a fucking douchebag hanging around absolute assholes that mocked Barb at every opportunity!!!

We barely got to see their relationship and there’s no other female friendship besides elmax and ronance which are also limited. But with the limited time given we got to see ALOT of what they meant to each other and the fact this friendship bleeds into every season despite Barb dying in like the third episode? It’s important, and good writing. Nancy’s motivations are justice and breaking a status quo/unconformity and Barb is central to both.

Barbara was fridged for Nancy. We know nothing about her, like at all except for the fact she was good to Nancy. But Nancy knows everything. If we want to know Nancy has to let us see it but she won’t. She won’t think about it too much all the way up until the guilt catches up to her and then she has a breakdown and starts blocking it again. I’m hoping this established cycle finally gets addressed via Vecna.

#stranger things #nancy wheeler #Barb #i forgot her last name #the way no one talks about the fact Nancy literally has zero friends… insane #not that Nancy was a rebel or anything but sticking with Barb despite expectations…#Nancy wanted Barb in her life until the end of time but SHE severed that bond and she’s never actually moved on from that night #hence her returning to Steve when things get crazy #their friendship is actually very important to me #they definitely had plans to go to college together talked about where they wanted to move where they’d retire decades down the line

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leninova1997 · 1 year

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Hey Leni, let's make theories about Doom and Quake chronology?

I was thinking.. As we know, the demons invaded the UAC in 2145 and the war raged on for some years. Scott Voss from SMC was born in a Martian Colony in the year 2203, that is, relatively shortly after the first demonic invasion. Would Mars have had a peaceful time after all the chaotic events of Doom (to build safe colonies on Mars)? Do you think the other Doom events are part of the same timeline? or that's impossible? (I know there's controversy, but I want to know your opinion).

Curious to know your thoughts on this! Leis. ʕ´•ᴥ•`ʔﾉﾞ

First of all, thank you so much for the question. 😍 I always wanted to be a part of such conversations so this truly means a lot to me. 😍😍😍Second of all, let me establish 2 pathways: what is possible in "natural" circumstances and what i use for my novel and for future followups as a standalone timeline based possibility.

Normal version:

If we take Doom 3 as a closed title along with all the other games/expansions being connected to it, then its fairly obvious to point out, humanity had the time to recover from such losses. Mars City, Phobos labs etc. were lost to the population measures but not in technology. Hidrocon was still there to bring advancement to a whole new level, and im pretty sure they didnt miss out on it even behind the blood soaked history. Over years and maybe after a few high levels of power struggles within the Board they finally got themselves together enough to restart Mars City as an actual human settlement (with a few added advances to make sure nothing comes over again/wont be as deadly as it can be). This also brought the chance as soon as possible to have the city thrive along with other human colonies which in connection meant a new future for our species. Without Mars city there was no continuation and they knew this all too well: sacrificing decades of hard work over fear and paranoia was too much of a luxury to be committed.

In Quake 4's retrospect, im pretty sure Doom 3's events can be considered as canon, even from line to line (if you mind). My philosophy often comes like this in such cases:, "just because people dont talk about it, doesnt mean its not there". From this point, things can be explained even with multiple altitudes: the UAC has gone bankrupt and the secrets have fallen to the grave alongside with it. Or: people over time got to know about the demonic invasion and they live with the truth. Or: the UAC is still there but under a different alias and thanks to this, they are not standing out publicly. Its only a matter of imagination what you can consider as a direct lead to the main story. And this is just one of the examples out of hundreds you can twist in any way you would like for a perfect fitting.

My version:

In my series, things are nothing but grim. After ROE, Earth got attacked not soon after, and the demons started immediately taking over as much as possible (not just the planet, but other colonies and space stations were in great danger). Even if i consider the heroes winning after the years of a brutal, almost annihilating war, humanity still needs an extraordinary amount of time for rebuilding and even more for restarting colonization. The pace is the most important factor in this, however for me its not unimaginable to have a well functioning martian city in the beginning of the 23rd century. Its almost 50 years to spare so its highly unlikely they will lick their wounds for this long. From this on, Quake 4 can be its own very thing, not even mattering if any importance (like the origin of the Strogg or the demonic invasion) has been altered during an alternative timeline.

Fun fact: i consider all Id Tech 4 based games as one big canon where things have different kinds of impacts on each other. Yes, even Prey 2006. 🥰 The differences always start when one game becomes dominant and begins altering other games/storylines. Everything can happen as it is intended but the questions are rather: how many are there (compared to the original) and how much has been changed to allow a proper existence for something new?

Thats the right of the author.

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notagamersdey · 2 years

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Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Review! full spoilers ahead. Is kinda long...

I thought this movie was good but i cant help but feel a little disappointed. I might get attacked for not liking it because it "DidNt hAVe EnOUgH CAmeOS" but honestly, I could give a flying a fuck about that. What disappointed me most were how they handled the Characters, the magic and the overall story.

Lets go through what I liked first. First we see Dr. Strange and Star Girl getting attacked by a Demon while trying to obtain the book of vishanti. I liked the established relationship between strange and America Chavez. Their relationship, though seen briefly, sets up America's fear of betrayal for the rest of the movie. America Chavez as a character was also really interesting.

Next we see strange at Christine's wedding. This was the portion of the story meant to kick off his arc. I'm all for it. I'm glad he doesn't end up with Christine, and the reasons behind why they are not together make sense.

Wong is honestly perfect in my eyes. 10/10 recommend sorcerer supreme.

The parts where they really stick with the horror theme are very good. Especially the scene in Earth 838 where Wanda is chasing them through the tunnels actually brought me to the edge of my seat.

When Strange Dream walks into the corpse and makes the dark souls into his new cloak caused an eye-gasm. it was beautiful.

Now for what I didn't like. Everything else. I'm not even sure where to start but let's start with the magic. What the hell were those cringy animated monster hands he was conjuring?? I get not using the regular spells and wanting to try something different but good god. When he began to use those spells I immediately knew that this movie was going to disappoint me. Don't even get me started on Wanda. Just like Captain ship-Destroyer, Wanda is Scarlet Energy Blast. She is supposed to be OP as shit but it took her a whole 10 minutes to destroy the fucking kamar-taj??? and only a few seconds to obliterate the illuminati? I'm all for being OP but make it consistent. It's insane to me how they built up this epic take down of the kamar-taj with lines like "it was me being reasonable" only for her to barely do anything. Not everything was bad. There were some good elements from the magic like the iconic maestro battle with sinister strange or... no that's it. That was the best fight scene involving magic.

Next, the illuminati. This was lost potential. These characters are supposed to be established fighters. Smart characters. Best of the best. Honestly, during my first watch of the movie, I get why. This is Wanda being OP, but why didn't Wanda killing BlackBolt fucking kick everyone into fighting mode??? Why did she have to kill him and fucking spaghetti man only for the two women of the group to look at each other as if their assistant brought them the wrong coffee order?? Why didn't wanda give them the same brutal take down? There was potential to actually make a good fighting scene, or to use Wanda's manipulation powers to good use. If you're gonna kill them so easily, make the reactions of others believable.

The characters. As I mention before, Dr. Strange doesn't feel like Dr. Strange. There are a few reasons. So, we know that Dr Strange was a righteous asshole, only to be beat to the ground after his accident. He learned to let go, accept his pain and move onto something that is bigger than anybody. We see him in other movies such as Thor, Infinity War, Endgame and Spiderman No Way Home. Throughout, we establish that he has in fact become wise and has somewhat let go of what he used to be. He's grown and has let himself become the protector of his reality. He is still calculating, and very much understands the weight of his decisions and actions. We see this in infinity war. The problem with this movie is that instead of letting Strange deal with the aftermath of the past few years, the audience is told by other characters. Christine, his old co-worker, America Chavez, the illuminati, 838 christine, fucking wanda. Everyone, at some point, tells strange either that he is a control freak or that he's sad and isnt admitting to it. It's story telling 101, dont tell the audience, let us see his pain. Let us see his physical and moral struggles. That is what this character is based off of, how this character and many others grow. I think this story would have really benefitted if they didnt change how his sister died. In the comics, the sister was sick (I cant remember with what) but it was the reason he became a doctor. I think if they put more focus onto that aspect of the character, a lot of other story flaws wouldn't occur.

America Chavez. I actually think America Chavez was very interesting and good. But again. There are some things when it comes to her story and how it plays into Stranges story that could be reworked. As I said previously, her established relationship added an interesting relationship to our strange. She is untrustworthy of Strange, and frightened. Rightfully so, she's just a kid. I think by emphasizing stranges sister would've added a deeper layer to America and Stranges relationship. It would've been interesting to see him try to protect her and for her to be hesitant to trust him. Past relationships and experiences matter, and if it was utilized would've made for a more interesting story.

Wanda. I liked wanda for the most part. I liked that she has become a villain. I like her reasons and the mcguffins hold on her. However, I think her involvement in Stranges story was too much. She overtook the story. Didnt let the other characters breathe with her strong arc. I think she should've gotten her own movie, OR a season two of wanda vision and we could've seen how the darkhold takes a hold of people, how it manipulates and controls. Her involvement in Strange's story takes away from Strange and... I know that probably wasn't the goal, but it's what happened.

Lastly, another big disappointment for me was the music. Maybe the mouse was annoyed that the theme of Dr. Strange got overused over the past few years but what I missed most was the style. Micheal Giachinno used certain psychadelic elements in the music of Dr. Strange that it played a big role in the actual character. and again, I dont mean the main theme. Michael Giachinno has a way of drawing big emotions with simple music produced by big ensembles but Danny Elfman doesn't pull the same effect. Sometimes you can hear it in the movie but other times it sounded as if this movie was made in the early 2000's. The music itself is not bad by any means but again, doesn't fit the character or established style.

Overall, I DO NOT HATE THE MOVIE. It was good for what it was. I dont think I would put it at my top ten favorite marvel movies but it wasn't bad or horrible. Just a little disappointing. I also feel that there were too many strong characters if that makes sense. Like, stephen, america and wanda all kinda mix mashed together into a soup of random heroes. It didnt let the audience either learn about a new character enough, or experience what the characters are experiencing (i.e strange or wanda). A friend of mine had a good suggestion. Get rid of wanda and put her into her own movie, make sinister strange the main villain, and leave america for the end credit scene/3rd movie. Idk, maybe in another universe.

Rated 6/10

#dr strange spoilers #deysmoviereviews #doctor strange in the multiverse of madness #dr stephen strange #america chavez #star girl #benedict cumberbatch #benedict wong #xochitl gomez #wanda maximoff #elizabeth olsen #movies #films #movie review #filmmaking #wong

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gothamcityneedsme · 2 years

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i was too tired to do anything last night so i read some umineko ep1 since i didnt have spoons to do anything unfamiliar (and the beginning of umineko is practically rote memorization for me). so. Ive been Thinking.

ep1 and ep2, Legend and Turn, as authored by [redacted] form our understanding of the setup for all of the following episodes--of which the gameboards are authored by Tohya of course. I interpret the authorship and the works existing as fiction as being non-magical tellings of the board, ie like traditional mystery novels. I do not think fantasy scenes or tea parties (exception of ep7 tea party which is the representation of what lies within the Book of the Single Truth) were written in the novels/forgeries.

Anyways with that established. The point i have here is that i loveee that [redacted] wrote in a way that properly introduces the mechanics and characters, and even hid their own identity within. And that they wrote claiming they were Maria for both of their forgeries....and the implicit implication that other forgeries written by them were lost to sea.... I wonder if all of their forgeries had these set up elements--they wanted their writings to be found, they wanted to give enough context for a story to be plausible, for a beloved mystery, for an answer to the tragedy that hides their own self.

Meanwhile ep3, 4, 5, and 6 were all both online and published novels by Tohya....who approaches with a very different intent than [redacted]. Tohya approaches with a fascination for the event, with the assumption that you have read or know of eps1 and 2. The exposition is cut away to various mysteries, living in the mythology set up by our original author (and inspired by the real life true crime lol).

Side note (again. I am terrible lmao) but I wonder if Tohya at first thought his obsession (which was HESITANT and UNCOMFORTABLE to start) was due to just...fascination with the true crime? Like. Thats where Ikuko is, though i believe her feelings for the event deepen and shift as she encourages Tohya to help him, and as she faces for him to the public, even taking his name, which is ironic considering she gave him her name and that the surname is hers. Ep4 and ep8 sort of skirt around the true crime thing but its presented more as people being interested in devouring a story destructively--"rip out the guts".

Anyways ultimately im just interested in authorship and what that means, and the fact that Tohya, as one of many forgerists (but the only one permitted to do so imo which is part of why we are only really shown his forgeries--again im cutting out metaworld things here, as like, ep7 lion as someone bern discovered *could* be a 'forgery' but im going with the literal sense--not what exists in fantasy but what was published in reality--which cuts out all of the metaworld), works on what [redacted] built. Its like how they used to write together, make stories for each other.... Except its unknowing, and quite complex on Tohya's angle because acceptance is something hes strangling himself with. His identity and memories all jumbled and terrifying.

Ep3 as his first work is interesting--that is why ep3 is the first episode we see with a survivor--the "canon" survivor. Ep1 and ep2 were written as concepts, revenge fantasy and wishful thinking by [redacted], before any actual events. The catbox, before it was shut. Ep3 is obviously written post-catbox, using what little initial info that exists and that is known at the time...... Its just.... Interesting.

As more of Tohya's memories return, his writing becomes more directed. Ep5 is striking here especially with the appearance of "the man from 19 years ago". He's written so terrifyingly, its actually sort of chilling that Tohya writes this figure, someone [redacted] doesn't appear to have conceptualized. This is both Tohya's self-fear to me, but also truth-learning--I dont recall how Tohya and Ikuko would have learned of this truth, but I don't believe they could invent this character without knowing.

It makes ep6, the "game" a much more...gentle and wish fulfilling thing. Tohya, underneath including everyone's (witch hunters') favorite plausible OC, wrote a story where no one had to die, where things happened differently, and in that, imo, shows truly that his terror has started to shift. He has started to be less afraid of these stories, and more motivated by love.

This isnt organized or anything, just a lot of thoughts I've been having....

#Shitpost

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captnjacksparrow · 2 years

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I for real think that itachi didnt deserve sasuke. Instead of people saying itachi is the best big brother, they should say sasuke is the best little brother, I mean I don't understand haw sasuke love itachi so much, and I feel sasuke doesn't love his parents that much, (poor mikoto). And when Naruto said to kurama that sasuke has a wonderful brother I was mad at Naruto, itachi is not a wonderful brother, yes he love sasuke more than anyone, but sometimes love is not enough. I mean he shouldn't treat sasuke that way.

Anon, You are following or asking this Question to the Wrong Page.

Firstly, My favourite Character is Itachi and second fav is Sasuke. And I love the Bond between Itachi and Sasuke for their tragedy, the complications and horrible situation they were forced into... But despite all that... In the End, All I could see is their Love. Their Bond is what made me watch Naruto series beyond Part 1... It was not SNS. It was never SNS... SNS is merely my last realization after Episode 478.

Secondly, XXX deserve XXX is something I don't bring up in any of my Arguments since I feel it's too entitled and arrogant. Because in that case, Hinata did deserve her Naruto-kun and Sakura did deserve her Sasuke-kun too. Amirite?

Nobody deserves anyone.... because that's just some wish-fulfillment and arrogant self-entitlement. This goes for Sasuke and Naruto too. Since you are a Sasuke fan, Will you be okay, if I say Naruto deserves Sasuke because he saved him?? Then what about Sasuke's feelings?? Isn't that matters???

There is a reason why many people say that Itachi is the best Brother. And it seems that reason is not convincing or acceptable for you. Or you don't want to understand Itachi's side which is TOTALLY OKAY.

You can very well say, I don't like Itachi & Sasuke's Bond for xxx reasons. And That's totally understandable. But You projecting your Itachi hatred onto Sasuke and demanding other people that 'You shouldn't be saying Itachi is the Best Big Brother' is kind of Dictating others to accept your opinion as the only valid one.

I mean I don't understand how Sasuke love itachi so much, and I feel Sasuke doesn't love his parents that much, (poor mikoto). And when Naruto said to kurama that sasuke has a wonderful brother I was mad at Naruto, itachi is not a wonderful brother, yes he love sasuke more than anyone, but sometimes love is not enough. I mean he shouldn't treat Sasuke that way.

You do realize that Narutoverse is not a Real world, Right? The way people in their world show their love is very different from how we show love to other people in our real life. Characters can't coddle each other all the time like we do.

To them, Protecting the Important Person is called Ultimate display of Love. Plain and Simple. And It was established right from the Very First Arc of this series.

Itachi prioritized Sasuke's life than his Parents.... Villagers life than his own Clan members.

But can you say the same for Mikoto and Fugaku??? Had they prioritized Sasuke's life, they wouldn't have done what they did.

This is Sasuke who was extremely happy about the fact that he got excellent (Top) Grades in his Exams in the hopes that he would receive some bread crumbs appreciation from his Father. Am sure people who underwent this scene in their life would know the pain of that Disapproving and Unsatisfied Look from their Parent even if they gave their best. ((Asian Kids experience these things on a very regular basis in their life))

And as expected, Fugaku didn't give the compliment Sasuke expected. Because his focus was entirely on Itachi. Poor Kid!!!

But 2 days later, Itachi was the one who bothered to look at the Progress Report of Sasuke and was re-assuring him that he will always be there for him... Not to mention, this is the day after Itachi saw Shisui's death.

It's these accumulation of all the little Gestures was what made Sasuke to love him. Itachi acted not only as Sasuke's Brother but at times, he also acted as his Mother and Father. Hadn't been for Itachi's decision to massacre his own clan, Sasuke would have been dead already.

Sasuke understood this... And Naruto also understood this. If you don't understand this, it's okay. I would say you are projecting your own feelings and reading against the text. Or you are blinded by your love for Sasuke and are not willing to look the other side. But you can't be blaming people who love their bond though. Because your feelings are not Sasuke's feelings.

As for Sasuke being the best Little Brother,

Why do you think on my first watch, I ended up having a mental breakdown for a week after Itachi's Truth Revelation... And seeing Sasuke weeping like a child???

THAT GOES WITHOUT SAYING. HE WAS AN EXTREMELY LOVELY KID AND AN ADORABLE SIBLING.

#uchiha itachi #itachi #itachi uchiha #sasuke #uchiha sasuke #sasuke uchiha #fugaku

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miss-mossball · 2 years

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what's something about each one of your aus you've never shared before,,

this is a rlly great ask, thank u :D ill try to come up with some obscure facts that at most Rou or Zoe know about

(pls note most these things happen in the same universe, but they're focused on different characters so we just call them diff AUs)

The Hearte Family - (fantasy au)

- Haze is autistic-coded and I just never realized it! :v His special interests are about history, and boats, and historical boats. Haze also collects quills :v< He hates the sensory feeling of the elaborated outfits the other royals wear, so he's usually in a more simple, if dolled up tunic with loose sleeves. (but it works because they tend to see him on lower ranking anyway). He also stims with his hands a lot! Haze also struggles with literal thinking, so he doesn't Get it when girls are teasing and flirting with him. He gets quite irritated about it, actually (and I'm on the spectrum myself so boo, dont come for me if its inaccurate, im not diagnosing him)

The Nettecracker AU - (fantasy au)

- Tho he's fairly rare to come across, Hail has a secret guild thats registered in Cygni(kind of the capitol of magic and the study of it). the members meet up every now and again, and each of them are connected to a season of some sort :v they each live somewhere else in the world now. tho apparently they used to go on adventures when they were all younger or smthing idk :V

The School AU - (Modern AU)

- Peter never graduated, he doesn't have a GED because he took a leave of absence from school and never bothered going back :v any wild rumors about him he just says "sure" cuz he thinks its entertaining. So he avoids a solid job for the most part because he thinks he can't get any, and adamantly refuses to work at Diana's cafe like the other Puppe kiddos do

Robots (Modern AU)

-Goldenrods's family company for creating and manufacturing living robot bjds was going pretty well until there was an incident with one of the robots killed an employee of a well-established science institute. From there, the stigma of their builds never died in time for other bigger companies to pick up their ideas and put them out of business with offering cheaper and more producible designs :v Goldenrod and his father were both too stubborn about quality to lower the prices and match up to their competitors, especially with the new trend in smart phone accessory dolls, so...it just Died

the Shadows (Modern AU)

-Its been a consistent thing since the very beginning of my making the shadows that Bunny just wasn't welcome in them first by Nette, and now with redoing them, Hail won't let her go in now. I always sorta knew the reason but never had like a valid idea or story to come up with the why - or rather, not one that made any sense or wanted to bring attention to in RP. Seeing it from a more protective than mean POV now, I have a story, but I made it up literally yesterday so I won't be sharing it yet =<= or ever! who knows lololol

-okay since that didnt rlly give you anything, heres something else: Nette does corrupt from being in the shadows too long, being half human. He looses his cool pretty easily and has a recording of Mia's singing on his phone he listens to to calm himself down, unless she's there herself. He depends on her pretty heavily, but will his overabundance of pride ever let him admit so?

Aretieans (sheepies, totally separate from the rest)

- Vanilla was in love. With Coal, the head of the royal army. The timing was off and she was already married by the time they ever saw eachother again :( and Mousse, in all his misery of never being able to be with his love, forbade her from being happy with her love. He didn't tell anyone his wife was dying until it was too late, so they never got a last chance to say goodbye either

Bunnypluians (every and all aus)

- Bunnyplu don't have any sort of culture except to 'find a mate and procreate'. They dont have any sort of society, so Plu being the Bunnyplu Princess doesn't really mean fuckall, but she titled herself a princess from the moon anyway when she moved into the world, fell in love, and spread her babies across the planet. Plenty of other bunnyplu came to this world too, but the more "known" line of bunny aliens comes from Plu the Bunnyplu Princess.

----

I thiiink thats all my major AUs. obviously there are dozens of sub-subsections, like Lord Haze and his manor full of maids, the Bad End/cult au, the single mother Iris au, and so on =<= theres typically not a huge plot to any of those tho, more like spinoffs of the main ones just for funsies. I mean.... All of this is for funsies tho so who can say ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ if you'd like to know more about any of these aus or the spinoffs, lmk!

Ofc, every au here is co-created with @duckroulette, but I did try to come up with ideas for my characters mostly for this ask!

#my ocs #modern au #fantasy au #shadows au #robots #school au #bunnypluians #aretieans #ty for this rlly great ask!!! i took all day to answer it lol

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liddolwhynot2000 · 3 years

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Hey I would like to make a request for a soft yandere Levi x reader Levi finally gets to retire and open up his own teahouse and he starts to have feelings for reader who works for him, some fluff please and thank you 🙂 and on the side note I bet Levi is into bondage

Oohh yandere time. I hope you enjoy!

(also yes I think so too. Probably a very mild version of bondage tho.)

___________________________________

Envision

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Summary: Humanity's strongest soldier was destined to spend the rest of his life alone--but then he met you.

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Pairings: Levi/Reader

Genre: not so soft Yandere, Levi falls in love, no angst

____________________________________

Retirement had always been a foreign concept to Levi. He had figured that it was one of those things he could only dream about. After all, being in the survey corps was the equivalent to signing up for an untimely death. As far as he was concerned, his end would occur in the mouth of some titan. It was a death he had made peace with.

However, some sort of fate had intervened and before he knew it, he had recieved the retirement he had never been courageous enough to voice out.

He had opened his own tea shop.

It hadn't been easy, of course. Initially the government hadn't been willing to give him much beyond a certain amount of money every month. But once queen Historia had recovered from giving birth to Princess Ymir, they had changed their tune quickly.

The queen had awarded his years of service with a plot of land and a fairly large house. There was also a monthly payment of more money then he had ever seen in his life. The house had needed some improvements. But Levi was in relatively good shape, so he fixed whatever needed to be fixed with his own hands.

He rather enjoyed the laborious task. But what he was more thrilled by was the wholesome outcome.

His tea shop had a nice, modest corner in the city. And much to his delight, it was always hustling and bustling. Many flocked to it, initially out of interest of seeing Humanity's Strongest Soldier. Most returned once they realized that the tea was amazing.

The house was divided into two parts, with the lower floor consisting of the cafe and the upper floor was where Levi lived. There was a plot of land that he owned, in the more rural areas, where he had paid some farmers to grow tea leaves and certain fruits and vegetables for his shop.

It had taken two years of hard work but his venture had paid off. His very own tea shop had been established and was making plenty of profits.

Levi no longer had to fight titans, or watch his cormades die in the battlefield. His life now consisted of a nine to five job, like most civillians. And he couldn't be happier about it.

Meeting you only amplified that happiness.

____________________________________

Levi had recruited his staff in a far more different manner then others would. For one, they were all former misfits. Three teen boys and two teen girls--who had grown up just like him, stealing to survive. Levi liked to think it was a way of paying forward what Kenny had done for him- if the man hadn't met him when he had, Levi would have died sitting next to his mother's corpse.

After he had settled them all into their jobs, he hadn't seen any need to recruit anymore people. They were running the shop just fine, and all Levi needed to was supervise a little.

Then you came into the picture.

You were so...delicate. Even shorter then him. Levi privately admitted to you being quite the beauty, with your sweet face and gentle smile. Your clothes were baggy, hiding a figure he often found himself wondering about.

He had thought that you were younger, maybe 18. But you had informed him you were actually 28. You had been a chef at the palace, but due to personal reasons, you had quit and desperately needed a job.

Levi had known he didn't actually need a chef, his shop was running just fine with the one he already had. But, he was so starstruck by you, so confused by what he was feeling, that he had ended up hiring you anyways.

You were rather timid- not really making eye contact with anyone, keeping your head down as you worked. You didn't bother making friends with the others, the age gap making it awkward for you. But you ended up making friends with him.

It had started out small, and Levi admitted, because of him. He had left you in peace for the first two weeks, but he was so inexplicably drawn to you, that he had to interact with you. So he ordered you to make him tea.

It didn't take you too long to understand how he preferred his tea, and within weeks, you were bringing him tea everyday, without even being ordered. It was made just the way liked it.

At the start, he tried to contend himself with brief conversations, often restricted by his inability to ask you to sit down and drink tea with him. Once he learned you were quite the cook, he made it a point to show his preference for your cooking.

You had been so grateful to get a job from him, even though you had known he didn't need to hire you and was still paying you quite generously. You immediately took the bait and began bringing him meals in the afternoon.

It was only when Levi gruffly ordered you to bring your lunch with his that you started to eat with him.

And thus began his friendship with you.

____________________________________

Growing up in the underground, the notion of love had never been taught to Levi. The most genuine warmth he had ever experienced was his beloved mother. He struggled to remember her now, time having messed with his memories. But he knew that the most he had ever felt loved was with her.

His mother's lullaby, its lyrics long forgotten in his youth, was something he sorely missed. Her embrace was something he had longed for on his worst days, but he had forced himself to accept that it would be a long time till he would ever see her again.

He had also accepted that he would never have someone in his life who cherished him the way she had. Not even as lover.

When it came to the romance department, Levi hadn't ever gotten into a relationship. Sure, there had been offers, but he had never indulged himself. He had turned down countless love confessions, feeling rather uncomfortable. Maybe it was that no one really knew him, or it was just that he wasn't interested at all. He had even thought of himself as incapable of feeling love again--the way he had let people into his heart, even if just as friends, only for them to die. It had left him cold to the core and unwilling to even entertain the idea of friendship, let alone romance.

Humanity's strongest soldier was destined to spend the rest of his life alone--but then he met you.

You and your soft presence, making him feel things he hadn't ever felt before. You made him feel warm, but different then the way his mother had. Often times, you left him feeling out of breath and with his heart beating erratically.

It had started out so small, hardly noticeable ot even himself. But one day, you had smiled at him, Levi recalled fondly, and it had made him want to smile back.

Things had only spiralled out of his control afterwards. There were days he would get so overhwlemed by his strangely strong emotions for you, that he would avoid going into work. Only to find himself missing you.

The days he didn't cowardly hide away, he found himself basking in your presence. You weren't some chatterbox, finding the silence to be just as soothing as he did. It was what made the two of you mesh so well.

It didn't take him long to grow out of his phase of uncertainty, Levi had a good idea of what he was feeling. But he wanted to see more of you, know more about you, so he could make a proper decision. But just watching you was driving him crazy.

The way you tucked your hair in behind your ear as you worked, it made him wish he could do it for you. He was sure your blush would be adorable.

The sweet way you giggled at his horrible jokes, it made the darker part of him long for you to reserve that laughter just for him. It had actually made him go out of his way to ensure that your interaction with males was limited. The ugly, jealous part of him couldn't tolerate anyone so much as looking at you.

How tired you got while working hours and hours end- it made him wish he could just lessen your work to nothing. The possessive part of him insisted that you didn't need to work for anyone else. That you should only be cooking for him. Levi often told himself, trying to stay in control, that he would make it so soon enough.

Your delight when you were around little children, you often gave them discounted desserts. It made his traitorous mind imagine little kids that looked exactly like you.

His feelings for you had grown exponentially-his initial curiousity about you hadn't been sated by any means. In fact, he thought about you more each day that went by. His mind had begun to conjure up a future for the two of you.

It was a future where he could see himself waking up to you every morning, and ending his day with you in his arms.

A future, Levi thought to himself, he was determined to turn into his reality.

Even though he could tell you didnt quite feel the same. But time could change feelings right?

____________________________________

If there was anyone on the Island of Paradise that could get away with murder, it would be Humanity's Strongest Soldier. Even in his retirement, the military knew better then to press charges against him. Or even say out loud that he had committed the crime.

On a rainy day, Levi's staff watched him walk out of the tea shop, cloak in hand, a knife hidden in his boot. He had stormed out, with his eyes screaming murder, and no one had enough courage to stand in his way, let alone ask him anything.

He would come back the next day, looking calm. His staff, unfazed by the blood stains on his clothes, had carried on with their work. They knew better then to ask.

You, on the other hand, did not. You didn't have the same childhood they had, for their lives had been riddled with crime and unfairness. You were soft- innocent. And so, so concerned about him.

You checked him for wounds, fussing over him, much to his delight. You had no idea that every hiss of pain was absolutely false, he hadn't sustained a single scratch. But for the sake of keeping your attention, he would keep at his acting.

And besides, the entire reason he had gone out was to fight for you. You had, while sobbing, told him the reason you quit your previous job-a scummy noble, Travis Wills, had been trying to force you to marry him. Levi hadn't been able to keep his rage to himself, and in his mind, rightfully so. The man's body would never be found.

He would never tell you, of course, in fear that you would be scared of him. It would remain one of his secrets.

He would love and cherish you beyond anything. You would only ever see your gentle, soon to be ex Boss, as your lover who could do no wrong.

You would never meet the monster in him.

At least, he hoped you wouldn't.

____________________________________

A/N: Heyooo. This is smaller then usual and I don't even know if I tackled yandere Levi well! Do tell if y'all liked it. Till next time ⭐ also asks are open please ask for some headcannons I feel like writing some.

#AOT #yandere levi #levi ackerman #attack on titan #levi attack on titan #Levi x reader

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diyeoracha · 3 years

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fanfic recommendations

for @kittensocute bc i heard “atsukita” and “iwaoi” in reference to fanfiction and i am There

i took your “i love slow burn or slow build fics... so i like relatively shorter burn fics (20-30k). If its a 10k oneshot slow burn hELL SIGN ME UP” and absolutely ran with it.

i listed my fav iwaoi fics (17) with a longer word count (longest is 80k) that are all mostly either canon compliant or divergent with only two straight up AUs. none of them feature heavy nsfw content and most if not all are tagged as friends to lovers lmao. feel free to read the my thoughts or just go into them blind!! and they’re all in order of how much I absolutely adore them :^)

now atsukita is not a big ship *sobs* but here are some of my favorite fics (7) of them! a lot of them are shorter bc i guess that’s just. what happens when it’s a small ship LOL.

the formatting in this is fucked if you open it from ur dash but if it’s on my actual blog it should be fine!

Iwaoi

the courtship ritual of the hercules beetle

Word count: 66k

thoughts: my absolute absolute absolute favorite iwaoi fic. the characterization, the fact that oikawa’s a bastard but because he and iwaizumi are older (late 20s i believe), it feels more realistic and sad rather than oikawa being a bitch for the sake of it. spoiler alert it’s slow burn and pining and mostly oikawa not realizing his feelings. this world building is pretty cool bc iwaizumi is the professional player while oikawa is an entomology professor! also i love non-linear narratives bc of This fic. there’s mutual pining in this fic but it’s really really really subtle to the point where you dont even know if oikawa likes iwa. this made me cry like twice.

sunset towns

Word count: 33k

Summary: In the summer of 2020, Oikawa Tooru returns home from his first successful stint as captain of Japan’s national volleyball team. In one hand, he holds the undisputed weight of an Olympic medal, and in the other, his unresolved feelings for a childhood best friend.

thoughts: the tone in this is So similar to the courtship ritual that I liken this as an alternate story even though it’s still oikawa’s pov. professional player oikawa and regular guy iwaizumi and oikawa is just. bumming around at iwaizumi’s place and naturally he messes up but things happen.

told before and told again

word count: 4k

thoughts: i looked through literally all the tags i could’ve thought of for this and nearly cried when i found it agian. outsider POV!!

In damp earth my body

Word count: 15k

Summary: Onscreen, the nation’s favorite setter has arranged himself so that he’s bowing, forehead pressed to the court, like he’s thanking everyone for their kindness thus far, like he’s asking for forgiveness. Hajime thinks: shit, it’s really happening

thoughts: oikawa retires and moves in with iwaizumi and they blur the line between roommates/best friends and being fwb. this is an iwaizumi pov and the pining is obvious on his end. as a iwa stan the tone made me feel weird bc it makes it seem like iwa cares more abt oikawa than he cares abt himself but. its a good fic

i grew up, you grew down

word count: 19k

thoughts: this is also SO funny bc basically oikawa retires and moves in with iwaizumi and becomes his stay at home wife and a bunch of shit happens like people think that oikawa is dating ushijima and oikawa basically loses it every time. here’s one of my favorite quotes:

“Oikawa also bought a new ultra-strength vacuum cleaner he’d decided to name Ushiwaka out of sheer spite, because it sucked all the air right out of the room. Iwa-chan didn’t think the joke was that funny when Tooru told him, which was frankly very hurtful and insensitive.”

Mint

Word count: 19k

thoughts: iwaizumi is moving and oikawa planned a perfect last hangout and it goes to shit featuring matsuhana. oikawa pov where he pines more than iwa which is something i can get behind!! and this was written in 2015 and iwa’s moving bc of a sports medicine program so iwaizumi stans know and love him sm ;;

Almost a Stranger

Word count: 16k

thoughts: same premise as mint LOL except they’re on a trip together and there’s more non-linear narrative!! this one is a little more mature in tone than mint i would say (funny how people just like splitting them up and throwing them in different countries huh)

with every second that you could give

Word count: 9k

Summary: The journey of Iwaizumi and Oikawa going for gold.

Quote: He knows they’re too close. Iwaizumi knows it too, and they both decided to move in together anyway.

thoughts: iwaoi roommates and they’re both obviously and really pine-y for each other and everyone sees it but them. srsly. they’re sleeping in the same bed. like my god

Lost in Translation

Word count: 9k

Summary: Because misfortune come in threes, Iwaizumi Hajime starts his Thursday having a screaming fight with Shittykawa, spends his lunch break listening to the UCI women’s volleyball team gossiping about how Ushijima Wakatoshi had gone public about his longtime love affair with Oikawa Tooru, and closes out the day by drunkenly dropping his phone into a sewer grate.

thoughts: so funny. so sososoosso genuinely funny. the tone is so snappy and iwaizumi honestly just sounds like a confused teenager (which he is in this) and it gets extra points for including a lot of american culture that a lot of the other iwaoi college au ones don’t include for like. obvious reasons lol.

Something Borrowed

Word count: 16k

Summary: In which Oikawa and Iwaizumi have always been a foregone conclusion to everyone else, but a massive, unanswered question to one another.

thoughts: iwaoi roommates thats abo but it’s like. mentioned twice. whiny and possessive oikawa makes an appearance in this but it’s done really well

things that change, things that stay the same

Word count: 8k

Summary: Oikawa realizes he’s in love with his best friend; it sucks for a while. (But only for a little while.)

thoughts: high school getting together!! my second iwaoi fic ever and this one is just. so sweet. just an unsure oikawa realizing iwaizumi might be more than someone he wants as a best friend. this fic is honestly really really lovely.

galaxies, within you

Word count: 21k

Summary: Hajime and Tooru move in together at the start of university. Too bad they’re stuck with the two gremlins that haunt their apartment.

thoughts: ok this fic was so funny. theyre uni roommates and matsuhana just come fuck shit up and they all act like idiots together even though they go to different schools. and this really throws me back to university days.

Thirty Years and Change (the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad)

Word count: 19k

thoughts: pro! oikawa and iwaizumi haven’t been close for a while until oikawa invites iwaizumi to go to the games with him. there’s a lot of frustration and pining and actually talking about feelings (aka iwaizumi losing his mind and getting advice from people like akaashi)

when it starts to rain, they go inside

Word count: 33k

Summary: “Where?” starts Iwaizumi.“ My parent’s old lakehouse, silly, didn’t you hear me the first time?” OR: Oikawa takes Iwaizumi to his lakehouse for two weeks, post-graduation.

thoughts: this was actually my first iwaoi fic which is funny bc the author doesn’t even like oikawa much and i didnt even ship anything in haikyuu before i read this fic and now im in iwaoi hell. oikawa is really frustrating in this in that it’s basically a really good character analysis on how oikawa comes off as a Mean person all the time bc he’s manipulative and there’s some explicit content

shiver

Word count: 16k

Summary: Oikawa was always the brave one. Hajime just followed two paces behind.

thoughts: iwaoi roommates with oikawa admitting his feelings first back when they were in middle school and iwaizumi putting that thought on the backburner until. obviously. things happen.

Desperado

word count: 80k

thoughts: one of my favorite aus. it’s all from kyoutani’s perspective and it’s almost so au that they’re original characters (if that makes sense). basically iwaoi matsuhana are ex-grifters except iwaoi are estranged and daishou somehow brings everyone back together. excellent world building and reading the pov from someone not involved with the iwaoi drama was refreshing

sing with me a song of conquest and fate

word count: 26k

thoughts: a mythical kings au that’s just. so pretty. iwaizumi ends up becoming oikawa’s servant for some reason and the world building is a+ because you can feel the trust and frustration from both of them build

Atsukita

dreams of me and you

word count: 10k (incomplete)

my second atsukita fic that rly sent me down atskt hell ;; what is essentially post-break up when atsumu gets signed to msby and he’s just Pining and sad for the most part. but the established relationship pre-break up was written really nicely because it just fits my hc of them just being domestic and atsumu being blatantly head over heels

take me home

word count: 4k

i read this this morning and it wrecked me. domestic relationship atsukita?? sign me up

No time like the rest of my life

word count: 19k

mythology au with kita as a regular person and rest of inarizaki as fox spirits! it’s cute and the world building is absolutely lovely but it is an au so they might seem ooc but their core character values are still there

wild blue yonder

word count: 6k

literally full of similes and metaphors and it’s more of an abstract read i guess? but it’s so beautiful and soft and this is exactly how i imagine their relationship

reap and sow

word count: 8k

atsumu confesses and kita ignores him and it’s a couple years after the fact and it’s mostly just weirdly domestic almost roommate like except for the fact that atsumu makes it clear he likes kita LOL. they’re really in character for this!

weightless souls

word count: 2k

pillow talk before atsumu’s first game! the atsumu pov and voice is amazing

if we were both alone

word count: 7k

now this was actually my first atskt fic that sent me down this rare pair hell. it’s an explicit chat fic (both tropes i usually try to avoid) but atsumu types like me (except for the nsfw parts alksfjd) so i guess i like. feel appreciation LMAO.

if you do read like any of these fics pls let me know so we can discuss

♡＼(￣▽￣)／♡

#iwaoi #atsukita #i added some more on friday feb 19!

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sanstropfremir · 3 years

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the hotly anticipated kingdom episode 7 review is here!!

this episode was a lot less spectacle-y than the last one (the last episode with stages, i mean), and i think that was a good choice for all the groups on the whole to tone it down on the run up to the finale, because at the rate everyone was headed there would be no room to go any higher. i'm very glad that there was actually a collab stage and not just a song swap, especially because it gives a chance for the boys to work together and make friends when they otherwise arent going to be able to interact much. love love love to see them making friends and having fun doing these stages!

i'm not really sure why mnet didnt put the vocal stage this episode, because what on earth else are they going to put in the next episode with it??? i know it's a content stretch but still, it seems like a weird choice to me. anyways, there’s four stages for me to talk about this time and i'm going to try to not ramble out of control, but we’ll see. i did enjoy watching all of these, but we’ve all got favourites and i'm going to rank by which group i liked better out of the two for each stage, and then i put a few conclusions at the end. strap in folks this is another long one.

rap stages

skz + btob + atz

i was actually really surprised at how much i liked this stage. i would not classify myself as a rap fan and believe it or not i actually do not place a lot of importance on lyrics when enjoying music. although i have very high lyric retention and comprehension, i focus more on the sound than the literal words, so a fair amount of rap is swing-and-a-miss in my personal listening. plus when you add a language barrier on top of that, a lot of the nuance and technical skill of it just flies over my head. so i really dont have much to say about the sonic elements this time around, sorry. also.....i know i joked that nobody from the kingdom staff is reading my reviews.....but is someone from the kingdom staff reading my reviews????? i specifically mentioned that i think skz should do an art themed stage and then we got one????? i know i manifested the punk ateez stage but did i manifest this also??? am i just that powerful???

costume

obviously these are pretty basic rap/hiphop stage looks, but the white was a really good choice for visibility’s sake, and also thematically: it reflects the colours in the lighting really well.

i am DYING to know who the designer of minhyuks jacket is. if somebody knows please tell me i love it so much. it looks like some of the recent belted jackets that dior was putting out, but the drawing on the front armscythe piece reminds me of the superm/kim junggi collab for tiger inside. say whatever you want about superm, but you cannot deny that that is not some of the coolest merch on the kpop scene.

loved the traditional korean elements that came through in addition to the western references: the screens, hongjoong’s fan, minhyuk’s big fuckoff brush, the masks, and the sleeves on the dancers at minhyuk’s bit. those are a costume feature from a style of korean traditional masked dance called bongsan talchum. the masks themselves are versions of hahoetal masks, which are used in a very specific archetypal ritual dance in andong. i think these are imae masks, who is the servant/fool archetype that mocks the nobleman and the scholar. i suspect that was a deliberate choice, but i can only speculate.

another point about the masks which is not relevant but maybe a fun fact for people who don’t know. i actually thought at first that they were western theatre half masks, which are a very old style of mask that, like with hahoetal masks, represent a number of archetypes/stock characters. maskwork is a very common training practice in theatre schools, because it teaches body language and control, because half your face is covered and you cannot speak in your own voice (sometimes you cannot speak at all, this is one of the rules of full mask). the tradition of usings masks to portray emotion goes all the way back to the ancient greek chorus, but more commonly people in the west sometimes know it from the italian commedia dell’arte, of which you will have definitely seen some of the character archetypes before. i just find it neat that the same types of art pop up in different places seemingly independently of each other. humans are cool.

set

not much to say here, it's pretty bare with just some propwork. thought the screen use was fun and they used it smartly in a couple of transitions.

thought changbin’s bit of ‘interrupting’ the artists was cute and fun. there’s obviously a picasso reference there, and the four technicolour paintings are a reference to andy warhol’s pop art silkscreen portraits, most famously of marilyn monroe, but he also did many other celebrities in the 70s and 80s.

lighting

i LOVED this lighting. super bright and fun, lots of use of colour, obviously. the projections were there to enhance the visuals and weren’t distracting in any way. i thought the transition to black and white/ink with minhyuk was smart and had good contrast, it gave a strong rhythm to build back up to for the climax.

sound

bang chan’s ‘spelling colour with a u’ bit had me SCREAMING with laughter. we spell colour with a u normally bang chan, the americans are the ones that are wrong.

staging

i don’t really have a whole lot to say here, it was pretty straightforward and fun. like i’ve said in previous reviews, i wish they were more conscious of the steadicam direction and would stop showing extended bits of the production crew. at least everyone was wearing full blacks this time.

fun use of the upward angle combined with the groundwork/leg choreo during hongjoong’s verse, that was a highlight for me.

sf9 + tbz + ikon

nothing against this stage, the other one just hit harder for me. bobby is the best rapper on the show and he really carried this stage with his charisma. he’s a fun performer to watch and he knows how to command a space. i'm sure there’s technical notes that people have about the raps themselves, but i'm here looking at visuals as a priority, which i'm sure you’ve all grasped at this point.

costume

these were clearly extensions of these idol’s personal styles, with is a perfectly fine choice, especially for a rap stage where the emphasis is more on authorship. LOVED bobby’s 11yro girl at recess look.

amusing that both rap stages involved paint in some way? loved the backup dancers shooting supersoakers filled with paint at them, but i wish i knew the reason for it? i'm glad i saw this stage first because i would have been underwhelmed by the paint throwing if i had seen this after rainbow bonanza.

set

almost no set at all here, just a few props. i'm not judging as harshly on lack of set this round because these stages are meant to be more about skill than anything else.

lighting

i loved the projections, i thought they were unobtrusive and i admit, i LOVE outer space themed anything.

i liked that they did more concert lighting and had no projections in the first half to put more focus on the performers, it really highlighted the fact that this stage was about them, and not about anything extraneous.

sound

it was indeed a song.

staging

i do wish there had been a bit more control of the space, because it did look very empty at some parts and they could have staved that off by keeping tighter camera shots. this stage is so fucking big, holy shit.

they really brought their onstage chemistry and they looked like they were having a blast, which FINALLY!!

i actually really liked hwiyoung’s opening, i think there was a lot of potential there for some sharp contrast work that i wish had been played through a little more, especially with the cool white light overtop the black costumes. it actually reminded me a bit of the intro in the music video from a rapper i do actually listen to, bewhy’s gottasadae.

glad to see some more use of camera effects with the black and white, but why did they do it over the paint throwing? it just made the trajectory of the paint invisible because there was no colour contrast.

performance stages

sf9 + tbz + ikon

ok obviously im gonna have a lot more to say about the performance stages, nobody is surprised there. this one was the better constructed of the two and my personal pick for better stage, but i actually liked watching the both of them equally.

costume

king shit, literally. we love contemporary hanbok in this house. there was good colour and style distinction between the three of them without clashing.

costume change was fun and neatly blocked, it's pretty common to see backup dancers and chorus hiding quickchanges but i liked how this was a more unusual formation.

taeyang rocking the organza skirt and the big purple eyeshadow, thank you for keeping it cunty as always.

i really liked juyeon’s underlayer look. finally we get a good tbz costume look thats thematically relevant!

set

like all the stages this round, pretty minimal. the setting was almost entirely established through the costumes and the projections, which is some really good designwork. it's pretty much just the litters (the lifted chairs they entered on), and some smaller props. they managed to not make the stage feel empty because there was a lot of projection visuals to compensate, which is difficult to do without being overbearing, but i think they mostly pulled it off.

i originally thought it was gonna be weird to try and mesh the traditional korean architectural aesthetic with the weird mnet deco, but i ended up not noticing it as much as i thought i would.

lighting

like i just said, projections very well done and do a fantastic job of conveying setting without being overly distracting. like with the atz/skz/btob rap stage there’s a really broad range of colour use here that they offset by brightening and properly fill lighting the faces so you can actually see what’s happening.

the use of the strobing lasers and more concert style lighting fit really well with the change in the music from traditional instrument sounds to electronica and the more hiphop/isolated movements.

sound

i liked it well enough! i think it had a good arc that we can see echoed through the rest of the piece, like previously stated in the lighting and movement style.

staging

like i mentioned with the quickchange, there was some really interesting formations using the backup dancers here, especially as a lead toward/away from the camera

having the three of them enter on litters; again, literal king shit, love to see it.

this has a pretty clear narrative that doesnt really need an external explanation, which is good. i have to assume that the burning of the paper with 妃 (concubine) is intended to be a gesture of ‘burning’ the love out of their hearts, but that was the only thing i'm still confused on. this may very well turn out to be a reference to a specific story that i just have no idea what it is, but we’ll see once the subs are out!

i loved juyeons solo bit with the alcohol drinking and the table flip, that was the choreographic highlight for me. i just really wish he would use the other muscles in his face more often. we know youre pretty, you dont have to blue steel your way through all your performances!! take a page out of donghyuk’s book and make some ugly faces, it's good for you!!

i though taeyang’s swordwork was fine, but since i do actually have a decade of sword training i'm very judgemental. it's not bad, he obviously has practiced with the weapon and he knows how to control it, but he doesn’t have the same understanding as someone who has trained with a sword as a weapon and not just as a prop. if we hadn’t seen another stage with swordwork in it i probably wouldn’t have brought this up (that's a lie, i still would have brought it up, i have a third dan), but you can really see the difference between how minhyuk moves with his sword and how taeyang moves. a lot of this has to do with the proper weighting of the blade, which i mention briefly in my second episode review in btob’s section (and also this ask here, where i talk about properly weighted weapons in relation to the gun choreo in sf9’s and ateez’s previous stages); minhyuk is likely using a ‘real’ sword (it’s blunted but still made using proper methods and materials), and taeyang is using a cheaper-made replica (unless you’re doing full contact striking a LOT there’s no way a properly made blade breaks like that. also you would never tape it together hello??? respect the blade). if you know what you’re looking for, you can tell from the movements themselves when someone has training. minhyuk did a load of real training for a film where he was a swordsman, and you can tell; the sword is an extension of his arm, all the movements lead with the tip of the blade first, because that’s your first, your fastest, and your most dangerous point. you do 90% of your cutting with the first eight inches of blade, but it takes a lot of specific training to get your hands and arms to a place where that kind of movement is possible. taeyang’s movements are driven from his hands, which is unsurprising, because that’s where he’s used to his extensions stopping. the tip follows rather than leads. wow this got insanely sidetracked i hope you liked this crash course on swordwork.

this is pretty much what i expected to see from this unit. these three groups all have standout soloists, so i wasn’t surprised to see these three boys as the picks. juyeon and taeyang especially, theyre both from groups that are more likely to do experimental stages and choreography that highlights them as soloists and skilled dancers.

skz + btob + atz

this was a letdown from ateez’s last two stages, because they knocked those out of the park, but it's only fair that they have a bit of a fall. that being said, i did really enjoy watching this for its sheer ridiculousness; i’m forgiving the wolf concept this time because well, it’s wolf. you can't cover wolf and not do a wolf concept, that’s against the law. also, like i’ve said before, i'm all for dark concepts IF you give them thematic weight. is it on the nose? yes. is it thematically relevant? also yes. is it dumb? also also yes, but that’s never stopped a single kpop group in the history of ever.

costume

friendship restored with ateez stylists, rivalry started with skz stylists. the fur shoulder fluffs??? stupid and i love them. perfect in every way. however i keep seeing the same fucking costumes on the skz boys and i will come directly for the stylists at jype if they dont get their shit together. be! more! creative!!!

i really really wish they had gone more 2013 kpop with it, we need more of that ugly ridiculous styling. peniel was actually pretty close, with the overly long tunic and those yellow lenses. very vixx on and on (yes i know they were vampires from outer space, let me live)

i actually thought the wolf gloves were fun? the small bits of uv paint actually worked instead of looking out of place, and i'm glad they put them on wooyoung because the uglier an outfit, the better he pulls it off.

set

same dice, just the long table and the camo net at the beginning, which i thought was unnecessary. the table was useful for levels though, so happy to see they utilized that.

lighting

there is so much happening all the time. lots of lasers. it's definitely aiming for camp territory, and i dont actually hate it as much as i did on my first watch. it actually wasn’t as dark as i thought either, because its mostly lit with blue and amber. but it doesn’t really have that great of an arc and its not really that good on the whole.

the projections are a bit much for me, but that’s only when i'm actually looking at them. true to form, i didn’t even notice the excess of red slashes until like my fourth rewatch because i was too busy watching the performers.

sound

rookie exo my beloved. the original wolf goes so hard for absolutely no reason, so i’m not knocking this stage for being ridiculous. in fact it should have been more ridiculous. i think they did a fine job updating the song for a.....less 2013 sound.

i like that they didn’t bother to live sing the stage even though they recorded vocals for it, it gave them all a chance to actually focus on just the dance.

that being said, i am kind of missing all the adlibs from the original. but even though there’s some strong vocalists in this unit, they aren’t made of the same stuff as baekhyun, luhan, chen, AND d.o.

i literally just realized that peniel had already debuted when this song came out AND is technically exo’s senior because btob debuted like two weeks before exo officially did.....oh no

staging

choreographically this feels a lot more like the skz stages that we’ve seen rather than the ateez ones, so i'm curious as to who the choreographer was.

the tricking was definitely more ridiculous in this one, but i can't really say any of it was there for no reason because it all had elements of fighting in it. the scale of the tricks was quite large though and not very well blended with the rest of the choreo, which ending up making them look awkward. i thought it was a nice detail that they shone a green toplight on the dancers that made up the cliff wooyoung climbed up so that it looked like there was grass on it. cute.

the blocking is lacking a lot of fluidity, and i think that’s partially the scale of the tricking and also the editing, because this editing is TERRIBLE. there’s so much cutting, why is there so much cutting!! haven’t we already learned that longtakes are the best for this???

there’s a lot of stuff here that had good potential but could have been pushed a little farther. i feel like i say this for every mediocre stage, but what can i say, i'm good at constructive criticism.

they should have given more showcase to the tree and the scratching arms; it's the most iconic move!! i also wish they had kept some kind of iteration of the different unit ‘leaping’ in over the exiting one, i always thought that part of the original choreo was really fun and did a lot for establishing them as wolves.

i LOVED peniel entering with all those backup dancers in chains, thats some fucking iconic shit. very ‘im the alpha wolf,’ which is valid because he’s like at LEAST five years older than everyone else on the stage. i wish that instead of being the backup dancers it was the actual members, because THAT would have been an image. theyre all wearing harnesses and collars anyways, just clip em in! he’d be like one of those dogwalkers!

me last week: specifically talking about how krump is an uncommon style in kpop and it's very hard to get right kingdom, throwing the manifesting dodgeball at me for the third time: here would you like a KRUMP SOLO?

if you didnt believe me before that krump is hard to get right, i sure hope you do now. peniel did fine, but you can see how easily you can veer off into looking ridiculous.

some conclusions

i mentioned this really briefly in an ask i got earlier today, but i do think it's important to establish that the two performance units are doing two different types of performances. i can understand why people are underwhelmed by the atz/skz/btob stage and wanted it to be less of a traditional kpop dance stage and more like the experimental stages we’ve been seeing for the last few weeks. and i agree! i think they could have done more with it. but i also think that this kind of stage was a good choice for this particular subunit. unlike with the sf9/tbz/ikon unit, there are not really any standout technical soloists in ateez or skz. ateez has, in my opinion, the highest ratio of dancers with actual stage presence of any of the 4th gen groups ive seen. they’re at a solid 75% for any given performance, and occasionally they can bump that higher depending on the stage. that high of a stat is rare. it's extremely rare for a group to have all its members have good stage presence (i can think of like, maybe two or three?), and to get over 50% is pretty damn impressive. but ateez’s strength isn’t in how good they individually are as dancers, but it's in how well they work together. there’s a reason why they put FIVE of them in the performance unit. one of the first things i said about ateez to hanya is ‘i love wooyoung but he doesn’t stand out when he's not centre.’ which is for good reason!! he’s not supposed to! they all willingly give up centre and take it back when they need to, because they have that charisma. there’s a very cohesive push and pull to watching ateez that speaks to their strengths as performers. dancing in a group where you are all meant to be equal is a very different skill than just being a talented soloist. you have to understand what to prioritize in a different way. taemin dances differently with shinee that he does in his solo career, especially since they’ve been back. he understands when to step back; more often than not i find key to be the standout dancer in shinee choreo.

this is a very long winded way of saying that wolf was a good choice for them even though the stage didn’t turn out as well as it could have. also the fact that they made a cohesive performance at all, with a week of rehearsal and while working with essentially strangers is a feat and speaks to all of their skill at their job. performing in a group is a huge part of kpop, and they did call this the performance stage, and not the dance stage.

i'm not entirely sure on what the breakdown is on why each of the subunits were formed. i know the team sizes are extremely uneven, with sf9/tbz/ikon clocking in at 26 people and atz/skz/btob clocking in at 17 (i'm not counting changsub because he's not there and probably has a scheduling conflict), which is like, a whole extra group of difference. but atz/skz/btob utilizing their whole groups for each of the units (5/3/1 for performance, 1/3/1 for rap, and 1/1/1 for vocal, for 7/7/3 total), verses sf9/tbz/ikon only bringing out six people for these two stages and then six for the vocal stage is......weird? that's over half of their group number that’s not performing. i do think the groups brought out their standout performers and made smart choices with the stages but the balance still strikes me as odd. i do wish tbz had actually done some group choreo because they are very strong group performers and it would have been fun to watch.

ateez really played the long game here, good job boys. teaming up with the group who gets the highest fan votes AND the group with the strongest technical skills? i see you.

i think this is probably too wild of an assumption and is only based on circumstantial evidence but.....i think hongjoong might actually have a lot more creative sway than i previously thought. all the stages he’s been a part of have been very well designed, and i know he provided suggestions for the two ateez stages prior to this... i’m probably thinking too much.

ok you know what i know there were some other points in my brain somewhere but this is already 4000 words so i’m going to stop. if i remember anything else its probably gonna end up in the answer to some of the asks i’m inevitably going to get because i think my opinions on these ones are a little bit more controversial, whoops!

not entirely sure if ill do an extensive review for next week’s stage, because i'm not really a ballad fan and i dont really do vocal reviews, but i could do a quick one. i guess it also depends on what else they put in the episode. we’ll see!!

#kingdom #kingdom review #ateez #btob #stray kids #the boyz #sf9 #kpop analysis #if you read this i hope you like fun facts about theatre and swords!#despite having never seen me hanya managed to clock that hongjoong and i are extremely similar #so that might be why ive jumped to this nonsensical conclusion #also tbh i do have an opinion on why the unit breakdowns are like that but its mean so i will keep it to myself #ok im done now #i patiently await my asks #text #lol forgot to tag #ikon

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foolgobi65 · 3 years

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i really wish the writers of lucifer hadn't turned chloe and maze's friendship into such an afterthought! like ok:

- when they start in season 2, both of them are in pretty isolated places socially. chloe, already a pretty introverted workaholic, is just newly divorced and has exactly one (1) friend: lucifer. maze has finally split off from lucifer and has two (2) friends: linda and trixie, but for the purposes of this comparison linda really is maze's one friend. maze has just accepted that she's not actually going back to hell, that this time on earth isn't really just a lunch break before they go back to the real world (hell) and so she now has to figure out how to build a real life in LA.

- basically, both maze and chloe are kind of in similar positions in terms of being isolated and really only having a singular overwhelming relationship with someone as opposed to having a network they can rely on so that all their eggs aren't in one basket. you can see where this backfires on both of them throughout the series when linda spends the week not talking to maze after seeing lucifer's face, and when lucifer runs off to vegas and suddenly chloe is stuck with all these feelings she can't express (and crucially can't talk about to him, her best friend.) ofc lucifer and maze's relationship transcends friendship just based on their immense history and is its own weird thing that i also kind of wish they had given more thought to, but w/e.

- enter: maze and chloe's friendship! i think for both maze and chloe, the other person is as "far" as you could get from themselves, but is fascinatingly still someone they can like, respect, love, and be loyal to. for a good while (and this is something i REALLY wish they had maintained) chloe, maze, and dan are basically raising trixie together which takes so much respect and trust that the other person is someone you want having a hand in influencing a kid you love! i think what's interesting is that, unlike lucifer who is trying to answer existential questions about his place/purpose in the universe, maze is really just focused on the people she cares about and having a good time (which is rooted in her doing meaningful work as a bounty hunter.) chloe is someone who pursues duty to the point of self-sacrifice, and obviously her friendship with lucifer helps her loosen up, but the pedestal he places her on/reverence he sometimes feels for her prevents him from really popping that bubble in the same way maze does. also chloe and lucifer's relationship gets SO much more complicated around the time maze enter's chloe's life so the role that lucifer once had to shock chloe out of her comfort zone kind of goes to maze once chloe has to draw some personal boundaries with lucifer.

- i think the key to maze and chloe's friendship is that they're both people who desperately need someone who embodies the other person's best trait. while this tendency isn't always healthy, maze is fundamentally someone very loyal to those she believes deserves it. obviously she's also betrayed people a billion times but at her core she's deeply committed to those she cares about which is something that i can see chloe find really appealing. at this point chloe has spent so much of her life in this weirdly precarious position where, since her dad's death she hasn't been able to fully trust anyone or open up to them. obviously she loves dan, but its clear that even when they're still "good" he doesn't trust her instincts or potential like he should, and when he spent those months gaslighting her the issue for her even beyond the fact that he shot malcom would have been that he didnt support or trust his wife. the appeal of lucifer is that from the beginning he identifies that she's smart and moral with good instincts. he trusts her, and strangely over the season she begins to trust him too! and then he runs off to vegas, etc etc lol. maze's primary loyalty probably isn't to chloe, but we see that to the best of her capacity she wants chloe to be happy -- she gets the prison warden killed, she "tries" and then really does listen to chloe venting about lucifer, attends the parent night chloe was stressed about, sets aside her grudge with lucifer to find chloe.

- in turn, chloe's best trait is her ability to accept people as they are and see their potential. of course she doesnt really have that many friends, but the people she is attracted to are all works in progress (dan is obvious, as are lucifer and maze lmao, but there's also ella who confesses something very personal and scary to chloe and gets a hug in return, and even charlotte who chloe's had clashes with both as charlotte and Mom for years but still gets the benefit of the doubt.) maze does have to change when she comes to live with chloe and trixie, but we see trixie grow up heavily influenced by maze in ways that makes it clear that chloe must genuinely like maze, or those influences like the handshake and the passion for gore and the knife training wouldnt have been allowed. we know that the reason maze is so loyal to lucifer is that he was the first person to ever accept her for who she was unconditionally, without shame or judgment. we see that for lucifer chloe is that person, especially because she sees his potential for growth just as she sees maze's. because she doesnt have preconcieved notions of what they're supposed to be she only sees them as people going through a difficult period of growth and supports them as best she can: reminding maze that they're friends, worrying about her in canada, trusting her with trixie who is the most important person in chloe's life.

- of course, chloe and maze have lucifer and linda but narratively lucifer and linda become so much MORE for chloe and maze. the show sunk linda/maze lmao but linda's clearly the adult maze cares most about just as lucifer is chloe's. and for both in s3 this person they each place so much of themselves into suddenly hurts them and they both spiral. i think there was real potential for chloe and maze to become each other's support and develop into a really steady, enduring friendship in contrast to the chaos of their individual romances (you will NEVER convince me that triangle was about amenadiel rather than linda lmao.) even post s3, they don't really address that maze really hurt chloe by pushing her towards pierce, and that chloe hurt maze by lying to her. i really think there could have been a lot of growth from maze going back to living with chloe and trixie after making full ammends and chloe realizing that actually, yes she can deal with this and it isn't that scary and then the tragedy of her maybe missing her shot with lucifer becomes more stark. we see chloe and maze teaming up in the first episode of 5A but then they blow that up too! i get that chloe needs space and its clear they're both using the other as placeholders for the people they really want, but there's no reason that they couldnt have come back together later and re-established their friendship on screen. obv they wouldnt work together after lucifer comes back, but to me this is where i believe they should go back to living together. without that, maze's connection to trixie in terms of what they can show on screen becomes tenuous and chloe's home life just becomes less interesting/worthwhile to see bc it'd just be her or maybe her with trixie. without that, it feels like we just see a lot of chloe either at work or in relation to lucifer (bc thats the best bang for your buck in terms of interaction!) we do get to see maze with linda, which is nice, but idk just feels like a step back from early s3 when maze felt more embedded in a community of people who liked, accepted, and cared about her wellbeing.

- i think one of the issues is that chloe and maze's friendship might have seemed like a knock off of their "main" relationships with lucifer and linda bc they have similar dynamics with them, but idk! there's a sense of fun that we get from their friendship that we dont really see from the main pairings because those are so serious and passionate and the main mechanisms by which the 4 grow so there isn't as much room for the lighter stuff. i know i said that chloe sees the potential for growth but she's not really pushing maze to talk about her feelings. she's doing the dishes maze won't, smiling at maze and trixie's handshake, shrugging off the fact that maze is throwing knives at their rented walls. maze and chloe create space for each other to be seen as themselves, good or bad, in ways that linda and lucifer can't for whatever reason. they don't really push each other, just let the other person be. it wouldnt be the ideal dynamic if they were the only person in each other's lives, but i think its vital to have someone in your life who can, in chloe's case, gently push you outside of your comfort zone and in maze's case offer acceptance, friendship, and trust.

idk this is just going in circles as i repeat the same points over and over and over but i really wish they had put more thought into sustaining the maze and chloe friendship throughout s4 and s5 because it would have brought out notes in both of them narratively that i think are lost otherwise. also its just sad for trixie that someone who was basically part of her family who she was living with is just...not there anymore and that's never addressed. : (

#lucifer #maze #chloe decker #lol im just writing this here to avoid doing school work rip #back to pretending to do a reading!!!

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alottamoney · 2 years

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Okay. Cute things in the vlive. When JK was first sitting down, Tae told him "take your sunglasses off, baby/honey (Jagiya)" and then briefly covered his mouth. The other 2 didnt even seem to find it weird, so seems like its probably a pretty normal way Tae addresses JK. The baby was not translated for the English version obviously but is included in the Korean subs.

I think Tae's panty pants and beautiful face hypnotized JK, and I'm always here for JK staring at Tae like he's his whole world, while Tae flirts and teases him. They were super cute with each other. I enjoy and am intrigued by watching them try to be just friends on camera (and failing).

As for the rest (shipwar bs), yeah I think Tae finds it funny. I really dont get the hype though. Like nothing anyone said was weird for a group of friends?? But, then they are all masters of making statements that mean nothing, but can be intrepreted however the viewer prefers. For instance, JK comes to Jimins room like hes taking attendance, doesn't actually sound like he's staying, makes it sound more like he's checking in. Doesn't even imply he only does this to Jimin, and in fact the whole time Tae is saying, I know, and yeah his knock sounds like this, and of course when he wakes people up at 2am it's not about something important. Seems like he (JK) does this to both of them, if not to everyone in the group. It just wasn't framed that way by Jimin (who for some reason only shared TMI related to JK once JK entered the live. Seems sus, but okay. Its almost like he had *gasp* a script). Jk and Jimin exercise together. Well yeah, they are friends and this was an already established thing. (Wonder if Namjoon, Suga, and Jin were also there? They never talked about them) JK hangs out in JM room in the morning...probably, if he's lonely and jimins room is closest and Jimin is awake, why not? I mean we all know Tae isn't up in the morning. Was he just going to sit and stare at Tae while he sleeps? That'd get boring after a while, I'm sure.

Hello anon,

I didn't see anyone mention that Jagiya part. Do you know Korean? but yes, Taekook are very cute.

Thank you for sharing your observations and I agree about them making statements that mean nothing. My taekooker friend said that they don't even trust the things Taekook say anymore and I get where they're coming from. Trying to make sense of the things they say is a task. I mean, I'm not a Kpop idol but even I don't have six hours a day to be lying around in a friend's room. There's some obvious exaggeration going on and I leave it at that. I've also said this so many times, so it's probably annoying now but I don't see anything romantic with Jikook🤷🏻‍♀️ I'm not even gonna use any brain power on that lol

Bold of you to assume that Jungkook doesn't stare at Tae while he sleeps tho.

#ask me questions

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baalzebufo · 3 years

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🔫😃 give us them monster au Majima deets I dare you /hj

I'm invested, I wanna know stuff, like; What was the interaction between Kiryu and Majima like after the reveal? How did Haruka find out? Was it because she lives with Kiryu or did Majima tey to keep her oblivious to it as long as he can because no.?

I WANT THE DEETS AND I WANT EM NOW

(ya don't need ta do nothin if ya don't wanna, take yer time, I just wanna show excitement with this :>)

THANK YOU for the interest I am constantly excited to talk about things and will 100% share what deets I have

(Update: this got... WAY longer than I anticipated. So im putting it behind a readmore. sorry for the wall of text I got very passionate suddenly!!)

disclaimer: I have very little solid 'canon' established and 99% of this will be stuff I make up on the spot cause thats just how I do these things

So, in my head this all takes place after the events of the first game- Kiryu's been to jail, gets out, 10 billion yen drama ect. I think it would be peak drama if Majima accidentally let slip during the fight at Shangri-la that he isn't human, he got so hyped up on the idea of a 'fight to the death' with Kiryu (which, lets be honest, was probably a bit of suicidal ideation on his part because he wanted Kiryu to utterly destroy him) that he couldn't control himself and Kiryu gets an eyeful of claws and teeth and horns. But because things are so fucking manic during that point in the game, Kiryu deadass writes it off as a weird hallucination/'this might as well be happening' because he has WAY too much going on.

it's only after the games finished and Kiryu settles down, decides hes going to adopt Haruka and is trying to get his affairs in order when he's like. Holy Shit What Was Up With That.

Majima hasn't shown his face around him since because he becomes convinced Kiryu seeing that means hes going to despise him and/or try to kill him so he crawls into his hole to mope about it and Kiryu has to genuinely jump through hoops trying to find where he is. He was concerned! Eventually he gets in touch with Nishida who is equally worried about his boss (he knows Majima's secret but is sworn not to tell anyone) so he just. quietly tells Kiryu where Majima is living right now and prays it wont come back to bite him in the ass

He goes, Majima initially attempts to be like 'haha you hit your head pretty hard down there-' and write it off like that but Kiryu is nothing if not persistent and eventually he has a little meltdown about it and finally just shows him. Majimas been in a super weird mental state since Shimano died and hes just like, at his breaking point, so he figures 'fuck it, if Kiryu hates me, whatever' at that point

OBVIOUSLY Kiryu doesnt, hes just like. dude are you okay

they have a long ass talk about it and what happened and it all sort of culminates in an awkward love confession because turns out wow you two REALLY care about each other, huh!

Majima also shares that hes only really still in the yakuza because he feels like its the only place he belongs, that a monster like him doesn't deserve anything resembling a normal life. its that conversation that starts him on the path to realizing he's not happy there tbh

Im SEVERELY rambling at this point but. after a lot of emotional catharsis between these two they promise to try to make something work. majima considers leaving the yakuza, and kiryus going to make a home with haruka. and while hes not ready to join them properly, just yet, he's... thinking about it. in the meantime, he's heard some cool stuff about construction as a business, and he's lookin' into it.

they kept it from Haruka for a while, mostly because Majima is super not comfortable showing people. He didnt spend a lot of time around her because he still felt guilty about the kidnapping thing, but eventually Kiryu pushes him to try to apologize properly and make amends. Haruka is obviously suspicious of him but, I think shes got a good judge of character when it comes to if someones being earnest, and its clear Majima wasn't acting of his own volition. (She blackmails him for lots of ice cream as an apology.)

Eventually she picks up on the fact they're hiding *something* because of how like, furtive Majima becomes when he stays with Kiryu and how he's almost never actually around, especially since he loves being the center of attention otherwise. So they brace themselves for it all to come crashing down when they tell her.

It honestly... goes fine. Maybe its just cause she's a kid and was way more willing to believe monsters exist, but it's not quite the 100% world-shaking revelation. It does set them back a bit and there's a lot of convincing that 'not all monsters are evil', but eventually she settles on. 'he's not scary. he's just kind of weird.' and you know what? majima will 100% take that.

(also she thinks its funny how he purrs when you touch his ears a certain way. he's like a big weird puppy.)

okay goddamn this post got long enough as is but. thank you again for the interest I have... so many words in my brain about this. Ideally id love to write a proper fic but im really not great at structured writing like that- it takes a helluva lot of a work compared to just infodumping into a big nightmare post like this. One Day.

I mad appreciate any and all interest though! Like, at its heart this is a hurt/comfort kinda au, and my end-goal is for Majima to realize being a monster doesn't mean he doesn't get to be happy or that he doesn't deserve to be treated like a human. it is vitally important to me that these two old sad men be happy together and build a better life lmao

#I hope its ok to put this in the main tag im. just i like talking about this aaahh #goro majima #kazuma kiryu #monster au #im also gonna tag all this content as #longjima #because thats my silly nickname for his monster form #this is probably very disjointed and weird to read i am just!! my syndromes are activating you know

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