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m3talmunson · 1 year

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Any reasonable person would think, with the sheer length of Eddie's hair, that he would have the slightest idea of how to care for it.

If you thought that, you'd be wrong. He was flying by the seat of his pants, with a bonus of simple luck. It was astonishing that his hair didn't get matted throughout day to day life, let alone the end of the world.

Yes, Eddie obviously went to a hospital after it all. Nobody could have survived that level substantial of injuries without it. But no matter the NDA's, or the "freedom from prosecution," as Dr. Owens puts it, it didn't come with a clean-wiped slate in the public eye.

So Eddie chose to lay low. He got the treatments that were deemed necessary by the doctors, and then he got the hell out of there.

At least, from all of this, Eddie learned only to run when he needed to.

Part of him was scared he and Wayne wouldn't be able to swing the bill. That part of him was satiated when Owens's team swung the bill and replaced the... mangled Munson trailer. These government reparations didn't anywhere near touch the damage that was done, but Wayne and Eddie would take what they could get. Like they always had. Of course, the universe saw fit that Eddie take a little more.

Eddie was told -putting it politely- to stay the fuck out of that trailer park. Just because his name was cleared legally doesn't mean he should be anywhere he would normally go about his business. Not for the next couple weeks, at least.

And Steve Harrington, ever so giving, offered up his home as sanctuary.

And of course, Eddie was immediately trying to find a way out of it. When that didn't work, he started asking how soon he needed to leave. He didn't want to feel like a burden, especially not to Steve.

"Stay as long as you need, Eds. Forever, for a little while, on and off, literally anything as long as I don't have to carry you out of hell again. That's the one condition."

Sure, living with Steve had it's perks. He had some semblance of privacy, walls with ANY soundproofing, and company. What more could a boy ask for, you would think.

Not living down the hall from his crush while looking like a walking nightmare, Eddie thought, was a perfectly reasonable thing to ask for. He did not get that.

Despite living in the same house as him, he avoided Steve like the plague. Steve had made it clear his 'what's mine is yours' attitude was open to Eddie, but Eddie preferred his room. His boxes from the old trailer were there, his guitar, his sanity (or what remains). The moment he limped his way out of that door, he was in the realm of Steve. And he did not feel up to the task of being presentable in front of his literal crush.

Still, Steve came into his room every so often. Eddie went to the hospital, but he wasn't magically better. Steve changed his bandages, helped him when he needed it, brought him homemade soup? Because, somehow, Eddie is in an alternate dimension where Steve Harrington is making him his grandma's chicken noodle soup recipe for him. And it is PHENOMENAL.

Eddie could have never expected any of the past month's events. He was still grappling with the fact that life would just... return to normal somehow after the end of the world.

He had enough on his plate. However, the universe thought fit to throw some more on.

During one of his Steve-check-ups™, Steve just absentmindedly mentioned something Eddie was dreading.

"How have you been dealing with all that hair? I mean it's been in a new bun every day this week but you can barely lift your arms?"

"Well, actually Steve," Eddie started, "I haven't. This is the same bun you put in on Wednesday." He tilted his head down, he didn't really want to look Steve in the eye when he said that.

"Well shit Eddie, what can I do to help?"

And wasn't it oh so nice when Steve looked up at him with those big eyes, knocking on the door of his soul. How could Eddie turn his gaze from that?

"What can be done? I can't wash it until these fuckers-" He pointed at the sides of his abdomen, to the bandages that Steve had just finished replacing, "have healed enough for me to lift my arms, which should be almost any time now. Then, we can take these bandages off, I can get out of your hair, and I can clean my own."

It was pretty obvious that neither of the men liked that agreement, but Eddie saw it as the only option. Wait a week, lift his arms, get the hell out of dodge. Easy enough.

"I could wash your hair. You know I know how to." Steve replied, a genuine offer, not a throwaway or handout that was just a kind gesture.

"No, Stevie, you don't need to worry about m-"

"Checkmate, I already do. You lock yourself in here except for food, I don't even feel like you're enjoying yourself! What's the point in breaking out of hell, fighting tooth and nail, just to sit in your room? C'mon Eddie, let me do one thing to make your life easier." Steve was interrogating him, but for his own good? And only two weeks ago he thought Steve was just some highschool douche that he just had a little crush on once upon a long time ago. Here he is, caring for him like they've known eachother for years.

"You do enough for me." Eddie hid the blush building on his face by looking to the ground across from Steve. Steve just moved his head there.

"I want to do more. I'm offering to do more."

"You're not going to let me say no, are you?"

"It's your hair, your body! But no, not really."

"Let's go," Eddie said, swinging his legs carefully over the edge of his bed.

And that's how Eddie ended up in a T-shirt and boxers, head laying back in the kitchen sink. He hadn't really gotten to the standing-for-long-periods-of-time point of recovery, so Steve pulled up a stool and a towel for Eddie's shoulders, and got ready to work above his head.

"I'll tell you when to put your head back, don't want to freeze you with the water."

Steve turned the faucet to the hottest setting, then throttled back a little. He carefully took Eddie's hair out and brushed through the ends. It had been in a bun for ages, so at least it didn't get knotted.

"I don't really know much about how curly hair works, but-"

"Oh me either," Eddie interrupted. "Barely even knew I had it. Don't worry about me big boy, no special treatment needed."

"Oh you're getting special treatment, whether you like it or not," Steve said. "Tilt your head back."

And so Eddie did. And he would be flat out lying if he said that he didn't love how gentle Steve's hands felt running across his scalp. He would be lying if he said he didn't like being pampered, just a little. He would be a liar if he told you that this wasn't somehow sensual, or that he wished it had more meaning.

Something about the way Steve was massaging his scalp made him think there could be.

"I'm gonna block your forehead from the water, just warning you." Steve used a cup to get the water to the base of Eddie's scalp, he was thorough with the details and everything.

It made Eddie feel loved. That's new.

Eddie nearly blacked out until it was done. He just soaked it all in, feeling cared for. He had felt cared for before, but never loved, not by someone who wasn't obligated to.

"Why do you do all of this for me?" Eddie truly wanted to know.

"Why shouldn't I?" He replied, as if it was nothing.

"Nobody does." Eddie wanted to say more, but now wasn't the time to throw a pity party and cry in front of Steve Harrington.

"All the more reason to."

"Harrington," Eddie tried to sit up as he talked, "you don't-"

Steve pushed him back down by the chest, conditioner and water soaking into his shirt.

"Don't strain yourself, seriously. Let me rinse this out, then you're free to go back to whatever you were doing." He left one hand on Eddie's chest, not keeping him down, but just resting there. Like he forgot about it, but it felt intentional.

Eddie dragged his hand up to Steve's on his chest.

"Thank you. Really," was all he could muster up without those tears rushing back.

"Of course, Eddie. Wouldn't rather be anywhere else." He continued to work around the ends of Eddie's hair, slowly turning the water off and doing some final slow scrunching motions with the towel not around Eddie's shoulders. "You're all done. Let me help you up."

Taking Eddie's hand in one of his and lifting from Eddie's back, he got Eddie sitting up right. The hand on his back let go, but not the hand in Eddie's.

"Well? Anything you usually do that I can help with?" Steve asked.

"You've done enough," Steve got ready to cut him off, but Eddie beat him to the punch, "I can't do any more without bending over, which is off the table. Seriously, Stevie, you've done more than enough. You've been insane amounts giving and patient with me. You've given me enough."

"I wish I could give more."

"I know."

"I could give more." Steve offered, ready to give all he had in the world.

"Steve," Eddie said, some type of begging look in his eyes, "I don't want to read too much into this but you've offered me more than I could reasonably take. You've given me sanctuary, food, care, what more is there?"

"Love."

Steve laid it all out on the table. All he had left to give was hope that Eddie would take it.

"Can I kiss you?" Eddie asked.

"Please."

And when Eddie took it, it was magical. Just for a moment, all the pain, and bad memories, and nightmares, they just stopped. Suddenly, for a second of time, their was no ring of pain around Steve's neck, no searing, or scorching, or stabbing in Eddie's sides.

Maybe Eddie won't live in Steve's house forever, but he might live in this moment forever.

~~~~~

Thank you to @warlordess for giving the prompt in the comments of my last post! SO sorry it took so unbelievably long, but my show finally closed! Everyone, feel free to leave any prompts in my asks from now on! All of my previous posts as well as this one will be on AO3 soon, then I'm going to make a pinned post with my account! Thank you all so much for the patience you graced me with, hopefully it won't happen again!

#steve harrington #eddie munson #steddie #steve stranger things #eddie stranger things #steddie blurb #steddie drabble #steddie fanfic #steddie ficlet #stranger things #st4 spoilers #st4 fanfic

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igotanidea · 4 months

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Gift shopping : Morpheus x reader

Christmas bingo day 17: gift shopping

She loved Christmas. Truly. Every tradition, every dish, every carol. All that came with the holiday season.

Except one thing.

Gift shopping.

Wondering around the stalls trying to figure out what the donee would like was a literal nightmare. Doing her best to choose something better and at least a bit more original then the scented toiletries set became equal to being slowly burned on the stake in her mind. The hell was she supposed to know what smell of a body wash would her cousin like? Or what colour was her aunt's favourite?

And that itself wouldn't even be the worst if it wasn't for the advertisements coming from every way giving her anxiety.

But when she suggested that maybe the family could do one year without the presents they all gave her as condemning looks as if she was at least an antichrist.

Damn.

She was putting off this duty for so long, repressing it from her mind that in the end, she was forced to rush through the shops at the last minute, feeling the pressure on her shoulders. Which was also bad for her self esteem cause y/n was always considered the one with the greatest and most creative ideas.

Yes, but only given the right amount of time, not acting in a hurry.

But what she didn't expect was to end up sleeping on her desk one night and getting some help.

Once she opened her eyes, she was in a quite different place. Yes, it did look like her hometown, but giving a strange vibe that only confirmed her beliefs that she was in fact far away from reality.

"Lucid dreaming" she muttered to herself with a deep sigh. Waking up (sort of) in dream's domain and co conscious about it could only mean one thing. She was here for bussiness. Morpheus wanted something from her, cause he rarely did things selflessly. "Dream of the endless!" She called "how can I be of service to you today?!"

The silence was the only answer she got, and such treatment made her groan in frustration. She really didn't have time for silky games with Dream, the duties falling upon her shoulders...

"you are in the only place when imagination knows no bounds and you dare complaining?"

"I'm merely thinking." She retorted crossing her arms. "Lord Morpheus."

"long time no see y/n"

"don't tell me you missed me or something."

"one cannot really miss the way you address him"

"that's not the answer. Why am I here?"

Dream didn't answer instead turning his back to her and starting walking ahead not even caring whether she follows.

Which she didn't not really wanting to give him satisfaction of complying. At least not until the ground started cracking behind her and she was forced to rush after dream, causing about him acting like a kid.

"Morpheus." She said getting bold enough to use his name even though he ignored her once again. "Morpheus." She repeated, foolishly hoping for another outcome but it was futile. "Lord Morpheus" finally the official title made him look at her with tiniest amused smile.

"yes?"

"why am I here, um- consciously?"

"your imagination seems to be running short."

"not sure if that's an offence, state of facts ot reveling that you were stalking me..."

"you think too much of yourself" he said with the flat voice leading her across the dreaming bridge

"then why-?"

"I'm going to boost it"

"boost what?" Now she was almost running after him trying to keep up the tempo pretty sure he was making her move slower on purpose. "My imagination? Why? To prove you are better or something? You're the lord of the dreams, damnit, a creature of centuries old. I think it's pretty obvious you are more qualified in the ideas subject than me."

He didn't even give her a word of response, guiding her inside the palace to the ground where no one else was allowed to and it was making less and less sense by a second. And since asking questions was obviously pointless she decided to just settle on observation. Taking it the huge Christmas tree, decorations placed here and there and colours that seemed to take over the whole palace. It gave such a contrasting vibe to the usual outlook of the place and dream's character that it left the girl with eyes wide and mouth agape.

"you did this?" She whispered almost feeling the warmth coming from the interior instead of darkness and gloominess.

"dreamers did" Morpheus retorted sternly, but time it had a tone of softness to it. "It's the only thing on their mind of late."

"you could have prevented it though. And didn't." She smiled "never took you as for a fan of festivities"

"why?" Dream seemed truly interested about it.

"why?" There were so many reasons to assume that he didn't enjoy Christmas but she was not going to bring them up "I don't know. Maybe I was being judgemental, sorry. It is actually pretty beautiful. Holiday spirit kingdom of dreams" she pointed out, her gaze now resting on the boxes under the tree.

"You can open them."

"i can what now?" She frowned in confusion even though her hands were tingling in anticipation to see what was hidden inside "why?"

"cause you lack inspiration." The answer made her frown even more.

"and you're really going to help me out here?" There was this little fear in the back of her mind that if she didn't follow the order she would actually encounter some nightmares on her way. "Why? Why would you--" it made zero sense. She was just a human with no greater meaning. A human, whose path happened to cross with Dream's when he was retrieving his attributes and restoring his kingdom back to greatness. She meant nothing, right?

Right?

Dream didn't make it easy on her giving her the silence and just pointing towards the packages stacked under the tree. Leaving her with no choice but to grab the closest one and pulling at the ribbon, innate curiousity taking over.

However, before she could actually take a peek inside -

"y/n! Y/n wake up! We've overslept! We'll be late for classes!"

Shit.

Y/n could not care less about adulting, duties and classes right now, torn from the Christmas version of the Dreaming, groaning at the lost opportunity of seeing what Morpheus considered a gift. And getting her imagination boosted. Once in a lifetime opportunity cause she was aware Dream would not be generous again.

Shit

But her still hazy mind, slowly started working and much to her surprise she found out, that even without seeing the box in the Dreaming actually got the gifts ideas.

***

"did your family like the presents?"

"they actually did, thank you" she smiled softly as the familiar dark dressed silhouette joined her on the bridge. She has been watching the skaters on the ice rink, not really expecting company but dream's appearance was actually warmly welcomed.

"it was all you who did this. It was your imagination"

"Maybe. But it was only because I was given the right incentive" her eyes sparkled a bit as she gave him a happy look "thank you Morpheus, even though I still don't understand why you did it. Guess I'll be left waiting for some sort of collecting the debt on your part" she chuckled before turning head back to watch the people skating.

Maybe that was why she missed the tiny amused smile formed on Dream lord's face.

The smile that was screaming without words.

This was not a debt he was going to collect in the future. Not when it came to her.

#morpheus x reader #morpheus x you #morpheus x y/n #dream of the endless x reader #dream of the endless #lord Morpheus x reader #Christmas bingo

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asongofstarkandtargaryen · 9 months

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JON SNOW DAY 8: FEAR AND TRAUMA 😔

The relationship between Catelyn and Jon is one of the most divisive topics within the asoiaf fandom. No matter where you stand on this debate, we can all agree that the influence each character has on the other’s life is a negative one.

Every time I write about this topic I feel the need to say that no, I don’t expect Catelyn to act like a mother to a child that isn’t her own just because the kid is related to her husband. Jon fans often get accused that we want Catelyn to “mother” Jon but frankly there is not a single Jon fan (at least as far as I’m aware of) that believes she’s obligated to do so.

With that being said, there is a difference between acting like a mother and treating a kid with basic decency. Catelyn is failing on the second aspect and fans rightfully call her out on that (same as they do with any character that is horrible other children).

We learn from Jon’s pov that she never calls him by his name. Minutes ago, on the same chapter she calls him “bastard”. Which means that mostly she avoids him, not even acknowledging his presence and that when she has to she’s calling him degrading names like “bastard”.

Her eyes found him. They were full of poison. "I need none of your absolution, bastard." Jon lowered his eyes. She was cradling one of Bran's hands. He took the other, squeezed it. Fingers like the bones of birds. "Good-bye," he said. He was at the door when she called out to him. "Jon," she said. He should have kept going, but she had never called him by his name before. He turned to find her looking at his face, as if she were seeing it for the first time.

AGOT, JON II

Do you know how dehumanizing is for a child never to be called by their own name by an adult that lives in their home? And worst, have the same adult calling them degrading names? Catelyn, by the way she treats him, makes sure that Jon feels unwelcome on the only home he’s ever known.

I often see fans dismissing Catelyn’s mistreatment of Jon as simply avoiding him. Which can be harmful on its own but the thing is that Catelyn’s ill treatment goes beyond of that. Jon is terrified of her to the point he kept postponing saying goodbye to a brother he loved (Bran) simply because he knew she would be on the same room. This kind of reaction isn’t born by a kid who simply doesn’t interact with an adult in a position of power. This kind of fear means that some negative interactions between them existed in the past.

The text also supports this, because when Catelyn is irritated by Jon’s presence in Bran’s room she doesn’t simply ignore it. She threatens him that she’ll call the guards aka using her power as the lady of the house to indimidate this powerless teen:

Once that would have sent him running. Once that might even have made him cry. Now it only made him angry. He would be a Sworn Brother of the Night's Watch soon, and face worse dangers than Catelyn Tully Stark. "He's my brother," he said. "Shall I call the guards?"

AGOT, JON II

Lady Stark has casted a large shadow in Jon’s life. During the years he lived in Winterfeel, he always tried to be quiet, in the shadows. He never wanted to be in the spotlight (despite the fact that we constanly see post- Winterfell Jon wanting to be acknowledged) because that would also draw Catelyn’s attention. He also never felt fully belonging on his own home which was partly due to his stepmother’s mistreatment. Even long after he left Winterfell, he keeps having nightmares where she personfies his fears and insecurites.

Finally, I want to write about Jon’s relationships with his siblings and how Catelyn influences them. I’ve seen fans claiming that Jon had a good relationship with his siblings because Catelyn allowed it to happen but I honestly disagree. In my opinion, Jon has a good relationship with most of his siblings despite Lady Catelyn’s efforts to sabotage them. Canon also supports that with Catelyn speaking to a very young Robb about what makes his half brother different to him, to the point of Robb being agressive about it (something that older Robb who isn’t so easily influenced by his mother would never do):

Only this time, this time, Robb had answered, "You can't be Lord of Winterfell, you're bastard-born. My lady mother says you can't ever be the Lord of Winterfell.”

ASOS, JON XII

Another example of Catelyn ill speaking about Jon to her kids comes when she tries to convince Robb not to name Jon his heir. During that conversation she even compares Jon to Theon (who as far as she knows is responsible for her two other sons’ death) implying that Robb’s half brother is capable of also harming their family:

"Jon would never harm a son of mine." "No more than Theon Greyjoy would harm Bran or Rickon?" Grey Wind leapt up atop King Tristifer's crypt, his teeth bared. Robb's own face was cold. "That is as cruel as it is unfair. Jon is no Theon."

ASOS, CATELYN V

Also, I don’t think it’s a coicidence that the child who is closer to Catelyn (Sansa) is also the one who has the most distant relationship with Jon. As Jon once again informs us in his pov, his sister always called him “half brother” instead of simply “brother”:

He missed the girls too, even Sansa, who never called him anything but "my half brother" since she was old enough to understand what bastard meant.

AGOT, JON III

To conclude, Catelyn hating the fact that her husband has cheated on her and has a child born out of his infidelity doesn’t make her an awful person, just a human one. The fact that instead of blaming Ned she has put all the blame to a powerless child is one of her negative traits and fans are justified to call her out on this.

#jonsnowfortnightevent2023 #asoiafcanonjonsnow #canonjonsnow #jon snow #house stark #catelyn stark #valyrianscrolls #a post of ice and fire #asoiaf meta #jon snow meta #mymeta

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jahayla-parker · 8 months

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Symmetrical Healing: Kaz Brekker × Sister!Reader

Part 6

Description and Warnings: view miniseries navigation Previous Parts Here

Recap: “Kaz?” Y/n questioned quietly.

Kaz looked over at y/n and pursed his lips slightly. “Hmm?”

“You don’t need to feel selfish for being glad I did the treatment,” y/n expressed warmly. “I don’t regret it,” she admitted as she softly shook her head, “it let me be here with you”. Y/n held silent eye contact with Kaz as he analyzed her words and acted as a human lie detector.

Not seeing any tells, Kaz nodded in acceptance. He gave y/n a small but sincere smile.

“I’ll try to find a way to work on my nightmares so I don’t keep hearing him-“ y/n expressed, thinking ahead.

Kaz sighed loudly. He looked down and fiddled with his fingers bashfully. “I lied too,” Kaz confessed, his cheeks stained pink.

“What?” Y/n questioned, shifting her gaze away from the dried leaves around them. She turned to face Kaz, giving him her undivided attention.

“About my hallucination,” Kaz mumbled. He didn’t want to talk about this per se. But, he also saw what not talking about his own struggles had done to y/n thus far.

Y/n paused silently for a moment a she collected her thoughts. Having found the best way to ask her question, she softly replied, “you had one?”

Kaz nodded wordlessly. However, upon seeing y/n was patiently waiting for him to sort through his thoughts enough to explain, he sucked in some of the crisp autumn air. “It was hi-,” Kaz’s voice cracked lightly as he stopped to correct himself, “J-Jordie.” He knew saying their late brother’s name felt more normal for y/n, so he would do so, even if harder for him.

Y/n remained silent. She simply nodded faintly as she offered Kaz a look she knew would signal for him to continue when he was ready.

“He kept… kept drowning me…” Kaz admitted, shivering at the memory. “He screamed at me… about how horrible I am, how bad of a brother-,” he mumbled.

“Kaz-“ y/n sighed, her lips pulled into a deep frown.

Kaz shook his head. “I don’t need sympathy.” He shifted his tight jaw. “I’m just saying it so you know you’re not… alone in this,” Kaz explained.

“Well, too bad,” y/n huffed. She shot her brother a frustrated defiant stare.

“What-“ Kaz responded, brows furrowed.

Y/n shifted even more, centering her body towards Kaz at a sharper angle. “You’re getting sympathy, even if I have to shove it down your throat like those damn butterflies,” she threatened.

Kaz choked on a laugh. His eyes were wide in shock. But his smirk showed his amusement over y/n’s loving threat.

Y/n smiled warmly at her brother. “Kaz, I love you. Saints, you’re so unfairly hard on yourself when it comes to protecting me,” she informed Kaz. “I know you mean well, but, you don’t always have to do that. And, I don’t want you to if it means keeping things bottled up,” y/n added, knowing her brother enough to know he’d argue. “Especially not by keeping me from knowing what’s going on inside that brilliant mind of yours,” she commented, smiling at the way Kaz’s cheeks flushed over her compliment. “You’ve been through too much yourself, Kaz,” she said, her voice deeply sincere, “even if you don’t choose to look at it that way. I do.” Y/n sat up straight, puffing her chest out dramatically as she added, “and, you can’t fault me for that when you do the same thing when it comes to me. So deal with it”. Y/n lowered her puffed chest back to normal, a soft sigh leaving her lips as she did. “I’m going to want to know that’s troubling you. I’m going to want to help in whatever way I can, or at least be there to listen.” She looked around to make sure no one had ventured over here to check on the siblings. When she saw the coast was still clear, y/n continued explaining to Kaz what needed to happen. “We both need to find a way to heal. It won’t be easy. But, that’s how we both get through this; together,” she hummed. “You want to protect me? You can do that by not letting me question my sanity; by doing what you just did when you showed me that I’m not alone in this,” y/n answered her own question. “I hear you when you say you need me,” she acknowledged kindly. “But, Kaz, like it or not, I need you,” y/n concluded, tension deflating at finally getting it off her chest.

Kaz was silent as he processed y/n’s speech. Once he’d analyzed every word and y/n’s body language, he nodded slowly. This was new to him, but if he had y/n, he could do it. “Okay,” Kaz accepted.

“Okay?” Y/n asked in a semi-squeak. She was surprised that Kaz was so accepting of the request. As much as she loved her brother, she knew he was not typically very accommodating to people’s wishes.

Kaz nodded more adamantly this time. “I hear you.” He swallowed the bile in his throat from the idea of making a promise. But this was his sister, this was y/n; and he could do it for her. “I.. I can’t promise I’ll be perfect at it,” Kaz pointed out, “or even remotely decent”. He sighed loudly. “But, I… I can promise that I’ll try… that… I’ll learn,” Kaz assured y/n.

Y/n felt her eyes watering again. Only, this time it was for a very different reason. “For me?” She asked timidly.

“For you,” Kaz agreed. He nodded his head as he politely held eye contact with y/n.

Y/n smiled at Kaz for a moment in silence. She then closed her eyes as she felt her body relax. “Thank you, Kaz,” y/n hummed.

Kaz shook his head. “Thank you,” he said, resuming eye contact as y/n opened her eyes.

“So…,” y/n murmured softly. “H-how do we even start?” She asked. They had a lot of pain they needed to heal from. How did they go about this?

“Together,” Kaz said simply. “The way we always do.”

~The End~

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animebw · 6 months

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Short Reflection: Pluto

Naoki Urasawa is fascinated with the darkness of childhood imagination.

Admittedly, I've only watched two anime based on his work so far- Madhouse's masterclass adaptation of Monster and now this- so I can't say how common a thread it is in his other stories. But even just from those two, his fixation on twisting childhood into something sinister and unsettling is undeniable. Nursery rhymes and half-remembered country folk songs repurposed as grim omens of doom, picture books foreshadowing real world nightmares, the innocence of his child characters and childlike imagery juxtaposed against a creeping darkness that seems born from the pits of hell itself... the mind of a kid is frequently the most terrifying place to be in Urasawa's work. Whether there's any greater meaning to it or if it's just something he things is cool, I don't know. But it certainly makes him the ideal artist for a story like Pluto. Who else but a guy like him could take one of Japan's most iconic mascots of childhood fun and use his world as the basis of a serious minded political/philosophical thriller that seeks to explore the nature of hatred itself?

Now, as someone who only knows Astro Boy by reputation and has never so much as seen a single episode of any show bearing his name, I can't comment on this story's relation to its source material. Luckily, I don't need to; Pluto is fully stand-alone and you don't need to know a scrap of Astro Boy lore to understand or appreciate it. Although I imagine it would make some of the goofier robot designs a little less immersion-breaking. I dunno, there's something inherently funny about seeing Urasawa's grounded, realistic style of character and world design, his thickly textured and non-exaggerated human faces with realistic proportions and naturalistic wear and tear, next to some of these robots looking like they were pulled straight out of a Saturday morning cartoon. It makes me wonder how certain American cartoons would look if given this treatment. Imagine if someone, like, re-imagined The Powerpuff Girls this way, and you had to see these realistic child versions of Blossom et al next to Mojo Jojo or whatever. Oh well, it would probably be better than that CW show they cancelled, at least.

But I'm getting off track. Pluto is a story about a futuristic sci-fi world where robotics have gotten advanced enough for robots and humans to life side-by-side as part of the same civilization. Every year, it seems, robots and humans are growing closer together, to the point where people are genuinely starting to wonder if there's still any meaningful difference between them. But the seeming peace is shattered by a mysterious attacker, an unknown, unseen killer targeting the seven strongest robots in the world and destroying them one by one. One of these robots, a Europol detective named Gesicht with a robot wife of his own, decides to dedicate himself to tracking this killer down. But as his journey takes him all over the world, meeting countless different robots and humans all with their own bit of commentary to offer on the relationship between man and machine, we slowly peel back the sins this world is built on, uncovering a darkness much greater than a single mysterious killer... and a hatred that may change the nature of robotkind as we know it.

It's a heady, thought-provoking affair, and despite my jokes earlier in the review, it's shockingly good at justifying its bizarre premise. The world feels real and lived-in, from its complex alt-history to its eerily familiar present. It feels like a world that would arise from robots growing increasingly close to humans, and it makes all its musings on the distinction between them genuinely compelling. What would anti-robot bigotry look like in such an accepting time? What things would come naturally to humans that might be impossible for robots, and vice-versa? How would the presence of highly advanced AI effect the political history of warfare and diplomacy? And, most unnervingly, what new atrocities could result from a world this advanced? It's a show that's deeply interested in what ultimately makes us human, and what it would take for an inhuman machine to be considered human as well. But it's also interested in what is already inhuman about us, and if there's anything we, in turn, can learn about our own humanity from a "species" still living just outside it. And while there's plenty of action throughout its run, it's not afraid to take its time on conversations and machinations to really let those ideas settle.

Of course, it's been many years since the manga this was based on was published, and those kinds of "Can a robot learn to feel?" questions have been pretty beaten to death in other media that's come out since then. These days, a story can come off as pretty corny trying to tackle such topis. And truth be told, Pluto can't help but make you roll your eyes with its attempt to explore these ideas a lot of the time. Some of that's due to the oversaturation I just mentioned, but some of that's down to Pluto itself being a very corny show, in ways I don't think it's really aware of. It tends to deliver its story in the most on-the-nose, telegraphed way imaginable.This cranky old musician doesn't think robots can understand art but watch as he learns how to feel again! This robot just wants to paint pictures of flowers but his inner nature as a brutal rage machine is dragging him down! People make promises to their family to see them again right before they're brutally killed! You can see every emotional beat coming miles away but it still expects you to be surprised when it finally arrives there. And considering that the tension of uncertainty is one of the most important parts of any good thriller, it kinda makes it hard to get invested at points.

Sadly, that isn't the only problem holding Pluto back from greatness. Aside from the corny delivery, a lot of plot points feel pretty contrived and stupid, the hand of the author shoving the pieces across the game board with little regard to making sure it feels natural. I also don't think structure this show as eight hour-long Netflix specials was good for the pacing; it means every episode meanders over countless subplots that don't always fit together smoothly and melt into a sludge of Things Happening with little connective tissue to justify putting them together. You can practically see the points where there would be episode breaks if they were a normal 24-minute length, but then they just keep going into what feels like an entirely new episode with no breathing room. So it ends up feeling like a 24 episode show Frankensteined together into a series of bloated triple-length episode booster packs, rather than a story carefully curated to take advantage of its extended episode runtime.

And yet, for all its faults, I found myself getting drawn back in over and over again. Say what you will about Urasawa, the man knows how to keep your eyes glued to the screen. And for all the shows and movies I've seen exploring what it takes for a robot to be human, Pluto's take is still unique and fascinating enough to be worth the watch. It's nowhere near the simple, offensive allegories of, say, Detroit Become Human, nor is it so intellectual that it robs the story of its humanity. It's a genuine attempt to contend with humanity in its entirety, light and darkness alike, and what we may need to sacrifice- or what we might gain- by bringing artificial intelligence over the threshold to join us. It also helps that it looks fantastic; aside from a few moments that just plain look ugly (Atom's first fight with the mysterious killer made my eyes hurt, I swear), the thick lines and fluid animation bring this world to life in stunning fashion. Even outside the impressive action scenes, Pluto is a show worth looking at. Sometimes, that sweet Netflix money hits just right.

Is Pluto a great anime? I'd argue no; it's got too many basic issues holding it back. In my opinion, Monster is a superior Urasawa offering, and I didn't even particularly love that show either. But masterpiece or no, Pluto is a work of remarkable ambition, and it demands your attention regardless of its faults. It's a thoughtful, potent, sometimes frustrating, often eye-rolling, but always compelling work of sci-fi reimagining, proof that even something as simple as a cartoon robot with rockets on its feet can be fertile ground for so much more. And I give Pluto a score of:

6.5/10

And now we wait to see if Netflix struck gold again with its upcoming Scott Pilgrim adaptation. See you next time!

#anime #tabw #the anime binge watcher #pluto anime #pluto #naoki urasawa #fall 2023 anime #fall 2023 sr

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tsarisfanfiction · 1 year

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Eclipse: Chapter 6

Fandom: Trials of Apollo Rating: Teen Genre: Family/Adventure Characters: Apollo, Hades Well, we have arrived at last! Only took five chapters to get here - let the fun begin. And the screaming. I would apologise for this chapter but I'm not actually sorry in the slightest. <<<Chapter 5

HADES VI Apollo Throws A Temper Tantrum

Tartarus was an inhospitable as Hades recalled from his previous visit, if he could call the experience of sheer terror and the overwhelming presence of something greater than even he and his two younger brothers combined something as mundane as a visit. Unlike the mortal world, unlike even Olympus and Hades’ own Underworld, Tartarus did not change.

Mortals advanced, changed things with their beliefs and forced their world to fit to their new ideas. Olympus, the gods themselves, were not immune to such changes, although they were far, far slower to adapt. Most thought that they had not changed at all, beyond the Roman affair, but comparing Olympus to the unyielding nightmare of Tartarus…

Tartarus was a stalwart of consistency. Of darkness, of horrors even the gods never wanted to encounter again.

Beneath the feet of his form, glass shards reached up, biting through with no reverence who he was, the power he yielded. Uncaring; down in Tartarus, there was no worship, no acknowledgement. He was no more worthy of honoured treatment than the lowest, most grotesque monster.

In fact, he thought ruefully, in the eyes, mind, essence of Tartarus, gods like him were likely considered less worthy.

Beside him, a beacon of brightness that stood out harshly against the dark oppression of the Pit, Apollo shifted in place. No doubt, the glass shards were tearing his feet apart just the same.

“Cheery place,” his nephew commented, but there was no levity in his voice. If Hades had not already learned that Apollo had been to Tartarus once before, he might have been caught off guard at the sun god’s inability to at least pretend to be unbothered, or at least wondering at the lack of spontaneous poetry regarding their dismal surroundings.

As it was, he understood.

What he did not understand was how Apollo had convinced himself to return, even with the threat of his son’s life on the line.

“I do not care to stop and admire the scenery,” he said instead of voicing any thoughts. “There is no point wasting time on something so unnecessary.” Fear was not an emotion that usually affected a god, but Tartarus held nothing but bad memories.

Last time he had been here, his companions had been twice as many, and more powerful. It still hadn’t been enough.

“Did you have a plan?” he asked, scanning their surroundings. Monsters were moving around, nothing powerful enough to challenge a god but still present, still observing them, and he resisted the urge to wither them away. It would mean nothing, down here in the hub of their respawn. “I assume you did not intend on blindly traipsing across the Pit with no aim in mind, simply hoping for the best.” He let scorn drip into his voice – it was the sort of thing Heroes did, demigods and mortals with no mind for consequences, or a bull-headed belief that consequences did not affect them. Apollo should be above such nonsense, but considering the whispers that had reached the Underworld of his mortal trials, there was the chance that such mortal naivety might have affected him regardless.

“Find Bob,” Apollo answered immediately. Hades glanced across at him to see his golden eyes – less Phlegethon and more scorching sunlight now, as though his rage had been abated by their arrival and his son’s apparent security – also surveying their distant, and gathering, audience.

“I highly doubt Bob” - Hades could not keep the distaste for the name out of his tone - “is the source of the voice summoning my son.”

“But Bob is the likely key,” Apollo countered. “Even though I agree he is unlikely to be the summoner, he is almost certainly the bait.”

Hades thought to the ill-advised friendship his son had struck with the amnesiac titan and how determined Nico had been to save him from his fate at the hands of Tartarus. He had to admit, Apollo’s reasoning made sense. Regardless, “your plan is to knowingly walk into a trap?”

The sharp grin Apollo flashed his way was blinding in its intensity. Past the light, Hades detected a sharp edge to it, near-feral in a way that brought to mind the seven brothers that had entered the Underworld on the same day, accompanied by their seven sisters, all bearing arrow wounds.

“The trap set for demigods,” he said.

Knowing the inhabitants of Tartarus, Hades did not think that made much of a difference. Still, Apollo was – irritatingly – correct that with nothing but a flimsy prophecy (Hades did not like prophecies, never had done and certainly never would for as long as they continued their trend of nonsense and encouraging heroic idiocy, let alone their involvement in the loss of his loved ones) and the suspicions of the demigods whose places they had taken, they had no other leads to go on.

“Let’s not waste time,” he said, silently conceding to his nephew’s plan. “Lead the way.”

At that, Apollo hesitated, golden eyes scouring their surroundings again, and Hades frowned.

“What is the problem now?”

“I thought…” the sun god murmured, almost to himself, before shaking his head. “No. It can’t.”

“Save your nonsense for when we leave the Pit behind us,” Hades scolded. “We have a prison to visit.”

“Don’t you mean find?” Apollo asked, meeting his eyes in clear askance, and Hades’ eyes narrowed in realisation.

“You don’t know where it is,” he said flatly. It was not a question, despite Hades’ disbelief that Apollo hadn’t even worked that out before throwing himself down in his son’s place.

Apollo fidgeted slightly, fingers tapping out a sharp rhythm against his bow. “I can’t say I took the grand tour,” he said after a moment, voice sounding just a little further away than it ought to.

His plan had been for he and Nico to wander around Tartarus near-blindly until they found it? Or perhaps hope that Nico had seen the prison during his ill-advised experience in the Pit? Hades found something in his essence starting to swirl with irritation.

“Perhaps it’s fortunate that someone who has accompanied you,” he snapped, making no real attempt to curb any venom that slipped into his words, and Apollo grimaced, clearly hearing the unspoken scolding. “It is this way.” He strode forwards, towards the scorching line of fire that was the Phlegethon. Behind him, he sensed Apollo start to follow, the unnatural warmth of the sun where it had never dared go before at his back.

The watching monsters still skittered around, none yet bold enough to approach but clearly interested in their presence. They were inconsequential mosquitos, irritating but ultimately harmless; no doubt Tartarus himself was already well aware of the two gods traversing his body. If he chose to intervene, it would be at a moment of his choosing and Hades and Apollo would have little choice but to try and survive if that occurred.

It was not far to the Phlegethon from their arrival point. For mortals, perhaps the journey would have been agonising, but for two gods it was nothing worse than an unpleasant walk, glass biting at their feet only for the wounds to reseal before even a single drop of ichor could leave their forms. The worst bit about the short journey to their first obstacle – not that the Phlegethon constituted as much of one, compared to what lay ahead – was Apollo’s seeming distraction as his pace kept slowing, before he shook his head and continued onwards.

Hades had known before they’d arrived that the sun god would struggle far more than him, so far beneath the earth and removed almost entirely from the bulk of his major domains, but if Apollo was already faltering mere minutes after arrival, then he would need to reassess his estimation of his nephew’s power. Each pause seemed to last a fraction longer, the first a mere split second but latter ones encompassing seconds before Apollo resumed walking, each time seeming less surefooted than before.

Just as they reached the banks of the fire-water river, its scorching cold-fire licking out towards Hades’ face, the warmth at his back faltered once more, and his fraying patience with the stuttering pace reached its limit.

“Apollo,” he snapped, turning sharply around to face the sun god, “has sitting in a chariot all day every day stripped you of your ability to walk for any length of time?”

His nephew didn’t even look at him, intently scouring their surroundings with a tight grip on his bow. Despite his faltering pace, now that Hades was scrutinising Apollo more closely, the younger god did not actually appear to be affected overmuch by the separation from his major domains. Instead, it appeared almost the opposite, an aura of sunlight increasing to near-scorching in the inverse of the frigid heat of the river Hades now had behind him.

“I’m not imagining it,” Apollo said quietly, a conviction in words that seemed to be more aimed at himself than Hades.

“Imagining what?” Hades demanded, glancing in the direction his nephew was looking. He saw nothing that should concern a god – more monsters milling around, lurking at a distance but not yet brave enough to assault them, but no greater danger – and returned his gaze to Apollo’s face.

Burning eyes landed on him with a sharp intensity that he would not admit caught him off guard. Since their arrival in Tartarus, Apollo’s fire had faded back to his usual warm golden flames, but suddenly it appeared as though the river behind him had once again taken up residence in the essence of the god before him. Orange, the colour of fire-water, of healing that caused pain, of blistering heat so hot it was icy cold, bore into him, and the sudden overflowing rage of Apollo crashed down around him.

“Uncle,” he bit out, the honorific harsh and detached in a way Hades had heard it only a few times in his millennia of existence. The furious orange flames danced in Apollo’s eyes, promising danger to whoever had crossed the wrathful side of the god. For reasons Hades could not fathom, that ire seemed to have selected him as a target, for all that he failed to see what he could possibly have done to offend Apollo so greatly during their action of walking unimpeded across a small part of Tartarus’ skin. They hadn’t even spoken.

Refusing to be cowed by the younger god’s fury, he kept his back straight and met those furious fire-water eyes head on as his nephew continued.

“Why can I sense my son?”

The words were a low growl, the sort that would raise the hairs of lesser beings, ones that had something to fear from a god as powerful as Apollo.

Hades was one of the few who was more powerful, but even he could not quite dismiss a feeling of unease, even as his expression morphed into one of faint confusion, and a small sprinkling of dismissiveness.

“You were the one to ensure he would not leave my palace,” he reminded him. “If he woke-”

“No!” Apollo shouted, a short bark that made the glass around and beneath their feet clatter. His light sharpened into a blinding flash, not too dissimilar to the effect of his father’s lightning. “Not Will.”

Hades paused, finding himself in the uncomfortable position of not understanding what his nephew was trying to say. Outside of William, why would any of Apollo’s sons have cause to be detectable within Tartarus? It was the last place any of them should ever-

Realisation struck much like one of his brother’s thunderbolts, just as Apollo hissed the name.

“Asclepius.”

Hades could not stop the displeased curl of his lips at the lesser god’s name. Of all the children Apollo had sired across the millennia, several had at some point been a nuisance, but there was one who had been more than a mere nuisance, more than a whim of entertainment to break up the monotony of his role as god of the Underworld.

The creator of the Physician’s Cure, the mere mortal who dared defy the order of things, to take back from Hades’ own domain, from which there was no taking back. He had been furious, at the time, at not only the boy but also his brother, for snatching him out of the Underworld just before Hades could personally condemn him to the Fields of Punishment for his hubris and elevating him to godhood, removing him from Hades’ reach forever. He had been appeased to some extent by the order that Asclepius would never again create the mixture, but being unable to personally punish the boy was a sore spot that had never entirely faded.

Then, Asclepius had done it again. Against the terms of his imprisonment, against the terms that bound him, and Hades’ fury had unleashed, bolstered by the simmering resentment that had always lurked within his essence when the name reached his ears.

He had forgotten that its creation, its use, had not been discovered until after Zeus had already decreed that Apollo was to be punished, after the sun god had disappeared. One of the ingredients to the blasted tincture required the direct intervention of a Twin, Hades knew, and it did not take Athena’s wisdom to determine which, but Apollo’s fate had already been decided. Apollo, however, had not been the one to make it; that was all his son, and it was the son who had been dragged before the Council, and the son who bore the punishment.

Zeus had decreed, to Hades’ rare agreement, that his comfortable prison in the Overworld had clearly not been enough. If he was going to continue to commit crimes against Olympus, then he could join the others who did the same. No-one had dared disagree, although Artemis had kept unusually silent during that particular council and Apollo, of course, had been absent.

There had been no fanfare as Asclepius was cast into the Pit.

It had not occurred to Hades that Apollo had not learnt of his son’s increased punishment. It was understandable that he may not have been informed during his time as a mortal, but since his re-ascension to Olympus it had seemed inevitable that someone – likely Artemis, or perhaps Athena, or even Zeus himself – would have told him.

From the rage twisting Apollo’s usually beautiful face into something dark and dangerous, not as unlike his father as Hades suspected he would like, he had somehow not been informed of the development and was piecing the facts together as he stood there, hemming Hades between his blazing sunshine and the freezing flames of the river.

Apollo was many things, but unintelligent had never been one of them, not even at the peak of his time playing the fool. Hades had not expected him to sense Asclepius – if he cast out his own senses, he could perhaps make out a muffled sensation of something a little too pure, maybe, for their surroundings – but it was immediately apparent that his hesitation and distraction since they arrived had been exactly that. Now, he was visually putting the situation together – not that it was particularly difficult. Apollo may have missed the sentencing, but he had not missed anything that had led up to that moment.

“Did this have anything to do with you?” Apollo demanded, stepping forwards. His glow was bright – too bright. Some of the closest, most inquisitive, monsters, disintegrated into dust. “It wasn’t enough for him to be killed and imprisoned for eternity? He had to be sent here, too?”

Hades did not back down. “He broke his oath. He trespassed again in territory he had no right to touch.”

“Because I told him to!” Apollo roared. The glass shards jumped at the noise, and several nearby monsters that had not been disintegrated by his divine light shattered into dust. “It was necessary for the Seven to succeed!”

“Valdez did not need to come back to life after his sacrifice,” Hades disagreed. “His revival was completely unnecessary for their success. The dead should stay dead. Always.” Death was not something that should be returned from, not under any circumstances. His realm might be becoming overcrowded, but that did not change the necessity that death remain a one-way ticket.

“Did you remind your son of that?” Apollo demanded, and Hades immediately bristled, because he wouldn’t. If he crossed that line…

Hades would not be held responsible for his actions should Apollo, of all gods, go too far.

“Nico is aware of the rules,” he said sharply, not even bothering to conceal his fury as it began to well up within his essence.

If Apollo noticed it – and he must have done, his nephew was not blind nor ignorant, however he might choose to act – he did not react, and for a moment, as his mouth opened, Hades felt certain that the line was about to be obliterated.

Apollo closed it again without saying a word. Fury rolled off of him in visible waves, the spectrum of light highlighting the Pit in ways Hades was certain it had never seen before, but he said nothing more. Unsure what that meant, what Apollo was thinking – what Apollo was going to do – Hades watched him in silence, his own fury still roiling through his essence, not wavering in the slightest in the face of Apollo’s.

He was not expecting his nephew to turn his back on him, a sudden, sharp motion that was certainly a dismissal, and start to walk away.

“Where are you going?” he demanded. “The Prison is this way.” Apollo did not stop walking, and Hades refused to follow him. “This quest was your insistence!” he reminded the younger god’s back.

“My son is not staying down here.”

“It is his punishment!” Hades shouted at the retreating form, still glowing vibrantly. “We came down here to investigate what was summoning my son and complete the blasted prophecy, not take side-trips.”

Apollo didn’t answer him.

“I am not following you,” Hades hissed, his fury roiling. How dare the younger god dismiss him, after he’d gone out of his way to break certain Laws and accompany him on the quest their children were supposed to be doing? He was not Apollo’s blind follower, Apollo was not his leader, nor his boss – no-one was Hades’ boss, not even his youngest brother, however much Zeus liked to fancy himself as such.

“I didn’t ask you to,” Apollo said, voice quietened by the growing distance between them, the words eerily unwavering.

Hades would not have gone even if he did – he had no desire to see Asclepius, or perhaps he was aware that if he did see the Death Cheater, his actions would irreparably destroy whatever relationship he could claim to have with his nephew. Besides, he did not care what happened to that particular son of Apollo. The only child of Apollo he currently had any degree of consideration for was the one laying comatose in his palace, and that could be entirely attributed to William’s relationship with Hades’ own son, who would be devastated should anything happen to him.

Nico was the reason he was down here, he reminded himself as he watched Apollo continue to walk away, the sun god unfaltering in poise or determination despite their location. If Apollo wanted to take a futile detour then that was his prerogative. Hades did not have time to waste – his duties in the Underworld would be mounting higher and higher by the moment, and Thanatos could not cover all of it – and he needed to put a stop to whatever was trying to lure his last child down into the Pit.

He turned his back on Apollo, darkness swirling around him as his essence leaked out slightly from his physical form, a barrier against the miasma of Tartarus, and faced the fire-water of the Phlegethon as it barred his way forwards. Looking at it reminded him strongly of his nephew, out of sight and still no doubt walking away, but Hades did not relent.

The rivers of Tartarus were dangerous, even to gods, but while they ran through Tartarus they were also of the Underworld. Hades was not so much a fool to believe that granted him immunity – the rivers were old, as were their gods, and it was a lesson he had learnt the hard way last time – but it granted him something of a resistance.

This particular river was perhaps the most mild, one that tormented with the purpose of the victim’s ongoing survival, and Hades stepped forward, into the flames as they seared so hot they were cold, leaving Apollo and his futile diversion behind.

He didn’t need the sun god to navigate Tartarus.

He ignored the creeping thought that Apollo needed him.

Chapter 7>>

#trials of apollo #trials of apollo fanfiction #riordanverse #riordanverse fanfic #pjo hades #pjo apollo #tsari writes fanfiction #eclipse

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asterclaw · 7 months

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You guys wanna hear abt an AU UTMV without any pictures or whatever...? Cool! Stay tuned then! BEFORE YOU GO In this MV Nightmare gets killed and reincarnated, Blue prefers Dust and Horror to the Stars, and Killer ran away from a mental hospital <3 Hope that was enough to encourage you to read this post. This MV is not completed yet and I would appreciate any suggestions :p

So, everything starts as it usually does - the lack of the balance in the MV. The negativity here overdrives the positivity, getting the Star Sanses, mainly Ink and Dream, to wonder how they could fix it. The solution they came up with is simple: a reset of Dreamtale. The issue is - Dreamtale cannot be reset. What else is there then? Might not seem obvious to you, but, technically speaking, you could just erase Dreamtale as a whole and then wait for it to recreate, getting Nightmare to his initial state.

So Ink and Dream, not involving Blue, as he certainly would deem that a little immoral, decide to lure the bad guys to a battle there, a battle that would include Error as well, giving the Stars access to the code. Why the code? Why, of course to pour solvent right onto it!

When such a battle actually happens, Dream and Nightmare get dissolved (painfully :) at least mentally painfully-). Aaaand the same goes for Ink as he was accidentally affected by the solvent. As the world gradually disappears, everyone tries to get away as quickly as possible. Error accidentally pulls out some not yet dissolved fragments of the Dreamtale code to the Anti-Void. It shapes them into Saturn and Venice (I might change the names later-) - the new Guardians of Emotions - basically the only thing that kept this MV from shattering completely, as it suddenly lost its Protector/Creator and the previous Guardians in the same day.

The bad guys, that is, two of them, are assigned to a mental clinic, with Color as one of its psychologists :) The ones assigned there are Dust and Killer. The latter one runs away, whilst the former actually gets his medical treatment and even kind of becomes "healthier". Together, Dust and Horror then take care of Blue, whose scarred for life and try to help those in need. (That doesn't line up with what Dust's character is all about? Oh well, haha, in my i n t e r p r e t a t i o n, Dust is much, much more of a confused than a bloodlusty fella - he murders others out of "mercy", wanting them to not suffer the resets. His schizophrenia encourages him in this. And, yes, I made changes to all the chars' characters (except Cross cuz I got literally no idea what do I do with him-).)

Meanwhile, Dreamtale is actually "reset". Nightmare wakes up the day, khm, my interpretation, when he decided to eat the apple out of his suicidal wishes, so, when he was cca 14. Dream, trying to keep brother near, kind of "locks him up" in the house or wherever they live- (I just understood that I never wondered that-) Nightmare, certainly unhappy with such a decision aaaand with a lot of responsibility and guilt to deal... Decides to just ran away from all his problems. And so he does. There, in some not too popular nor too unpopular, quite negative AU (haven't decided what AU quite honestly-), he meets Killer and...

Aaaaaand that's it! I haven't covered all the material (by that I mean the characters and their attitudes to each other) but that is already waaaay too frigging much text- I am quite unsure what exactly could happen after them meeting (except maybe some problems with the new Guardians), so, if anyone's interested, I'm all for suggestions! The same goes for Cross, who's just- I have no idea what to do with him quite honestly.

Anyways, thanks for your attention and I apologize for all the grammar mistakes (eng is not my first lang)

See ya later, baiiii~

Ах да, и здесь Дрима с Инком зовут не звездной, а звезданутой двоицей))

#utmv #undertale au #utmv au #dreamtale brothers #nightmare sans #dream sans #dust sans #killer sans #horror sans #ink sans #blueberry sans #swap sans #asterclaw ranting #that was prolly a pain to read-

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cherienymphe · 2 years

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Hi Cherie!! So Oo how’s the reader from the stucky ending from olt doing nowadays? Is she happy? Or upset that they tricked her into being with them? I feel like btw the intense sex she would have with Steve and Bucky to the soft, but firm treatment they would give her, she’ll never want to be away from them again after awhile.

-🐝

You heard your name being called, almost angrily, and you turned around in confusion just in time to watch Steve stride towards you. His pace was hurried, and you moved your feet out of the stream to stand just as he reached you. He grabbed your arms, eyes almost panicked, and your eyes widened.

"We've been looking for you for over an hour," he said, sounding strained.

You frowned.

"I didn't know. I wanted to see what the property was like and-."

"You didn't tell either of us where you were going. I thought-."

He cut himself off, suddenly loosening his hold with a sigh. He gently rubbed your arms, face apologetic now before pressing his lips to your forehead.

"I'm sorry," he murmured. " I shouldn't have touched you like that."

"You were worried-."

"That's no excuse," he interrupted, eyes meeting yours now. "I just thought the worst."

Even though he was gone, Peter's presence still hung over the three of you like a shadow sometimes. It was evident in the way their fingers always had to be touching you in some way just to make sure you were still there. It was in the way you woke up with nightmares before being shushed back to sleep, Bucky's lips on your cheek as he was awake with nightmares of his own.

Sometimes you felt wrong for being with Steve and Bucky, essentially proving Peter right, but they treated you like porcelain and loved you better than you ever thought possible. Could that be wrong? Especially after what you'd been through? You were sure if you talked to a therapist, they'd tell you that getting into an unconventional relationship so soon after your disastrous first and only one wasn't good, but this was different.

Steve and Bucky had seen the worst of you and still loved you. There was no hidden meaning behind their words nor ulterior motives in their actions. They simply wanted to look after you, and it was obvious that they wanted to make up for what Peter had put you through. For what they felt were their shortcomings in not protecting you before.

"Did you at least have fun?" Steve asked as he led you back to the house.

"Yeah," you hummed. "It's way more secluded than I realized. I didn't even know there was a stream on the property."

Steve hummed.

"Well, next time, take one of us with you, honey. There are still animals out here."

Bucky was outside when you arrived, and the relief on his face was obvious. Guilt ate at you.

"I found her," Steve called just as Bucky drew near.

He took your face in his hands, fixing you with a look that had you throwing him a sheepish smile.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think I'd be gone that long," you defended.

"Next time, take one of us with you," he sighed before leading you inside.

"I found a stream," you told him.

"Did you? Well, we can go back tomorrow."

Bucky touched your face before giving you a quick kiss.

"I know you're probably hungry so go wash up while I fix you something, please."

It still felt weird to not have demands thrown at you and to be with someone who was nice all the time. You could just be and outside of making sure you were safe and out of harm's way, Bucky and Steve didn't expect much from you. It was strange to be in a relationship where you could just...be. Odd for things to be as easy as they were.

Steve ran you a bath, and you looked up at him with a smile when you made yourself comfortable. He knelt beside the tub, brushing his thumb over your wet cheek.

"I really didn't mean to be so harsh with you," he sighed.

"You weren't," you assured him, touching his hand. "You were worried and scared. You were right, I should've let one of you know."

The blond swallowed, running his eyes over you.

"If anything happened to you, I don't know what we..."

"Nothing's going to. You two wouldn't let it."

Steve smiled at you then before pressing his lips to yours. His hand was on your jaw as he deepened the kiss, moaning into your mouth.

"No," he breathed. "We wouldn't."

#drabbles #olt

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pacifymebby · 4 months

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personally with saltburn i don’t think oliver had a true motive other than power, felix and his family are obviously very affluent but not only that but they are well liked (at least on a surface level) and i’m not sure if others can relate but in the beginning when you see oliver in his lectures with farleigh despite doing the work there’s a clear favouritism between the professor and farleigh and that is something i can relate to when in school if you work hard but aren’t as good at forming connections or are quieter teachers can prefer students who don’t work as hard and that does build resentment to people oliver clearly is very callous but we don’t know that at the beginning we are lied to just as felix is when we find out felix adopts people he sees as less than him every summer we start to dislike him. but then we find out oliver’s true nature and felix using working class people to boost his ego is nothing in comparison to that. but rich people and those close to them think they are untouchable and oliver brings them down one by one he disrupts their security from within their own home a vast estate which is far away from the problems those who are rich don’t even think of. i think oliver wanted what felix had which is being carefree around money, being able to treat people like they are unimportant and them still wanting to be around him basically being able to do what he wanted and oliver being someone clearly not in his right mind went to extreme lengths. at the end of the movie he’s looking at the toy that’s of the cattons they are dancing as puppets in front of him as he roams the house completely naked. this is so long i’m sorry if it doesn’t make sense also i understand if you don’t read all this!

Aw nah I read all of it and I get what you're saying as well, it's an interesting take.

I relate to that too at the beginning, but more on the level of like you can work as hard as you want and be as personable as you like but if you don't have connections and money in worlds like Oxford/Cambridge/St Andrews (the unis all the elite go to basically) then your intelligence and stuff doesn't mean that much. If your lectures went to uni with your classmates parents and regularly rub shoulders with them then you're not going to get the same leg ups and treatments.

The power thing definitely comes into it too, at first I was super confused about how Oliver seemed to keep switching between a very meek and submissive personality, playing at being awkward and shy, and then all of a sudden making out like he was Daddy with the sister and Farleigh, and tbh I think it was supposed to be jarring but also not directed wonderfully because it happened so awkwardly?

I genuinely think the whole things meant to be viewed as satire and total fantasy tbh, like Oliver isn't supposed to have much depth to him because he's just the representation of like the monster under the bed that the elites in the 21st century fear.

Something my friend pointed out too is that there's running theme of him being a parasite who wants to consume them all too... Like he sooks up Felix's bathwater, says the whole "I'm a vampire" thing to the sister, the way he kills the mum in the end too by cutting off her oxygen it's all very symbolic of that. So I think he really is supposed to be this garish rich persons worst nightmare. I dont know how much I think he even wants power, I think it mostly comes from a place of hatefulness and 0 respect? Like he low-key dances naked on their grave at the end naked dancing in front of the stones with their names on.

Like idk about you but I thought Felix was the perfect read on arsehole poshboy at school, that bit where Oliver gives him the bike and he's like "oh wow yah that's soh khaind" there's something about him that immediately rubs me up the wrong day because he doesn't see Oli or even notice people like that until they serve him in some way, we see him treat that girl as disposable too. When Oli says "I was just being what you wanted me to be" that's so what being in those sort of rich people's lives is like. And I suppose it's probably trying to ask us what's worse, to be like Felix and his family (who see no value in others other than to serve as their props) or to be like Oli (who sees no value in felix and his family other than to serve as leverage)

Like ultimately Oli and felix's family are all guilty of the same things - lying to people (Oli who obvs lies about so so much) (Felix in that he uses Oli and other poor people to lie to himself about how generous he is and like how charitable he is when really he just wants a pet) (the rest of the family who seem to lie to everyone by putting on this pretence of being lovely and accommodating, but are actually deeply judgemental and quite selfish/paranoid about being generous)

Like we see Olis disregard for human life in the way he kills them all, but we see felix's family also show disregard for human life too when their friend dies and the mother says "she'll do anything for attention" especially because you could argue their friend wouldn't have died if they hadn't pushed her out of the house for fear she was leaching off their hospitality.

The more I think about it I think that actually all Oliver's sins are mirrored by Felix and his family, lying, 0 respect for human life, leaching off others (because felix and his family leach off Oliver's trauma and like Rosamund's character is telling all her friends deeply personal traumatic shit about Oliver for her own social gain to show everyone how generous she is) like I wonder if in a way the point of the film is to make us question why we forgive Felix and his family for their evil but are disgusted by Oliver's. It's actually something Rosamund is constantly dropping too when she talks of her aversion to ugly people, she says about how "you wouldn't think it because she's such a riot to look at but..." as if like beautiful and stylish people can't be bad... Like I think wealth allows people to distance themselves from their moral ugliness in a ways that poverty prevents poor people from doing? There's probably a lot of academic research into this as a social trend but as I have read no deeper than Chavs by Owen Jones I am unfortunately unable to site anything other than when he talks about how we allow rich posh people to swear and say offensive things because they do it in a camp/quaint way, but we don't forgive working class celebrities for saying fuck or being racist (I don't think we should forgive racism btw it's just we forgive it in rich people more often than we do in poor people)

I'm also sorry this was so long, honestly I watched it not expecting to have this many thoughts but its actually really interesting to think about

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atlasscrumpit · 2 years

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My personal Experience with PTSD and DID

(Trigger warning, ptsd, trauma)

I guess I just wanted to share a little bit of my own experience especially with DID and PTSD.

I think like a lot of others I’ve kind of gotten used to keeping all of this quiet, people teach you that sharing your pain means you’re weak. So I never share.

But I think I should start sharing more, because then maybe the more I share others will want to share as well or feel more confident.

I’m not really sure where to begin with all of this.

Well, i suppose I’ve always struggled, but I didn’t face it or realise it until I was 15.

All of the things before it were kind of just put down to ‘she’s different.’

Seizures or ptsd episodes were just put down to ‘she’s wanting attention.’

The doctors didn’t really know what to do with me, I was an ‘interesting’ case.

So, instead of helping me further they put a 15 year old girl onto 100mg of sedatives every night until I became so numb that I just stopped talking. I suppose then I wouldn’t bother anyone.

Because of the high dosage I don’t remember much of those times.

They put me on so many different pills and treatments that me and the entire system just switched off.

I remember small details, having outbursts and being on even more medication.

Or the side effects, I mean at one point I was on a treatment that made me lactate. Yes, a 17 year old girl with a body ready for a child. The medication literally made my body prepare for a child.

And if that isn’t fucked up idk what is.

Anyway that’s just some background pieces. When I began getting actual help the professionals were confused to say the least.

From every point of view I had a normal childhood, of course I had the normal trials and everything. But the doctors were confused because I had complex ptsd with ‘no trauma.’

My level of ptsd was the same as someone who had gone through years of sex trafficking. They’re not the only ones confused either because I honestly don’t know what happened. A lot of my childhood was wiped from my mind, but I don’t understand how so many people can say i had a happy childhood yet I’m left like this. Having flashbacks of horrible things, screaming in my sleep at night and having panic attacks in the grocery store.

It’s been hard, it’s been really fucking hard.

But I don’t get to say that, I don’t get to cry, I don’t get to scream.

I have seizures, I have nerve pain, I get terrible headaches, I have times where I forget everything even my own name or my own family, I get nightmares nearly every night, i get really strong deja Vu every single day, of course it’s a struggle having DID as well, the constant switching and voices can be overwhelming.

I just want to scream, i want to show people how much I’m hurting, but I can’t.

Because all of this is ‘in my head’ people don’t believe it hurts.

Life has been hard, it has been so hard and difficult but I’m not allowed to say that because other people have it worse and at least I have a home and food.

That’s a bullshit argument, having a home or food doesn’t stop the pain, it doesn’t stop the crying and the screaming.

Every job I’ve had has been terrible, the coworkers treat me terribly because I’m different. The job I have now is a little better but people still don’t understand any of it. I don’t expect them to.

There’s been times where I lose the ability to speak, I don’t know if many of you have been through that but god it’s scary and no one cares. My family just said ‘it’s just because of your anxiety’ even if it was that doesn’t make it any less terrifying.

I’m just tired of suffering, I’m tired of having to be silent.

I’ve been through so much and it isn’t fair, none of this is fucking fair.

And I still have no idea why I’m like this or what happened.

I just want a break, and i want some peace. But life isn’t fair, at least not for me.

Why does everyone get to have a life, why was I born and instantly my life was a trial? I don’t understand it one bit, apparently I did something absolutely awful and all of this is punishment.

Obviously there’s a lot more than just that stuff but that’s all I can do for tonight cause I’m already close to passing out from that.

And if you made it to the end holy shit.

#ptsd #did #ramble #rant #dissociative identity disorder #mental health #depression #axiety

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adamwatchesmovies · 1 year

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Leatherface (2017)

While I didn't enjoy this film, that doesn't mean you won't. No matter what I say, the people involved in this project did it: they actually made a movie. That's something to be applauded. With that established...

No long-running slasher series can resist telling us what happened before the killer got their favourite weapon, superpower, or iconic mask. These misguided efforts at expanding the characters always disappoint. There are now two prequels in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre series. The first, released in 2006, told us what happened before the 2003 remake. Now, the 1974 Tobe Hooper classic has received the same treatment. This is not a good movie but for what it’s worth, it’s the best of these “slasher origin” movies we’ve ever received. Before I tell you why, what’s this movie about?

In 1955, Verna Sawyer’s sadistic children are taken away from her and sent to a mental institution by Sheriff Hartman (Stephen Dorff), who believes the family is responsible for the death of his daughter. Ten years later, nurse Elizabeth White (Vanessa Grasse) and patients Jackson (Sam Strike) & Bud (Sam Coleman) are taken hostage by Ike (James Bloor) and Clarice (Jessica Madsen) following a riot that sees many patients and staff killed. As they travel the countryside, leaving a trail of violence in their wake, the police close in.

With the children’s names changed upon admission to the Gorman House Youth Reformery, neither the characters nor the audience know which of the three men is Jud Sawyer, the boy who will one day grow up to become Leatherface. Astute viewers can probably deduce who it is, but there’s still a mystery as we watch the events unfold and wonder what will turn them into the killer we know. This uncertainty is what elevates this film past the likes of A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Child, Rob Zombie’s Halloween, 2011’s The Thing, Hannibal Rising and other horror prequels. At least this one has ambition. It wants to tell a new story. In fact, if it weren't for one scene towards the end, you probably wouldn’t know Leatherface is a prequel, and I mean this in a good way.

Directors Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo, along with writer Seth M. Sherwood have made a film that stands on its own… except when it doesn’t. In the opening scene, we see a young Jud receive his first chainsaw and you will roll your eyes. Still, it’s a breath of fresh air compared to what we've been subjected to by this series before. As of 2017, there are 8 Texas Chainsaw movies. Most of them simply regurgitate what we’ve seen before. Their stories are so bad they would need at least 4 passes through the ringer to become worthy of viewing… and at the end of the process, you’d just have the original movie so they’re utterly pointless. Revise this story 4 times and who knows? I know it sounds like a backhanded compliment but you don’t understand just how awful some of the TCM movies have been.

So it’s the cream of the crap essentially. I appreciated many things this film does but I still would never call it good. A full moon turns to a quarter moon and then a full moon again within the span of a few minutes. The evil characters are so evil they feel out of place. Everyone else is often too unlikeable for you to care what will happen next. The gore is excessive, certain characters or plot points are introduced and then disappear as if forgotten. Ultimately, by being a prequel to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, all this movie does is remind you of a better movie you’d rather be watching.

And so, we’ve finally come to the end of the series. What a downhill ride it’s been. If I were to rank them all from worst to best, I’d go #8: Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning. #7: Texas Chainsaw 3D. #6 Texas Chainsaw Massacre III. #5 Texas Chainsaw Massacre IV: The Next Generation. #4 Texas Chainsaw Massacre II. #3 Leatherface (not too bad, eh? Though this mostly speaks to the inhumane wretchedness of the other movies rather than this one’s quality). #2 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) and #1 - of course - the original. Now, let’s hope we can finally put the series to rest on this “high note”. (On Blu-ray, May 31, 2019)

#leatherface #the texas chainsaw massacre #movies #films #movie reviews #film reviews #julien maury #alexandre bustillo #seth m. sherwood #stephen dorff #lili taylor #vanessa grasse #sam strike #chris adamson #finn kones #jessica madsen #2017 movies #2017 films

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izzy-b-hands · 1 year

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my brain is buzzing with random au ideas and shit while im sitting here awake entirely too early

and i just. Fucking Niche AUs I'll probably never finish part two:

-Call Center AU: Ed and Stede are middle managers learning to work together (and falling in love of course) after their companies and staff merged in a new big ass building (for fun: many rumors it's haunted. It isn't, Buttons just hates getting up early for work so during the week he hides out and lives in the basement.) Badminton & Co are trying to buy out their newly merged company with plans to fire everyone. Is this one just so I can shove in Murray Hewitt references with Stede? Partially! It's also bc i can throw in The Office references for my mum, who thus far will only read fic if I have a few in there & it's mainly comedy, and she hasn't read like any of my stuff fic or original in ages so. Yeah skdnfng

-NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) AU aka did u know aviation is another special interest of mine? u do now!!:

Ed and Stede lead separate teams as part of Aotearoa's TAIC (their version of the NTSB), and are called in to assist with an NTSB investigation re: a crashed plane & a dead Badminton bro as a result ( Either of the two we've seen thus far, w/subplot abt him being a dick who was super rich bc of a shit ton of rental properties in Aotearoa that he didn't keep up well and hiked rent on constantly bc he seems like the landlord type.)

However, as it progresses it becomes clear there's more at stake than just a plane accident investigation (tho obvi also v important still) bc it appears there might be sabotage involving ppl in both the states and Aotearoa (aka hi jack!! and any other random pirates or historical ppl i might add in lol.)

This is difficult tho, bc like. they didn't like this Badminton of course so him being dead is like well this will be positive for his renters at least maybe, but also holy fuck other ppl died as a result jfc what the fuck. so then it's a matter of do we or do we not reveal the whole truth & open up what would be a can of worms re: Badminton, but would be an utter disservice to the rest of the victims' families if NOT revealed.

Substitute Teacher AU:

A school has had just. horrible luck and a few scandals and now the entire staff has been fired and the district really doesn't wanna spend that much money on new ppl yet so

enter Stede and Ed as separate teams of substitutes, attempting to cover all the topics at a decently large school where tbh they could use even more teachers (enter Doug, Mary, Spanish Jackie who actually teaches French & likes how her nickname fucks w/the kids a bit lmaoo, & Jack as additional help)

Nigel & Chauncey both have kids at the school, and expect special treatment as a reward for donating generously to the school (not really that generously tho), which means they are Nightmare Parents. Like yes it's sad they're both divorced but like if u talked to them for five mins u would Understand.

Big events in it would be Parent/Teacher Conferences (Izzy and Jim end up having to manhandle a screaming Nigel outside after Roach asks him to tell his kid to stop trying to set things on fire in Home Ec), at least one school dance ("Ed, they're vaping in the bathroom, what do I do?" "Idk join them?" "Ed!" "What? They'll do it regardless!!") and the graduation of the oldest grade (I think middle schoolers would be both the cruelest and funniest option for this au) and how they'll actually miss these goddamn kids, & don't know if they'll be contracted for the same school next year as permanent or called in to sub more or what

Topics for everyone thus far:

Jackie-French as noted above. She also enjoys that the kids always think Frenchie should teach her class purely based on his name. Doesn't tolerate any bs during class & will send u to the principals, but if everyone behaves they get an extra point added to their grade just for showing up and being polite. For some kids, for various reasons, it's a life saver.

Frenchie-joint band and choir director with The Swede. Treated like a local rock star by the kids bc he tells them how back home he plays in a few bands, and plays gigs in between teaching contracts/assignments. A couple make fan shirts after they google and manage to find out the name of the band he usually performs with. They give him one too and he can't help but well up bc. kids man. one minute little assholes the next moment doing something so kind and unexpected!

The Swede- mainly choir director but helps with the band bc they have a huge class size but of course the district doesn't care abt that.

Ed & Stede-joint principals, also Theater. Ed jokes that he's the Fun Principal bc he occasionally lets the kids get away with like. smoking near the school or playing hooky. If he catches them they get a 'guys cmon if u keep this up i gotta stop u forever so like. be mindful' talk. Stede thinks he's truly the Fun One tho bc he keeps making up ideas for those funny dress up weeks schools do in the states and Ed we are teaching here so we should do as the Romans do, so to speak! (how does that work, it doesn't really as far as i know with a lot of teaching jobs but shhhhh fiction time.)

Buttons-shop related classes, any and all, including woodworking and a v basic automotive class (obvi they won't pay for a garage set up, so he has to rely on drawing and otherwise illustrating & using texts to teach.) Also serves as the lunch room monitor bc the kids are p sure the rumor that he once ate a guy is true, and no one wants to Test Him.

Jim-Gym. Took it on purely bc they think it's funny to hear the kids go 'its time for gym/Jim!' Another beloved teacher for being supportive when kids struggle with the class, and also bc if everyone has good attendance each quarter then they'll take a day to show them knife throwing (after permission slips are signed of course.)

Olu-Spanish, but defers to Jim a lot bc then he gets to talk to Jim and no he doesn't have a crush on Jim! Also occasionally bemoans to Jim for them teaching the kids to swear in Spanish. Jim finally kisses him during one such lovingly made complaint.

Wee John-Home Ec, sewing & other textile based art. One of the fave teachers bc he always has snacks in his classroom, and will let any exhausted kids nap during class so long as they turn in finished projects (first is a lil plushie, then a bigger one, finally they have to design & attempt an article of clothing. Doesn't have to be anywhere near perfect or even complete, he just wants them to try.) Once freed Stede after he accidentally sewed his finger to some fabric while mucking abt after school in the classroom.

Fang-any and all math classes. No one knows how he handles the work load, but he's always chill af abt it. Another student fave for being kind and taking extra time with kids that suck at math, or flat out have dyscalculia & require the extra tutoring as part of their IEP.

Ivan-Social Studies. He knows the kids find it boring, so he does his best to give it some extra shine by making up projects for the kids to do that are graded a little bit kinder than regular hw bc he's more concerned that they have fun (and might retain the info better as a result.) One of the kids' faves ends up being a journal assignment abt the Oregon Trail, aka write an Oregon Trail story that can be as dramatic and/or like the video game as they want.

Izzy-Head Librarian. Cannot believe they fired the library staff as well as everyone else at the school. cannot get over how little the district does to help keep up said library (books are heavily damaged & still on the shelf, new books rarely ordered, and literally the shelves are not in Dewey order. That makes a vein in his forehead twitch every day until he takes an evening to correctly label and reshelve everything.) Winds up staying late a lot to repair books, order new books (when he runs out of what little funding there is, he puts them on his own cc and just doesn't tell anyone, claiming them as charitable donations from 'an anon donor'), and otherwise do any additional upkeep to get the place up to par. Realizes halfway thru the year no one got assigned to teach the Health class, and begrudgingly takes it on as well. He teaches in a section of the library, with Mary taking over main library duties for that time. Has to deal with all the horribleness that is teaching middle schoolers that topic ("You can't all keep laughing every time I say penis or we'll never get through this chapter. And that's hell for you as much as it is for me!")

Roach-Home Ec, cooking class. also helps in the lunch room bc literally they did not actually hire any kitchen staff, the subs are told to do that too. He winds up telling the kids they can help by prepping the ingredients for their lunch in his classroom, then he'll take it all to be finished for lunchtime in the industrial kitchen. They end up loving it after the first week, bc he brings in recipes that are decently healthy but that most the kids are up to trying or already like.

Mary-painting substitute if Doug is out for a day, but mainly works alongside Izzy in the library as the assistant librarian. Yes they gossip abt Ed and Stede. Yes they have a running bet on when they'll finally announce a relationship and fill out that paperwork with HR (this immediately starts a side convo for them abt the shoddy quality of the paperwork & how slowly it gets filed. They admit to being sticklers at times, but also they're right.)

Doug-art, painting and sculpture. Always up for weird art ideas, and has the graduating grade (even if they don't take his elective course) make a mural before the end of the year. They each get a framed pic of it, and he plans to have each graduating class redo the wall each year, should he be contracted for another full year.

Jack-biology/gen science. Encourages the kids to 'really get into' the dissections. Does his best to try and get the district to agree to a field trip to the local morgue to see a full on embalming, but is told uhhhh no bud. Accidentally reveals a parentage issue for a few kids while using eye & hair color to teach Punett squares.

Lucius-Creative Writing. Has a loving feud with Pete bc most of the kids are in both their classes. Said kids have bets on if Pete or Lucius will propose to each other or not by the end of the year. Makes a point to be a safe place for any kids with writing that may point to some other issues going on in life (based off my hs lit mag teacher Dr. Brenda Werner. No joke, she saved my life as a kid, I think Lucius would be the same for his class.)

Pete-Newspaper/Yearbook. Very big on making sure stories are accurate, bc 'ppl doubt my stories a lot, so you need your details and shit in order.' The kids: ooooh he swore!!!! and promptly do not absorb this knowledge fully. But they enjoy his class bc he's chill and is happy to let them explore what options journalism can offer, and to research odder stories for internal class articles vs school paper ones (Missing: David, Where's Shelly? vs Cilantro: Should Roach Use It In Our Lunch Or Does It Taste Like Soap.)

#text post #these are somehow dumber than the first set akdnfkgngm #in my defense on the plane one ive been watching the show air disasters on Hulu for like. three days straight #so it is v much Activated Special Interest times rn for me #the teaching one got way out of hand ive spent like an hour typing that bit up alone akdnfkg #also i didn't go into the separate grade levels of each topic essentially if they teach the topic they're stuck teaching all grade levels #even if maybe that's not ideal and stretches a short staff even shorter #anyway we should pay all teachers subs or not more

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kmze · 2 months

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"S7 therapy" Good one,Kris!

I can see what you mean with regards to Melinda and yes 6×19 was,indeed,brilliant.But unfortunately the same cannot be said about 7×03 and 7×11.I side eyed the flashbacks because they made me physically cringe.I think Allowitz shot that episode. "I don't care about the past..." didn't exactly work for me and I blame the writing and the direction of the retconned story for that.

As for 7×11, I honestly felt bad about Paul.He was not bad at directing episodes but there's so much one can do if the script is terrible.Stefan's post-hell was severely downplayed to service Damon's hell.The voice-overs were stilted and awkward.Stefan's story was plain atrocious.Yes we got a call back to 2×02 via Stefan's hallucination but I had a very dark perspective of those scenes.Stefan's need for his brother multiplied so much for having abandoned him in a faux reality that he not only suffered from insomnia and paranoia but his subconscious guilt for letting his brother drown reflected as hallucination- Damon wanting to Kill Caroline aka his happiness because he didn't believe he deserved to be happy.I might be completely wrong but as a pessimist,this is where my mind went when I watched the episode.(I think Julian faced something similar with Lily when he was in the stone.)This was followed by him not being there when Caroline was dying alone at the hospital and Stefan immediately blaming himself "I almost killed her"(7×12/7×13).I mean if the writers were in the least bit sincere,they could have explained that being the reason why Caroline wasn't there with him since he "killed" her instead of having You-Know-Who be an enabler of his toxic-codependence with Damon to slither into his good books.Don't get me wrong.Maybe as a general viewer or Damon fangirl (which I believe Melinda was)it was an overall good episode but as a Stefan and SC fan, it was thoroughly disappointing.

I had no idea about Rebecca-Elizabeth friendship though.That does explain a lot.I guess it's similar to Plec-Candice, Plec-Paul, Plec-Ian,Plec-Nina friendships.Can we categorise this as workplace politics and blatant favouritism?These kind of stuff are more prevalent in the private/corporate sector,film/television industry being one of them.(Notice how I didn't mention one name here and we all know what she went through and how deserving of quality writing she was.)

Also I think Sonnenshine never liked Caroline.She wrote 4×21/22 where Elena straight up refused to apologise to Caroline for trying to murder her and her mom during her no-humanity bender. No wonder You-Know-Who was so passive-aggressive toward Caroline for no reason although that was a pattern in most episodes, Melinda Tsu's included where she even physically attacked her.

I have heard Rebecca and Michael Narducci are friends too and Rebecca being a small town girl who got out of the small town apparently inspired Narducci to write the "Small town boy small town life" line to give an insight about how manipulative Klaus was that he would dangle a tempting offer in front of someone to beguile them.Narducci drew a parallel of this scene with 2×22(also written by him)where Klaus did the same with Stefan by making him drink from the blood bags.

7×16 gave me nightmare for weeks and then I convinced myself it was a big f***ing joke since it aired on the 1st of April.

I do remember reading the door symbolism metas back in the day and I loved them. As for the letter scene in the 7×18,I noticed forced ambiguity in the writing which is why I couldn't care less about it. It felt more like tokenism.Like I said there was an obvious passive-aggressiveness in the way her episodes were written.Also You-Know-Who's treatment of Caroline seemed like she saw her as an inferior.She gave me Quetsiyah vibes at times but at least Tessa was wronged and Amara was part of it.Caroline had nothing to do with what happened with her and yet it seemed like she wanted to put her down consistently for some reason.She even straight up mocked her indirectly calling her an uneducated,unambitious yorkel. I would blame TVD writers for this though since they seem to inherently believe women exist to tear each other apart over men.What infuriated me the most was how SC references like " spinning the globe" (6×20), "something more" (6×19) was used inappropriately in SV scenes.I have no idea why she was constantly self-inserting as Caroline even though she didn't seem to like her.What was even the point?

Anyway,thank you for letting me rant.We could probably write a book on the endless absurdity of this season but it's not worth it.

Haha rant away Anon, I totally get how that can be cathartic.

I do get why the flashbacks in 7x03 bothered people, and yes the way it's shot and the emphasis it's given is all on Dries' direction as showrunner at that time. However for me I really loved Stefan's speech about not caring about the past and only caring about Caroline being there and safe and with him. I love it because whenever that was the situation (which of course was rare on this show) he was his happiest and it's all he ever wanted.

Maybe I need to rewatch 7x11 to remember stuff (but since I'm doing a rewatch I don't want to watch anything out of order) but I didn't really mind getting flashbacks of Stefan's hell. I thought the flashbacks did enough to show how unstable he was after he came out of it and that was why Damon was so unstable. I do agree that the stone was trying to tell him that Caroline was his happiness and Damon was always the one getting in the way of that. I liked that we saw how Stefan needed Caroline to help bring him out of the darkness and then I really loved how we got to see him spill his guts to her when he ran to the baby shower to make sure she was okay. 7x12 I have way more problems with but I guess I've just accepted that was Dries fault and she basically got removed because if it so I just chalk it up to that (I look at it from a Doylist POV). Valerie just found every possible way to insert herself and even Damon called that out in 7x16. She just became so non-threatening in the end and honestly I was happy she got to live, most of the time characters like her get killed off. I mean she really was just a mish-mosh of Katherine and Rebekah as women who wanted Stefan and they would be mean to his current girlfriend (Rebekah) and scheme (Katherine) because that's all Dries could do, rewrite what already happened into a cheap knock-off.

See when it comes to writers having favorites I think that's fine, they're human and they get attached to certain characters just like the rest of us. The key is you need to have a competent show-runner who knows how to not let that favoritism override the script by making sure everyone has clear direction and knows the path. Dries didn't do that, the flow was all over the place because certain writers she could control (Sonnennshine/Young) and others couldn't (Reynolds). I always felt like Elena being a bitch to Caroline in 4x21/22 is just because she's a bitch, and I think Elena HATED TO HER CORE how Caroline excelled at being a vampire when she failed miserably. She hated how much confidence it gave her and how much it elevated her in the 'verse whereas vampirism was the beginning of Elena's downfall. I find the "small town boy, small town life" line really funny now because even though Caroline travelled a bit in regards to the school and helping her daughters in the she still stayed in that small town by the end of the 'verse so he was WRONG HA!

Yeah I can see how it's to each their own in regards to 7x18, one of those episodes I get why people don't like it but I also get why people love it. I love the letter because it was part of an over-arching theme with Stefan that every time he thought he was going to die he only thought of Caroline. The letter to me was more important for the present when Stefan said "I need to write a letter in case I don't make it out of this" because up until that point we didn't really know how much Stefan still loved Caroline (because of Dries!). Also loved how after Valerie entered Stefan's head she realized that too, I mean the episode before this she was all about helping Alaric so she could keep Stefan and then suddenly she was like "yeah there's no point." I just thought it was powerful that after all the scheming Valerie did to get Stefan into her life from Caroline as soon as that scar was gone she didn't even try. I can't remember what the "something more" reference was but the globe wasn't a big SC thing so it didn't get me (stuff like the coffee totally because THAT was their thing). I guess what I'm trying to say is I see the flaws in that season and totally get why most hate it and why it might have been too little too late by the end of the season. But for me the fact that Julie came back and added things to try and how she fixed them made sense it was enough for me to just get over most of the bad stuff (except the snow scene in 7x09).

#anon for ts #my god I hate dries #s7 therapy #my thoughts on that season will probably be clearer after I rewatch #season 8A was just so fab I got over most of it #and now my hatred turns to kw lol

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