#i really had fun with this one! redoing it had its challenges but MAN

[faggotmox]

"I had a bad dream again" - with mox

drabble challenge || anonymous request

Prompt 94: Bad Dreams Again Rating: g for fluff Pairing: William Regal x Jon Moxley Word Count: 474 A/N: i like this one so much & the concept so much i couldn't wait to post it, but bc im falling asleep as i type idk if its any good. so i may redo this one FOR FUN hahaha bc i really really love this idea

The adjoining doors between their rooms weren’t locked. In fact Regal kept them wide open, especially when it was bedtime. There was rustling around in the room which caused Regal to open his eyes.

A few feet away from the edge of the bed was Mox. The brightly glowing numbers on the bedside table told Regal it was 2:12AM. For just a moment it seemed like many years ago, Mox seemed younger as he shuffled his feet. Just as unsure as he had been so many years ago with his clean shaven face and longer hair.

“You had a bad dream again, huh?” Regal spoke up. The silence of the room shattered and Mox looked like he nearly shattered with it. The added ‘again’ at the end was important to Regal. Though he hadn’t been there he was sure the bad dreams truly never stopped for Jon Moxley.

“I shouldn’t--” Mox started but Regal just shook his head and lifted himself up on an elbow. The light was too dim to see the tears on Mox’s face but Regal could clearly hear them in the other man’s voice. “I had a bad dream again.”

“Then you better come to bed with me.” Regal moved over, pulling the sheets back. “I’ll keep you safe, Jon.”

There was still hesitation as Mox slid under the covers. This had been more familiar at once but Mox’s body sank into the comfort like he always did. Regal tugged at the hoodie until Mox slid out of it.

“You’ll be miserably hot, my sweet boy.” Regal kept his voice calm and low as they settled into the bed together. The hoodie was forgotten over the side of the bed. “Much better.”

For maybe thirty minute Regal held Mox tightly to his chest while gently stroking a hand over Mox’s lower belly to calm him. Quietly Regal sang to Mox, trying to lull him into feeling safe enough to sleep again with songs they both enjoyed. It took the entire time before Regal could clear Mox’s soft crying and feel the hitch of Mox’s back against his chest. That was what they needed to happen. Mox would cry, letting it all out in the safety of Regal’s arms and bed until Regal fully chased away whatever demon was pounding at the doors.

“Let it all out, sweet boy.” Regal encouraged, knowing that this had been few and far between for Mox since leaving FCW. They had little phrases. Ways to let Mox be able to let go. “I’ll fight the rest of this battle, dear, you get some rest.”

For the first time in a very long, long time Mox felt his eyes close without heavy weights on them. He could sleep more, Regal would protect him from all the night time attacks that came when he least expected

#this one is so soft i just dont have words #i wanna write this better #i was falling asleep typing #william regal #jon moxley #jon moxley x william regal #ranger written #fanfic #wrestling fanfiction #fanfiction

[prinsomnia]

✸ imagine the flowers at your feet, the stars in the sky ✸ 

one of my plans this year is to redo some of of my old art that both my past and present audience will (hopefully) enjoy! 🌞💖 second on my list is what i thought was a tough piece to make at my skill level back in 2016.

#illustration #plants #aesthetic #cottagecore #botanical #bright #spring #florist #digital art #flowers #art improvement #art ph #animation #art fart #prinsomnia #once again -- SHEEEEEEEEEEEESH #i really had fun with this one! redoing it had its challenges but MAN #the struggle i had back then was......crazy :') i'm glad i kept going and got this far! i hope u like this one u guys! #portfolio

[nagipops]

hii I love your blogs sooo much you're really talented (I just needed to say it sorry) so straight to the point, I already made 2 requests to you and I really enjoyed your writing so I would like to make another again. As I'm clueless about what to request I'll just ask for random hcs for konoha 11, idk if it's too much but if so then you can do with Neji (I love him so much), Kakashi and Naruto. Thank you in advance and sorry anything ^^

RANDOM KONOHA 11 HEADCANONS!

FEATURING: naruto, sakura, shikamaru, ino, choji, neji, rock lee, tenten, kiba, hinata, and shino

WARNINGS: mentions alcohol, drugs, food, bugs, and the tiniest nsfw mention if you get the joke. hehe

A/N: AHHHH ANONN this seriously made my day, im so so glad you enjoy my work!! 💖

NARUTO

you know how we all have “the chair”, where we throw all of our dirty clothes onto?

yeah, imagine that, but from the seat to the fricking ceiling

its just a GINORMOUS MOUND of clothes, you wonder how he even goes through that many clothes so quickly???

definitely shoves it under his bed whenever guests come over (somehow)

holds chopsticks really weirdly. but it works.

asked tenten to put his hair into space buns to mimic his sexy jutsu and went around flirting with the village

jiraiya was so proud of him T-T

comes up with the WORST pickup lines

they’re so bad, its almost charming. almost

has gone AWOL multiple times, disappearing from everywhere, just everywhere

it scared you a little, so you searched the entire village for him

you finally found him sitting on the ledge of a cliff, gazing out at the vast sea

concerned and panicked, you cried out to ask him what was wrong

he turned to you with a crestfallen, devastated look on his face and said,

“i bought shrimp ramen instead of chicken ramen.”

you’ve never searched for him after his disappearance ever again.

SAKURA

100% makes origami shurikens and chucks them at you

they are deathly precise and deathly sharp. seriously, how are these not illegal weapons yet???

writes threatening motivational notes to herself on the mirror

“u got this!” “make sure to smack naruto today!” “ino sucks!”

her backpack would always be way too high up on her back. idk why but. it would

does her hair all nice and pretty before she goes out but once she arrives to her destination SHE KEEP. TAKING. IT OUT. and redoing it over and over and over again

like it’s impossible to make eye contact with her because she’s holding a bobby pin between her teeth while braiding her hair

her guilty pleasure would be hostess treats

ding dongs are her favorite. don’t ask me how i know, i just know.

eats the yellow starbursts just to spite naruto and all her haters

loves small lap dogs, she think’s they’re so cute and cuddly

but she especially loves chihuahuas

they’re so feisty and naruto HATES them, so of course she had to go and get one for herself

dresses the poor dog up in little bonnets and jackets and ties its tiny fuzzy hairs into pigtails

she and the chihuahua are not that much unlike <3

SHIKAMARU

this man is a god at shogi but he absolutely SUCKSSSS at cup pong.

is this an ick? idk. but he is absolute trash at this game.

it gets even worse when he’s got a couple drinks in him

tries to calculate the velocity and acceleration and angle and shit but his shot is always a good two feet off BYE 😭

just mutters an “aw, shit” before awaiting his turn again

hates checkers, loves chess

“checkers is for WUSSIES” - shikamaru nara

i said this in another post, but he is Very Good at whistling

like that’s his hidden talent

can copy any tune with the perfect pitch and rhythm

speaking of, he can do really cool tricks with his tongue

like making a four leaf clover, touching the bridge of his nose with it, flipping it upside down, you name it

he has slanted, scrawled handwriting, to the point where it’s almost illegible

wbk he cheats in school SO OFTEN. but he never gets caught. he’s not stupid, he just couldn’t care less about his classes.

thinks weed and e-cigs are stupid, cigarettes are where it’s at

you just can’t replicate the feeling of taking a drag from a cig after a long, tiring day

plus he looks hella cool while doing it B)

INO

teaches the boyz™️ how to braid their hair

like they all gather in a circle around this feisty fashionista and fail attempt to braid their hair

sakura was just fuming in the sidelines

“OI, INO-PIG, THAT’S A DUTCH BRAID, NOT A FRENCH BRAID!!”

yeah, ino 🙄

the only one that can actually do it is neji because a) this man is talented af and b) he’s got the long hairrr

ino probably envies his thick, sleek hair because hE’S a bOy

also asks everyone for their blood type and zodiac signs and tells them if they’re compatible with her or not

and definitely judges you for your sign 😣

“oh, you’re a gemini? hmm, what a shame...”

makes bouquets for her favorite people and kin assigns everyone a flower

only assigns the pretty nice ones to the people she likes (sorry sakura, you’re out of luck)

one of her favorite hobbies is crafting! she’s really good with details and small things so she loves making those miniature dollhouses and stuff

also really good at watercoloring. especially painting flowers and landscapes

also i feel like she would be really good at playing any instrument because of her skilled hands

can play a badass flute solo. period.

CHOJI

would honestly rather die than get anywhere NEAR an asparagus

he just thinks they’re so gross and bitter and NOT SALTY

he always eats his yakiniku a little bit undercooked because he’s way too impatient to wait for it to cook fully. who do you think he is??

whenever he cloud gazes with shikamaru, when asked what he thinks a cloud looks like, he just says some sort of food

“oi, choji, what does that one look like to you?”

“a... yakiniku grill... with... pineapple rings on it! ooh, and a wagyu steak right there!”

he thinks pringles are an abomination to society. where’s the crisp? where’s the grease? where’s the saltiness?!!!

asks ino to teach him how to do his hair all fancy and the two of them devote an entire day learning different hairstyles

it’s his new favorite thing to do now :D

he really likes crayons!!!!

like he’ll write with them, draw with them, color with them, do everything with them

he’s even tried to eat them. he said they tasted good.

definitely had the 128 crayon pack WITH THE BUILT-IN SHARPENER, and everyone thought he was the coolest kid in town

he ate it UP, he even scored some bbq dates with the ladies

i also feel like he loves basketball, and he has a MEAN slam dunk

like his vertical isn’t that high, but the man can REACH

he loves when people laugh at him when he challenges them to a 1v1 and then proceeds to absolutely destroy them <3

NEJI

he seems like a cucumber kind of guy.

just cucumber

like i feel like he puts it in everything; soba, salads, sandwiches, his face, yeah

it’s mellow and cool, just like him!

speaking of, i feel like he lives for spa days and facials

it just lets him be alone in his little cucumber scented world for an hour or two and he gets damn clear skin from it as well

seriously he has PERFECT skin. flawless. not a single blemish. his cheeks feel like baby butts they’re so smooth.

i feel like he’d be a god at solving rubik’s cubes, don’t ask me why

like if anyone scrambled theirs on accident they would just take it to neji and he’d solve it in the blink of an eye

CAT PERSON!!! loves the little meow meows

who are we kidding, neji basically is a cat; agile, aloof, does silly things without trying to, very cute

he just feels akin to the little fuzzballs and he thinks petting cats are extremely therapeutic. good for the soul

he is a golf man. he would take his juniors golfing and everyone thinks he’s uncool. cmon neji let them go to the skate park at least T-T

also very good at karaoke, definitely surprised everyone once he got a few drinks in him since he started serenading you

LIGHTWEIGHT!!! do not get more than one shot of alcohol in him. he will go berserk.

i also feel like he’d really love photography; not taking pictures of people, but of nature

he loves taking a quiet stroll through a pretty forest and snapping pictures of all the unique flora and fauna

it’s so serene ︶ ‿ ︶

ROCK LEE

100% milly rocks everywhere

gai got in on it too once he asked what lee was doing

“is that what all the youthful cool kids do these days!”

they also dab together. a lot

DO NOT BE SEEN WITH THESE TWO!!! you are not associated with them.

definitely is the one breakdancing in the middle of the dance circle at a high school party

he’s mad skilled at it too

headspins and windmills galore

challenged naruto to a dance-off and completely OBLITERATED him

lee then asked if naruto wanted a rematch, this time with one hand tied behind lee’s back

naruto obliged, and he STILL lost

RIP naruto and his fangirls, they all scrambled to lee afterwards T-T

i feel like his favorite subject is science

not the boring physics equations and laws and theories but the fun EXPERIMENTS

definitely has singed all of his hair off one time and he went to gai blubbering to help him grow back his precious hair

but he loves experimenting with different combinations and chemicals to get different reactions each time

created a potent love potion and carried it around with him all day one day

and it was actually working

girls were flocking to him left and right, staring at his lips and his face

he was so abashed at the sudden attention

heck, it even worked on sakura

“oi, lee-san!”

“hehe, yes, sakura-san?”

her eyes shifted downwards to his lips and his heart thumped harder

“hey... lee-san?”

“what is it?”

“you have something on your lip. we’ve been trying to tell you all day but you just winked and blew kisses at us.”

legend has it lee has still not recovered to this day.

TENTEN

has THE prettiest handwriting. and she can write SUPER fast

it’s like a superpower

like she transcribed five pages of a report in less than two minutes with perfect handwriting

naruto is so jealous.

she is also super good at origami! those diligent, accurate hands aren’t just for throwing things

taught sakura how to make shurikens but does NOT endorse any violent uses of them

she can replicate all of her weapons with paper and they can actually function, it’s so cool

made paper kunai knives one day and the wholeee village wanted to get their hands on them

i feel like she’d listen to mitski. idk i just get those vibes

LOVES BIG DOGS!! especially fluffy wuffy samoyeds

like man’s best friend?? no, GIRL’S BEST FRIEND!!

hugs and cuddles and squishes all the big dogs

she thinks small dogs are spawns of satan

sakura and her have definitely quarreled over this

but at the end of the day, all dogs are adorable fur babies, so she lets it slide :,)

KIBA

kiba always looks SO GOOD in photos you take of him, candid or not

like you could just whip out a camera and snap a photo of him at any given moment and he would look perfect

you framed a picture of him yelling at akamaru for peeing inside the house

it’s pure artwork

i feel like he tries to swagger around with his hands shoved in his pockets but it fails MISERABLY and the girls are wondering if he broke his leg or something 😭

kiba just walk normally. for the love of god please just walk normally.

he tries to slump back in his chair really low but one time he slouched way too low so he slipped off of his chair and onto the ground LMFAOOOO

he just wallowed there... in shame...

also.. he LOVES when the girls put makeup on him!!

he tries to act like he hates it. but it secretly gives him so much confidence

not to mention the girls hyping him up are a huge ego boost

okay the inside of his jacket hood is the warmest. thing. EVER!!!

seriously, no wonder this dude is so happy-go-lucky all the time, he’s living in literal heaven 24/7

it’s like you’re sleeping on a cloud inside a warm, cozy bed during a cold winter morning

10/10 would recommend letting him give you his sweatshirt when you’re chillin with a hair tie ❤️

HINATA

always smells like lavender soap. always

also has the cutest pencil pouches with little puppy faces and kawaii things

oH and she has those mini yoobi highlighters, she thinks they’re so cute (and functional!)

everyone flocks to her to try them out and marvel at the cute tiny highlighters

and they try to steal them from her but she doesn’t even stop them because she’s too timid to 😭

naruto goes BALLISTIC over them

she lets him have all of them <3

tennis girl!!! tennis girl.

all of her opponents always underestimate her because she’s so timid and shy and quiet

but she has a KILLER serve

and then she takes her opponents to the slaughterhouse with a complete shutout ;)

she’s really athletic believe it or not, she can beat most of the boys in a mile run and she has incredible endurance

i feel like she really loves velvet scrunchies

she just thinks they’re so pretty and they keep her hair soft so they’re cute and functional

also takes the PRETTIEST notes!!

color codes, dividers, headers, you name it, it’s all super readable too its insane

everyone asks her for her notes, not to study but just to appreciate the pure artwork that it is ^w^

SHINO

shino is SO easy to prank

“how do you catch an eyemaster?” *cue naruto and kiba snickering*

“eyemaster bait. that is because—”

even when everyone’s laughing their asses off, he still continues to explain his answer since he does NOT GET THE JOKE

tried his hand at writing haikus

here’s his best one so far:

“Bugs are amazing. That is because they are bugs. Bugs are very nice.” - Shino Aburame

VERY proud of it, since it took him weeks to perfect

praise it, pls

had one of those ant farms and bug-catching kits as a kid

and he would fill the kit TO THE BRIM. LIKE IT WAS HEAVY BECAUSE THERE WERE SO MANY BUGS.

he loves the little chitters of the different bugs

he had jars of different bugs all lined up on a wall shelf in his room

collects silkworms off of trees and sticks them into his pockets (no i definitely did not do this as a kid...)

HELP I FEEL LIKE he would record a timelapse of his ant farm growing and upload it to youtube with a movie maker title screen that says

“my ants”

if you enjoyed this post, likes and reblogs are much appreciated :) feel free to request here, and make sure to read the rules first! have a lovely day everyone <3

#naruto #naruto x reader #naruto headcanons #naruto imagines #naruto uzumaki #sakura headcanons #shikamaru headcanons #ino yamanaka #choji akimichi #kiba headcanons #kiba inuzuka #hinata hyuuga #hinata hyuga #shino aburame #neji headcanons #neji hyuuga #rock lee #kiba imagines #shikamaru imagines #hc

[brideofcthulhu10]

How would the Lost boys react to having a motherly type of s/o?

OH MY GOD I DIDN'T KNOW TUMBLR POSTED THIS UNFINISHED! UGH STUPID APP! Okay, redo!

Cuuute. The boys could certainly use a motherly touch around, even Max had said that when he wanted to turn Lucy. For this I am gonna be writing a female s/o, if you ever want otherwise always be sure to specify ahead of time otherwise DM me and I’ll be sure to correct it. I love the idea one behind the scenes with the boys, after the late night partying and wild blood orgies. I mean, let's be realistic here- those guys probably smell like cigarettes and ass. That cave is no doubt absolutely filthy as hell, and I don’t think they’ve cleaned up a day of their afterlife. 

Lost Boys with a Motherly Fem!S/O

David

Now David isn’t exactly the type to be told what to do in almost any scenario. Well, almost. But even then he still prefers the majority of the control. It’s going to be a challenge to get anything done with him. Any sort of lectures or advice tend to fall on deaf ears simply because he and the boys have taken care of themselves for so long. Your best method of choice? STEALTH

I’m serious, you gotta be sneaky with this boy. He’ll wake up to you cleaning the hotel because you had assumed it was still daylight, or sweeping around when they go on hunts. Don’t fuck with the cobwebs, its an aesthetically pleasing decoration! Frankly, he’s just a brat who doesn’t like change. It’s gotten to the point however, where he can’t exactly stop you so he just decides to be a butt about it. Take-out trash litter the hotel lobby, he’ll even leave out half-full open containers and try to get some real maggots up in there. Not if you have anything to say about it! Sometimes he wonders how you can keep it as clean as you do.

You have no idea how absolutely rank a pack of teenage vampires can be. Especially with unwashed clothes. Seriously, David and Paul’s boots could make rats gag, the stank of unwashed vamp toes is gnarly. That can be a bit of a fight. Well someone has to get all those bloodstains out! What do you think they just vanished the next day? None of the boys want clean clothes, especially David. According to them you can't be badass vampires and have fresh pants. He’ll even hide his jacket from you on laundry day. How is he supposed to instill fear in the hearts of mortals when his jacket smells like FUCKING LAVENDER?

God help you if you try to make him bathe. The only way he’d concede is if you really went all out. Play to his ego, its the best way to get him to cooperate. After all, what man doesn’t want to be a king for a day. Especially one such as David. Once you finally, FINALLY get him in, then it's a fight to get him out. He’ll let off soft grunts when you massage shampoo through his scalp, leaning his head back with low, grumbling moans. Sometimes he’ll have you join him, even if you aren’t undressed. Yeah, he doesn’t care if you have your clothes on, time to get in. It's hotter when he sees your shirt tightly clinging to your bodice, although he'll huff that you had a bra underneath. If you try to peel off the soggy articles he won't let you. After all, if you got to strip him down, he gets to do the same to you. He'll take his time, and keep in mind the water isn't about to be clean for much longer.

Despite his protests, and he’d never admit it to the rest of the pack, but he really does love having someone caring for him. Being spoiled by his lover has some advantages, especially after a stressful day. Just laying back, having you rub his shoulders for a good minute, maybe suggesting he come over to your apartment and let you cook him a real meal for once. Sure you’ll be telling him how he needs to be more careful when he goes on hunts, but he can handle that much. You’re his precious doll, if it means a few lectures from you then he’ll put up with it. 

Dwayne

Dwayne is kind of the silent brother bear of the group so it’s a relief when he has someone who wants to take care of him. It makes him chuckle when you fret over him. Honey, he can fly, he’s not going to fall off the roof. Even if he did, it wouldn’t kill him! He’s lost count how many times you subtly, or not so subtly, toss around the subject of a helmet when he rides around. You’ll even try using persuasive ideas such as having it custom painted, maybe adding some spikes- anything just wear a stupid helmet! Again, he reminds you the threat of cracking his head open wasn’t exactly that daunting

When you’re on a cleaning spree he tends to stay out of your way. Granted he tried to help once, but you immediately shooed him out. You got it, just go sit down and quit futzing with stuff. On laundry day he’s a bit stubborn, but as long as you don’t wash his leather jacket, he’ll be fine. Seriously, do not touch his jacket. He cannot stress enough how bad it is to try and use water and soap to clean a leather jacket. NO. No touchy! So he’ll just sit in his underwear (personally I think it’d be boxer briefs) on the couch clinging to his jacket while you go off to the laundromat a few blocks over. Eventually you bought him lounge pajama pants for when you do laundry trips. At first he didn’t want to but… well they have a badass puma on them. It’d be rude to not wear it if you went through all that trouble to get that for him.

Unlike the other three, Dwayne doesn’t need much bribery to get in the tub. DO you have ANY IDEA the last time he had a god damn shower? He misses it, he doesn’t exactly like smelling like parfum de cul (kudos to any of you who know what that means ;) ). Oh just watch him sink into the tub as you massage his luxurious mess of dark hair, you swear sometimes he audibly purrs when you do. Its one of the few times Dwayne will let himself be completely vulnerable. He won’t necessarily force you to join him, but he would certainly love it you have your cute butt nestled between his legs where he could lather you up. But, I mean, that’s entirely up to you to refuse your ripped, completely naked boyfriend eyeing you up.

When he gets injured or sick, which you never expected that he could, you immediately go into hyperdrive. While he’d rather be out riding with the guys, he can’t help but love being pampered by his princess who always treats him like a king. You’ll shove him into Star’s old bed and demand he stay put, wiping his forehead down with a cold cloth. One would assume that someone with no body heat left would get a fever. Actually, it makes it worse. He won’t DIE from any illness, but it sure does suck when he gets them. Usually a few feedings will heal him up within a day, so you’ve started smuggling bags from blood drives and keeping them in a little cooler for him. Granted you only get him A or B blood, but he still appreciates all the effort you go to just for him. 

Paul

Paul loves it up until you make him do things he doesn’t want to. Typical guy. He DIED in a freaking bath tub, why the hell would you want to put him back in one?! It would take either a serious amount of strength or bribing to get him into one.

“It doesn't even have holy water Paul, just normal, plain, stupid water! You smell like a rat’s ass, will you please just get in?”

“I’d rather smell like ass!”

Yes, he may even try to bolt out of the room buck naked. Fuck you, try to catch him now! Did you hide his clothes?!

Your best bet is to play to his most vulnerable side: horny. Sure he refuses to get in the bath on his own, but add you naked covered in bubbles and it just became the best place to be. The blonde won’t even sulk when you’re sudsing up his hair because you’re too distracted to notice he’s about to cop a feel. He’ll just laugh like an idiot when you get mad, after all you put him in here in the first place. There will probably be tub sex, because dammit he deserves something for being such a good boy. Surprisingly he actually loves it when you use the hair dryer on him. It feels amazing, he doesn’t exactly get warm anymore so the sensation of heat rushing through freshly cleaned hair is just incredible

Paul is not a fan of laundry day, just like David. Again, you gotta chase him down. He’ll tease you the whole time though. 

“Babe if you wanted to just rip my clothes off me all you had to do was ask.”

You only leave him in his underwear because he doesn’t have anything else to change into. You never realized how much of a pain in the ass white pants were until you met him. Why the hell did he even have white pants in the first place? They show every damn stain! Paul will probably come with you to the laundromat. Its three in the morning, who cares if someone sees him in his boxers? Big deal! He’d even offer to go nude. You managed to find a pair of pajama pants and a band t-shirt he could wear on laundry day because this ass refuses to buy any other clothes. 

Paul thinks it’s absolutely adorable the way you dote on him. It’s a pain in the butt, but nothing is better than the tiny notes you leave for him when you go out. Or when you surprise the coven with a bunch of tupperware dishes full of real home cooked meals. Yeah being ragged on half the day is never fun but he knows that the only reason you do that is you care so much for him. You almost died when you thought he’d been killed, it was fair you got a bit over protective after. Besides, you were still his ride or die baby who did anything for him. Hell, last Valentine’s day you even went all around Santa Carla until you found someone who made him a mother fuckin Gene Simmons teddy bear, with the tongue out and everything. Paul loves you, nags and all

Marko

Probably one of the only boys to be a bit more cooperative when it comes to mothering him. After all, he’s the one being spoiled. It’s precious when you fret over him on a hunt out, warning him to avoid any hunters, fly safe, please don’t jump off any bridges. He’ll just hug you tight and assure you he’s gonna be fine. Yeah you’ll go one about how he should have a helmet when riding or raising concern when he tries something of questionable origin from the boardwalk vendors. But most of the time he just kind of tunes you out and smiles until you’re done.

He’s a sneaky boy, you oughta know that by now. You want him to take a bath? Only if you join him. You want to brush his hair out? Sure he’ll sit still… for ten kisses. Laundry day? Fine but he gets to come with. It’s hard not to laugh at him crouched up on the top of a dryer with his knees to his chest in only his underwear watching you throw in his pants and socks. He can’t help but grin when you throw him a side eye because of the stains all over his white shirt. Sheesh, him and Paul with the white clothes.  Again, please please PLEASE don’t wash his jacket. You will ruin it. He doesn’t care if you bombard it with air freshener until his sorry ass smells like Hawaiian Breeze, but do not ever wash it

It’s adorable the lengths you’ll go to for him. Last year when he told you they were just gonna have some hot wings and beers for Thanksgiving you flipped. Next thing they know you had them come over to your apartment as soon as the sun went down to a full spread. Paul actually ended up hugging you too. It looked like something out of a catalog. Two fatass turkeys filled to the brim with homemade stuffing, easily four pounds of mashed potatoes, gravy, bread rolls, the whole fucking thing! And veggies. Nasty. Sure the corn on the cob was bitchin, but asparagus? NO. Yeah you made Marko put some on his plate and half the time he just kept pushing his peas around until Paul flung one at him. Then it was a silent veggie war. After that they pretty much came over for any holiday. He’d be all over you just gushing over how happy he is that you went through so much hard work for him, for them. Even Max did fuckall besides what he had to, the guy wanted to toot his own horn about dad of the year but sucked ass at it. 

They start coming over so often that you bought black out curtains for every window in your house. Even during the day they could sleep in your guest room without fear of the sun. Well, the guys could. You had him tucked into your own room, still sleeping with his feet to the headboard for that upside down sense and his arms tightly pressed to his chest. He absolutely loves how much you care for him, especially after so many decades of being a filthy biker boy who feasted on the living. Even his vampirism didn’t send you away. You’d even keep a mini fridge in your room stocked with blood bags in case he craved a midday snack. Sometimes he’d awaken to you sleeping beside him and just savor those quiet moments with his baby. Maybe for Christmas this year he’d offer you the best gift he could think of. Who needs a wedding ring when you can offer an eternity with your angel instead? 

#lost boys 1987 #lost boys imagine #the lost boys #lost boys fanfiction #lost boys #fanfic #fanfiction writing #fanfiction #lost boys paul #80s movies #lost boys dwayne #lost boys david #lost boys fluff #vampire fluff #fluff imagine #fluff #cute #motherly #lost boys vampires #vampire boys #vampires #vampire #lost boys marko #answered #answered asks #answear #send asks #send me asks #character asks

[precuredaily]

Precure Day 204

Episode: Yes! Precure 5 Go Go! 06 - “King Donuts Awakens!” Date watched: 8 January 2021 Original air date: 9 March 2008 Screenshots Transformation Gallery Project info and master list of posts

mood

The character re-introduction arc reaches its epic conclusion and shows us where Rin has wound up after her moment of self-realization in the Y5 finale. It turns out, she wound up constantly tired. Relatable. Let’s dig in!

The Plot

Nozomi and Rin are on their way to Natts House to prepare for the grand re-opening. Rin is visibly very tired and confesses that she was up late the previous night.

images with sleepy auras

As they arrive at the store, they run into Syrup.... or more accurately, he runs into them, carrying an urgent letter from Milk. (Remember this, because Syrup sure doesn’t) However, just then, a brilliant light erupts from inside of Natts House, so they all rush in to see what’s happening. They find everyone gathered around a table with the Rose Pact in the middle, glowing, and then it opens up and King Donuts emerges, fully awake. Then he yells at everyone to stop staring at him.

blinded by the light...... how does that song go again?

After the opening, the gang tries to introduce themselves to King Donuts, but he assumes it’s another Eternal trap until Coco and Nuts reveal themselves. Instead of being relieved, however, he just pivots his anger onto them for being incompetent and letting him get attacked by Eternal. So yeah, not off to a great start here. While they watch the goings-on, Rin yawns, and this further annoys the already irate king. Growing frustrated, he tries to leave, but finds that there’s a barrier around the Rose Pact that’s trapping him until he fully recovers. As you may imagine, this does wonders for his good mood.

I’m not yawning because I’m bored, I’m yawning because I’m bored AND tired.

Cut to Eternal’s headquarters and a very fatigued Scorp drops a huge report on Anacondy’s desk, mentioning he hasn’t slept for six days while writing it. However, she dings him on numerous minor errors, deeming it unusable, and tells him to combine it with the previous report and redo it. Exhausted and holding a stack of paper half his height, Scorp collapses and the pages fly everywhere. I have to say, Koyasu acting tired is a fun change of pace for him.

these are the eyes of a man who has lost all hope

Back at Natts House, everyone is still trying to appease King Donuts. He insists he’s fine already but in attempting to demonstrate this, he wears himself out quickly. Karen offers him the apple she snapped a few episodes ago, but he refuses to eat it because he doesn’t trust them. The girls give up on him for now, because they need to get to work opening up the store, but they notice Rin has fallen asleep.

Nozomi advises them to just leave her be, trying to get Syrup to help them pass out fliers instead. He refuses and wants to know why they don’t wake Rin. Nozomi explains that Rin was busy all day with sports clubs, tending to the family shop, and watching her siblings, so she stayed up all night designing accessories because it was the only free time she had. (I am very familiar with this concept.) She also admits that Rin didn’t tell her this, she deduced it because she knows Rin and how she works.

With that settled, the remaining girls, as well as Coco and Nuts, get to work handing out fliers. Syrup, however, stays behind to look over Rin, because he refused to help any other way. He muses over his situation.

At that moment, Rin wakes up, and Syrup asks if she really was up all night designing jewelry. She realizes her old friend Nozomi has read her like a book. She admits to feeling guilty that she not only stayed up late working, but she couldn’t come up with any ideas, and now she’s missed out on handing out fliers as well. She feels useless (big oof) and contrasts herself with Syrup, who she says is working hard to get to the Cure Rose Garden. Syrup disagrees and insists she works way harder than him. At this point, King Donuts, who has been listening in, interjects and commends Rin for being critical and analytical of herself, saying it’s the key to self growth. I feel like there’s a missing line in here about not slipping too far into self-doubt, but regardless, Rin remembers she’s supposed to be at futsal practice and runs off before the end of the King’s speech.

“Gah!” - Natsuki Rin, 2008

After she’s gone, the king and Syrup discuss how hardworking she is, along with the other girls. Also there’s a gag where King Donuts didn’t recognize Syrup until he turned back into his fairy form which further establishes that Syrup has a bit of a negative reputation far and wide.

Meanwhile, at the practice field, Rin isn’t doing a whole lot better at futsal than she was at jewelry design. As a result of staying up late, she’s still tired, so she’s missing passes or overshooting goals. She even accidentally kicks the ball over the fence and into the woods, so she goes to retrieve it while yawning some more.

It’s here that she is confronted by an equally sleepy Scorp, who asks her to hand over the Rose Pact so he won’t have to write up his report, and he can sleep. It’s kind of pathetic, kind of comical.

Scorp turns the futsal ball into a hoshiina, so Rin transforms as well. Syrup swoops in to save her from Scorp but drops the Rose Pact, so King Donuts tries to talk down the villain. However, Scorp is undeterred and even sees more value in having one of the monarchs inside the Rose Pact. The other girls show up and transform, temporarily distracting Scorp (as well as the king, who is surprised that they’re the legendary warriors) but he then continues his advance until Rouge punches him away. Then she hears Lemonade screaming as the Hoshiina tries to fling her off, so Rouge rushes in to kick it and rescue her friend. Scorp once again tries to capture the Rose Pact, so Rouge separates from the team again to protect the fairies, but Scorp captures her instead and taunts her about trying too hard to do too much by herself and says she’ll only ever be halfway finished. This hits Rin at her core and she is unable to resist an attack from the Hoshiina, but at the last moment her teammates jump in front of her to defend her. They remind her that she’s not alone, they’re there to help her, and then Dream gives an inspiring speech about how Rin always challenges her situation and works harder than others, so they’ll always support her. Scorp is unimpressed, but Dream rushes him with a Shooting Star. Feeling newly motivated, Rin also performs her new finisher on the Hoshiina: Fire Strike! She summons a fireball at her feet and then kicks it into the monster, which of course dissolves back into a normal futsal ball. Scorp flees, muttering about how he’ll have to include this in his report as well.

As the dust settles, King Donuts admires the Precures, and then has a seemingly random realization about the Rose Pact and the Red and Blue roses, or rather, the lack of blue rose. In case you had forgotten that plot point.

the answer will surprise you

Back at Natts House, King Donuts opens up a bit more to the girls and they chat back. However, he quickly reiterates that he doesn’t acknowledge Coco and Nuts as rulers yet. When they ask Syrup to help them with the shop, he reminds them that he’s only here to deliver a letter from Milk, and he finally hands it over to Coco. (took him long enough) It turns out the letter says there’s an emergency in Palmier Kingdom and everyone needs to come there quickly! They want to go but aren’t certain how.... until they remember Syrup has the convenient ability to travel between worlds. He initially refuses, but King Donuts cleverly appeals to both his pride and his kind-heartedness, causing him to think about the conviction all the girls have shown in their solo outings thus far, and he agrees to take them. So just as quickly as it opened, Natts House is closed again and the gang boards Syrup to fly to the Palmier Kingdom. As they rise into the air, they soar forwards into a watercolor warphole, surrounded by floating  lights. They fade to white and the credits start.

The Analysis

Something I truly appreciate about this episode is that it picks up from the first series finale, and shows that Rin hasn’t magically become a top tier accessory designer, she still has moments of artist’s block, and she really struggles with just finding time to create, which impacts her social responsibilities. (sounds familiar) Rin’s struggle is a recurring theme, and I'm always glad that unlike certain later shows, they don’t glamorize her sacrificing sleep, they just portray it as something people sometimes do even if it’s not in their best interests. Contrast with that episode of Go Princess, you know the one. It’s a straightforward cause and effect: Rin stays up late designing, so she’s tired the next day, and that influences her interactions.

It has some positive responses, such as getting King Donuts to recognize how hardworking she is and swaying his opinion on the girls; and some negative impacts, like kicking the futsal ball too hard and over the fence. With all that said, I must once again remind you all not to sacrifice your well-being for your goals, even if I’m bad at following my own advice.

King Donuts (or Doughnuts if you prefer) is an interesting character. At first he’s paranoid that he’s in another Nightmare trap, but as he grows to accept his circumstances he warms up a bit, especially when he hears about how hard Rin is working. He remains critical of Coco and Nuts, understandably so, since their negligence led to him being attacked previously. However, he doesn’t dislike them, he is sharp-tongued because he wants to make them better kings. Physically he resembles a diminutive dragon. It’s not the most apparent visual but when all four Rulers are together the pattern begins to become obvious. More on that ~eventually~.

although they’re all in the OP so, ya know, clues

A secondary theme throughout this arc has been to show Syrup starting to acclimate to the girls and begin appreciating their hard work and way of doing things. He’s still stubborn and wants to do his own thing, but it takes less arm twisting to get him to go along with the girls’ requests. Usually. As he admits to King Donuts, he respects their work ethic and their devotion to the causes they love. He entered the picture as a loner delivery boy who just wanted to do his job, but getting roped in with the Precures’ misadventures has opened his eyes somewhat. He’s going to be fun to watch as the show continues. However, he has a reputation, as we’ve seen. We don’t know exactly what the details are but several characters seem to have a low opinion of him, and we’ll find out more about that in coming episodes.

The fight in this episode is interesting in how..... not interesting it is. It kind of fools you into thinking more is happening than actually is. There’s a lot of talking and not as much action as you would expect. The Cures and Scorp or the Hoshiina will exchange a few blows and get thrown around, then one of them starts lecturing the other side about their beliefs. Sure, all Precure shows have elements of this, I can remember a few other fights that were more talk than combat, but it seems particularly egregious this episode. I do like how Scorp’s mocking has an effect on Rouge though. She’s already feeling really unaccomplished and then he goes and tells her she’s useless without her friends. It starts to weigh on her heart, but her friends quickly step in and say hey, we love Rin, she has us to support her, it’s okay if she can’t do it all by herself. As a result of this quick pep talk, she unleashes Fire Strike, her new finisher, and boy does THAT shine. It’s the first soccer-themed Precure attack in the series, and more will follow in subsequent years.

Compared to some of the other finishers, Fire Strike is more straightforward. Rouge creates a ball of fire and kicks it directly into the Hoshiina. It’s less over the top than her teammates attacks (flying into the enemy, twin whips, flying discs, or an arrow made of water) but the animators manage to punch it up a bit with some suitably dramatic effects that sell how fast, hard, and powerful this kick is. Also I have to say, the shot of Rouge bringing her leg all the way back to ready the kick is really cool.

Her leg is cocked and extends past her head. If you’ve ever tried this you know it’s hard, so even if you can make a drawing do anything, it still looks impressive, and the next shot where she’s kicked it is gorgeous. The flame walls, the way she’s lifted slightly off the ground, the way the ball is warped, all convey a sense of power and motion. Yeah, she’s just kicking it straight ahead, but you get the sense she could kick it through a brick wall.

I do have to say, on the negative side, the framing device of the episode feels a little forced. If this letter from Milk was so important, Syrup probably should have pushed it on the girls a little sooner. Maybe just dropped it off with Nozomi when he first met her in the morning. They still could have seen King Donuts awakening but they would have made moves to go straight to the Palmier Kingdom instead of doing all that work advertising and opening the shop only to have to close it again right away, and skipping Rin’s moral quandary. Since those are at the root of the episode, it might be hard to cut them, so alternatively, to keep them, the episode could have been written such that Syrup could have received the letter at the end, so he wasn’t holding onto such an important and urgent letter all episode long. It’s the little things. And on that topic, I find the third act (fourth act?) after the fight to be a little too goofy. Syrup finally hands over the letter, then they all hem and haw about how they’re going to get to Palmier Kingdom and they beg and plead Syrup to do it until he finally agrees. The only truly funny part to me is Nuts lamenting that he has to close Natts House after he just opened it.

Also there’s this ending sequence.

This is the single worst thing I have ever made in the name of this project.

It’s overall a well-thought out episode and it smartly moves between story elements, smoothly concluding the character reintroductions and setting up the Blue Rose arc that follows. I appreciate how seemingly unconnected events flow into each other and they lead to the King seeing that the girls are legitimately good people. It’s probably the most cohesive episode of this arc, although I still think the character reintroductions peaked with Urara’s. The others have been good in different ways, but there’s a deeper bit of heartfelt emotion that episodes 2, 3, 5, and 6 just haven’t been able to match.

Next time, Milk’s emergency turns out to be largely imagined, and we meet a new villain. Look forward to it!

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 1 kettei!

#Precure #Pretty Cure #Yes! Precure 5 Go Go! #YPC5GG06 #PCD204

[imthepunchlord]

Since you rewrote Mayura, I’m curious about how you would rewrite Hawkmoth, keeping his humor, but making him more competent and terrifying.

Short answer: largely, he’d stay the same, with a few tweaks. He wouldn’t akumatize Ramier to be Mr Pigeon 25 times a day. Wouldn’t akumatize a baby. And wouldn’t think Chloe is his key to victory and think she’ll be the best akuma he’ll ever make. And Lila he may take under his wing and use to as a spy to try and figure out who LB is. 

Now long answer… I’ll leave that as a ramble below. 

One of the big factors to rewriting HM is figuring out what to do. Hawk Moth is a big mess. He’s too all over the place, they can’t decide if he should be sympathetic or full villain you want to hate, but they also want you to root and feel for him. You don’t know if you want to laugh at him or someone to dread. They have him loving his son and then he’s ready to beat the shit out of his son. 

What they want can be done, you can have a villain who is scary but also funny, take Shen from Kung Fu Panda 2. And its possible to have a villain go far, but also be sympathetic. Like, take Zuko back in s1 when he’s the full antagonist there, and you have The Storm covering his backstory and you feel for him and you get his situation. So all they want to do can be done, its just that they aren’t executing him well. 

And unlike Mayura, HM is a harder character to rework. Mayura is easier to redo since Nathalie as Mayura is out of nowhere and really weak and forced in and just goes against all that was built up. She’s set up to be scarier, the mastermind, someone HM would fear and feel like he can’t win against. And you can take advantage of Gabriel and Emilie being scared of someone, someone they feared which is why they wanted Adrien to be safe. Why they have such security. Why there are missiles in HM’s lair. Mayura was a mystery and she could be whatever sort of villain you want her to be. 

HM though is very established, and has a lot of issues. So when reworking him, there are certain things to decide. 

Like, in the grand scheme of things, is it really worth it having Gabriel be Hawk Moth? 

Back in s1, I had a hard time seeing it. Not only did they have different facial structures, personality wise they seemed like polar opposites. Gabriel always held himself poised, contained, he cold and precise, harsh and picky. Hawk Moth was loud, expressive, open to work with anyone, and when he spoke with his victims, it always sounded like he could relate, had far better empathy than Gabriel. 

And then its revealed they’re the same and it just makes you wonder, who is Gabriel? We know he’s a neglectful, abusive, manipulative asshole of a father, but why does he behave differently as HM? 

Marinette as Ladybug is more focused and on task, that’s why she’s more put together as Ladybug but at the core, she is who she is. She did see LB as someone different in Antibug, but Tikki corrected that, a lesson that stuck with her. 

Adrien behaves differently as Chat because Chat is an outlet for him. He has pressure to be a certain way in public and at home, but put a mask on and no one knows that’s you, he can just pour out all this contained energy, he can have reckless fun and he can allow himself to be childish and have tantrums (poorly timed mind you). Adrien is technically closer to the “true selves” because Chat lets him behave however he wants, but even then, Chat isn’t all who Adrien is. Adrien Agreste the civilian is another side of him,the one who is supportive, patient with others, and likes to see peace in relations (even at the cost of personal happiness). Ideally, we would’ve seen him gradually become a mix of the two sides, and that would be who Adrien truly is, but as of now, Adrien and Chat are opposites, water and fire. At least we know for sure why he behaves differently as Chat, Chat Noir is an outlet for everything he keeps a lid on, the silliness, the energy, the childishness; it wouldn’t be acceptable for Adrien but Chat he can just let that out (its unfortunate though that he just directs it all at one person). 

Now Gabriel and how he behaves as HM, that is unexplained and there’s no reason given. He does have an image to uphold, but he’s also a recluse in his house. He just has family and staff he trusts there. Why does he need to be poised in front of them? Like, if he was out in public more often, ok. But he’s not, he’s a recluse. He can be playful and energetic and wild like Adrien, but he doesn’t share this with Adrien. There’s a line from Adrien that Gabriel used to be different and like, different how? There are not enough answers about who Gabriel is, and we’re going into s4 with still no idea or what exactly is going on with him and their situation (is Emilie dead or in some magical coma??); its getting old not knowing anything. You can only drag out this trail with sprinkles for so long. 

Another factor is relationship with the protagonists. We’ll start with Marinette. 

Marinette is our lead hero. She’s the one this story focuses on. This is her story to tell, she cares about being a hero, keeping Paris safe, and doing a good job and is the one that’s struggling the most being a hero and shouldering much of the weight of heroism. 

The biggest issue in her story is having such a big disconnect with Gabriel. Its not a blow to her that Gabriel is HM. He doesn’t challenge her as a true villain should, he doesn’t challenge her views, he isn’t someone she admires (at least not anymore?), he isn’t her mentor in fashion; honestly he barely remembers her. Now if Gabriel was just the intro villain and there were others coming in, and her true villain came later (like what Mayura could’ve been), this would be fine. But nope. They’re sticking with HM as the big bad and there’s such a huge disconnect between them, there’s nothing to get into to. He doesn’t challenge her as a true nemesis should. He just doesn’t work as her villain. 

And then there’s Adrien. This plot circles around Adrien’s family, its his father being the villain, its his mother who is gone and is the reason his father is doing this; this is essentially Adrien’s story. Its a big blow to him that Gabriel is HM, it hurts and its upsetting and it leaves him confused. This can be a good story to do, but there are two big issues. 

One, this is supposed to be Marinette’s story. Marinette was the one who was built up for this show, a female biracial lead hero. Yet, its Adrien, a skinny white boy, who this show is more about. 

And that leads to two, Adrien is disconnected from his own story. He doesn’t care about finding HM. HM doesn’t personally upset him, HM doesn’t challenge him. If anything, HM just gives him a chance to have an outlet and see his crush and have fun and live in the craziness. This story is about him and he doesn’t care about it, he’s not invested in his own story. It is a blow to him, but only to the reveal, otherwise its just fun all day. 

Back in earlier concept, HM wasn’t the father of the cat holder, and by default, that technically made him more Marinette’s villain than her partner’s. Back in the day, Marinette was doing this to stop him, to keep Paris safe, while her partner (Felix at the time), was only helping her to be free of a curse. Between the two, she had more of a connection and reason for being a hero. HM/Papillon was neutral in his relation to the two, but LB was set up to be more his opposing hero, not Chat. 

But when you make her partner’s father the villain, that takes away from that neutral placement that did lean more to her as her story (as it should’ve been), and it doesn’t work when you have that partner not care as much about the villain because this is his story and he’s very disconnected from it. 

And going back onto Adrien, another big issue is, how does Gabriel feel about Adrien? Some episodes he cares, and some episodes, he’s fine endangering him. Why, we even had an ep of him being happy to learn Adrien is Chat and took that very chance to beat him up. Quite happily. No holding back. How does Gabriel feel about Adrien, this whole thing is too jarring, you’re trying to have both but its not working. 

But they are trying to have both and you just scratch your head because what is Gabriel and Adrien’s relationship? We know its not good but, does he love his son, as some eps suggest? Or does he not care? What’s the situation here?

So, reworking HM, there is a lot to consider and you got to ask, in the grand scheme of things, does it work having Gabriel be HM? 

It can, but I can also see it better to have them be separate. 

You can have Gabriel the distant father who does love his son, but struggles to make a connection and just want to bury himself in his work. And you can have him finally emotionally ready to reconnect but its strained because of the distance he put there and he has to mend that. You can have him be fretful about learning the possibility that Adrien is Chat. And you can have HM be our dramatic hermit villain, who will happily go all out on Chat Noir when he discovers who he is. 

If you want Gabriel to still have some sort of villain role, have him working with HM, he’s working on translations because he has an eye for detail and HM doesn’t have the patience to look through that book. It can add onto him being unsure of what to do if he suspects Adrien is Chat, and it can make his strained relationship with HM all the more strained. And Gabriel could have the peacock in secret, something he’ll risk using as a weapon against HM if it comes to it. 

And Nathalie in love with the villain, you can have her be HM’s spy in the Agrsete household, trying to discover what Gabriel could be hiding, backing her being afraid of getting fired in Bubbler and there’s no drastic and sudden “I’m in lOvE wItH gAbRiEl!!” and no love triangle of her falling for a still married man? Anyway, have her already have feelings for HM and is working with him in secret and trying to make sure she stays in that household and not have Gabriel kick her out. If Gabriel hired her, she’s easily qualified for any other job, she wants to stay there and this could be a good reason why. Only she came to care about Adrien more than she anticipated and he unwittingly becomes the only wrench in their plans. And we can have her silently judging Gabriel in his neglect, backing her wanting to help Adrien find happiness, and her wanting to send Adrien to school so he’s out of the house if things ever escalate between her and Gabriel. 

Also, this sets up a happier ending for Adrien. Gabriel not being HM removes the manipulation and abuse. At worse, he’ll be neglectful and secretive, and you can have Nathalie call that out, and let Adrien be a little spiteful of Gabriel like he was in Jackady. Gabriel won’t be Scott free for his actions, and there can still be a lot of angst, but it allows Adrien to have a happier ending than his father being HM, which can potentially leave him alone in the end, not having either parent at his side. Or, Gabriel will just be forgiven for his terrorism and it’ll be an unsatisfying happy ending with him only getting a light slap on the wrist. I would hate that so much. 

Also, them being separate goes back to a more neutral placement on the heroes and their relation to HM. Adrien doesn’t have the plot holding onto his arm, at most, his father is working with HM but that’s it, that’s his own personal arc there. Marinette can care more about HM and there’s less of a disconnect. And if you really want them to connect, have HM be Fu’s first try at a pupil but he went down a dark path, and that’s why Fu is so reluctant to reach out despite seeing Marinette’s potential and how great of a hero she is. What if he’s a terrible teacher and turn her down a dark path too? And this can also explain how HM can suspect he’ll get the earrings and ring, he was mentored by Fu, he knows what Fu is like, how he thinks and what he’ll decide. And there’s your more personally connection with Marinette, both mentored by Fu, both had promise as Guardians. Why, this could even have Lila be more of Marinette’s personal rival, could set up that HM decides to try and be her mentor, though at the core is using her, and has her as his spy to try and figure out who LB is. For Lila and HM do have similarities that you can work off of, and there’s an arc, does she follow the same path as HM? Could she possibly learn and see things differently? Extra bonus if HM originally used the Fox, who are famous for their tricks, but can be arrogant enough to get caught up in the mess they create. 

I don’t know about you guys, but this to me sounds like a far better set up for the story. Like, Gabriel as HM can be done and it can be made to work, but you need to decide certain details with him and stick to those details. Otherwise, as of now, he’s too all over the place to work and is just a jarring mess. 

#ask Punchie #Hawk Moth #Gabriel Agreste #Gabriel salt #at this point #I do think it would've better to have had Gabriel be a red herring #and have HM as a separate character

[laxus-and-ceruli]

Sunflowers and Camellias (Part One)

Warnings- Swearing and fluff

Camellias

Some of you may have never seen a camellia except in pictures if you live in colder climates. Camellias grow as shrubs in warmer regions and they are difficult to find as a cut flower because they tend to be fragile. These romantic flowers are stunning and look similar to roses, and like roses have different meanings depending on the color. Red camellias say “you’re a flame in my heart”, pink symbolizes longing, and white say “you’re adorable”. If you are fortunate enough to live in an area where camellias are in bloom, I recommend you take the time to pick some for your darling. They are also available as bonsai trees.

Sunflowers represent longevity, adoration, and pure love. These flowers remind me of cheerful faces, and when growing they follow the sun, moving throughout the day. They are easily obtained from florists, or you can easily grow your own from seed-which could be a romantic activity for you and your sweetheart. Additionally, the seeds of the flower attract wildlife.

~~~~~~

“Laxus!” He stiffened when I jumped on his back.

“What do you want?” He huffed, ignoring my grip on him.

“I’m hyper.”

“Yeah, no shit.” He chuckled.

“Let’s go on a job,” I buried my nose into his neck, “Just the two of us.”

“Oh yeah?” He thought for a moment, “Alright.”

“Really?!” I jumped off eyes sparkling.

“Sure, sounds fun.”

“Awesome! I’ll go pick one out!” I kissed his cheek and went over to the request board while he talked to Gramps.

I pulled a job off to look at the details.

“U-um…” I looked over to see the blue-haired dragon slayer.

“Hey, Wendy,” I ruffled her hair, “You looking to go on a job?”

“No, I was actually looking to talk to you.” She said, looking at the ground.

“Oh yeah? What’s up?”

“Well… I heard some of the others talking and…” She clenched her little fists, before looking at me with big eyes, “Is it true you and Laxus can do unison raids?!”

“Huh? Oh-” I smiled at her, “Yeah! We’ve done that a few times.”

“Really? That’s so cool!”

“You interested in Unison Raids?” 

“I just think they’re really awesome!” 

“Heh-”

“You pick one out yet?” Laxus asked from behind me.“No, sorry. I got distracted.” I scratched the back of my neck.

“You’re such a pain.” He turned to the board and started looking for a job. “This one looks good. Decent reward too.”

He grabbed the paper and started for the door.

“Sorry Wendy, we can finish talking when I get back.” I gave her an apologetic smile before running after Laxus.

“Gimme that,” I snatched the paper from him and looked it over, ‘Yeah, this works.”

We stopped by my place so I could pack a quick bag. 

“You know we’re gonna need to take a train, right?” I side-eyed him with a smirk.

He groaned.

“You’re the one who picked the job, not me.” I hefted my bag onto my shoulder, grabbed some cash from my room, and pulled him to the door. “Come on, I’ll get us our own compartment.”

~~~~ I closed the door to our compartment and saw Laxus already pale.

“Aw baby,” I cooed, sitting next to him, “We’re not even moving ye-”

Just as I said it the train lurched and began chugging forward. Laxus’ eyes widened and he started to sweat.

“How long is-... this going to b-be?” He moaned.

“Three-and-a-half hours.” I pulled his head onto my lap and ran my fingers through his hair. “Just try to get some sleep, okay?”

“Please tell me we’re almost there,” Laxus grumbled as he woke up.

“No,” I frowned and stroked his face. “Sorry, maybe we shouldn’t have done this…”

“Hey, you know this isn’t you- urh- fault,” He gagged, “And when we get there I’ll be fine.”

I nodded and pressed a light kiss to his forehead. 

“Laxus,” I shook him slightly, “Hey, we’re here!”

“Finally,” He groaned as he sat up.

We’d left the guildhall at an odd hour, and it was almost sunset already, so we decided to stay here tonight, and head out in the morning.

We found a decent inn not far from the palace.

“Welcome to the Flower Mirage Inn! Is this your first time in Crocus?” The old Lady at the desk said, not looking up from the check-in book in front of her.

“Not exactly,” I spoke up. 

She looked at us and smiled, “Oh what a lovely couple! Honeymooners?”

Laxus’ face lost all color before turning bright red, “N-no! We’re… We’re just dating! Not married! N-not that-that I haven’t thought about… B-but that’s not-... oh...”

“We’ll just take a single room for two nights,” I giggled at his rambling. I gave her the Jewel and went to sign the book. She handed me the key and I smiled, “Thank you.”

I turned to see Laxus trying to blend into the background, face still burning. I laughed as I grabbed his arm, “Come on.”

When we got to the room he flopped facedown on the bed.

“I’m an idiot,” He groaned into the pillows.

“You’re a cute idiot though.” He turned his head to glare at me, “What? You got all blushy and it was cute!”

I dropped my bag on the dresser and laid next to him.

“I didn’t know it was so easy to get you all flustered,” I teased. “I mean, she only asked if it was our honeymoon.”

“Oh I’m easy to fluster?” He challenged.

“I never said I wasn’t!” I laughed, “This isn’t about me!”

After we spent some time laughing, I looked over at him, “I’m hungry, let’s go get some food?”

“Sure. What were you thinking?”

“Pizza?”

“Sounds like a plan.” Grabbing some Jewel, we went to wander around until we found a good looking pizza place.

As we wandered, we came across a stall with pretty flower crowns, necklaces, and bracelets. The vendor saw me looking with one of my hands wrapped in Laxus’, and cheerily greeted us.

“What an adorable couple!” He clasped his hands under a chin. “And if I remember correctly, members of Fiore’s strongest guild, Fairy Tail.”

I smiled slightly uncomfortable.

“Please, take something!” He insisted, “I’m such a fan of young love, and to think one of Fiore’s premier couples would be wearing something from my cart!”

“Free huh?” Laxus looked over my shoulder at the man’s wares. “You’d look nice with that one.”

He pointed to a crown with sunflowers and white flowers.

“You think so?” The vendor carefully picked it up and set it on my head. “Thank you. Hmmm.”

I knew a little about flowers, my mom owned a flower shop back in Magnolia. Most of the flowers in this cart had romantic meanings. I saw a small bunch of white Camellias and took one, tucking it in Laxus’ hair and kissing his cheek. He rolled his eyes, but his cheeks were a bight shade of pink. 

I smiled and thanked the man before going back to our pizza search.

The sun was nearly set by the time we found a locally loved pizzeria. We were seated in a back courtyard dining area. There were fairy lights and a fountain that reflected them. It just seemed to sparkle out here.

As we waited for the pizza, you could feel static in the air, my fair started sticking up.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Huh? Yeah, I’m fine, just a little out of my element.” He admitted. I nodded and it went quiet again. They brought out the food and we still didn’t talk.

“Have you really thought about marrying me?” I asked, nervously playing with my hands.

“I…” I’d caught him mid-bite and he swallowed, “I.. I mean… Sure I have.”

“You’ve been my best friend longer than Flamebrain’s been in the guild. Since we were both kids,” He continued, “I’ve been in love with you since we were teenagers and… Yeah, the thought’s crossed my mind a few times… I nearly had a heart attack when I saw you in that dress during the games.”

“I love you too.” I smiled at him, holding back tears.

“You’re crying!” He panicked, “D-did I say something wro-”

“No! No. It’s okay, I’m just happy, is all.”

He let out a relieved sigh, smiling back.

We finished our food and headed back to the inn.

We got cleaned up and went to bed, a tangled mess of limbs.

~~~~~

“Gah!” I landed harshly on the ground, skidding until I hit a tree. I slammed my fist in the dirt and pushed myself up. “Bastard!”

“You good?” Laxus landed next to me.

“I’ll live,” I grumbled, looking at the monster that threw me as it roared. “It’s stronger than I thought.”

“Yea, I didn’t expect an S-class monster from a regular job.” He helped pull me to my feet. “I think if you hit me with a Power surge and we try to Unison raid, we might be able to cut it down quickly.”

“Sounds good.” I nodded, backing up, “Two-Layer Magic Circle: Power Surge!”

A beam of light wrapped around the dragon slayer, boosting his magic power.

“Let’s do this!” Laxus shouted and he grabbed my hand, “Lightning Dragon Secret Art:”

“Eight Layer Magic Circle:”

“Earth Shatter!”/“Roaring Thunder!”

A blast of magic erupted in front of the monster, the ground around it cracking and exploding, as the thing was electrocuted.

I let out a sigh as it fell to the ground, dead.

“We should grab some of its teeth,” Laxus said, “They’re a rare material used to make magical weapons.”

I nodded, drawing whatever energy was left in its gums, making the teeth fall out. He grabbed a few and we started back to the mansion the client lived in. The man was extremely grateful and gave us the 325,000 Jewel.

We were walking back to Crocus, his arm around my shoulders.

“I can’t believe he added another 25,000 Jewel!” I squealed. “I’ll finally be able to redo that horrendous bathroom!”

“Of course you’re thinking of interior design right now,” he chuckled.

“Shut up!” I blushed.

“Nah, it’s cute!”

~~~~~~ 

#Laxus fluff #Laxus Dreyar #fairy tail laxus #Laxus x Ceruli #laxus imagine #cute #crocus the flower blooming capital #laxus x reader

[vacuousauto]

📃🎥🏳‍🌈

tysm for tha ask molli!! ill talk abt kny here bc its takin over my life rn qwq

spoilers ahead 4 tha whole series!!

📃 what is the plot of your hyperfixation? and is it a movie, game, show, etc?

kny is a manga w an anime adaptation thats had 1 season so far n a movies bein made of my fav arc!! (also this plot desc may not b perfect bc i havent read it in like 4 months)

its abt a boy called tanjirou whos whole family got killed by a demon, n his sister nezuko got turned into a demon (which fun fact: in kimetsu theyre man-eatin creatures w different powers called blood demon arts!!)

hes sent by giyuu (a demon slayer!) 2 join tha demon slayer corps so hell become stronger n mayb get a little revenge. as a treat (and also mayb find a way 2 turn nezuko human?)

as he trains he learns how 2 do water breathing (a sword technique taught by him n giyuus mentor, urokodaki) n his final challenge is 2 cut a massive boulder in half w his sword

its real hard 4 him (as u can imagine) so 2 kids in fox masks named sabito n makomo come n help him, but after tanjirou cuts tha rock n tells urokodaki abt him its revealed theyre dead???

@ final selection (basically a demon slayer entrance exam where u win by surviving on a demon-infested mountain 4 seven days) he learns from a real fucked up demon that hes exclusively been targetin urokodakis students n that not even sabito could slice its neck open?? (thats how him n makomo died)

after tanjirou kills tha demon n basically puts all tha water breath students’ souls @ peace he passes tha exam!! its been 7 days n now he gets his nichirin blade (the only kinda sword that can kill a demon, tha only 2 ways they can die is thru a slice 2 tha neck from a nichirin blade n sunlight)

turns out nezuko was turned by the strongest demon of all, michael jackson muzan kibutsuji, n so he sets out 2 hunt him down n try 2 kill him

but he aint so strong @ first so he needs 2 try 2 take down tha twelve kizuki first (the 12 strongest demons besides muzan)

another reason he needs 2 kill tha kizuki is 2 gather their blood for a demon named tamayo n her assistant yushirou!! tamayo can make a cure if tanjirou can gather blood samples 4 her (the stronger tha demon tha more of muzans blood they have so hes gonna have 2 aim high)

he meets a bunch more slayers along tha way, includin zenitsu (a scaredy cat thunder breath user who basically simps 4 nezuko n becomes a badass when hes asleep) n inosuke (a rowdy beast breath user who wears a boar mask n lived in tha mountains)

after lower moon 5 gets killed by giyuu, nezuko unlocks her blood demon art (exploding blood!) n tanjirou remembers how 2 use tha hinokami kagura, him n nezuko get captured by a slayer called shinobu qwq

turns out she n giyuu are 2 of the nine hashira, the strongest of all tha demon slayers!! but theyre all havin a debate over whether they should kill tanjirou n nezuko 4 goin against corps rules n travelin w a demon

eventually oyakata-sama (tha leader of tha slayer corps) comes in n tells em its ok, urokodaki sent a letter explainin that nezukos never hurt anyone n if she does, tanjirou giyuu n urokodaki all have 2 die basically

oyakata-sama also tells em that tanjirous met kibutsuji, at which everyone goes feral at (and understandably, none of em had ever even seen him before hes that elusive)

so they get 2 live bc theyre like. tha best hope the slayers have @ findin kibutsuji

the rest of the hashira are kyoujurou (flame), muichirou (mist), mitsuri (love), obanai (serpent), gyoumei (stone), tengen (sound) n sanemi (wind)

theres also kanao (shinobus pupil, flower breathing) n genya (sanemis brother, eats demons 2 gain power n basically become a demon temporarily, also He Has A Gun)

ive gone on a lot here so ill try 2 keep it brief now but i HAVE 2 explain infinity train or ill die (slight suicide tw but no one actually does that outside of dreams)

BASICALLY the lower 6 moons have a meetin @ kibutsujis infinity castle, muzan decides 2 dismantle tha lower moons bc they keep fuckign dying

all of em get their shit wrecked except enmu, who avoided death by usin muzans “dont tell me what 2 do” rule against him n beggin 4 death basically

so he gets a metric fuckton o blood n goes off 2 kill tanjirou

turns out he keeps killin people on his train n kyos gone 2 investigate!! the main gang (the kamaboko gang as the fandom calls it) are there too bc tanjirou needs 2 investigate what hinokami kagura really is (turns out its sun breathing, the og form and ones that only folks w the same mark on his forehead can use) n if anyone knows abt the alleged “fire breathing” as they know it rn its the fire hashira!!

so they get on tha train (inosukes lovin tha experience bc hes Literally Never Seen A Train Before) n kyo basically adopts the whole group

they take some tickets n promptly fall asleep HERES WHERE ENMUS DEMON ART COMES INTO PLAY!!! DREAM MANIPULATION BABEYYY

BASICALLY he can make people fall asleep in a buncha ways (the mouths on his hands, his weird eye thingies, the tickets) n once thats happened he n his henchmen can access said dreams (he can even control em!!) n if they find tha “spiritual core” they can destroy it n essentially leave em as an empty shell thatll never wake up!! yaaaaaay /s

he fails bc tanjirou realises a way out n its by cuttin his own head off in his dream, eventually everyones awake again n tanjirou finds enmu on tha roof(?) of tha train

after a while he does manage 2 decapitate him but surprise!!! hes not dead

turns out he literally FUSED WITH THA TRAIN n is plannin on eatin everyone inside, includin kyo n the gang

but he doesnt bc Main Protags Cant Die(tm) n dies while complainin that he wants a redo (sorry enmu, ily but u cant turn back time unless ur yoshikage kira)

also sidenote enmus tha only kizuki w/o a canon backstory as far as i can remember and????? H??

ANYWHO after that whole debacle basketball akaza (UPPER moon 3) shows himself!!! FUCK

n after all that struggle against the 8th strongest demon of all time now they gotta deal w tha 4th strongest????? damn,

so yeah it goes how youd imagine, its a tough fuckin battle n its Not Fun but it turns out kyoujurou fucking dies n i genuinely didnt realise until he said “kamado my boy, lets have one final chat” bc i was so in denial n lets face it i still am now

long story short idk how im gonna manage 2 get thru the movie w/o breakin down @ the end

anyway after that horrible horrible time tanjirou goes n meets senjurou, kyos little bro, who gives him kyos sword guard thing (its shaped like a flame!!) n i havent read it in a while so i cant FULLY remember but i think this is where he learns abt sun breathing??

after that they end up goin on a mission in tha red light district w tengen, his 3 wives are there 2 serve as spies (theyre kunoichi, which i think are ninjas of some kind??) n the boys have 2 find em

they do manage 2 find em but not after runnin into upper moon 6, who are 2 twins called daki n gyuutarou

after that fight tengen has 2 retire bc he got fucked up p bad from that fight n he wants 2 make sure tha girls are ok above all

so after that arc tanjirou n nezuko go down 2 tha swordsmith village (bc the guy who usually makes his swords is fuckin tired of repairin it) n run into mitsuri!! she tells tan that theres smth in tha forest thatll make him stronger

ngl this is tha arc i remember tha least abt so this desc is prolly SO inaccurate despite havin 2 o my favs in it)

but muichirou shows himself too n hes mean 2 tanjirou >:/ (he does get nicer eventually but 2 him specifically)

a 10 y/o kid named kotetsu shows tan this 6 armed trainin robot called yoriichi type 0 (based on tha first slayer 2 use sun breathin) n tanjirou breaks it by accident qwq

but he keeps trainin thanks 2 kotetsu but tha kids a harsh fuckin trainer ill tell u that

anyway so we have a whole buncha demons 2 deal w here except most of em are 1 demon split into different parts

hantengu n gyokko, upper moons 4 n 5 respectively!! mui deals w gyokko while mitsuri genya nezuko n tanjirou deal w hantengu

in these fights mitsuri n mui get their demon slayer marks!! these are marks that they get when they surpass the limits of tha human body n they look like tha marks demons have (muis looks like clouds on his cheeks n mitsuris is 2 hearts on her collarbone)

next up is tha hashira trainin arc!! everyone gets trained by each of tha hashira 2 try n unlock their slayer marks

each have a dif trainin style that focuses on dif stuff (for example gyoumei focuses a lot on physical strength n stuff like that, obanai is more abt accuracy) n this is where giyuus backstory gets revealed bc he doesnt think hes worthy o bein a hashira :((

basically him n sabito were absolute besties!! they both trained together n sabito basically told him not 2 die ever

but it all goes wrong @ final selection- sabito manages 2 take down every demon on tha mountain but one of em, that bein the hand demon that exclusively targets water breathers (theyre easy 2 distinguish bc of their blue haoris n custom made fox masks)

he manages 2 save giyuu n everyone else from tha selection except 4 himself (this is why giyuus haori is like that- its made from his sister n sabitos haoris)

giyuu blames himself 4 both of their deaths bc he failed 2 protect em n says that he doesnt deserve 2 have passed tha selection let alone b a hashira,, but tanjirou convinces him otherwise!! ^^

then one day while giyuus trainin w sanemi disaster hits- oyakata-sama, his wife n two of their kids just died

the 2nd to last arc- the infinity castle!! thingsre gettin real n muzans revealed himself

in tha infinity castle EVERYONES there but can u really blame em theyve been workin up 2 this 4 millenia

shinobu runs into upper moon 2- douma, aka the bastard that killed her sister as well as inosukes mum

she is. justifiably pissed. n she gives it her all but he kills her :(( douma ily but also FUCK YOU.

so perfect timing!!! heres her adopted sister!! as well as inosuke!!!! revenge battle time >:0

in the end shinobus poison is what kills him- her whole body is filled w wisteria poison thats deadly 2 a demon so he basically consumed her whole body weight in poison rip

but ofc word gets out via messenger crow that shes dead n its just a real sad moment tbh :( but theres no time 4 that bc giyuu n tanjirou just ran into akaza >:((

so tanjirous pissed as hell now n w their combined efforts they take down tha basketball lookin bastard (bastardball??)

meanwhile obanai n mitsuri (n yushirou iirc?? he uses his own art 2 control her @ some point tho i cant remember when) deal w tha new upper moon 4 (nakime, whos also shiftin tha rooms around w her blood art n makin tha fight super fuckign annoyin tbh) n muichirou genya sanemi n gyoumei deal w kokushibou (upper moon 1, also tha original sun breathers twin brother so he gets moon breathin >:3)

mitsuri n obanai fake their deaths w help from yushirou n muzan falls 4 it, which comes in handy later ;3

zenitsu also deals w his former bully, upper moon 6 aka kaigaku aka dickhead supreme who if zenitsu didnt kill i would personally kill w my bare hands

so after everyones taken down all thats left is muzan >:( muzan kills tamayo real early on n everyones goin all out on him

we also learn that he has multiple brains n hearts in his body eww

also the hashira have their marks now!! but all but sanemi n giyuu get killed n giyuu loses his arm :((((

genya also gets killed noo

eventually ofc the battle is won thanks 2 everyones relief, it took for fuckin ever bc the only way muzan can die is tha sun so they had 2 kill time n keep him out in tha sun 4 a long time

also nezukos been cured!! shes a human!! n shes comin 2 help!!

but OH GOD OH FUCK MUZAN TURNED TANJIROU INTO A DEMON N GIYUUS CRYIN N INOSUKES CRYIN THRU HIS MASK N ITS GOIN SO FUCKING WRONG but he gets tha will 2 turn back bc Fuck You Muzan, The Power Of Friendship Defeats All

the 2nd to last chapter is tha happy endin, the kamaboko gang visit tanjirou n nezukos house, giyuu cuts his hair n SMILES n tha hashira have their final meetin w oyakata-samas son kiriya

i cried readin it ngl their sufferin is finally over...... it cost a lot but now theres no more demons,,,

chapter 205 is set in tha modern day! kanao n tanjirous descendants are shown, as well as zenitsu n nezukos

everyone who died/never had kids get reincarnated (for example gyoumei is now a daycare worker, kyos reincarnation toujurou is besties w one o tans descendants n giyuu (giichi) is friends w sabito again!! makomos their friend too!!

ALSO KIRIYA IS STILL ALIVE hes the oldest man in japan!! this is huge bc the ubayashiki family dont usually live past 30 bc of a curse that was put on em when they had muzan

yushirou is still alive too but thats bc hes a demon n he paints tamayo for a living qwq

it just made me cry so hard bc waaah,,, everyone gets 2 live a demon-free life now,,, anyway typin this took me like an hour im sorry mint (as well as anyone else who read this)

🎥 do you have any favorite scenes from your hyperfixation?

tha infinity train arc as a whole tbh??? its basically enmu n kyoujurous big moment and. i care them sm. i cant wait 4 tha movie qwq except 4 their deaths ofc

🏳‍🌈 do you have any headcanons (lgbt, race, neuro, etc) that are important to you?

i have a lotta headcanons really!! outta my f/os favs tho i hc:

giyuu is trans bi n autistic

kyo is gay n has adhd

muichirou is nb n pan

mitsuri is pan

douma is gay

enmu is nb pan n autistic

#long post #ask 2 tag #death tw #asks #vacuous answers #menherapiers #vacuous rambles #kny

[like-a-bag-of-potatoes]

12 Dates of Christmas - Tree Shopping

AN: This is a series from the 12 days of christmas challenge that I did last year, but considering the blog redo and the fact that it's Christmas, I thought it was a good time for a rerun. Hope you all enjoy! 

Characters: Sebastian x Reader 

Warnings: Mostly fluffy throughout the series. 

Wordcount: 1112

Sebastian’s friend, Chace, had stopped by to get him to go to the gym early on Saturday morning, but Seb’s slight whiskey headache said no, so he invited his friend for coffee instead. 

“So you spent all night with her yesterday?” Chace asked before taking a sip of his coffee, eyeing his friend over the top of the large mug. 

“Yeah. It was fun. We made cookies and drank whiskey tea,” he said as he clutched his own mug between his hands. 

“And now you’re going to spend all day with her?” Chace pushed, a knowing look on his face. 

“Mhm,” Seb hummed, suspecting where this was going. 

“So when are you going to tell her?” Chace wondered. 

“Tell her what?” 

“That you’re in love with her,” he stated simply. 

Sebastian snorted as a blush stung in his cheeks. “Whaat? I'm not- Come on- It's not- I'm not, alright?” he stuttered. 

“Whatever you say, man,” Chace said with a chuckle. “I know that you had a thing for her before Jeremy showed up, and I can see it now that it's still there. Just man up and tell her.” 

“Right now I just want to make sure she has a nice holiday, alright? And I'll deal with the other thing later.” Seb knew it was useless to try and lie to his friend about his feelings for you, but he didn't lie about the fact that he wanted to make the holiday nice for you and to help you find your Christmas spirit. That's why he had come up with a plan. One he would share with you later on. 

***

“Urban Garden Center, East Harlem,” you read the little billboard that was placed on the middle of the sidewalk. “Christmas trees for everyone.” 

“My mom and I have always gotten our trees from here,” Sebastian explained. “And they have them in all shapes and sizes so we’ll find something that fits in your apartment.” 

The place was crowded, but that was expected this close to Christmas. It was also expected that the selection had slimmed down a little, but you were sure you’d find a tree that you liked. 

“We always used plastic,” you said as you moved through the rows of trees. “I remember this one year, my dad got a new one because the old one broke, and we had such a nice time decorating it, but then when Christmas was over he just carried the whole thing into the guest room and it stayed there the whole year.” 

“So you didn't get to decorate it the next year?” Seb asked, raising his brows. 

“No. But we always decorated with my grandparents, so I didn't really mind,” you answered, shrugging slightly. “I like this one,” you said, pointing to one that was about as tall as you. “I don't think I have room for anything bigger.” 

“Then we get this one.” Seb offered you a smile before he grabbed the small tree by the stem in between some branches and started carrying it towards the check out. “That went a lot quicker than I imagined,” he added with a small chuckle. 

“We still have to find decorations,” you reminded. “And that might take a while.” 

Sebastian carried the small tree over to a man who wrapped it and took your payments before you once again maneuvered the sidewalk and all its people to get to Seb’s car. There was this cute little boutique not too far from your apartment that carried a vast selection of ornaments and lights, so that's where the two of you headed next. 

“I absolutely love this place,” you said as you stepped through the door and were met by the unmistakable smell of cinnamon. It always smelled and looked like Christmas in here, and it was one of your favorite places to shop. 

“It both looks and smells like Christmas, that's for sure,” he noted as the two of you moved through the narrow aisles. “You know I'm a giant klutz, right?” he asked rhetorically as he maneuvered around the shelves, careful not to break anything. 

“It won't take long, I promise,” you assured him as you saw the nervous look on his face and you tried not to laugh. “I know what I want to buy.” 

“Come here often?” he wondered as it seemed like you were making a beeline for something. 

“More often than I care to admit,” you answered over your shoulder. 

***

The decorations and the tree were bought and Seb had helped you carry everything up to your apartment.

“Thanks for all of this,” you said, motioning to everything that now littered your floor. 

“No worries,” he waved you off with a smile as you shrugged out of your coat. 

“Wanna stay for dinner? Help me decorate?” you asked, looking up at the man in front of you. 

“I have a dinner date with my mom,” he told you, an apologetic look on his face. “How about tomorrow?” 

“Tomorrow is fine with me,” you said, offering him a smile. 

“I wanted to run something past you, actually.” All of a sudden he seemed a little nervous.  

“Shoot.” 

“I've made a list of twelve things to do to get in the christmas spirit, and I figured we could do one each day and then maybe you'll find that holiday spirit,” he explained. “If you’re not sick of me already?” 

“That's so sweet of you,” you said, your heart melting a little at his gesture. Not that you didn't know Seb was a sweet guy, but still. “And I’ve known you since we were twelve and I haven't gotten sick of you yet, so a few more days will probably be alright,” you teased. 

“Alright, it's a plan then,” he stated with a huge smile, all the nerves from before fading away. 

“So are you gonna show me the list?” you wondered, curious as to what your friend had in store for the two of you. 

“Nope,” he said, popping the P. “I can tell you that tomorrow is Christmas lights, though. So decorating a tree is perfect.” 

“Alright. Be mysterious,” you said with a hint of a smile. 

“I will. I'm gonna go pick up my mom, and I'll see you tomorrow.”

“Say hi to her for me,” you said as you stepped over some of the decorations on the floor to give him a hug goodbye. 

“I will.” He closed his eyes as he breathed you in, relaxing a little into the hug. “She misses you, you know. You should come with me to see her soon,” he noted as you pulled apart again. 

“I miss her too, so I'll definitely do that,” you agreed. 

“See you tomorrow, (YN),” Sebastian said as he turned around and opened the door, giving you an awkward wave over his shoulder. 

“Tomorrow,” you confirmed with a smile on your lips.   

#Sebastian Stan #sebastian fluff #sebastian stan fanfic #sebastian x reader #sebastian x you #12dates

[letswritefanfiction]

Pokémon Alphabet Challenge: Z is for Zeitgeist

Can also be read on ffnet here.

-

“You’re frustrated.”

“I’m not frustrated.”

Ash grit his teeth and clenched his hands under the desk. He was frustrated. He’d been frustrated for a long, long time and had been holding it in. But recently, his great effort to seem appreciative and happy appeared to have spouted a leak and frustration was slipping out, steadily and persistently. It was all he could do in this meeting to keep from letting it all go here, in this office room, and be done with it once and for all.

Sitting across from him were Kunihiko Yuyama, Daiki Tomiyasu, and Aya Matsui—the big three. No one else would have been able to secure a meeting with the three of them. And it had taken a few attempts for him to be able to as well. But they couldn’t say no to him forever. After all: he was Ash Ketchum.

“Well, if not your frustrations, then tell us your grievances,” Aya said.

Her face was unreadable, at least to Ash. But if he had any guess, he assumed she was the one he was offending the most. She was head writer and, after all, it was the writing that he was…aggrieved by.

“Does it have something to do with Gen 8?”

That question came from Kunihiko. It was the obvious one. Obvious because it was absolutely, one hundred percent spot-on. It was, after all, once the talks of Gen 8 had taken off that his frustration leak had begun. Well, kind of. Perhaps it had begun with Movie 20. Or, if he was being one hundred percent honest, Gen 3. And then there was the beginning of Gen 5…

Maybe this had been going on longer than he’d thought.

But Ash had never been a good liar, so he went with the truth. The simplest truth, that was.

“Yes. It does.”

“Well,” Kunihiko continued, “feel free to elaborate.”

It was lucky that Ash had been thinking about this speech for weeks, because suddenly, he felt like he was going to blurt it all out. And, since he was given the opportunity to do so, that’s how it came.

“Okay,” he sighed, “here’s the thing. I liked Movie 20, right? And 21. But you have to admit that there was a lot of internet backlash, especially in the west, when they were announced. And the Mewtwo redo. They’re not what the public want. They want to see what happens to Ash in the world that already exists. The world that some of them have been invested in for twenty years. And I know target demographic and all that but, like, really? Come on, why start Ash’s story over again?”

“You sound like a Genwunner,” Daiki commented.

“I’m not, believe me,” Ash said. “Almost all of the things that lived and died with Gen 1 were good things to let go of. We all know that. But at the same time, risks were taken! When the most interesting risk you’ve taken is a soft reboot, you know you’ve gone wrong somewhere.”

“Risks are not what the stockholders are looking for,” Kunihiko explained. “After twenty years of consistency, people know what they’re getting out of Pokémon. If they want a little something different, maybe they try Pokémon Origins or Pokémon Adventures Manga or even Pokémon Mystery Dungeon. But the anime has its target audience and a massive shift would ruin that in a way we might not be able to recover.”

“So that what? In fifty years you’re still—well, you’ll be dead—but someone’s still using CGI to give me the appearance of a preteen? And I meet a new friend in every episode that’s never seen again? And there are thousands and thousands of newly discovered Pokémon?” Ash argued.

“We changed it up quite a bit last season and it was largely well-received, especially in Japan,” Aya argued. “Certainly we’ve recycled storylines in Pokémon before, but it’s not all we do.”

“Okay, fine. I know I have no control over the plot,” Ash admitted. “Or lack thereof. But hear me out. I’m a thirty-year-old man. I live the public life of a ten-year-old. In the past twenty years, I’ve done this for you—before you all even were here, in fact. I’ve done it for the brand. I’ve never grown so much as sideburns, or even changed my hairstyle. Enough is enough. Either things change around here or…”

There was silence across the table as Ash trailed off. It was Daiki who finally prompted him again.

“Or what?”

Ash’s expression had fallen to his lap. His long bangs were covering his eyes in that dramatic way that the directors always loved when he was having an emotional moment on the show. That thought was enough to bring his eyes up.

“Or I quit.”

The three across the table from him were looking at him as though he was a petulant child throwing a tantrum. Or about to throw a tantrum—he wasn’t sure. But as a person who had been playing a child for twenty years, he knew that he was far from that. He was being the more level-headed Ash of XY, not the hot-headed kid from the Original Series. Well, more than that. He was being his actual adult self.

Aya sighed. “I’m sure we can find ways to incorporate past stars like we did in SM042, 43, and SM102, 103. Things like that are a big hit, and I know you enjoy them.”

It was a compromise. A piece of candy to keep him from throwing a fit at not being able to buy the bag. It was not at all what he wanted.

“That’s not what I’m talking about,” Ash said, suddenly exhausted. “How does that even make sense with a soft reboot?”

“We’ll make it work.”

He knew what that meant. It wouldn’t make sense. Just like it hadn’t made sense with the supposed soft reboot of Sun and Moon. Just like it hadn’t made sense that he was still ten in Black and White, but knew Dawn from his past travels with her. By this point it was what the public expected and understood, so it wasn’t a hard sell. People would poke fun at it on the internet, but they’d hardly be mad about it. That was a tough anger to stoke for twenty years.

“Most people don’t keep doing a show for twenty years,” Ash said quietly.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to tell us,” Kunihiko said.

“I don’t know either,” Ash said, the frustration reentering his voice. He rubbed his head as though trying to massage the thoughts out. “I just don’t want to do this anymore.”

-

“How did it go?”

Ash had arrived at Brock’s house for a drink—lord knew he wasn’t supposed to be seen drinking in public. Even being seen buying a six-pack would be ‘bad for the kids’. Regardless of the fact that he hardly resembled the character that he played on television anymore. In 2019 there were now grocery services that would help him keep surreptitious, but he enjoyed the habit of going to Brock’s. And he always paid him back for the beer.

“Not good,” Ash groaned as he flopped down on the sofa. Brock put a beer in his hand in eleven seconds flat.

“Didn’t hear you out?” Brock asked, sitting down with his own. Ash relished in the sound of the can being opened and then pulled the tab on his own.

“Nope. They have no interest in anything but going ahead with the plan.”

“That sucks, man.”

Ash took a gulp of his beer. Beer wasn’t something to be savored over time; it was to be drunk quickly while it was still cold and palatable. “Nobody knows what this is like,” he said finally.

Now, if most people had said that—or if Ash had said that about nearly anything else—it would have been all Brock could do not to shut them down immediately. No one’s experience was unique, there were always people to talk about it; you were never alone. But this existence of Ash’s…Well, Brock had lived it for about four years himself. But that had nothing on Ash’s twenty. So he could relate. But not entirely.

He’d bounced, after all. He’d bounced after the OS, then come back for a few more years and bounced after year five of the show. He’d had that choice. And, sure, Samuel and Delia were still around after all these years, but only for a few episodes each season.

Actually, there were only two other people who really understood, and that was Jessie and James. But Ash wasn’t meant to fraternize with them often in public for publicity. It wasn’t ‘in character.’ And since Jessie and James were portraying adults—and not the star—things were a bit more lax for them.

“I know, bud.” Brock got up again and reached for a bag of pretzels. Ash no longer ate as ravenously as his character on the show did, but Brock still showed love through offering food and drink to his friends. “What’s your next move?”

Ash had to chew through the dry handful of pretzels he’d just shoved in his mouth before answering. “I don’t know,” he groaned. “I really don’t want to do this anymore, but they’ve already confirmed Ash Ketchum for the next season. And, you know, my contract.”

“And who can imagine the PokéAni without Ash Ketchum?”

“Ugh, don’t say that,” Ash moaned, throwing a pretzel at Brock’s head. Perhaps he still did share some traits with his 10-year-old persona.

“My bad,” Brock said, chuckling as he blocked the pretzel and let it fall to the ground. He’d pick it up later. “Look, Ash. All I can say right now is that you don’t wanna burn any bridges until you know what your next step is. Being Ash Ketchum comes with a pretty sizable shit sandwich, but there’s a reason you’ve kept doing this for two decades. So keep being Ash Ketchum until you’ve got a plan.”

“Uh-huh.”

It was little more than a grunt as Ash took another swallow of his beer. Brock looked at his despondent friend. It made him sad to see, but TV show or not, this was Ash. He’d bounce back by tomorrow.

-

“Brock, I’ve had a realization.”

Ash was on the phone this time, instead of in Brock’s living room. And, as Brock had predicted, it was the next day and he appeared to have fully bounced back. He looked excited and full of that youthful energy he’d been paid for so long to exhibit.

“What’s that?”

“If the company wants me to stay on brand, than what is more on brand for Ash Ketchum than burning it all down?”

“Um, a lot of things.”

“Okay, yeah, bad phrasing,” Ash admitted. “I just mean being brash and impulsive. Making a big choice and sticking to it. This is all very Ash Ketchum. And besides, what hero doesn’t break a few things while saving the day? Ash Ketchum has destroyed a lot of property in his day.”

Brock sighed. “Ash, what are you gonna do?”

“I’m going to be myself. For fucking once.”

Swearing. Very off-brand. Absolutely not E for Everyone. Brock could see where this was going in an instant.

“Ash, no.”

“Yes, Brock! If they’re not going to listen to me, then I’m going to have to act independently.”

“And pay the sizable sum I know is in the fine print of your contract for breaching it?”

“I can afford it,” Ash said, surprising Brock by having thought about it at all.

“Okay,” Brock said, putting his phone on speaker so he could start texting. “You need an intervention. I’m calling for backup.”

“Brock,” Ash whined. “I’ve thought long and hard about this!”

“You’ve thought long and hard,” Brock agreed, sending the text off. “But not precisely about this. You’ve thought around this, and I’m not denying that you’ve been frustrated for a long time. But come on, Ash. You dreamt this up last night at the earliest.”

Silence. Then: “That’s longer than I’ve thought about most things.”

“Yeah, that’s what happens when you’re in a twenty-year long habit.” His phone buzzed. “Anyway, backup is on its way.”

“Brock,” Ash whined again. If Brock hadn’t already known Ash was in therapy, he would have suggested it be written into his contract as a necessity when playing a preteen for twenty years. It was bound to have an effect on an adult man’s psychology.

“Don’t even pretend to be upset about it, Ash. You’ll be happy to see her.”

“I see her without your help,” Ash grumbled.

“Doesn’t matter. Now don’t do anything stupid until she gets there.”

“…Define stupid.”

“Ash.”

“Fine, fine.”

-

The buzz up to his penthouse came surprisingly quickly given Tokyo traffic. It must be a good day outside. Not that he’d know, because he hadn’t left the house that day, as per Brock’s instructions to not do anything stupid.

Then he got an idea.

Instead of buzzing her up, Ash got into his in-unit elevator and went down. He strolled through his lobby and ignored that he could see her through the glass doors in the front—her and her scowling expression. When he opened the door, he swept her into a kiss—one of the dramatic ones like in the movies. Not Pokémon movies but actual movies. Like, rated PG-13 movies. Their bodies were all twisted, and it occurred to him that this was very uncomfortable for the spine. But it always looked good in the movies, so he went with it.

Until he felt her pinching his arm terribly hard and putting firm pressure on him to retreat back into the lobby. Just to have a moment of defiance, he held on for one more minute and then pulled away, acting the part of pleased lover, accepting his publicly-known lover into his apartment building. She played along. For the thirteen seconds it took to reach the elevator. Then she thwacked him upside the head. He’d known she would.

Worth it, though.

“Brock said not to do anything stupid,” Misty hissed. She should have known, though. Ash had never been good with instructions, no matter how simple they were.

“Hey, he only said until you got here. You’re here now.” Ash shrugged. “You went along with it.”

“Yeah, because it would have looked even worse if I’d shoved you off like you were assaulting me,” Misty explained. “#MeToo isn’t just for America, Ash.”

Ash smiled a little bit despite himself. She was always one step ahead of him—simultaneously one of his favorite and possibly the least favorite thing about her. Even surpassing her violent streak.

“Why did you do that?” she hissed.

“Why are you whispering?” Ash asked in an exaggerated whisper.

“Because you just did something stupid!” she shouted. “Stop deflecting!”

“I did it,” Ash started as measured and calmly as he could. It always threw her off when he was measured and calm, “because there’s no logical reason why my long-term girlfriend and I shouldn’t be able to kiss in public.”

Misty shook her head. “Brock was right. You have gone off the deep end.”

“I’m sure Brock didn’t say that.”

Misty took out her iPhone. “Brock, 10:42am. SOS. Ash’s gone off the deep end. You know why.” She looked pointedly at Ash.

“Isn’t SOS the signal they use when big ships crash? This is hardly a Titanic kind of situation.”

“You’re deflecting again!”

Damn, she was good.

They’d arrived in his penthouse by then and Misty had set her stuff down. Already she was heading into Ash’s kitchen for a glass of water.

“Misty,” Ash started in a sickly sweet tone. “Imagine how nice it would be if you could live here. If people could see you coming and going as you please.”

“I have. It would be great.”

She didn’t make it sound great. Her tone was dry and almost angry.

“Yes, it would?”

Misty set down her glass and went to sprawl on one of Ash’s too-wide couches. The seats were so long you couldn’t lean against the back without bringing your legs onto the cushion. It was like they were made for basketball players. Or a thirty-year-old man-child who never sat on a couch without making himself fully comfortable. The only time his feet were on the floor was when he was leaning forward, vigorously playing one of his hundreds of video games.

“I have thought about it, Ash, of course I have. Many times,” Misty said, patting beside her on the couch. That made Ash feel relatively assured that she wasn’t mad at him. “I would love to live with you. And perhaps redecorate this place.” She was always critical of his rather barren apartment. “But I also get why it makes sense to keep our relationship private for the show. It matters that you not really have any particular favoritism towards any of your traveling companions.”

“But Misty, don’t you wanna get married someday? I know you’re the kind of girl who already has a wedding dress picked out and probably a whole Pinterest board about it.”

She did have a dress style in mind, though not a particular one. And she didn’t have a Pinterest board, but she certainly had pins that she thought might…someday be nice for a wedding. But he wasn’t going to get her that way.

She groaned. “This is frustrating for me too, Ash. When we started this, neither of us thought it would have to go on like this for so long. But Brock’s right. You have a contract. There’s very little we can do until that contract is up.”

“In another five years,” Ash shouted, picking up a pillow to muffle the sound. Not because he had any neighbors who would hear, but because he felt like being melodramatic.

That little detail bothered Misty too. But Ash was not a person who needed fuel added to his fire.

“Tell me,” Ash asked, face still in his pillow, “what’s so wrong about breaching contract?”

“Disappointing your fans?” Misty asked. “Your fans who love you and would feel betrayed by you leaving the show?”

Ash shouted again. “I can’t make all my life decisions because of other people!”

Misty put an arm around Ash’s shoulder, trying to coax him out of the pillow. Then she said gently, “Sounds like something Ash Ketchum would do.”

Ash leaned into her embrace and took the pillow away. But he glared at her as he said, “You suck.”

She smirked. “I thought you liked that.”

“See!” Ash exclaimed, bolting up. “That’s the kind of thing that people say! The kind of thing that adults say! If I got caught saying that, the entertainment media would be all over me for days!”

Misty pulled Ash back down, ignoring his indignation. He let himself be pulled into her embrace.

“Give me another reason,” Ash asked.

Misty had to think about that. At this point, she didn’t even know the people working at The Pokémon Company very well. She had no particular loyalty to these people, and she knew that Ash’s was waning. Ash had made them all rich over the years. Of course, they had made him rich as well, but that had never been what he was about. Sure, he had a bit of a show-off streak, but he was a fairly low-maintenance guy. For the huge, expensive apartment he had, it was pretty sparse with actual belongings.

She didn’t give a damn about the stockholders. Maybe she should, because she and Ash were both stockholders themselves, but it would hardly ruin them if the stock went under.

“The employees,” she offered after a while. There were a lot of animators who had to work towards creating the world of Pokémon and making Ash into a preteen week after week. She knew the incredible hours they worked and the burdensome workloads. Not to mention musicians and writers and all the other actors. They certainly deserved the consistent paycheck they could expect from Pokémon.

“Fair point,” Ash said.

“The fans and the employees…” Misty started. “Woah, weird thought.”

“What?” Ash asked, perking up. While she’d been thinking, she’d been rubbing the base of his hairline, lightly pulling his hair and massaging his scalp and neck. It had lulled him into almost a catatonic state. She redoubled her efforts.

“Never mind, don’t worry about it.”

“No,” Ash said, pulling away, however unwillingly. “That was an idea voice. Usually a good idea voice. What was the good idea?”

“It wasn’t. It was an idea, not a good one.”

“Then let me know the not good idea.”

“Well…” Misty started, biting her lip. “It’s really half an idea.”

“Then let me know the half an idea!” Ash insisted.

“Okay, okay,” Misty said, still holding the idea close to her chest. “Just…what do you know about copyright law?”

-

It was a fucking brilliant idea. One that would probably get them both—but hopefully no one else—sued. But a brilliant idea, nevertheless. And if Ash did end up getting sued, at least that would get him the flames of glory he’d said he wanted this to go down with.

Job one was the hardest, by Misty’s estimation. And when they sat down with his laptop, he realized how right she was.

“This is really for you,” she said as they looked on at the blank document in front of them. “What do you want to include?”

The image felt clear in Ash’s head. He felt like he knew what he wanted. And he did know the major points that the story needed. Ash had to age, the content matter should be darker, the story should progress and have a real overarching plot. Actually, the more he thought about it, the more things came to mind that he’d have to get a stronger grasp on. Certain things in the world needed to be explained more when he really thought about it. But when it came down to it—writing the script meant to rewrite the whole Pokémon universe and he had no idea where to start, even with all these thoughts bouncing around in his head.

Worse than that, he didn’t want to mess up.

“I’m not a writer, Misty,” Ash said, pushing the laptop toward her as he put his head in his hand. “In twenty years, I’ve never written a script. Hell, I’ve never even had significant contributions to one. Just an altered line here and there. Mostly accidents. I know nothing about this.”

“Okay, let’s think about this,” Misty said, accepting the laptop and leaning over it. “We like Pokémon because it has good bones. It’s an interesting world with great outlines of characters who lack depth. It’s got a functioning if somewhat unexplored magic system. It’s touched on some good plots and then backed off of them. That gives us somewhere to start.”

“What, so we copy and paste the first season and then start to do our own thing?”

“Obviously not,” Misty shot down. “There’s no way we’re doing that Christmas episode again. No Santa in this world. And no Christ, for that matter. No, there’s gotta be something that makes more sense…”

“Like hiring a writer? We’re hiring everyone else, so why not that?”

Misty stared at him for a second, her face contemplative. Then her eyes flew open and she kissed him on the lips. “Ash, you’re a genius!”

That was certainly something he’d never heard before. Still, Misty was quick to begin typing something on the computer, and it wasn’t in the text document. He leaned over her shoulder to see what it was. She was typing into the searchbar:

Fanfiction.net.

“Fanfiction?” Ash asked, almost spitting the word. “What do you know about fanfiction? Don’t tell me you read that porny stuff.”

“It’s not all porn, Ash,” she said without looking at him. “And, for your information, I really enjoy RWBY fic. You probably would too if you read anything more verbose than your scripts.”

“I read!”

“Not for fun.”

“…Touché.”

“From my experience, most fic is terrible. God-awful. Way worse than anything Pokémon spews out. But when it’s good…by God, it’s incredible, Ash. I really fucking wish you read it.”

“Not a chance.”

“Well, you are now,” Misty said as she seemed to arrive at her location on the site. “We’re going to have to spend the next few days, at least, combing through this crap in order to find something promising. It’s in there. Pokémon is a huge fandom, so even if only one percent of this is amazing, that’s still a thousand masterpieces. We just have to be patient.”

“I’m not reading a hundred thousand stories, Misty. Not in my whole life, much less a few days.”

“Not to worry,” Misty said, patting Ash’s arm patronizingly. “I’ll teach you my ways. It won’t be long before we find the good stuff.”

Ash scoffed. “And I thought I was the dangerously optimistic one.”

“Can’t be around you without being optimistic. That’s the magic of Ash Ketchum.”

-

Ash awoke to the sound of his phone ringing. At 4am. He groaned and rolled over. Obviously some American had gotten a hold of his number again and wasn’t thinking about the time change. The buzzing finally abated, and Ash felt his brain turning off again, about to let him sink back into delightful sleep when it started up again. With an even louder groan, he rolled back to the other side of the bed and began groping around for the phone on his nightstand. He had to pick it up, if only to swipe away the call and block the number. But, when he picked up his demonic phone, he saw Misty’s name. He really hoped her dog was dying. Or something equally tragic.

“What?” he croaked, his voice not appreciating being used at this time of night.

“I found it, Ash. This is it. It’s perfect.”

So, not her dog, apparently. “You found an author.”

“Better than that. Way fucking better. I found a story. An actual story. Some crazy bastard is rewriting the whole anime themselves and it’s incredible. I’m only about fifty chapters in—”

“Fifty chapters‽”

“—but it’s perfect. Unless it goes really downhill, then I think I found our person. We can really do this now.”

“Great, Misty. Glad you found it. Now kindly hang up the phone again so I don’t have to look at the screen again and ruin my sleep even more.”

“Sleep‽ There’s no time to sleep. Gen 8 comes out later this year. By that time, we need to have enough episodes out to have built up a presence big enough that Pokémon Company will care. Our names will do a lot of the heavy lifting for us, but what we’re pitching is only going to appeal to a fraction of the market audience. We’re going to have to pull all of those people and new ones to make any kind of a splash. Ash? Are you listening?”

Ash had put the phone down on the pillow and was resting his head on it, eyes closed. He had been beginning to drift. But for as raspy as Misty’s voice was from evidentially having been up all night, she could still make it piercing when she needed to.

“I’m listening,” he grunted. Even though they had already gone over all those logistics a few days before.

“Well, we need to finish reading this story ASAP so we can see if it’s really the story we wanna tell and then contact the author. They probably won’t respond immediately, so we wanna be doing that as soon as we can.”

“It sounds like you’ve got a head start on the story out of the two of us,” Ash said through a yawn. “So you can finish reading it and then we’ll DM the person.”

“No, Ash,” Misty said firmly, as though she knew he was barely listening. Heck, she definitely knew he was barely listening. “You have to read it too. We have to be sure about this.”

“Fine,” he groaned. “Just let me go back to sleep.”

“Fine,” Misty agreed. “But I’ll be calling you back at seven to make sure you’re up and reading. I’m putting in a scheduled delivery for a breakfast sandwich and coffee too.”

“Thanks, Mist. G’night.”

“Goodnight, Ash.”

He was out before the call even ended.

-

After his false start that morning, the day had still begun too early. This was the off-season for shooting the show, so he slept in most days as late as he wanted. But right at seven, with Misty calling and his doorbell ringing, Ash realized Misty hadn’t ordered the food to be nice. It was because it would force him out of bed in a way that her phone call simply wouldn’t.

Devious girl, she was.

But there was a little part of Ash that felt guilty that Misty had been up all night for the sake of his project, so after downing his sandwich and starting on his coffee, he did set about clicking on the link she’d sent him in the wee hours that morning.

And he balked at what he saw.

It turned out that fifty chapters wasn’t even scratching the surface. The story she’d linked to him was close to one hundred chapters and the first words of chapter one kindly informed him that this was going to be a series. A monstrous series that planned on rewriting the whole PokéAni.

In his mind, he vaguely heard the words Misty had said on the phone to that effect, but by now that phone call felt like little more than a dream. The only way he knew that it had actually happened was the fact that the consequences of that call had led to him being awake at this almost equally unholy hour.

After breezing past the author’s note informing him of the impending series, as well as a whole website devoted to further resources—this person had rewritten the whole Pokédex!—he began the first chapter. It actually started with Ash Ketchum as a child, younger than ten, and seemed to be giving some back story to the characters of Pallet Town. Delia, Professor Oak, and Gary Oak were all appearing, as well as a number of new characters. He was intrigued. And then…he wasn’t.

Well, he was still intrigued, but he found himself skimming some of the longer paragraphs and soon he found himself on Twitter. He only scrolled for about ten minutes before he realized what was happening and closed the tab. Well, minimized it. He wanted to save his spot.

He called Misty.

“How do you read?” he asked after she said hello.

Usually a stupid question like that would have prompted either a sarcastic comment, or straight-up laughing at his expense. But, instead, Misty said. “Ugh, Ash, it’s already 8:30. Please tell me you’ve read something.”

“I’ve started chapter one.”

“Started chapter one‽”

“I’m almost finished!” Ash defended.

“God, I forgot about your ADHD,” Misty moaned. “Okay. You’re going to have to figure out what works for you and figure it out quickly if we wanna move on this. Try copying and pasting into a text to speech website. It’ll sound unnatural, but if you can listen to that while reading or listen to it while doing a coloring book or something maybe that’ll help. Or find something to do with your hands while you read. Chewing gum might help? I think I’ve heard that? Or google it. I’m sorry, Ash, I don’t know as much about it as I should.”

“No, that’s a good start,” Ash said quickly to appease his girlfriend. Sometimes Misty came off as tough or even mean, but she really wasn’t, otherwise Ash wouldn’t have dated her for so long. She did make fun of him often, but he did the same to her. It had been their dynamic on the show when they’d first started; it was the basis of their chemistry. But she wouldn’t ever make fun of him for a behavior disorder. He just didn’t want her to feel bad for not being able to help. “I’ll give those a try.”

“Okay,” Misty said, sounding a touch more relaxed. “I’m almost done with the Kanto arc and I’ve gotta say, this story is still really good. They’re incorporating the bones of the anime, and weaving in the first movie whilst also having more through-lines and stuff. Fewer CotDs and instead really focusing on us discovering stuff about Pokémon. And, like, growing up. And you should really read the resources they’ve created; they’re amazing.”

“I will,” Ash said, hoping that he’d actually be able to. “Try to get some sleep, okay, Mist?”

It was as though the word ‘sleep’ triggered her to yawn. He heard the sound on the other line and then she said, “I will. I just wanna finish this arc.”

“And then sleep. Immediately. Okay?”

“Okay, Ash. I will.”

“Good. You sleep. I read.”

As if emulating a sports huddle, she said, “Okay, break.”

“Go team,” Ash said with a little chuckle.

He hung up the phone and set about finding a blank coloring book page on the internet. He’d make this work however he could. He wasn’t going to get tripped up at stage one.

-

He didn’t read as much as Misty did. It turned out Misty was a fairly quick reader and, as he already knew, he was very, very slow. But he read a good portion of the first story in the series that day and texted Misty to let her know that he agreed. The story was as close to what he had been murkily envisioning as possible. Well, much better, actually. He could see it on the screen, could feel the choices he’d make as that version of Ash Ketchum in his muscles as he was reading. He even found himself saying his character’s lines out loud.

After that came the strange moment that made it all real. It turned out Misty already had an ffnet account—which he fully intended to explore later—and all they had to do was send the author or authoress in question a PM. That’s where things became sticky. What they were going to offer—payment for the use of an adaptation of her story, plus for her continuing writing the story, as it was still ongoing—was going to sound illegitimate. One hundred percent fake.

“We just have to go for it,” Misty said on the phone. “And hope they’re a good person and won’t leak this first thing. I mean, that should be our real concern.”

That hadn’t even occurred to Ash. He’d considered the fact that they would need a large team of people to pull this off, and that that would significantly drain his overflowing bank account. He hadn’t considered that he’d have to have absolute loyalty from the people he was asking to be disloyal to the company that had employed all of them at one time, at least as far as the actors were concerned. Except this mystery writer, of course. He’d have to get his lawyer to start drafting some NDAs.

“Yeah, we’ll just have to hope for that. You don’t have any identifying features on your account, so worse comes to worse, you just tell the public it wasn’t you and there’s no way to prove you wrong.”

“And then we’re back to square one.”

“Let’s not worry about that now. Just cross your fingers and send the message.”

“Okay. Crossed. And…sent.”

Ash realized he was holding his breath. This was the biggest thing he’d done since he was ten and had first accepted the role of the then-unknown Ash Ketchum. And, while that had been big, since he’d never had a star acting role before, he’d had no idea of the implications. No one had known the international phenomenon Pokémon would become. This, he knew, would be big. Whether it ended in the biggest success of his life, or destroyed it.

-

As Ash and Misty were on an internet frenzy, looking up people for all the different roles they needed to fill. Animators was the number one job in their list. They were hunched over their computers, doing search after search, occasionally exchanging work and sending out emails. Then, suddenly, Misty’s phone rang.

She groaned. She and Ash had managed to rein in his attention and they’d had a vibe going. Now he’d probably get up saying he needed to pee and wanted to order take out and it would take an hour to get him back on track. When she saw Brock’s name, she cringed. She showed it to Ash, wordlessly, and they exchanged worried expressions, the corners of their lips pulling to the side. This wasn’t great. But it wasn’t like she could blow him off, right? With a steadying breath, she answered the call.

“Hey, Brock, what’s up?”

“What’s up?” Brock echoed, his tone one of disbelief. “I thought I’d get some kind of update on the…you know, situation by now. A text at least. It’s been two days!”

Misty looked uneasily at Ash. The phone wasn’t on speaker, but she knew he could hear every word. Not that she cared if he heard—he fully knew what Brock was referring to after all. But still, Ash was a bit of a blabbermouth…

“Everything’s under control, Brock!” she said, trying to keep her voice down from the strident place it wanted to go.

“You mean you’ve talked him off the cliff.”

“That’s right!” Misty exclaimed. “Absolutely no cliff here!”

Misty couldn’t so much as glance at Ash. He was making all kinds of facial expressions—she could practically see the subtitles below his chin. He clearly thought she was doing a terrible job lying, but also wanted to jump in and spill the beans himself.

Like he could say anything. He was a good actor, but a truly horrible liar.

“Okay, good to hear,” Brock said, a little sigh of relief pressing into the phone. “I was concerned about that picture of the two of you online…”

Ash and Misty had both forgotten about that. There had been a number of snaps taken of the dramatic kiss they’d had outside Ash’s building, which had led to a lot of scrutiny online. Most people were under the correct but unconfirmed assumption that they were dating, while others said that it was so dramatic that perhaps it was some kind of stunt. Little did everyone know that both were right, more or less.

“Oh, no nothing to worry about there,” Misty confirmed.

“Good. I really was worried about him.”

“I was too,” Misty agreed, her voice nice and easy this time. “But we’ve got a plan now.”

-

Ash and Misty hadn’t planned into their timeline the time it would take to build trust between themselves and the mystery writer, who they now knew as Tess. She was a young American woman who just happened to love Pokémon and fanfiction; she wasn’t even a professional writer. Not yet, at least. But Ash and Misty quickly realized that they were basically performing an interview. However, instead of each question taking a few seconds to answer, they took hours to get a response. They had to get this right, though. No horsing around.

Fortunately, after a few correspondences, both parties seemed confident in each other to move to Skype and expedite the process a little bit. Their first interaction went a little like this.

Tess: “Oh my God, it really is you!”

Ash: “Heh, yeah, sure is.”

Tess: “I really just thought this was some really elaborate troll! I was prepared to change my Skype name after this.”

Misty: “Well, hopefully there won’t be a need for that.”

Tess: “Right. Oh my God. Okay. Professional. That was my fangirling, and now this is totally professional. Promise.”

It did proceed to be fairly professional after that, though Tess did seem to be in a rather constant state of disbelief. Behind the scenes, Ash and Misty had already been working on turning her narrative into a script and translating it into Japanese. Which, when fluent in both languages, sounded easy. But it—like everything—was more time-consuming and way more specialized than they’d hoped. They’d have to hire someone soon.

But after growing confident enough with Tess to send her a contract—and an NDA—everything became real. And instead of being a project of three, it was going to have to become a company of dozens.

“You’re going to have to be the one to enlist everyone,” Misty said the night after they’d finished the list of all the people and resources that they’d thought they’d need for the pilot episode. Or at least finished as far as they could tell. They’d need Ash, Gary, Samuel, and Delia at the very least, plus a couple other voice actors that they liked, preferably ones who’d be able to play most of the other Pallet human characters and Pokémon, since they wanted to start with as small a cast as possible. They’d need a recording studio and a number of animators, plus whatever equipment those animators would need.

The show was going to have to be different than Pokémon at heart. Instead of the quasi-live action with heavy CGI that Ash had physically been starring in for two decades, this was going to have to be full animation. Live action would simply take up too many resources, not to mention that meant they’d be acting out on location, where people would see with no small amount of curiosity what all the stars of Pokémon were up to. This meant that they’d have to create a fresh animation style, since there was no way to copy Pokémon’s current look.

“Why do I have to enlist everyone?” Ash asked. “This idea was both of ours.”

“Because you have that magic Ash Ketchum extroversion. Everyone loves you and will follow you wherever you go. They won’t do that for me.”

“The execs sure didn’t do that for me.”

“They had no reason to,” Misty explained. “But these people might. They do. Everyone loves this show and they’ll want to see the story that Tess has created. They’ll want to be a part of that. So long as you’re the charming Ash Ketchum they’ve all fallen in love with.”

“Charming like this?” Ash asked quietly, leaning in to give Misty a kiss. They’d become more lax with having her over to his place more often. After all, soon that would be small potatoes compared with the bomb they were planning to drop soon.

“Charming with your words,” Misty whispered against his mouth. But she didn’t seem to mind his advances as she closed the gap and began kissing him in earnest.

They didn’t get much else done that night.

-

The first episode took over a month to create. They’d had to work back and forth with Tess for script rewrites, not to mention that this was being done in both English and Japanese, plus including English subtitles. If they wanted to gain an audience, they’d have their best bet by engaging both Japanese and English audiences. And, best case scenario, many more languages after that.

Then there was finding actors. This was the most painless of all the processes, except for where the lawyers had to get involved. It was always sticky to present legal documents to friends—and after all these years, Samuel, Delia, and Gary were dear friends of Ash’s—but they were receptive. And, most importantly, they thought Ash and Misty’s idea was good. Of course, they thought it was batshit crazy, and none of them were afraid to say that. Which they all did on separate occasions. But they still got on board. That was more reassuring to Ash and Misty than most anything else.

The hardest part was assembling an animation team. They had no idea how many animators were needed, how responsibilities would be split up, how they would work together or anything. Plus, they couldn’t just poach from the show for two reasons. 1.) Ash didn’t intimately know any of the animators. They had no loyalty to him and no reason to jump ship from the show. 2.) They were working on an entirely different kind of animation. Ash and Misty didn’t know the repercussions of that, but they were sure they must exist.

But after a frustrating amount of trial and error—and a lot of money bleeding from Ash’s bank account—there it was. A final product. And a polished, decent one at that. Everything was professional quality, it was a standard twenty-seven-minute length, despite the fact that there would be no advertisements, and it had subtitles in both Japanese and English. Then it was all about what to do with it.

They did nothing. For a time.

In the process of working on the episode, they’d realized they’d need the next couple stocked if they wanted buzz to continue around this series and for people to take it seriously. Fortunately, it only took a few weeks to create the next two episodes. The bulk of the work on their end at that point was in the script, but Tess had been prolific with her turnout of drafts. They were already interviewing a few impeccable translators, as they had quickly realized what specific skills were needed for subbing versus dubbing and that simply being bilingual wasn’t going to cut it.

Then it was time. Ash would have to go back to the real show soon, and they had to drop these before that happened. So Ash made a YouTube channel—because where else could they put something like this? The show had to be free, otherwise they’d be sued faster than someone could watch the first episode.

That part wasn’t stressful. Uploading a video to a YouTube channel with zero subscribers was hardly a leap of faith. It wasn’t like Ash was a master of search engine optimization. No one would find this thing.

Until he tweeted it. When he tweeted it, there would be no going back.

“Are you ready?” Ash asked Misty as his finger hovered over his laptop’s touchpad.

He wasn’t really asking it for her. He was asking it for himself. Not out of selfishness, even though his job and reputation were the ones on the line. Sure, Misty had done a couple episodes recently, but she was a relic of the show, not a star. And he, next to Pikachu, perhaps, was the star. And people would either love him or hate him for this.

But he just wanted a little reassurance. That they hadn’t gotten swept away in the excitement of it all in the past few months. That all the work and dedication hadn’t clouded the possibility that this wasn’t a good idea after all. But Misty just took his other hand in hers.

“We’re ready.”

He had to look away as he clicked to send the link to the video out to the world. He was fully wincing, as though the action would send a shock wave through his system. He stared at the screen for only a second, his live tweet burning into his retinas before shutting the laptop screen violently and recoiling onto his couch. Misty, meanwhile—seeming much calmer than he—was on her phone, hopping over to his Twitter account to retweet the post. Then she, too, put away her phone.

“Wanna watch some anime?”

“God, yes.”

-

“Misty, what the fuck?”

Brock’s was the first call they bothered taking. Their phones had started blowing up with notifications soon after the video had gone up and they’d silenced all alerts. They’d already ignored a few phone calls. But Brock was the couple’s best friend, just like in the show. There was something about spending your formative years together that left a lasting bond. They owed him an explanation, at the very least.

“Hi, Brock!” Misty said, sounding fake with cheer. “What brings about this call?”

“I thought you had talked him off the edge? But you’ve been doing whatever this is for however long you have. I assume you’re a part of this, right?”

“I did talk him off the edge, Brock,” Misty said, her phone on speaker between herself and Ash. “Instead of self-destructing he crafted a beautiful and intricate bomb and threw it at his whole life.”

“Oh, my bad. That sounds like a great idea, Misty.”

“Yeah, you didn’t make that sound any better,” Ash agreed, making himself known on the call.

“Hello, crazy man,” Brock greeted. “Glad to know your bosses haven’t harpooned you yet.”

“They’ll have to go through my doormen before they can come up here and harpoon me.”

“Lucky dog,” Brock said sarcastically.

“I’m sorry we didn’t tell you, Brock,” Misty said, getting at what she suspected was at the real root of this call, whether Brock knew it or not. “We were already having everyone sign NDAs. It didn’t seem smart to tell anyone who wasn’t absolutely necessary to the beginning of this project.”

“Beginning?” Brock said. “There’s more?”

“We’ve already got the next two episodes in the bag and are in production on the fourth and script-writing up to the sixth.”

Brock was quiet for a second before he asked, “Just how long are you planning on doing this?”

“Don’t worry, your character is coming,” Ash said with a laugh.

“The writer we’ve employed already has a story loosely plotted all through Kalos. They’re nearly done with all the specifics of Kanto—though we have slowed down her progress significantly since starting this.”

“Kalos‽” Brock exclaimed. “You have eighteen years worth of content for this?”

That was putting it in a perspective Ash and Misty hadn’t yet thought about it. Would they be fifty years old and still working on this project?

“We truthfully have no idea how long we have, Brock,” Misty admitted. “This could be shut down at any time by something we haven’t foreseen. So we haven’t looked that far into the future.”

“Well,” Brock said, finally at a bit of a loss for words. “I just can’t tell you how heckin’ proud I am of you crazy bastards. This was the biggest leap of faith I’ve ever seen.”

That brought a big grin to both Ash and Misty’s faces. They looked at each other and nearly giggled. If Brock was on their side, then they were doing just fine.

“You watched the episode?” Ash asked.

“Of course I did. And it was great. Truthfully, I’m not sure everyone cares 100% about a Pokémon prologue, but as soon as it becomes evident that you’re going to continue this…I can’t imagine the response. Seriously, you guys shouldn’t read the comments but…they’re mostly really good. People like it. They love it.”

The conversation with Brock petered off after that. He’d said his piece, but really he’d just affirmed everything they were doing. That was all they wanted out of their best friend.

“I didn’t realize people would think of it as a prologue,” Ash said once Misty had hung up.

“Yeah,” Misty agreed. “We might be out of the woods until we get to the part where this story meets up with canon.”

“Which gives us the time to build up loyal viewers and get the hang of this producing thingy.”

“This producing thing-a-ma-bob.”

“Producing thing-a-ma-jigger.”

The two stared at each other for a moment, the laughs building up in their throats before they burst out, laughing hysterically on the couch.

It was done. It had started. They’d done it.

-

“My reviewers think you’ve stolen my story,” Tess said on their next Skype call, going over one of the scripts. “They’re indignant on my behalf and ready to burn the show to the ground.”

The words were dark, but Tess looked practically giddy.

“Honestly, even if you had, I’d have counted myself lucky,” she continued. “It would have been the most flattering thing that’s ever happened to me. Certainly more flattering than my 150 reviews for 93 published chapters of labor.”

“You need to make an announcement,” Misty said. “Also, your name is in the credits, but do you want us to add your username so that people will be able to see that? Or do you not want the two tied together?”

“Hmm…” Tess intoned, considering that. “Fanfiction has always felt like a secret identity to me, so my impulse is to say no. But now my name is on the show anyway…Tell you what. I’ll scrub up my profile and delete some more indulgent author’s notes tonight and then you can include it next time. No need to make any changes to the episode that’s already out.”

“By the way,” Ash butted in. “We probably should have talked about this earlier but…are you going to be continuing your story on ffnet?”

Tess sighed. “No. I don’t think I’d have the time even if it weren’t probably a breach of the NDA at this point. So I’ll have to include that in the announcement. I’ll make an author’s note chapter telling everyone. All 28 followers of mine.”

“Well, that’s one potential drama storm put out,” Misty said.

“There is actually something I wanted to talk about,” Tess said slowly. “Regarding the longer arching plot.”

“Shoot,” Ash said.

“Well, regarding the ships—er, relationships,” Tess corrected. Misty knew most fanfiction terms well enough, but Ash knew next to nothing. He was learning, through talking with Tess and Misty, but it wasn’t penetrating very much. “Uh, what are we going to do with them?”

“What do you mean?” Misty asked. “I thought you had things basically plotted out through the Kalos League?”

“I do,” Tess said. “For my story. My story that’s a love letter to the anime and the fandom. Where I’ve basically taken the most popular couples and rolled with it. In PokéAni fanfiction there are basic couples that are usually grouped together. The two of you, May and Drew, Dawn and Paul—”

“Dawn and Paul‽” Ash interjected.

“That’s why I’m bringing this up!” Tess said. “Yes, Dawn and Paul, Cilan and Iris, and Serena and Clemont. And Gary with Leaf, but there’s no way we’re doing that. I personally think some of these pairings are pairings of convenience than real chemistry or shipping hints from the anime. But they’re what the fans have accepted. Just like the fact that your last name is Waterflower, Misty.”

“Which it isn’t.”

“Well, mine isn’t really Ketchum!” Ash said. “That would be too ridiculous.”

“I know, I know,” Tess said. “These are things that wouldn’t matter in fanfiction, because they’re accepted. But for a broad audience where this is essentially television and not fanfiction…I’m just not sure about pairing any of you together.”

“Well, there has to be romance,” Misty argued. “We want these characters to grow up, and that’s a part of most people growing up. We can’t assume all these characters are ace and aro.”

“No,” Tess agreed. “Though I think we should include some.”

“But that doesn’t help us with the issue at hand,” Misty said.

“Well, what about us?” Ash asked, taking Misty’s hand. “I think we should end up together.”

Those words made Misty’s ears turn pink. It was the kind of thing Ash didn’t say in real life. She felt it, certainly, but being in a relationship when you were thirty and not having any particular talk of marriage and engagement was discouraging. Of course, that was part of why they’d undertaken this whole project to begin with. But still, even hearing Ash talk about the fictional versions of themselves ‘ending up together’ was heartwarming.

“Yes, I totally agree,” Tess said without hesitation. “You two and then May and Drew are basically non-negotiable for me. But with the others I’ve been of many minds. First of all, people should date around. My whole thing with this series is that it should be realistic. People don’t all end up with the first person they partner with. They don’t all get married in their early twenties. That’s not the story I wanted to tell.”

“I don’t want that either,” Misty agreed. “But if this story is a love letter to the fans, then when do we indulge them and when do we not?”

“Well, not everyone ships the same people,” Ash said. “I said that right, right? Ships?”

“Yes,” Tess answered quickly, smiling at Ash sounding like such a fanfic nerd.

“Right. So what’s the point in pandering at all?”

Misty looked surprised, eyebrows raised. “The man makes a good point.”

“Really, it all depends on how long this goes,” Tess said. “If the show finishes after Kalos, then only a few couples should be together. If it goes into adulthood, then more should be together, though not everyone with their #endgame. If it goes into next-gen—”

“Next-gen?” Ash interrupted.

“Kids,” Tess clarified. “Your kids.”

“Oh,” Ash drawled, a blush coloring his cheeks as he glanced at Misty.

“If it goes into next-gen, then even more people will be paired off…but then there should also probably be divorces and separations. But those things would really anger the audience. Especially if we’ve been working towards a pairing being together for a long, long time. Have you ever seen How I Met Your Mother?”

“Nope,” both Ash and Misty said in unison.

“Oh,” Tess said, her energy dropping a bit. “Well…if you did you’d know what I mean. But you’ll just have to take my word for it. Even if we’re not pandering to the fans…I’d rather not anger them. But, like I said, it comes down to when this story ends. And, well, I hadn’t quite gotten that far in my outline yet, since the actual anime isn’t over yet.”

Yet. That sounded suddenly ominous. Perhaps this was the moment Ash was first realizing it, but it suddenly occurred to him that that’s what they were working toward. The actual destruction of the show that just wouldn’t end. It felt like the intentional murder of a life-long friend. He had to brush that feeling away immediately.

“Right,” Ash said. “So, perfect world, how long is it?”

Tess just pulled the corners of her lips down and shook her head to show she had no idea. Ash turned to Misty.

“Ideally? As long as Ash has a story.”

“Ash?” Tess asked.

“That’s the one thing the Pokémon anime has right. This story is Ash’s. So, as long as he has a story to tell, then we keep going for as long as we can.”

-

Finally, Ash had to address the elephant in the room. Well, the room that all this had begun in, which is to say Kunihiko Yuyama’s office. His agent had informed him that Kunihiko, Daiki, and Aya insisted on seeing him again. Suddenly, Ash felt like he had been summoned to the principal’s office. He wasn’t far off.

It turned out he didn’t have to do much haphazard explaining as to what he’d done. They could already guess that Ash’s new show wasn’t just a prologue, but out to rewrite the whole anime. And they knew exactly what that might mean for the show. But it turned out Ash didn’t.

“Ash,” Kunihiko seethed, barely able to keep his voice under control. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

“If you’re talking about a breach of contract, I’ve taken that into account and am willing to—”

“Of course it’s a breach of contract!” Kunihiko exclaimed. “But that’s not what I’m talking about. You’re not just out to destroy the Pokémon anime, but all of Pokémon as a franchise. That number one media franchise slot? Gone.”

“What are you talking about?” Ash asked, genuinely confused.

“Think about it,” Kunihiko explained. “When a new anime season comes out, the new games come out. The new manga comes out. New trading cards. New merchandise. All these things support each other. If one of them deteriorates, they all do.”

Ash’s heart dropped. He actually hadn’t thought about that.

“The anime is what a significant portion of our fans follow. It brings in new eyeball for the youth, some too young to even play the video games. No anime, fewer game sales. Fewer merch sales. Fewer trading cards. Then boom, Hello Kitty is the top franchise again. Are you a closet Hello Kitty fan, Ash?”

“No, sir,” Ash answered, suddenly feeling even more the part of the primary schooler being chastised by his teacher.

“So, what do you suggest as a solution, Ash? I know what I want. But I’m curious to hear your thoughts.”

“You want us to stop production,” Ash said, evading the question. “At least before it starts to replace the anime.”

“Of course. Do you have any plan of doing that?”

Ash wasn’t a child. These people might think of him as a ten-year-old—and he was really good at being one. But in the last couple months, he’d like to think he’d gotten pretty damn good at being an adult too.

“No, sir.”

“So I’m forced to ask once again, what’s your solution?”

His solution was to go back in time and have Tess’s story be the PokéAni from the start. Then she never would have felt the need to clean up the mess that the original writers had made before they’d known the phenomenon Pokémon would be. That it would one day be the top grossing media franchise. Then Ash never would have felt trapped by this show. The show that had given him everything. But, unfortunately, this was the real world. It wasn’t Pokémon. He couldn’t get a magic necklace or travel in a magic elevator to a different time period. He was stuck here cleaning up the mess that he and everyone else had made.

“You wanna know what my perfect solution would be?” Ash said finally. “If you let Ash Ketchum go. We can keep doing our show, hopefully with your blessing. Maybe even with your support, so that it could earn us some money to keep it going. And you keep your anime going, but with a new star. Because, like I tried to tell you, I can’t do it anymore.”

“But there is no Pokémon anime without Ash Ketchum and his Pikachu,” Aya insisted, finally speaking up. “He’s synonymous with the show.”

“So make it the next generation,” Ash blurted out, thinking of his conversation with Misty and Tess. “In our show—” Kunihiko scoffed at the word ‘our,’ “—Ash Ketchum and Misty are eventually going to get married and have kids. Let the Galar region be about that kid. He’ll—or she, I guess, I don’t actually know—be really similar to Ash Ketchum. Maybe even with another Pikachu. And then Ash Ketchum will be able to make cameo appearances. C’mon, the viewers would love that.”

“No,” Aya said. “That adds too many complications. Where’s Professor Oak? Is he dead? And Ash and Misty getting together canonically isn’t an option. We want Ash to stay relatable, and getting married to one of the Pokégirls isn’t a part of that.”

“Well, I don’t want to say take it or leave it,” Ash said. “But that’s the best compromise I have for you right now. We can both keep thinking, but my hope is that this new show will reignite the fans. It will make them feel that we care. Since it’s actually me and Delia and everyone in it, and not just a fanfiction in the corner of the internet. This is the kind of thing the diehard fans want, even if the youngsters don’t. But, then again, what difference would the youngsters know between Ash Ketchum and his kid?”

The group across from him was silent for a second. Then Kunihiko put his hands on the desk.

“Fine. We’ll adjourn this meeting for today. But don’t think you’re off the hook, Ash. Any change to the current track for the anime would mean a delay in production, which we can’t afford for the aforementioned reasons of the games and merch already in production. That would be millions and millions in losses. Our stock is set to plummet at any wrong move.”

“I understand that,” Ash said, though it hadn’t occurred to him until just then. “But I hope you’ll consider the idea.”

“I suppose we don’t have much of a choice,” Kunihiko said. “We’ll just have to speak with the heads at The Pokémon Company and to see.”

-

It turned out Ash had left Pokémon Company with very little choice. In only a week their pilot episode had gone viral and, since Ash hadn’t received a cease and desist or anything like that, they followed up in posting their second video which accrued almost the same number of views, proving that their audience was captive.

Perhaps if they hadn’t done that, the Pokémon Company could have tried to sweep it under the rug. But with the first and second episodes already out, damage control was needed more than anything else. To their advantage, all that had been announced about the Gen 8 anime so far was that Ash Ketchum would continue to be in it and that there was a new traveling companion. These things would technically still be true, under Ash’s compromise, though a bit of backtracking would be needed. Surely, Ash Ketchum would still be in the anime. Just in an entirely different capacity.

There would be backlash. No one knew whether it would be more from the fact that 10-year-old Ash was being retired or because Ash and Misty were going to be canonically married with progeny, but Pokémon Company had to be prepared to handle both of those. They were bound to get an even bigger reaction than the debacle about the lack of a National ‘Dex in the games—though admittedly more mixed rather than overwhelmingly negative. Ash and Misty had agreed to be a part of the damage control process. And what they realized quickly was that they needed to do something that no other television show ever had to do: state its intensions.

Of course, Pokémon Company would first have to air its trailer as usual, which would be a bit of a rush-job, since so much would need to be reanimated. Its release would have to be pushed back, but that wasn’t too bad, since it hadn’t had a public announcement. The drop was meant to be a surprise. Then Ash and Misty would have to issue a follow-up video to what was sure to be a big reaction from a trailer of a new generation of the anime in which Ash was not the protagonist.

After that, Pokémon: The Retelling, as they had been bold enough to name it, was up and running. And with greater ease than ever because, while Misty now had a small role in the anime to fill, Ash was basically jobless. Compared to his schedule as the star, at least. So they could put all their time into the new show. Well, all their work time. Because now, for the first time since he was ten, Ash was able to have a personal life.

A dozen episodes of the show had now been released and the original—or new, depending on how one wanted to look at it—anime had just started generation 8. For once in his life, Ash was a free man. He could go to bars, he could swear, and, best of all, the world now knew he had a girlfriend. Some AmourShippers, among others, were a little peeved about this revelation—and what they correctly guessed it would mean for The Retelling’s plotline—but Ash didn’t care. They could get married. He could propose.

And propose he did.

Even though this whole saga had begun with the Pokémon writers refusing to change the script for him, Ash managed to eke out one tiny favor. Sure, he’d been in their bad graces for a while after The Retelling had dropped, but as the anime continued to do well—as well as could be expected, since PokeAni viewership had been down for years anyway—it seemed he was forgiven.

It showed growth in the PokeAni that a line at all about romance was even able to make it in, but Ash managed to squeeze a line into one episode that Ash Ketchum had proposed to Misty Waterflower on a certain day in 2020. The same day that episode was set to air. And, thusly, Ash proposed in real life.

In the future, Ash would regret that move. He would be able to see that he’d done that as a result of his censorship of the past years and he wanted to be overly-bold. He’d wanted the proposal to make a big, public splash. It had been an overcorrection. In the midst of their engagement, he realized that something more personal and intimate might have been better. But, as Misty reassured him many times over the years, she would have been happy for it either way.

Of course, the other issue was that fans were quickly able to suss out when that would mean that their child, the current protagonist, would be conceived and born, assuming their real life relationship was to match that of the characters in the show. That led to some embarrassing and surprisingly aggressive hounding from the fans. Of course, their first child didn’t end up being born for a few more years, and they were quite different from the Ketchum child on the show.

Years later, after the PokeAni had run its course and The Retelling had come and gone with massive fame and success, Ash had one final interview before declaring himself fully retired. Of course, his interviewer was some youngster who hadn’t even been born when The Retelling first came out.

Three cameras were focused on the two of them sitting across from each other in lounge chairs. The set was sparse, but when Ash looked beyond what was visible in frame, he saw dozens of pieces of expensive film equipment. There were booms, monitors, and lots of people with headsets fussing about. Frankly, it was much more pared down than what he’d worked with for much of his career. The technology had grown so much smaller—tighter and better than when he’d gotten his start in the ‘90s. But no matter the differences, he was perfectly at ease as he fell into the role of interviewee and focused all his attention on the young man in front of him.

If Ash wasn’t mistaken the boy across from him looked a little nervous himself. But, nevertheless, he gave one final look at his first note card as people around him moved and called for the cameras to start rolling.

“Hello, Ash, we’re so pleased you could join us here again today.”

“Happy to be here,” Ash replied, the old song and dance coming off his lips as easily as any script had.

“We both wanted this final interview of yours to be the definitive Ash interview, so do you mind if I just get into it?

“Not at all.”

“Great. So what led you to betray the show that gave you your fame and success?”

That was a planned question. The one he’d shown Ash before so that it wouldn’t come across too harsh. But it wouldn’t have anyway. All of the drama of that time was so far in the past, it was easy to talk about. So he did.

”All I wanted was to have my life. And the fact that it led to Ash Ketchum finally having one himself has made me very happy.”

The interviewer leaned back, settling into it. “You have played the role of Ash Ketchum in various capacities for nearly your whole life. Do you think his character has greatly impacted who you feel you’ve grown to be? Is that why it was important to give him a fuller life in The Retelling?”

Ash chucked, his laugh sounding nearly like a croak in his old age. “That boy and I have been together so long, I nearly couldn’t tell you where he stops and I begin. Even at my most frustrated with the role, though, I always had this love for him. I think people all over the world have held a deep love for all versions of Ash Ketchum in their hearts. He’s the quintessential hero, and his many failures never impeded that.”

“You speak of this love for Ash, yet you ultimately caused the character to change entirely after a pretty consistent twenty year run for him. Did you ever have small regrets about that or grieve the ten-year-old version of the character?”

“I definitely never regretted it,” Ash said firmly. “This is the one great truth of my life. But did I grieve the boy I knew? Sure. I’d grown up with him as he’d stayed the same. Constant. Suddenly having such a role in his shaping, his adolescence, adulthood, marriage to my wife’s character, having kids…it was hard. The fans didn’t like everything we did with him unanimously, of course. But for me, I knew if I misstepped with this boy, it would break my heart.”

“Did it break your heart when the show ended?”

“Which show?”

The interviewer thought for a moment, then answered, “Both.”

“Well, the answer is yes, for both,” Ash said, then chuckled. “I suppose I didn’t have to ask ‘which show,’ then.”

“We always like clarity around here.”

“Right, me too,” Ash agreed. “The truth is, when we started The Retelling, I’d been ready to quit the Pokémon anime. In fact, I’d been all set to do so before we came up with the, in hindsight, very complicated solution of entirely rewriting the show. The Retelling, of course, ended up being the best decision of my life. At the time, it was part of a handy solution to keep me from causing an abrupt end to the anime. I think the show ending there would have upset me, but at the same time, it was easy to feel it had run its course. I truly think nearly everyone involved in the show at the time felt that way.

“But then we ended up breathing new life into it. And I was so glad the show hadn’t ended and that the creators thought there was more to add to this world. They started taking fan-created Pokémon for new generations and it really felt like the show was doing more than ever. But still, its time came and went. It was sad, but it was like the passing of a grandparent. You mourn, but you now it’s right.”

“And the Retelling?”

“That show was a blessing, top to bottom. An incredible amount of work, but it saved me in so many ways. We were so lucky to be able to tell that story to the end, to the end of Ash Ketchum’s life. That was the only natural end, and we concluded that early on. Of course, it seems as though some fans continue to write about the children and the next generation, but those stories belong to the fans. Ours was only Ash’s. We told it to the best of our ability, from his birth to his death, and I’m ever so grateful that we got to give him that life.”

“You’re leaving so much behind in your retirement and I wonder, is there any one thing that you’d like the people to remember about Pokémon or Ash Ketchum or your legacy?”

Ash was quiet. In his old age, he’d come to take his time a little more. The impulsive, rash Ash of his youth had been left behind, and now he was ponderous. “There is no right way to tell stories,” he said finally. “I think that when we first started, myself, Misty, and Tess were arrogant enough to think that our way was the right way. The original show had gotten it wrong and we had to right it. But the truth is, that show was wonderful. And our show was wonderful. And every other story out there about Pokémon is equally wonderful. I’m lucky that the story I wanted to tell about these characters had the gift of a large, kind, and receptive audience. Not all stories get that. But they’re no less valuable.  Pokémon is such a gift. It provides an amazing world that we all have spent so much time playing in. You, sir, have you ever watched the show?”

The interviewer nodded. If he was taken aback that Ash had turned the tables to ask the questions, he had the professional veneer not to show it. “I grew up watching reruns.”

“And did you play the games?”

“Some, not a lot.”

“That’s wonderful,” Ash said. “I’m so happy to hear that. They say that generative pieces of art, the books, movies, television shows that inspire people to create themselves, these are sacred. Pokémon, for me, has been the gift to never stop giving. It’s given me my wife, my livelihood, my dearest friends, and the ability to make change in this world. Now, it hasn’t given all those things to most of its fans, but they too have received things. There’s a reason Pokémon kept on coming back, that the new generations of kids kept playing the games. There’s something magic about it. I’m still arrogant enough to like to think I was a part of that. But it will continue to be there after I’m gone as well. And that’s the beauty of it.”

“…So you’d like to say that Pokémon is for everyone?”

“Yes,” Ash answered firmly. “It’s yours. Take it and do with it what you will. I did just that for a long time and it’s brought me much of the joy of my life. I hope it does the same for all of you.”

“Well,” the interviewer said, folding his legs and looking a great deal more comfortable. “I’d say that that’s the end of our exclusive final interview with the inimitable Ash. Thank you, Ash, for speaking with us one more time.”

“Yes,” Ash said, also leaning back and relaxing, looking into the camera one last time. “Thank you as well.”

#pokemon #pokeshipping #aaml #fanfiction #oneshot #ash and misty #ash ketchum

[mostlymovieswithmax]

Classic Doctor Who (S2E1) - Planet Of Giants [spoiler review]

After many months and numerous extended breaks from watching the very first season of Doctor Who (or at least what I was able to watch), originally aired in the latter months of 1963 and through most of ‘64, my impression of the show in its infant stages is that it seemed to want to lean into being quite educational and to show historical events from around the world, while also showing off a bit of space travel as well. With a number of episodes missing from this season, it’s difficult to get the full picture but I’d say I liked it just enough to finish it and begin season 2. The problem I have with these early episodes (or serials) is that each is composed of multiple parts. It’s like in a school test where the teacher tells you there are only 8 questions, meanwhile each question has other sub-questions so for this show the end result winds up being 2-7 sub-episodes for each complete story: a serial. For comparison, each sub-episode is around 24 minutes long so an episode with 6 instalments will roughly take as much time as three modern era Doctor Who episodes, but tell just as much of a story as one of them. Going into season 2 is a similar affair, with its first serial, Planet Of Giants clocking up to only three episodes in total, which I feel is a nice way to ease someone into the show. But is this story any good?

Planet Of Giants deceptively takes place in what I can only assume is the 60’s equivalent of modern day Earth, where companions Ian and Barbara belong. It is not in fact a different planet inhabited by giants, which was a little disappointing, but The Doctor has a cloak now, so it’s all good. The twist however is that the Who crew has been shrunk due to the doors of the TARDIS opening before they’ve fully landed. They explore the land a bit; Ian gets lost; a man dies; all the bugs are being killed from insecticide; everything goes crazy and the gang have to find Ian and also stop the murderer before getting back to the TARDIS and returning to their normal size. This episode is more or less decent in terms of the quality of the show at the time and overall I would say I enjoyed it. Everything in these sets have to be bigger than the main crew composed of The Doctor, Susan, Ian, and Barbara in order to realistically depict how small they all are and it works a treat. Everything looks super cool. These set and prop designers had to make huge match boxes and sink plugs and insects that moved and what have you, for the characters to interact with. I had a lot of fun watching these scenes play out and see the way the environments were utilised. Certain details are set up that seem quite smart, such as the idea that they, as tiny people, wouldn’t be able to talk with regular sized people due to it sounding much in the way a mouse would sound to us. Or that exposure to insecticide would harm them a lot more than it usually would due to their immune system being too small to combat such a relatively high dose. A common issue I’ve noticed with these early Doctor Who episodes is that the writing can often be quite bad. I don’t mind these characters at all but the things they have to say is at times difficult to take seriously. An example of this is an interaction between The Doctor and Ian. Doctor: “Yes, that’s it! We’ll cause trouble! Start a fire, my boy!” Ian: Yes, but can we start a big enough one to do any real damage?” Doctor: “Well we can try anyway, hehe, there’s nothing like a good fire is there!? Hahaha!” Like what the hell? I mean don’t get me wrong, that was hilarious when I heard it but it’s not meant to be. It makes The Doctor sound like a maniac! A recurring detail of this show that I’ve noticed so far is that characters often stumble on their line delivery. They will audibly get mixed up with words or start a sentence, get it wrong, then redo it. In this day and age, it isn’t something I’d tolerate, but here… it’s almost charming. I’m amazed that I don’t mind it. With the film they were using to record the show, I doubt they had the money to stop scenes simply because of a slight line mix up, which would have required a lot more editing and wasted money to account for more film reel, so I can understand why these mistakes are left in. To compare it to, say, Selfie From Hell, the worst movie from 2018 I’ve seen so far, when the woman says “He is really a bad man” in a fake whimpering voice, it served to be ten times worse than any instance of a character in Doctor Who literally messing up a line and saying it again. With Selfie From Hell being filmed on digital, there’s no excuse not to re-record with better acting and writing. So I suppose with older media, I afford some leniency in that sense.

The characters themselves, as I said, I don’t mind. Having watched the newer episode, ‘Twice Upon A Time’ at the end of Capaldi’s run, I expected Hartnell’s Doctor to be infuriating with how misogynistic and out of touch he is in that episode but he is nowhere near as bad as in Twice Upon A Time and I understand now why there was such an influx of people defending him. Don’t get me wrong, there are elements of those traits with Hartnell’s Doctor and sometimes it gets to be rather “eeehh” but mostly he’s played without that being a defining part of his character. If I had to describe the first Doctor, I’d say he was quite playful but strict at times and he definitely loves these adventures but he’s more focused on educating himself from a scientific point of view with each new challenge that comes along, rather than getting stuck into the cultures. Susan, The Doctor’s granddaughter is someone I needed time to adjust to over the first season. As it stands now, I do like her as a character. I think there’s a lot of mystery behind her, what with mentioning her and The Doctor’s home planet a couple of times. At first, she really grated on me because any time anything would go wrong, she would scream. It hurt to listen to. She still does it in Planet Of Giants but I’ve learned to tolerate it. Ian and Barbara are decent. After every outing, they think they’re going to be taken back home and that’s basically the through-line to every episode so far. Every time they open the TARDIS doors, they think they’re going to be back where they belong but each episode is an elaborate way of telling us that The Doctor has no idea how to pilot the TARDIS. Generally, they’re okay with going on these adventures and they do take joy in it but the need to go home always evaporates when they get to a new environment. Unfortunately in more than a few instances, Ian and The Doctor are seen to be more competent than Barbara and Susan which I wish wasn’t the case, but it is more of a symptom of the time it was made and it could have been a lot worse.

As an episode, there’s not a whole lot to say. Planet Of Giants is fun and relatively short. It falls victim to a lot of recurring problems as well as some specific to this episode. There’s not a lot of spatial awareness when it comes to getting characters from one place to the next. The music hits very suddenly when anything that could be considered ‘scary’ happens. Like a stick falling over. I think it succeeds at what it wants to do however. The plot is slightly secondary to the fact that the characters are small now and everything else is big which I don’t mind too much but I’d have liked to have seen a more interesting story being told. As the first episode in the series, it does a good job at letting people know what the show can be about, but as this aired at the end of October in 1964, there wasn’t much of a gap in between seasons, as the last episode of season one aired mid-September during the same year so this feels relatively the same in terms of the overall quality of the episodes. As one of the shorter serials, I’d recommend Planet Of Giants if you fancy having a taste of how the show was back in its early days with the very first Doctor and the very first companions.

#doctor who #classic who #planet of giants #dir: mervyn pinfield #dir: douglas camfield #review #tv #60's

[hazyheel]

WWE Extreme Rules 2019 Review

First match of the night was one that wasn’t announced: Finn Balor vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the Intercontinental Championship. Nakamura tried to get in Balor’s head early on, but Balor was having none of it. This was a match of stiff striking, both guys beating the crap out of each other.  Nakamura reminded us of his submission prowess early on in this match, which was really nice to see again. At one point, Nakamura did the sliding german suplex that Taiji Ishimori does, which was cool to see. Nakamura followed it up with a Kinshasa, but Balor got the standing double foot stomp. He went for the Coup de Gras, but Shinsuke dodged it and hit a knee to the back of the head, followed by the Kinshasa for the win.

Grade: B. Decent match here, way to short, but hopefully they will have a rematch with a nice time on it. Shinsuke was the right winner here, that IC championship has been on ice for way too long, so a fresh champion could reinvigorate it. As for Balor, no reason why he can’t get a couple wins and move into the main event scene. Good match to start the show. 

Next match on the pre show was Drew Gulak vs. Tony Nese for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. Both of them were incredibly vicious right whenthe bell rang, battling on the mat and totally laying into each other with strikes. This crowd was completely on Gulak’s side here, as he is a Philadelphia native, which is always an interesting atmosphere. Early on they started to break out some big moves, such as a huge flying lariat from Gulak off the apron. It looked awesome and painful and it was a great way to get the crowd invested. Another spot saw Nese go for a 450 splash, but missed his target and drove his knee into Gulak’s gut, but only a near fall. Nese then tried to hit the package piledriver, but after a bit of struggling, Gulak hit a brutal powerbomb as a counter, but only a near fall. He then hit the Cyclone crash for the win.

Grade: B-. This match was criminally short, and the two never really found their stride, but it was still pretty good. They condensed what felt like a 10 or 15 minute match into maybe 7 or 8, and we were left with mostly just highspots. Gulak was the right winner here, he should have a long reign. Decent match, but I think we all know that they could do better. 

I was shocked to see that the first match of the main card was Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre vs. Roman Reigns and the Undertaker, no holds barred. For these guys to be curtain jerking is shocking. After Taker entered the ring, they really milked the fans for every bit of cheering that they can do. For some reason, they all still have to tag in and out, despite there being no disqualifications. They all had a bit of time to shine in the begining of the match, with Taker actually looking pretty good and moving well. By the time Taker and McIntyre squared off, the crowd was nice and warmed up, so they were happy to see this big man fight. They actually overbooked Undertaker’s presence a bit, because everyone from Shane, to the ref, to random people around ringside were running scared of him. Taker even got a hot tag and absolutely wrecked both of his opponents. As Taker was about to give Shane a last ride through a table, Elias ran in from the crowd and nailed Taker in the back with a guitar. Reigns ran over to fight him off, but McIntyre sailed in from off screen with a claymore kick to lay him out. Elias tried to get in more offense on Taker, but Taker grabbed him by the throat, only for McIntyre to nail Taker with another claymore. The heels then set Taker up on a table, and Shane gave him the signature elbow drop through the table. During the spot, Taker cut his shoulder on the table. It was a rough spot, and scary to see Taker take it. They then dragged Taker in to the corner and wedged a trash can in with him for the coast to coast, and he hit it! After he did, Reigns flew in on Elias with a superman punch, only for McIntyre to take him down again. Shane pulled Taker back into the middle for the pin, only for Taker to sit up on him. Shane reacted in a great way, and then ate a chokeslam. Elias then ate a chokeslam of his own. They then had an awesome shot where taker was doing his throat slit, and Mcintyre just slowly stood up behind him. McIntyre was waiting for Taker to turn around into a claymore, but Reigns speared him out of it. Taker then grabbed Shane in for a tombstone and won.

Grade: B+. Even though this isn’t as strong of a B+ as most other matches that I have seen, this was a good match. It started off a bit slow and boring, but there were plenty of big moves and spots in that second half to be a great car crash match. Taker looked great here too, he was in great shape. This was honestly his best real match in years, probably since that Hell in a Cell match with Lesnar in 2015. The squash against John Cena was fun, but this was an actual match. Good stuff to Taker, he really held his own here, and the selling of how scary he was made the match all the more better.

Backstage, Seth and Becky were interviewed about their main event. It was corny, they talked about how they got inspiration from various sight seeing spots in Philly. The ending line was kinda good, but I didn’t need to see this.

Then they gave the first advertisement for Raw Reunion, kinda like a redo of the 25th anniversary episode that tanked so hard. Just a bunch of nostalgia in two weeks. Could be fun.

Then we had The Revival vs. The Usos for the Raw Tag Team Championships. Usos cut their obligatory promo and said nothing. Jey and Dawson started with some fast paced grappling. The Revival immediately retreated when the Usos tried for the first superkicks of the match. The Revival worked Jey over during the match, slowing it down in the way that they always like to do. In one awesome heel spot, when Jey was able to fight back a bit, Wilder distracted the ref while Jey made the tag, which allowed them to continue to work on Jey. Eventually, Jey and Dawson tumbled off the top, and Jey gave Jimmy the hot tag. Even still, Jimmy had next to no offense, because Wilder caught him out of the stink faces with a huge powerbomb for a near fall. Dawson even gave Jey a brainbuster at one point, which I though was banned in WWE, but it got no reaction and a near fall. The Revival then hit a great superplex into a splash from Wilder, but Jimmy broke up the pin with a splash of his own. The Usos then went for a suicide dive, but Wilder tripped up Jimmy on the outside, which then allowed The Revival to give Jey a shatter machine after some misdirection, and retain their championships.

Grade: B-. Pretty good match with a shocking finish. I definitely thought the Usos would win here, since the Revival are on their way out. They had a good match that was slow and meticulous, with the heels constantly limiting the offense of the Usos. It was a lot of good heel work with decent action that was mostly slow. You may like this match more if you are into heel work like that, and while I can appreciate it, it can’t carry a match on its own. 

Now, I have never talked about the foreign announcers before, but I have to mention the Hindi announcers. I didn’t understand a word they said, except for at the end, when they posed together with their arms crossed and said “Hindi announcers.” I loved that, I don’t know why, but I did. They totally got themselves over with me.

Then we had Cesaro vs. Aleister Black. This was hard hitting from the second that this match started. They ran circles around the ring, getting in strikes and kicks whenever they could. Cesaro tried to get in Black’s head by mimicing the signature pose, but Black refused to be intimidated. So, Cesaro then tried to counter each of Black’s signature moves, such as pushing him over the top rope when he went for the springboard moonsault. At one point, Black went for a meteroa to a standing Cesaro, but Cesaro actually caught him by the legs, and popped him up for a european uppercut. Throughout the match, Black was focusing on the leg with various kicks and strikes, which later came into play when Cesaro went for another European uppercut and his leg gave out. So, Black put him in a leg bar, only for Cesaro to seemlessly reverse it into a sharpshooter, and then a crossface. Black escaped, and after a bit of a struggle, hit Black Mass for the win. 

Grade: B. The match started out really well and had some hard hitting spots, but ultimately fell on a dead crowd. It was still pretty good, but I think I had my hopes up far too much for this. They worked together pretty well, and fans still got a sense of what Black can do. I can’t wait to see where he goes from here, because Black is money, World Championship material. Also nice to see Cesaro in the midcard again, he is also a great singles wrestler. 

Backstage, Truth and Carmella were looking around for Drake Maverick, and he asked Alexa Bliss if he was in her dressing room, and although he said yes. Carmella then made them leave. Bliss then gave Nikki Cross one of her T-Shirts, which was all torn up. The Street Profits showed up and sowed some uncertainty in the relationship, saying that Alexa Bliss would become the champion. The women insisted that they would be co-champions, and the Street Profits laughed. Cross then screamed at them for it, and said that she would prove them wrong. As they walked away, Angelo Dawkins said that he wants to party with her.

We went right into that match: Bayley vs. Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross. Cross and Bayley started the match and tore into each other with reckless abandon, but the challengers quickly took advantage and beat Bayley down. Cross and Bliss worked together very well, especially at one point when Bayley fought back when Cross trapped her in the ring skirt, and Bliss gave her a baseball slide to the back of the head to save her partner. At one point, Bayley locked Cross in a leg submission, and then dodged Bliss when she tried to break it up, only for Bayley to then lock Bliss in a crossface in a nice double submission spot. Cross eventually got a tornado DDT to set Bayley up for twisted bliss, but Bayley countered with the knees for the twisted Bliss, and intercepted Cross’s splash with a high knee. She then gave Cross the elbow drop for the win.

Grade: B-. Decent match, nice little story here but nothing too spectacular. I liked the tag team work from Bliss and Cross. Again, I was shocked at the outcome, I thought that we would have Bliss and Cross at Summerslam, but I was happy to see Bayley retain. No turn on Cross at the end of the match either, so that story isn’t done. Honestly, I think that they should go into the Women’s Tag Scene, and actually do something with those belts. Could be a fun story.

Then we had Braun Strowman vs. Bobby Lashley in a Last Man Standing match. Strowman kicked off the match right away by throwing Lashley out of the ring and throwing him around ringside. As Strowman went for his shoulder tackle at ringside, but Lashley countered with a spear, hurting Strowman’s midsection early on. Lashley then took the fight into the crowd, battering Braun with a chair and targeting the ribs. The two fought into the concessions area, and Strowman gave Lashley a suplex into a wall of merchandise. As the two fought back towards the ring, Lashley was able to give Strowman a spear through the barricade, but both men still got back up. Lashley then mimicked Strowman’s shoulder tackle at ringside and tackled him over the German announce desk, dumping it on him afterwards. Strowman retreated into the crowd, and Lashley jumped the barricade to follow him, only for Strowman to take that momentum and throw him into the international announce desks. The two continued to battle into the stands, over an entrance. Braun then opened up a gate, and gave Lashley a powerslam into some production crates. As the ref was counting, we just had a shot of the side of the crate, and around Seven, Strowman burst out of the side of it, and won the match as Lashley stayed down.

Grade: C+. This match was very slow, and the high spots were not nearly high enough to get a good grade. Their brawl in the stands and the finish did elevate the match, but still not enough to be positive. The crowd was really into it though, so good on them. Of course Braun should have won here, and it is making me feel like he and Seth may have a match for Summerslam, or maybe him and Bray. A big win like this should translate into a big Summerslam match, but lets see what happens.

After that we had a quick interview with AJ Styles, nothing really of note was said. Fun to see him as a heel though, he is very imposing. 

Into the tag division, we had New Day (Big E and Xavier Woods) vs. Heavy Machinery vs. The Planet’s tag team champions. Woods and Daniel Bryan started the match, putting on a fast paced match with lots of strikes. Tucker quickly tagged himself in, showing a bit of his prowess, before Rowan quickly tagged himself in and yanked Tucker out of the ring.  The heels worked over Woods, with Bryan yelling “Oh right its no DQ,” and raking away at the eyes. At one point, Heavy Machinery took on Big E, with Otis having him up for a vertical suplex, and Tucker giving a splash for the assist. Rowan later knocked poor Woods out of the ring, giving him a brutal splash, and then holding him up for a flying knee from Bryan. Big E then gave Bryan a spear through the ropes, followed by Otis faking a suicide dive, and instead hitting a splash off the apron. Tucker then nailed everyone with a splash on the outside. They dragged Big E back into the ring for the compactor, but Xavier woods broke it up. They gave Woods a double slam, and then fought off Rowan a bit. They then had Rowan in a double superplex position, and Big E completed the tower of doom. Rowan held on, so BIg E powerbombed both of Heavy Machinery as Bryan made the blind tag. Big E then gave Rowan a superplex, but Bryan flew off the top with a flying headbutt and locked in the Lebell lock. Bryan then tied Big E up as he tried to get to the ropes, eventually letting go because Big E was too much to handle. He lit Big E up with strikes, and Big he got quite into it, begging him for more. He then caught Bryans strike and whipped him into the corner. Bryan did his flip out of the corner, only for Big E to catch him, and with Woods, hit the midnight hour for the win. 

Grade: B+. Another really good match from the Smackdown tag division. There was a lot of good action here, Striking from bryan, comedy and hoss fighting with Heavy Machinery, and some babyface action from New Day. It was fast paced and there was a lot of fun here. I really liked it. I thought that Heavy Machinery would win here, but I am happy for the New Day to get to hold all the gold. Match of the night right here. 

The New Day were about to be interviewed, when Paul Heyman ran by and grabbed the mic. He talked about Brock a bit, before putting himself over as a Philadelphia boy and an ECW man, and said that Brock would be cashing in tonight. He then made it ambiguous as to whether or not he was telling the truth, and walked out. I’m not gonna grade this because it was a short promo, but it was interesting. I know he has been doing this kind of thing on TV, but I haven’t been watching TV, so it was fresh for me. 

Up next was AJ Styles vs. Ricochet for the United States Championship. As Ricochet did his entrance, he did his little flip and the Good Brothers attacked right as he landed. Ricochet looked pissed, but was still willing to fight. The two started to fight, and The Good Brothers were constantly chirping on the outside and causing distractions. An example was when Ricochet had Styles on the outside, but Gallows and Anderson were right up in his face, allowing Styles to take control back. After Ricochet started to get some momentum going, he climbed up to the top rope and gave Gallows and Anderson a dive to the outside. The two men continued to go back and forth in the middle of the ring. At one point, Ricochet went for a slingshot DDT, but AJ countered it into a snap vertical suplex into the corner, hanging Ricochet up a bit. The two continued to trade strikes and even dueled to get a brainbuster, with Styles able to connect with it. The two then battled on the top rope, with Ricochet hanging Styles up on the top rope and then a springboards shooting star press. AJ was about to lose, but he had his foot under the ropes, which Anderson happily pointed that out. Anderson then charged Ricochet on the apron, and got taken out. Ricochet went up for the 630 as the ref checked on Anderson, allowing Gallows to trip him up. AJ then hit the Style Clash from the second rope for the win.

Grade: B. Good match, but they weren’t going all out yet. They were working a bit slower to make time for the interference spots. AJ winning makes sense with his new stable. Ricochet chasing for a while is definitely not a bad thing. I hope that this is not our last time seeing this, because I think that they could put on a match of the year. 

Then we had Dolph Ziggler vs. Kevin Owens. They did their entrances, and they yelled at each other about who’s time it was. Ziggler slapped Owens, and Owens nailed the stunner for the win. He then grabbed a mic, and shot on Shane McMahon. He said that he stands by what he said on smackdown. He was shocked that he wasn’t fired on the way in, and thanks the Undertaker for saving his job. He then told Shane to kiss his ass and go to hell. 

Grade: C-. Meh, a shocking finish and a neutered version of his smackdown promo. Not much here, but it was exciting. But not exciting enough.

Then we had Samoa Joe vs. Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship. He cut a quick promo being menacing, and then came out to the ring. Kofi started the match with a huge dropkick, and Joe responded with a huge lariat. The beginning of the match was showing Joe’s dominance. They gave Kofi bits and pieces of a comeback, only for Joe to put him the hell down with a huge strike of his own. Joe went as far as working over Kingston’s middle finger, making the announcers and crowd cringe and showing some good psychology and storytelling. They continued to go back and forth, and one point, Kofi went for the Trouble in Paradise, but Joe grabbed him in a Coquina clutch. He turned the submission into a uranagi and then a senton. Joe tried for it again, but Kofi dodged it and hit trouble in paradise for the win.

Grade: C+. This match never really hit its stride. They told a really good story of Joe’s dominance, but we already knew that. And Kofi’s win at the end really felt out of nowhere, as his comeback was far too understated. Just an unfortunate brand of storytelling.

And in the main event, we have Seth Rollins & Becky Lynch vs. Baron Corbin & Lacey Evans in an Extreme Rules Last Chance Winner Take All match. The match started off kinda like you’d expect, until Corbin introduced a kendo stick. Lacey tried hit Rollins with a Kendo stick, but he caught it. Lacey then hit on him a bit and got all cozy, so Lynch whalloped her in the head with a Kendo stick of her own. The faces then beat down the heels with the kendo sticks, before hitting a flying elbow and a suicide dive in stereo. Rollins then tried for another suicide dive, but Corbin blocked it with a chair. He then beat down Rollins with a couple chairs. Rollins fought back by countering Corbin’s offense, and tagged in Becky, who layed into Lacey brutally with a chair, ending it with a bulldog on a chair. Lynch was going to give Evans a move off the top, but Corbin pulled her away. So, Rollins came in with a flying knee, and then tossed Corbin a chair, which Lynch missile dropkicked into his face. Rollins and Lynch took a really really long time to set up a pair of tables while Evans and Corbin were on the ground. The heels fought back into the match, and they punished Rollins in the ring with Kendo sticks, leaving Lynch on the outside.  Lynch tried to get the assist, but was met with stereo chokeslams for a near fall. The faces fought back and gave the heels a double suplex onto the ramp, and then put them on the tables that were set up. Lynch gave Evans a leg drop through the table, while Rollins gave Corbin a huge frog splash through another. Rollins then pulled Corbin back into the ring and went for the curb stomp, but Corbin countered with a powerbomb, and then popped him back up into a deep 6, but Lynch broke up the pin. Lacey tried to get the pin, but Lynch through her back out, only to walk into an End of Days from Corbin. Rollins was so pissed that he destroyed a kendo stick and a chair over his back, and drilled him with three curb stomps before pinning him. 

After the match, Brock Lesnar walked out to cash in, with Lynch still lying on the outside. Lesnar gave Rollins a couple German suplexes, and then cashed in. he gave Rollins an F5 and won the championship. 

Grade: C. Kinda fun at times, but this kind of match can suck sometimes because of the no hitting girls rule. I’m glad that Lynch ate an end of days, he got a lot of heat. But it was just a kinda awkward little fact that they had to work around. But it was brutal at times, and I liked both the finishing sequence, and then the cash in as well. This was as good a time as any, and if they were gonna do it on Seth, this was the time. But still not a very good match.

Overall Grade: B-

Pros: IC championship; no holds barred tag; cesaro vs. black; triple threat tag; US championship match

Cons: crowd died over the course of the night; owens vs. ziggler; main event; nothing that really tore the house down

#hazyheel #wwe #extreme rules #Extreme Rules 2019 #WWE Extreme Rules 2019 #WWE Extreme Rules #pro wrestling #wwe review #extreme rules review #extreme rules 2019 review #wwe extreme rules review #wwe extreme rules 2019 review #pro wrestling review #pay per view review #becky lynch #seth rollins #lacey evans #Baron Corbin #Brock Lesnar

[ceejay1163]

The Teal* Bronco (*Turquoise)

First off I want to tag the amazing @aquadolan whose hilariously accurate reaction videos make me laugh cry every time I see them and makes me feel like we are experiencing the video together and having a laugh like a couple of mates despite being in opposite sides of the world.

Now for my reactions to 'Tricking my brother into thinking his car was flipped'

The ring mmhmmm just yes

The clapping tho? Not about it

Ethan has a shorter attention span then me and that's impressive

I did not pick the boys to like roller skating although they ice skate so it makes sense

Little bitch haha

I like the jumper. It looks fuzzy and cozy

How long did this take to plan? Honestly it seems like it would be taken forever

Roasting the matchingness to the car

He seems to actually be jealous that Gray's favourite car isn't the one he bought. That's adorable. Fuck I'm not even 2 mins into the video

And now the car is broken

Wait did I fuck up? Am I recording?

The gum Ethan. Eww for fuck sake mate don't be a pig.

'I have really bad attentional problems' yeah.. your English might need some work too

When's the last time I ate? -literally something I say most days

Roast him for dropping out of school and not remembering common phrases and sayings

Why do all Ethans pranks involve Graysons cars?

Also not wanting to say what time you wake up. Same

Laughing at yourself

I'm cool, I'm cool actually no I'm not

Groggy or drunk?

Slap. Pain kink anyone?

That damn projector

Air quotes

Did anyone understand the car mumbo jumbo? Like at all? Did anyone care?

Good job keeping a straight face Ethan. He won't suspect a thing.

Fun-ny

Why do boys turn everything into challenges? My nephews do it all the time

Full actor mode

Too many words in Google mate. Google doesn't care why you need a Photoshop artist

More air quotes. Except out of sync.

It's just a prank bro.

Bitter he can't go skating. Poor bubba

Morning voice half an octave lower. Yes please

Groaning. Thank you

I always end up falling asleep at least twice after waking up the first time before getting up. V relatable

Him jumping into bed to pretend to be asleep reminds me of being a kid and bolting through the house in the middle of the night after getting up to get a drink or something, trying to avoid monsters or waking up the parents

Jumpers with shorts?

He's got slippers. Awww

Realising a flaw in his plan when the car doesn't work.

Too many cars in the driveway

CRINGEY PHOTOS. WOO.

Fucking drama queen

That stupid photoshopped photo

Real us. Not actor mode us haha

Mr Dolan 😏

Doesn't analyze it too much. Good idea

He has such bloke-ish child like writing

The calf tattoo 🥺

Socks and slides Grayson? That's almost as bad as socks and sandals. Fucking hell

Love a man in light grey sweats

Run Ethan go back to bed. You're so grounded (idk)

He pulled Ethans hip so hard. Jesus

What is that bike thingy in the background?

WHO DOESN'T LOCK THEIR FUCKING CAR??? YOU FUCKING IMBECILE

Now Gray let's put on our big boy thinking caps. It's not Ethans fault. Entirely. You also didn't lock the fucking car

Booty 👀

Not knowing if you have insurance. Mate you should look into that. (Also a very me thing to not know)

Gray is loosing it. Like actually looks like he's gonna do the frustrated crying thing

"That's not chill you need to fix that." Pretty sure sleeping is pretty chill. Also how does one fix being a heavy sleeper (other then by having kids)

"You need to be able to wake up in the morning and get shit done" no need to call me out like that

Let me call the *mumble mumble mumble*

It's fucking turquoise- whelp fuck have to change the title

Who steals a turquoise car at 9am? He's loosing it

Awe he doesn't want people to get hurt. Cutie

Seriously why hasn't he called the police yet? When I got home from my nanas funeral to find my house broken into the first thing I did was call the cops. And then cry cos it was like 10pm and I'd just driven like 12 hrs so I was hella tired

He's V loud. And then V quiet.

You motherfucker. Ok rude but understandable

That sigh of relief and the laughter

All of the adrenaline just left Gray immediately. Also hiding under a blankie? adorable

"Where did you put it?" Immediately forgets haha

Did you ruin it and turn it pink or something? You're getting a rep E and why does Gray assume it would be painted pink?

The sound effect over Gray pulling up his pants to hide his plumbers crack 😂

You need to rub it out. I mean ok sure

"I kinked up bro" just why 😂

Slap. SPINNING. It's a theme park ride

You stole my car- Dude where's my car movie anyone?

Car upside down you say? Forshadowing

Grayson gives up on life.

Nope never mind he's dramatically throwing himself onto the bed and screaming into the blankets like a teenage girl

Also booty

FROG

Don't dance Grayson

It's all in the puff bro

Mr Dillon, not Dolan, Dillion

Grayson has left the building look

Nose boop

The eye movement. Wait you what?

Beard pulling

Give me the phone. No you are having the phone. Ok fine.

Intense eye contact for real tho

That dumbass look on his face. Grayson is shooketh to hell

Do they even understand any of this car mumbo jumbo? Does it even make any sense?

I don't know shit about insurance. Seriously dude that's not smart

MY CAR

That's not chill bro that's not chill at all. Putting them on a ban for the words chill and bro. More to be added. They use those words more then I use the word mate and that's impressive

I'm taking the phone and subtly suggesting human error (negligence) and a potential law suit

Oh you have footage? Talk to my older brother

I don't know much about cars. Dude

More stupid looks from Gray

I don't wanna see it

More screaming

More yelling Grayson

We can move your car but it's gonna cost you more money

Not falling for that pic

Just put it on the next one. Gray it's not a fucking bus. There's no schedule to have the next one come out. Use your head darlin'

More yelling in the car and swearing

How did he organise the street thing? Like actually.

Also surely it's illegal to pretend to have roadworks and fuck up traffic

VROOM. You go lil blue car

BULGE 👀 this is when I stopped paying attention the first time I watched it.

What is the camera guy (kyle?) wearing? Who said that be one were allowed to be a thing again? I'm not impressed

Grayson is v frustrated

DON'T LITTER

Neither of you should be allowed to dance. Its not good

That's the wrong question to ask about the camera guy's clothes

Fist clap

Wait where's the car? Is it safe? Poor Gray his brain is malfunctioning

Camera goes to Grayson. Ooh look bulge. Pans away. Move back ooh bulge.

If they keep upping the ante someone's gonna get hurt

I don't know what's inside of me. Never a good thing to say

Still allergic to dogs 🥺

HOLY SHIT THAT HAPPENED

I haven't heard you scream that much for that long 👀

Grayson's pretty loud. I would like to test that. Please and thank you.

Deep breathing

SOOOO HARD. (I volunteer)

I am going to prank the actual s out of Ethan. Really taking the not swearing thing seriously huh

Sure whatever you say. He doesn't believe you'll get him back Gray. Kick his ass

Bruh

Eric deserves a medal for his phone acting. Well done faceless dude named Eric

I give up. I give up on everything. If that's not a fucking mood

Double bitched sounds like it should mean something else. Just saying

Boob caress

My guard's up. No your guard can't be up. Pretty sure that's not how it works Grayson

Just don't hurt me. Grayson is so not listening to him. He's still mad

No rules

It was fake There's no rules

Ethan being hurt Gray doesn't love his present

Still mad.

Rubs sweat all over comfy jumper. Childish

HE STILL LOOKS FUCKING LIVID.

Alrighty take three of finishing this thing. Tumblr crashed yesterday after I spent like 2 hours writing this and deleted half my comments. I couldn't finish it then cos it was almost 2am and I had work today so I redid it from like the 20 minute mark of the video. Then I saved it to my drafts And published it but it deleted the last like 5 minutes of comments so I had to redo them again. Here's hoping Tumblr sorts it's shit out cos it's late and I have work again tomorrow. 🐨

[julesplanb-blog]

Don’t cross the themes!

The following note contains heavy spoilers about the plot of both 1984 & 2016 Ghostbusters movies, and a tiny one - a line of dialogue - from Ocean’s 8.

“Having only girls in the new Ghostbusters movie makes no sense and is as sexist as having only males, you -”

Ok so, this is where I’m gonna cut that quote from about 78 random dudes sharing their opinion on Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters with me (so much love I did not ask for <3), because this is usually where said opinion goes from PG to NC-17. I said in a previous note that arguing with people about movies was one of the greatest things in life... provided that people’s opinions were at least a tad respectful, and a tad built on something, ANYTHING, beyond basic casual hatred for women (oh hello, guys who want to remake The Last Jedi!). That being said, I’m going to be the bigger person here and still take time to answer those 78 gentlemen with a little piece on why, in my humble opinion, having women in the Ghostbusters reboot not only makes sense, but makes it a more functioning movie when it comes to characters and even themes. Ok, let’s do this.

First things first: while I’m interested in comparison, I don't think it's relevant to try and rank the 2 movies: I personally enjoy the 2016 more, but I can acknowledge its weaknesses. It’s just than what works in it is way more compelling to me as a viewer (and, yes, as a female viewer). On the other hand, I’ll admit the qualities of the original, mostly to be an effortless piece of good writing, but it’s weaker where the 2016 shines, and vice-versa. Ultimately, those are 2 different movies, actually telling two different stories. Yes, I know, both are about a team of semi-misfits chasing ghosts. But one story focus (1984) is around a philosophical idea, and the second is about human/women condition (2016). One is built around a (fun, entertaining and functioning) concept, i.e. busting ghosts, the other is about characters paths. To the point where I think there’s close to no character arc in the original Ghostbusters. I mean think about it: how did the characters changed between beginning and end? When the film starts, they already know each other’s, have a functioning relationship and it turns out all along that they were pretty much right on everything from the start. They’re not exactly challenged on their beliefs, way to see the world, behaviours or just plain personalities, not even Bill Murray’s Peter Venkman, when this character is actually both a jerk and a fraud. Sure, Sigourney Weaver’s Dana calls him a fraud at some point, but this is a Tchekov gun being flashed without being shot, since from there, Dana is possessed by Zuul and kind of written off the movie (which is a shame). Now, I won’t make this piece a full digression on why Peter Venkman is a jerk and how this fact could make us file the movie itself under “lovable but still a bit problematic”, yet this still deserves a couple lines because when you look closely: Peter Venkman is a jerk, borderline creepy (and the movie never gives us fuel to think otherwise, for real). Actually, Peter Venkman is pretty much what the bad guy of Ghostbusters 2016 (Rowan) could have become if he had any kind of power. We see Peter act just the way Rowan would if he had the upper hand on someone: he cheats on his own experiment, abuses a student as a faculty, make creepy innuendos to women who did not ask for this...  I make this point because as the 2016 bad guy, Rowan makes perfect sense. Meanwhile, there’s no actual human big bad in the 1984 version, because there’s no specific reason for the events to happen when they happen.

Exactly, why is New York infected by ghosts in the original Ghostbusters? Ok, I wasn’t alive back in 1984 and maybe there's something I miss, a reference to a historical “mood” if you’ll have it, maybe an “end of the world vibe” I don’t not know about. But between some obvious referencing to Exorcist and the general comedic tone of the film, I’ve always watched Ghostbusters as some kind of parody or reappropriation of a genre, and not a reflection of its time. And it’s okay. All of the above (well, maybe not Venkman never being called on his jerkiness): the lack of proper character arcs, human villain or symbolic reason for the infestation to happen. First, because, thanks to great dialogues & great acting by already beloved actors, we still care for those guys. But more important: because you can have great stories without it. Stories propulsed by something else than character development, such as... a theme. And 1984 Ghostbusters statement is a pretty damn interesting one: science beats superstition, well, science can explain supernatural, science beats ghosts, science beats freakin’ Gods, so man can beat god. Seriously, This is a great theme, and the script is nicely built around it, up to an ending where we see nerds vanquish a god with scientific tech. 1984 Ghosbusters makes writing choices and works, and as a movie about defeating incarnations of both childhood and adulthood fears (monsters and gods) it turns out to be a smart and timeless piece of pop culture. 

Now you can argue that if it’s timeless, did it really needed to be rebooted in the first place? But see, the beauty of this reboot is that it does not try to redo the same thing. Because the 2016 Ghostbusters makes completely different writing choices, revolves around something else entirely, and if its theme also features some universal / timeless aspects, its treatment makes it a very relevant piece to the time it came out. So let’s break it down: 

First, I believe its writing to be deeply entwined with characters’ flaws and development. What they want, what they lack, is the main propulsion for the story. And if we agree to say Kristen Wiig’s Erin Gilbert is our main character here, what she wants is consideration by her pairs. You can argue she has that at the beginning: teacher in a decent university, about to get tenure, but remember that to get this far, she had to leave behind her best friend and what she actually believed in. She had to fit. Meanwhile Abby is still working on what she wants but in a D-list school and only because the dean has no idea who she is. Both have to hide what matters to them to be included. And this theme as well as Erin’s relationship with Abby is one of the pivot point of the movie: the past and the complicated present of the characters weigh into the script, introduce conflict, propulsion and ultimately, resolution.

But this quest for being legit really works for the 4 of our characters: Abby & Jillian get their a** fired as soon as the dean actually remembers what they’re working on. Patty too: while she works un ungrateful job below the surface, she actually knows the city above ground better than any other character, not only places and localisation but historical perspective, arts... (It’s also interesting to note, if we want to compare the 2 movies that in 1984, Dana sees a ghost and become a client of the Ghostbusters (then a victim of said ghost). In 2016, the woman who sees a ghost, i.e. Patty, joins the team as a Ghostbuster herself. Women are no more plot devices here: they have they own agendas & needs, they’re the engine of the story.)

So you have this characters trying to be acknowledged as professionals, which works perfectly with the concept “scientists turning into ghosts hunters”. But what’s even better: it works perfectly with an all-female group of characters. Why? Well, because in real life, you can totally be denied the legitimacy you deserve just. for. being. a. woman.

It’s also completely in resonance with a movie about sorority and the way girls have to stick out for each other (Abby & Erin reconciliation). Sexism could actually be seen as the villain here. It’s a picture paint with small brushes (and that’s something to add to the film credit) but it’s there: the little jokes about online comments - an obvious yes short nod to the guys who managed to troll the movie notation before it even came out (isn’t it grand though? I mean those douchebags are so freaking predictable Paul Feig managed to write them in before they even manifest themselves) - the dean behaviour... Apart from that, 2016 Ghostbusters does not state out loud the fact those women are depreciated for being women, for it doesn’t need to. Because you know what? Women knows. And it's their freaking film.

Of course the clearest illustration of that idea has to be the bad guy. Rowan is indeed a misogynist jerk, but beyond that, is the perfect incarnation of those women antagonist in 2016. So in 1984 Ghostbusters, we don’t know exactly why the wall between the worlds is getting thinner right now: the guy behind it is a god and well, gods work in mysterious ways. But in 2016, the grand master is a human. Because that version is not about god vs men, it’s about men vs men. Because not all men / humans are equal. 

It makes perfect sense her to have the ghosts being summoned by a villain who happens to be a persona of entitled jerks feeling they’re not recognized for their true value (hey! theme again!). Except Rowan / those guys are not denied respect on an essentialist aspect of themselves (being a woman, black, gay...) but because they’re actually not as good as they thing they are.

It's a (lighter, more comedy-compatible) version of that awfully sad and way too real guy who randomly shoot at people because one girl turned down his advances one day, the guy blaming his lack of acknowledgement by the society on society being unfair to him, but deciding that the best course of action is to destroy said society instead of proving it wrong. While Abby, Erin, Jillian and Patty decide to take action and working their a** off on proving they ARE RIGHT (to extreme extend too, with Erin releasing the ghost to prove a point in her need for legitimacy), Rowan just wants to burn it all, to no one’s benefit but his own crave for power and destruction. Do you see why that guy nemesis needed to be a Erin Gilbert and not a Peter Venkman?

Having women serves the movie all the way, up till the end. And as a character-driven movie, its script does the best possible thing: giving characters, not what they wanted, but what they needed. For in the end, it’s not that much about acknowledgment (though the skyline scene is heartwarming <3) for the city still ask the theam to be super discreet, it’s about doing what you want regardless of people’s opinion, knowking yourself that you are good at what you’re doing, and doing it because you are good at it. Trust me boys, that speaks to every girl here.

In fact everything in the new Ghostbusters makes sense for the viewers of its time. Which is exactly what a good reboot should do. It’s all in the details, and mostly in the references to the previous one.

The Ghostbuster 2016 doesn't aim at telling the 1984 one is bad, but states that things have changed. The references are smart and symbolic but not too obvious that a new viewer would miss a plot point for not knowing it. It’s the perfect balance: taking what worked and was good and put it in a different time. And the times, they are a-changing, people. Sometimes for the better, such as Bill Murray being again a jerk but getting punished for it, sometimes for worse.

For instance : the brownstone that the guys get at the beginning of 1984 but the girls can’t afford before the end, stating, maybe, just maybe, that women or in this instance, that this new generation will have to work harder for stuff such as rent. And take the biggest symbol / reference to the original: the giant Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.

In this movie, he’s not being defeated by high tech, but by the Swiss army knife “every girl should have on her” (because, yes, being a girl is a source of danger just by itself). While the cast of the new movie is literally being smothered by the incarnation of the previous movie, by the “good old times”, the girl who finally came to believe in herself defeats it by "being a girl" If this not exhilarating metaphor, what is? This is both an homage and refusal to say "original is better because it's the first!" Nope, times change, women are here to claim their places in movies, in the real world, and that new Ghostbusters wasn't gender swapped for nothing, it was because it fits tis day and age, and it was because it fits the theme

Ghostbusters 2016 is grounded in its time, thus being not a useless reboot but a reappropriation of a great idea, playing it across a different era in terms of economy, society, women position...

It's not gratuitous. It's better this way.

Now, I’m aware this piece comes out a bit late to end it on “go see the new Ghostbusters ladies, it rocks and those trolls are just petty men realizing the world is not ENTIRELY them anymore”.  So I’m going to end it on “go see Ocean’s 8 ladies, it rocks and those trolls are just...” you get the point. Truth is: Ocean’s 8 is a decent summer movie, functioning, fun, witty and supported by a great cast.   

It also acknowledges, in *one line*, why the team is only women, in a very clever, resonant way: it’s smarter to make a heist with women, because women are ignored. That’s it. The movie doesn’t say more, doesn’t need to say more. Because women know that’s true, know they’re not as visible and considered as their male co-workers even when doing an equal or better job. Women will get it just hearing that line. And it’s their freaking movie. You know what’s the narrative justification for Ocean’s 11 (11!) or original Ghostbusters to be all male? Well, there isn’t any. Because that was just default setting. And boy am I glad to see this changing. Even if it’s just line by line.

#ghostbusters #jillian holtzmann #erin gilbert #Patty Jenkins #abby yates #paul feig #ivan reitman #sexism #movies #reboot #peter venkman #feminism #oceans 8 #writing #script #character driven

[leaveharmony]

Hogwarts Foeyay: A History

Because the box marked coping mechanisms / self care is empty save for a napkin with “hyperfixate on nonsense” scribbled on it, ‘cos @breadclubrising​ suggested once I redo it in post form, and because I've been meaning to anyway. 

Why do I ship Shinsuke & Tana*, by T’Sora, age 5.

*(OBVIOUSLY I mean in kayfabe**)

**(although tbh the statements “No of course they’ve never had that kind of relationship in actuality” and “Yeah they were at it like rabbits” would cause in me the exact same lack of surprise.  It’s my only wresting ship tbh but this canoe paddles itself)

The first time I saw Tana, I thought he was a heel.  A perfect storm of complete ignorance of New Japan and blind love for Shinsuke resulted in my assumption that he was a beloved babyface, and therefore anyone fighting him was by default a heel; this ignoring the fact that I'd watched him use blatant heel tactics against Ibushi mere minutes before, and swat Red Shoes aside like an irritating mosquito, besides.  I forget what specific match it was but it was definitely a multi-man tag.  I know for certain Yujiro was in it, because the Tanahashi / Takahashi problem had me distracted for most of the match, with a further YOSHI-HASHI complication thrown in for good measure.  YOSHI's was the first name I learned, which may go some way towards explaining my unwavering love for Tacos.  If I recall rightly, I solved it with TaNahashi, Not in CHAOS, TaKahashi, CHAOS but spelled wrong. (or right, depending on how much fearless leader'd had to drink that day)

But I digress. Tana had the Intercontinental title, which was clearly Shinsuke's belt, and my first read on the situation was that he must be a jerk, and they probably hated each other.  We all of us sometimes make mistakes.  -_-

I think it was the pre-WK8 VTR that caused me to reassess this conclusion...I used to watch anything I could find in a frantic attempt to play catch-up and learn everything there was to learn. 

(it ends with this, because blowing kisses at your rival is definitely a thing people do)

It of course included some scenes from what I affectionately call the ‘Wrestleprom invitation,’ which reads less like a mocking challenge to a mortal enemy and more like a flirtatious dare which would have started with “What are you wearing?” if it was a late-night phonecall.

Key moments: When Shinsuke, all fired up after his title defense & having laid out an invitation to the ring sees that Tana is on his way down the aisle, lets loose a radiant smile that could have powered a continent for about half a year:

When Tana comes out with his lips puckered in what he probably meant to be a skeptical or cautious way but just hilariously makes it look like he thinks a dip-kiss is a forgone conclusion to this encounter

This fucking exchange of expressions.  This is like...a time-stop, right here.  Everybody comes in footloose and fancy free until they stop avoiding eye contact; when they stop looking at beruto and start looking at each-other, this happens.  Shinsuke's tone goes from cocky to soft, his face goes from arrogant to almost tender.   Tana's apparently so thrown by the sudden shift in mood  that he, the Ace of New Japan, can't handle the intensity of the look on Shinsuke's face and actually drops his gaze for a few seconds.  Not, looking off to the side or looking at the crowd, the camera, the title...not an act of defiance or gesture of indifference, but something like a flicker of momentary vulnerability or uncertainty.  Like it's painful or overwhelming for some reason and he involuntarily shows this, which is just...for someone as poised as Tana who probably started perfecting his facial expressions in the mirror at age 13, is almost startling.

When Tana recovers himself after being momentarily wrong-footed, and makes Shinsuke PAY for that half-second loss of control with a torturous wait for him to actually speak.  Shinsuke, ham that he is, runs through about 18 different facial variations of "Oh please oh please oh please please please" even while he looks like he's trying not to laugh at the way Tana's toying with him.

Tana's opening gambit and Shinsuke's immediate reaction to it: “It's been a while.”

After that everything reverts back to normal, with Tana being a dork and Shinsuke being a dork right back, and it's a date.

In the same VTR, iirc the first thing Tana says is to call them “Rivals,” but something about the way he smiles when he says it made me laugh and think “Ohhhhhh - it's rivals with quotation marks.”

Of course it didn't take me long to run into what has become my favourite match: the G1 Climax 25 final.

Which had

Its share

Of moments

That may

Have contributed

To shipping them.

I know I talk about this every single time but the bit where Shinsuke raises Tana's hand only after Tana's taken two steps forward because he thinks they're going to hug and the subsequent grumpy look on his face when Shinsuke swerves him is forever hilarious to me.

Of course as I became more familiar with everything I learned they were once a tag team, and lost my entire shit about it.  I've only found a few matches from that time (the most fun of which was the match from Mexico where they won one fall by pinning the guy together).

But there are a fair number of absolutely fucking quality pictures of their Mexican excursion which in the right viewing order absolutely makes them look like newlyweds on honeymoon.

Probably some of the dynamic stems from them + Shibata having been slated as the new “Three Musketeers,” only for Shibata to fuck off & leave them as two people shouldering a burden rather than three, in the middle of a difficult time and with the future anything but assured.  

There's literally a whole book about them - which I can't yet actually read without some considerable effort over like, at least a year (it's in the to-read pile but so are four of Shinsuke's books and one of Tana's).  Probably for reasons of Vince Owns His Soul Now Shinsuke didn't do a lot of hyping for it so it fell to Tana, who, roughly translated, offered this gem about their relationship: “If I'm the sun, Shinsuke is like the moon.  Even if one of us is gone, there's no New Japan without Tanahashi and Nakamura.”

Verbally, most things come from Tana.  Calling Shinsuke ‘a good-looking guy,’ talking about being ‘lonely’ without Shinsuke & hoping they'll ‘meet again someday,’ because ‘surely, this can’t be it,’ referring to the Intercontinental title as his ‘lifeline’ (and chasing it so hard, and shouting-out with Shinsuke's signature gesture when he won it, and refusing to tap out & lose it even up to the point of injury & referee stoppage).  When talking about them, Tana almost always uses ‘ 二人’ which means two people but also means ‘couple’ - one of the few words I had actually retained from a first aborted attempt to learn the language, because of a line in a Gackt song which was....not platonic in tone or meaning.  Or I’d think I was tinhatting.  Tana definitely sees them as a matched & indivisible pair, though, regardless of context.

Shinsuke's cues are both more and less subtle, as he rarely says anything on the subject but often does things like this

And this

And this

And this

And this

And this

And this

And this

And this

And this

When interacting with or talking about his....rival.

“Rival”

This is how he chose to finally look at him during the press conference for G1 24, little sigh and all.

I suppose the really painful smoking gun is the part I hate most.  If Tana's grumpy face after G1 25 suggested “What's a guy gotta do to get a Moment around here?!” than the answer was, “Lose his other half forever, maybe.” Because the last match is like being stabbed 47 times in the heart with a dull spork and then rolling around in hot sauce & vinegar.  For lots of reasons!  But extra-specially because of all their interactions. The crowd, first off, literally boos Goto for inserting himself into the Moment & delaying their face-off.   Which is....charged, when it comes.

The best and worst thing Kenny has ever done was walk out into this sea of emotion and try to make it about him.  I remember actually yelling curses at the screen as soon as I heard his voice (while still sobbing uncontrollably), because how fucking dare he, who the fuck does he think he is to imagine himself important or even significant in this moment if all moments? But it wasn't...about...Kenny.  It was a quiet little stroke of genius, Kenny could have been anything or anyone, he was a non-entity and a means to an end; he was there for no other reason than to be an irritating twit yammering nonsense at the most important person in the building.   Because as soon as he started, this happened.

A man being Once Again ditched by someone who ought to be holding up a share of the burden reacted not with hostility towards his departing rival, but in his defense. Shinsuke, as soon as Tana literally placed himself between them gets this brilliant “Well, holy shit.” look on his face. 

And Tana, reading Kenny the riot act, finally gets his Moment.

Which I think I may have found pictures of from every angle in Korakuen by now

(I'd just like to shout-out in appreciation of the frozen rictus on Kenny's face, which is very articulately saying “This is the gayest shit I've ever seen, and I literally told a member of the press I was gonna marry my tag partner”)

When the dust settles, we're again left with futari, two people, a couple.  Asked about the scene later, Tana would say that it was the last moments for CHAOS together, too, and he didn't want to distract from that so he pulled away quickly.   “But....I couldn't help but look back one more time at Nakamura.” “"He didn't seem to notice,” the interviewer pointed out. “"No, he didn't notice,” laughed Tana.  “I guess it's unrequited love forever.”

#Pretty Soldier Nakamura #Tanariffic #Rasslin' #OTP: In the Cards

[firecakes-art]

Marker Man Misadventures 12

This is it. This is the world that will truly test my abilities as a map maker. It's as if the game is taking my map making as the actual point of the game and is upping the difficulty to maximum. I will do what I have done since the very beginning when faced with a challenge: adapt and invent new techniques in order to get to my goal.

The soundtrack sounds mischievous and is 6 measures even.

I do not show it on the map, but the parts where the black platforms turn gray is a gradual effect. What that means is that in the game the visible platforms slowly fade away to invisible ones, and then the completely invisible ones are indicated on the map by the gray color. So, basically the entire level is invisible. Not exactly ideal when you're trying to figure out where the platforms are. Not to mention there is ZERO background art. It just looks like I'm walking on air and there are also items that are on air. I mean, I get it that you cannot have background elements or else this invisible theme wouldn't work but I feel like this is just a cheap way for the level designers to not have to care about making the levels pretty.

Fortunately that dumb grid that has existed since the very beginning of the game is still there, so I can use the squares on the grid as a reference of distance traveled. Basically, I'm drawing circles and pushing them to see how they respond to the environment in front of me. It's probably a good idea to do that even if I wasn't mapping the levels out because it will help find potential traps for me. Let's face it: the developers are cheap enough to do that. They did it in the last level of the previous world. Of course I'm going to check for traps.

The part with the bouncy walls is annoying because you have to build around it to climb up. Either use a super jump power up or figure out the reach of the bouncy blocks to make the appropriate bridge.

These levels take no time at all to load. GEE I WONDER WHY. Also, do not try to force shut the game when you lose your last life. Just like with that water world, you will lose all of your progress. The only difference is your save file is just straight up gone instead of glitchy. Perfect. Watch out for long falls, and always check where the edge of a platform is before building or making a jump.

It's like a combination of the previous two levels, only simpler.

You sort of don't know which pits are places you can go to or places that will kill you. It's a safe assumption that if a shape you draw in it falls outside your view then it will probably kill you. Another really dumb thing is that sometimes you can draw shapes inside walls. If you're just making random guesses it's not entirely clear whether the successful shape is placed in an area you can walk to or if it's inside a wall.

You doubt my ability to try and make every level's title some kind of pun or reference? Just watch me.

These levels got homogenized really quickly. I had to replay this level and I had no memory of its existence.

Markers are cool. I like markers. Please give me more markers.

So, the first spiky wall area has a little bump before you fully pass the obstacle. If you're me, this means you'll get stuck under the wall, and before you can register that you need to jump, the spike wall crushes you. Note that when you game over, you only gain one life back. So every time this game decides to pull a stupidly cheap trick on me I have to redo the whole world over.

Wow. We have a new contender for the most basic level in the game. Congratulations.

One strange thing is the area under the exit. You can draw shapes under your platform and watch them disappear after falling a bit. No need to worry about crashing your game, because the developers placed triggers under the map that will delete shapes drawn out of bounds. They did at least one thing right there.

It's a level with invisible blocks and things and stuff.

Snoop around enough and you may find the coin. Or a spike pit. Same thing, eh?

I should be more upset at how hard they're trying to hide the coin and exit, but I think I'm too desensitized at this point to care.

Oh... I figured it would take until level 150 or something before the game was over, but maybe it's ending early! If you manage to die here, just remember the trick with the water world when the game over glitch happened: let the game over screen appear, continue, reset, and load to be at the level where you died. Isn't it fun when you apply what you learn?

Oh yeah, the point of the level. The giant ball is back for another rematch, and you have to scale down the level pretty fast in order to beat it (unless you're using power-ups). It took me a few tries before I was able to beat it. Be careful with some of the drops, as they are enough to damage you. After making it to the bottom, stand on the blue platform and let the ball push the other one down, flinging you upward.

Do I... really need a world map for this one? Yes? Ugh fine.

No no no no no. Nope. I'm not waiting any longer. This game is going to be finished in this post whether I like it or not. It's time to end this.

The cutscene showed the dog and marker man jump into some kind of teleporter. The result is that we are now on some space rock or something. It looks like they stuck with the themes of space too, such as making the level vast, yet empty. Hmm, not really a theme specific to this world, but oh well.

Long Boy

WHAT DID THEY DO TO SHOE BOY? It now has an oval head. I guess it's supposed to be an alien. It's really funny how they attack because they rotate their elongated head when they kick, and it just looks funny.

Ugh, these types of levels are the worst. Huge open spaces with lots of emptiness and lack of features between the platforms. It makes the game boring and frustrating to map and play, so why do it? Especially the road to that two-coin exit. Why make the player walk so far to get there? The developers could've easily added a path down from the coin to the hallway.

Alien

A projectile-based enemy, just like all the other projectile-based enemies. This one has a scarily fast firing rate, making it a very dangerous long-ranged enemy. Its barrage of bullets can also make quick work of drawn shapes. Be careful. When trying to block its bullets, don't just put a single line over it, as the place the bullet spawns can bypass the line. Place like, 2 lines. I don't know. What's interesting is the developers actually managed to make the bullet spawn from the gun's barrel instead of the top left of the sprite. Good job. You're learning! It's a little late for that, but whatever. This does mean you may need to place lines completely covering the alien before the projectiles are stopped.

Same glitch as last world. Do not force stop the game on gaming over. Let it happen, continue, exit, then get back to the level you died on.

The spike walls move at different frequencies. I recommend activating super speed and just focusing on the bottom one moving out of the way. Seriously, you better have some markers coming into this world or you're in big trouble. Actually, there's an easier way to get past this part. When the bottom spike wall is hiding under the floor, lodge a line between the floor and the wall and it will get stuck there, allowing you to pass without doing anything ridiculous.

Pleeeeeease give me more markers. I actually have to conserve resources in this world and it's annoying. There's simply too much terrain that needs to be covered that will inevitably use up all my markers. This is different from the lava world because in the lava world there were at least interesting elements in the levels that made you think on how to approach the problem. In this world it's just a battle of attrition.

Speed Cheese

It's cheese on.. wheels? This is probably a reference to moon cheese. It quickly moves back and forth, simply knocking anything that touches it out of the way. It deals no damage.

I think I know why there are so many dead ends here. The game just really doesn't want the player to have any markers in this world. How rude. This is why people like me have to come in and bright light to the correct pathway to victory.

Oh yaaay. Another level where you just have to look everywhere to find the coin and exit. The part of the map where it says SLIDING has no friction. Marker man will not stop moving on that platform until a wall is hit. The exit is kind of dumb to get to. In order to even see it you have to either stand on the platform with the alien (which noone is going to do) or build up and then look up. I recommend just making a giant rectangle on the corner of the map and then building off of that to the exit.

This is the realm of the shoe boys. Their final congregation is at this location. They are planning big things. They already have presence in just about every world. Their plans to finally take over the world of marker man have started to unfold in this meeting area, and you are in the middle of it all.

This is pretty straightforward, isn't it?

Beware of the many dead ends in this level. You get one marker in here. Well, there is a second one, but it's in a trap so I'm not counting that one.

What. Why is the map so linear? Why is there a pointless dead end to the right with a moving platform? Why is the map small? Why is there large stretches of nothingness? I don't understaaaaaaaaand. Maybe the devs want this game to end as bad as I do. Fair enough.

We all want this to be over! Just walk down this straight pathway, hug the left, and you'll get your coin, and you'll get your exit right above the coin. It's that simple. We even went ahead and put the useless parts of the map all on the right side so you don't even need to travel there. I'm doing you a favor, but don't tell my boss I'm doing this. These are supposed to be the hardest levels in the game. Go forth!

Uhm. What. WHAT.

This is the final level. There is no indication that this is the final level. There is no dog seen anywhere, and the level number didn't jump to the range where the dog levels appeared. I simply walked into the exit, my level got reset to one, a cutscene played, and the game is over. I think it's really fitting that the background track that plays throughout the cutscene and the credit rolls is the game over music, because did I really win by beating the game? Everyone's a loser for trying.

But hey. I get a star next to my save file now. I guess any recognition of me going through this torture is better than nothing. I was curious to see if this star meant some sort of change in the game, like a new game plus, but it doesn't seem like it. My markers and lives left carried over from the previous game to this one, but that's about it.

And.... that's it. The game is done. I mapped every level. Here is the final world map.

Thanks for reading. However, there is still one final post to make...

#art #drawing #personal #mmm #marker man #marker man misadventures