#but this version does appreciate the creepiness of little girls more than the old one

[the-au-thor]

HEEEEY what about the bestfriend blurb with Spenceeeerrr

Im dying here you know

have a great day

I appreciate you screaming the hey out of me. Am at the hospital because this almost-27-year-old-little-girl discovered she is a chronic asthmatic :) I don't wanna die and I don't want you to die sooo, you asked you'll receive.

Note from this author: This is more than a blurb, but we will still call it a blurb. It contains delicate topics so, I recommend reading the warning contents here AND I'm a pretender and delusional writer, and a super cool nurse answered my creepy questions last night during his shift. There's a bunch of medical terms I'm using here that are probably so very erroneous so my apologies, play along with me, please.

Also theres a part 1, 2 and 3

Bestfriend Blurb #4

Summary: You and Spencer are best friends and colleagues who are deeply in love for each other but oblivious at the same time. Let's see how much it takes for them to find out.

Words: 1.3 k

DELICATE CONTENT read the warning

You had put on your headphones; that was a clear "not to disturb" signal for everyone around. Something that slightly bothered Hotchner was that you were indeed doing so in the middle of a police station during an investigation into a series of murders. He didn't say anything because, at least, you had gone to get them decent coffee (not the one the sheriff's secretary made), and you were reviewing on the map the locations where the child abductions were occurring and where the unsub had left the bodies.

Your brow was furrowed, and you hadn't added sugar to your coffee; Spencer observed this from a distance with curiosity. You always added sugar, especially in the morning. They had been sent to Maryland after a case involving an unknown subject who kidnapped infants and left them in public places for everyone to see a day or two later. It was a complicated case, especially because they were children, and the time between abduction and death was so short that it seemed hopeless for the families.

"They just kidnapped another child. Tommy Gibson, three years old," Sheriff Saget entered the room they had been given for the case investigation. You turned, taking off your headphones, paying attention for the first time to something other than the points marked on the map. Spencer could hear Janis's raspy voice coming from your headphones even from a distance. "Same victimology, same modus operandi; he killed the person he was taking care by, his godmother, and took him from the scene in broad daylight. His parents arrived two hours after leaving him and recognized the signs from the news. They immediately called the police to report it," he added, "We've sent everything to your analyst, and she'll be investigating it," he announced, and as if on cue, their phones started ringing, indicating the influx of information that Penelope was undoubtedly sending them.

Hotchner hurried to contact her and put her on speaker to bring everyone up to date.

"Does it say if there was any kind of violence?" J.J. asked.

The sheriff nodded as Penelope grimaced with displeasure.

"Yes, the door was smashed, but there wasn't much violence in Tommy's godmother's death. The blow was gruesome but effective."

"He killed her with a rigid object, a poker; an investigation is underway right now," Rossi remarked, focused on the police report.

"He used a knife and a hammer for the previous ones," Derek added with technical expertise.

"Because he doesn't care about them. The nanny, the grandmother, and the godmother were just a means to an end," you murmured, leaning your hands on the table and looking directly at Rossi.

"I'm getting permission for public security cameras," Penelope rushed to inform. "Crosses social lines, but so far, he has stuck with the same race; Caucasian boys between two and three years old," Derek said with technical experience.

"Tommy's parents are on their way to give their version of the events," the sheriff informed Hotchner, who nodded.

He turned to Penelope, "Anything else, Garcia?"

"So far, there isn't much connecting the children except their age. I'll be looking into them a bit more. There has to be something in common," Penelope said her goodbyes and immediately started gathering information, ending the call.

Everyone looked at Hotchner, awaiting his directive. He looked at J.J. and Prentiss.

"J.J., you and Emily will go with Tommy's parents. David, Derek, and I will go to the morgue to find out more informationabout this unsub." Then his eyes landed on you, and you knew exactly what he would say next. "You and Spencer will go to the crime scene and figure out what connects Tommy to the rest of the abducted children." You nodded, stretching your back and getting ready to leave. "One more thing; take your camera and leave those headphones."

You felt your cheeks warm with embarrassment, swiftly removing the headphones, nodding.

"Yes, sir," you mumbled, starting to leave the place, trying to focus on the case and not the recent slight embarrassment.

"Are you okay?" Spencer hurried to catch up with you, concerned. You nodded, but that didn't satisfy him. "Is it because of the children?"

"Wait!" both of you heard from behind, turning to see a police officer stopping you with excitement. "The sheriff told me to go with you and see your work."

You sighed, looking at the pretty blonde approaching, you finally answered Spencer "Of course, it's about the children."

If Spencer hadn't been too busy answering the officer's incessant questions from the back seat of the car, he would have realized that it wasn't about the children. In fact, the real issue was much more humiliating. Apart from hating cases involving children, the real problem was that you knew there was something you weren't seeing right in front of your eyes, and it wasn't due to something serious. No, the culprit was, in fact, sitting right behind you, smiling at your best friend while polishing his red apple . You gripped the steering wheel, trying not to make it obvious that her presence was irritating you.

But if you were honest, much more honest; it wasn't just that. You recognized in the young officer the enthusiasm and curiosity you felt when starting your career at the academy. You could even understand her annoying infatuation with Spencer's intelligence or how she couldn't help but gravitate toward him like Peter Pan's little Tinkerbell. What irritated you in a wild and unprofessional way was that Spencer seemed to enjoy it. You had never seen him smile so much in the past few hours since arriving in Maryland, and that made you furious because you couldn't remember making him smile like that ever.

"It's incredible that he graduated so young from college, and the FBI considered him for an elite position," the girl mentioned with an admiring sigh, then turned to you, "Isn't that amazing?"

"Astonishingly breathtaking" you ironically murmured under your breath but unable to deny it.

"Is there anything from fieldwork that has been a real challenge for you?" she asked.

"I can think of a few," you replied quietly, of course, unable to avoid glancing at her sideways through the rearview mirror with an ironic tone.

"I'm sorry; I know I'm sometimes too enthusiastic. But you guys are my heroes; the FBI is the main reason I wanted to join law enforcement in the first place," she replied somewhat embarrassed.

You wanted to scream in frustration because the girl was nice and entirely innocent, and you were unloading your unreasonable anger on her for no reason.

"Don't apologize. It's that spirit that will lead you to save people and do a good job," you allowed yourself to rectify that uncomfortable impasse caused by you. It was the least you could do after sending tranquilizing darts through your eyes since you met her.

You tried to avoid Spencer's concerned gaze until you reached the Gibson's house, but you couldn't simply stop watching them. You knew something about that didn't sit right with you, but you turned your attention back to the officer's interested gestures and Spencer's animated smile to bury the splinter that had been constantly pricking your insides, almost leaving you breathless. You heard her laugh, then her hand squeezed Spencer's arm.

"Agent, you're so funny."

Okaaaaaay. That's it. You're done. Adiós

Without warning, you turned around, showed your badge to the officer guarding Tommy's house, and started taking photos inside without knowing what you were really looking for. Well, you were trying not to think about the officer and her enthusiastic hands on Spencer's biceps.

"What's wrong with you?" Spencer's question made you jump as you took photos of the kitchen where the child and his godmother were presumed to have been when the unknown subject surprised them.

"Nothing; just doing what Hotchner asked me to do," you announced, bringing the camera to your face and taking another photo of the broken chair and plates on the floor, "and your admirer?" you asked with a trembling voice, looking at how the photo turned out and examining the details.

Spencer furrowed his brow, you knew even if you couldn't see it from your angle. But he approached you with his hands in his front pockets.

"She stayed chatting with her colleagues at the entrance. What's bothering you about her?" You frowned and looked at Spencer, almost offended.

"What's bothering me...? Nothing! She's just a bit annoying, but it's okay; I understand her," you quickly replied, walking through the room and looking around with curiosity.

"Yeah, because that's why you'd be blasting Janis Joplin so loud that even a cow would be startled." You sharpened your gaze, looking at him through your lashes.

"I'm surprised you had time to notice anything with all the giggles she was getting out of you." You wanted to hit yourself; cut off your damn tongue or something.

You should have changed the subject; raised the white flag of surrender, but instead, you gave the most perceptive person on the planet material to soon draw the most accurate conclusion; that you were so jealous.

"What are you talking about?" Spencer asked, his face contorting into a confused and almost disgusted expression.

"Forget it," you snapped almost like an order.

"No; you said it. You have to explain it now."

"Spencer..." you murmured, rolling your eyes at his insistence, but you knew he wouldn't give up on this.

"No. I want to know what you mean."

"Nothing!" you grunted. "Just that you're smiling," you pointed, looking him in the eyes, feeling defeated just by saying it. "All morning you've been talking to her, and you've been happy and smiling, and...I've never seen you like this with anyone, and it's...weird," you admitted and finally downplayed it with a wave of your hand, "Forget it," you sighed, "it's not your fault."

"My fault for what?" You looked at him again.

"That a police officer who barely knows you knows better how to make you laugh than I, your best friend, do," you muttered, feeling your emotions reaching their limit and your irrational anger and jealousy starting to sting your eyes with tears. But you wouldn't cry.

Spencer furrowed his brow, his gaze suddenly a bit more relaxed, and the sparkle in his eyes indicated that he was understanding better how you felt. And then came that gesture of pity, and you refused to let him feel that way for you. "Hey..."

"Agents, do you think you've gathered enough evidence? I have officers on an extended shift who will collapse from hunger any minute now. They haven't eaten anything for hours, except for that gluten-free hummus and cookies the Gibsons offered them when they arrived," one of the officers entered the kitchen, interrupting the conversation.Thanks to the Universe.

"That's it, officer," you replied, turning off the camera and starting to walk towards the door with Spencer. Then you stopped, extending your hand and gently tapping Spencer's abdomen, halting his steps too. "Hummus and gluten-free cookies," you looked at Spencer. "Richard Collins, the first victim. Didn't his family consume fruits and vegetables without pesticides from their own greenhouse?"

It took him only a few seconds to analyze what you were saying. "And Bobby's family had a sustainable irrigation system," he recalled the first victim. "Call Penelope, something in this has to be connected."

"The results of the forensic analysis indicate a high production of Interleukin-1," Spencer spoke into the phone as you, he, and his cheerleader were already settled in the car, heading back to the station. "However, these kids had never experienced high fevers in their lives"

Their families were all anti-vaxxers. Despite leading healthy lives, and their parents being very responsible with their children's health, they hadn't taken them to their measles vaccination appointment.

"If they didn't have the vaccine, do you think the unknown wanted to simulate a measles outbreak?" Penelope asked on the other end of the call.

"It's possible; then he doesn't have access to the virus but to the medical records," Prentiss responded.

"An anti-anti-vaxxer?"

"Exactly. We could be talking about a paramedic or even an administrative worker with access to records but not to the laboratories," Derek spoke thoughtfully.

"How do you induce fever without making a child sick?" Tinker bell asked from the back seat.

"There were high levels of Cefuroxime, an antibiotic used for bronchitis or even gonorrhea. That explains the fever, but not the death," Spencer intervened.

"He needed a trigger," you murmured, trying to remember everything you've learned, but the information tangled in your mind. "There were also traces of the same measles vaccine in the children's blood sample, right? Sometimes it's contraindicated if the patient has any dermatological problems, fever, or seizures," you recalled.

"If the unsub caused the child's fever to simulate a measles attack and then applied the vaccine, it's likely that it caused the death," they heard J.J's voice "He didn't hydrated them, he didn't feed them. He just left them tobdie alone and in pain"

"It doesn't take much for such a young child to die from fever. Seizures after a vaccine are caused by fever, especially if it's not controlled. He made them boil until their bodies couldn't take it anymore," you muttered, annoyed, trying to control your urge to press the accelerator to the maximum.

"It has to be someone who can easily access medications and has some minimal experience in medicine. It doesn't take much knowledge. We're looking for someone who has an extreme opinion about anti-vaxxers. Someone who has expressed excessive anger on social media. Surely, he's proud of the murders and shares news about the topic online," Derek told Penelope over the phone.

"I'm narrowing down the search, but look; Do you know how many people cancel anti-vaxxers on social media daily? Many of them are healthcare workers."

"We're talking about a narcissistic vigilant," Rossi added. "He's between 40 and 50 years old, probably lost a child of that age relatively recently. Maybe he was very responsible with vaccinations and feels it's unfair that the children of people who consciously decide not to vaccinate them are still alive."

"That's terrible, but..." they heard Penelope typing furiously until she found the only name that blinked on the screen. "...we have Martin August. A Caucasian man, 45 years old. He works for a supply company. Coincidentally, he delivers medications to the three hospitals in the area where Bobby, Richard, and Tommy are treated."

"What about the family background?" Hotchner asked.

"You got it right. He lost his two-year-old son, Charlie, three years ago, and he was very strict. He never missed any medical appointments. I'd say the child practically lived in the hospital."

"But if he died three years ago... What triggered him?" J.J asked.

"Good question." She decided to check the civil records and found a divorce certificate. "Martin divorced his wife when his son was just one year old. The thing is, she remarried and recently had a baby."

"He must feel that she forgot about Charlie and is rebuilding her life," they heard Prentiss say.

You and Spencer looked at each other alarmed. "He's going after his ex-wife's son," you said with certainty, knowing that if the man killed Tommy, he wouldn't wait at all to go after his next victim, and you suspected that with her, he wouldn't hesitate to cause even more harm.

After an hour and a bit more, you and the team found Tommy. He was in a very dangerous condition; undoubtedly, Martin had taken it out on him, probably rehearsing everything he would do with his ex-wife's little baby. However, the doctors were positive about it, and you decided not to leave the hospital until you knew the child would be stable. J.J had stayed there, and you had promised to accompany her; you knew how tough child cases were for her. Both drove back to Washington, and you made sure Will was informed of the situation and would accompany her that night with his famoustea and a good conversation. From there, you continued alone to your apartment; Penelope had helped you find it, and it was a couple of blocks from hers. You started walking towards the reception of the building when you found Spencer sitting on one of the lobby's chairs.

You looked at him somewhat surprised; the tension of the case had dissipated all the previous events; it had been effective in making you forget that you had ever been jealous and that you had had that conversation where you practically admitted hownyou were feeling.

"Shouldn't you be resting?" you asked, leaning on one of your feet, tilting your head. "What are you doing here?"

He got up from his seat and approached you with a strange look; there was doubt on his face but determination in his gaze.

"Do you remember that strawberry punch you make?"

You raised your eyebrows. "Spencer Walter Reid wants to drink alcohol?"

"With you," he added with a half-smile. "I want to drink alcohol with you."

You stared at him; the circles under his eyes were more marked than usual. You knew he was tired; you couldn't just send him home and deny him a peace punch. You nodded your head and pointed to the elevator, greeting the building manager just before the doors closed.

Spencer stood still beside you; you could feel his warmth colliding with your body. It was crazy and sent confusing signals through your spine.

"When Officer Williams praised me, it made me feel good," he murmured. "Not everyone has the patience to hear everything I have to say all the time," he added, watching the numbers indicating the levels of the building move up on the screen.

"I listen to you always, J.J listens to you always, Prentiss does, so Penelope and Rossi. Derek and Hotchner sort of listen to you all the time," you reminded him.

He nodded, stretching his lips into a thin line, still not making eye contact with you.

"I know."

"Not like that, though," you added. "We don't flirt with you."

You saw his cheeks blush, and then you knew you had hit the mark.

"I think we all have an ego to feed, right?" he murmured. "You were right, but you're also wrong," he finally looked you in the eyes, this time not breaking eye contact for a second. "Yes, I smiled with the things she said, they made me happy. But you... I don't need you to do or say anything; I am happy because of you. I don't smile with you; I do it because of you."

Of course, hearing him say that sent a warm signal through your body; it was as if suddenly you were wrapped in a satin blanket, and your feet didn't hurt, and thatpast case didn't happen. You never went to Maryland and now you are floating. And despite how good it felt, you knew you shouldn't get used to it.

"Spencer, you don't have to..."

"No. I know I don't say it often because saying it out of nowhere and without context would sound strange, but it's the truth; I don't need words, or places, or anything to be happy when I'm with you. I could be vegetating by your side, and I would be the happiest man alive" he admitted this time, looking at you with such intensity, and his words being so real that they touched the most sensitive and hidden nerve in your depth.

Your eyes stung, but you knew you wouldn't cry. Instead, bravely, you stretched your hand towards Spencer, and he took yours with confidence.

"I don't need anything else either, Spence."

And like a stroke of magic, the elevator stopped, and the doors opened. The moment had started and ended in the same location, but just like the elevator had done, you knew that conversation had left you in a different place, yet you didn't feel strange. In fact, you couldn't wait to explore it.

Part 5 and 6

#spencer reid #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid x reader #criminal minds #dr spencer reid #criminal minds fanfic #spencer x bestfriend! reader #spencer reid fluff #spencer reid blurb #spencer reid bestfriend blurb #spencer reid x jealous! reader #aaron hotchner #jennifer jareau #emily prentiss #penelope garcia #derek morgan #david rossi

[severeearthquakebanana]

Ok! We've made it through the end of Sailor Moon SuperS. Thank goodness. Boy did I dislike that arc. My favorite part was the villains, like the Amazon Quartet were so fun! They got the McGuffins for the season by hitting a ball with a pool cue and having said ball bounce around the set until it smacks the person in the back! Absurd! yet fun. I also liked their banter with Zirconia, the step down? parallel? to the big bad. Zirconia herself too, her voice actress was excellent and I loved her exasperation with the quartet! And then the big bad, Queen Nehellenia, she had all this potential. and when they gave the big lore dump of her backstory in the last episode of the season, 166, it was a very creative and interesting backstory! I really liked it! But I feel like i didn't really get a chance to appreciate it, cause it was just a big lore dump at the end of the season.

I think the thing that really bothered me (outside the stuff i complained about last post) was the relationship between Pegasus and Chibiusa. Like, they made it romantic, which i would expect from a shojo like Sailor Moon, but it was just, kinda creepy. I know Chibiusa is like 900 years old or something, but she's portrayed as a 10 year old (ish, i think). It's a major part of her character that she is so young, but wants to grow up. And like, one of the episodes, the one amazon quartet girl 'made her and Usagi's dreams come true' by making Usagi and child and Chibiusa an adult. And then Pegasus is all like 'you're an adult, I can't live in your dream or see you or talk to you if you're an adult'. TO CHIBIUSA. THE MOST LONELY LITTLE GIRL IN THE STORY. It just, it really rubbed me the wrong way.

And all of this gets waved away, because (spoilers) Pegasus is actually a guy who was in charge of guarding the 'Golden Crystal' for the Silver Millennium kingdom, so at the end of the day he and Chibiusa would be great for each other because they are both eons old anyway. I don't know, I still don't like it.

I think part of it comes from my original expectation of a peter pan story line, and it definitely did deliver. But my thoughts were that there is power in youth and the unbridled optimism that comes along with being young and having your whole life ahead of you. Not that Chibiusa just has the most beautiful dream and falls in love with the McGuffin 'because'. However the message of 'you don't need to give up your dream just because you grew up and are now an adult' is an excellent message to send! Because it's true! You DON'T have to give up your dreams just because you're an adult! How many times have people changed their career or life trajectory in their 50s? Happens all the time! and it's a wonderful thing! Additionally, when you can't change your situation, dreaming of something better can be incredibly helpful! So that whole concept is great! i think it's just the execution that was lacking.

Overall, I am very curious as to what the Crystal/Manga version of this is. because there was a point where Mamoru had to do a whole Prince Endymon thing, and I've read/definitely confirmed, that the 90s anime really kneecapped the guy. He does have capabilities besides throwing roses and saying cheezy one liners! So I'm curious as to what they actually were for this arc. I'm also curious to see how the relationship with Chibiusa and Pegasus actually was put together. Like Usagi and Mamoru made significantly more sense in Crystal than in the 90s anime, but both still sold it in the first season i thought.

Anyway, I try not to be too critical or negative with these, Tumblr is for fun fandom interaction, not complaining. Plus I sincerely doubt that any gripes i have here haven't already been discussed ad nauseum within the last 30 years of Sailor Moon fans anyway. It's like Phantom of the Opera. We KNOW the Phantom is bad. We KNOW there's all kinds of unhealthy going on with that relationship. However the music is pretty and who doesn't love a good garbage ship? I certainly enjoy it.

Regardless! Onto Sailor Moon Stars! The last season. I already watched the first episode of the season and my loves Haruka and Michiru have returned, complete with transformation music, attacks, and catchphrases!!! So here's hoping for a better run of it going forward.

#sailor moon #sailor moon spoilers #sailor moon super s

[lyledebeast]

Pet Semetary is just a really scary PSA about keeping your cats indoors.  Ya’ll listen to Uncle Stephen now!

#stephen king #cats #if they had just kept Church inside none of this would have happened #pet sematary #i just watched the new one and frankly #the cat who plays church outshines all the human actors #but this version does appreciate the creepiness of little girls more than the old one #and that was a plus

[professorspork]

If you're accepting non-superhell prompts, I'd love to see a conversation between Nora and Emerald! I've been REALLY loving these microfics, I've subscribed to you on Ao3, I'll read whatever else you write

[Gahhh that’s so nice you’re so nice!! thanks for being patient on this one, finding my Nora took some doing]

It’s occurring to Emerald that she’s never had a close female friend before.

You say that like you’ve ever had any friends before, the voice in her head that sounds suspiciously like Mercury needles her, but she brushes it aside. Like—okay, yeah, she’ll concede the point when it comes to Cinder. In hindsight, whatever they’d had going on between them may have been... super intense... but it probably had never been friendship, in the usual definition. But she and Mercury were friends, no matter what the judgy little shitstain version of him who lives in her head has to say about it. They’d always gotten along. Told each other stuff. It’s not like there’s more to it than that, right?

It had always been like that. Been—instinctive somehow, with guys. Before Cinder, on the street, it was always the men who’d been easiest to manipulate; who would empty their pockets for a smile and a sob story. And then she and Merc had been two sides of the same coin for so long, and then... well, Hazel’d liked her enough to die for her, apparently. (Which—that’s a door that she keeps closed, thanks. She shuts it firmly again, now.) Oscar seems fond of her, in a sweet, uncomplicated sort of way that she really doesn’t know what to do with, seeing as he shares headspace with like a trillion year old man and the idea that anything to do with that kid could be “uncomplicated” is batshit. Ren vouched for her once, and then again, and now he keeps doing it, like it’s habit, like she should just be used to the fact that people are going to have her back, to ask her if she’s eaten, to turn to her with a raised eyebrow in conversation like her opinion would be constructive.

Anyway.

Now that she’s noticed the pattern, it seems like the kind of thing she should probably… work on, or whatever. And Nora seems like an obvious place for Emerald to start. They’ve been thrown in together a lot, lately, Emerald and Oscar expected to fill in the gaps of what’s left of the old JNPR by default. Not that they’ve ever really had a conversation about it—Emerald can’t think of the last time Nora said two words to her that weren’t combat warnings like “more Grimm coming” or “on your left,” but. That’s probably just because things have been tense. She remembers Nora being friendly, on the whole of it. Off-puttingly friendly, even, back at Beacon.

How hard could it be?

The answer, it turns out, is absurdly hard. Nora’s barely ever in the temporary barracks they’re all living out of, instead always checking on the refugees, going on supply runs over esoteric requests, volunteering for extra patrols. Emerald used to find that kind of dogged do-goodery gag-inducing, but now that she’s been the helping hand herself a few times, she’s starting to see the appeal. The way people look at you when you’ve been of service, it’s—nice. Really nice. But Nora works utterly thankless jobs, the kind most people don’t even notice, let alone appreciate. And when they have their insufferably long leadership meetings and they’re talking about distribution of resources or whatever, Nora’s a fierce debater—jumping in to advocate for the people from Mantle sometimes even before May can. As far as Emerald can tell, she does this stuff just because... she believes in it. Because it’s the right thing to do, and someone has to.

She can’t imagine what it would feel like, to have the attention of someone like that turned on her. She’s craved it from the wrong people for so long, but now that she has her pick of options... she’s letting herself actually want the right kind, for once. She thinks.

Which is all to say that largely through no fault of her own, Emerald unexpectedly finds herself sitting with a profound, fervent desire for Nora Valkyrie to think she’s cool.

She hates that.

-

Fighting with Nora is easy.

(—er. Alongside. Fighting alongside Nora is easy. Emerald’s done fighting with these people. Very done.)

It’s weird, because Emerald’s finding working with a full team to be a real adjustment. When battles get big enough to merit it, she’s used to keeping to the sidelines to use her Semblance for nefarious purposes, or, in a jam, used to having Mercury’s six—literally, because all the forward momentum from his feet-first style always left his back wide open. Figuring out where to put herself so that Oscar can use her shoulder as a fulcrum as he dodges, or trying to aim for the Grimm Ren isn’t already shooting (ugh)—it’s taking work.

But somehow, it’s not work for Nora. Nora seems to anticipate with perfect ease how Emerald will move or what she’ll be doing; Nora bobs and weaves around their ragtag little band with her war hammer like it’s breathing.

It doesn’t bother Emerald until it does, and she means to bring it up casually but there’s never a good time. So it just… stews, and stews, until she can’t keep it bottled up anymore.

Which means that instead of the earnest question she intends it to be, it comes out like this:

“Okay, seriously? It’s creepy how you do that.”

It’s just the two of them, plus the handful of dweeby Atlesian tech-types they’re escorting back from their foray installing some fancy hydro-filtration modules on the outskirts of the camp. And it’s not like Emerald had felt outmatched by the half-dozen Ravagers that had decided they looked like lunch—she can shoot Ravagers in her sleep, at this point—but still. The way Nora had moved around her, it was like they’d been fighting side by side for years.

Nora just cocks her head to the side. “Do what?” she asks, like she hadn’t just basically read Emerald’s mind in front of the water nerds.

Emerald does a complicated gesture with her hands, wrist over wrist, and then flicking two fingers—trying to evoke the way Nora had flipped over Emerald’s back and then kicked off, just trusting Emerald would reel her back in with a chain in midair before a Grimm could fly away with her sorry ass. “That.”

“Oh!” Nora laughs and rubs at the back of her neck, looking sheepish. “It’s nothing. I guess it’s just not a big deal for me? Like—I was there when Ren built StormFlower. The cables are newish, but we practiced so much back in Atlas… I dunno. It’s just reflex, when your weapons are so similar. Fighting with you, it’s almost like fighting with him. I don’t even have to think about it.”

Nora swallows, then, and makes a face Emerald can’t interpret—disappointed, maybe, or ashamed. Which: good. She probably should be, taking things for granted like that.

“Well—just—” Emerald’s not even sure what she wants to say. Ask, next time? Don’t? “You shouldn’t make assumptions. I’m not your boyfriend, okay?”

The venom she puts behind the word is directed more at herself than Nora—frustrated, again, that she’s put herself in the position of wanting so desperately to be liked.

Pathetic.

Nora just nods, looking glum.

“Yeah,” she murmurs, cheeks pulling in a bitter smile. “You’d think I’d be able to keep that one straight, huh?”

She says it with such pointed irony that for a second Emerald wonders if she’d gotten it wrong somehow, but like—Nora and Ren are a thing, right? That’s—everyone knows that.

“Hey, what—?”

“Let’s just go,” Nora says, and Emerald automatically falls into line behind her.

They make the rest of the walk back in silence.

-

Sometimes at night, when she can’t sleep, Emerald likes to climb up to the roof of the barracks and look out over the refugee camp.

It’s—peaceful, is all. A good reminder of where she is; how far she’s come. The night sky in Vacuo has more stars than she’s ever seen, and being able to watch over all these people who have somehow become her responsibility… well.

A part of her will always be standing on the rooftop at Beacon, looking down on pure chaos as a queasy, frightened sensation twists in her gut and its noxious voice whispers you did this, you did this, you did this. What did you think was going to happen, you stupid little girl? You don’t get to feel sorry for it now.

But she does.

Weird how the only thing that’s helped is actually doing something about it.

She hears a scuffling noise over her shoulder, and she’s got Thief’s Respite drawn and ready before she can even really register what she’s heard. She relaxes when she sees it’s Nora at the other end of the barrels, unarmed and hands raised—a funny little smile on her face, like yeah, fair enough, I should have known better than to try and sneak up.

“Just me,” she says, unnecessarily.

Emerald holsters her guns. “Can I help you?” she asks, and—what is it about her voice, that makes sentences that would be nice if any other human said them come out straight-up hostile?

Nora shrugs, hands dropping to her sides. “I was hoping we could talk; I figured you’d come up here if I waited long enough.”

Well, see—what kind of lesson is she supposed to take from that? She’s been hoping for Nora to talk to her for weeks, and acting like a bitch is the thing that gets her what she wants? Good guys are supposed to know better.

And there’s the way she said it, too. Like everyone knows Emerald comes up here to brood; like it’s a big open secret. The knowledge sits uncomfortably in her stomach, makes her feel watched. Even now, even here, she can’t get a moment alone. Not really.

“What, so you’re spying on me now?”

Nora’s eyes narrow. “I have a pretty bad track record when it comes to losing people. Makes a girl want to put in a little hustle when it comes to keeping tabs on her friends.”

And Emerald would snark at that, or maybe apologize, or something, only—

Nora thinks they’re friends?

“Well, take a seat, I guess,” she mumbles, scooching to the side as though she needs to make room on the massive, empty roof.

Nora walks over and joins Emerald on the asphalt, letting her legs dangle over the edge. Seemingly unsure of where to start, she stares at her hands. Emerald stares too, but her eyes can’t help but wander—tracing the way scars, silvery in the moonlight, spiderweb up Nora’s bare wrists and forearms to fetter her shoulders, clavicle, neck. Like cracks in a pane of glass, right before it shatters.

(Only that’s not it at all, is it? It’s not a sign of weakness, but a warning of strength. I care this much, her scars announce to the word. You wanna try me?

Hazel’s arms always looked like that.)

Emerald doesn’t want to be the one to break the silence, sure that whatever she’d say would be incredibly stupid.

Luckily, Nora has no such qualms, and opens with: “I really admire you, you know?”

Emerald stares, jaw slack, certain she’s heard wrong. “I—what?” She’d say something defensive, like yeah right or you don’t have to make fun of me, only Nora’s eyes are so wide and so guileless they don’t leave any room for argument.

“I mean it,” Nora adds. “I know we don’t know all that much about each other, but… here’s what I do know: I can’t remember a time I saw you without Mercury right behind. Just like me’n Ren. And the way you fought for Cinder…” Nora smiles a sad, private little smile. “You don’t fight like that unless it’s personal; unless someone means something to you. Just like me’n Ren. And now you’re here. All on your own. And you didn’t have to be. That’s—don’t you think that’s crazy brave? I sure do.”

Of course she fucking doesn’t. Crazy brave would have been walking away the first, tenth, hundredth time she had a flash of panic about what she was doing. Or, better yet, doing something about it. Crazy brave is taking thirty thousand volts to get to your friends; it’s flooding your veins with pure crystalline power and saying Go, I’m doing what Gretchen would have done, it’s—

She closes that door.

“It’s not like I really had a choice,” she sighs, dodging the question.

“Oh, you know that’s not true,” Nora scoffs dismissively, tilting sideways to nudge Emerald with her shoulder.

And Emerald jolts, because—look, it’s not like no one touches her. They have to manhandle each other all the time in battle, and… and Oscar gives her high fives sometimes, which makes her embarrassingly pleased. But what Nora’s offering now, that kind of buddy-buddy casual contact…

… it’s been a while, is all.

“So, why did you want to talk to me?” Emerald asks, overwhelmed and suddenly desperate to find a way to get this conversation over with. She feels like she’s sprinted five miles; like she’s had the crap kicked out of her and she has to go somewhere to lick her wounds. Too much, too fast.

Nora laughs—a chuffing, cynical noise that doesn’t sound at all like her. “Looking for pointers? See, I’m trying this thing where I do things on my own, but I just—I suck at it. Like today; you saw. Even when I’m not with Ren, all I do is… is act exactly the same way I do when I’m with Ren. Like I literally don’t know how to exist without him, whether he’s actually there or not. And I know that’s not fair to anyone; I didn’t mean to treat you like—” She shakes her head, biting her lip. “You’re not just some stand-in. It’s not you at all. I’m just—broken, or something. One trick pony.”

“No, hey—”

“But you figured it out,” she barrels on, which is good, because Emerald doesn’t actually have a clue what she would have said there. “You don’t have anyone and somehow you’re just, like—good to go!” Nora says it cheerily, like it’s a compliment, but has the grace to balk a little when she hears how it sounds. “…sorry. That’s—sorry.”

Emerald shrugs, drawing her knees to her chest and resting her chin there. She feels like an idiot; building it up for weeks like spending time with Nora would solve all her problems when, surprise surprise, Nora’s just as fucked up as she is.

“Hate to disappoint you, but I don’t have any hot tips,” she mutters into the crooks of her elbows. “I don’t have a clue what I’m doing. Like—you want to know the really sad part? I was just following your lead.”

“My…?” Nora can’t even finish repeating it, which: Emerald can’t blame her. It’s so dumb. “Huh?”

“Come on. You know.”

“I don’t,” Nora says, voice thick with exhaustion. Like she’s sick of herself. “Ask anyone—I’m not the brains of the operation.”

Hearing Nora talk about herself that way makes Emerald’s chest feel tight; like her ribs have locked in place so her lungs can’t expand. She doesn’t know how to explain it; not without sounding like a starry-eyed fangirl or a moron with a crush and that’s not what this—it’s only that—

She chooses to start a different way.

“You wanna know why I switched sides? Like, really why?”

Nora softens, and reaches out to touch the back of Emerald’s left hand, where it dangles over her knee. “Sure,” she says, but Emerald barely hears it; it’s taking all of her concentration not to clench her fist or pull away in response.

“I overheard Oscar—or, Ozpin, I guess, I don’t know—talking to Hazel about Salem, about her goals. And… listen. No one joins under Salem because they’re trying to kill the world, okay? I mean, no one but Tyrian, anyway. We were all just trying to… find ways to get by. And when Cinder found me, she—” Emerald swallows, hard. This cuts too deep, too close. It’s not something she can just say. “I wasn’t trying to be some big villain, or something. I was just—looking out for the people who were looking out for me. And why wouldn’t I? No one else ever seemed to think I was worth it.”

“Of course you are,” Nora cuts in, quiet but vehement. “Everyone is.”

“See, the worst part is that you mean that when you say it,” Emerald grumbles, scrubbing at her face until smears of color kaleidoscope behind her closed eyes. “I figured people like you didn’t exist, and then Cinder and Merc were glad to prove me right, and—I let them. You know? And maybe if I’d just held out a little longer…”

“You’re not the only one here who’s ashamed of her past. Harriet tried to blow up Mantle, like, a month ago.”

“That’s not—forget that. I’m talking about you. Nora.” It’s the first time she’s ever said her name like that—addressing her, in conversation. It feels… astonishingly intimate, for so small a thing. Emerald powers past it. “Every day, I see you do something ridiculous, like double back on a patrol because you forgot you promised some kid a candy bar, or something, and that—matters. To me. It’s so stupid, but it’s not, because… argh! I want—it’s—” She tries to get her mouth to form the words, that’s the kind of person I want to be, but they stop in her throat.

Still, Nora seems to get the message. Her eyes seem suspiciously shiny for a moment—but when she blinks, it’s gone. “I… thank you.”

“Don’t mention it,” Emerald grumbles. Saying it like she means it: seriously. Don’t mention it.

“I understand what you mean, though. For years, the only person who looked out for me was Ren. And if he’d said…” Nora trails off, then, cocking her head to the side as she works through something. “Huh.”

“What?”

“Nothing, just. I remembered something. I was about to say that if Ren told me the only way for us to get by was a life of crime, or something, I would’ve taken his word for it, but—the opposite happened. We decided to enroll at Beacon. And that wasn’t his idea; it was mine. I always wanted to be a Huntress. To… to be the one strong enough to help people, instead of always needing the help. He wasn’t sure if we would make it, but I was. We were together, right? How could we lose?” She chuckles, a little, shaking her head at herself. “Get a load of that. He followed me.”

They smile at each other, then. Like they’ve figured out something profound. Maybe Nora has; Emerald hopes so.

“I’m glad you’re here, Emerald,” Nora says, and—there it is again. The frisson of electricity that comes with being referred to by name.

Of course, then Emerald ruins it by blurting out:

“Of course you are, all your other friends are dead.”

Which—“Fuck!” she sputters, because she didn’t mean to say that. What is wrong with her? “Sorry! Sorry.”

Nora only grins at her, feral and incisive. “Yeah, well. Yours are evil, so. Pick your poison. At least I’m proud of mine.”

Touché.

“Still glad I’m here?” Emerald jeers, because her first instinct is still to press on the bruise to see how much it hurts.

Nora laughs, and gets to her feet. “Believe it or not, yes. If putting your foot in your mouth was all it took to get booted from Hero Club, I’d have been kicked out a long time ago.” She reaches down to offer Emerald a hand; Emerald takes it, letting Nora pull her to standing. “Now go and get some rest, huh? None of us can ever sleep when you’re up here thinking so loud.”

“That an order?”

“Advice. Friends give it, from time to time.”

And—yeah. Maybe they do. 

#typeoneninja #emerald sustrai #nora valkyrie #rwby #emerald and nora #fic what i wrote

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

If Bella was a boy (with Bella's gift. And he would be ​Edward's singer). What would change? What do you think?

So, I gave a fairly detailed response to this already. The long and short of it being that, depending if Beauford’s the right kind of guy, he and Edward will essentially end up in a romantic relationship neither realizes is romantic. Then Edward eats Beauford at some point.

But, since we’re here, I suppose we can enter imagination land and get into some more details.

Caveat that I haven’t read Life and Death and have no desire to, so we’re actually ignoring some strange alternate universe canon that never made much sense anyway. Shocking, I know, and very unlike this blog.

Beauford Swan and a Kid More Messed Up Than Even Bella Swan

In order for our love story to even start, Beauford has to be the kind of guy that Edward’s into (or can project that he’s into). Well, we know Edward’s into Carlisle (he projects pretty much an idealized version of Carlisle’s personality onto Bella and actively wants to look like Carlisle as to him Carlisle’s is the face of holy perfection while Edward looks like a demon) and given what he says he likes of Bella’s personality we can extrapolate from there.

Edward’s not going to be into an Emmett or anyone remotely resembling Mike Newton. He’s going to be into a quiet, kind, misunderstood, sensative, intellectual who probably looks some level of frail and in need of protection. Essentially, what he saw in Bella, subverting the Madonna complex he has for her a bit (Beauford will be a kind of Madonna, sort of, but not quite so blatant).

So, we have Beauford, who looks a lot like male!Bella and by that I mean he keeps her pale skin, her big dark eyes, and general look about her that she could break with the slightest contact. Basically, he’s a very pretty guy the likes of which typically comes from a shojou anime. He’s also likely still debilitatingly clumsy.

So, you have this guy who’s awful at sports, as in each time he tries he probably ends up in the ICU. Is an intellectual in that he reads old books, an odd amount of Jane Austen at that, but isn’t actually an artist or writer. In fact, other than reading, he has no real hobbies. Has a larger than life mother who constantly needs looking after. And has nothing in common with his peers.

As bad as Bella had it, I posit Beauford would have had it worse. He’s not going to get along with 90% of boys until... probably college. He’s always picked last in kickball, shares 0 interests with most other boys, and is probably ruthlessly bullied for all of this and more. Worse, being so pretty, he’s going to attract a lot of romantic attention, especially from preteen girls who are very into that look and Beauford’s sensitive artistic nature. This is going to get him so much shit from other guys.

Add on top of this Bella’s original difficulty socializing and I imagine Beauford is just as depressed if not more so.

Fast Forward to Forks

Beauford comes to Forks for a similar reasons to Bella, because he felt like a third-wheel in Renee and Phil’s relationship and that his mother was better off without him. I can also see him just not knowing how to act around Phil, who probably expects a stepson who’s more... sonnish. Beauford’s not going to play catch with dad in the yard and I can see Beauford wanting to avoid all of that entirely.

He enters Forks and has a vaguely similarish reception to Bella. Only, there are some key differences.

I imagine Mike, Tylor, and Eric quickly sour on Beauford as he goes from being potentially cool new bro to a guy that can pick up every girl in this school. He’s like the Cullens, but less incestuous and creepy and therefore a thousand times worse. They desperately don’t want Beauford sitting at their lunch table where he can potentially pick up all the babes. 

In other words, Mike is the new Lauren, and Beauford knows it. But it’s either eat with these guys or eat in the bathroom, and Beauford’s not at that level of desperation yet.

Jessica’s probably into him, having been into Edward (another pretty, sensitive, guy), but unlike Bella I imagine Beauford has a little better social intelligence in that he has seen this game before and he knows where it leads. So, he desperately, actively, doesn’t flirt with anyone. Which makes him a terrible conversationalist, and he just comes off as really weird.

Beauford, therefore, actually is a Cullen 2.0. You don’t want to be a Cullen 2.0 (Bella is the only one in that school who thinks the Cullens were in any way popular).

I imagine Edward notices this, plus Jessica’s interest, and gives a Nelson laugh from across the room. Now someone else can have the joys of Jessica Stanley’s lust. Though he does notice he can’t read Beauford’s thoughts, which is strange.

Like Bella, Edward undoubtedly thinks Beauford is at first highly overrated, just like all the other mindless teenagers in Forks, and rather plain (from his narration, Edward likes blondes and lighter eyes). 

The Rest

Biology happens, it’s a disaster, Beauford has no idea what he did to get Edward to loathe him so much but this time Mike isn’t in any way sympathetic. Instead, Mike just can’t believe he and Cullen seem to agree on something for once.

Edward flees to Alaska, decides he won’t lose to Hamburger, and comes back to do damage control. And we start mirroring canon a lot here. Edward has varying conversations with Beauford, is intoxicated by his very scent, and starts projecting an almost saint like personality onto him. Edward grows increasingly obsessed, starts creeping into Beauford’s room at night to protect him from spiders, etc.

The difference being that Edward is utterly convinced that what he and Beauford share is the highest platonic ideal of friendship. They are platonic soulmates, all other friendships pale in comparison to them, they are intellectual peers and artists.

This is even when they still go to the meadow, Edward kidnaps Beauford in Port Angeles for Italian dinner (despite Beaufrod not having been nearly raped without Edward’s intervention), Beauford is invited to the Cullen house, and more.

Beauford, being Bella levels of oblivious, also has no idea this is a romantic relationship. Likely, what he feels at first and is driven by is a strong sense of kinship with Edward. As Edward is also an intellectual outsider hated by the male half of the school. Beauford’s been there, bro. 

However, like Bella with Alice, he appreciates small details of Edward’s vampiric physical appearance, enjoys staring at Edward’s perfect face, and really digs that vampire smell.

I imagine, beyond what happened in Twilight things like the following occur: Edward constantly sketches Beauford in unintentionally (but secretly intentional) erotic positions with no clothes (this is art!), Edward leers at Beauford changing in his bedroom because “we’re both men”, Edward insists on discussing Beauford’s future bride with Beauford and imagines the most perfect woman in the world while also imagining smashing her head in like a melon.

But I imagine most of the Twilight plot points happen. The difference being that everyone is very confused on why these two can’t admit they’re dating. Rosalie probably bringing up very valid points of “Edward, if you want this guy to go date someone else then you can’t monopolize his life” and Edward telling her to stop being so petty and jealous of Beauford’s beauty. Aro, I imagine, just dies in New Moon and has no idea what to say when Beauford returns from the dead because it’s not, “Oh look, the lovers reunited! Ah, right, I forgot, they’re just friends. Yes...” 

The other difference being, as I strongly suspect that without Renesmee Edward would never have turned Bella (Renesmee really forces that issue as Bella actually dies before Edward turns her), that he would have eventually eaten Beauford as Alice predicted.

But he’d be so delicious.

#twilight #twilight meta #twilight headcanon #twilight renaissance #bella swan #beauford swan #edward cullen #anti edward cullen #edward/bella #anti edward/bella #edward/beauford #anti edward/beauford #meta #headcanon #opinion

[organic-guacamole]

episode 210 here we go

awww seb doing the intro

congratulations to milky white and her baby chocolate milk😌

seb is so funny

but seriously, clean up that milk fast or else it will smell so bad in there....

was that Lauryn just randomly doing cartwheels? idk any theatre kids irl but that seems like it's a common thing...

is it just me or has ms Jenn been getting more harsh to Ricky and Seb mainly-

like what did they do to her

no because I actually snorted with laughter at the "you came back" WHAT IS THAT VOICE-

AND THE MASK OMG

yeah so my throat hurts now

I'm dying over here

KOURTNEY'S FACE

SAME GIRL SAME

Ricky's fake death got the whole place in tears /s

he looks like an asthmatic walrus

Seb's on piano, I love

we all know if he was the beast we'd all actually be crying✋

ok but I listen to Julia's version of home on Spotify when I want to cry-

right so gimme a second

is Ricky scratching his face.....while he's dying?

"belle i-" *flop*

round of applause to Ashlyn for trying to make Ricky's earthworm seizure look less.... yknow

Kourtney's just dying there

WAIT IS THAT NATALIE

did she really just disappear for 9 episodes just to come back and stare dramatically into the camera

WAIT SCRATCH THAT SHES HERE TO MURDER ASHLYN AND RICKY

oh so Ricky's wearing a gay shirt now too

so that's the real reason why Rini broke up, see y'all next season when Gini and caswen become canon /j

wait that was a long intro scene-

what was that look Carlos-

TALK TO MY BOY OR ELSE

carlos' run is so funny to me

therapist Ashlyn to the rescue

"that is...super" son you good?

ms Jenn call Benjamin, he would willingly put his loved ones on a rocket and blast them into Venus for you....

maybe

"I don't want you kids to be disappointed" girl you do realise you're the one that's most invested in this?

"a smooth opening night" wasn't there just 1 show though-

like their opening night was closing night too

"I think I was Troy at one point" PLEASE THATS THE MOST ACCURATE DESCRIPTION OF THE SEASON 1 FINALE

me Jenn looks like a serial killer during that clap and I'm lowkey scared for zacky

"I have notes"

oo if you're taking suggestions, lemme get my list

"mother is freaking out" uhhhhhh

right....'mother"

"is everyone sitting down?"

*looks around awkwardly*

*big red slowly sits*

"no..."

please seb was the only one sitting-

does that mean Carlos looked at Seb as soon as he walked in and assumed that everyone else was sitting too or am I a seblos clown🤡

"is this about the transformation"

WOW MAYBE OT IS RICKY

WOW HES A DETECTIVE FOR FIGURING THAT OUT SO QUICK🤩

YO WHY IS NATALIE HERE-

she just shows up when it's convenient? is she gonna be at the sleepover too?

Seb's heavy swallow after Carlos shouts at him makes me so sad

"I never learned how to lie but I figure if I keep my mouth closed, I can't tell the truth" *nods and smiles at Nini when she asks*

why are they casually standing up all over the pizza shop, just sit at a big table and talk instead of blocking passageways and blocking off at least 6 tables-

"how about I invite myself" WHY DO PEOPLE ALWAYS FEEL THE NEED TO INVITE THEMSELVES TO ASHLYN'S HOUSE-

YOU CAN ASK BUT JUST FORCE YOUR WAY IN?

so Cash Caswell has a bigger house than... Dennis Caswell.... who would've thought

ah yes there's the good old EJ 1.0

Nini: "boys vs girls"

Gina: *looks devastated and glances longingly at EJ*

way to be inconspicuous

"but north high should be" *cracks her knuckles in the most uncomfortable way*

good for Ashlyn for getting more confident though

oo bossy big red

"i get bossy around the power tools"

is that why Ashlyn was holding up the drill in episode 8 orrrr 🤠

oh

Lily, leave him alone please

she's literally not blinking, is that what makes her creepy?

the diss at big red and his face afterwards is priceless

isn't that similar to what Gina's mom said to her in season 1? hmmmm

but seriously please don't try to redeem lily, let us have a character to hate, or to love because they're evil.

not everyone's a good guy.

"im not liked here and I don't know what to do"

let antoine finish his salad and it'll fix everything

"hug emoji" *gags*

y'all realize Lily's literally 14?

why is she calling a 16/17 year old from another school for personal advice-

"he gets weird around tools"

I shouldn't be laughing so hard

"deja vu maybe?" awkward silence

I'm dying here I love EJ so so so so much

"where's seb"

*cuts to seb being held hostage hoping that they'd notice he's missing and go look for him*

"don't ask"

"oh ok"

"100% real faux fur" as you should queen

sponsored by target

Kourtney is singlehandedly saving the entire show.

Seb making finger guns make me happier than it should

why is this kinda making me want to have a co-ed sleepover with my non-existent theatre friends

YES YOU DO NEED TO TALK/SING TO SEB CARLOS THANK YOU FOR KNOWING THAT

wait what-

you haven't talked to him all WEEK-

Carlos are you stupid /hj

Benjamin is so adorable I can't

he turned around to come back for her instead of going home. you're "what do you want Jenn🙄X act isn't fooling anyone Benjamin 🙃

10101

1+4+16= 21st?

they placed 21st?

or do I just not remember how to convert to base ten

GIRL DON'T BE RUDE TO HIM, HE'S GONNA SAVE YALL

no ms Jenn, the kids are not eccentric 35 year olds.

aww sebby

is he thinking that Carlos is only with him cuz he's the only other openly gay guy at school-

son you are a perfect little bean don't put yourself down

yes they all ship portwell as they should.

they'll be throwing risotto at the wedding.

not the chocolates. stop there are no chocolates. please stop I'm dying.

Gina you don't have to explain yourself to her

it was a misunderstanding and it's in the past

why is Ashlyn still laughing-

exactly it wasn't a big deal please just move on Nini

Kourtney really be out here saving everything

WHY IS ASHLYN STILL LAUGHING

why do I feel like when Gina finally told Ash about it, she didn't think it was that funny but wanted to feel included in the inside joke so now she brings it up randomly to show that she's in on it....I totally don't do that...

"idk, the farmer type" oh son...

Ashlyn and big red are just spilling the secrets back and forth huh?

OOO EJ AND GINA SITTING IN A TREE K-I-S-S-I-

cmon guys don't look at me like that-

"she is the best" and "we're buddies" don't sound right together

"pretty boy" "sweet boy" best ways to describe EJ

I love him.

and aw he's scared of rejection so he'll hold back just to keep her happy and not awkward how sweet

is Ricky wondering if letting her go(literally his song from last episode) was the best thing he did for Nini because he doesn't feel like it now? hmmm this is getting good

why is everyone so invested in Kourtney and Howie's relationship

PACK UP THE LAZY RICKY THING

oh yes Benji, that's exactly what she's doing

she couldn't follow her dream or whatever so now she's using the kids to gain some of the success she craves. why else would she have that massive hsm poster with her name on it in huge letters in her office.

just casually grab his hand with both your hands and stare at him creepily 🥰

ship jennzzara y'all

the first bump was a missed opportunity to do the baymax "falalala" as a reference to the fact that they watched big hero six while committing arson✋

wait so big red and EJ just left Ricky in the basement and now Ricky invited Carlos when they're supposed to be at the stage?

help no Ricky looks like he's about to tell Carlos he likes him (I know it's about writing the song for seb but still, look at his body language and tell me it doesn't look like that)

Ricky is so mature about this, he really just wants Nini to be happy even though he's hurting-

baby you deserve love, maybe Nini isn't the one for you but don't say you don't deserve it

why does he keep adding bro to the end like he doesn't know how to address Carlos

PLEASE CARLOS HAVING TO ADDRESS THE BRO THING

"let's write a song when we have like 45 minutes to get to the place and help our friends possibly win $50000 at the show in 2 weeks"

"can you hit a high C?"

"that's like the bottom of my range"

why am I laughing

this is so cool to see friendship interactions that we don't normally get to see

Nini why are you being like this-

Gina did nothing wrong??

I saw that, EJ and Gina being the only ones going in the same direction👀

right so obviously Kourtney's waiting until after the menkies to get back with Howie just in case he really is just using her as a way in to east high... obviously... right?

CARLOS

OK ITS COMING GET READY YALL

Why is portwell so awkward all of a sudden

OMG EJ

OMG GINA SAY YES or not, do what you want.

the way she doubts that EJ would genuinely ask so she has to make sure it's not Ashlyn behind it

OH

THE "NOT THAT I KNOW OF"

LIKE WHAT GINA SAID TO JACK ABOUT EJ BEING HER BOYFRIEND

GUYS THEY'RE SOULMATES

I want risotto now please

THEY'RE SO SWEET AND ADORABLY AWKWARD ITS LIKEEK LITTLE KIDS

OOOOOOO what is this place that seblos is in, looks fancy....and secluded

oh wait no Ricky's just standing there

wait is it the bomb shelter

it looks so good what

HSKAGSJAGAJAGWISGSKAUASBWKSVAIWBAISBQKSHIQBWOABWOABDOQBZIQBAIAQBSIWBQISVQKSIANSGOQBSAISBKASBKWBAIABQOSBBSJAHAJAVAJSBAJHSKAHSJAHAJAJAAJAHHHHHHHH

@youranxiousnerd ARE YOU OK?

CUZ IM NOT OK

LOOK AT SEBBY'S FACE

LOOK AT HOW ADORABLE IT IS

THE LYRICS ARE KILLING ME

SEBLOS IS KILLING ME

I AM DEAD

PLEASE SEND HELP

I like to imagine that Frankie and Joe practiced this in their apartment and just had a blast with it.

or maybe that Frankie practiced in secret like what Joe did for the climb

OH THE SUITS

THATS WHERE THAT CLIP IN THE PROMO WAS FROM

AWWW SEBBY'S SO CUTE

HE'S A LITTLE MARSHMALLOW

they're still so awkward with the dance I cant

let's appreciate Frankie's voice though

this episode really was made just for the seblos and portwell stans and you gotta love it

BIG RED GET OUT

WHY DOES HE ALWAYS DO THIS

Seb's little "yeah" IS ADORABLE

you can't tell me that wouldn't have been the best time for them to say I love you....IF FREAKIN BIG RED WASN'T THERE

ok but wait Ricky needs more hugs like that, look at his face

the boy needs love

"bro" please don't let Ricky and Carlos go back to not talking because their friendship is amazing

EJ laughing at Ricky sounding like a cat coughing up a furball is so funny to me

RICKY'S FLOP GETS ME EVERYTIME

I knew it was too good to be true

ok so Ricky's dead, next in line please

this episode was so short but I love it so much. this is what I signed up for for season 2✋

#hsmtmts #hsmtmts s2 #hsmtmts season 2 #ej caswell #ricky bowen #gina porter #hsmtmts spoilers #seblos #seb mathew smith #carlos rodriguez #big red #ashlyn caswell #kourtney greene #lily hsmtmts #ms jenn #mr mazzara #natalie bagley #guac's episode text blocks :)

[allkinds-oftrash]

Ya girl is watching the latest HSM series ep and Imma live blog it hshshs and will add my reactions under the cut so it doesn't end up a long post. Anyways, let's goo:

AHHHH THE MORNING SHOW WITH GINA AND EJ WE LOVE TO SEE IT

They really said we're gonna let life imitate art with Nini and Olivia huh

Ricky was SUPPORTIVE??? Damnn I really thought we gonna get a classic Ricky tantrum....

But also wow sir that sounds salty and should definitely talk to someone abt how you're feeling...A therapist maybe 👀

I know we needed to contextualise how Ricky felt abt the song but I really wanted to see Nini's interview in full!!

Sebby you're so cute I do wanna see yall do DEH

Shjshshs not the rights not being available for another 5 years 😭😭

I dunno how they're in great shape and closer to the Menkies Gold after not having a single proper rehearsal, but go off Miss Jenn

Omg honestly Kourt's costumes are always amazing and on point Imma excited to see it

Kourt is such a simp we love to see it

Carlos is so pissy this episode we love to see it shshhs

Also love the way Seb calms him down and keeps him nice it's such a funny dynamic

"We had 20 people make our Belle dress over 50 hours" Okay North High shut the fuck up

I'm calling it now the reason North High knows so much is cos Howie is the leak and Kourt has been unwittingly telling him. The way her phone keeps going off as they discuss how North High knows everything is really good foreshadowing if my prediction is right

Also like her phone went off just as Carlos said "How did they know that?" THAT'S PEAK FORESHADOWING

If Howie ain't in North High, I dunno what Tim is doing

GSJAGSHAH KOURTNEY MAKING ABS FOR EJ I CANNOT

"I have abs" We know sweetie

"I PADDED THE THUSH FOR YOU" "AWW THANKS KOURT I NEEDED THAT" THIS INTERACTION IS EVERYTHING THAT WAS SO FUNNY!! I love that it is now canon that EJ has abs but no butt love that for him

Okay but like damn these costumes are great!! North High can fuck right off with its high end ones I just wanna see lowkey homemade costumes by students; I'd watch a Broadway show if I wanted to see professional costumes okay

Damn Carlos has killer eyesight clocking in that mask in the trunk

GINA BBY DON'T SAY THAT AND HAHSGSH NINI NUDGING HER WAS SO FUNNY

Nini's little look over at Gina was like "Omg you guys my girlfriend is so cute and dumb" GINI STANS HOW WE FEELING?

Miss Jenn don't be that naive, your boyfriend probably put them up to it

That Insta page is prophetic with their timing tbh; all the info is a leak obviously looking at your Howie but like the timing of it all. Those kiddos don't know that they are discussing the stolen mask at this exact moment (Kourt has put down her phone after Carlos snapped at her so Howie doesn't know they are talking abt it rn)

"We don't dance with the enemy" *cuts to her dancing with Zackey later*

SEBBY WEARING THE TEACUP COSTUME OMG HE'S GOING MAKE SUCH A CUTE CHIP (yes I am still mad Seb/Joe was robbed but Imma fangirl over the costume anyway)

Wtf why does North High look so expensive - they are literally in the same district as East High right??? How did they get this much funding

North High is a very artsy and rich for a public school; they should have had Nini go here instead of YAC tbh (like this campus feels like what YAC should have been) NOW THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN AN INTERESTING STORYLINE

Seblos' dynamic IS ON POINT THIS EP I really love my bois so much and their back and forth is hilarious

Shhshs DIANE who loves volleyball and North High okay I totally believe it

WHY ARE RED AND ASHLYN SO KINKY EVERY DAMN EPISODE TIM THESE ARE UNDERAGED CHARACTERS STOP IT

Shshsh we love Gina knowing herself and practicing self control by volunteering to be the lookout

Omg yall listen to Carlos and stfu they are so lucky no one saw or heard them yelling Wildcats

Oh no no no no no Miss Jenn you gonna get sucked in; this is gonna be so messy

Omg I saw someone post about this scene before I watched the ep YALL ARE RIGHT THAT BOI HITTING ON GINA IS SO FINE Babes go for that one, not EJ

NOT THEM FAKE DATING UGH E W TIM STOP MAKING ROMANTIC PORTWELL A T H I N G I honestly do not understand how some of yall can ship it romantically knowing Sofia is a whole underaged babey and Matty is a whole ass grown man - like I get the appeal of the Wonderstudies getting together and they do have chemistry but the irl age gap is creepy and outweighs the appeal of shipping them romantically

As I always say; Portwell/Wonderstudies should be a BROTP not an OTP

Ugh Brotp Portwell would have clocked Lily right away; romantic Portwell making googly eyes at each other isn't helping anyone

Living for Nini getting the recognition she deserves - I really like her solo arc this season she's so much more interesting without Ricky tbh

Aww Kourt you simp I love her and I'm so happy she's happy I wanna be wrong about Howie being a North High kid

Where is the mask??

OHMYGOD THESE KIDS COMING IN LIKE A HORROR MOVIE

Lily really wishes she was Jesse St. James huh; you could never Lily so stop

Andrew Barth Feldman and his cute little French accent I love him so much

Hnng Miss Jenn gonna get manipulated by this hoe. Omg wowow Zackey really is a hoe, making out with another girl before the show THE AUDACITY OF HIM SAYING MISS JENN WASN'T GOOD ENOUGH I WILL THROW HANDS WITH THIS MOFO

Wait the kids didn't steal it BUT WHAT IF ZACKEY DID

Ssjsgfajhdfg I CANNOT WITH ANDREW'S ACCENT but I can't tell if its really bad or really good but I'm also confused why didn't they just cast a French person as Antonie shshhs Antoine is adorableee and a little shit the best type of character

Lily is so annoying b y e sis bye and Olivia Keegan is talented I just wish they didn't make her character such a cartoony villain type

"How about if we bop to the top" SEBBY I LOVE YOU AND NEVER STOP BEING SO CUTE I SWEAR and Awww Carlos called him Honey I am s o f t

Hnng why do these fools are really gonna give into North High calling them chickens

OHHH NO SHE DIDN'T JUST SAY THAT ABOUT ASHLYN FUCK A DANCE OFF I AM ABOUT TO THROW HANDS WITH A 16 YEAR OLD

"She told us not to dance with the enemy. She's better than this" No Sebby, she's not *cuts to her dancing with Zackey* AND OMG THE WAY I SAW THIS EDIT COMING BEFORE IT CAME

Ooooh I like this song wayyy more whatever the mess The Mob Song became (when I first heard it drop on Spotify yesterday) Around You is such a great song musically and lyrically very relevant to these two and gosh I love their voices together

They have so much chemistry damn, go home Mike (well he technically has oop) and Mr. Mazzara

YES YOU DO MISS JENN YOU ALWAYS HAD IT

Oh god this is the scene from the trailer; she's gonna make a move on Ricky isn't she?? Leave him alone Lily he doesn't need a 3rd girl to be confused about he needs a therapist

Lily shut the fuck up with quasi; STOP TRYING TO MAKE QUASI HAPPEN

"I love Nini's song" Sure, Jan.

...Okay yes you should have called him out but don't bait him LIKE THAT oop there's the scene from the trailer

Ohmygod is Andrew Barth Feldman gonna hit on Ashlyn

Okay this is so cute but also I am VERY annoyed with the way this show handles its characters like they aren't relevant or important unless they get into a relationship or a love triangle?? That's such a shitty way to give out screentime and arcs to characters. Is it not enough to develop the characters on their own and strengthen their friendship???

HUH TIM why you so obsessed with compulsory heterosexuality??(well also homosexuality for Seblos but they are the only ones I'm not annoyed with their relationship cos its a hella big step for Disney to have a gay couple and their relationship isn't in our faces or overshadows the plot and its just spinkles of cuteness every time they interact - they are honestly who Rini wishes they were; besties in love. They are a couple that Tim should be taking notes from; leave the relationship drama in the background, focus on the theatre and friendship aspect of everything)

My mini rant aside; this is a very adorable interaction between Ashlyn and Antoine.

"TOM HOLLAND ON STILTS" GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE WITH THAT COMPARISON I AM SCREAMING ANTOINE THAT'S SO FUNNY

This is so funny he keeps picking out the hottest guys of the group; as if he himself isn't the French version of Big Red they look super alike ngl shshsh

WHY YOU RUIN IT WITH THAT ANTOINE I WAS ROOTING FOR YOU

Drama between Antoine and Red is already spicing up shshsh I cannot

Why are you so dramatic with the shuffle Lily gtfo of here...also this doesn't make sense?? She wasn't even on a BATB playlist; what if a non BATB song came on ahahah

Good to know they aren't big fans of The Mob Song like I am Awww EJ you cutie, okay I will appreciate the OG Mob Song just for you

OH WAIT HE PROLLY LIKES IT COS ITS A GASTON LED SONG TIM GIMME THE EJ SOLO I DESERVE IN THIS NUMBER

I'm being robbed of Gaston for the last 7 eps I at least deserve an EJ solo for compensation

The way the set looks straight out of Broadway but also like omg the blue lighting and fancy stage gave me intense flashbacks to that Glee episode where Vocal Adrenaline sang Bohemian Rhapsody

RICKY STOP BEING SALTY AND ACTUALLY COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR GIRLFRIEND LIKE A NORMAL PERSON

OMG THE SUBTITLES SAID ITS HOWIE SINGING AS THE BEAST I FUCKING CALLED IT

Howie you hoe you gonna break my girl Kourtney's heart

Yeah...still not a fan of Antoine's Dance Remix

Yall know Gina would kill the dance number if she wasn't wearing that fit

Okay but it's Gaston led song WHY DOES EVERYONE BUT EJ HAVE A SOLO IN THIS SONG??

First the Beasts led it (Howie sounded better than Ricky ngl), then the Lumieres (their voices worked hella well together; I always forget what a talented singer Frankie is THEY NEED TO GIVE HIM A SOLO SONG) and now the Belles are going at it (Ashlyn's voice is superior)

BIG RED BEING JEALOUS AND SALTY IS SO FUNNY ITS LIKE A PUPPY BEING ANGRY I CRI

...Did anyone really win, Lily??? STFU

CARLOS IS RIGHT AND HE SHOULD SAY IT

Oooh I did see someone talk about this when the Rose Song dropped last week, apparently its illegal to add songs to a musical you're doing for a school play; I really thought the show would brush past that irl rule but I guess they are playing into it

THE WAY EVERYONE TURNED TO EJ FOR THE SPORTS METAPHOR I AM D Y I N G AND HIS FACE WAS GOLDEN! ITS LIKE THAT LISA SIMPSON MEME SHHSHSH

Okay Nini is being a little pissy about leaving her song out of the show and its a little selfish to wanna keep it at the risk of being disqualified but I also understand why she's hurt

Everyone is dog piling on her right now being against her idea and it feels like they are being against her song and her herself instead of them not wanting to be disqualified. Also like she poured her heart and soul into the song after Miss Jenn lowkey rushed her to write it. So I can see why this feels like a rejection of her and her song and why she's so hurt rather than her seeing the big picture right now

It doesn't help that Ricky said the final blow causing her to walk off

Okay maybe Zackey gets some rights for being chill and wanting the kids to be peers

THIS MOTHERFUCKER I KNEW HE WAS SHADY Also the way I gasped even though I predicted he stole the mask halfway through this ep shshsh

Stab him Miss Jenn STAB HIM

Bitch why you so threatened by East High if yall have such a Broadway-esque show planned??? They honestly should have stuck to the Little Mermaid; I really wanted to see the aquarium

"It's just a song Ricky" "A song can mean everything" Do you get deja vu? Anyone else getting intense flashbacks to Jan when DL first dropped and all the drama happened 👀

YES PLEASE STAY CO ANCHORS Gosh I love them so much esp once you take the romantic connotations out of their interactions

ROUGE GRAND I'M SCREAMING

I love this long take of checking in with everyone's relationship status (still hate how romantically focused this show has become but still a cool shot)

I K N E W IT I WAS RIGHT

Okay but like looking at Kourtney's face I have never wanted to be wrong so bad GOD I HATE IT HERE I really think he likes her and I hope they work it out

Nini setting up her own music acc feels like when Olivia rebranded her whole IG to be just for her music stuff - love this for both of them

AHHHHH SHE'S NINA NOW YALL

I know everyone loves her as Nini but like I have always loved the name Nina and it really suits her to be honest also shows how she's growing up now and kind of leans into the lyric "I won't be confined to your point of view" from The Rose Song because Nini is the nickname Ricky gave her so it shows that she's outgrowing him too and I love that for her!

Overall thoughts; they really crammed all the North High drama into one ep huh. Personally would have liked it if all of this was spread out throughout the last few episodes; like different hijinks for every episode. I'm just a big fan of properly setting up the overall arc over the season instead of patching it together closer to the climax/end of the show. Cos now it lowkey feels like two different seasons - 2A felt like The Rini/Rina Show esp with YAC storyline and whatever was going on with Rina and now 2B is finally feeling like what this season should have been all this time

#hsmtmts season 2 #hsmtmts #hsmtmts spoilers #nina salazar roberts #gina porter #EJ Caswell #Ricky Bowen #Kourtney Green #Ashlyn Caswell #Seb Matthew Smith #carlos rodriguez #Big Red

[ponett]

i was finally able to see the bad star war that everyone said was bad. as it turns out, it was bad. here’s a read more post with my thoughts on it so that i don’t spam my twitter with spoiler tweets

for a baseline: i like the original trilogy, but i don’t think any of those movies are perfect. i think the prequels had some good ideas but i were mostly terrible. i love the clone wars (both versions) and rebels. while i admit that tfa was extremely similar to a new hope, i thought it was executed great and had a wonderful new cast that showed a ton of promise. i liked rogue one, although i found its first act really sloppy. and i have some quibbles about tlj, but it had an incredibly strong vision and actual themes, and i’d consider it my favorite in the series

i’m exactly the kind of person who was always going to hate the rise of skywalker, because it’s basically a bad fanfic written by someone who didn’t like tlj and wanted to “fix” the story. like that bizarre story treatment jenny nicholson read for this movie. the bad one. it was like that

it wasn’t all bad i guess. here are the small things i liked:

some of the new environments were cool. there was cool imagery and practical effects work

i appreciated that the moon of endor where the death star wreckage was wasn’t just the one with the ewoks, and thought the vibe there was cool

zorii bliss’s armor was really cool

the image of the fleet of star destroyers all lined up was striking

i liked that the ghost showed up for the final battle

i liked that ahsoka was one of the jedi voices rey heard, even though that kind of implies that ahsoka is, uh... dead?

while extremely fucking trite and dumb, i’ll admit the closing scene on tatooine got me. yeah, rey has no real connection to this place and it’s just a nostalgic throwback, but i’m a sucker for full circle endings like that

uh. that’s about it

this movie kicks off in the middle of an action scene and just kind of keeps jumping to new setpieces nonstop until it’s over. new characters and locations get introduced and then moved past in the blink of an eye. there’s no time to let any of it sink in. it feels like abrams crammed two movies worth of shit into this one to make up for the the fact that some people didn’t like tlj, and as a result none of it resonates. i just felt so empty throughout most of the film. events were happening on screen and none of it mattered

thoughts about individual elements:

LEIA

putting the scenes with the recycled footage of carrie fisher at the beginning of the film completely took me out of it. it was so obvious that she wasn’t really responding to what was being said, and the conversations had just been built around the limited leia lines they could use

the dialogue scenes with leia felt like a space ghost interview

C-3PO

was in this movie a lot for some reason? i guess abrams wanted to make up for how little c-3po there was in the last two movies. they tried to have that emotional moment where his memory is wiped, but then they just turned his memory loss into a big joke?? and then he got most of his memories back anyway

in general, the movie is afraid to let the audience be uncomfortable for long. 3po’s memory loss. the supposed deaths of chewbacca and babu frik, that sort of thing. you’re not allowed to be sad. after tlj so effectively built tension throughout the film and really pushed the heroes to the brink, this is a disappointment

LANDO

is here because he needed to show up, and because it’s a throwback to have him pilot the falcon again. he’s just kind of there with little to do and no arc

FINN, POE, AND ROSE

before the movie came out, i had low expectations. all i really wanted was to get one last fun adventure with the new characters. when i started to hear about the spoilers, my expectations sank even lower. but maybe i would still get this

nah! rose gets like two minutes of screentime because redditors hated her, and finn and poe are barely even characters. they don’t have arcs in this film, they’re just sidekicks on rey’s journey

finn really hurts. prior to tfa’s release, finn was framed as the new star. this was, of course, a bait and switch, as rey was really the new jedi. (finn apparently IS force sensitive according to this one, but hey! we can only have one big jedi hero, so like leia before him, i guess we’ve gotta wait for some EU novel to give finn a lightsaber)

but finn was still a central character in the last two films, and he had so much potential. he was a stormtrooper who defected! that’s something new! that’s interesting! it complicates the black and white morality of the series. but no. that’s been all but abandoned at this point

many have complained about how tfa establishes that basically all the stormtroopers are people who were kidnapped as children and brainwashed by the first order... but then they still have no qualms about gleefully killing them. in the first two movies i was like “yeah, it sucks that they have to kill those guys, but if it’s to prevent genocide, it’s understandable. that’s just war. maybe they’ll touch on it in the last movie.” so in this one, they kept reminding the audience that the stormtroopers were enslaved as children. jannah is even introduced as another stormtrooper who defected like finn. but then... it goes nowhere. finn doesn’t get any first order troops to defect. they don’t care about the other stormtroopers. how many hundreds of thousands of enslaved soldiers did they kill when they blew up those star destroyers

it was nice to see finn and poe take the charge as leaders in the end, but it also feels like they didn’t take the lessons from tlj to heart. the whole point of that story was that one-in-a-million shot heroic suicide missions aren’t worth it, and that they’re more useful to the resistance alive than they are as martyrs. but then in the climax of this film they take like 30 ships to go fight a fleet of a hundred fucking star destroyers

on the subject of that final battle: i thought that the ending of tlj was so powerful. the resistance was decimated, but they still had hope, because they knew there were others out there who could help. people like rey, or the broom boy, who came from nothing but had good hearts. in this one, though, they say that apparently nobody responded to the leia’s call for help in the entire year since the last film. everyone only shows up during the climax after lando’s like “no, but for real guys, we need help”

and i did think that that sequence was cool. and i did like seeing the ghost among the ships. it was fun. the message that fascists like the first order rule by making people feel isolated, and that they’re defeated by realizing that good people are never alone? that was good. i thought that was a strong message. but it’s such a minor footnote on a movie that’s so bad in so many other ways

oh and they made the latino dude a drug dealer. okay. thanks for that

KYLO REN

i hate that they redeemed kylo and i hate the way they did it

yes, him being coerced to turn to the dark side by snoke (who was apparently just a puppet controlled by palpatine all along (UGH)) as a kid was tragic. but that doesn’t excuse his actions. kylo was given infinite second chances throughout the trilogy, and every time he responded with violence. he killed so many people himself, and willingly took part in a fascist regime that killed billions. yes, his story is sad, but he’s not some poor little boy, he’s thirty fucking years old and he vents his trauma by slaughtering innocent people

literally the entire main trio of the original trilogy died because of this asshole. han tried to talk to him in the first movie, and got stabbed and dropped into a pit. luke died astral projecting to face him in tlj. and now leia just kind of arbitrarily died to flip the switch in his brain from bad to good from across the galaxy. it’s literally as simple as that. he doesn’t have a personal journey here. he just stops being evil because his mom made him through the force

like, again. all those enslaved stormtrooper grunts who had been brainwashed since they were kids? gunned down. but giving kylo endless second chances is the most important thing in the world

and then they end the movie by having this creepy abusive stalker genocidal asshole sadboy kiss rey, retroactively framing their dynamic as a romantic one. just, gross as hell. even in this one, for most of the film, all he does is threaten rey and boss her around

i dunno. i thought the first order were interesting as antagonists. yeah, they were just the empire 2.0. but i thought it was appropriate! the idea was that just because palpatine was dead and gone didn’t mean that fascism was gone. there were still hateful people who wanted to rule the galaxy via genocide. like how we still have nazis in the 21st century. except, oops! palpatine was actually alive and pulling the strings the entire time, so now that theme’s out the window. we just have to kill him again FOR REAL this time and now the galaxy will actually be safe

people wondered where the first order would go after snoke died in tlj. but it was so obvious to me? kylo was in charge. kylo was always the most interesting bad guy. just let him call the shots and be the final adversary. but no. that wasn’t good enough. we had to bring back palpatine as the jrpg final boss to have an epic conclusion

REY

oh, poor rey. youtube critics got mad that a girl could be a strong jedi without being related to some other powerful force user from the old movies, so now she’s stuck being a palpatine forever

i will admit, the protagonist of the new movies being related to palpatine but still being a good person in spite of her heritage... that could have been something. but it’s so clearly not what they had in mind from the start, and it spits in the face of the last movie’s themes. it turns out greatness CAN’T come from anywhere. it has to come from one of these select few Special Bloodlines

oh! and this ALSO reframes rey’s parents abandoning her and selling her into slavery as an act of kindness, because they had to hide her from her spooky evil grandpa. so THAT’S fun. (edit: OH! and luke and leia knew about rey the whole time!!! and didn’t go out and look for her!!!!)

it’s just. it’s so bad what they did to rey. i don’t know if i even have much to elaborate on there, everyone’s already said how stupid it is

---

overall, i still wouldn’t say it’s the WORST star wars movie. it’s more watchable than the phantom menace, that’s for damn sure. the actors put in effort. the sets and practical effects are nice. it’s just so... empty

tros possibly feels the closest to how i imagined the new trilogy would be when it was first announced, but in a bad way. a movie built entirely on established ideas of What Star Wars Is with nothing new to bring to the table. it’s like a bad eu novel. just recycled imagery, cameos from characters we already know, palpatine coming back from the dead, that sort of thing. it’s a movie made by committee to appease reddit. it’s nothing

now i gotta use that free trial of disney plus to watch the mandalorian and wash the taste out of my mouth i guess

[ragazza-paradiso]

my eurovision 2021 ranking (before rehearsals)

hey!! 🤍 i’ll try to keep this short & sweet (and bear in mind some of these are subject to change & depend on my mood) but this is my rough ranking of this year’s entries based solely on the studio cuts <3

dislike:

39. 🇩🇪 jendrik - i don’t feel hate: i knew this would be my last place since i first heard it. he seems like a nice guy but this type of music is just. not for me? in fact i don’t think i’ve ever even managed to make it all the way through since my first listen :/

38. 🇱🇻 samanta tina - the moon is rising: i love love LOVE samanta & think she is an absolute gem but this song & me simply do not go together. that being said i appreciate both her voice & the message

37. 🇵🇱 rafał - the ride: while this is slightly catchy & seems to be an ear worm for me, i cannot take this song seriously. rafał looks ridiculous in those sunglasses in the music video. the lyrics are awful too

neither like nor dislike:

36. 🇦🇱 anxhela peristeri - karma: this is very strange because usually i am the no. 1 fan of ethnic influenced ballads at eurovision, but i just do not get this one. i can definitely see the appeal but it’s not for me

35. 🇲🇰 vasil - here i stand: i think his voice is great however the song doesn’t do much for me. i find it quite forgettable & think he was definitely capable of giving us something better which is a shame

34. 🇫🇮 blind channel - dark side: i enjoyed this quite a bit when it first came out but it’s quickly slid down my ratings. the lyrics are too edgy for me & it’s a throwback to a genre of music that i don’t really enjoy anyway. but i can appreciate that it sticks out & does something different

33. 🇨🇿 benny cristo - omaga: i was a massive fan of kemama last year & while i liked this upon first listen, i have to say its far too generic to really stick out after a while. plus some of the lyrics are a bit creepy lol. having said that i think seeing him perform it live could definitely change my opinion

32. 🇸🇪 tusse - voices: another year, another generic well produced pop song from sweden. should we be surprised anymore? it’s okay, i don’t hate it, but i’m struggling to find anything i like about it. plus the lyrics are the most “eurovision cliche lyrics” i’ve ever heard

31. 🇬🇧 james newman - embers: okay while this is ranked relatively low, i have to say this is better than anything we’ve sent since 2017. it’s a nice song, i enjoy it when it’s on, but i don’t have an urge to play it, if that makes sense?

30. 🇲🇹 destiny - je me casse: i know this is probably blasphemy but i just do not understand the hype around this song. destiny has a great voice but i don’t see how this song sticks out in anyway that it’s the favourite to win? it’s another one that i won’t skip but i won’t seek out to listen to

29. 🇦🇹 vincent bueno - amen: i do enjoy this, but i wish it just had a bit more oomph. the lyrics for the verses are good but the chorus is just lacking something. i do think this could be a dark horse to qualify though

28. 🇸🇮 ana soklič - amen: i just realised the two amens are right next to each other on my ranking lol. anyway, this is only so high because of her amazing voice. the song doesn’t really do anything for me, but you have to appreciate that level of talent

27. 🇺🇦 go_a - shum: this is one i know i’ll appreciate more live, but i just can’t get into the studio version. plus i really liked solovey last year so this one seems worse in comparison

26. 🇲🇩 natalia gordienko - sugar: this is good but i think all “dream team” songs are a little bit dated nowadays. however saying that i love the music video & moldova always improve live

25. 🇵🇹 the black mamba - love is on my side: this has been a big grower. it’s not a favourite, but i think it definitely has its niche, and i can appreciate that

24. 🇳🇱 jeangu macrooy - birth of a new age: grow was in my top 5 last year, so it was always gonna be hard for jeangu to deliver something as good. this has grown on me, but i’m still not 100% on board

like:

23. 🇳🇴 tix - fallen angel: i didn’t like this at first because i was so heartbroken that keiino didn’t win the national selection, but i’ve gotten over it now lol. it’s cheesy but in a good way, i think this act doesn’t take itself too seriously either which makes it more enjoyable

22. 🇸🇲 senhit ft flo rida - adrenalina: it’s fun, catchy, even has a surprise verse from flo rida! probably san marino’s 3rd best entry ever (justice for complice & crisalide 💔)

21. 🇨🇾 elena tsagrinou - el diablo: it’s just a very good pop song. i’m not in love with it but it’s of a very good quality (well. apart from the lyrics). i’m sure the staging will improve it even more

20. 🇬🇷 stefania - super girl: greece is one of my biggest growers from last year, i think this is a MUCH better song than supergirl was. i’m really rooting for stefania

19. 🇪🇪 uku suviste - the lucky one: this has been such a big grower, it’s insane. i can recognise it’s not the best song but i just really like it for some reason.

18. 🇪🇸 blas cantó - voy a quedarme: i’m a sucker for native language ballads, and this is a pretty standard one, but it’s good to me. blas seems like a real sweetheart too, which helps :)

17. 🇨🇭 gjon’s tears - tout l’univers: this is another one of those songs that i really should love, and while i like it, i can’t really connect with it. gjon’s entry last year was my second favourite, and unfortunately this doesn’t scratch the same itch that did, it’s still a very good song & i completely understand why it’s one of the favourites to win

16. 🇧🇪 hooverphonic - the wrong place: i really don’t like hooverphonic as a band (actually it’s mostly alex callier that i dislike) but this is just a good song. i am still upset that luka didn’t get to go to eurovision though :/

15. 🇮🇪 lesley roy - maps: another massive grower! i much prefer this to her song last year. i really hope ireland can get their shit together & give this song the staging it deserves

14. 🇦🇿 efendi - mata hari: this is basically a carbon copy of cleopatra, and i guess i liked that so i like this. however i will say it has dropped in my ranking a bit. i’m ranking this solely on the song, efendi herself is a different matter & i’m not really educated enough on what’s happening in azerbaijan/armenia to comment but from what i’ve seen it’s not the best, let’s say

13. 🇱🇹 the roop - discoteque: i prefer on fire from last year, but this is definitely not a bad effort. i can’t see it as a contender for the win though. another one i will probably enjoy much more live

12. 🇷🇴 roxen - amnesia: i really like the message of this song. i just wish she would work on her english pronunciation, but that’s a minor complaint. but i really like roxen as an artist

love:

11. 🇷🇸 hurricane - loco loco: i love girl groups, and this is no exception. vocally they’re really good, i love that it’s in serbian, & i also just really love sanja vučić lol

10. 🇭🇷 albina - tick tock: i wish this was fully in croatian, but i think it’s a great song regardless. i loved her performance at dora so hopefully they’ll do something similar/even better at esc

9. 🇧🇬 victoria - growing up is getting old: i preferred tears getting sober from last year but this is still really good. the lyrics are some of my favourite of this year, they really resonate with me. victoria is a really interesting artist & i’m really glad she got introduced to me through esc

8. 🇮🇱 eden alene - set me free: the revamp has made this move like 20 places up in my ranking lol. she is so talented & i just hope they have a good staging concept!

7. 🇮🇸 daði og gagnamagnið - 10 years: think about things was good but i think this is even better! i love the retro influences & the lyrics are so sweet

6. 🇬🇪 tornike kipiani - you: i might be one of the only people who adores this song. the lyrics paint such a clear picture of a simple, strong love. and i think it’s quiet but powerful at the right moments. i know i will be heartbroken when this doesn’t qualify :(

5. 🇫🇷 barbara pravi - voilà: i played this too much & ruined it for myself, but i love it again now. very authentically french but without overdoing it (cough 2017 staging cough), just a beautiful song

4. 🇮🇹 måneskin - zitti e buoni: i’m not a massive rock fan, but a song like this i just vibe with. it’s just so good. italy is always either my no. 1 or in my top 5 since they returned (apart from 2012 & 2014) and they’ve done it again. this is definitely a contender to win

3. 🇦🇺 montaigne - technicolour: this song is eclectic but i love it. i didn’t like don’t break me, but this is so much better, and so much more authentic to montaigne as an artist. i know it’s divisive, but i’m on the side that loves it

2. 🇩🇰 fyr og flamme - øve os på hinanden: this is just so fun. i love the 80s vibe, the performance at the national selection was simple but still very engaging. this is one i will play for many years after the contest

1. 🇷🇺 manizha - russian woman: where do i even start. native language, ethnic influenced sound, important message, charismatic performer. this song is amazing. and i’m so glad i’ve found manizha to listen to!

so that’s it!! if anyone wants to chat about their thoughts please message me!! 🤍

#esc 2021

[personalattack16]

Sites Like Tinder Meets

Sites Like Tinder Meets People

Free Dating Apps Like Tinder

In the beginning of February, we warned you that Tinder was about to monetize their their app AKA charge for swipes. Tinder’s premium service launched on Monday and there was a new stinky wrinkle; a bit of age discrimination towards horny users aged 30+. Users between 18 and 29-years-old will have to pay $9.99 for unlimited swipes, but anyone over the age of 30-years-old pays $19.99. Dirty deeds and ageism right there by taking advantage of thirsty individuals over 30, who really want to get ass from an app too.

With Tinder, the world’s most popular free dating app, you have millions of other single people at your fingertips and they’re all ready to meet someone like you. Whether you’re straight or in the LGBTQIA community, Tinder’s here to bring you all the sparks. Tinder Meets Review - If you are looking for a simple way to meet someone, then try our popular online dating service. Tinder profile search, tinder review app, unlock tinder reviews, is tinder good, free tinder search, review tinder dating site, tinder dating review, tinder scam.

Tinder is awesome, but free is even more awesomer. If you are strapped for cash or just looking for a new dating app, we have 15 alternatives to Tinder.

There are so many location-based dating apps, but Happn is really, really location-based. It matches you up with potential people that you’ve been recently near (Approximately one city block). You’ll be able to see the number of times you’ve crossed paths with someone, as well as the time and place of your last encounter. Actually, it sounds kinda stalkerish.

Available for iOS and Android.

This app does not want any daters with failing grades. The Grade will reward users who are very dateable, have a quality profile, response rate and tone of messages. However those who fail to meet quality standards receive failing grades. An algorithm assigns a letter grade to users which range from “A+” to “F.” Do you think your profile would make the grade?

Available for iOS.

Hinge suggests matches of your Facebook friends, friends of your friends or third-degree friends. You’ll receive a whole list of potential suitors every day, then you can swipe right or left. For better or worse, Hinge markets itself as the “anti-Tinder.” The downside is having a much smaller dating pool, and people who may actually know what a piece of shit you really are. It’s currently only available in 34 cities.

Available for iOS and Android.

Revealr utilizes not only words and photos to help you get acquainted with someone, but also audio. The user’s photos are pixelated, so matches are not solely based on looks. Every user records a 20-second audio clip and if you like what you hear you can match up.

Available on iOS.

While men are usually the aggressive party in most dating apps, that is not the case at Bumble. The app is said to be “run by girls,” and men can’t send the first message to women. Act fast because the chance to connect disappears after 24 hours.

The app also gives more information than most dating apps. You can share such intimate details as occupation and education history. It looks much like Tinder because Bumble was founded by Tinder co-founder Whitney Wolfe.

Available on iOS.

For those who are a little more picky who they want to date, The League is for you. It connects to your Facebook and LinkedIn to determine if you are qualified to be on the dating app. You are then placed on a waitlist to determine if you are boushie enough before being accepted into the app.

Sites Like Tinder Meets People

If and when you are deemed worthy of being on the exclusive app you’ll get five matches a day. Currently The League is only available in San Francisco, but it is expected to be in New York City, Atlanta, Seattle and Denver soon.

Available on iOS.

Pure claims that it is “The Uber for dates.” I don’t really know what that even means. Does some creepy guy pick you up in a beat up 2001 Mitsubishi Gallant when you can’t drive home because you had too many Strongbow Ciders?

It’s very similar in Tinder in seeking people to hookup. However requests and photos are only available to those with matching search criteria. When you download the app you’re given five free tickets. Each one is good for one hour of your profile being visible by potential partners. However this is some Candy Crush bullshit where you’ll need to purchase more tickets to extend your presence on the app. Only your first five hook up attempts are free. But regardless of the success of the posting, you will have to spend a ticket each time.

Available on iOS and coming soon to Android.

Loveflutter is what would happen if Tinder and Twitter fucked and had a dating app baby. The app blurs people’s profile photo and you only have a 140-character description of them to base your interest. This seems perfect for the “But he/she has a great personality” crowd.

Available on iOS.

Love Milky Chance, The Weeknd or Black Keys and only want to meet a chill chick that has the same taste in music as you? Tastebuds.fm does just that. With Spotify and iTunes integration, you can seek out those with similar preference in music, including bands and genre. Available on iOS.

The Down app was previously the ever romantic “Bang With Friends” app. The site encourages users to “Skip the chatting, and get to smacking those cheeks.” It utilizes Facebook to help you get the nerve to approach that super hot chick on Facebook that you’ve been to terrified to approach.

Available on iOS and Android.

Looking to meet someone who loves posting photos of their coq au vin dinner and excursions to Bermuda? Glimpse may be for you. The app connects to a user’s Instagram account. Use your love for photography to meet that cool, new chick.

Available on iOS.

Skout is much like Tinder, and much like Tinder they have a free version and a premium version. Your location isn’t revealed unless you choose to do so. It does have very good reviews on iTunes and the Google Play store. The downside is that there are annoying ads and only upgrading to Skout+ will get rid of them.

Available on iOS and Android.

Make your bubeleh proud and stop kvetching that you can’t find a nice Jewish girl. Be a real mensch and join JSwipe and hope you don’t get stuck with a meschugena.

Available on iOS and Android.

Coffee Meets Bagel just sounds like a nice, quaint place to meet a lovely girl. It connects to your Facebook and presents you with one match each day at noon. If you both like each other you can then chitchat for a week on the app, after that the line of communication is cut… unless you pay to upgrade your perks.

Available on iOS and Android.

Free Dating Apps Like Tinder

Do you have a beard or are you a gal that appreciates a man with a beard? Welcome to Bristlr, a dating app that claims, “Connecting those with beards to those who want to stroke beards.” Sorry clean-shaven bros, you need not apply.

Available on iOS and Android.

[thejustmaiden]

I'm not against SessRin as the ship itself, rather I'm against the idea of it being canon. I wouldn't even care if InuYasha was of a more mature genre. Yes, the trope is very popular even in hentai, yaoi and yuri. However, all of these genres are explicitly for adults - the type of audience that are well capable of seperating between fiction and real life, knowing what's wrong and right. Yasahime's still cleary targeted at a younger audience - kids that can still be easily affected by fiction.

Hey, nonnie! I really appreciate the ask. Apologies for the slight delay. 😊

I read what you had to say, and I think you bring up a very valid point that I don't see being discussed enough quite honestly.

Because you're right, Inuyasha is geared towards a younger audience. That explains why it was the very first anime for many of us growing up.

Ironically enough, some of you who like me stayed up late to catch it on TV remember that Inuyasha came out on a network called "Adult Swim" of all things. haha (I gather that had more to do with the occasional foul language than anything else.) Cartoon Network- what Adult Swim is known as during the daytime- shows children's programs and Inuyasha wouldn't have been exactly appropriate on there either.

Now let's take a quick look at the other anime shows I remember that would come out on the line-up along with Inuyasha. Cowboy Bepop and Ghost in the Shell are the first two that come to memory. If you aren't familiar with those, readers, I encourage you to look them up and see how they're described in comparison to Inuyasha. They both tackle some pretty dark and heavy adult themes. Inuyasha, on the other hand, is based off a shonen manga aimed at young teens, boys specifically.

I'm not personally familiar with the yaoi and yuri genres myself, but from what I do know, a lot of their stories center around sexual romance and homoeroticism. Inuyasha may include some romance, but by no means does the author insert explicitly sexual elements into her story. Fans who are mature to handle that kind of content can if they so choose to-- bring on the fan fiction and fan art! But can the series itself be justified in doing so? Well, I hope not since the average Inuyasha viewer is only just a teenager.

You're correct, fiction is capable of influencing and shaping how some kids learn to view and make sense of certain events. I'm going to give you a real life example here. Keep in mind, readers, that this is an extreme case that obviously wouldn't apply to everyone or every situation. The purpose of recounting this tale is to demonstrate that young minds are more vulnerable to the influences around them, be them real or imagined.

Years ago there used to be this internet urban legend called "The Slender Man." In 2014, these two 12-year old girls (so roughly the same age many of us started watching Inuyasha) became obsessed with this fictional character and wanted to prove to everyone he existed. In order to do that, they made up their minds to kill one of their classmates to please him. They ended up stabbing the victim numerous times, but she somehow miraculously survived. The two girls who were found guilty of this crime ended up being admitted into mental health institutions. Please feel free to read up more on this yourself. It sounds creepy, I know, but how the community came together to support the victim and her recovery was a touching ending to such a horrific story.

Like I already mentioned, this was an extreme case that almost resulted in murder. Death, however, isn't the only bad outcome that can occur. Child abuse in all its complex forms is a serious outcome, too. It should go without saying that no child watching Inuyasha should accept the idea of a young girl (like themselves but maybe younger) being pursued later once she's "old enough" by the same male authority figure who was her main protector during their travels. You could tell Rin felt legitimately safe and happy for the first time in a long time while in his company. I also like to wonder if that's because Sesshomaru reminded her of someone she knew before her family was killed. But who really knows? After all, kids are very trusting by nature. Let's be honest, the happy-go-lucky Rin would've followed just about anyone who saved her! It just happened to be Sesshomaru, which of course I'm grateful for. So tell me again, why does this protector-ward dynamic they've got going on need to turn romantic?

Seriously, why are viewers expecting a romance to happen anyway? It's not like we have been given any solid indication to suggest that these two are destined for it. Allow me to explain why I believe that is. Sessrin fans anticipate a romance in their future despite the lack of foreshadowing, because this trope IS popular. (But only in series geared towards adults- like you said, nonnie.) In other words, it's been so engrained in our minds that it's a completely normal direction we should come to expect a relationship between an older man and a young girl/woman to take. So even though it hasn't been hinted at much if at all, it's apparently bound to happen regardless.

A young woman who decides to be with an older man isn't the issue here, BUT there's a fine line and at times the stories we tell will tread that line and test its boundaries. Case in point: shipping Sesshomaru with "Adult Rin" although we've only met and gotten to know her as a young girl up until now. In many instances, adult!Rin supposedly only has to mean she's old enough to bear children. If it was the norm for a girl to have kids at 15 or 16 in Feudal Japan, then that must mean we should not only tolerate it but celebrate it too, right?

Yes, fiction is a creative outlet to explore and push the boundaries from time to time, but we must be careful of what messages we're sending and who the target audience is. Would it really be wise to portray in a positive light a teenage girl getting pregnant with one of the people who helped raised her's babies on a show for teens? That's not my idea of a wholesome family lesson I'd ever want to teach my kids or have them learn elsewhere.

What we're essentially doing is telling the young Inuyasha viewers that it's totally normal to sexualize and romanticize a young girl's future without her say. That it's okay to speak for her and decide that's what her character would want even if we haven't met this adult version of her yet. What about Rin's hopes and dreams? How about we wait to see how she is as a grown-up first before we come to such big conclusions. Wouldn't you say you're jumping the gun a bit, shippers?

Nobody is saying you can't picture it, alright, but to claim it's the only obvious progression- because evidently there must be one for some reason?- of the relationship Rin's formed with Sesshomaru is absolutely absurd. If that's the case, then basically all the other "who's Sesshomaru's baby mama" theories are just as plausible as yours if not more so.

Also, guys, we really ought to stop stating that Sesshomaru will never have the capacity to care for another human being besides Rin like it's a fact. I'm aware that to many the appeal of this ship is that she was the first one to break through that icy exterior of his, so that must translate to a love that transcends and what not. If she wasn't a child he guarded like his own first and foremost, then this ship could have potential. That's not the case though, so moving right along!

Right, so who says his affection towards humans has to stop at Rin? Why can't the mom- if there is a mom- be some new character? That's really not reaching- yes, even for Sesshomaru. Knowing Rin, she's probably the one who introduced them! Plus, it's not like we don't have other canon sources that already show us Sesshomaru coming to the aid of humans. He has saved and protected Kagome on a few occasions that we know of so far, as well as Kohaku. And no, he didn't just protect him because Rin asked him to. Perhaps that was why he did at first, but please give Sesshomaru credit where credit is due. He is not the cold heartless demon we once believed him to be. How else do you think he is capable of activating Tenseiga's powers? Yeah, no, Sesshomaru grew to care for that kid, and Kokahu wouldn't have stuck around him for as long as he did if he didn't believe Sesshomaru didn't have his best interests at heart. Well, in Sesshomaru's own special little way that is. 😆

I got a little sidetracked- my bad! I suppose it's all relevant when you think about it. Alrighty, nonnie, I hope I adressed your ask the way you wanted. Please feel free to drop by again! 🖖

Reminder: Do not plan to engage in discourse on this blog if you are going to be disrespectful. The views I'm expressing aren't "an attack," so there's no need to get defensive and aggressive. I've even had a few Sessrin shippers themselves tell me I make valid points and that I do it in an upright manner. So if you don't believe me, then maybe you'll believe them. Thank you!

#inuyasha #iy #hanyo no yashahime #hny #sessrin #anti sessrin #anonymous ask #answered asks

[fizzingwizard]

Ok well! Episode 5 was a huge improvement! This genuinely felt like Digimon, at least early Digimon anyway. It was fun and action-y, and not completely devoid of character moments. The heart of this episode was Koushirou and that is SO EXCITING. I have crossed all my fingers, toes, and even my eyes that Koushirou will continue to be muy importante, just as much as heavy hitters like Taichi and Yamato are. None of this “backseat crunching numbers” nonsense!

I was disappointed last ep that we didn’t get to see the actual first meeting of Koushirou and Tentomon, but I suppose it probably went something like this:

Tentomon: Koushirou-han! I’ve waited for you!

Koushirou: A digimon! I must analyze your data!

Tentomon: Analyze my...? *blush* At least buy me dinner first!

more under the cut...

Well we also get Plotty McPlot stuff right off the bat. Remember the old series where we knew nothing about anything till like right before the first big boss battle?? They ain’t beating around the bush this time. Not sure how I feel about that - as I’ve said before, I loved the “where are we! guess we have to rely on our own incompetence!” concept of Digimon Adventure that siphoned off some of the blatant “this is an RPG” aspect. We don’t have that too much this time around - Taichi is REALLy goal-oriented and seems to even have magic powers?? as in he can read digi-code. My guess is they ALL can, courtesy of their digivices (and maybe I’ve already forgotten if Koushirou or Yamato already did this earlier?). How convenient for the plot that there’s no trouble reading secret messages at all!

^Also appreciated that this literally meant feel the words. As in, touch them.

So Taichi and Sora have had no difficulties finding this special shrine and learning the lore of the digital world. There was a Great War that shifted the balance of light and dark. We are right back in RPG territory.

We see a bunch of familiar faces. I’m not sure if this is the same makeup as previous ancient guardians in other seasons, but it’s got the essential theme at least.

And then some even more familiar silhouettes:

Now who could that be xD Mega evolutions for all confirmed!

So I don’t know if this is supposed to mean Agumon & co are literally reborn versions of these great warriors, but I think that’s what Agumon and Piyomon suddenly bursting into tears while wailing that they don’t know why they’re crying is supposed to be hinting at.

Taichi: I warned not to touch your eyes after chopping onions!

Agumon does not remember being Omegamon or jogressing with Gabumon, but Taichi remembers it. As usual, the children are an essential ingredient to transcending even evolution. The internet is the path that connects the two worlds and is the reason why the human world can be affected by what happens in the digital world if it bleeds through.

Yep, it’s Digimon Adventure. Nothing has changed

^Not even trying to be subtle xD So my current theory is we probably won’t see Takeru or Hikari as full time players until mid-season. I’m kind of hoping the kids find out they can talk to Seraphimon and Ophanimon and specifically go to meet them, only to find out they’re babies now and need constant looking after and don’t know anything helpful at all bahahaha

And here’s another familiar face err loin cloth! Although we already knew he was coming! I love Ogremon. And I find it it not-coincidental that his first real appearance precedes a Mimi episode.

Tentomon and Koushirou have restored my faith in the bonds between children and Digimon in this show.

... Yep, it’s goddamn Digimon Adventure and nothing NOTHING!! at all has changed xD

So I had thought this was DemiDevimon. I think it’s clearly meant to harken back to him but it’s too cool. Soundbirdmon. Not sure how sentient it is. Creepy lil thing. Hikari would still give it a 10/10 would hug

Capped this because I love Piymon protectiveness <3 (Sora’s there too ofc)

The kind of tech Koushirou carries around puts CSI to shame.

So he’s been in the digital world (well, the network) for like an hour and he’s already trying to get himself killed. Protectiveness masquerading as cold pragmatism. Koushirooooou. You should have some sense of self-preservation. He clearly needs Tentomon - Taichi would need a brick to the head before he’d understand this kid is not being logical here, he is in total panic mode.

Tentomonnn. I can always count on you <3

... aaand he immediately drops him x’D Tentomonnnnnnn

oh well it’s the thought that counts!! lol

Thus ends Izumi Koushirou. His voice actor peaced out. “Too many lines, too many kanji, also I don’t like not having wrists.”

This is the face he makes when he realizes “holy hell, I think I might be having an Emotion.”

first Taichi, now Tentomon... Koushirou’s going to be so buried in praise trust and friendship that he won’t be able to see his way out. Like one of those foam pits at the gymnastics center. You cannot escape and you don’t want to

I’m in hell

Okay seriously what is this. WHAT IS THIS.

^see what I mean? no wrists!

One Track Mind Yagami reminds us that we did Plot in this ep...

... only to then recall that after that, we did Koushirou stuff, which is vastly superior. I mean look how happy he is.

Taichi: Darling Koushirou!! You’re okay!

Koushirou: Yes, thanks to Kabuterimon!

Taichi: I’m so glad! Wait, Kabuterimon? ARE YOU CHEATING ON ME!?!?

Koushirou: *making bad connection noises with his mouth* g-gotta go..!

Koushirou is ready to admit he loves his partner a lot faster than old Adventure Koushirou was...

... or maybe not.

GAWD WHY ARE U SO CUTE

I love their little back and forth here. “You were talking about me!” “N-No I wasn’t!” “Yes you were!” “Was not!” Please keep giving us this quality content Toei. Tsundere Koushirou. I never thought of it. I WANT MOOOORE.

Interesting how he didn’t quite do this to Taichi though. Maybe because Taichi’s compliments were about how talented and awesome he is, whereas Tentomon’s just like “I love you bruh youre my best bruh.” Taichi, get over yourself and tell Koushirou you love him before he leaves you for a literal bug.

Welp.

So this turnip/radish village is just about the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. And I loved the silence of this ending bit. This really did feel like Digimon, a bit more creative and intriguing than anything in episode 4. (Except for Sora and that knife.) This gives me Hope.

But it is WEIRD seeing Mimi get the “mysterious girl” treatment. Hahaha. You’d expect to discover she’s like the lost princess of the digital world. Well, she is. But she’s also going to scream whine cry and make you eat kimchi fried rice with whipped cream and strawberries xD

Mimi!!! I can’t wait to see you!!!

#digimon #psi spoilers #digi spoilers #digimon adventure 2020 #fizz watches digimon 2020

[irandrura]

Third and final post: what were my other thoughts?

 Let’s talk about the game’s mechanics first.

I am overall very pleased with the battle gameplay. On the battlefield itself the gameplay is more-or-less unchanged from the past, but the character advancement and customisation system is significantly improved. Moving to a single overall character level and giving every character the ability to change classes at will is a much more fluid and elegant system than in the past, and the ability to choose the specific combat arts and abilities each character takes looks like it adds a lot of depth. It’s probably appropriate for the overall ‘teacher’ theme of the game that you have much more power to mould each character’s skills and talents, but I’d like to see it in other games as well. There’s an important balance to strike: on the one hand, characters should not be infinitely malleable, and should all have their personal strengths and weaknesses. On the other, so much of the fun of the game is in developing characters and watching them grow that it’s really good to be able to specialise them.

Speaking of battle gameplay, divine pulse is great. The Fire Emblem series has always struggled a bit with accessibility, and while casual mode definitely made the series easier, it also felt to me like missing the point. Casual mode is too easy, and by removing any risk of permanent death, it felt like it removed a lot of the game’s tension. Divine pulse is a much better way to make the gameplay a bit easier and less frustrating while still keeping the same feel as classic FE gameplay. It gives you just enough room to survive a lucky enemy crit, or a small misjudgement on your part, without totally removing the need to be careful. I approve. That said, I did feel that by late-game you probably had access to too many pulses and it removed the need to conserve them. With a dozen pulses, there isn’t much risk any more, whereas if it stayed capped around three to five, each individual pulse might have felt more precious.

 (Apparently Mila’s Turnwheel in Shadows of Valentia actually did the mechanic first, and I totally forgot about it. Oh dear…)

Other gameplay innovations were more hit-and-miss, for me. Battalions were fine, but I don’t think I would have missed them if they weren’t there. They helped make the battlefield seem busier and more populated, but they don’t seem to have had a massive impact on the game. Similarly, monsters were mostly fine (Cindered Shadows boss notwithstanding), but again, I don’t think I’d mind very much if they didn’t come back. They rarely actually felt like the most dangerous enemies on the battlefield, and just required a slightly different strategy, and… well, maybe it’s just me, but it feels weird for FE to have boss monsters like that. I suppose arguably it’s been a tension in the series going all the way back to the original game? Marth was supposed to fight monstrous dragons, but his entire game was about enemy soldiers, and dragons didn’t stand out as the terrifying beasts they ought to have been. Still, I’m not sure I’m sold on them here.

When I started playing I complained that exploring the monastery was tedious. You can get into a routine later on, but for the most part, I did think it could have been streamlined more. Having lunch with students or going for special training or browsing the marketplace are all fun things to do, but a bit less sprinting all over the map to talk to everyone and return lost items would have been appreciated. The lost item mechanic in particular feels like busywork. A bit of exploring is nice, but only as long as it doesn’t get tedious. It might have been lovely to explore other locations as well – Enbarr, Fhirdiad, the army camp outside Gronder, etc. – but I can understand that the amount of work required would not be practical.

Speaking of tedium, though… I really could have done with a few more maps. Maybe this is my fault for constantly choosing battles, but I found myself replaying the same forest, plains, beach, or volcano map too many times for comfort.

I might also have liked for crests to be a bit more mechanically impactful, given their important to the world and the plot. I regularly forgot which of my units have crests, and what any of the crests do, since most of them have so little effect as to not matter. The only one I did usually remember was Felix’s Crest of Fraldarius, and that was mainly because it makes him do more damage and sometimes made him kill people I’d hoped to leave on one or two HP. I don’t think crests should have been overpowering, but a little more power would still have been nice. It should not have been so easy to forget that they exist.

Similarly, by the time I finished the game I realised that I had never used a Hero’s Relic, even once. I would like to say that this was a principled decision on my part, given that they turn people into monsters (and it looks like I was right about them being made from bone?), but it was mostly just the BUT-WHAT-IF-I-NEED-IT-LATER effect. They all have quite low durability, and while I understand that infinite durability, as with relics in previous games, was not an option due to breaking how combat arts work, it was still enough to discourage me from using them. Perhaps on a higher difficulty they would become necessary? I always feel a bit sad when for mechanical reasons I never let characters use their most iconic weapons.

 Moving on from mechanics…

There is technically a shipping mechanic, with an S support for the protagonist, but it really felt like an afterthought to me. I don’t think the game would lose anything significant if you just removed all the S supports. Compared to a game like Awakening or Fates, where the second generation makes it mechanically important and the plot seems like it works best with a bit of romantic drama (f!Robin/Chrom and m!Robin/Lucina looking particularly intended), Three Houses is surprisingly chaste. I suppose picking a character to be your waifu might be part of the culture now, perhaps looking also at the growing influence of waifu gacha games, but for me it felt tacked on. I can imagine potentially rewriting the game to make romance a more important theme – perhaps talking about Jeralt and Sitri a bit more? – but to be honest I think that that would have been worse for the game overall.

In particular, it stands out to me as sitting a touch oddly alongside the teacher concept. One of the things that stands out to me about Byleth as a protagonist is the way that Byleth is in a superior position relative to the other units. You are a professor, in a position of authority, and you have more life experience. Your job is to teach and mentor these younger characters. This contrasts strongly with Robin, who I think was presented as the equal of the other Shepherds (your relationship with Chrom is that of comrade and friend), and with Corrin, who was presented as an inferior or junior (your siblings are older than you, and they start off with higher status). Because of that superior position, then, I found the game suggesting a feeling of responsibility towards them, and a feeling of pride in their accomplishments.

This might be a bizarre comparison, but in some ways a game that Three Houses reminded me of while playing was Princess Maker 2, a weird little DOS game from 1993 about raising a girl. The core loop of choosing activities to raise the stats of a character in your care, punctuated with occasional outings to fight monsters and get loot, felt quite similar. Similarly, the emotions that seemed to be evoked, to me, were emotions of care and pride: perhaps not paternal as such, since Byleth isn’t that old, but certainly the satisfaction that comes from nurturing a younger and less experienced person.

For the most part that actually worked, and I certainly applaud it for feeling less icky than Fates. If I compare tea parties to that weird Fates mechanic where you could invite characters to your room and touch their face, it is vastly less creepy. So I’m glad that the romance has been toned down.

And speaking of things that I’m glad aren’t prominent…

I’m deliberately burying this part in the middle of a long post. Tumblr is famously ruthless on issues like this, but fortunately I have a very low follower count and you’re all nice people. Basically, one of my worries going into the game was that Three Houses might be the ‘woke’ Fire Emblem game. I am glad to find that concern averted, at least so far. A person could perhaps make some pretty cringeworthy interpretations of Duscur to do with racial politics, but the game itself does not push you in that direction. Tumblr and AO3 love slash shipping, but as far as I can tell that remains as canonically unsupported as ever. Interestingly, while Three Houses has a small handful of same-sex romantic S supports and endings, as far as I can tell they’re all for Byleth and they’re all simply copy-pastes of the opposite-sex versions. It’s enough for me to genuinely wonder whether they’re in the original Japanese at all, or if they were added. I know translations of FE games have played around with character sexualities before, so it’s possible. At any rate, part of me was concerned that this might be the Dragon Age: Inquisition of Fire Emblem, and fortunately it isn’t. (I mean, I did actually enjoy Dragon Age: Inquisition, but at times it did get to be a bit much.) I’ll take this as a valuable lesson when it comes to not believing posts I see on Tumblr. You’d think I would have learned from previous games: popular fan interpretations of a character are often completely wrong. Three Houses seems for the most part to be a very traditional Fire Emblem game.

In terms of the overall series trajectory, I take Three Houses to be an overall positive sign. Awakening and Fates seemed to be taking the series in a direction that I didn’t care for as much, with heavy use of player avatar characters, much more fan service, and more trope-driven plots. Three Houses seems like a return to deeper worldbuilding and characterisation. The cast of characters overall has definitely been a high point: in Fates I sometimes struggled to build a team of characters that I felt truly fond of, but in Three Houses there were usually more characters I wanted to use than I had space for, and there were no recruitable characters that I truly disliked.

Really, the biggest disconnect between me and Three Houses, in the end, is the fact that Three Houses is built for replayability, and I don’t like replaying games very much. However, I don’t think I can in good faith call that a flaw or poor design: obviously there are a lot of people who love replayability, and considering that I got a good eighty hours of gameplay out of my first playthrough (DLC included) and enjoyed it, I’m not really in a position to complain.

So in the end, then, I think that while Three Houses is not my favourite Fire Emblem and does have some places where it could be improved, for the most part I think it’s quite a good outing and a significant improvement on the last few. It is not designed entirely to my tastes, but what is here is mostly good. Three Houses leaves me feeling much more optimistic for the future of the franchise than Fates did.

[kinetic-elaboration]

February 26: 2x08 I, Mudd

Finally getting to this week's episode of TOS.

I remembered I, Mudd being basically fun but not exactly my favorite, and that's still my feeling.

This is the angriest I've ever seen Spock. "Labels do not make arguments." And then how McCoy realizes as soon as he gives his impression of the android how badly he's fucked up but he just has to keep digging that hole.

McCoy commits a micro-aggression lol.

And when Spock talks about McCoy's "beads and rattles"--that voice is 100% the tone Vulcans used to use before they killed someone.

That android looks so familiar. I guess he's not actually a common ST actor but he looks a lot like the common ST background actors.

"Scotty, the intruder's in your area" while Scotty's already on the floor. He got the memo.

"Tell security we found the intruder." We know the situation isn't that serious because Kirk still has a sense of humor.

I like that Spock appreciates that the android doesn't refer to Spock as part of "humanity." And he's definitely interested in the android.

I feel like it shouldn't be this easy to get control of a Federation star ship. Like Mudd is NOT that smart.

I can't believe Spock's first instinct is to try to meld with the machine. Stop being such a slut, Spock.

"He appears to have turned himself off."

Right there on the bridge!! Where he just stands in front of the doorway for 4 days, the least convenient spot.

Kirk is so relaxed about this mission. The ship's been captured and is rigged to blow but oh well! "We're going on a trip." "A gracious invitation." It's like he can already sense this episode is going to be nonsense all the way down.

JAMIE. How dare??

The last time we saw Mudd, Kirk was volunteering to be a character witness for him. Oh where did it all go wrong?

Spock is "ill equipped to appreciate" the ladies. Makes him sound gay.

How much do I LOVE that the VULCANS caught Mudd? He tried to steal Vulcan IP and they didn't like that. I want to know everything about Vulcan society tbqh.

So gross how obvious it is that Mudd is fucking the androids.

The irony of Mudd's situation: a prisoner who can have whatever he wants, but still a prisoner.

Kirk is not amused by the sexist wife android.

This is basically What Are Little Girls Made Of? but like.. not as good.

Kirk doesn't like androids, clearly.

This whole bit about how Uhura could live forever in an android body... First, her interest in the pretty girl androids is very Gay. Second, interesting that this is appealing to her? Third, so this is Dollhouse but with androids. And finally... I feel like this is very not in keeping with the rest of the universe. Like nothing else they can do is on the level of making people immortal. It's such an outlier skill/offering.

Replacing the Enterprise crew with androids--Kirk doesn't like that.

Better than Leningrad...

I am intrigued by the concept that the androids both want to serve and want to study people. Like it does make sense, they can't serve if they don't understand, but it has just that little bit of subtle creepiness to it, which I appreciate.

Kirk cannot be bought. I love episodes where everyone else is, to some extent, tempted by something, like utopia or soft animals or android servants, and Kirk is just like "I'm already living my best life as Captain of the Enterprise so thanks but no thanks."

Spock stepping in to this conversation just reads to me like the smart kid in class waving his hand to answer a question. Like he was not involved in this but he hears a question and he must answer it. "I know what human unhappiness is!! I know!"

THE ENTERPRISE IS A BEAUTIFUL LADY AND WE LOVE HER.

There is nothing tougher to overcome than a sense of purpose. Love that line. Honestly, among other things, I think it describes Kirk and his heroism well. He has a sense of purpose!! And he cannot be swayed.

And now the androids are becoming more like the threatening robots you expect: humans are imperfect/flawed/lacking in logic, can't be trusted to roam free, but are easily pacified with baubles and shiny things, so the robots will make everything better by simply distracting them with whatever they might want, thus saving them, and the universe, from themselves. “You species needs our help…We shall take care of them  You will be happy and controlled.”

I wonder a little bit if this is what happened to the Makers. Like, I know their official cause of death was Exploding Sun/old age…but as my mom pointed out, if the robots DO have the ability to grant immortality in the form of robot bodies, why didn’t the Makers take it? Because the robots made life boring?

Kirk admits to no longer be amused. Uh, yeah, this USED to be hilarious, but is it still hilarious? No.

Pointy-eared thinking machine. YOUR pointy-eared thinking machine, specifically.

Kirk and Spock are operating like a hive mind.

Spock would NEVER sell false patents to Amanda, she is awesome.

And now we’re officially in “Kirk versus the machine and Kirk wins” territory. I do like this type of narrative, so this isn’t a complaint.

Finally, he’s fully enjoying himself too.

I love the fake out with Uhura “betraying” them.

…Okay this is just wacky lol. That’s my only commentary.

Can you imagine the Vulcans seeing this? Not only are the humans acting strangely but SPOCK is too. He’s playing along with the fun and games! How weird of him.

And the head of the androids bites the dust, done in by the old “liar lies” conundrum.

The satisfaction Kirk gets from saying "I am not programmed to respond in that area."

And now he gets to listen to the soothing sounds of Bones and Spock gently mocking each other.

Some of Mudd’s androids have the same dresses as the women in Mudd’s Women.

Not super keen on Mudd's eternal punishment being having to live with many versions of his irritating wife.

And that was the ep. I don’t have much else to say about it. I think What Are Little Girls Made Of? did the androids who’ve outlived the civilization that made them concept a lot better, and overall, as far as sci fi narratives go, this ep didn’t contribute much of anything that hasn’t been said or done before. Not that every story has to be ground breaking, but I just mean, as a sci fi story, it wasn’t fantastic, and as a humorous story, it was… decent, but maybe not as much my thing? I don’t know. Surreal.

It does bother me that we never find out how Norman got on the Enterprise in the first place lol. Like, does Starfleet not have security measures? Can anyone with a uniform just beam right on?

Next ep is Metamorphosis, which, while it does have some uh problematic gender stuff, is also all about LOVE and has my favorite Kirk speech in it so it’s one of my faves. 

#the year 2021 #2021: star trek tos #2021: star trek #star trek tos

[smokeybrandreviews]

Smokey brand Movie Reviews: I Like Toast 'Ems

I love Jennifer’s Body. I’m on record singing this thing’s praises from the top of my lungs. I honestly believe this is one of Megan Fox’s best performances. She loved this part and it really shows. I was one of the few who saw this thing in theaters way back when, it came out on my birthday so the narcissism demanded i partake, but i was wholly surprised by what was presented. When the reviews came out, i was stunned because they did not reflect the film i had watched. Over time, the appreciation for this movie has grown considerably and with Fox experiencing a ind of career resurgence, i wanted to revisit her best role thus far. Plus, there’s an unrated edition of this thing that i didn’t even know existed so i wanna check that out anyway. IS the Unrated version worth a watch? Let’s find out.

The Good

I have to commend the direction in this flick, it’s absolutely superb. The choices made in constructing this story were right right on the money. There is a definite female energy which permeates every scene, which is makes sense considering the source material. Karyn Kusama did an excellent job putting this film together.

This thing’s soundtrack is kind of amazing. It’s weird hearing  Florence + The Machine, Hot Chip, Black Kids, and Hole in such a mainstream movie but i dig it hard. I’m such a f*cking hipster, man...

The dialogue in this sh*t is not anything a proper teenager would say, but i still love every bit of it. It’s ridiculous and campy and ridiculously charming. Diablo Cody has a knack for that. It’s not realistic in any sense, old suits in stuffy boardrooms would say otherwise, it’s still quaint in it’s own right.

Look, i give the dialogue in this thing the most sh*t, but the writing is actually pretty tight. Diablo Cody is brilliant at her craft. Juno was amazing and so is Jennifer’s Body. It’s weird that her career kind of petered out there at the turn of the decade. I mean, it didn’t, but it definitely felt that way. Cody has written some dope sh*t since Jennifer Body. Both Young Adult and Tully were great, but even so, it’s like she just disappeared. I guess that is the fleeting nature of being the “It” in Hollywood.

I was talking about this the other day, but Megan Fox is outstanding as Jennifer Check. She has this smarmy, arrogant, sultry energy about her and it just permeates the entire character. Fox humanizes the monster in Check, in spite of this try-hard dialogue. This is easily the best role i have ever seen Fox in and she deserves more visibility. Ma has the talent to be great in this industry, all she needs in the opportunity.

Amanda Seyfried is, arguably, the linchpin of this entire narrative. I love how she brought a deceptive frailty to Anita “Needy” Lesnicky. I’ve been a huge fan of Seyfried since i saw her in Mean Girls and have followed her career ever since. She’s made interesting choices, Lovelace and Chloe immediately come to mind, but Needy is easily my favorite in her filmography. That said, it’s super weird watching Seyfried pretend to be the frumpy friend.

I really like this cast. There’s a few standouts, outside of the two leads, but it’s chock full of great performances from a pretty legitimate ensemble. I was surprised by a few but, overall, this thing feels like everyone fits their roles perfectly.

It’s hilarious that Adam Brody is considered a sex symbol in this flick. He plays the murderous Nikolai Wolf, the whole reason Jennifer got possessed in the first place. This sh*t is definitely a product of it’s time.

Kyle Galner is his greasy, creepy, self as always. This time, he’s a scuzzy wannabe rocker named Colin Grey. I don’t know what that dude looks like after a bath. Every character I've ever seen him play, always seems so sticky.

Speaking of out-of-place cameos, f*cking Chris Pratt is in this thing! Andy “Star-Lord” Dwyer, himself! He’s the douchebag almost-cop. I can’t believe i didn’t make that connection until now.

I would be remiss if i didn’t the great J.K. Simmons. Dude is Jennifer and Needy’s teacher, Mr. Wrobleski. Dude isn’t in this too much but what we do see of him, is dope. As always. That guy is the king of cameos.

So Johnny Simmons is in this. He plays Needy’s boyfriend, Chip Dove. Dude is kind of forgettable but i think that’s the point. The thing is, i know this dude from something else but i couldn’t place it for the longest time. Then it hit me like a truck; Young Neil. He played Young Neil in Scott Pilgrim! Which is hilarious because Chip Dove is literally the same character.

I really like this story. I don’t go for the teen drama too much but this one does a great job of supplanting that with actual, interpersonal, conflict. Jennifer’s Body isn’t a horror story. It isn’t a gore fest. It’s not some vapid, superficial, teenage wasteland of a flick. This is a character study. It’s an expose of growing up and growing apart. This is coming to terms with a broken heart and a lost love. This is a proper, character driven, tragedy and i love it.

The Verdict

Look, i love Jennifer’s Body. That is no secret. it’s not a surprise. High recommend. This review is more for the “unrated version” of the movie. That little bit is actually wildly misleading. There isn’t any extra violence, you don’t get to see Fox’s boobs, it’s not really “unrated.” It’s actually closer to a directors cut than anything. As far as a recut, this thing is awesome. I think i prefer this version over the theatrical but both versions are still great. Megan Fox gives an amazing performance as the demon possessed lead, while Seyfried is exceptional was the evolving heroine. The story is a little cliche but the characters are more than enough to keep you hooked. Jennifer’s Body is a gem and it’s a proper shame it didn’t get the shine it deserved upon it’s original release. If you have time to kill, and considering we’re about to go round two in quarantine so you just might, give it another shot. I think you’ll be charmed.

#Jennifer's Body #Megan Fox #Amanda Seyfried #Smokey brand Movie Reviews

[fandomflail]

title: Recognition (7/8)

rating: M

summary: Soulmate trope AU. Set in a world where humans and elves coexist.

a/n: The whole fic has been edited, and this Chapter was posted somewhat 2 years ago, but I’ve now revamped it, it’s twice it’s original length and basically, just different. so yes, this is a legit update! and chapter is currently being edited so we’re almost there! Also, thank you kmomof4 for your encouragement. And galadriel from Ao3 for reading everything I’ve ever written and leaving a comment. This one is for ya’ll. 

Past Chapters: on AO3

_____________________________

CHAPTER 7: Rattled

When she had first laid eyes on him, there was no mistaking Killian was an elf of quality lineage. With his sharp jaw line, piercing eyes, and tipped ears, he was the embodiment of a dashing elf.

However the night he came to pick her up for dinner, less than a week after the embassy dinner debacle, Emma would have never have guessed the man was elf.

His hair was artfully mussed, covering his distinctive pointed ears. He was dressed in a dark leather jacket, a dark blue dress shirt and dark jeans. Perhaps it was the jeans, a vintage human clothing that was all the rage across fashion spreads, that cinched the look, but Emma had been stunned into silence when she’d seen him.

He simply flashed her a cocky grin, as if he knew exactly how good he looked. “I know, Swan,” he had said, even though she hadn’t said a word.

She glared at him, but the effect was lost when she dove in for a kiss to show her appreciation.

“Seriously? You’re supposed to kiss after the date,” Henry complained, even though he was grinning.

“Mae g’ovannen, lad.”

“What do you know about kissing?”

“Mae g’ovannen,” Henry responded, ignoring her.

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay alone?” she asked, deciding to have that conversation with him later.

Henry rolled his eyes, making a ‘go’ motion with his hands. “Yes, mom, I’ll be fine, bye, go enjoy yourselves.”

She shook her head at him, linking her fingers through Killian’s. “Okay. Holo me if anything comes up, okay?”

“Yes, mom. Bye!”

As the door shut behind them, she could feel Killian laughing next to her.

“Oh shut up, just you wait.”

His laughter went silent abruptly, as she realized what she said.

“Emma?” he asked, the question hanging in the air.

“No! I mean, no, not that I know, no I just meant… not that.”

He nodded slowly, blinking, even as his eyes darted to inspect her flat stomach. His long lashes danced across his cheeks, before he exhaled lightly.

“Ready for a night of debauchery, Swan?”

“Are we buckling some swash or something?”

He laughed. “Something like that.”

* * *

“He took you on a cruise?”

“He did,” she confirmed, unable to stop the stupid grin on her face. “Up and down the river.”

“Damn, girl.”

Emma shrugged, sipping her vin in order to stop smiling.

“You’re really happy,” Ruby breathed out.

“Why the tone of surprise?”

The red-headed woman laughed, signaling to the waiter for a refill.

“It’s you, Emma. I love you girl, but you’re not exactly the warmest human this side of Alamané.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“So when do I get to meet him?”

“Woah, slow down,” Emma said, flicking a peanut at Ruby.

In a show of her excellent reflexes, Ruby caught it with her mouth, chewing on it with a shit-eating grin.

“Show off,” Emma muttered.

“Anyway, like I was saying, when do I get to meet him? It better not be on the wedding day itself!”

“For goodness sake,” Emma grumbled.

“Emma,” she whined, “you’re not answering the question.”

“He’s a little shy,” she hedged. No one knew she was dating an elf.

“I’m your best friend!”

“That’s debatable.”

“That’s rude.”

“Bite me,” she said, only to roll her eyes when Ruby grabbed her hand and bit it. The woman was an animal sometimes.

“I would love to join in on this little soiree,” a man’s voice pipped up beside them, sliding onto the open stool next to Ruby.

Emma turned to tell him off when the words died on her tongue. He was an elf. Not that being creepy assholes was limited to the human species, but it was rare to see.

He smiled. “I do have that effect on women, elf or human.”

“The only effect you’ll have from this conversation is my shoe in your arse,” Ruby said, with a cheerful tone that promised pain.

“Feisty, I like it,” the elf said, standing to face them. “and you, my lovely blonde vixen, look familiar. Have we met?”

She hadn’t been introduced formally to elvish society. She lived pretty much on the ‘human’ side of Alamané. It was unlikely that he’d ever seen her, as she’d kept away ever since that night in the embassy.

“You’re not even meeting us now,” Ruby snapped, clearly not in the mood for random hookups tonight.

“And if you decide to ignore her, you’re in for pain. And not the good kind,” Emma added.

“What a pity,” the blonde haired elf drawled, chocolate eyes twinkling at them.

“Yeah sure, bye,” she said, turning her stool to ignore the amused elf.

Ruby was glaring mutinously at the back of his head.

“You okay?” Emma asked, eyeing her friend. Ruby wasn’t usually that rude or standoffish.

“I’m not a racist,” her friendly said quietly, “but lately there’s been an influx of policies that seem to favor elves. I’m just a little pissed with the whole I’m a victim card they’re pulling.”

“What do you mean? How?”

Ruby leaned closer, speaking almost directly into Emma’s ear.

“A lot of it has only been tabled, nothing official. You know it’s my job to read Senator Katherine’s documents and brief her, right? A lot of it is…problematic. Apparently the elves think humans need to be limited to one child a family, because we’re overpopulating the planet. And because the Republic works on a representation basis, it means more humans in the Senate than elves. They’re worried about their interests.”

“Would that be bad?”

Ruby sat back with a sigh, keeping her voice low.

“I’m not saying we humans don’t need better family planning. Clearly some ancient practices of the First Voyagers has stuck around. But this is where it starts. They’ll say let’s stop them from having more children, then it’ll be let’s decide who gets children and so on.”

“Come on Rubes,” Emma cajoled, “they’re just holding humans accountable.”

“The problem is they still act like we just landed on this planet. It’s been 4,000 years!”

“It’s only been 6 generations for them. Isn’t the oldest elf like 900 years old or something?”

“Whose side are you even on right now?”

Emma blinked. Even if she hadn’t just found out about her elvish issues, she would have still had made the same remarks. It was objective, wasn’t it?

She stretched her neck, soothing the muscle with her palm before looking at Ruby.

“I was just saying, is all.”

“Whatever, let’s talk about something else.”

* * *

The breeze was strong up in the penthouse, the clear blue of the Vistula River reflecting the city in its waters. Emma shut the balcony door, leaning against the railing as she took in the city view. Three months had passed in a blink of an eye.

She fingered the chain hanging from her neck, finger dancing in and out of the ring Killian had given her. She could see the desperation in his eyes to accompany the gift with three words, sacred in both English and Elvish, but something about her expression must have stopped him.

And she had wanted to encourage him, perhaps even say it first, and yet…she had faltered, the words dying in her throat in an overwhelming tide of emotion.

He’d taken in it stride, though he couldn’t hide the light dimming in his eyes. It had been the same when she’d been sick two months prior, and he’d hesitantly given her a pregnancy test, only to softly smile at her relief at the negative result. A fake smile, one that said despite his insistence that she was right about a goddamn baby complicating everything, he still wanted it badly.

The weight around her neck had only been there a week, but Emma could no longer imagine not having the comforting presence of the ring resting in the valley of her breasts.

She sighed, taking in the city.

None of Liam’s search had yielded results about her parents. She wondered if they had died, or maybe, truly hadn’t wanted her. Killian was adamant that she had been sent away for protection, but the longer the fruitless search went on, the harder it was to deny that maybe she really was an unwensket.

“What are you thinking about?” a voice asked her, making her jump.

She turned in surprise, the heir to the elven kingdoms walking up to her soundlessly. She hadn’t even heard the door open.

“Stuff,” she responded eloquently.

“Stuff,” Liam repeated, with a bemused smile.

“Stuff,” she affirmed.

“You looked like you were brewing a storm just from your thoughts. Mother used to say that, especially when Killian threw tantrums.”

“He threw a lot of tantrums as a child?”

“What are you talking about, he’s still throwing tantrums.”

“No, now he broods and sulks in corners instead,” she said, laughing at Liam’s little grin.

He rested his forearms on the balcony, looking out in the same direction as she was.

“True. So why are you emulating him?”

“Just thinking.”

“If you say stuff…”

She laughed, nudging him with her shoulder.

“I know I got mad before, but I do want to meet my parents. I mean, I have so many questions.”

“I can only imagine. Unfortunately, it seems like they don’t want to be found.”

“That’s the thing I’m worried about. I mean, I got cycled into the human system. But it shouldn’t be that hard to fish me out from it, if they really wanted to, right?”

“Except it’s not like you stayed in Nysno. Or that we’ve broadcasted your origins.”

“I know, I know. I was moved, I travelled too far, they may have given me a human last name instead of whatever my elvish name is. I know,” she said, ticking off the possible reasons from her fingers.

“Actually… come to think of it… Emma is the human version of Ardhoniel.”

She stood straighter and cracked her knuckles. “Are-thonn-ee-ell? That doesn’t sound like Em-ma.”

“It’s the meaning, not the sound that is translated.”

“What does it mean?”

“Universe.  All encompassing. Everything.”

“Hmm… I don’t know about that.”

“I know you’re Killian’s everything,” Liam said, not a trace of irony in his tone.  

Despite herself, Emma found her face flushing. “Umm,” she said, “it’s only been a few months.”

“Short yes, but you’ve got the universe backing your claims.”

She sighed. Liam, despite his non-Recognition union, was a strong believer in the fates of true love or whatever.

“We’re still learning one another.”

“Oh please, you’re both madly in love yet dancing around each other despite being together. It’s maddening.”

She ran her fingers through her hair, quickly braiding it so the wind could no longer torment it.

“And to think, you first hated me.”

“You grew on me like moss on a damp forest tree, what can I say,” Liam teased.

“That almost sounded complimentary, you’re losing your touch.”

Before Liam could respond, a loud, insistent rapping on the glass door sounded. They turned in unison to see Killian, a big grin on his face as he held up a glass of mulled vin. He had insisted on remaking their mother’s old recipes.

The door slid open, and Killian poked his head out.

“What’re you two doing out here?”

“World domination plans, little brother.”

“It’s younger, not little, there’s nothing little about me, and two, Elsa is challenging Belle to some kind of trivia competition and I think Belle is winning. You better go referee.”

Liam rolled his eyes in exasperation, shaking his head conspiratorially at Emma.

Killian stepped out, two goblets in his hand.

Liam swiped the one his younger brother was just about to bring to his lips, earning a loud protest and an ensuing tug of war that ended when Liam warned that the liquid was about to spill.

Emma laughed as Liam used that opportunity to tug it neatly out of Killian’s grip, absconding with the mulled vin.

“Asshole,” Killian muttered, glaring at his brother’s smirking face behind the now closed glass door.

“Elves really are no different than humans, you know,” Emma said.

“Yeah, they’re all assholes.”

“Oh, stop being grumpy and let me taste it.”

Turning to her, he visibly brightened as he thrust the goblet in her hand. The nervous, excited energy she could feel from him was sudden and all encompassing. Emma felt a rush of adoration sweep through her as she met his wide blue eyes.

Emma took a delicate sip. It was surprisingly good - fruity, rich and potent.

“Impressive, Your Highness,” she teased.

“Really? It’s good?” He coughed, clearing his throat, “I mean, of course it’s good.”

She rolled her eyes at him, “Yes, it’s good.”

“Anyway, more importantly, do you know what just happened in the kitchen?”

She sipped her wine, nodding at him to continue as her eyes darted to see what could possibly be going on inside. Henry and Gracie were playing holo games. Belle and Elsa were moving their hands animatedly, seemingly talking over each other, while Liam watched like he was a hummingbird undecided between two flowers. Jefferson was the only one in the kitchen.

“What did Jefferson do?” She asked, as Killian said nothing, merely grinning at her madly like he was waiting for the ball to drop.

“Oh, not what Jefferson did, love, but Belle.”

“Belle?”

“Mmhmm.”

“Well, are you going to tell me or what?”

“She asked him out for dinner.”

“She what?”

“Well, more like…” he bit his lip and squinted, “more like, she asked him to dinner tomorrow to discuss something that came up during Gracie’s tutoring.”

Emma groaned, “That is not asking someone out.”

“You just had to be there. Context is key.”

“I didn’t even know Belle liked Jefferson. Oh wait, did he say yes?”

“Of course he said yes.”

“Huh,” she said, peeking another look at the elf in the kitchen.

“What?”

“He’s I mean he’s not… he’s fine with humans, obviously, but um, he’s never struck me as the kinda guy who would date a human. Not that it’s a date.”

“Darling, elf or human, he’s not exactly the most pekný.”

“Pek-what?”

“Pekný,” he repeated, “which is like… being pleasant. Personable.”

“Oh, well yeah, that’s an understatement.”

Emma put her glass down on the ledge, and moved forward to nip at Killian’s lips. The ease of which she could do this, and the sheer comfort it brought her would make her head spin if she thought about it too much, so she simply didn’t.

Before he could escalate their kisses, a shrill alarm sounded from his holo.

“Výstraha! Výstraha!”

They both looked down as Killian straightened his arm out. Výstraha was a warning call, and use of the holo in such a manner was regulated for emergencies only.

A string elvish words followed that warning in panicked, hurried, tone that Emma did not understand. She watched as Killian’s body immediately tensed, his eyes darting around, and was not startled when he grabbed her arm and pushed her inside the penthouse.

“Liam!”

But Liam had already moved towards them. Anticipating her question, Liam looked at her, with his brow furrowed and body tense, face one of shock.

“There was an attack,” was his explanation.

“At the place,” Jefferson clarified, and before she could ask, he said, “The King is dead.”

#cs ff #ouat ff #recognition #killian jones #emma swan #rouhn #kmomof4