#can see Meeps' house in the background

[thebreakfastgenie]

Can you explain the new doctor who stuff to someone who has never watched doctor who before?

Ooh I can try?

Background:

The Doctor is a Time Lord, a powerful time-traveling alien. There are other Time Lords but they're not usually around and when they are it's not good. He travels the universe, and time, in the TARDIS, which looks like an old-fashioned British police call box on the outside but is massive on the inside. The Doctor is also kind of bad at controlling where it ends up. Every time the Doctor dies, he regenerates, but keeps all his memories. This happens every time the character is recast. The Doctor's gender is not fixed, the previous regeneration was a woman, but he's mostly been portrayed and written about as a man over the years so I'm using he/him for simplicity. David Tennant is one of my most beloved portrayals of the Doctor since the show was revived in 2005 and he returned for three specials to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the show. In-universe, the Doctor regenerated into the same body he'd had a couple regenerations ago, and he does not yet know why (we'll probably find out in the last special).

The Doctor also travels with friends, called companions. One of the most beloved companions of the revived show is Donna Noble, a loud, abrasive, middle class woman who has trouble holding down temp jobs, and turns out to kind, compassionate, and brilliant. Her relationship with the Doctor is completely platonic. Companions have to be written off the show eventually, and it's often in heart-wrenching ways. Donna was involved in some scifi mumboj-umbo called the metacrisis, which basically gave her a special connection to the Doctor and some Time Lord powers (mostly intelligence). Because her body is human, the power was killing her, so in order to save her life the Doctor wiped her memory of him and all their adventures. Donna met and married a wonderful man and had a child, but the Doctor could never see her again, because if she remembered him she would die. However, Donna also came back to celebrate the 60th anniversary. These specials are were created by Russell T Davies, the writer who revived Doctor Who in 2005 and ran the show until he left at the same time David Tennant did. He's now coming back to run the show again. He has a distinct style that a lot of fans really respond to, although the other two show runners who have been in charge in the meantime have fans as well.

The new Doctor Who stuff:

About 15 years after wiping Donna's memory, the Doctor regenerated back into David Tennant and the TARDIS immediately landed on a street, where he ran into Donna, who fortunately did not immediately recognize him. Donna called for Rose, which freaked him out because Rose was the name of the first companion in the revived Doctor Who, the Doctor's love interest, who was permanently trapped in a parallel universe. Donna knew about this and even met Rose during a big finale. It turns out the Rose Donna was calling for was her daughter. Rose is also trans and chose the name Rose for herself, and Donna got very protective against some transphobic bullies.

There was an alien threat in London (again) and in the course of investigating, the Doctor wound up at Donna's house, where Rose was harboring a deceptively adorable alien called the Meep. In order to save the entire city of London from the adorable but evil Meep, the Doctor was forced to restore Donna's memory so they could use their combined abilities. They succeeded, but Donna passed out, however she quickly recovered. It turns out that when she had a child, some of the Time Lord power stuff got passed down, so it's now shared between her and her daughter. Rose's choice of name as well as some of her hobbies were influenced by subconscious memories of TARDIS adventures. There's a whole little bit about how the Doctor is male (David Tennant's Doctor), female (Donna), and "neither and more," (Rose, who is a nonbinary trans girl). It's incredibly silly and campy and very fun and the whole episode is just very pro-trans which is nice. In the end, Donna and Rose are able to let the Time Lord power go and retain their memories. Donna is not planning to return to traveling with the Doctor, as she now has a family, but she gets in the TARDIS for "one last trip" and spills coffee on the controls, making the TARDIS go haywire and ultimately getting the Doctor and Donna stranded on a spaceship at the edge of the universe.

In the second special they had a very creepy adventure on the spaceship featuring "not things" taking their shape. They finally made it back to Earth at the end, only to find humanity going violently insane, setting up the plot of the third special, which we will see soon! They also got to see Donna's grandfather, Wilf, who was himself a beloved companion. Wilf's actor, Bernard Cribbins, died recently, but he filmed this scene before he died, so fans were really overjoyed and emotional to see him one last time.

The second special also had a scene at the beginning featuring Isaac Newton, who was played by a brown actor, and later had Donna and the Doctor agreeing he was hot and a line confirming the Doctor is not straight. There's been subtext about the Doctor being queer for a very long time, he was kissed by a canonically omnisexual male companion, and the previous Doctor, who was a woman, had ship tease with her female companion, but this line was a bit more direct and overt about a male Doctor liking men than most of what's been included before. These two things, along with the pro-trans stuff in the first special, have the right throwing a tantrum about Doctor Who going "woke" which is just kind of hilarious.

At the end of the last special the Doctor is regenerating into his newest form, played by Ncuti Gatwa. Davies is staying to run the show, but Ncuti Gatwa's Doctor and his companion will be new.

tl;dr: beloved actors and show runner return for specials that have been really good, well-written, good mix of practical and computer effects, and fun pro-trans stuff in the first special, so Doctor Who fans are happy.

[hairklipz]

Review 01: LTJ Bukem - Producer 01

Released: 0?/01/00AV

Genre: Electronic / Subgenre: Jungle DnB a/o Intelligent DnB & Downtempo

Watford native LTJ Bukem had heavy influence on what would become known as "Intelligent DnB". Intel. DnB is characterized by clear jazz influence alongside the break beats that make Jungle so addictive. Bukem navigates the sound with expertise, flaunting complex but catchy jazz loops into the mix from his classically trained background as well as hard hitting basslines that rock your ears. As the record runs, you lose track of time as the songs are paced very well despite being on the longer side by today's standards. If someone is looking for an introduction to the UK Jungle scene, Producer 01 is a gentle yet proper means to do so. It starts you off by getting you used to the sounds you will hear through the project and then eases you into the heavier aspects later on. Let's listen.

Track One is a seven minute interlude titled appropriately 'Cosmic Interlude'. As the song begins I can already feel myself enjoying it from the bass loop alone. This loop is reminiscent of the "Meep City Night Theme" from Roblox (obscure reference but that song is a 10/10 for me). The tone of this interlude is also set quickly with the accents heard echoing over the bass until the drums come knocking in. The structure of this song seems to focus it's attention on the tone switches. Moments of minor tension broken up with soft electric keys and more accenting. Just as the song is starting to become repetitive, Bukem (as if he is mixing this with you in mind) switches direction, giving us a break from the loop before heading into the final minute of the track. Although the loop has only been gone for less than a minute, when it makes it's return with new partners, you cease to remember the repetitive feeling from minutes before. An amazing start to the album.

Track Two instantly takes a dip in tone. Titled Constellation, this track is the sole song on the record that features vocals. The lyrics of this song seem to focus on music transporting you elsewhere. The style of the rap is consistent with the English Scene with flow influence from New York contemporaries of the same time and genre. I think this track is a great listen especially if you are listening intently. Noticing details like the whispers that DSR layers over his verse pulls the listener away from where they are grounded much like the song intended. As far as the production, a favorite for me is the strings within in the loops. I am an absolute sucker for strings especially the strings consistent with the late 90's and early 2000's. When the beat rides for the keys solo before the last verse, you get a chance to really hear those strings before the song fades off. I really enjoyed this song despite it being almost an outlier from the rest of the album.

Track Three is where we start to inch closer to the traditional jungle sound although I use 'inch' very literally. Unlike later tracks, this one remains subtle in its label. My first thought is downtempo but maybe not a specific sub-genre within it. The BPM sits at around 104 or 105 as opposed to the average BPM of 158 over the six songs that follow it. The chords feel very house-y which I love and I think suits the track immensely. While listening to the first two minutes of this song, the sub-bass will creep in for just moments at time preparing you for second-quarter of the track. The sub-bass hits hard and rounded, you can almost see the shape of it while listening. The echoing horns throughout the song are trance-like, it feels like I'm being hypnotized, snapped awake and instantly re-instated as the horns return. This cycle continues until you fully awaken only due to the volume lowering as the song fades out.

Track Four begins with what I can only describe as someone taking the term jungle literally. Partnered in the background with percussion are various chirps but closer to the foreground is what seems to be (in my opinion) a bit-crushed roar of some kind that starts anew every eight measures. I really love the idea of Bukem sitting down and deciding to center a jungle song around jungle sounds (even if I am not 100% on his intention or even that these sounds came from the jungle in the first place). The drums in this song are one of my favorite from the entire record despite this not being a favorite song as a whole. I think this song serves well as a transitionary track into the higher tempo theme of the rest of the album and prepares you for track five which I consider to be the second strongest, second most interesting and my overall second favorite on the album.

Track Five is titled 'Demon Theme'. As the track sets the tone for you, chirps are carried on from the previous track until the break begins. The drums are instantly weaker than the last song but this is not where 'Demon Theme' shines. Two minutes into the track, an echoing lead catches an unbelievable groove that immediately takes over. This section of the song is interrupted by a sampled singing voice that eases us into a new section of chaos. Many freshly introduced sounds start to swirl around your head at 145 BPM causing a hurricane circling your brain. Soon after, the 'calm' within this 'storm' appears in the form of flutes that end up blending the rest of the sounds into one. Once again, this off-key vocal sample serves as the start of the next section where we are met with warm synths and those familiar chirps from earlier. It feels like an off-color sun is breaking through the clouds of earlier. As the song enters it's final stretch, the chaos is gone and that catchy lead comes back to wrap everything up into a neat package. This new tone becomes the standard for the song, wiping your memory of the chaos the ensued minutes before. Switching between minute three and minute six feel like distant sonic cousins rather than two parts of the same track and I think this is absolutely a positive but also a theme of this album. It is dynamic and it shows track-to-track.

Track Six is our longest track on the records at just under nine minutes. The loop here has some sort of a filter which almost detunes it at times and I love that effect. The synths that work with this loop are slow and drone-like which leaves you wondering where this song will end up knowing that Bukem is both unpredictable and extremely talented at it too. 'Music' sits at the higher side with 155 BPM but somehow the song feels slow and paced. It is an amazing feeling. By minute four, I had found myself feeling like the song just began but we were already half way finished. The track is quick yet slow. It is heavy yet soft. It is both liquid and solid. Throughout this one, a sampled voice comes echoing both in and out like something out of Silent Hill until thick undistinguishable chords creep in to set the tone completely. 'Music' isn't one of my favorites as a song but the experience itself makes it. I think it is rare to find a track paced so perfectly.

Track Seven (my overall favorite) continues the long run time with the the last two songs totaling over seventeen minutes all by themselves. This song has a slow build but already starts to set the groove. The echo and melody used for this flute sample is one of the catchiest on the entire record. The bass on this track is definitely more subtle than the former songs but it is still rounded and impactful. As you hit the halfway point of 'Twilight Voyage' you get a closer listen to the sounds present in the song and this is one of my favorite sections. I don't have the proper words to describe the feeling they give me but it is like every sound is picked perfectly. Every soundwave is the exact one that I would specifically want. I find myself getting lost in this section just appreciating said sounds until the DnB returns for the final two minutes of the track. This song is one of the least dynamic of the record but somehow it doesn't feel repetitive, every second of those eight minutes is paced just as well as the previous track and that blows me away.

Track Eight begins unlike any of the other songs. 'Orchestral Jam' has an strong start as opposed to the soft build-ups we've been used to for the past seven tracks. The drums are glitchy and fast which the track gives us plenty of time in the first minute to appreciate until the melodies begin to slip in. Of course, this song is focused on strings but these strings aren't my favorite. I mentioned earlier in the review that the strings of this era are one of my biggest weaknesses but the ones present in this track just don't do it for me. Even when the bass is introduced about halfway through the song, I do not find myself getting the same feeling the record has produced so far. My favorite thing about this song are definitely the accenting done here and there. That being said, this song is on the weaker side for me and would be at best an 'okay' track. I do believe that this song is greater than 'okay' but might have the unfortunate task of following the almost perfect first seven tracks.

Track Nine is the where this amazing record comes to an end and from what I understand is Bukem's most popular track. Off-the-bat, this song has a chopped vocal sample (from which part of the title is taken) that is absolutely lovely. I think that the beginning of this song sets an amazing tone that gets me excited for the ending of this album. The keys, which are almost clav-like, are catchy and funky until they are cut-off. I think that I would've liked those keys to continue and carry the rest of the track with them in a different direction. They make their return alongside that vocal sample in the final minute of the record but without enough time to bring the song to a place I'd like to hear. I think this song reveals one of my worst habits which is gaining expectations in a track to only feel disappointed if it doesn't go where my head was thinking or somewhere better. This song set a tone that I got attached to and changed it. I believe that the song is still great but I am just a picky and pretentious brat who acts like he could've even made something this good.

Producer 01 is labeled by some as a compilation record rather than an actual album. I believe that without lyrics it can sometimes be difficult to keep an album coherent but Bukem did it masterfully. This project feel cohesive and paced beautifully. Sitting at 1hour and 13 minutes, each song works its runtime properly and keeps you engaged both mentally and physically. This record has plenty of moments where you cannot help but have a physical reaction to what is occurring even if you are not listening with full intent. This record is not abrasive but does have moments that wake you up and cause those reactions. With a slower, seemingly unsure start, the first three songs carry layers of influence that leave you guessing on the exact genre is would be considered. As you hit the middle four tracks, you feel entranced in the project unable to step out of it without effort. as you ease into the last two tracks which are the weakest in my opinion, you find yourself wondering what direction he will go and I love that feeling. Consistency is not bad but an artist who can leave you guessing is even better. As one of the first albums released in the new millennium I would say this record perfectly encapsulates the era and sets a great standard for the years to come.

8.3/10

-Hairklipz 28/02/24AV

#ltjbukem #jungle #dnb #downtempo #music #musichistory #musicreview #y2k #2000's #review #writing #blogging #blog #trance

[hoseokslefteyebrow]

House Of Cards || K.SJ || 8

A VISION

Pairing : Kim Seokjin X Reader

Genre : Angst & fluff

Summary : When a war threatens the world of Mythica, the four greatest tribes are forced to work together in order to defeat the darkness. You and Jin are from two different tribes, two different backgrounds and are expected to stand together in order to save everyone you love. Will you two put aside your diffrences in order to save the world or will you fail?

Wordcount: 1k

Info Chapter | House Of Cards Masterlist | Next

The flight back was tiring. In fact, both Sapphire and Beansprout got so tired that you and Jin decided to camp in the forest for one night. The part of the woods where you're camping is not too far off the border between the Spring forest and the Death Valleys, yet it's also not anywhere close to the Lava Volcanoes border', where the Phoenix and Dragon Tribes are stationed.

You and Jin are currently seated around a make shift camp fire, tough both Jin and Sapphire weren't very keen on sleeping outside, they needed rest too and luckily that got them to stop from complaining. You were laid against Beansprout's side, who was laying on the ground for once. His tail is wrapped around the two of you and his head is in your lap, snoozing away while you draw patterns in his black green-like reptile skin. 

Jin and Sapphire are in a similiar position on the other side of the campfire. Sapphire laid down while Jin's leaning against her side. 

You swipe a hand over the fire to keep it going.

" Why were you so set on teaching me all the way by the Atlantic Ocean? I'm sure that there's big forests on the other side of the forest too." Jin asks you at a random point.

You nod.

" That's true. But I tough I'd be easier to trigger your connection in it's raw form. The Death Valleys are native for venomous type' dragons, it's what helped me feel the connection with Beansprout's magic easier." You tell him.

He nods.

" What was that like?" He asks curiously.

" What was what like?" You ask confused.

" Living in the death valleys. I can't even imagine. I don't think that I'd be able to live as close as we were to the sea today either." He tells you.

You shrugg.

" I never really got used to the Death Valleys if I'm honest. I just didn't have much of a choice back then. That's why Beansprout and I chose to go to the Dragon Tribe." You tell him.

" It's really cool tough. Would you have joined the Dragon Tribe if you were part of a smaller tribe or village or lived near one of those?" He asks curiously.

You ponder over it before shaking your head.

" I don't know. But most probably not. It was a pain in the ass to get stuff like clothes in the Death Alleys. Not just because the markets are far away from there, but also because I didn't exactly have a job there so I didn't have money to buy anything either." You say.

He nods again, about to say something before his eyes spot something behind you. Whatever it is he spotted must've looked intimidating, as Sapphire stood up and puffed her feathers up, trying to appear bigger.

" H-ey, Y/N? Remember how you said that not all evil looking things are as evil as they appear to be?" Jin suddenly stammered out.

You nodded, your brows furrowed in concern. Beansprout suddenly stood up too, awoken by whatever presence was nearing behind you. You grabbed your sheated sword before turning around.

Your eyes widen in suprise and fear at the sight that greets you. Behind your little group is one of the largest creatures you've ever seen. A huge skeleton like creature with long skimpy bones, who's head is barely as tall as the top of the trees. It's got shining golden eyes and was looking straight in your direction.

" Okay, um, I'm gonna be honest. I have no idea. These type of creatures don't near people often. In fact, this is the first time I've ever seen anything like it. The only thing I know is that if it wants to attack us, we're most probably doomed." You tell him shakily.

Beansprout starts pushing you back near Jin and Sapphire as the Necro suddenly nears the two of you. It's tall, lanky legs cover for tall strides, even if it does move a little slow.

Beansprout unfolds his wings and holds his head up high, also appearing to look intimidating as Sapphire does the same. You meep as you're suddenly pulled behind Jin's broad back when the Necro bends down.

You're unsure on what to do. Should you yield your sword or not?

" Jin, let me-"

" No. I'm not stupid Y/N. I know that you're trying to protect me for if it wants to start a fight, but considering you can't beat it either, let me try to handle this." He tells you calmly.

You look unsure at the part of his face you can see, but let him.

The Necro points out a long bony finger, which nears all of you, until it touches Jin's forehead.

When Jin blinks, there's suddenly a yellow orange light shining from his eyes, the same light the Necro's eyes shine.

You're now even more unsure what to do. You glance at Sapphire, who's calmly looking at the Necro, a sign that he's not hurt, and so you decide to do nothing.

After a moment the Necro moves away from him again, and stands back up to it's full height. Jin blinks a few times before he widens his eyes and turns to you.

" We- we have to go. Now." He tells you before grabbing the little things you've braught with you.

The Necro must've been pleased with what it's heard as it moves back to it's own bussiness.

" Hey, calm down. What's going on?" You ask confused.

" The Necro showed me a vision. The tribes are under attack."

[ A/N: I'm slowing down my updates sorry. Also, this is the Necro creature :

It's not an actual mythical creature like most are out of my story, lol. Also these type of arts are called Visual Necromancy and I've got the pic off Pinterest.

#bts #bts x reader #idkeitherman #kim seokjin #jin x reader #bts fantasy au #bts fluff #bts angst #visual Necromancy #yeet #pegasus #bts dragons #idk lol

[itsc]

C will you please list the top ten cats you love, thank you

absolutely. here goes:

Bear: my son who i love. he is smelly and badly behaved but he is small and my son and i love him. he is turning 11 this month. his head is full of schemes and he lifts weights but he loves me. 

Inca: Bear’s mom, a little lady. she is super soft and her head is empty. sometimes she will carry a minky sock outside and pretend to hunt it for five minutes. she gets sad if she doesn’t sit on my mom’s lap for at least an hour every night and tried to have her kittens on my mom’s lap. she is perfect.

Thumper is the saddest man in the world and bear’s brother. he likes to lie on his back and nap. he is not as soft as inca and bear but he’s still got like.. a kitten face. he likes to sleep between the pillows of a made-up bed.

bibby: she is soft and large and perfect.. i love her little meeps. she learned anger when she met bear and got strong, and i love to see her jump on things or drag herself up, but i also miss when she used to just put her little front paws on things and cry at us to lift her like a human baby. she is a cat born from the flour sack animation exercise.

bonebone the cat: can you imagine holding bonebone? i cried once imagining holding his paw. he looks so big and soft. i hope i can meet him someday.

bijoux (rip): my cat from age 5-19 who loved me most and who was my best friend. in her whole life she only scratched me once and she never bit me. she was bigger than bear ever was and so soft. she had a little heart shaped black spot on her nose. she used to sleep on my pillow when i was a baby and when i got older she slept on my neck and face. i once went to france for the summer and she was sick the whole time from missing me. her head was exceptionally empty. she ate a huge hole in my 6th birthday cake.

six dinner sid: fictional but no less admirable. this is the only picture book from my childhood that i brought with me when i moved out. he pretends to be a different cat at 6 different houses to get more dinner. i respect his crimes.

theres a perfect photo of a cat with very big eyes that i saw on tumblr like 9 years ago and i refer to it in my head as “OOOOOO” because that’s what happens in my heart every time i see it. i made it my work laptop background in the early teens so that at least one thing would bring me joy since i wasn’t allowed to have any personal items in my cubicle :) i got in trouble for having OOOOO as my background when they took my laptop to use at a conference.

that online cat named special business. honorable mention to olive the cat, pumpkin, toilet queen, nisha, little man, beauregard the local pet supply store cat, and tiny ear margot

squangela. ive never met her but what a face.

#cats #howlingblaster #QnA

[future-critical-blog]

How Pacing Fucked Steven Universe

Note: this is anonymous because I know what will happen!

Steven Universe is without a doubt one of the best shows I've ever seen. It's certainly the best cartoon series I've ever watched. The first four series, and a large amount of the fifth, are truly wonderful.

So, I'm going to be entitled and complain about the last little bit that didn't work for me. I got all those hundreds of episodes, and I’m just going to take a moment to really honk about the stuff I don't like.

Because we live in an age where Nazis are back, feminists think trans woman are the biggest threat they face and the world is burning - at this point, a bit of a moan about Steven Universe/Future will get lost I think.

Bear in mind: this comes from a place of love. I care about Steven and the characters because they took me on an amazing journey that really had an emotional impact on me. Then they tripped me right at the end, and now they're fuck-twaddling around taking up space in my brain that should be used for thinking about how great the show is.

This is about how the inability to wrap Steven Universe properly sucks and undermines all the amazing work the creators put into it. Now, that work hasn't gone anywhere: I can, and will, re-watch the series to reminisce about it. About what could have happened. Nobody has taken that away from me.

But still, there's nothing worse than a story that buggers up the ending. Worse yet, that ending is still going in Steven Universe: Future.

So what's the problem? Let's start.

Pacing, pathos and atmosphere

Things used to be teased, hinted and slowly revealed. Steven Universe used to a slow-burn that really built things up with the even-hand of a masterful storyteller.  Remember that long shot at the end of 'On the Road', after the characters leave? We see just the empty, sinister kindergarten whilst a discordant note builds in the background before... bang, credits. It builds atmosphere and tension.

What happened to that? Slowly building a feeling, weaving a narrative, and taking us on an emotional journey? We got a very rushed pay-off to all this with Series 5. The crew thought the show wouldn't be renewed, so they made the executive decision to wrap it all up.

·       Everyone’s fixed now. Pearl, Garnet, Amethyst, Steven.

·       Diamonds are friendly now. Blue got sad, Yellow got angry and White got… put in her place by a comeback?

·       The bubbled gems/corrupted monsters are all fixed.

·       The Off-Colours and Lars just got home.  No further adventures, they just got home.

Bits got missed out. Things got rushed. Homeworld, the Diamonds and five series of build-up got dealt with in the space of 40 minutes. For comparison, just Series 1 alone was 8 hours long.

Yeah, the network created that situation. You're cancelled! They seemed to say. No you're not! HA! They continued.  But it still sucks, narratively, and the creators are now compounding that problem by trying to go back and add in the bits they missed.

Worse, there's no pacing now because there’s no more overall story.  No atmosphere. Fundamentally, post Change Your Mind, everything is done. The series was wrapped up.  All we have left now is some loose-ends and Steven being moody.

It came back mostly just to tie up random ends. But more of something isn't always good: Series 1-4 and about half of Series 5 are amazing. We shouldn't clap and applaud we get more just because it's more for its own sake, we should cheer things for being good in their own right.

I don't just want more meep morp, I want the morp to have something to say and to mean something. Victory laps and adding unnecessary lore is pointless: characters and emotion are what drive stories.

This isn't about 'filler' episodes as such, nor is it about breaks and hiatuses. It's about spreading the story arc (and the individual elements within that arc) correctly over the allotted time. A story that takes 700 pages to set up, only to be resolved in 3 pages feels badly unbalanced - I'm looking at you, Stephen King. And that's exactly the problem Steven Universe has. The set-up is incredible, and the payoff is badly disappointing. That's pacing.

Being the Underdog

This was covered nicely, if ironically in hindsight, with the episode ‘Historical Friction’.  The play about olde-time mayor William Dewey was utterly uninteresting until Pearl rewrote the play’s script to make him an underdog.  This is part of pacing. It's dull to watch a winner win constantly. The characters need to be in situations where they're facing actual threats, otherwise we're just watching a series of foregone conclusions unfold.

What would Lord of the Rings look like if the Hobbits just marched from The Shire to Orodruin, with no setbacks or problems, and then just lobbed the One Ring into the fire? What's the point of the story? It'd be like a grand-scale version of watching someone go out for groceries.  Nobody wants to watch that, not really: you can go to the supermarket and see it if you’re that interested!

This couples with suspension of disbelief. Usually, the good guys win. We know they're going to win. We need to be able to suspend our disbelief, and that's something that the pacing and storytelling need to enable. We need to be able to get caught in the story, even though we know everything will probably work out by the end.

When you get it just right, even the creators don’t know for sure everything will be alright.  Remember when Picard was assimilated by The Borg?  Even the writers weren’t 100% sure how it would play out, because Patrick Stewart was playing hardball with the studio at the time over his contract.  There was a chance this could have been the end of his character.

But Steven isn't an underdog anymore. He's a bossy, self-important grump with a martyr complex. He wins all the time, not least of all because of the pacing problems. By this point:

·       Steven has healing powers that can literally bring people back to life

·       He has all the powers of a Diamond

·       He has the backing of the three other diamonds

·       He now has an army of friends who will fight at his side

So where is the story to tell? Consider, in Steven Universe: The Movie, Greg's arm gets hurt by the injector. There's no danger, no worry. We know Steven has healing powers. So why bother showing it? It's about as relevant or interesting as watching Greg brush his hair.

There’s no danger.  There’s no suspension of disbelief because the hero is now so super-powered.

This is even worse when coupled with the uneven pacing: when something takes so long to be painstakingly set up, only to be knocked down in a heartbeat, then why get invested in it?  The 21st Century reboot of Doctor Who falls into this trap a lot: multipart episodes about a Dalek (or whatever) invasion… but luckily their Evil Machine has a ‘reverse’ switch that fixes everything. Dust hands, job done. All that build-up utterly squandered on an almost supernaturally fast resolution.

You Need a Story to Tell

The first five series have a definite story. It gets rushed, badly, come series 5 but there is still a story. That is done now: there's no grand, overarching tale now. We're very much into 'oh, what if...' territory.

What's the problem with that? Things get missed, because they don't need to fit into a cohesive whole. They just happen because they're cool.

Consider The Movie:

·       Spinel goes from a cuddly, professional buddy to a would-be mass-murderer

·       Spinel knows where to find a stupidly powerful injector

·       She knows how to work it

·       It is tuned to work to her 'trumpet' sound

·       It is shaped like her gemstone

·       She knows specifically where Earth is

·       She knows how to fly a massive injector, with no obvious engines, to Earth

·       This all happens in an afternoon

And the explanation we're given, after the event in a Q&A session? It's because Spinel and Pink Diamond were close. That is supposed to explain the entirety of those bullet points. It rankles me because it's not truthful. Those questions aren't answered by that, they're answered by 'because we thought it would be cool'. It's an unsatisfying explanation, but it's true and they’ve tried to handwave it into something else.

It's also what happens when you run out of proper story. Sure, you can still come up with little adventures but there's no big narrative anymore. There is no large picture for everything to fit into.

That’s dangerous territory. Not only does it lead to weird scenarios, but it also starts generating new lore at a maddening amount. The fans don't help this, it seems to me that some people purely watch Steven Universe to demand moar fusions, moar songs and moar lore.  Even when that’s all they get, it’s not enough.

It's like demanding more swimming pools in your home because you're bored with foundations.  Sooner or later the whole structure falls down because swimming pools can’t hold a house up.  Neither can lore hold a story up: stories are about characters.

Similarly, the concept of 'fusion' relies on characters otherwise it's nothing more than the character dumps we used to get in toy-driven franchises back in the 80s. Songs have to have an emotional resonance otherwise they're just empty pop.

Remember the X-Files? How they got into a rut just generating series after series with no pay-off, but lots more wrinkles to an already convoluted story? Then it got to the end and... you can't end it. It's too sprawling, too stupid and too contradictory. That's where lore without a story takes you. Lore has to serve a vision, not the other way around.

Filler

Not filler the way it's come to mean to SU fans. I like the 'boardie' episodes - they're full of interesting characters and ground Steven's world in something resembling ours. No, I mean filler in terms of stories that don't mean anything: the characters don't learn anything, the world isn't made any more interesting. Things just happen in a self-contained bubble with no payoff or consequence.

In itself, that's fine. Some episodes are like that. If that were the only aspect to 'filler' episodes in SU, then who cares? The problem is the pacing. After glacial teasing, hinting and laying down groundwork... things get wrapped up so fast it'll make your head spin.

·       The cluster? We talked it into staying bubbled.

·       The Diamonds? They're fine now.

·       Bismuth? Steven chatted to her.

·       Lapis? She's sort-of fine, but not really.

·       Spinel? Sent to live on a farm.

These are all things that took many, many lines of dialogue and building to create and were knocked down in the space of a couple of sentences.

This is where the 'filler' comes in. Instead of another story about Onion being weird, why not devote it to tying up the plot in a way that feels paced properly? Instead of answering questions about Watermelon Stevens, why not draw-out a little more the actual conclusion to a big story point?

Why do I think Onion and Watermelon Stevens should be singled out for Calvary? Simple: they have no explanation and don't matter. They don't matter to the day-to-day lives of the characters or the world. They serve no narrative purpose. They don't advance other characters' arcs. They don't ground the world they inhabit. They turn up, do 'stuff' in a little bubble and then go back into the toybox until the next Onion episode.

As a side note, I would lay a lot of money that Onion will never get any sort of pay-off. He doesn't age. He's deeply bizarre. He's apparently a wanted criminal. He's terrifying. And I don't think for an instant he will ever get a reason for being any of those things: he'll just carry on as a quirky in-joke and take up episode space because apparently that is a story-telling priority now.

Songs

Songs are sung when something is too important for the characters to just say it. The song needs an emotional resonance, to show what a character feels effectively. Contrast 'That Distant Shore' to 'Independent Together': one is about a deep longing and sadness for a home the character has never had. The other is a soft-rock ballad about how great stuff is when you can be your own self but also be with other people... or something.

See the resonance that the former has, and that the latter lacks? Whether you like Lapis or Steg, or the songs, is irrelevant to the story and the characters. One song has something to say, the other is there for the sake of giving fanservice. Independent Together isn't something so important to say that the characters feel they need to sing it.

This really kicks off around the middle of Series 5. Previously, songs were a special event. Now, they're commonplace. Even in Mr. Greg, a fully musical episode back in Series 3, the songs have so much emotion. Plus, Mr. Greg is an experiment: 11 minutes, mostly held together by 6 solid songs:

·       Don't Cost Nothing: how much Greg and Steven just love one another.

·       Empire City: how excited they are to go on a trip together

·       Mr. Greg: Pearl almost lets her guard down, then realises and shuts down.

·       It's Over Isn't It? : A heartbroken character sings for a life they never had.

·       Both of You: A child shows the two adults they have something special in common.

·       Don't Cost Nothing: reprised as a coda.

I won't pretend that all those songs have a huge emotional impact, but they do all serve part of the story arc. You can see it there: the status quo, the trigger, the choice, the quest, the showdown, the resolution and the new status quo. Couple that with the fact that at least 4 of those songs (counting Don't Cost Nothing and its reprise) do have a very real emotional punch, you've got a great episode.

All in 11 minutes.

That's the level of truly amazing, genius storytelling we're working with. Now contrast that to the 1hr 20m of Steven Universe The Movie:

·       The Tale of Steven: A prelude to a re-cap song

·       Once Upon a Time: a re-cap song

·       Let Us Adore You: The Diamonds are emotionally disturbed and co-dependent! How adorable!

·       Happily Ever After: The status quo. Also another bloody re-cap.

·       Other Friends: The trigger! Not huge emotional resonance, but up-beat and plot-relevant.

·       system/BOOT.PearlFinal(3): The quest.

·       Who We Are: NICE. This one has emotional impact and says something important.

·       Isn't It Love?: A Garnet re-cap. So at this point we're recapping what we re-capped when we recapped the re-cap. Lost yet?

·       No Matter What: Again, NICE. Emotional relevance and says something about Amethyst and Steven.

·       Disobedient: Kate Micucci hadn't been given anything to do yet?

·       Independent Together: Aimee Mann brought a friend! Can he have a job and some dollarydoos?

·       Drift Away: CHARACTER. PUNCH. PATHOS. It's here, folks. They can do it!

and so on.

See the pattern? For every one song that brings what we saw in Mr. Greg, there are at least four that are there just because. Because we thought it'd be cool. Because we needed more tunes to fill the runtime. Mr. Greg achieved more in 11 minutes than Steven Universe: The Movie achieved in over 80 minutes.

What's the reason? The Movie doesn't really have a story to tell. It's a victory lap. It's not bad: it's fine. Bits of it are simply excellent. But this is what happens when you stop having a big, cohesive narrative arc that you're trying to bring together.

Characters

Characters grow and evolve. Specifically, they have arcs. Just like the plot as a whole, and just like the subplots that compose it.  Generally, the stages are:

·       A status quo (Luke on Tattoine)

·       A trigger (his Aunt and Uncle die)

·       A critical choice (he leaves to become a Jedi)

·       A quest (the adventure)

·       A climax (the fight at the Death Star)

·       A turnaround (the Death Star is destroyed!)

·       A new status quo (the Rebels are ready to take on the next challenge)

SU gave most of its characters arcs broadly representative of this. The problem is, once those arcs were done the characters got put back in their boxes. They were 'fixed' and that was it. Amethyst's arc probably worked best: it spread over most of the first five series and felt like a real progression. Hence her fusion with Steven (Smokey Quartz) felt 'earnt'.

Pearl doesn't really grow or evolve much at all until Series 5. Ditto Garnet. Lapis is basically the same throughout the show: she broods, runs away and then comes back because of Steven's coaxing.

So, it’s back to my main drumbeat: its pacing is badly off. Some things take their good time and evolve naturally, others are wrapped up quickly and cast aside. Examples:

·       Peridot worked to become friends with the CG. She had a character arc that took half a series.

·       The Diamonds: it mostly turned on a sixpence in the 2nd half of Change Your Mind. Off-screen they then became annoying relatives, rather than murderous galactic tyrants.

Why does this matter? Well, most of the characters are now 'done'. Pearl is no longer co-dependent. Ruby and Sapphire know they're together (as Garnet) for love. Amethyst no longer hates herself. Peridot is a sweet (albeit socially clumsy) sidekick. Lapis is... well, the same as she's always been but seems happier with it now?

How do you tell more stories when your characters are already done? When the veg is cooked, you can't put it back on the hob because you've decided you want dinner prep to take longer.

SU keeps wrapping things up, believing they're 'done', then getting more time and needing to draw it out. This means either dawdling around with characters not going anywhere (which feels like either a smug victory lap or just something for its own sake) or actively unpicking their development.

Scrubs, in my view, is the poster child for the latter option: the show's cancelled, quick wrap up JD; Elliot; Dr. Cox; Carla; Turk etc! Oh no, we got another series! Undo the happily-ever-after so we can do more stuff!

That's why the pacing, particularly around characters and where they're going, matters.

Fusion

Fusion is the absolute biggest muddle of a metaphor. Is it friendship? Understanding? Sex? All? None? In any case, it used to be meaningful. Fusion meant something, even if that something would vary depending on the characters and the circumstance.

It took special effort to do: characters had to synchronise themselves through dance, to bring their thoughts together to fuse.

Now? It happens at the drop of a hat. No synching, no dancing. Fanwank it away any way you like: the characters are all 'fixed' now, they all trust each other, whatever. Fusion now doesn't mean anything because it takes no effort: pop here's Sunstone, pop here's Smokey, pop here's Opal. The fusions have just become like alter-egos that take no more effort than a quick-change in a phone booth.

And then there's Steg. Yeah, I get it: he represents the familial love between father and son. But why is he so built? Why does he look like some sort of sex-god? I'm a long way from a prude - it's just weird is all. A 16 year old boy + his middle aged father + the memory of the mother/wife shouldn't create a weird Adonis! But let me set that aside: the true problem with Steg is we had no build-up. Greg and Steven didn't talk about it, Steven just suggests fusing (through whispered dialogue we don't hear) and then it just happens.

Steg also isn't saved by being an interesting exploration of either Steven or Greg. He's fanservice. Fans wanted more fusions and more 'what if so-and-so fused!!' so they got it. He has 0 character. Just like Sunstone has no character beyond being an 'after school special'. Rainbow Quartz 2.0 has no character, aside from being chipper and cockney.

Contrast that to Smokey Quartz. Smokey is a delightful, self-deprecating scamp. She has a definite personality and stood up to a full interview with Sardonyx.  Smokey has enough of a character that it would be possible for her to act out-of-character.  What would out-of-character look like for Rainbow or Sunstone?  Provided it was cartoon-English and early 90s cartoon dialogue (respectively) it could be anything.

What happened? Fusions used to be characters, they used to have personalities that couldn't be written down on a postage stamp in luggage marker.

The answer is the story ran-out. The characters are all fixed now - so there's no emotional or narrative drive for their relationships. Hence the concept of fusion is now just serving fans who want to see 'what if' combinations of characters.

Too Many Endings

I’ve touched on this already, but here it is again.

The problem with wrapping up a show is you put all the pieces away as well as you can, and implicitly make work for yourself if it is not the end. You've just set up a load of strawmen you need to kick over if you decide you've got more story to tell.

That's what happened here. Change Your Mind ended it. Except it didn't, so we went back and unpicked what we could. Even though everyone is basically fixed now and the characters have no real growth or underdog-fight. Then The Movie ended it. Except it didn't, so we went back and unpicked what we could. Even though everyone is still basically fixed.

Will Future be the end?  Probably not.

That's why Steven is now a moody little jackass with a hero complex - we needed some conflict to drive what little plot there is, which exists only as a vehicle for tying up loose plot threads (Jasper!) we left out because of how rushed the first ending was.

It's a bit like when you misspell something, then you go back over it with your biro. But now it looks unclear. So you go over it a few more times to make sure it's clear. But now it looks like someone took a biro and leaked half the ink onto the page. The very act of trying to tidy it has made it less clear.

A Special Note About Garnet

This isn't about pacing, but whilst I'm on the moan I'll leave this here.

I feel wicked for this. Garnet is a brilliant character. I love Estelle: she brings Garnet so well to life. Any LGBT representation in a cartoon is rare and amazing, and we need more. But Garnet also sucks.

Why?

She's a metaphor. She's a metaphor for being gay and together in love. She is a symbol of a same-sex relationship.  On a side-note: yes Gems don't have gender technically, but let’s not be wilful here: they have female-coded designs and the subtext is so obvious as to barely be subtext.

It's nearly 2020. We're now 20 years into the 21st Century. 2001 A Space Odyssey was set 20 years ago.  First contact between Zephram Cochrane and the Vulcans is now only 43 years away.  And we can still only talk about gay (or, God forbid, bi or transgender) characters in children’s' media through metaphor. I cannot emphasise enough how utterly shitty that is, and how glacial progress has been.

Now, that isn't SU's fault. However, what is SU fault is their clever (and I mean that genuinely) ploy to sneak a same-sex couple into the show means that we don't see them as a same-sex couple 95% of the time. They're hidden. Ruby and Sapphire's love and relationship literally lives under a disguise called Garnet.

And that sucks. It makes sense as a plan. It's great we have Garnet. Garnet is still amazing. But she also sucks, because she acts as invisibility for the lesbian couple she represents.  Yeah, that’s some tough mental gymnastics to work that cognitive dissonance but I managed it.

My God, I Get It: You're a Cat Person

This is also nothing to do with pacing, it's just a creator conceit that bugs me. I freely admit it's also piddly and petty.

So: I'm not a cat person. And no, it's not because I haven't met your adorable little Tiddles or whatever. I don't hate cats, it’s just that most of the cats I've ever met are simply ghastly little shits. Their owners, through some mental blind spot; ancient Egyptian curse or brain parasite have become convinced that these hairball-gobbing, furniture-shredding, wildlife-destroying little cunts are angels. Somehow they've convinced themselves everything they do is adorable.

No amount of murdered birds or small mammals change their minds.

I've met, officially, two nice cats in my life and I treasure their memories. The rest can go to hell.

Why does this matter to SU? Cat Steven. Lion. Peridot and Amethyst doing little kitty-mouths when they're being cute. My God, crew, you love cats. I got the memo.

Why does that work me up? Well, do you know what I'd like instead? If a tiny amount of that 'cats are brilliant!' energy went into a proper wrap for Pumpkin. Created by Jessie Zuke and obviously a puppy metaphor... what happened to her? The crew don't care, because they won't tell us. If they cared even a jot it would have a story around it. Instead, we got some half-arsed bullshit from Joe Johnston about 'pumpkins don't last forever' and... scene. That's it.

But Cat Steven, OMG, yes we have to make sure to include him. Whenever we're at the Beach House. Especially if Garnet is there. Because... lesbians all love cats? Or something? Just... CATS. MOAR CATS.

Couldn't you show a little more respect for a character, albeit a not particularly important one, rather than worrying about how much airtime the various cats all get?

In Conclusion

It bears restating, this is mostly ire directed at Series 5 onwards. The other series are all still there, and I can watch them to reminisce. I can still enjoy some truly wonderful episodes of just about the best cartoon I've ever seen. This show is incredible... but the endings kinda suck. And that's down, mostly, to pacing. And how it kinda fucked Steven Universe.

#steven universe #steven universe future #steven universe the movie

[ddaenggtan]

ooh time to find out more about your favorite goblin!! i was tagged by the ever-wonderful @peekaboongi and the always-fabulous @jeonau (both of whom are absolutely phenom people and if u aren’t following them and loving them every minute of every day then really you aren’t living your best life bUT) 

nickname | bette is a nickname, but u can also call me goblin, trash, bitch, MA’AM, sir, literally anything. my dad’s old nickname for me was bette-bear, and my grandma used to call me Bette-y Boop so. Yknow. I’ve heard them all. 

gender | i’m girl, and i use she/her pronouns, but you can use they/them and also he/his because gender is a social construct that i personally don’t give a fuck about outside of doctors offices :)))

zodiac (sun) sign | the most libra libra to ever Libra

height | 5 feet and 8.75 inches even tho i’m usually shorter than that because of my weird spine ayyy

sexuality | i’m bisexual, but also i’m the gayest bisexual you’re ever gonna meet because ladies, am i right

hogwarts house | slytherin, but i’ve also been told i give off strong hufflepuff vibes, which i also accept :)

last film i watched | harry potter and the sorcerer’s stone, bc it’s on in the background while I read lmao

favourite animal(s) | cats!!!! cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats i love them more life and i cry sometimes when i see a really cute one and i just love them so much with their toe beans and their whiskers and their ears and their tails and their lil meeps and meows and chirps and i just really love cats okay

favourite musician | bts obvs but hozier and cnco are also really high on this list

number of blankets | ideally one comforter that i have strewn about me like a renaissance painting, but if not that, then at least two to three that i can layer and achieve the same effect with 

song stuck in my head | the mighty fall by fall out boy (off their best fuckin album to DATE god i love that album) 

where im from | the southern usa,,,,,,,,,,,,rip

other blogs | i’ve got a main tumblr that i’m positive some of my moots already know because i’m really bad at like,,,,,,,,life and also reblogging to the correct blog, but FUCK ME if i’m gonna give it away willingly bc i’ve had that bitch since 2008ish and y’all don’t need to see that wackery

dream trip | honestly,,,,,,,,,,this is hella basic bUT i wanna visit an aquatic conservation center so bad. like an aquarium but a humane aquarium that focuses on repopulating species and coral reefs and releasing things back into the wild as we should, bc i love aquariums so much and all marine life (sHARKS ARE MY FAVORITE) but i always hate seeing them in enclosures :(( 

do i get asks | sometimes!! moreso lately since some people have apparently decided to send me definitely anonymous asks trying to spout some nonsense bUT for the most part not really, so i really love every ask i get :))) pls talk to me :)))) i’m not scary i actually never shut up :)))) you can ask everyone i talk to :))) 

when did i make this blog | this year, around like???? may-ish??? maybe earlier?? maybe later??? i don’t actually remember tbh

blogs following | between this and my main i’m following 730 blogs, but bts specific probably like,,,,,,,,,,,,100-200? maybe? 

why did i make this blog | because i wanted to share my writing and also did nOT need the people i know IRL that follow my main to see me crying because i wanna ride namjoon’s thigh 

dream job | alSO BASIC but i basically want to be a YA/fantasy/fiction author, like Rick Riordan, because I remember when I was younger and read books that featured queer people, I was always astounded and it was how I came to terms with and began to love my sexuality for what it is, and I want to make sure that future generations also see themselves in their literature and media, be it their sexuality or race or looks or disabilities, things like that, because seeing it portrayed as just something that exists instead of a tragedy or something to be overcome can be the difference between hating part of who you are and loving yourself with your whole heart, wOW THAT GOT SAPPY ANYWAY YEAH I WANNA WRITE BOOKS RIP

everyone i know has probably done this already or before so feel free to ignore this but!!! i love finding things about my moots!!!! so!!!! haha!!!! @fortunexkookie @personawife @strawbxxymilk @honiboyyoon @seokoloqy and @helpitskpop

#about bette #tag game #IGNORE ME I RAMBLE AND DONT EVER SHUT UP OKAY OKAY BYE #crawling back into my hole to go walk my dogs and then continue binging this fic byeeee

[ladyserendipitous]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Adrien Agreste & Alya Césaire & Marinette Dupain-Cheng & Nino Lahiffe Characters: Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Adrien Agreste Additional Tags: Identity Reveal, Sleep talking, pretty much pre relationship ot4 Series: Part 20 of Révéler Moi Summary:

Adrien's sleep talking tendencies become his greatest weakness.

(So I'm sick in bed and thought I'd write a reveal fic!)

If it wasn’t for the long study sessions getting ready for final exams, Marinette would never have learned Adrien’s secret. Adrien talked in his sleep.

The first time it happened was at Nino’s as they were all laid out on his bed, quizzing each other with examples from their books. At some point Adrien had nodded off. Marinette figured it was the three days in a row of photo shoots. She thought the blond had the right idea, four days in a row of akuma attacks were starting to drain her.

She wondered if it was it Nino’s turn to ask a question. He hadn’t said anything in a while and the background music was nice. So much so it was starting to lull her to sleep surrounded by the friends she trusted.

“You’ve cat to be kitten me,” a soft voice muttered.

Marinette’s eyelids opened wide as she looked around the room looking for the source of the voice. Then she heard unintelligible words in the same voice. Looking over she was surprised to see Adrien’s mouth moving. “Been there, done cat.”

Marinette covered her own mouth to keep from snickering. The barest trickle of memory trying to come to the surface, but all her concentration was on the boy who she moved closer to. Even though he found the idea of Adrien talking in his sleep absolutely adorable she worried he might not be sleeping so well if he was talking. “This looks like an un-fur-tunate situation.”

“Adrien,” she called out softly as she shook his shoulder. “Adrien, wake up.”

“Yes my…,” Adrien blinked his eyes a few times before his eyes focused on her face. “Marinette?”

She smiled adoringly at him, much more than if she had been more awake would have let him see. “Sorry to wake you, but you were talking in your sleep.”

Adrien yawned, and carefully moved Alya’s arm off his chest so he could sit up. “Thanks. I sometimes do that when I’m overly exhausted I guess.”

“Oh,” Marinette frowned. “I shouldn’t have woken you then!”

Adrien shook his head. “No, no, it’s fine. I probably wasn’t getting a restful sleep anyways?” He looked around the room, at the time on the clock and then at their passed out friends. “I think study session is over. I should probably go home.”

Marinette hated to admit it, but she probably needed to do the same. Carefully they untangled themselves from the pile. Leaving Alya and Nino to sleep a little longer.

Over the next week they rotated houses to study at. They would eat dinner together and stretch out over each other on the floor or a bed as they reviewed. Sometimes, just sometimes, Adrien would fall asleep and usually when he did he would start muttering words.

“I don’t think he likes to admit it,” Nino whispered to Marinette, for a change not having passed out himself. “He’s stressed out. Probably over finals on top of everything else.”

“Don’t stress meout,” Adrien muttered. Marinette gave Nino a look, wondering if Adrien really had heard them. But then he started muttering low again. Nino shrugged as she reached over to wake him up.

When finals were done, and Marinette had finished with the damn akuma (Really she got getting akumatized during finals, but it still made the day extra stressful!) the four of them met up for some fun. They decided on Adrien’s place, because even if it wasn’t the most homey, there were enough games to keep them busy all night.

Who passed out first was hard to judge. They’d all settled down on the couch to watch The Rescuers Down Under and Marinette knew she got passed the failed proposal dinner. After that she couldn’t be sure. What she did know was she heard her name. Or at least one of her nicknames.

“That was a bit close Bugaboo.”

Marinette turned slowly, unsure if she was still dreaming. Somehow, even though she knew she had been sitting between Alya and the arm of the couch, she now had Adrien draped over her. She couldn’t be blamed for letting out a meep.

“Hawkmoth has clawful designs,” sleeping Adrien muttered. “If they weren’t so bad they’d be hissterical.”

Marinette tried to concentrate on breathing. Cat puns were one thing. Sure it seemed odd, but everyone adored Chat Noir. It could have been a type of hero worship or just too much time on the internet. But calling her, okay not her but just saying Bugaboo, and now talking about Hawkmoth’s akuma like her partner had just a few hours ago? That’s more than a coincidence, right?

“Chat Noir?” She whispered, not sure what to do, because surely this was not happening.

“Yes my Lady,” came the response and she wasn’t sure what that meant. Well other than there was no way he wasn't Chat Noir.

It took her a bit of wiggling to climb off the couch and her movement was enough to wake Adrien, who was looking at her in a upside down pose because he was half atop Nino and Alya. Not really unusual for them, but the sleepy confused look was frying her brain. A brain that added the words ‘cute kitty’ to the confusing mix. Then he blinked in an adorable fashion and she meeped again.

“Is everything alright Marinette?” He asked his voice still thick with sleep.

“You pun in your sleep,” she said in an accusing tone. “Cat puns!”

Adrien looked a bit more awake now as he tried to carefully get off their friends, and just ended up rolling off and ending up on the ground in a heap. No no she was not going to think about how he looked when he was flung across a room. Nope!

“Do you not like puns?” Adrien asked with some confusion once he righted himself.

“You don’t use cat puns,” she explained instead. “Just like you don’t call me Bugaboo!”

The color drained from his face. “Marinette it’s just sleep talk,”e tried to hurriedly explain as he got closer to her. “Dreams are just weird things!”

“Not weird enough to make the same remarks about bad fashion of akumas as my partner did.” When did she start pulling at her pigtails?

She could almost see his mind going ‘oh shit oh shit oh shit’ and she couldn’t blame him. It was a lot to take in. “Wait,” he finally said as something settled for him. “You said partner?”

Had she? She couldn’t recall. She was still freaking out and not completely sure this was real. Still she nodded. She wasn’t expecting the shout of glee, nor for him to practically glomp her. He did let go far too quickly for her liking but looked at her with such utter joy she couldn’t help smiling back. “Sorry, sorry, I should probably be taking this more seriously.”

Marinette giggled. “It’s alright kitty. But we really need to talk about your sleeping habits!”

“Finally,” a black blob flew out from the trash can by Adrien’s desk. “I’m so glad this is over!”

“Plagg, this is serious!” Tikki scolded coming out of Marinette’s purse, also by Adrien’s desk.

“Yeah, yeah…” Plagg said, not seeming the least bit concerned.

The kwamis conversation was lost though by their chosen who were still processing the fact that they already knew their partner. They had a lot to discuss. Yet it didn’t seem so daunting at the moment as they grabbed each other’s hands and jumped up and down as they both started recalling to each other all the times they nearly figured it out.

It would be three more minutes before they noticed the other two people on the couch watching the whole thing unfold.

#adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #my own work #ml fanfiction #ml fanfic

[an-army-of-dumbledores-blog]

James Potter’s real career

It is a common theme that if James Potter had survived the night at Godric’s Hollow he would’ve become an Auror, or the Lord of an Ancient and Noble House, or decided to live off of his parents’ money. I think he would’ve done something different entirely, if he knew it could be done. Imagine an AU where the Dark Lord is still defeated by Harry, but nobody dies/is betrayed in Godric’s Hollow, and everything happens fifteen years later. Lily is introducing the Marauders to muggle television, and the Marauders laugh until they’re in tears at the brilliant banter between the hosts of a car show. Peter by happenstance remarks that these guys essentially make money by being themselves. James agrees wholeheartedly with Peter, but Sirius has a suspicious glint in his eye that Lily doesn’t like. Remus catches it too, and knowing his friend all too well, already sighs with exasperation, knowing they’re about to be pulled into a massive prank once again. Fast forward a few years, and magicals manage to catch up and invent their own version of muggle television (by magically linking numerous Pensieves, I don’t know how, but cut me some slack here). At first, because of the expensiveness of Pensieves, it’s all government-controlled and financed. But Lily notices the Marauders have been busy more and more recently, and gets suspicious when James purposefully pushes a note in her hand, stating that Peter is the Marauder Wormtail. She decides to ask James about it when he gets home, but for now lets it be, instead putting Harry down for the night and watching in their new Pensieve after putting out food for the cat. Only, instead of the boring ministry propaganda or bigoted news from the Pensieve branch of the Daily Prophet, the Pensieve is mysteriously dark. Then, in the back, Lily turns and sees a mysterious image of a Werewolf, a Rat, a Black Dog, and a Stag, with four very familiar names written on the bottom below it. Lily’s eyes widen in mild amusement, as their logo fades and rises, revealing James and Remus sitting on one couch made of a couple of broomsticks and a flying carpet, while Sirius sits lazily in a Game-of-Thrones-style throne made of brooms, all of them surrounded by a few background stand-ins, and they start talking about various brooms and magical flying contraptions, with Banter mixed in between. Lily begins to snort as she recognises it, and laughs as Sirius majestically announces: “Some say he has an unconquerable fear of heights. And that he is born half man, half Rat. All we know is, we call him Wormtail.” And in walks Peter, heavily disguised by massive amounts of Quidditch gear, including a helmet that disguises his identity, but Lily has put two and two together, and she’d recognise the short man everywhere. And surprisingly to all but Lily and the Marauders (who already know he’s actually quite good on a broom as a Seeker, but is genuinely terrified of heights, and it is the one thing James and Sirius can never get him to budge on), he lives up to his muggle counterparts’ reputation, putting in the fastest laps on any track with any broom. She wondered why Sirius needed a few bottles of Liquid Courage Potions, and vows to always have a supply ready. In other words, Ladies and Gentlemen, Top Gear with the Marauders. Just imagine it: -Sirius acting like Jezza, always boisterous and constantly insisting that power is simply better, only ever bested by the hammer. Remus acting like Captain Slow, the calm and reasonable one, seemingly patient yet always the first to yell ‘COCK!’ real loud, and being tedious to the point the others contemplate murdering him. And James acting like the Hamster, easily excited about everything, having grand ideas that are impractical to execute, in his case a leftover from all the attempts at getting Lily to go out with him. -McGonagall finding out, wondering why she’s surprised at all Sirius managed to convince them to go through with this, but simply happy this is all they get up to. Then facepalming when she sees the stunts they pull with brooms, and the constants remarks and jibes they still make at Slytherins and Snape (they’re the reason Snivellus is still Snape’s nickname in Hogwarts even decades after the Marauders have left, the name kept alice by the various Weasley siblings that adore the Quidditch-loving commentators. Even Arthur watches religiously, though tries to hide his enthusiasm when Molly’s around). She is unsurprised when she is asked to attend the show as a Star On A Reasonably Priced Broom, as the Marauders adored her, and as both a Transfiguration Master and a teacher at one of the most prestigious schools in the world she holds some acclaim. She returns to Hogwarts with an uncharacteristically smug smirk, not only holding the top of the board, but having an entire section named after her in her honour. But winning ten galleons from Dumbledore for doing it all first still feels very good. -Lily, and later Tonks and Sirius and Peter’s girlfriends watching the pensieve regularly, often laughing themselves wet at their antics. -at some point some criticises them for not spending enough attention to magical creatures, and as a result the next episode is done at a full-moon, with Moony in his Werewolf form and the wolfsbane potion on the couch and later on a broom as he tests a new one, using a quill to meep up sith the commentary (hindered by James and Sirius who have enchanted it to be extra slow, constantly asking ‘You wanted to say something, Moony?’, and Moony just glaring at them as he carefully tries not to snap the quill with his claws, they have the head of Gringotts as the SOARPB, and the broom is a special one crafted by a Centaur. -the Twins, finding the map, viewing it with additional adoration as they see the value of what they hold -Harry finally arriving at Hogwarts, and being worshipped not for being the Boy-Who-Lived, but for being the Son-of-Prongs, and the twins chanting ‘We Got Prongslet, We got Prongslet’ as Harry joins Gryffindor. You can fill in the blanks yourselves when it comes to the out-of country specials and the chaos they’d get up to. Marauders and Top Gear combined. I want it.