#i really like the story minus the family mystery part. the whole ''if you just feel better then you can get back to working'' thing was good | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

yourcutelittlegayfriend · 10 months

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So this is basically just a thought I come up after watching the movie, I haven't got a chance to read the book but I'll try to when I have free time.

So short summary this might be headcannons I've come up for the time being before making a whole series about this.

This series might end up as Yandere Platonic Batfamily x Nimona!Reader

Nimona!Reader headcanon:

Reader is gender neutral since they can shape-shift into anything and anyone, the concept of being a girl or a boy is confusing to them, They are Y/N simple as that.

Y/N's power is like Nimona's minus the magic sparkles you see in the movie, their body shifts each cell to anything they want but like her or even Beast Boy they have telltale signs that it's not just any animal or person.

When Y/N shifts into any animal they have the hint of red on the skin, fur, scales or feather while if they shift to a person they have red stripes of hair on their head.

I would like to keep Nimona's red/pink-ish hair because why not? it's Iconic and I love it, really pops out in Gotham that Y/N is a the main character.

The rest of the other physical description is up for the readers to decide.

The setting of their origins goes back to the mid-early Gotham days, where the corruption is it's highest, a perfect plot to explain why they became so hateful to the city and later to the world.

Batfam Headcanon:

Bruce Wayne

Let's start with this bat pajama wearing vigilante

As I told before Y/N is already a citizen of Gotham at the beginning ahead of Martha and Thomas Wayne time and few generation of Wayne's and the original known influencial families in Gotham.

When Young!Bruce met Y/N it was the day Bruce fell in a cave/well at the back of the Wayne mansion

Except instead of Thomas rescuing Young!Bruce it was Y/N who did

Y/N save Young!Bruce and calm him down, he still became afraid of bats but the memory was tied together with their first meeting making it hard for him to forget Y/N

Young!Bruce and Y/N (who shifted to a young child) became friends behind Thomas and Martha's back

The two loving parents would always listen to their son telling stories about his new friend who can shape-shift

They only smile and encourage him to talk about his new friend because they thought Y/N was an 'imaginary' friend he made up after the traumatizing event.

Then here comes the canon event, I got two scenarios with me first is that Y/N was there when the death of the Wayne's happened and they shifts into a large deadly bat after the trigger was pulled and killed the mugger making Young!Bruce traumatized and call them a monster.

Second that Y/N was gone and came back after that night and Young!Bruce blames them for not showing up when he needed them because they promised to protect him.

Fast-forward to the present Bruce became Batman and already when through Dick, then him now as Nightwing Barbara from Bat-girl to Oracle (still in the process of healing), Jason, Jason's death, adopting Tim and making him Robin, Stephanie to Robin before Spoiler as well as adopting Cassandra before Damian came after Talia introduce and told Bruce to 'get to know his son' unfortunately no Duke yet because in order for him to be introduced everything in the batfam should have settled in including Jason but I will put him later on the series and He'll have his own introduction to Nimona!Reader.

Reread that again Jason's death but no reconciliation with him and here comes the next part I love.

Imagine this setting, it was raining in Gotham and Bruce as Batman was in pursuit of the Vigilante named Red Hood.

After finally cornering him, Bruce found out about Red Hood's true identity being the revived Jason Todd, his late Robin and son.

But before he could apprehend Jason, the younger male only smirk and whispered something before a pair of red blood bat wings emerge behind Jason.

A person rose up from Jason's back having a that familiar her color and a pair of glowing eyes looked directly at Bruce's as the mysterious person's with uncanny features that stood behind his son tickled the back of his brain.

Before he could utter a word he was cut off by a one strong flap of wings, soon Jason and the figure was up in the sky, the large bat wings flew up in the middle of the moon's form and their large wings spread open as if to mock the symble of the Batsignal before disappearing.

Headcanon for Nimona!Reader relationship with Bruce

At first I was planning on making Nimona!Reader as Young! Bruce's childhood first love before making it a sibling relationship

Still open to a romantic one if people are ok with it but I'm more fine with a sibling dynamic

You already see Young!Bruce as your Brother and you still do even after the harsh fall out the two of you had.

You already knew he was Batman by scent but never bothered with telling him or showing yourself

It's fun to wreck stuff at Gotham and making the big bad Bat frustrated and angy.

The only thing he's glad about is you never interacting with the Joker

for the Yandere part is that you being a big influence to his younger days being his only friend and literally the one who save him from the well/cave accident.

You became one of his fears and inspiration to become Batman

and seeing you again made his feeling from before come back and resulted to needing to find you and to reunite with you again.

Jason Todd/Red Hood

I'll pick him as second since I think I should put the order of how close the members of the Batfam are to Y/N

I can imagine him as Ballister to Nimona!Reader but more dark and is actually a villian that Y/N is going to join and become his sidekick

I was planning on mixing two version of Red Hood/Jason Todd maybe Arkham!Red Hood/Jason and Young Justice League!Jason Todd? weird but I need to this two version of him to connect for the plot I have in mind so stay with me

So Jason died by the Jokers hand at Arkham and his dead body was snatched and revived by Ra using the lazarus pit and became the League of Assassins puppet for a few years before escaping and became the Arkham Knight

He started a few solo missions, killing criminals and making a name -remember not Red Hood yet- first before moving on the recruite people not yet joining forces with the scarecrow

Y/N saw the Gotham news and found out about The Arkham Knight and was like

News reporter: He's a criminal

Y/N: He's awesome

News reporter: He blew up a building and killed people

Y/N: He's fucking metal

News reporter: He's Evil

Y/N: He's perfect

After that they broke into one of Jason's secret hideout and tell him about becoming his sidekick making Jason's ptsd come back about being a robin and Batman's sidekick

Jason threaten you with a gun since he's still angsty and depressed because of Bruce but you're more stubborn than him

First time you ever shape-shift he asked you if you were Beast Boy/Garfield's relative but you genuinely don't know who that is

He freaked out a bit but warm up to you little by little since your actions remind him of his kid days and unfortunately when he was Robin as well

As Arkham Knight he needed you for escape plans, distraction but most importantly on stealth missions seeing that your shape shifting powers was handy

But stealth missions are the ones you hate so when you end those missions You.Break.'Some'.Shits

He was pissed of course but quickly shut his mouth when you already had everything covered, now he doesn't even get bothered by your 'metal' moments

Then the whole Arkham happened, Gotham City was still fixing and healing but then the criminals still came back, Batman is still alive (Scarecrow didn't get to expose his indentity as Bruce Wayne because Jason save him in time) but didn't make up with Bruce and after that he finally became Red Hood

Headcanon for Nimona!Reader relationship Jason

When you met him you already smelled Bruce's phantom scent on him

It's smelled normal like a lingering scent but enough to tell you that Bruce is not Jason's biological father but still somewhat close with him, how you have that skill? I'll call it a weird mutation you have being a shapeshifter

You call him Boss but you actually treat him like a younger brother or act like mother/aunt-ish around him most of the time

Jason always think you could as well be his younger sibling but we all know your older than him by a few decades.

I kept Nimona's red colors since I think it'd be fucking awesome that two of the person that hated Bruce or became Bruce's nightmare and pain in the ass are both wearing or have the color red in their character palette. (Tim......is orange? Idk fckn know some of the fandom give him the orange color)

Damian Al' Ghul-Wayne/Robin

Before anybody say 'why jump to him quickly?' Well Lemme tell you something, Lemme tell you something

Damian's origin is connected to Y/N's origin story, remember when I told that Y/N existed early mid-Gotham days?

Well guess what Y/N was the connection of Ra to the Lazarus Pit and they became one his inspiration to use it.

Damian's grandfather speak highly of you, how you were the perfect being in this world that could widthstand the force of the Lazarus and continue to live forever.

Damian became influence by his grandfather's, mother's teaching and stories about you that deep down he wished to see you face to face

He still is an annoying brat from time to time but after staying at the Wayne and finally experience the life of living instead of surving he tone down for a bit

Ra's words still linger but now he has his own morals he keeps.

The first time he meet you might actually be pretty normal, him in his civilian Identity and you guys being you.

I guess maybe at the park? him just looking out for Titus and taking for a walk and you were just in the grass or the swings chilling.

He wouldn't care for the first minutes but when he saw Titus getting pretty close with you and he just watches as Titus let's you pet him.

He was intrigued and decided to introduce himself since he was in the midst of getting lessons about 'making friends'

Headcanon for Nimona!Reader relationship to Damian

How about like Mother-ish Aunty as well? and Damian also thinks you have a caring moments since you usually care even though you act crazy

Crazy? I was crazy once, they lock me in a room, a rubber room, a rubber room with rats, Rats makes me crazy, crazy? I was Crazy once-

and casually talk about killing and blood, lots of blood, buckets of blood.

He has alot of respect to you since you're this high being his grandfather talks about everytime

Likes that you can shape-shift into animals more

Follows you around after discovering your real identity and doesn't mind your 'metal' moments as well

----

This is not the last of headcanon but I might add more in the future for now I'm just gonna put this in before I forget.

#DC #dc x reader #platonic batman #batman x reader #platonic bruce wayne #bruce wayne x reader #batfam #batfam x reader #platonic batfam #Batfamily x reader #Platonic Batfamily #jason todd x reader #platonic Jason Todd #Damian Wayne x reader #platonic damian wayne #jason todd

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woodswolf · 2 years

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really really long thoughts on aini and how it could've been made WAY better if they just changed a few little things with regards to its "background canon" i.e. from ai 1. full spoilers for ai 1 and aini, minor (ending) spoilers for the zero escape series.

the worst part of aini is really just that uchikoshi really wrote the most compelling emotional found family drama plotline EVER that's as close to perfectly executed as it's possible for anything to be and SO much better than everything else around it and then said "actually that was an offshoot timeline and didn't technically happen! this much more underwhelming series of events (but where the characters figure out Exactly What Went Down) is what Really happened."

its like... yes in Any Other Case with Any Other Series this would be pretty obviously the only option. zero escape for instance couldn't continue from anything but the true ending for each game because that series presents itself as brute-forcing meta progress in order to unlock the full truth. like, if you take any "ending" in zero escape, you're still not getting the full story? e.g. dio end in vlr still isn't THE END in bold font with a period at the end bc they still have to actually figure out how to get everyone out with their lives, which can't happen without forcing all of the progress in the morphogenetic field by getting all the endings. even if they WANTED to it wouldn't make sense to make a sequel to dio end - most of the cast would be dead or dying and they're Still trapped so its just. yeah. it just wouldn't really work. the only exceptions of endings they could make sequels to are like, the safe ending in 999 (bc SOME of the cast survives to theoretically escape - there's a really cool fic series that explores this (part 1 / part 2) by spacedaydreamer on ao3), ztd's true end, and ztd's pre-vlr end (which they kinda literally did make a "sequel" to lmao). nothing else would really work due to the setup constraints.

but aitsf as a series is fundamentally Built Different and in that sense it's very very smart. the fact that it's built up like a serial with each game focused around a single case unrelated to any others means that it's very modular - you could reasonably make a sequel to ai 1 that's set after ANY of the endings (minus like, annihilation, where basically the entire cast is dead, and iris ending bc thats the only other end where a (likeable) character from the first game explicitly dies) because there aren't any pressing constraints on chronology that couldn't be overlooked or brushed aside for the sake of keeping it modular. like, saito is DEFINITELY still alive and running around killing people after ota's ending, which would naturally lead to it becoming annihilation... 2!!! if we got to see that actually play out - but that happens off-screen, so we could just Ignore It Tm and have the gang move on to the next case after the new cyclops killer "mysteriously disappeared" or whatever. same thing for iris - she could just eventually wake up as her normal self because we're never explicitly told that so sejima is in iris's body after ota's ending. just ignore it in favor of preserving a good character! aitsf isn't like zero escape where a potential plot hole like this could ruin the whole series - capitalize on that to carefully pick and choose the best elements of each game to make permanent "background canon". it doesn't HAVE to make COMPLETE sense or fit together EXACTLY - just cherrypick the best and most memorable moments that you want to keep as core canon.

which is the biggest problem with aini being set after ai 1's resolution route - nothing of what happens in it is really built on. and yeah, it makes sense - everyone who got the most development in ai 1's resolution route (i.e. date, iris, hitomi) is reduced to more side character status here - but i don't care about things making sense as much as them being good. and ai 1's resolution route is... fine. it's fine! but the writing quality on the right half of ai 1's flowchart is Not As Good compared to the left half and it really shows on repeat playthroughs. (the feels-like-it's-two-hours-long recap of falco's entire backstory is really shit to have to sit through when you already know all of it - and that's only ONE of the problems with the resolution ending, there are WAY MORE.) there are only like three things that are explicitly carried over from the resolution ending:

iris being Definitely Alive and Still Herself (which like, yeah, this is the only ending where that happens, but ota's and mizuki's endings still have her body being alive, and with the "just make it a plot hole" scheme that i outlined earlier they could literally just Ignore That and have her still be alive. AND they could give her a cool AIball that she could be soooooo normal about on her twitch streams like this is literally perfect ok)

so sejima being Definitely Alive and Still Himself (for all of the TWO scenes he's relevant for like wow good job. DEFINITELY couldn't have filled his role with a new sleazy politician character instead no sir )

datomi real (which like, Yes resolution is the only ending where this is Really set up, but it honestly could've happened after any ending (except annihilation bc hitomi's obviously dead RIP). those two took one (1) look at each other, shot the Autism Beams into each other's eyes, and then fell in love (as you do). it was just kinda Bound To Happen Anyway, the only difference would be how much they know about how date was falco yadda yadda and honestly imo i liked the idea of datomi better before i knew date was falco but this post isn't about that)

that's... really not a lot? and considering that all of this has to do with characters that are reduced to like, background status at best if even that (iirc hitomi LITERALLY only shows up for three scenes, one of which is over in like 30 seconds; iris's appearance count is in the very low double digits at best; and date is still important but only when NEITHER of those characters are in the room) it just. aini being set after ai 1's resolution ending doesn't really Add anything, and i would further argue that it's actually actively bad compared to the other and most obvious option!

let's stop kidding ourselves; you all knew when you clicked in here that i was going to talk about this, the only reason i started writing this is because i wanted to talk about this, and everyone is tired of ignoring the elephant in the room. so let's stop beating around the bush: aini is made actively worse by not being set after ai 1's mizuki ending, and almost everything about the game comes off like the whole development team knew this and still chose not to go through with it.

where to START with how fucked this is, honestly - though i guess the best place is probably the beginning for multiple reasons. if you didn't know about this already (because you're an epic gamer who managed to avoid all of the evil Ryukis during the parts of the first psync where they're chasing you - i only got hit by the last set on my first playthrough), now's a good time for you to go replay the first psync in aini and see what happens when you hit all of the ryukis instead of avoiding them.

through ryuki's repeated reverse psyncs, we get to see that, on some level, mizuki still remembers the events of her ending from ai 1. the "do you know the culprit" room is straight-up the setup from PSYNCIN' IN THE CAPTaiN, down to the bowl of soup and adorabbit cursing mizuki forever, with various memorable imagery from PSYNCIN' IN THE PaiN scattered about the room. and from there, getting caught by the Ryuki chases gives us four "scenes":

the merry go round column's door

the left birdcage from PSYNCIN' IN THE PaiN with the picture taped back together

adorabbit dangling from balloons

the setup from the end of PSYNCIN' IN THE CAPTaiN with date vs shoko and renju, with the models replaced by the neon "anonymous person" figures

this is obviously the events that happened during mizuki's ending in chronological order - mizuki hides in the column, date and aiba help her in the psync, mizuki thinks about all that date's done for her (shown abstractly through adorabbit), and finally the ending of PSYNCIN' IN THE CAPTaiN.

this is like, really good. it's exactly the kind of throwback reference that works with or without knowledge of the first game and still has an effect. for players that haven't played ai 1 it's "damn, what does all of THIS mean and why is one of the main characters thinking about it? i wonder if there's a bit of background material where i could learn more!", and for players that have played ai 1 it's like "aww, mizuki remembers all that happened in her ending on some level, that's sweet <3".

but it's like. do you see the problem with this. i SHOULD just be able to say something like, "oh, that's a convenient throwback/recap!" or "it must've affected her real bad for it to be the first thing that her somnium calls up even after literal years :(" but i don't get to say any of that. instead, we as the audience are left to wonder how she even remembers any of this FOR it to be in her somnium because none of it even happened in this timeline!

and like, yeah, aini's whole point is all the meta shit, or at least it is significantly more so than it was in ai 1. theoretically it could make sense that mizuki remembers everything she was present for in ai 1 whether it technically happened in this timeline or not because we're the "frayer" and she's one of the "frayer characters" (though ryuki fulfills his role as a "frayer character" slightly better than mizuki does because he's so fucked up with the meta levels) and therefore knows a bit more than she realistically should, the same way date did a few times in ai 1. but something being "theoretically possible due to meta shit" is nowhere near as compelling as "this actually happened to you over half a decade ago, and you're still not really normal about it because you CAN'T be normal about it because it kinda-sorta-maybe messed with your mental state just a little bit because it was a really important part of your development as a person that ultimately ended in tragedy (i.e. date's "death" in the cathedral) despite your own best efforts (i.e. PSYNCIN' IN THE CAPTaiN)". one of these explanations is not like the other in that it positions mizuki's character on much stronger footing that could be further built up on her side.

now we go from the part where this changes from passively bad to actively bad, which is basically right at the end of the game. mizuki day 5: they all find the corpse in the freezer, and then mizuki sees date and gets to talk to him for the first time in 6 years... and this is what happens:

i hate this SO MUCH because it was SO CLOSE to being good. and literally ALL it needs to be good is to be set after the mizuki ending (with minor rewrites to match).

now maybe this doesn't FEEL that bad. but think about This version instead (changes in green):

Date: What? Do you have more insults to hurl at me after missing six years of your life? Mizuki: No, it's not that... Bibi: Maybe she just wanted to hear you say... Bibi: "Mizuki, you've grown so much," or something emotional like that... Mizuki: No, not that either... Date: Ah, right. For you, it's been six years. Date: For me, it's different. Date: I've been back for four days, dressed like this. I've been watching you guys the whole time. Date: So I don't really have anything sappy to say... Mizuki: I told you, it's not that! Mizuki: You already know what I want. Date: ... Date: All right, okay. Date: Let me try this again. Date: Mizuki... Date: ... Date: I'm home... Mizuki: ... Mizuki: Welcome back, Date... Mizuki: But I had something else I wanted to say, too. Date: ...? Mizuki: I threw away all your porno mags. Date: Nooooooo!!!

just LOOK at how this already reads so much stronger. it gives mizuki so much more emotional strength - exactly the kind of emotional strength that she had in the mizuki ending, because she's already had all of this development before. the last change is rather subtle and hard to convey through text alone, as it'd be much more through the facial expression and voice direction, but that line would be much better if it was read as "shit-eating-grin-but-also-trying-not-to-cry" emotion instead of kinda timid and almost tense like how it actually is in the game.

this conversation just plainly and succinctly reveals everything fundamentally wrong with setting aini after ai 1's resolution route instead of mizuki's ending. the way that mizuki just doesn't have the words for what she wants from date, the way that aiba has to call her out on what she wants and then mizuki is just... shocked?

which really just brings everything around to the core reason that aini is made so much worse by not being set after the mizuki ending: mizuki doesn't have the character development that she got during her ending and it makes her character a lot weaker overall. and, because of the way things have been set up, she can never get that development again unless it's off-screen.

which is really sad! like, SO much of what everyone liked about her in ai 1 was specifically the development she and date got during her ending, and she's the protagonist of this game so you'd think that they'd let her keep that good development! but mizuki gets shafted for the entirety of ai 1's resolution route, and as a result she and date never really had those moments where they CHOOSE to be family. which just... really flattens her character. and it affects WAY more than just this scene.

now's about the time where i say how i would rewrite aini to fix all of this, and honestly, very little would have to actually change in a meta sense - it's just the smallest tweaks and rewrites of single lines in a few places. the way id have it play out would be like this:

on mizuki's side, on the days where we're playing as mizuki instead of bibi, mizuki would be more openly Not Happy that date "died" six years ago in the cathedral and coping pretty poorly. like she's not weeping over him in every conversation, just every so often when he gets brought up she just kinda Stops Talking or gets teary. the general impression should be that this was a really deep wound (which like, after everything that happened in the mizuki ending and then date ACTUALLY DIES? YEAH NO FUCKING KIDDING) and that she'd only just started to heal only for it to be violently ripped open again with the return of the HB case. aiba should be acting as mizuki's crutch and parent figure - and it should clearly help, because mizuki and aiba actually know each other and are family in the mizuki end instead of never even being introduced in the resolution route.

meanwhile, on the days we're playing as bibi: bibi obviously isn't torn up about date's "death", both because it hasn't happened yet and also because bibi and date barely even know each other - so of course bibi doesn't want nor need aiba's comfort about this. aiba and bibi will seem slightly more distant as a result, because they barely know each other, either. until the reveal of the chronology twist, the player will think that this is just one of the days where mizuki is coping better with what happened and trying to focus on the investigation - and it can simultaneously be another hint toward that chronology twist, and make the "mandela effect in real time" that happens on mizuki day 4 stand out even more as "wait, there's obviously something wrong here".

barely anything else would have to actually change. and what do we get out of this? well - a lot.

for one, the "spoiler toggle" is no longer necessary at all, or is barely necessary. the characters barely know anything of the truth in the mizuki ending. date is still in saito's body and he doesn't even know saito's name, he doesn't remember anything about falco, he didn't discover the body-swapping secret. and considering that absolutely zero of that matters in aini anyway and it more often causes problems (like with date's "mask" - like, yes, the implicit confirmation that date experienced MEGA dysmorphia after ai 1's resolution route was good because i'd called that back in 2019, but it's not ever brought up nor touched on again and could be written out without anything changing), setting aini after the mizuki ending just removes a lot of the clumsiness around this and makes everything... smoother.

the only thing that's slightly off about this would be that, obviously, iris is technically already dead in the mizuki ending in ai 1. but, as i said earlier, this is such an obvious and acceptable handwave that i would be mad if that was the reason they chose to set aini after the resolution route. aini already does other handwaves like this, such as everything around mizuki being adopted by shoko and renju, and this would be a handwave for a worthy cause! iris is such a good character, and because they never figure out the body swapping twist in the mizuki end, it's very easy to handwave that she's Still Definitely Herself Tm and keep a really good character. worst case scenario you can stick something in the appendix like "technically iris would already be dead in the mizuki ending but SHUT UP!!! this is an offshoot timeline where the mizuki ending happened but she's still alive just enjoy the story <3".

(and like. iris having an AIball after she loses her eye in the mizuki ending would be SO funny. she wouldn't even be a psyncer she'd just beg pewter for one and pewter would be like "Fine. Ok Fine." it'd be pink with a rainbow segment and its eyeball form would look like a TBH and it'd play multiplayer shovelforge and/or kusemon and/or towerday (fortnite) doubles with her. LITERAL comedy gold potential here.)

i could write a lot more about how this would specifically improve things, but i think this just about sums up most of my thoughts in general. tl;dr aini's main plot could be so much better if they set it after ai 1's mizuki ending, though it still wouldn't be a perfect game bc the side routes minus shoma and komeji's have Other problems that this wouldn't fix. aini is also still overall better than ai 1 imo because it just builds and earns its climax better than ai 1 does. in ai 1 you can get the best ending in the first 8 hours and have everything else be all downhill from there, but aini just always gets bigger and better and its resolution route actually earns everything it does. both games still have problems though, and i think 999 is still overall a better game than either of them even if i like ai's characters a lot more. so yea!

(also someone PLEASE draw iris being soooooooooooooo normal with her AIball this needs to exist so bad)

#aitsf #aini #nirvanai #aitsf spoilers #aini spoilers #zero escape spoilers #i started writing immediately after i reblogged that mizuki end post yesterday RIP #my posts #date mizuki #mizuki date #okiura mizuki #mizuki okiura #this is ok to reblog btw #also fixed some of the formatting on pc

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letsgofoletsgo · 1 year

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Remains of the ride

Rediscovered this song recently, and I decided to try tweaking it to fit Azalea’s story in the Road Rats au, as it fits her backstory on how she joined the biker gang (minus the death part). Basically her “last ride” referred to a dude she used to date, before he revealed his true colors. Ik I might’ve stretched this song a bit, but just imagine it’s more of a 60’s jukebox tune than a swing song. It would be sung by Butch to Jay, who had just arrived and wanted to join the Road Rats.

🎵🎹🎵🎹🎵🎹🎵🎹🎵🎹

Hey! Give me a listen bikers far and near

At least those of you who are lendin ear

I'll tell you a story that'll make a Road Rodent cry

Of her own jubiliciously lovely last ride

Ride, ride we all make our way

But don't wear a frown 'cause it's really okay

And you might try and run

And you might try and hide

But we find our own remains of the ride

Well our girl is a beauty known for miles around

When a mysterious stranger came into town

He's plenty good-looking, but down on his cash

And our poor little baby, she fell hard and fast

When her daddy said no, she just couldn't cope

So our lovers came up with a plan to elope

Ride, ride we all make our way

But don't wear a frown 'cause it's really okay

And you might try and run

And you might try and hide

But we find our own remains of the ride

So they conjured up a plan to meet late at night

They told not a soul, kept the whole thing tight

Now, her mother's wedding dress fit like a glove

You don't need much when you're really in love

Except for a few things, or some told

Like the family jewels and a satchel of gold

Then next to the graveyard by the old oak tree

On a dark foggy night at a quarter to three

She was ready to go, but where was he?

And then?

She waited

And then?

There in the shadows, was it her man?

And then?

Her little heart beat so loud

And then?

And then baby, everything was a blur

Now when she opened her eyes he was all slashed up

Her bike was ready and her heart was bust

So she made a vow right under that tree

That she'd wait for her true love to come set her free

Always waiting for someone to ask for her hand

When out of the blue comes this groovy young man

Who vows forever to be by her side

And that's the story of her last ride

Ride, ride we all make our way

But don't wear a frown 'cause it's really okay

And you might try and run

And you might try and hide

But we find our own remains of the ride

#road rats au #thief of my heart #emerald bloom #Spotify

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alleunwalk · 3 years

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tokyo revengers idol au hcs part 3 that no one asked for AGAIN here’s part 1 and part 2 to get a better understanding. this is what the members would be doing alongside their idol promotions+ what they would post on social media toman tbh these guys are all just so damn funny on their own that they would constantly be invited to comedy variety shows. maybe perhaps doing something similar to seventeen or wanna one where they even have their own variety show on youtube (ie. seventeen’s-going seventeen series or wanna one’s show on mnet) mikey-he would post basic food pics like of his parfaits or taiyaki but also it’s rare because he’d constantly forget his password. however on important days he’ll post long emotional and sentimental posts that hit you in your feels thanking his members and fans always. he also has a youtube channel posting random funny vlogs. draken- he has his own personal soundcloud to upload solo mixtapes/songs feat diff members. posts photos of his bikes and different tattoos he would be getting. responds with 1-2 words to fans during fansigns or ig comments but like mikey, once in a while, will also write heartfelt posts thanking everyone. baji- his ig feed is filled with animals + dance practice vids. also has his own soundcloud too. trolls his members by commenting on their stuff. “delete this u ugly mf no one wants to see this”. takemichi- very chatty, (sometimes too chatty where he’ll end up accidentally spoiling their next album info) and interactive on social media to his fans. tries his best to respond to most comments or ama ig stories questions. posts a lot of selfies and photos of his members. king of fan service. chifuyu- beautiful photos of the sky a lot on his ig (in canon he wanted to be a pilot :,) ) along with cute soft selfies. (which baji and kazutora troll and comment being like “damn....u ugly AF!” “lmao stop pretending to act cute u loser” kazutora- his ig is filled with pure chaos. just pics of him catching his members slipping (sleeping photos where they’re drooling or have their eyes slightly open or making ugly faces behind the scenes). also has photos of cursed memes and memes made by fans. he’s a literal enigma. mitsuya- very wholesome ig photos- lots of photos of his family, group photos, sometimes cool artsy edited selfies. occasional photoshoot photos. hakkai- ig is filled lots of #ootd photos and occasional photos from his modeling or acting gigs (he’s the visual, duh!) gets a lot of sponsorships from big brands. pah-chin: has a joint youtube channel with peyan. they do silly challenges but will sometimes post dance videos (feat. baji) since they’re the main/lead dancers. fans love him because of his “matter-of-fact” responses that are funny without even trying. (example- fan comment: omg i love u guys soooo much u guys are the best in the whole world!!!<333 toman OUTSOLD!. pah-chin: idk about best in the world but we’ll just take “the best in our neighborhood” for now i guess. thanks.”) peyan: joint youtube channel with pah-chin. at fan signs mikey has to warn him to chill out cuz peyan will accidentally yell and scare fans without meaning to, but he’s just really excited to meet his fans is all ^_^ angry: posts a lot of wholesome photos like mitsuya (selfies with smiley) and writes a lot of motivational sweet captions cheering fans up and reminding them to always be happy :,) smiley: joint youtube account with angry. smiley does a lot of prank videos and angrys just usually in the back like 🧍‍♂️... he also does tiktok- he would be doing all the dances, memes, and trends. inui: ok hear me out, i mentioned before inui has similar vibes as cha eunwoo so i’d figure his ig would give the same vibe as his (iykyk). since he’s the other visual he would be getting a TON of acting and modeling gigs. idk why but i feel like inui would be a great actor (his facial expressions during tenjiku arc, the range!). actor of the year. gets a lot of skincare commercial deals too.

black dragons shinichiro- photos of bikes, cars, and photos where hes pretending to do a cool pose but his members (+mikey) would troll and comment “LAME!!!!!” “why tf do u look like that?” “hey leader, it’s not too late to delete this now bestie :)” does fun ig lives. on variety shows as a joke his members tease him there as well. really great at fan-service and pulls the whole “pretend boyfriend” scenario with fans (the delusional fans are gonna act up if he keeps this up...). taiju- (if shinichiro did not exist in this au OR if you wanted both in the group) photos of him at the gym, photoshoot photos. inui- similar to if he was in toman, his ig would just be a lot of cool and cute photos of him from behind the scenes of dramas or photoshoots. a soft visual king. occasional selfies with koko and bike photos. kokonoi- has a personal youtube channel but he would be Drowning in sponsorship videos all from high-end designer brands. he’s just casually flexing that PPL in his vlogs. ig feed is a lot of #ootd photos or pics taken with inui. him and inui would be makeup brand ambassadors or faces of brands (ex: like jennie from blackpink represents chanel). in this case kokonoi would be the face of fendi (he wears fendi slides in the manga cover) and inui would be the face of jimmy choo (his heels in the manga cover looked like jimmy choo but i could be wrong.. but u know what i mean)

tenjiku izana- pretty leader has a very artsy ig feed. extremely photogenic like inui. has photoshoot photos and candid pose photos. acts in dramas time to time (gg second male lead syndrome). kakucho- posts gym or dance practice videos on his feed but he posts rarely because he’s just too busy or forgets he actually has an ig. loves commenting on takemichi’s posts “haha no wonder ur called baka-michi!” as a joke. kanji- posts gym photos but it’s rare because he always forgets his password. ran- the other visual. he would be modeling for high-fashion brands and go on runway shows. also definitely gives off actor vibes (he would be constantly casted in dark action movies hahaha). loves giving fan service. rindou- in contrast to his brother, rindou when it comes to fan service, he loves trolling fans. also he’s really good at drawing a line between fans (y’know, keeping the delusional ones in check...which means he ‘friend-zones’ them but it’s for their own good tbh idols need to remind people their boundaries). has a youtube channel where he just posts random dance practice vids and occasional vlogs. also comments under his brothers ig posts “you look stupid af in this wtf”. on variety shows people find their brotherly banter hilarious. mutou- posts gym photos, also really awkward selfies (he doesn’t know what his angle is lmao). another member who also reminds fans of their boundaries and keeps it real. (sanzu always likes his photos though and hypes him up in the comments). sanzu- shy baby. constantly following mutou around. posts a lot of cute selfies and random pics of shogi stuff (he tags mutou in it of course). during fan signing/autograph sessions they love putting cute headband props on him like this or this.

bonten because this group’s concept and aesthetic is mysterious, mature, artsy, gloomy, and dark they will take this concept to the grave. (minus a few exceptions) they are invited to variety/talk-shows but never make an appearance because they want to keep the air of mystery around them. (it’s a good marketing technique). mikey- does not have any social media. he does have a private account to lurk around but no one knows what it is. kokonoi- has a youtube channel but it’s locked and you have to pay to get into it. posts super short vlogs and teasers. thats it. (the ultimate scam! but their fans love them too much to notice). lots of sponsored #ootd posts on ig. kakucho- he would be modeling ONLY high fashion brands and high end editorial places. his instagram is just his exquisite and expensive modeling photos whether it be candid backstage photos from shows, candid runway walk pics/vids, pics of diff photoshoots you name it. doesn’t really comment much. ran- visual. similar to kakucho- modeling ONLY high fashion brands and editorial places. instagram is filled with modeling photos but also some artsy scenery pics he took. rindou- posts short artsy dancing clips (like modern dances in black&white filter) on ig. sanzu- since he’s the other visual, he also posts a lot of his modeling/acting photos on instagram. also pretty chatty (he’s the exception) on social media and loves teasing and trolling fans. posts with a lot of random cute emojis on everything. “just ate lunch and now im off to practice hehe 🍜🍇🤟💃🤠🧚‍♂️💞🦋” no one really knows why he uses random emojis but it’s just endearing lmao. kanji- no social media at all. akashi- manager....or if you made him the rapper in this au then he too would also not have any social media.

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redjaybathood · 2 years

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Gotham Knights 42-45

Okay, this is a story with great potential. This guy, Felix Desidero, a Social Services worker, starts an investigation in regard to Bruce Wayne's possible abuse of his wards, especially the mysteriously dead Jason Todd.

He comes to the door straight, cards on the table. Bruce (preoccupied with Alfred being on a brink of death from a deadly mutated virus) is curt with him and basically shuts the door in his face.

Felix warns him that he will subpoena him. And that he does.

Flashback ensues.

Look; why can't comics just... write Batman as a non-creepy dude? Why their tortured soul shtick really makes me think ugh, this guy has issues and keep the kids away from him? I'm talking about him keeping and visiting Dick's Robin suit on the minus 4 level of the Cave. While he refuses to actually call Dick, because Dick left him. (yes, again the "creepy ex" vibes). At this very same place, a few years after, he's going to keep dead Jason's Robin suit. And still visit it as a shrine.

This is also the comics where Bruce explicitly says that he doesn't believe that Jason didn't kill Garzonas.

I have mixed feelings about Jason and Barbara's relationship here. They're pretty obviously not close. Jason is more enthusiastic for their evening busing a smuggling ring together (note that here's yet another point where the writer goes: the bad Robin, the Robin who takes pleasure in hurting people (like it's not every one of the Bats), because Jason shoots a harpoon through the hand of a guy who has Barbara cornered and hurt; Barbara is being very judgmental about it).

But in the end, she didn't describe him quite as a demon kid. Just said to Bruce that Jason is mixed up: carrying both emotional baggage and a giant chip on the shoulder.

This issue is actually written pretty good. The time it focuses on in the flashback, is just before the Killing Joke, just before the Death in the Family. You can't not feel anxiety when you see Barbara and Bruce talking about Joker. Bruce - he can wait; Barbara - I don't feel safe; Bruce - don't worry, he will come after me; Barbara - he doesn't have to come after you specifically to hurt you; Bruce - I know him better than you.

And, well.

Another one important note is Bruce asking, was I good father for him - and Barbara replying that he wasn't his father. And then a lot of platitudes about how Jason had demons and if Bruce was, indeed, his father, he would have done the best he could and is, in fact, a real victim here.

And - well; I absolutely despise the victim-blaming because it has been done so not out of regard to their character but as covering for DC editorial assess, making Bruce look less bad. BUT. It also is very realistic because heroes like Batman, Oracle, and so on, are human beings and humans sometimes are shitty. Here, basically, Barbara tries to keep Bruce from losing it, and, well, Jason is dead. It can't hurt him.

Also, important picture:

It's an open file, presumably Desidero's, with "Todd, Jason" headline. #TEC526 written underneath (any idea what this means in the context, guys?).

There are photographs: two men and a boy (presumably Alfred, Bruce, and Jason), a child/teenager in a green hoodie doing the whole mug shot photo set thing, a picture of a bruised hand (side, horizontally), bruised face (profile, from above), bruised face (side, horizontally), photo of similar nature of other body parts (unclear because there are lines over the panel, like this whole open file is taped on video camera placed well above the table, and someone is rewinding the video). I assume it's Jason's autopsy. And the mug shot – was Jason canonically arrested ever?

I guess twice because next issue, we get Jason's mugshot with a red sweater.

Next issue is the DitF ending and aftermath. Small complaint but the artist didn't check out the original DitF because Sheila wears different clothes, different colors even. Writer probably did, because the action and dialogue more or less consistent with before.

We're shown explicitly that the autopsy was bogus and Bruce bribed the police and the medical examiner in Ethiopia (was extorted for it).

And I get a feeling - if I am being charitable here - that Alfred is angry at Jason for dying and leaving Bruce a traumatized mess over again. Yeah, that tracks. Alfred is always prioritizing Bruce over children, because, well, Bruce is his child. Not them. They're more like pets Bruce brought home. Alfred will extend some warmth to them - pets are cute when they behave - and care, he will even criticize Bruce if he feels that pets are being mistreated because he's rising Bruce right; but his main concern if having this pet is good for Bruce.

And this particular pet, Jason, is ended up being bad. Because he went and died. So Alfred thinks: "I told you this could very well end in disaster. I warned you. I did everything but beg and plead" (when nothing of the sorts, as far as I've read, ended up being in Batman or Detective Comics).

Alfred says, however: "It's not your fault. The Lad was determined to disobey you."

Then Bruce asks him to take care of the bodies for him (Jason and Sheila's). Alfred then thinks: "But I shall not aid and abet you any further if our lot is burying every bit of family you'll ever know... while you mask your pain behind that horrible cowl. This I promise you, Bruce. Any more ad you go it alone" (and then, you know, Alfred does nothing of what he promised to himself, and encourages Tim becoming Robin; because that's what Bruce needs).

Also! I remember not so long ago, there was a post about whether Jason was embalmed. Yeah, well, he wasn't, it was too late for that.

This issue also places Jason's grave at Wayne Family Cemetery.

I won't quote or provide panels for the interview Desidero had conducted with Dick, Alfred, and Tim (Cass is not adopted here yet; it's a year at least after Murder/Fugitive though, if that helps, and Tim is only officially stayed for extended periods of time at the Manor after his mom was killed and dad in the hospital). Those panels already have a lot of attention on tumblr and you probably read them. Go read issue 45 if you wish to refresh or see it all in one place.

All in all, it ends very anti-climatic. Bruce and the others put a performance for Desidero - Bruce even cries; which are, no doubt, real tears; and I fully believe he just couldn't control himself, not crying on purpose - but. Yeah.

#reading comics #gotham knights #barbara gordon #jason todd #bruce wayne #alfred pennyworth

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gascon-en-exil · 3 years

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If we try and remove Byleth from Three Houses, who would likely be their replacement/s in the storyline? In AM, it will obviously be Dedue. But, what about in the other routes?

There's no easy answer that works for all the routes, because while removing Byleth completely undoubtedly would have made the overall writing of Three Houses stronger it would have also required a different focus and some extensive rewriting, especially where Sothis and Rhea are concerned. It'd also need the house leaders to become full PoV characters and also likely controllable in exploration, although that would have benefitted all three of them. Even if Byleth loses their self-insert status (and probably gender variability, in that case) and becomes a recruitable teacher like Hanneman and Manuela who only becomes central to the plot in Silver Snow, that would still require quite a bit of reworking...and would have lost the fans of Avatar dating sims, which has apparently been the most lucrative demographic of FE players for the last decade.

Azure Moon does indeed fare the best without Byleth, helped greatly by it being the most traditional FE story and the one that trims a lot of the fat in Three Houses's undercooked story elements, ex. the Agarthans and the mystery surrounding who and what Byleth is. It's already got the best pacing, the clearest arc for its protagonist, the best relationship between its hero and villain, and the best sense of dramatic payoff in ending where it does. The Byleth-free version would be all about power couple Dimidue, with added focus on Dimilix as a second relationship that begins roughly but develops into one of equal significance. Dedue and Felix would grow into a dynamic comparable to August and Dorias toward Leif in FE5, or Soren and Titania toward Ike in FE9: a pair of advisors with vastly different views of the world and who care for their leader in very different ways and so are forced to come to an understanding. They'd be fully integrated into the plot, allowing them to participate in story moments like Rodrigue's death and the resolution of the Duscur mystery much more organically than they do in canon, not to mention be the ones along with Gilbert and Rodrigue to help Dimitri through his darkest moments. The golden ending is an orgy.

Would IS ever write that? Absolutely not. It'd be too overtly gay, even if the relationships were still only kept to subtext, and there's no plot-relevant waifu bait to be had. Fandom would decry that AM as even more misogynistic than Echoes, and not progressive enough because with no Avatar S ranks Dimitri's queer relationships wouldn't be "canon." They'd be no homo'ed just like Ike/Soren is...which they are now, only it'd be more prominent with no Dimileth taking up such a large portion of Dimitri's fanbase.

I have no idea how this reworked Three Houses would handle the Eagles route split, so it'd probably be better off without one. Silver Snow would follow Byleth as they (she? he? The former allows for a second female lead, the latter delves into magical genderqueer territory with Byleth as the incarnation of a goddess) teach the Eagles and gradually uncover Edelgard's nefarious plans only too late to stop them. Apart from Byleth now having a definite gender, voice, and personality - quite a lot, I know - not much of the actual substance of SS would necessarily need to change. It would certainly benefit from a second pass in the writers' room, Byleth or not, like handling the Gronder rematch in a less awkward way, actually working to develop the antagonism between Byleth and Edelgard outside of two cutscenes, and making the final chapter make any kind of sense and not just "Rhea succumbs to dragon degeneration because you need to fight a final boss, Seteth handwaves the whole thing with a line referencing something that got referenced once back in like Chapter 2." Just...some kind of effort there would be nice.

At any rate SS with Byleth as an actual character would be more strongly-written for it, allowing them to function as a genuine protagonist. (Alternatively, make Ferdinand the protagonist...but that would resolve in him and Hubert putting on an elaborately-staged musical where they work through their feelings in the middle of fighting on opposite sides of a war. You know what? Give me that version of SS instead. Way more interesting.)

For Crimson Flower, drop the pretense right from the start. Edelgard's your PoV character, she knows she's the Flame Emperor and what she's doing throughout the school year, and Part 1 is about her trying to maintain the façade of a normal student while she's planning a war on the DL. If they insist on keeping some of the mystery, that wouldn't be impossible as it's obvious Hubert is the brains of their operation and he keeps most of what he does hidden from Edelgard anyway. I'm not really sure how to work the waifu hot for teacher angle into a PoV version of Edelgard; as much as I enjoy it from the comedic standpoint of Hubert never getting any because his lady never looks at him twice I think CF would be stronger if Byleth stayed with Rhea and the route didn't bother with working out their relationship to the Nabateans. Just genocide 'em all as Edelgard conquers the continent and convinces herself it's all for the best. She can shed a tear over Byleth's corpse while Hubert brandishes a cleaver with even more relish than usual to extract that valuable Crest stone. The ending is basically the same minus the Edeleth, with it being even more obvious that the shadow war against the Agarthans is going to resolve in Hubert taking his place as the real Manfroy of this story.

And as for Verdant Wind, the whole route would need a rewrite, to give it a more distinct identity from SS and to make it work with a protagonist whose personality and arc revolve around revealing very little about himself to anyone else. Players would undoubtedly find out much more about Claude that way than they do in canon VW, and it'd probably work better if it kept Edelgard's war to the background and refocused hard on the worldbuilding discoveries and how they play into Claude's growing understanding of Fódlan. With or without Byleth, a better-written VW would be vastly different from the canon version.

So aside from the house leaders taking over Byleth's role as PoV characters and exploration avatars I don't see anyone else assuming their exact role in supporting said leaders. Dimitri has an abundance of male love and camaraderie, Edelgard gets all worked up over Byleth but is still completely willing to step over them to achieve her goals (also Hubert is there), Claude would likely see his background and beliefs teased out of him gradually by all the Deer in their own ways, and Byleth as an actual character could make SS all about their Nabatean family and the bonds, magically incestuous or otherwise, they can form with the surviving dragons.

#Fire Emblem #FE16 #Fire Emblem Three Houses

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drama-pop · 3 years

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Dramas I Watched in 2020

I watched a lot of dramas this year, y’all. Here’s what I watched and what I thought of them!

Boys Over Flowers (10/10)

3rd watch – I cannot explain the love that I have for this show. It is absolutely wacky and farfetched, but so, so fun. This was my introduction into K-Dramas (well, re-introduction…more on that later) and it will always have a special place in my heart. This watch was with my sister as she was recovering from surgery. Even though I’d already seen it twice, it was addictive as always.

Dream High (9.5/10)

1st watch - This was one of the cutest and most feel-good shows I watched this year. Part of me wishes I hadn’t discovered it until quarantine because nearly every episode left me grinning and with a song in my heart. It was also my introduction to K-Pop (2PM, which eventually led me to BTS aka the best thing that happened to me this year). I loved the characters and their pursuit of their dreams. The drama turns 10 in a few days, so I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that I loved when the kids finally came together as a team near the end of the show. My one regret is that I fell for the wrong lead guy, so I would have liked to have avoided that second lead syndrome. It’s one of the most compelling love triangles I’ve watched, though!

Cinderella and the Four Knights (7.5/10)

1st watch - Regrettably, I don’t remember much about this drama. I know that I enjoyed the relationships between Ha-Won and the “Four Knights.” I enjoyed Ahn Jae-Hyun’s character at the beginning, but didn’t like him as much as his tear-filled relationship with the seamstress progressed. The singer was my favorite of the cousins and am I the only one who wanted more screen time for the bodyguard? Anyway, it was cute and my mom really enjoyed it. Plus, seeing Park So-Dam is what eventually got me to watch Parasite!

The King: Eternal Monarch (9.5/10)

1st watch – I know it’s controversial for me to give this one such a high score, but it was really special to me. My whole family (minus my dad) and our neighbor watched this show together and debriefed after each episode (from a safe social distance) during early quarantine. It was the first drama I watched as it was airing, so I experienced the stress of waiting for the next week’s episodes. I love Lee Min-Ho, so I was really looking forward to his comeback drama. Woo Do Hwan was an unexpected favorite from this show and I just enjoyed the characters, story, and mystery so much. I know this drama wasn’t everyone’s favorite, but it holds a lot of special memories for me.

Bring It On, Ghost (7/10)

1st watch - This was a pretty cute drama, but it was spooky too. I watched it for Taecyeon, but stayed for the ghost fighting squad. Kang Ki-Young and Lee David were a treat to watch. Although I liked Dream High more as a show, I absolutely loved Taecyeon’s Bong Pal. I didn’t like the ghost at first, but she grew on me as the show went on and ended up enjoying Kim So-Hyun as an actress. The mystery in this one was compelling too and kept me watching!

What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim? (9/10)

1st watch - I’m SO glad I watched this drama! It had the fun energy of Boys Over Flowers, but was more realistic and grown-up. If you haven’t gathered yet, I’m a sucker for fun ensembles and the office staff totally fit the bill! I also live for vacation episodes and this show did not disappoint. This was my first time to see Park Seo-Joon and Park Min-Young and I will definitely continue to follow their careers. The mysterious past of the characters slowed the plot and felt a little out of place in my opinion, but I loved the show as a whole and will likely watch it again someday.

Save Me (6/10)

1st watch - This drama was unlike anything I’ve ever seen and left me feeling a little uneasy after every episode. That’s not to say that it wasn’t good…on the contrary! This was so well acted and had a unique plot. I started it because of Taecyeon, Woo Do-Hwan, and Lee David, but was absolutely blown away by Seo Ye-Ji’s acting. My brother developed a huge crush on her, which is what led us to our next drama, It’s Okay to Not Be Okay.

It’s Okay to Not Be Okay (10/10)

1st watch - Hands down the best drama I watched this year! I don’t often cry when I watch things, but this had me in tears several times. It was such a loving portrayal of people with mental illness and difficult family relations. It also had quite a bit of mystery, which is always fun. The characters were well written and beautifully portrayed.

She Was Pretty (6/10)

1st watch – Okay, so I tricked my mom into watching this with me because I’ve had a crush on Siwon since my English professor in college showed the class the music video for “Hoot” by Girls’ Generation (so random…ask me about it sometime). He was THE highlight of this drama for me. I might be biased, of course, but I loved his character way more than the lead (and don’t get me wrong, I love Park Seo-Joon). Second lead syndrome aside, I enjoyed the drama and it made me want to work for a fashion magazine!

Just Between Lovers (9/10)

1st watch – Another highlight from this year. Another thing I enjoy besides fun ensembles is melancholy. This show is a lot heavier than most drama’s I’ve watched, but it was so good. It explores survivor’s guilt and how grief doesn’t follow a clean timeline. Won Jin-Ah and Junho were absolutely lovely as the leads.

The Sound of Your Heart (8/10)

2nd watch – I watched this for the first time back in 2016 before I knew anything about Korean media. My siblings just found it on Netflix and we decided to watch it together. This time, we watched it with our mom. If you haven’t seen it, it’s more skit than continuous storyline, but each episode had me laughing! I’m glad that I watched it again now that I have so many dramas under my belt.

Hello My Twenties (6.5/10)

1st /2nd watch – I started this in 2016 but didn’t finish until this year. I am still in love with the first episode, but didn’t like the direction the show ended up going. I think it’s still worth a watch and I’m glad that I eventually finished it. The girls were written and portrayed well.

Cheese in the Trap (6.5/10)

1st watch - I still haven’t really decided how I feel about this drama. I liked it, but something felt off about it. I couldn’t keep track of how characters felt about each other and the end was disappointing. It was overall fun, though and was my cute introduction to Nam Joo Hyuk! It also gave me a new song to listen to when I want to feel sad (Je te veux by Erik Satie).

When the Camellia Blooms (7/10)

1st watch – Oh, When the Camellia Blooms, I had such high hopes for you. I loved the first several episodes and I came around again by the end, but I was not loving the screen time devoted to the Joker plot. I guess it’s my fault for not thoroughly looking into the story beforehand. I will say that I am so smitten with Yong-Sik and soft for his relationship with Dongbaek.

Heirs (6/10)

2nd watch – I watched this alone a few years ago and referenced it so often that I made my mom watch it. I actually didn’t like it the first time I watched it, but ended up enjoying it this time around. I was able to keep track of the characters this time, which was a plus! Kim Tan is still kind of a loser and I still have a soft spot in my heart for Young Do, but he’s also a loser. Surely there are better men out there, Eun-Sang!

Start Up (8.5/10)

1st watch – I really enjoyed this drama, but I think it helps that I fell for the “right” guy (controversial, I know. What I mean is that I fell for the one that does end up getting the girl, so I didn’t suffer like I did in “She Was Pretty”). The Samsan Tech squad was so cute. My favorite episodes were early on when the plot felt similar to Cyrano de Bergerac and the lead guys weren’t hateful toward one another. Overall a fun watch!

Goblin (7.5/10)

1st watch – What a show to end 2020 with! The bromance between the Goblin and Grim Reaper was the highlight for me, but I also really enjoyed Sunny and her relationship with the characters. I think it’s because I watched TKEM and Cheese first, but I didn’t like Kim Go Eun’s character as much as I should have. I’m finding that I do enjoy fantasy dramas, so I’ll be watching more of those in the new year.

Whew! If you stuck with me to the end, thanks! I’m always open to drama recommendations. Happy New Year!

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anika-ann · 4 years

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Errare Humanum Est - Pt.14

God’s Will and Fate’s Jokes

Type: series, soulmate AU series (part 1, part 2) x Supernatural

Pairing: Steve Rogers x reader (past?) Word count: 2900

Summary: Steve is not the only man out of time to be found in New York, Manhattan. And he sure as hell isn’t the only one struggling with what he’s done and lost.

Warnings: mentions of violence, guns and death, swearing, a bit of a talk about religion

A/N: Ah, you want to know how the reunion will turn out? Understandable… So I’m gonna insert a Bucky chapter, with fragments of how he had been. I promise two little cameos from a Netflix TV series in exchange though, so hopefully I can be forgiven.

Story masterlist

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The wind was gradually getting chillier with New York City further diving into autumn. Bucky readjusted his leather jacket to shield himself from it, but it was just a force of a habit. He had been frozen – several times, as he remembered now – and cold didn’t bother him for a while now. This was barely ‘cold’. His boots shuffled on the pavement with each step, a noise that seemed to drown in the busy streets.

The evening was slowly drifting into a night time, but in Manhattan, the streets never really fell into silence, always pulsing with life, sometimes calmer, mostly rapid though.

Bucky shoved his gloved hands into the pockets of his jeans and sighed, stopping in front of the rather tall building – then again, this was New York, tall meant something different here – , his destination.

His mind was preoccupied, for the millionth time lost in the past; for a change, not in his own.

The fact he had been unfrozen during the decades gave him an advantage of being able to keep up with modern times; and there was nothing that couldn’t be found on the Internet, especially when one knew where and how to look, maybe even peak where others couldn’t for the lack of access or ability.

Then again, Captain America’s life story wasn’t exactly a heavily guarded secret and Bucky couldn’t decide whether he couldn’t believe his eyes while reading, or whether he actually wasn’t surprised at all when learning what his former best friend had been up to after he (and the rest of the world, for that matter) thought Bucky was gone.

He had dived a plane which was about to level New York and other great cities of America to the ground. Everyone thought he died, but instead, he was trapped in ice; Bucky prayed Steve had been unconscious the whole time, not feeling the biting cold. Then, the proclaimed war hero was found and been woken up seventy years to the future, throwing himself into a fight as soon as it was needed.

And wasn’t it damn necessary – aliens attacked the Earth. Bucky now remembered seeing a lot of weird inexplicable shit. But still, this? What the hell.

The thing was, despite that, Steve’s life wasn’t all bad. He became a part of a band of superheroes and… the punk finally found his soulmate, the one he could never find before, because she hadn’t been born yet, which was insane enough on its own. However, he seemed happy.

Naturally, it had to nosedive after that; the woman of his heart and soul was dead.

Some nuthead – and to Bucky’s rage, a nuthead Bucky knew, he had been part of Hydra, which he now hoped didn’t exist anymore, because he read about Pierce being locked up along with others – had murdered her in the worst possible way right in front of Steve.

If Bucky ever considered becoming a murder machine again, after everything he knew he had done, it was upon that revelation. He wanted that man’s head. He wanted to tear him limb from limb. He was a villain, sure, that need was natural, but he had hurt Steve on top of that. No one hurt Steve and got away with it.

Apparently, the man didn’t, because he was blown up along with everyone in the building minus Steve.

Still. If Bucky ever questioned whether he still had a heart, he was sure upon that realization; he did have one and it bled for his best friend.

He wished he could be there for him, but he wasn’t ready. He didn’t know if he could even show up after everything his hands had done, no matter who forced them. He didn’t know if he could mug up Steve’s life even worse.

It was weeks now since he had been freed and his feet led him to a church – the one church where people said goodbye to Steve’s soulmate. Bucky had read about it too, her funeral; a small service for her friends and family, but many others wished to express their condolences, say thank you to the poor soul who lost her life to theirs and their loved ones and they chose this church to do so.

Bucky had figured he could pay his respects as well.

What he didn’t count on was the roller-coaster of emotions hitting him when seeing her picture, her smile radiant and brighter than the candles illuminating her photograph.

She was pretty, there was no denial. The photo printed was from Avengers’ archives, he read as much – Bucky had no doubt that it was Steve who put that bright smile, lighting up her eyes, on her face. He believed Steve had found true happiness with her and it wasn’t just because she was his soulmate or because Bucky watched the video evidence as she faced her death and showed great bravery and kindness or because he saw Steve’s desperation in the very same footage.

Bucky simply knew; the woman seemed to truly love Steve and that was all Steve ever needed. A woman to love him unconditionally.

Life was cruel and fucked-up to take that away from him.

No, Bucky didn’t count on the rage and heartbreak chasing tears into his eyes. Neither did he expect someone to pull him out of his musing.

“Did you know her, son?” an amiable male voice caused him to wince and mentally yell at himself for a dumb lack of awareness of his surroundings. Had it been a Hydra agent, Bucky would have been dead.

He forced himself to calm his sprinting heart, the rush of adrenaline unnecessary when the only person disturbing him was an old priest with nearly bald head and a soft soothing tone of voice.

His breath shuddered.

“No, Father. I didn’t.” I knew her soulmate, Bucky could have added, but he couldn’t afford to draw attention to himself; everyone knew who her soulmate was and it would lead to uncomfortable questions. Instead, Bucky’s mind supplied him with an easy lie. “But she had her life ahead of her, all of it. She must have been happy with her soulmate if he made her smile like this.”

The shorter man nodded, removing a candle that burned out from the altar with her picture – Bucky hadn’t noticed before with many others still warming up the space with their tiny flickering flames.

“Indeed. And she surely made him equally happy,” the priest hummed, sorrow darkening his face. His eyes carried a hint of curiosity, watching Bucky inconspicuously. ”It’s a shame for such joy to be stolen by madmen. Her soulmate… I pray for him as much as I do for her soul. Broken heart heals much longer than broken bones.”

No shit. Especially when it comes to supersoldiers with enhanced healing.

“Not wrong there,” Bucky whispered, hesitantly reaching out to the small metal basket with candles and a thin piece of wood to borrow the flame from another.

Bucky didn’t believe in God for almost seventy years now. Still, when the wick caught fire, he sent a silent prayer for both Steve and his gal.

“Still, you seem troubled by more than that,” the priest whispered and made a kind offer. “You could confide me in. It is what I am here for. Perhaps it would ease your sorrow.”

I don’t think so. Neither will it ease the craving after tearing a dead man’s head off.

“I don’t think you could help, Father, no offence. I’ve never been a good Catholic and lately even less so. And you sure don’t want to hear what troubles me.”

Despite a gentle nod of understanding, he nudged Bucky once more. At the very same moment, the soldier could hear the heavy door of the church open a crack and a man walk in with a periodic taping of a thin stick.

“I only wish to help you. If something of what you possibly have done heavies you… I wouldn’t be able to tell anyone. I’m not allowed.”

“I believe you, Father. But I’m not sure your own conscience would allow you to keep quiet in my case,” Bucky admitted honestly, shifting under the presence of another man despite the fact he wouldn’t be able to hear them. A periodic tapping the man carried with him was getting to Bucky’s nerve already.

He should leave. Another lost soul seeking the help of a church was a good excuse anyway.

“Trust me, son. Whatever your sins are, I’m certain I have heard worse.”

“No, Father. You haven’t,” Bucky muttered under his breath, aware of the stranger getting closer.

He turned to him, surprised to find a man of such built, carrying a walking stick for blind. His stance and body was one of a fighter, even when cladded in a cheap suit, red-tinted glasses preventing his real thoughts from displaying on his face. He appeared blind but not quite. To Bucky, he was giving an impression of pretence, at least partial.

He could only wonder why; however, he could do so on his way out.

“I’m pretty sure he did,” the newcomer joined their barely audible conversation without permission and a scowl twisted the Father’s face.

The fact that the not-so-blind? man could hear what Bucky was saying had everything in Bucky scream fight or flight.

“Matthew. What brings you here at this hour?”

The suited man shrugged light-heartedly; Bucky didn’t believe him for a second. “I thought I’d stop by. See how you’re doing.”

“Always with the jokes, Matthew. It’s not decent.”

It wasn’t. Except if Bucky was more comfortable at the moment, he would have snorted in amusement. This man was clearly comfortable in his own skin, but the skin was a charade too. Bucky didn’t want to stay to crack the mystery though.

“Forgive me, Father, then.”

“Did you come to confess?” the Father continued and Bucky recognized this was as good opportunity to leave as any, making space for the blind man to approach the priest more easily.

A brief smile passed over the Matthew’s lips. “No. Like I said, only wanted to make sure you were alright.”

The backing out of the soldier was less inconspicuous this time, caught by the priest.

“You don’t need to leave, son. Matthew is a dear friend.” And there’s more to him than it seems, Bucky was certain.

Were his the sins Father had mentioned? This man’s? Bucky wouldn’t be surprised considering the dangerous vibe he was radiating.

“I’m Matt,” the man offered swiftly and held out his hand for Bucky to shake.

Bucky was stupid enough to accept it and really, wasn’t he out of his game to make such an idiotic mistake. “…James.”

“Rather hot for gloves, isn’t it?”

Bucky fought the urge to punch this man for pointing it out and took a deep breath.

“My past injuries can… make people uncomfortable when seen.”

“I won’t see them,” the blind man challenged with the light tone to his voice again, his head tilting to side and Bucky could see the corners of his mouth twitch. It gave him the impression of the man wanting sent him a wolfish grin.

And that was the time to get the fuck out. What was Bucky thinking anyway, showing up in here?

“Matthew… perhaps it would be for the best if we leave James to his prayers and have a talk over a latté, if you’re interested at this hour?” the priest offered in a conciliatory manner, beckoning to the back for Bucky’s benefit – or for Matthew’s too?

How deeply ran the lie, the pretending? Bucky didn’t want to hang around to find out.

“Yes…” Matt hesitated, but nodded. “Perhaps. James.”

“Matt. Father.”

Bucky strode between the two lines of the pews, kind words reaching his sensitive ears.

“My invitation still stands, if you ever feel like talking. If you’re not comfortable confessing the traditional way… there’s always coffee. Same rules apply for me.”

Bucky nodded, definitely not planning on taking him upon the offer. “I appreciate the offer, Father. Goodnight.”

Since fate was a cranky bitch, a night full of horrors of the past had him wandering the streets before the sun even began to rise to the horizon.

The Father didn’t seem overly surprised that Bucky showed up again, at such ungodly hour no less.

“James. Latté?” he asked, unfazed almost.

Bucky wanted to question his decision. But he was an old man, older than the priest himself and he could believe his secret would be kept.

He nodded.

༻༺༻༺༻ღ༺༻༺༻༺

Opening to someone about the horrors he had lived through and had been a source of was surreal. No, scratch that, it was fucking weird and telling that to a priest was twisted and seriously messed up.

Yet, once Bucky started, he couldn’t stop the verbal vomit, his hands in his hair, tears welling up in his eyes and the hoarseness of his voice that seemed to be impossible to disguise.

And the whole time he talked, the man sitting opposite to him – not touching his latté either – listened intently with compassionate and understanding eyes full of sorrow and offering kind words and his own insights of a person watching the event from a reasonable distance, far enough not to get tangled in the emotional turmoil.

It caused Bucky’s breathing to turn so difficult that he thought he might actually suffocate, but he didn’t. He might be close to choking on his own spit though at priest’s forgiving words several times, words of redemption, a chance on it only proven by a mysterious man building miracles by a flick of a hand.

“You were a victim, James. Just like anybody else,” the Father explained his point of view slowly and with patience battling the one of saints themselves. “These are not your errors to carry with you like a burden. Forgive yourself. And allow your friend the same thing. I’m sure he could benefit from having someone by his side in a time difficult like this.”

Bucky gulped, looking away as he felt awkward burn in his eyes again, a lump in his throat never disappearing.

“I can’t. At least not yet, I’m-“

The sudden change of atmosphere was palpable, the safe environment carefully created by the priest vanishing at instant as Bucky’s instinct screamed about someone else’s presence in the church – someone else’s besides the God’s servants. His senses tingled, hairs rising at the back of his neck.

“Someone’s coming.”

Father Lantom seemed once again rather unfazed, his gaze shifting to his watch.

“Well, it is after six a.m., James.”

“Father-“ the soldier warned him breathlessly, otherwise rising to his feet soundlessly, sneaking to the door, opening them for a crack to glance at the newcomer that made his heart beat out of his chest.

One peek and he swiftly pressed his back to the wall, his head hitting it with a soft thud, eyes falling shut. Even with eyes closed, he could still feel the priest’s worried gaze.

“James?”

Bucky took a deep breath, arguing with his frantic mind and heart to calm the fuck down.

It was alright. He just needed to get the Father to cause diversion and he would sneak out, making no sound. He excelled at disappearing.

“Go greet him, Father. Don’t tell him a word about having me here. Please.”

The desperate plea was enough to light up a flare of recognition in the priest’s eyes, no matter how hard it made him frown.

He sighed, sounding resigned.

“I cannot do that choice for you, James, even if I wished. I promise to keep quiet.”

Bucky clenched his jaw, squeezed his eyes shut and nodded, beckoning to the other man to move.

The soldier stayed aligned with the wall, waiting for the right moment. It was killing him, freaking him out and yet luring him in, a mess of emotions, memories and possible scenarios of reunion playing out in his head, ranging from a fistfight to a hug even.

He needed to snap out of it.

He wasn’t ready. Not yet.

“Steven. What a nice surprise,” the priest greeted softly and Bucky barely contained the whine drawn to his lips. His hands curled up into fists and he bounced off of the wall, quickly assessing the most secure escape route. ”Do you require my assistance?”

“Not today, Father Lantom, but thank you.”

It was like a slap to Bucky’s face, a punch to his gut, hearing Steve’s voice; the melancholy in it and the burden he was never supposed to carry only making it worse.

For a second, Bucky wavered, faltering in his steps. His friend – former friend, still, his best friend – was right behind that door, needing someone and hurting and what was Bucky doing? Running away, like a coward?

“Are you alright?” the punk continued, expression concern for the not-exactly-older man and that was it. He caught a scent of something fishy right away.

Bucky’s mind yelled at him to get the hell out. His gaze returned to the door leading to a chamber and bathroom, hoping to find a small window. He crossed the distance in long quick steps.

“Yes, Steven, thank you. I simply have another troubled soul in the back room...”

Bucky slipped through the other door, finding what he wished for – an escape route. As he opened the window, taking care not to make the tiniest sound, Steve’s voice was slowly fading away.

“Don’t let me disturb you then, Father.”

By the time Father Lantom returned to the chamber, James Buchannan Barnes was gone. The priest only sighed in resignation; he more than half-expected it would come to that. He only hoped that the troubled soldier would find his way back eventually.

༻༺༻༺༻ღ༺༻༺༻༺

Part 15

༻༺༻༺༻ღ༺༻༺༻༺

So… am I? Forgiven? Please? I prooooomise the Steve/reader reunion will take place in the next chapter and it might actually be worth the wait ;)

Thank you for reading!

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searching-for-arcadia · 3 years

Photo

Sea-Hearts by Margo Lanagan & Vita Nostra by Maryna and Serhiy Dyachenko

torchwood fanfic asks

9. AUs? what kind?

Edits aren’t quite responsive since they’re not quite AUs that I’d say I gravitate towards, but more AUs I’d love to see people’s take on (I’ll actually answer the question below).

First, Gwen as selkie (and not the Torchwood selkie which seems to be an opposite selkie) isn’t something I’ve seen done (though if you know of a fic that has done this, please send it my way!). There is something about the soulfulness of her eyes that says selkie to me. A little snippet of something for flavor:

Gwen loved Rhys. He was a much kinder man than the man whole stole her from the sea. He loved her because he loved her, not because he owned her. That was more than many mortal men could boast.

Second, I would love to see a Torchwood/Vita Nostra fusion where Tosh was recruited to the Institute of Special Technologies and goes through the terrifying transformation and education we witness in the novel, but ultimately rejects her place and her power. She retains her brilliance but is always a little afraid from that point on of what she is capable of of. A little snippet of flavor:

She built the sonic modulator with the same sick feeling in her stomach that she had carried with her when she first joined the Institute of Special Technologies. She remembered when she sleep deprivation was driving her to madness and incoherence; she remembered when her studies suffered and her mother was in a near fatal automobile accident. A reminder, her mentor had said, and an incentive to study harder. She remembered the horrible accidents that befell all her classmate’s family members (broken bones, heart attacks, just-too-coincidental deaths); remembered that they were all taken hostage, their families held as ransom or collateral, until the lessons overtook their senses and they fell into the heady trap of being powerful. She was careful, while building the sonic modulator, to not become too interested, to not let her sense of capability outstrip her sense of fear. She would not forget how to be human twice.

And to actually answer the questions. YES, I love AUs. Excluding my already professed love of Chosen One!Ianto and my continual insistence that everybody, Suzie included, should live, here are some of my favorite AUs (in general, I love things that decrease the stakes for everyone involved because these days I just want to be coddled and comforted):

1. Time Lord Tosh or Ianto: I just think Time Lord Tosh makes a whole lot of sense and that she would make a fantastic companion to the Doctor (regardless of whether she’s human or a Time Lord, so that’s another AU for you, Companion!Tosh). And of course, I love the different ways that people tackle Ianto and Jack after Ianto regains his Time Lord senses (Does he get over it by sheer force of will/love? Does Jack’s fixedness not bother him at all? Does he choose to live as a human because he can’t bear to be with Jack as a Time Lord and he also can’t bear to be without him?).

2. The Team in Boeshane: I love the idea of the whole team being taken by the Rift and dropped off in Boeshane, either with or without Jack and while past-Jack is there or not. I just love Jack’s mother taking members of the team in.

3. Harry Potter AUs: I think that it’s our prerogative to pry this universe out of J.K. Rowling’s hands, take the interesting bits, and then tell better stories in it. I headcanon Ianto as a Slytherin, Tosh as a Ravenclaw, Gwen as a Gryffindor, Owen as a Hufflepuff, and Jack as a Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, or Slytherin (depending on what happened to his family life prior to his sorting; if there are no incidents, Hufflepuff; if there was an incident with Gray, but his parent(s) didn’t reject him, Gryffindor; if there was an incident with Gray and he has a fraught or non-existent relationship with his parent(s), Slytherin).

4. Daemons AUs: I especially love Daemon AUs that keep the touching taboo and think about how the existence of daemons would impact modern life. I think that the existence of daemons also has interesting ramifications for Suzie and Ianto. Does Suzie persist with the glove even though it can’t bring back a person’s daemon? I think you could characterize her either way. Does Lisa retain her daemon despite her partial conversion? I tend to think so and that the persistence of her daemon is the reason why Ianto doesn’t give up; when her daemon disappears is when he knows its over even if he can’t accept it yet. I don’t have a lot of defined thoughts about the daemons I’d give the team except that usually, I think of Suzie with a bird, Ianto with a scavenger, and Gwen with a canine. Jack, Tosh, and Owen are more variable in my head. I would also love to see broader HDM AUs that take more of the universe than just the existence of daemons (give me witches and the science of dust).

5. Coffee Shop AUs: Kinda. I’ve never really been particularly into Coffee Shop AUs specifically, though I do love them in the general way that I love fluffy Torchwood-doesn’t-exist AUs (Jack is a traveling artist and Ianto his muse, Gwen is a legitimate psychic who consults with law enforcement, Rhys and Ianto run a restaurant together, Owen as the A&E doctor who treats Tosh after a welding accident, Jack is a sci-fi author and Ianto writes mysteries; the possibilities are endless!), but now I’m a bit of a coffee snob (this happened independent of Torchwood; I developed my coffee habit and snobbery years after watching Torchwood) and know people who roast coffee, so I just want to see more coffee geekery. I do wonder how blasphemous it would be to update Ianto’s coffee tastes to be more in line with third wave coffee roasting preferences/innovations (which was certainly alive and well in the 2000s, especially in certain cities, but hadn’t seemed to hit Cardiff yet).

6. Role Reversal AUs: For when I feel like keeping the stakes the same, I love AUs that put Ianto in charge of Torchwood Three by whatever twist of fate you’d like with Jack working under him. Sometimes he’s immortal (so he takes on Jack’s backstory minus the coming from the future bit), sometimes he’s not (he gets put into power before or after Canary Wharf, though after seems most likely). Sometimes Jack grew up on Earth (either because his entire backstory has been changed or he was taken by the Rift as a child) and sometimes he didn’t (he can still be immortal or he can be a stranded Time Agent/Time Agent in hiding).

7. Dogs AU: Honestly I can’t explain myself. It’s completely silly and I love it. I don’t know if I’ve seen one of these in the Torchwood fandom, but AU where the whole cast are dogs and they meet at a dog park or their humans are neighbors. Jack is a retired military dog. Ianto spent some time as a street dog, was rescued, then there was some incident that put him back on the street, before being adopted (possible by Jack’s human(s)). Gwen is a former police dog that was pulled to join an experimental medical program and she now spends her days sniffing out neurodegenerative diseases. Owen is a therapy dog; his humans don’t get it because he hates strangers, but it’s like he’s a different dog around those in need. Tosh is a scarily intelligent dog who is part of the cohort of animals that is being taught how to communicate using a speech board.

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stayndays · 3 years

Text

𝐊𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐑 𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆'𝐒 𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐄𝐒 & 𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐃

time to dive into this hellhole of a series once again

if you haven’t read killer king, there are MAJOR spoilers in this post! you have been warned.

So! This was highly requested in the final survey of Killer King: to reveal the other routes if you didn’t choose the Escape Route. To start off, though, I first have to talk about something that was brought up multiple times throughout the voting boxes of Killer King, which is:

“Why is Jisung helping Minho/Is Jisung aware that Minho’s the killer/What is Jisung and Minho’s dynamic?”

Minho and Jisung, to say the least, is probably the most interesting duo in the series. They didn’t met before the party, but rather, at the party before the mansion owner was killed, and quickly formed a strong bond. You could infer that Minho wanted to pull in a party guest that would most likely stay and solve the murder, just so he has a puppet to control if things go haywire. Minho was also inspired by Jisung’s poem, which results in how his killing techniques were put into place.

Because Jisung is kind of naive in this story, he ends up being manipulated by the killer himself, and accidentally becomes Minho’s #1 ally for the entire series. Minho grabbed the key from the mansion owner’s coat, and gave it to Jisung for him to protect, saying something along the lines of “If anybody tries to flee the mansion like a coward, they won’t be able to because you have the key.”

Oh, also, Minho attempted to frame Jisung by leaving the white glove in Jisung’s bag. I’m like.. slowly recovering info from this series because I already forgot most of the plot.. October was a fever dream guys wheeze

But now, this duo leads us to our first route I’ll cover today! The duos all have a certain goal: Hyunin wanted to escape, another group wanted to kill the killer themselves, and another group simply wanted to solve the murder. This duo is different, however, because Minho is literally the killer.

So the route would’ve played out somewhat like this:

You choose to align with Minho and Jisung, regardless of whether you lie or not

When the house fight occurs and everybody is split off into groups, you have the option to stay with Chan, Changbin, and Minho. If you choose this, you would get an additional chapter where you have the decision to come with Minho upstairs, or to stay behind with Chan and Changbin.

If you choose to come with Minho, you would be forced by him to throw a knife at Jeongin, who’s alone on the stairs. (this would’ve been REALLY fun to write)

Even if you chose not to follow Minho, as long as you prove that you’re truly loyal to him, he’ll eventually reveal to both you and Jisung that he’s the killer, and urge the both of you to work with him to eliminate the rest of the house members.

THIS IS THE FUN PART

Basically: Jisung doesn’t want to team up with Minho. Instead, he wants to try and kill Minho (I assume that Jisung has multiple reasons as to why he doesn’t want to tell the other members, probably because he has no evidence). As a result, since Jisung also trusts you, he tells you his plan, and now you have to choose between the two.

And according to my notes, no matter if you team up with Jisung or go solo, if you choose to betray Minho, you will die. It is impossible to succeed in this scenario. You have to team up with a murderer in order to win.

You could also try and convince Jisung to come with you and Minho’s side. Knowing me, I’d probably spin a wheel to see whether Jisung would agree with you or not LOL. If he doesn’t though, he’s gonna die. That’s that.

So if you team up with Minho (regardless if Jisung is still alive or not) and the two/three of you are able to successfully eliminate the rest of the members, you win! And you get the ending “The Killer’s Sidekick” (even better: if you identity as a female and/or use she/her pronouns, you could be “The Killer Queen” :D)

The other two routes don’t have nearly as much info as Minsung’s route, though. One of them wasn’t even planned at all. Let’s talk about them!

Changlix’s Route: Kill the Killer

Basically, if you openly state to either Felix or Changbin that you’re also interested in killing the killer, you’d be put into this route!

In this route, you’ll tend to make more impulsive decisions without thinking straight (aka your choices will be pretty dumb) because you’re after blood, not justice.

If you kill the wrong person, that’s an automatic game over.

If you hesitate to kill Minho, he’ll kill you first, and that’s a game over.

And if you successfully kill Minho, you’ll get one of those “You won.. but at what cost?” endings, kinda like the ending you guys got! (it’s because you killed somebody, that’s why.)

Chanmin’s Route: Catch the Killer

I have nothing written down for this route. It’s pretty self explanatory. Find the killer, and trap him in a room until the police come. That’s pretty much the route, along with trying not to get killed yourself.

If you chose this route, it would probably be even more stressful than the escape route, and would probably be the most boring route to write.

If you have any questions, let me know! But now let’s dive into the questions you guys put in for the survey.

1. Was Hyunjin super suspicious in the beginning as a red herring?

I think they were all super suspicious in the beginning just so the reader jumps into the story completely blind. It wasn’t intended as a red herring, but it definitely could be to you!

2. Why does Felix and Changbin want to kill the murderer?

Simple: bloodlust. I just needed that violent duo, y’know?

3. Were Jisung and Minho conspiring together? If not, was Minho going to pin it on Jisung?

No and yes, that was his intention!

4. Why does Minho have a hankering for murder?

He wants revenge on his step father, the mansion owner, for neglecting him all those years. Also the dude has anger issues. Bad temper.

5. Why could Minho pass the mattress but not 5 guys?

He is immortal. He is god. He is- just kidding. He was probably doing something stupid and unplanned, like using the bathroom on the downstairs floor. That’s the best answer I can give you for now.

6. Why did Jisung decided to team up with Minho? I mean what benefit will he get from it if there is a chance Minho might even kill him too? and also did Jisung know that Minho is the killer king in the first place?

He didn’t realize he was teaming up with the killer, and if Minho did reveal that he was the killer, Jisung would most likely try to turn on him (and fail). Nope!

7. What was Minho's motive (was it just him hating the victim or was there something deeper)?

Both that, and probably bloodlust as well.

8. How did Minho get the white glove to blame Jisung later when he wasn't with us while we were searching the room?

He bought a fresh pair of white gloves before the party started. He also, most likely, placed it in Jisung’s bag before committing the murder without him noticing.

9. If we were to just body search everybody at once, would we find the throwing knives on Minho and just end the whole thing? (this was on my mind the whole time lmao, like why didn't we search OURSELVES too??)

yeah true ngl i can’t argue with that Knowing Minho, he probably has a bunch of knives hidden all around the house, secretly planting them here and there while mingling with party guests.

10. Were really 2 killer kings?

Nope! Only Minho. There would only be more than one killer king if you ended up choosing the Minsung route. However, good idea! I should’ve thought of that.

11. Why in the hell was jisung helping minho like how did they end up as a team?

e x p l a i n e d a l r e a d y. see i told you guys a lot of people were asking this

12. I still don't understand changbins fascination with the blood type.

This was an easter egg I was proud of but nobody caught!! The same blood type mentioned by Changbin (I think it was A?) is the same type Seungmin has! After a google search or two, I learned that blood types were passed down by family members, so if you arrange Seungmin’s family tree correctly, you’d learn that him and the mansion owner shared the same blood type, meaning that Seungmin is related to the mansion owner. Far stretch, I know, but I think it works out! If you figured this out, you would realize how smart Changbin really is as a scientist.

13. Why did jeongin light two matches?

Extra precaution! Also, he’s the youngest. He thinks fire is cool.

14. Was Minsung a team for the ~ Minsung Vibes? ~

It was not intentional at first, but then I realized the rest of the duos were popular ships in SKZ (minus Chanmin) so that was interesting!

15. Just in general why were the teams aligned the way they were?

Minsung - They’re good pals Changlix - For the bloodlust similarity Hyunin - They were both emotional enough in this story to want to escape Chanmin - It’s literally Chan and Seungmin, and Seungmin is close with the mansion owner

16. Which one was your favorite route?

MINSUNG’S ROUTE!! I wanted you guys to choose this one because it would so different from other murder mysteries!! But the escape route was my second choice, thank god.

17. Will you be doing another series similar to this next year?

90% no because of how physically and mentally draining this series was to write, but you can get a sequel if the finale somehow gets 50 notes! That won’t happen for a while. Just FYI.

18. Did the knife in y/n’s hand ever come out or was it just stuck in there the entire time?

It was there the entire time until Hyunjin pulled it out at his house. I actually still don’t know if this is medically accurate or not, I literally had to ask my mom what to do in this situation. Our text messages went something like:

Me: If a knife goes through your hand, should you pull it out or leave it in? Asking because of a TV show Mom: Leave it in and go to the hospital... Me: Ok thanks mom

I think that’s it? I still have a lot I want to talk about, but that information will only come out if people ask me! So come ask me hehe have fun. Thank you, so incredibly much, for following Killer King. It is my pride and joy, literally.

taglist: @desertofdessert @crscendoforsung @cotccotc @leggomylino @skzctnightnight @freckledberries @nizhonimoon @hanniiesuckle17 @binniesbabybear @tsuki-moons @lbxgsunshine @csbverse @mangoisawesome @peachyhan @worldtriiiip @golden–rain @bubblyjisunq @kimpchi @loey-letters @pokyloky @wherevermyway @avrea-tt @bossuns @sunoo-luvs @katherineee19 @ph0ebevix @qt-k1mb @444scb @grandmasterslickfox @k-pop-valda (now we can all abandon this series for good!)

#stray kids killer king #stray kids #skz #stray kids killer king spoilers

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dimonds456 · 3 years

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20 First Lines

Tagged by @novantinuum, and this looks like fun! I’ll give it a go!

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories. See if there are any patterns. Choose your favorite opening line. Then tag 10 authors!

The order here will go from most recent to oldest.

1. Beautiful Morning

Steven awoke to blinding sunlight shining in his eyes. He squinted, bringing a hand up to block the rays as he tried to assess his surroundings.

2. Another Universe Down Below (SU x UT)

He had just turned 15 a few months ago.

3. Half a Puppet

Steven could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he watched Connie fight. She had jumped into White’s head like the angel she was, immediately running in to assist in talking to White.

4. A New Start

Cold. Bright. Fast.

That was the world which sometimes presented itself, whenever Steven chose to open his eyes.

5. Door, Lock, and Key

It was late at night. They had warped back late, as the sun was already gone below the horizon, but now, it had been hours later. The beautiful moonlight shone through Steven’s bedroom windows, painting his warm-colored room in cooler tones.

6. How to Train Your Monster (SU x HTTYD)

Connie was 11 years old when she moved to Beach City, or well, nearby to Beach City. She had been the quiet, shy, awkward kid who loved pretending to be a part of fairy tales, rescuing the royal from peril and battling monsters on the way there. She imagined that she knew how to swing the fine tip of a sword, or launch an arrow with such a precision, she’d be known throughout the world.

7. The SU Cast Plays Among Us (I KEEP FORGETTING ABOUT THIS ONE XD)

Dead Body Reported

CONNIE: Well that was fast.

PEARL: What’s happened? Who died?

PERIDOT: …urnext.

SPINEL (yelling over her in shock): AMETHYST?!

AMETHYST (from beyond the grave): Barely even thirty seconds in! >:(

((Okay but low key I still love that one because of how bonkers it is. And not even I knew where it was going. It was GREAT.))

8. Stolen

Here I am in the future.

Here I am in the future, and it’s bright.

Nothing to fear, no one to fight.

I see

The light

As dark takes flight

Happily ever after, after all.

9. Red Isn’t Violence; Pink Is

Anger had a way of bringing out the extremes in someone. Anger fueled determination, and competitiveness, and oftentimes could be the key to strengthening relationships with people. It was funny like that, as everyone always seemed to think of anger as a negative emotion. But, was it really?

10. Broken

It was quiet. The silence was comforting, but not what he was looking for. Not yet.

11. Bubbled (SU Time Travel AU)

It had been a long, slow trip, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief as the last of the Ruby guards boarded their Roaming Eye. Amethyst, exhausted, released her shapeshifted form of Jasper, wiping the sweat from her brow. She and Steven both started laughing in relief.

12. A Second Chance

SPINEL: Any second now, she'll be back. She's just getting everything ready... a new garden, maybe! I just need to be patient, that's all.

13. The Choice (Demons Inside AT) ((BATIM AU))

Darkness could only be dark with light.

Emptiness could only be empty while there existed something else.

There would be no warmth without cold, nor good without evil. That was something the demon had known his whole life, but had never really understood until now.

14. Awaken - Mystery Skulls (fan fic / interpretation)

He rose up, looking around. The world around him was dark and dreary, no lights in sight. His back was against the wall, and his body felt heavy. He blinked. He was looking at what looked like a cliff face, but it was growing from the wall by his feet.

15. Demons Inside: The Rewritten Fanfic (PART 1)

It was late at night. The clock on the wall tick, tick, ticked away, the time reading right around 2:15 A.M. It was quiet, an eerie noise that didn’t fit the studio very well. Well, all minus the ticking clock.

16. Edgar's Nightmare

It was dark. There was very little light, and the majority of it came from these little lamps hanging down from the ceiling. The other half of the light came from one part of this large cavern, over by the only exit- by a little workshop. Right now, though, that light was turned off.

The witch was away.

17. Bendy's Nightmare

It is a beautiful day. Light shines down upon rolling, soft grey hills. There are a few fluffy clouds in the sky, but that cannot spoil the mood.

18. Angelic Arrest- A Sillyvision Cartoon [script]

Alice Angel is hiding behind a cloud as she watches a fellow angel approach. This other angel trips over a thin wire, sending him face-first through the clouds. Alice laughs, but then stops when the other angel flies back up, frowning.

ANGEL: Alice Angel. I should have known it was you.

19. King Dice in: A Christmas Carol (Chapter 1)

It was a crisp winter day. The snow blew across Inkwell Isle, freezing the land in its cold grip. Everyone was outside, however, chatting amongst each other, singing carols, and welcoming distant family onto the island.

20. Demons Inside- BATIM Fanfiction (but the first ver of it)

It was late at night. The lights in the studio had all been turned off, Joey had gone home, and Boris and Alice were sleeping soundly in the little room downstairs Joey had made for them. A single light flickered, quiet and dim, the light reflecting off a small Ink Creature sitting all alone.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The first thing that stuck out to me was that I tend to start with a fact. Someone was this age, the weather was this. Often, I specifically stated the time of day. It's night so often, go to sleep, all of you.

Next, I talked about the setting. The characters get introduced later. I need to establish where we are and what's happening naturally before the characters go messing with anything.

The second most common thing I did was say something philosophical. I did this when I was about to start toying with an idea, like anger being represented by the color pink instead of red.

T;dr, I need to get more creative with my openings lol

My favorite opening line was probably "The Choice" actually. I don't really know why, I just like the way it flows.

I don't know 10 other fic artists on Tumblr, so I'm gonna say that if you write fic and wanna try this, go for it. Consider youself tagged by me. :)

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shiny-procrastinates · 3 years

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(re)Watching Magia Record S1 - part 10

part 9 here

Hello and welcome back everyone! Do I really need to write this part? I'm running out of ideas here.

Last time, Iroha answered the mysterious messages she was getting and entered the barrier of the Rumor of Endless Solitude, Ai, that had been calling her in the hopes of being erased. There, Iroha meets Sana, a invisible Magical Girl who had run away from the world to Ai's barrier and made friends with the Rumor. After a brief battle with one of the Magius, Alina Gray, Sana's forced to delete the corrupted Ai in a heart-wrenching scene, and the episode ends. What will happen now? That's what we're about to find out.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story: Magia Record S1 episode 10

Continuing from the last episode, we get a peek at the only time Sana was ever happy the events that led her to her horrible situation and then go back right into the way-too-sad Ai's "death".

However, being meguka is suffering and Sana doesn't even get to grief Ai's death properly because the Rumor's barrier collapses and leaves her and Iroha falling back into the city. Also because she fainted.

Iroha manages to catch Sana in mid-air and is relieved but, uh, Iroha? Unless you can channel the same magic you use in your transformation to land softly you two are still screwed.

Now to something slightly unrelated, after the opening we get a look at what's going on in the other tower, the one Yachiyo and the others had theorized was the exit. I'd ask what's this statue about but I've already learned not to question the backgrounds by now.

On the other tower the Amanee twins are freaking out over the Rumor getting erased, since this means they've failed to protect yet another one. And while they're doing that, Yachiyo team arrives, realizes they hit the mark by seeing them and Tsuruno messes up yet another Rumor(?) by virtue of pressing a random button. Nice(?), Tsuruno! Never mind that you just screwed with the town's whole electromagnetic field.

Why, while you two were freaking out, of course.

The machine Tsuruno activated conveniently attracts Iroha and Sana (and everything metal in x km), saving them from breaking all the bones in their bodies. Sadly, it also pulled in Alina's witches. She rides one of them in order to get closer and then captures them in her cubes. Gotta catch em' all, huh.

Y'know, you'd think that a girl that can somersault over a witch could also straighten herself in the air to land on her feet, but that'd make Iroha be competent and we can't have that, apparently.

RIP Walking Antenna-kun, you shall not be missed.

Thanks to the magnetism dying, Iroha and Sana get a hard landing, while the more skillful Alina just jumps down. The twins continue panicking while Yachiyo and co. go check on Iroha and Sana, who are fine (though only Iroha's conscious).

Then, because what even is continuity, we jump ahead to our girls having moved and getting ready to fight a very pissed Alina. Even the twins are scared. No wonder, since, well

Alina broke (though I'm not sure she was ever not broken). She releases all of the poké- witches she has on her (all dupes too) on our girls. Nasty.

As expected, Felicia rushes in, and Yachiyo follows after her, encountering some trouble. While Iroha protects her back, Yachiyo questions the twins about what's going on.

Yachiyo asks if the cult has been raising witches inside Ai's barrier and the weirdo twins say that both the Rumors and witches are necessary for salvation, for they have need of human emotion. Uhh, Amane sisters are you sure you two are sane? You're sounding a lot like Kyuubei now. Were you brainwashed by the cult?

Felicia keeps being reckless, Alina keeps being crazy, there's a lot of witches and oh god just what's going on with this episode's production, I wonder if it's more intelligible in the blu-ray.

Tsuruno and Felicia do a Connect, burning down some copy-witches, which only makes Alina even more deranged (if that's even possible). Alina does... something, I think she might be doing the same spewing-a-witch-out thingy that we've seen a few times now. Iroha, who had already seen this one of Alina's powers inside Ai's barrier, warns Felicia and Tsuruno not to touch it, but the two are kind of surrounded right now. When everything seems lost...

MAMI! I have never been more glad to see those marvelous drills.

Mami shoots Alina's hat as a warning and, though Alina gives her a face of absolute disgust, she calls back her witch. Mami then orders the twins to go catch some pokémon witches... oh wait, Mami's part of the cult now too? Then why'd she bother saving Iroha earlier and all the girls now?

Thanks for nothing, Mifuyu. You're late.

While Yachiyo and Mifuyu are having a awkward meeting, with Mifuyu looking kinda guilty now, Mami puts the pressure on Alina, questioning what's up with those witches, but Alina just peaces out, saying she doesn't like being interrupted.

Yachiyo calls out to Mami, who apologizes for before. Considering that she's with the Wings of the Magius now, she should know what was up that time, so that makes sense. Yachiyo and co. realize she's with the cult now and raise their guard back up. Mami then says that, even though they're using Rumors and witches, the cult is trying their best to keep sacrifices at a minimum, which does explain why she stepped in these two times. Mami insists that it's all for the sake of salvation and that she will save everyone, the latter being a very Mami thing to say indeed. (with the right to a flashback to the og, even).

Iroha asks what does she mean by "you'll understand eventually" but gets ignored big time. Yachiyo tries to stop Mifuyu, saying what they're doing is no different than a witch but Mifuyu, despite looking guilty, doesn't respond and once again uses her illusion magic to let her group run away.

Oh, and Snaa wakes up.

After the ruckus from the previous night, the Mikadzuki girls (minus Felicia) are helping Sana with moving in. Sana's seems a bit uncomfortable, but I guess it can't be helped when you've been invisible almost all your life.

And well, there's no way she's not feeling down with what happened with Ai. It's going to take a while until she can settle down here yet. Of course, the others get worried about her state, but Yachiyo also says this.

Iroha wonders if they can really become Sana's new home and Yachiyo says only Sana can decide that, but, after seeing the mugs in the cupboard, she also say that there is something they can do for her.

Iroha invites Sana, and the group go shopping for mugs. Sana wonders why mugs, and Yachiyo explains that it's distant to have them continue using the guest ones. She says, while looking affectionately at Tsuruno and Felicia, that it's about time they got one since their group had already gotten this big.

Decision anxiety: The image

Sana says she wants one with a cat, which Iroha picks for her. Felicia chooses one with a cow design, saying that they're delicious when Tsuruno asks why, though Felicia's reason for that is surprisingly thoughtful... and then she tells Tsuruno to get a pig one because twice-cooked pork lol

And there they are. This is almost saying "that's the team". Though they're really basically found family already.

Yes Tsuruno, exactly!

Hearing about family, however, makes Sana remember her own family, so she silently leaves and heads back to her parent's home, maybe to look at how they're doing.

Where are the walls on this thing?

I'm sure they wanted to tell us something with this but I'm not sure exactly what.

One has to wonder how can they leave her food on the door and not realize she hasn't eaten any of it for who knows how long now. Just goes to show how much they don't care about her. She could've died and they wouldn't even had realized. God I hate Sana's family.

Yup, shitty as ever.

Sana takes her things and leaves that house, this time forever. While heading back, she starts suffering while hearing(?) all the kids who get to have their names called by someone, who are seen, until she flashbacks to Iroha calling out for her inside Ai's barrier.

With this, Sana realizes the place she belongs now, the place she wants to be in is Mikadzuki Villa.

*sob* uungh please let this girl's happiness last, show.

Episode 10! This is the title card, but look at the time, there's no way this episode would be over yet.

Oh my god the sound these familiars(?) make is so adorable!

...*ahem*

At what we can assume is the Wings of the Magius' HQ, Mifuyu and Mami are reporting what happened earlier to two obscured figures I think we can assume are the other two Magius besides Alina.

Later, we see Mifuyu lamenting the state of things. Nah Mifuyu, I'm sure Yachiyo would welcome you with open arms as long as you leave this shady cult. Mifuyu hears her doorbell and answers, and the Amane twins let themselves in to make her dinner. You really haven't got it together, do you, Mifuyu?

Mifuyu goes back to her pondering, thinking about how she has to achieve salvation for their sake too. ...are all veterans like Mami here?

So you say but aren't you already?

Back at Mikadzuki Villa, it seems they were filling Sana in on Iroha's situation and why the group is chasing Rumors. Iroha says this, but they've already told you this plenty of times, didn't they? They're aiming for salvation.

Iroha asks if Sana hasn't heard about either Ui or Touka and Nemu, the girls who were hospitalized with her. Sana then reacts to the name Nemu, asking her if that's Nemu Hiiragi, one of the Magius...

Aaand then the episode ends for real. Talk about a cliffhanger!

- x -

While this episode was still about Sana's situation in part, it did manage to drop some grand revelations on us: Alina and raising witches, Mami being part of the Wings of the Magius (and a high-ranking enough member that she could tell Alina off) and last but not least the possibility of one of Iroha's sister's friends being one of the Magius. We just got our main team together, but there's no sign of things slowing down. And since our girls will definitely keep erasing the Rumors, they'll keep on clashing with WotM. To us who watched the og, the main question is, of course, how exactly they plan to execute their "salvation" plan but to Iroha and co., who don't even know about the witchfication yet, the question's still at "what are they trying to save us from", I suppose, so we can look forward to seeing what kind of hell will break loose (or not) once the cat's out of the bag.

Well, not much else to say about this episode except: LET, SANA, BE, HAPPY.

This is everything for episode 10. This one ended up late because the backlog ran out and was incredibly annoying to write because my "w" key is dying. Do you have any idea how much "w" is used in this language? A lot. Please resuscitate, w key.

Thanks for reading and I hope to see you next time!

#Magia Record #pmmm magia record #magireco #puella magi madoka magica

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monkeebratz · 5 years

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Bio!Dad Bruce Wayne AU - Super Meet

SO we have two ways that the Parisian Super Squad meets the Batfam.

The first, which I’m only writing down because I cannot forget about it, and its hilarious is: the Super Squad gets to Gotham, gets Mari’s texts, gets to their hotel room, throws their stuff in, transforms, and starts running around looking for her. They find her walking around the fashion district with the Wayne’s. Adrien, as Chat Noir, spies Marinette first. And, in typical fashion, acts first and thinks later.

So basically the Wayne’s watch a young, blonde, male version of catwoman throw an incredibly expandable baton between them and Mari, jump down, pick her up. Say “Bonjour. Au revoir.” And then make his expandable baton extend again and carry the now screeching Marinette to the top of the building where the rest of the Super Squad is waiting. Luka is going to strangle him. Holy shit. Chat Noir? More like Chat NO-ir!

The Batfam, of course, suits up and starts chasing after them. In full daylight. (These are the perfect opportunity for “Only in Gotham tweets” tbh) They catch up to Marinette berating all of them in incredibly loud and frantic French. As Multimouse. Going on about how irresponsible it was to leave Paris unprotected! Yes she knows Hawkmoth was defeated but it is the principle of the matter!! And they left BEFORE she told them about what happened with her bio!family and Batman! ALSO THEY KIDNAPPED HER IN BROAD ASS FUCKING DAYLIGHT IT DOESN’T MATTER IF THIS IS GOTHAM YOU SHUT YOUR TRAP CHAT!

The whole squad looks so defeated but then Mari starts crying and throws herself into Chat’s arms going on about how good it is to see them and she’s so happy they’re here and they’re so so stupid! And then its a hug pile. Big hug pile. The Batfam looks on in utter confusion bc, again, only like. Two of them know French. Then Batman coughs and they all look up and just. Don’t move. Maybe if they don’t move he won’t see them.

“... I need to be taking Miss Dupain-Cheng back to her family, now.”

“But-!” WHACK (why yes that’s the sound of Marinette kicking at them all)

“You kidnapped a girl in front of her family with no warning, in a very dangerous city. I’m sure her family would like the reassurance that she’s safe.”

So Batman and the Robins take Marinette back to Wayne Manor and Alfred clings to her (like he totally didn’t put everything together already they’re all so obvious). And then the Batfam, minus costume, comes barreling down the stairs and they all tackle Marinette and its another hug pile. Bc holy shit Mari why did you get kidnapped by your so called friends? Oh, they’re stupid? Can relate.

And then. Of course. Guess who shows up at the door. Just peeks their heads in, detransformed of course. “Uh, hi? We’re friends of Marinette? We’re here to visit her?”

Bruce is shrieking like WHY. WHY IS THIS SHIT GENETIC?! Internally. Can’t spill the beans QUITE yet.

Anyway, INTRODUCTIONS GALOR, YADA YADA, Dick and Adrien get along so well. Too well. Kagami and Damien also get along well too (they’re both ready to stab a bitch, don’t test them). Luka is too chill NOT to get along with anyone, unless they insult his friends and partners. Chloe is ready to throw down but also holy shit that’s Bruce fucking Wayne? Damn, Mari. DAMN. Already on social media about this.

(Also listen, I am shipping trash so I’m going to be vague as hell with things but in my brain this will be a poly!partners au so the Super Squad is just dating each other. But for the sake of everyone they could also just be really good/close friends, as they’ll be sharing rooms and be very touchy feeling and such. Its up to you. But just know, I’m just. Like this.)

So it basically just devolves into story sharing and puppy piles and the Wayne’s all looking at the Super Squad with side eyes bc HM. HOW FAMILY. ALSO STOP TOUCHING THE BABY! NO CORRUPTING THE BABY!! THAT’S OURS!!!

WE SAW HER FIRST SO FUCK YOU!

I’M LITERALLY? HER FATHER? FUCK? YOU? YOU CATWOMAN KNOCK OFF???

This is all happening with their eyes btw

And of course. The whole squad follows Marinette out as Multimouse to go meet batman, who Bruce told her had something to talk with her about. And she kinda cries bc SHE’S GOING TO GET KICKED OUT OF THE CITY BC OF HER IDIOTS!

Its not, its the Batfam taking the Super Squad to the Justice League tower. They weren’t expecting so many people but its fine. They’ll make it work.

Because Bruce had called the Justice League for an emergency meeting that night with the tone of voice that clearly said anybody who didn’t show up would have a bat hunting them down and shoving his foot up their ass so far they’ll taste patented leather for the rest of their life. They’ve almost never seen him so angry? And he’s bringing guests? What? The fuck??

Multimouse Marinette gets briefed that, as the current Guardian of the Miraculous, and a hero of Paris, she’ll be there to get a formal apology and an explanation about why a bunch of teenagers had to fight an emotionally manipulative super villain by themselves. Chat Noir is maybe hiding behind the rest of the Miraculous Crew and they’re only kinda notice but don’t think much of it tbh. Adrien does NOT want to be the one to explain that his FATHER was said super villain. save him.

Btw the whole group is having mixed reactions to the idea of meeting the Justice League. Adrien wants to run away but he also doesn’t care? Like. They’re all superhero’s, he gets that they can’t always help, but also. Fuck. He loves being a superhero but having someone with actual experience might have saved them all a lot of heartache. Chloe, meanwhile, doesn’t give a sINGLE SHIT about the JL. Fuck them. Fuck them so hard, so assholes ignored them and they’re going to be high and mighty. She may be a better person now but she will not put up with their nonsense. Not now. Not ever. Fight her. Luka is that sort of calm angry? He’s pissed that they brushed them off but since everything’s over there’s no point in holding onto his anger. There may or may not be a lot of meditating in the Bat Plane on the way there so he doesn’t use his lyre like a fucking BOOMERANG AGAIN and smack them all upside the head with it. Kagami doesn’t care? She’ll threaten them to the ends of the earth should they ever blow off such messages again, but she also just. Has very little emotional investment in them otherwise.

Marinette, of course, is freaking out and pacing and trying to channel her inner ladybug and screaming internally bc why. WHY. She’s angry but she also understands, but she’s still so stressed. just. please. Tiny squeaks.

And okay, they get there, and Batman comes in with ALL the Robins AND all these new kids?

Flash: I’m sorry, you called an emergency meeting because of your extended family?

Diana: HUSH

Because Diana, of course, recognizes them what and who they are. And is screaming bc holy shit? The Miraculous Holders are active again? Do they need their help? Where is Ladybug? Who is the Guardian? She just has. so. many. questions.

And Captain Marvel/Shazam (seriously wtf IS HIS NAME) is fangirling HARD. Because that’s the Miraculous Holders! The ORIGINAL magic users! SEVERAL of his people (Hercules/etc) were Miraculous holders on top of Shazam and HOOOLLLY SHIT THEY’RE HERE! IN FRONT OF HIM! HOLY SHIT!!!

Superman, Green Arrow, and several others are sweating bc uh. UH. OH SHIT THOSE MESSAGES WERE REAL?

Yes. They were real. And now they have Batman in full dad mode demanding an explanation. Several people (Superman, other mutation/alien esc powers) claim they went to Paris to check on the damage but they couldn’t find any, OR the supposed supers of villain.

Multimouse steps forward and starts explains how the Ladybug powers work and if they had bothered to contact them beyond telling them this wasn’t a line of communication to be used for PRANKS, they would know better. Diana chimes in with how she was helped created BY the Ladybug miraculous, etc, why did nobody ask her about this? Hell, why did nobody ask their resident magic user, Captain Marvel/Shazam???

Green Lantern: No offense, but doesn’t this all seem a little far fetched?

Chloe: ... Bitch, you have an alien ring that gives you powers. Shut the fuck up.

So there’s some arguing, back and forth, and Bruce looses his temper a little bit. Smacks his hand HARD on the table. “Enough. It is your job to investigate. It is not your job to leave the saving of an entire city to my fucking daughter, who was barely thirteen at the time this all started. As far as I’m concerned, this can never, ever, happen again. Wonder Woman, Captain, I assume you’d be willing to go through our notifications for any discrepancies?”

And there’s a huge moment of silence. Everyone’s staring at him. Multimouse squeaks. Red Hood just. “Good going, Bats. Real smooth.”

Chat: OH MY GOD YOUR DAD IS BATMAN? WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY ANYTHING, WHY- HOOOOO OH MY GOD YOUR DAD! BATMAN! IS DAD! YOUR DAD WHO IS ALSO-!

Viperion is making wheezing noises and covers Chat’s mouth and then there’s even more yelling and arguing and finger pointing, and Bruce wants a drink. And a nap. In whatever order he can get them.

Basically he gets Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel/Shazam to agree to looking through messages but also gets the hell out of dodge.

Next in, the reactions to all this tomfoolery. Also apparently superhero-ism is now genetic.

Tag List! (Please remember to send me an ask if you want to be added!)

@mystery-5-5 @mariae2900 @vgirl-10123 @iglowinggemma28 @deredereart @synnesstra @dahjokester @destinationdesignation @lordsmeldingtonthethird @emjrabbitwolf @unabashedbookworm @saphiraazure2708 @rhub4rb @romanoff-queen @octoberscorn@littleblue5mcdork @foxyrelina @severelyenchantedwonderland @dast218 @ace-aro-agender @rogueptoridactyl @kitkatcatfangirl @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @poshplumcot @iggy-of-fans @schrodingers25 @two-faced-biatch @moonlitarchangels @vixen-uchiha @rikku052 @elspethshadow

People who should be tagged but may not? So sorry, I’m still going to add you until tumblr stops being a dick about this.

@tbehartoo @wuvpancakes

#miraculous ladybug #maribat #batman #biological father bruce wayne #miraculous ladybug au #batman au #aaaannnd that's its i'm not tagging anymore i'm sorry i'm just TOO TIRED

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slytherin-team · 4 years

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On Petunia Evans Dursley, or how I imagine & re-imagine her character

So, I re-read HP and Snape’s memories of Lily and Petunia really stood out to me.

Since re-reading the whole series, I’ve become a bit obsessed with Snape and Petunia.

I want to talk about Petunia’s character.

Now, I like starving-her- nephew- and -locking- him -in- a- cupboard Aunt Petunia as much as the next person (which is to say, not at all)

However, Petunia’s character has to be one of the things that bothers me most about HP or one of the things that I see as the biggest missed opportunity on JKR’s part.

Now, I don’t entirely blame JKR for making Petunia a one-dimensional villain. HP started out as a children’s book and the Dursleys are very much like Matilda’s family. They’re just there to be entirely awful and also to contrast muggle “ordinariness” with wizard “specialness.” Additionally, everyone is familiar with the fairytale evil stepmother and Petunia fills that cliched trope as well.

But as the series becomes darker and less for children and as we learn more about the complicated history between muggles and wizards, the presence of only one-dimensional (Dursleys, at least the parents) or barely present (the Grangers) muggles becomes rather irksome, considering how the war is all about prejudice towards muggles and muggle-borns.

These things didn’t bother me or even occur to me so much as a kid reading the series and that’s why I can’t entirely blame JKR on this one thing. She knew her target audience (kids) would identify with the witches and wizards, see the muggles as boring and dull like the adults around them, and not care so much about the broader picture.

I don’t know if my new way of looking at the series comes from simply re-reading it, or more specifically, from being an adult re-reading it, but I find myself super interested in examining what it means to be a muggle who is aware of the magical world and this what draws me to Aunt Petunia.

If I could make any change to the series, I would make Petunia a more gray, nuanced and fleshed out character, much like Snape (who I actually think she is very similar to and I’ll get into that). She would still give preferential treatment to her own son, but she would not outright abuse Harry by starving him or locking him up. She would ensure he’s well-fed and healthy but she would not be affectionate with him, but rather cold and distant, so similar to how she already acts but minus the serious abuse.

I would pepper in moments where Petunia stares at Harry with empty eyes or glances at him while he’s not looking. I would have Harry notice these small moments from time to time and wonder why his Aunt takes care of him yet is so cold towards him. He would unravel this mystery of her behavior, just as he unraveled Snape’s and Petunia would get a redemption arc, like Snape. I haven’t thought of all the details but I like the idea of her getting more involved later in the series and being a useful muggle character. Eventually, she would open up about Lily as well and reveal her regrets. She would also have a heart to heart with Harry and wish him luck before going into hiding.

Vernon would still be a jerk but not outright abusive because Petunia wouldn’t allow for that. Dudley would still get away with his bullying, particularly when Petunia is out of sight, but maintain the growth he did show in the series, perhaps taking it a bit further.

As much as I prefer my version of Petunia, the actual Petunia we get, while not a good or redeemable person by any means, is still really great as a character and as a villain, she has a good origin story.

Hate adult Petunia all you want, but child Petunia, in my opinion, is nothing but sympathetic and probably one of the most relatable characters in the series, and I will go through this.

We all wish the HP world was real, but of course, if it was, we’d all want to be witches and wizards. We all want to go to Hogwarts.

Severus tells Lily, “It’s real for us, not for her.”

He’s right and he’s wrong. It’s real for Petunia, she just can’t be a part of it.

Now, personally, I think being a squib would feel a lot more unfair than being a muggle with muggle parents whose sibling just happens to be a witch and even if Petunia’s parents did favor Lily for being a witch, they can’t be prejudice towards Petunia for her lack of magic when they lack magic themselves.

But squibs might actually be looked down upon by their magical parents and they seem to have no choice but to enter the muggle world even though they grew up in the magical world, and if they do stay in the magical world, they’re seen as lesser and I can’t imagine there’s much for them to do. Maybe they could work in Muggle relations but that’s not given much prestige (even though it should be an important thing) Petunia feels barred from the magical world but at least she doesn’t have to leave her own world.

Still, Petunia is just a kid and she doesn’t know about all the intricacies of the magical world or about squibs. She just sees that her sister has abilities that she doesn’t and access to a really exciting world that she doesn’t. So, her jealousy and feelings of inferiority are totally understandable.

Of course, in her jealousy of Lily, lack of knowledge about the intricacies of the magical world, and overall myopic view because of her youth, I think there’s something that Petunia doesn’t realize.

Lily is also in a difficult position, perhaps in some ways more difficult than Petunia. At least Petunia has a clear line. She’s a muggle and can fit into the muggle world.

Lily is a witch, so despite being born into the muggle world, she’s different, but that doesn’t mean she can fully integrate into the magical world. In some ways, the prejudice against muggle-borns and the specific slur for them makes them seem more hated and distrusted by certain segments of the wizarding world than even muggles themselves.

And Lily graduated Hogwarts at the time of Voldemort’s rise and we’re told that the first wizarding war was much more intense than the second. Marlene Mckinnon and her entire family were killed. Voldemort had a bunch of creatures on his side. Petunia could be blissfully ignorant of all this and cocoon herself in her safe “ordinary” world at least. Safety didn’t seem like a choice for Lily, although she certainly had agency and chose to fight for the Order. But it seems that muggleborns would be hunted regardless.

Perhaps if Petunia had realized this, she would have had more sympathy for her sister and also realize that she herself is lucky in some regards. Maybe she could have cultivated her own talents and focused on them instead of putting all of her energy into being jealous and petty.

I also have this other idea I like, of Petunia developing healthy coping mechanisms to deal with her jealousy and then finally embracing the magical world - instead of turning away from it entirely to be as “ordinary” as possible- and then becoming the muggle version of Arthur Weasley- that is, a muggle who is a bit of a “magicphile”

Getting back on track, Petunia’s ordinariness could be her strength, at least as a character, it makes her relatable. Young Petunia, like young Severus, is the underdog, and that sort of makes you want to cheer for her or at least see her get a slice of the cake at least once in her life.

While I’ve grown to like Lily as a character more because of my re-analysis of her situation - which makes her an underdog too- I used to really hate her, for the same reason Petunia hated her. Like really? This girl has powerful magic, is beautiful, gregarious, kind, brave, strong, loved and desired by everyone...yadda yadda yadda...gimme a break!

And so many fans who love Lily don’t realize that they’re probably Petunias, not Lilies.

Even looking at the flowers themselves- petunias are actually really beautiful and come in such a wide variety (the night sky petunia is my favorite) - and yet they’re often overlooked because they’re so common.

James is an awful bully but at least that counteracts his perfectness in every other area (looks, school, sports, etc) What are Lily’s flaws? What does she struggle with other than being muggleborn? It seems that maybe both she and James were too naive and trusting (not to victim-blame her for her own death or anything) but what else? We’re not told and so she just seems perfect, not very interesting for a character.

A lot of the things Petunia says as a child that fans interpret as mean or revealing of her hatred of magic from a young age, are actually things she seems to regurgitate from the adults around her.

For example, when Lily is flying from a swing, Petunia chides her by saying, “mom, told you not to do that!” Although we know Petunia’s parents favored Lily, I get the sense that their favoritism and even awareness of Lily’s magic didn’t come until after the Hogwarts letter, which is when a representative would have come to the family to explain things. Before then...I’m not sure but maybe her parents didn’t realize what was going on and just didn’t want her jumping out of swings? Anyway, I think Petunia is just trying to be the responsible older sister and is repeating her mother.

I’m pretty sure when Lily makes the flower grow, Petunia gets a bit freaked out and maybe also says something about how she shouldn’t be doing that but she’s also described as asking Lily how she does it, with “longing” in her voice. So she’s juggling trying to be the responsible older sister with being totally weirded out because how the heck is her sister making flowers grow in her hand, to being curious, and this is when her burgeoning envy (totally understandable) starts to emerge as well.

Then little Snape enters the picture to unintentionally erode the sisters’ relationship even further. It’s also here that Petunia makes another comment that fans point to as proof of her snobbery and cruelty from a young age, but actually, it’s just proof that she took what adults told her to heart, and since she was older than Lily, she probably heard more gossip and knew more about their town in general.

After Snape pops out to tell Lily she’s a witch and that he’s a wizard, Petunia is the first of the sisters to speak.

Here’s the direct quote from Petunia: “Wizard! I know who you are. You’re that Snape boy! They live down Spinner’s End by the river,”

This little statement is endlessly fascinating to me, it raises so many questions.

Why does Petunia know who Snape is? Why does she recognize him? How does she know his name and what he looks like? We know adult Petunia is nosy and loves watching all the neighbors. Was child Petunia snooping around, if so then how close did Snape live to the sisters? How close is the sisters’ house to Spinner’s End and the river?

If she was snooping around, then it’s kind of ironic that she was spying on Snape while he was spying on her and Lily ( he says he’s been watching Lily but Lily is always with Petunia outside so even if it’s not intentional, he’s watching Petunia too) Even if she was snooping around, why would Petunia wander to Spinner’s End? Does she share Harry’s deathly curiosity and adventurous streak? She says “they” so does she know what Snape’s parents look like? How much does she know about the family and his home life?

My first thought actually wasn’t that she was snooping around but rather, that she was regurgitating the nasty things that adults had said. But this raises another question, which adults? We’re told later that Snape and Lily sneak into Petunia’s room to read her letter to Dumbledore, which means that Snape was in the Evan’s family’s home, and we also know that the Evans parents are impressed by witches and wizards, so it would seem that they approved of Snape.

So then, who would have told Petunia about the Snape family? Did she just hear rumors and gossip about them from older townsfolk? I always imagine Lily as either 9 or 10 and Petunia as either 11 or 12 in this scene, only a two year difference between them but at that age, it’s enough for Petunia to be more involved in what adults are saying and for Lily to be oblivious.

From here, Petunia asks Severus why he’s been spying, and again, she seems like the protective sister. I really like her in this scene. I don’t interpret her as snobby or classist. She’s too young. I see her as a kid influenced by the adults around her and as sort of a gryffindor/slytherin hybrid, bravely stepping between her sister and the strange boy calling her a witch, while also being judgemental of outsiders.I think she possesses a lot of the qualities of both Lily and Severus.

This scene is also when Sev spitefully calls Petunia a muggle, a word she had never heard before but immediately recognizes as inferior.

“Haven’t been spying. Wouldn’t spy on you any. You’re a muggle.”

It’s shown later that all three of these kids love to spy and snoop around (not unlike the golden trio - except they’re not spying with each other but on each other) but Sev and Petunia definitely share a heightened nosiness, a certain degree of haughtiness, a superiority complex coupled with an inferiority complex, and a strong sense of self-preservation and pride that is very slytherin. Opposites may attract but I think it’s the couples with common ground that last, and enemies-friends-lovers will never go out of style, so the potential set-up for Snetunia is just too good to pass over and plays a big role in why I love shipping them together.

Okay, and after this, Petunia then spies on Lily and Sev. The “she’s jealous. You're special. She’s ordinary” line is in the movie not the book but I love it because it encapsulates Petunia’s insecurities perfectly and also shows how Sev puts Lily on a pedestal, and the magical world as a whole on a pedestal. It’s sad that he gets abused at Hogwarts after being abused at home but it also just goes to show that wizards, witches and muggles are all just people and not necessarily inferior or superior to one another.

Petunia overhears Sev telling Lily about the dementors and that’s when she loses her footing and gets caught spying. Sev then shouts, “Who’s spying now! What d’you want?” I find it interesting how Sev and Petunia mirror each other so much.

This is when Petunia insults Sev by saying “What are you wearing anyway? Your mother’s blouse?” She obviously has nothing to say in regards to the spying accusation because she was so obviously spying, so she tried to deflect it with an insult. She’s just as defensive as Sev. After she says, the infamous tree branch incident happens, in which Sev gets revenge by making a tree branch fall over her head. This is what prompted Petunia, years later, to refer to Sev as “that awful boy” when she reveals to Harry that she knows what the dementors are because she “overheard that awful boy talking about them.”

Okay, onto the Hogwarts letter, which raises many questions as well.

“You shouldn’t have read – ” Petunia had whispered, “that was my private – how could you – ?”.

Lily gave herself away by half-glancing toward where Severus stood nearby.

Petunia gasped. “That boy found it! You and that boy have been sneaking in my room!”

“No – not sneaking – ” Now Lily was on the defensive. “Severus saw the envelope, and he couldn’t believe a Muggle could have contacted Hogwarts, that’s all! He says there must be wizards working undercover in the postal service who take care of – ”

Okay, so this is soooo interesting.

Adult Petunia is presented as a woman with a long neck who always has her nose in other people’s business and she’s not much different as a child. But despite this trait being used to amplify her villain role, it seems the “good guys” and the “grey guys” love meddling in this way as well.

I really feel for Petunia in this scene. I think that Hogwarts letter and Dumbledore’s reply rejecting her (even if it was kind) was one of the biggest moments of failure, disappointment and embarrassment in her life and remember, she’s probably about 2 years older than Lily so she would be 13 here and that’s just not a nice age either and I think that makes losing her sister and being rejected hurt even more. Privacy is such a big deal when you’re 13 too, that’s like peak private diary age, so to have your little sister and her gross friend sneaking into your room at that time, what an invasion that must feel like.

But….what the heck was going through Sev’s mind?!?

I doubt Lily suggested that she and Sev sneak into Petunia’s room. Why would Sev want to go into Petunia’s room? She’s just a muggle after all. He sees the letter, but how? After going into her room?

He couldn’t believe a muggle contacted Hogwarts? Was he secretly impressed by her? He thinks there must be wizards undercover in the muggle postal service...well we’re never told how Petunia sends the letter but it’s often said that there’s more to her than meets the eye. I like to think she was cunning, determined, smart and slytherin enough to find out how to send the letter on her own and that’s probably what made Dumbldore even reply. I think she’s someone who always had a lot of potential but was crippled by feelings of inferiority and self-doubt, much like Severus.

Petunia and Severus both obsess over Lily to the point that it destroys them. Petunia, in her jealousy, deep down worries that Lily is better than her and compensates for this by calling her a freak. Sev never takes Lily off the pedestal even as they begin to grow apart and just as Petunia sinks deeper into her “ultra ordinary” prejudiced persona, Sev sinks deeper into his half-blood prince persona. He hates muggles because of his father, while Petunia hates magic (or pretends to) because of her sister. Sev and Petunia are two sides of the same coin then. They both also never go on to reconcile with Lily and they go on to resent her son while also protecting him.

I said it at the beginning of all this rambling, but I’ll say it again - I wish Petunia had been as layered and grey as Sev, instead of just the bland evil stepmother figure.

So, just to be clear, the adult Petunia we get in the actual books is deplorable but I still love her character because I love how many more satisfying ways there are to re-imagine her and what she could have been. Snape’s memories - the only time we see Petunia’s past - are so rich and revealing and just have me endlessly fascinated about Petunia’s potential.

This was super long but I’ve been dying to word vomit about this character - and I’ll probably do some more word vomit meta about Snape & Petunia later on ~

Oh and regarding what it means to be a muggle in the magical world or adjacent to the magical world - don’t even get me started on the statute of secrecy! Maybe one of the reasons Petunia did turn out so awful was because she had to bear the burden of knowing about magic but not being part of it all by herself, like she couldn’t just tell her friends her sister is a witch and vent. So, maybe she had to bottle everything up.

She also mentions in the book, her sister bringing home frogs and turning them into tea cups - to an outsider maybe that looks like animal abuse or raises ethical questions.

Obliviating muggles certainly seems unethical to me and the ministry does it with great abandon.

I wish this was explored more in the series.

Petunia has a right to be skeptical it would seem, and naturally fearful as well.

#aunt petunia #petunia evans dursley #severus snape #lily evans potter #harry potter #meta #analysis #muggles #pro-snape #slytherin #statute of secrecy #interpretation #word vomit #long post

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livefordrama · 3 years

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Reviewing Dramas I Have Watched Part 8

Again, here is my rating system: 1- Did not like, 2- Enjoyed but probably wouldn’t watch again, 3- Enjoyed and would watch some episodes again/may watch again, 4- Enjoyed and would watch again, 5- Loved

Korean Drama

My Strange Hero: 4

Trigger Warning: Suicide, Bullying, Verbal and Emotional Abuse

My Strange Hero is about a man named Bok-su (which stands for revenge), who was falsely accused by his friend and girl friend of shoving his friend off the school roof and expelled from high school. Now nine years later, he gets the opportunity to return to school but he isn’t just going to go back nicely, seeing the seemingly cozy lives those who betrayed him are living he decides to enact his revenge by proving how corrupt the high school and the people working in it are. However, his plans for revenge get more difficult to achieve when he begins to fall for his ex-girlfriend once again.

This show was cute and interesting, it made me mad and lot and Yoo Seung-ho never disappoints. I ended up watching it in less than a week with studying and all so it draws you in really fast. I absolutely loved the realistic factor of not having to forgive everyone for a good ending and to move on. Many shows, kdrama or otherwise, make characters forgive even those who did horrible things to them just for a good ending, and it’s not always that simple nor do you owe those who did horrible things to you an apology to be a good person and move on looking at you Missing Nine. However my main complaint with it is that the ending isn’t as impactful or satisfying as the ending three episodes previous. I’m glad they had the three ending episodes because the other characters got more closure, I just wish they would have made it as impactful as the ending of episode 29. It is about thirty minutes an episode so it’s a really fun and interesting watch if you need something on the shorter side. I highly recommend!

Love Alarm (Season 1): 3

Trigger Warning: Bullying, Suicide, PTSD, Anxiety, Panic Attacks, Abuse

Love Alarm deals with the concept of having an app that can read your emotions and alerts your phone when you are in 10 meters of someone who loves you or alerts your crushes phone if they are within the 10 meters. It follows Jojo, a girl with a mysterious and sad past, who can’t download Love Alarm because of her phone. She is in an unhappy relationship and begins to have feelings for the new student. After being kind to a student, he gives her the phone and she can finally download it only to find that love is a lot more complicated than she originally expected.

Okay, I started this show because the new season was coming out and everyone was freaking out about it. I had been avoiding it all this time because I love Song Kang and have been following his work since his smaller roles, hoping he would get bigger roles. I was so excited when I first heard he would be the main here but couldn’t ever bring myself to watch it cause I don’t like romance love triangles and already knew he was playing the webtoon second lead which made it worse. Plus I have a trauma with anything that has Kim So-Hyun in it. I adore her acting, she is so good, too good. She just always plays in really sad, dark Kdramas and I always like the second leads in her shows so I just get sad and angry when I watch her shows. I at the time just didn’t feel like dealing with being annoyed and finally got in the mood to watch a cheesy love triangle romance. *spoiler alert* I can confidentially say that while no character and no ship is necessarily healthy, I do prefer Sun-ho to Hye-yeong. No, not because he is played by Song Kang, in the first few episodes I hated his character. I wanted to punch him so badly, but with all his immature flaws he did do some mature things. He told Hye-yeong to not fight over Jojo and to let her pick which I loved because, shows like to have the two people fight amongst themselves who gets the crush and that’s so stupid to me, Jojo is a person with feelings too and she might not like either so I loved that he said that. I also loved that instead of telling Hye-yeong not to pursue Jojo because he still loved her, he told Jojo to stay away from Hye-yeong so that he wouldn’t be hurt by her like Sun-ho was. He still loved her but his friend came first, and I felt horrible when he lost almost everyone who genuinely loved him. Hye-yeong is okay, but he isn’t even a healthier option, he literally stalks her all the time without her even knowing about it, he memorized her daily routine, where he’s going to college so he could move there to be around her, it’s just too creepy to me. Yes, Sun-oh stalked her too and that is not okay at all, but he made his presence known so that she can voice if she was uncomfortable or knew to call someone if she felt threatened, Hye-yeong sneaks around and doesn’t even talk to her and that’s super creepy to me. I just think they are both immature and personally with some growth I think Sun-oh is more fitting than Hye-yeong cause the two really do seem like they are in love with each other while Jojo and Hye-yeong seem like a crush that will turn out to be more platonic. I know it’s wishful thinking but that’s just my hopes. *spoiler over* I did really love this show actually, sometimes you just need a trashy dramatic romance. Yes, it had toxic behaviors but I still liked it, it felt like a realistic teenage couple in high school (minus Mr. Stalkery Stalks.) I think that not everything has to be analyzed, I enjoyed the cute romantic scenes at face value, even though I knew they weren’t healthy. If it happened to me in real life, I would have punched a bitch but it’s fun to watch on a screen.

Blood: 2

Trigger Warnings: Blood, Suicide, Terminal illness, Murder, Abuse.

Blood is about a surgeon who is also a vampire. He tries to control his vampire self and help humans while working on a way to make himself human. When he transfers to a new hospital things take a turn for the weird as the patients of the new ward start exhibiting symptoms he is all too familiar with.

Blood was really good for the first two thirds of the series. I watched it before I found out about the main couples real life situation but continued to enjoy it because it’s none of my business what they do in their personal lives (so please don’t message or leave comments about that situation or your opinions on it.) Both couples were super cute and there were some plot twists that admittedly got me. I liked the story line and the idea that vampires were viruses that doctors were researching in secret. I really got hooked for most of the story; however, the last few episodes felt almost like they switched writers and the new writer had never watched the previous episodes. Comments were made that never were brought up again, like the thirty minutes of vaguely discussing his parents and who he was as an infectee that was never even slightly brushed upon for the rest of the episodes let alone resolved. Not to mention that last episode was a total mess and the ending sucked. The last two episodes are not canon in my mind that’s how weirdly out of place for the show they felt, it was like a 180. The ending was so confusing and I just really hated how it all played out. Because of this, I give the show a 2 cause I did enjoy it a lot but I won’t watch it again. Once of that was enough.

Legend Hero: 4

Legend Hero, also known as Legend Hero Samgugjeon or Legends Heroes the Three Kingdoms, is about people who compete in a dream battle to acquire their ultimate dream. The main character acquired three spirit helpers which help him in combat by transforming him into an armored knight with special power, and later befriends angels who help him in the battles by boosting this power. He has to fight friend and foe alike to achieve his ultimate dream but that begs the question, is a dream really worth it?

I really enjoyed this show, it was admittedly difficult to get into at first but once I did, I was hooked. The characters were so cute and endearing, the plot had humor, angst, and fluff alike. The acting was a little silly at points but it was made for kids so it’s a little overdramatic. It was all around a very entertaining watch, I watched the whole series while on vacation during the resting hours when my family and I were lazing around the hotel and it was such a refreshing, happy, lazy watch. I highly recommend for those who enjoy a happy watch when they just wish to relax.

Web-Drama/Mini-Series

Power Rangers Dino Force Brave: 4

Power Rangers Dino Force Brave, while technically a sequel to the super sentai series, is a original stand alone production and sSouth Korean take on the power rangers series. While the power rangers finally enjoy the peace that had come to the earth, a new threat is brewing. The Neo-Deboth Army has arrived looking for the power of the dinosaur king, the power ranger once more have to come together to defeat this threat.

This show was super interesting and cute. I have never seen any of the power ranger series so I am entirely inexperienced when it comes to their world. However, I can confidentially say this is a good stand alone as I was not confused while watching it. The first episode got recommended to me on youtube and since I was bored and unsure of what to do, I decided to watch it. I believe I finished the whole series in only a few days. It was super cute and I liked how ironic and silly the ending was with all the characters, including the evil ones dancing together. I’m sure die hard power rangers fans hated that but as someone who knows nothing about the series, I found it quite hilarious. The plot itself was entertaining and cool, it had some angst moments and some cute moments. I loved the ending, but that’s all I will say about that.

Founder of Diabolism Q: 3

Founder of Diabolism Q is simply snippets of cute or funny scenes from the book that didn’t make it into the series or at least not in as much detail. It follows many characters in small, five minute long episodes and the shenanigans they get in to.

Founder of Diabolism Q was super cute! I have watched The Untamed and read some of the book but haven’t watch the actual anime yet. Still, I decided to watch this short series. I watched each episode as it came out and loved every one. There isn’t much to say on it though, other than it was super cute and if you love The Untamed or its adaptions, I highly recommend. Just make sure you watch or read one of the full adaptions first otherwise you will be very confused.

Imaginary Cat: 4

Trigger Warning: Depression, Suicide, Vomit, Illness, Death

Imaginary Cat is about an aspiring webtoon artist who, after loosing his crush and falling into a depression, finds a cat in an alley and takes her in. He is able to recover from the loss and get back into writing when he meets a girl who is obsessed with cats especially after she lost her kitten as a child. He is just trying to get his webtoon accepted and she just wants to get close to him and his cat.

This was such a cute little easy watch, but was really sad at some points throughout the series. I teared up through some scenes and laughed so hard through others. I also related a lot to how the main plays with his cat, especially when said cat wants none of it. It was a really nice mini-drama to watch in the very little time I had between studying and moving house. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would highly recommend to those who want a easy watch that’s a little sad and very cute.

Korean Movies

The Magician: 4

Trigger Warning: Blood, Abuse, Drugs, Suicide Attempt, Murder, Death

The Magician is set in the Joseon Era and follows the famous magician, Hwan-hee. He along with his blind friend Bo-eum ran away from their abusive caretaker as children and are still worrying about being found by him even to this day as they perform to keep their livelihoods. Meanwhile a noble lady who was sold to the Qing dynasty comes to town. The two end up running into each other and quickly fall in love, however they both have to overcome the obstacles in their way in order to be together.

I loved this movie, I had to pause a few times just to process how much I personally enjoyed it. I wish I was able to watch it in a better quality because I never once saw how his one eye was blue, I just took their word and the movie poster for it. Unfortunately, it was the only place I could find to watch so I took what I could. The only reason I am giving it a four instead of a five is the ending sucked. I hated the ending. It just felt unnecessary and honestly really pissed me off. I don’t always need a happy ending but I also didn’t need that kind of ending either. I would still recommend it to those who like angst with some romance and a open-ish ending.

Seondal The Man Who Sells the River: 5

Trigger Warnings: Blood, Death, Vomit, Gore

Seondal is supposedly a comedy about a group of swindlers who become fast family after escaping from a war they were drafted in. They work together to swindle their way into riches and out of dangerous situations. They gained a huge name in the Joseon dynasty for even swindling the king. However, after tragedy strikes, they decide to do their greatest job yet, sell a river of fake gold.

The movie was really good, both funny and heartbreaking. My friend and I watched it together thinking it would be a nice comedy after we watched some sad kdrama earlier that week however, it was most certainly not. We both ended up crying and raging. So just be warned it claims to be a comedy and it is hilarious for the first half of the movie, however it quickly turns dark so fast you are just sitting their in shock wondering what happened. I thought Xiumin’s acting was great and his character was adorable. I had not seen his acting before and he easily became a favorite. The movie’s plot and writing kept you engaged and entertained throughout and the ending was great in my opinion. Overall it was a really good watch, I have seen it twice now and thoroughly enjoyed it. I highly recommend to those who enjoy both comedy and angst.

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