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yumeka-sxf · 5 months

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A chronological analysis on Twilight and Yor - Part 21

*This is part of an ongoing post series. If you missed the Introduction/Part 1, click here*

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The next morning, Twilight muses to himself that there are still things in the world he doesn't understand, but nevertheless, a spy must overcome fear of the unknown. While his face and tone are dead serious, it's comical that the thing that caused him to burst into this heavy-handed inner monologue in the first place is none other than his misinterpretation of Anya's reactions the previous day. AniTrendz described the humor of this scene perfectly by stating that "Loid really spent all morning acting dramatic when he's just sad that his daughter called him lame."

And yes, he really was bothered by the fact that he's still having trouble understanding Anya's emotions. While her mental well-being is important for Operation Strix, he also cares very much how she views him as a father. Unfortunately for Twilight, this trend will continue – after a whole day of fun activities, he's devastated to see the scowl on Anya's face when they're having dinner that evening. And, once again, he blames himself and even thinks that Anya could possibly hate him.

As I've mentioned before, Twilight is always cool and confident when it comes to his spy missions, but whenever Yor or Anya are upset, he becomes a second-guessing nervous wreck! It's telling how frazzled he gets when trying to figure out what's going on in their minds versus anyone else. If Anya and Yor's happiness is tied to a mission, and he's always calm and collected about his other missions, why would he get so bent out of shape about them in particular? I think we all know the answer to that.

It's also important to note that the couple of days on the cruise are likely the longest amount of time Twilight has been alone with Anya, without having Yor for parenting support. If she were with him during all this, there's no doubt that her patience with Anya's antics and the encouraging words she always offers, would put his mind at ease. But without her around, there's no one to buffer his constant freak outs when trying to analyze the mind of a child. His anxiety gets so bad that Anya even starts to feel bad about it.

Meanwhile, the big showdown on the deck between Yor and the assassins has so far been the most gritty and violent scene in the series. Endo has stated in the fanbook that making Yor likable while also giving her a profession that involves killing people, was difficult (though I think he's done a stellar job!) A reoccurring theme in Spy x Family is how the tragedy of war has led to otherwise good people partaking in immoral acts, whether for survival or because they're brainwashed into thinking that the side they're on is the right and just one. It's not only Twilight and Yor, but other characters as well, such as Yuri, Sylvia, even the young terrorists from the doggy crisis arc, as well as the assassins on the cruise – the factions that they work for, the politics behind their decisions, and the jobs they're assigned to do, are not framed as heroic nor completely evil, only the aftermath of political turmoil that the next generation has to suffer for.

In Part 13, I mentioned an interview in the fanbook where Endo states that the Forgers should not be seen as virtuous role models…he doesn't think it's correct to only see their "nice family" side. Despite all the comedic antics in the series that sometimes stretch the veil of realism, one very realistic aspect is that none of the characters are depicted as "black and white," "heroes and villains," and their professions are portrayed as more tragic and ugly than "cool." This is in contrast to other shonen series, where the main protagonists are often portrayed as role models who fight for noble causes we can't help but support, while banishing only the most wicked of villains. And often these protagonists started out "normal" only to suddenly gain superpowers, opportunities to go on grand adventures, and have big battles against villains. But Twilight and Yor are the opposite. The series starts with them already having extraordinary abilities and exciting, dangerous jobs, so the end goal is instead for them to be able to attain a peaceful, normal life…because their professions aren't framed as wish-fulfilling but as heartbreaking, grim, and sometimes terrifying.

Twilight and Yor's professions, as well as those of pretty much every other character in Spy x Family, have a lot of gray areas on the moral compass. This is why having a balance of both fun, slice-of-life scenarios, and spy/political action and drama conflicts, brings out the true complexity of the characters. Twilight may lie and act cold as ice towards people during his missions, but because we get to know him while he's living as Loid Forger, we can see that he's doing it for a noble cause, and underneath all that callous calculating, he's a compassionate guy who cares about the feelings of others. Likewise, we see that when she's not killing people, Yor is a total sweetheart who doesn't have a mean bone in her body, is a loving mother to Anya, selfless sister to Yuri, and, like Twilight, she does what she does because she truly believes she's doing good in the world.

If we only see Twilight and Yor as a spy and assassin, our view of them could be skewed negatively. On the other hand, if we only see them as a "nice family," we would be doing exactly what Endo warned against in his interview. But because we get to see both sides of them, we're able to relate to them even more, which makes us want to root for them. Is the immorality of their jobs too much to be forgiven, or are they righteous people who are simply victims of a cold war? Obviously if you're a fan of the series like me, you're opt to lean towards the positive view that Twilight, Yor, as well as many of the other characters, have been sorely damaged by the post-war era that they live in, but the commendable things they do far outweigh the ugliness of their professions, so they deserve a happy ending. And that's really the main appeal of the series – with all the gray areas of morality, seeing whether they can truly live happily without lies is something to look forward to.

Continue to Part 22 ->

<- Return to Part 20

#spy x family #spy family #sxf #spyxfamily #loid forger #yor forger #twiyor #sxf analysis #loidyor #loid x yor #sxf meta

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eddiessluttywaist · 1 year

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desiderium

an eddie munson series

AGELESS/BLANK/UNDER 18 BLOGS ARE NOT WELCOME TO INTERACT. PLEASE RESPECT MY RULES AND BOUNDARIES.

summary: eddie’s odd, forgotten childhood friend seeks him out when he needs her more than he realizes.

pairing: bsf!mechanic!bartender!eddie x eccentric!bsf!fem!reader

word count: 4,752 words

content/warnings: eventual smut so MDNI, angst, swearing, loneliness, mentions of drugs and crime, mentions of imprisonment, family issues, feeling unwanted, slight bullying, anxiety, nightmares, insomnia, depression, loss and grief, mentions of spit, super brief mention of alcohol and vomit, very brief mentions of breakups and inappropriate sexual relations (nothing reader or eddie are apart of). i think that’s it!

a/n: this is my first attempt at a slow burn series so i hope it’s good! i’m also trying a new setup with photos instead of gifs ^ i’ve seen a lot of other people do it and i think it looks really cool so! also creds to who owns and posted these photos! they’re not mine, i just made the collage!

part 1 - part 2 - part 3 - part 4 - part 5

Eddie Munson had grown bitter since you last saw him. To be fair, the last time you saw him was when you were kids but still. You always knew him to be boisterous. Adventurer Eddie. Eddie with the weird ideas and cool drawings. Eddie who made you laugh until your stomach cramped and you would cry out that he was going to make you wet yourself.

You didn’t know it as a kid but even then he couldn’t catch a break from the world around him, and apparently it never stopped spiraling even when it beat him into a hollow shell covered in grease during the weekdays and alcohol—and occasionally vomit—on the weekends. He was worn down by his own worries that never seemed to cease and miserable stories of others admitting things they should’ve never said aloud. Sometimes the stories were fun or at least amusing, but mostly just depressing. This was Hawkins after all.

This wasn’t an Eddie you knew. Had someone told you that man in the garage wasn’t him, you simply would’ve nodded and kept going on your journey to find him.

But it was him, and you were positive he was meant to be back in your life. No matter how much it was hurting right now.

You didn’t know why he left at first. It was as if he ceased to exist, and sometimes—when you were all alone at night—you wondered if he had been a ghost. If he had been an imaginary friend, but surely not? He had his own home you hung out in. His own dad who let you guys eat too much junk food and stay up too late. He looked and sounded real when he would scarf down several bowls of honeycomb cereal with those slurping noises you always hated and would whine at him over. He felt real when you would play wrestle—and unfortunately very real when he won and would pin you down while slowly letting a string of saliva stretch down towards your face in an empty threat. He never really did it, but it was gross all the same, and when he’d let up you’d punch his arm as hard as you could.

One day, you asked if your parents remembered him and your father scoffed at the question while he stared at the newspaper, but at least he acknowledged you at all. Meanwhile your mother had all her focus on putting her earrings in and checking her makeup in the small mirror on a wall surrounded by family photos. Those framed pictures felt emptier than the looming threat of Eddie’s spit touching your face.

“Well his father’s a bottom feeder stuck in prison,” your dad flicked his paper to straighten it out again from where it had begun to bow backwards. “And his kid is probably no better. You’ll make other friends.”

You never understood why he was so cold about the loss of your only friend. You’ll make other friends. Yeah right. No one liked you. Everyone made fun of the way you sat idly on swings just to kick on occasion as you focused more on the book in your hands, or the way you’d squat down and give all your attention to a bug in front of you. Either a line of ants that you regarded with pure intrigue because you wondered how they always filed so neatly and did their best to stay together. Sometimes you left crumbs by them just to see if you could watch them pick them up. You’d watch snails and show them the attentiveness and respect you felt they deserved as they slowly trudged along—so determined, you thought. You’d watch butterflies and try to keep track of all the different kinds you saw. A lot of them were small and fluttery with those buttery white wings, but sometimes you saw a monarch and your eyes would grow large with excitement.

You cried when Zachary McKay would stomp on the anthills or teased you about how the French ate snails—something his dad would say was just more proof of how odd Europeans are. They were one of those arrogant “We love our Country!” households with an “I can do whatever I want—America is the land of the free” ideology and it showed in their unbridled and privileged ass of a child. You didn’t inform him that one Spring of the wasp nest that formed on the underside of the slide he frequented. Maybe it was mean, but you were content in silence over on your swing when you heard him crying out in pain one day. He developed a crush on you in high school that dramatically contrasted how he treated you in grade school—and even tried to make a move at Maddi Ecker’s 17th birthday party—but you could only think of the ants and the snails. You turned him down and he was horrible to you again.

You eventually did make some friends, other odds and ends throughout your school, but it wasn’t the same as it was with Eddie. Maybe it was childish and stubborn, but you could feel it deep in your gut that he was one of a kind. So you couldn’t let him go. All those years you ached for your friend who you considered lost. He always came up with wild stories and (when you were still relatively young) you imagined he had become a pirate and was lost at sea. Or became a gunslinger in the Wild West and didn’t draw fast enough. Maybe he went to slay dragons and wound up a burnt crisp of a human. That last one made you cringe the most, but he probably would’ve liked it the most. He loved mythical creatures the way you adored real creatures. By high school you weren’t as naive. You heard about his dad—caught with multiple charges of grand theft auto, a hit-and-run in one of said stolen cars, and dealing drugs. The hard shit. Not weed or shrooms. But the kind of stuff that really ruins lives.

You always thought Eddie had a good home. His dad didn’t hate him the way you were sure your parents hated you, and he had a nice house. It wasn’t a mansion or anything, but they really didn’t need anything beyond a one story and a sizable basement with only two of them. In hindsight, you supposed he couldn’t find a home in that childhood house anymore than you could with yours. Yours lacked love. His lacked a reliable source of income.

Over time you heard about the night with all the sirens and social workers. The night he turned into a spirit that had finally moved on—an imaginary friend that your growing mind ceased to conjure. He lived with his uncle over in Indiana, rather than your small town in Ohio. Even in your mid twenties, he flashed in your mind like a small blip on occasion and it still twisted your stomach.

You thought of asking if you should go to him whenever you remembered, but you thought you needed a sign. What if you showed up too early? And you messed up any possible grand plans? So you avoided indulging in questions about him to your tarot cards or over your pendulum map. On occasion you caved and just asked a simple question: is he safe? It was a yes every time you broke and just had to check up on him, and the answer reassured you for long enough until the next time the concern rose up to unbearable levels.

But then you started getting those dreams. Sometimes they were just memories playing from deep within the archives of your mind. Sometimes they were nightmares of yelling at someone to go away, only to realize it was Eddie far too late—and when you wanted to run after him to correct the mistake, you couldn’t move as quickly as you knew you were capable of.

It went on for about a month before you finally broke. Your eyes had snapped open, accidentally waking yourself in the middle of saying what you had been shouting to Dream Eddie out loud into your pitch black room. You glanced at the time. 11:11 PM. You felt your heart skip a beat before you shoved yourself out of bed. You had to take a moment to steady yourself against your bedpost from the sudden movement making you dizzy, but then you were flicking on the light and digging through your belongings. You didn’t even give yourself a chance to wipe away at the thin sheen of sweat over your skin from August heat mixed with a cheap fan that really didn’t make that much of a difference, and the stress from the events that had played deep in your mind while you slept.

With a shaky breath, you smoothed out your map on the floor where you were squatting, and steadily held your pendulum over the center. Does he need me? You finally asked and watched as the chain connected to a sphere of rose quartz slowly began to circle. It sped up and then began to dart in different directions before finally swinging back and forth between both of the “YES''s on the piece of cloth.

It took a little over a month to arrange your departure from your life in small town Ohio—not that small town Indiana was really all that different. You had briefly been back at your childhood house after your lease came to an end for the apartment you shared with a friend (who didn’t want to renew because she wanted to move in with her boyfriend, and you didn’t have the heart to tell her that the card spread you had laid out all pointed towards a breakup). All of this to say you didn’t have a lease or mortgage to tie you down. You certainly didn’t have a boyfriend (you haven’t had one since college), and you didn’t even like your job at the local mart so it was easy to give your two weeks. Your parents were just as sick of your presence now as when you were a child, and were willing to help you in every way possible to get you to just leave again. Had you not been so focused on your end goal, you might’ve taken a beat to really feel the hurt that always came with parents who only came to your aid when it meant keeping you at arm's length. But you couldn’t focus on it and really (for the sake of your mental health) you shouldn’t focus on it. All of your energy went towards Eddie who seemed so far, even if he was supposedly just a few hours and a state line away.

You didn’t have a place yet, which was a mistake on your part for rushing, but you could stay in a motel for the time being. The prices were pretty low anyways and the owner seemed pleasantly surprised by the sudden source of money and company. The lot belonged to her husband who had passed a few years back, so now it was only her running the place. Her daughter helped sometimes, but she had another job to focus on—only coming to help when the older woman was ill. So even though she appeared kind of grumpy at first, she really softened up to you when you wound up padding out of your room the first night and asked if she wanted to play Go Fish. You had been feeling antsy and lonely, and you were right to assume she felt lonely too.

Over the past week or so, you found a friend in that creaking, groaning motel. You did have a bit of a tendency to befriend the adults around you more often than kids your age when you were younger and it still happened now, apparently. A shrink at university pointed out once that it had to do with the lack of guardianship and guidance growing up. That you were trying to replace something that had always been missing, but you didn’t go back to him after a couple sessions. You didn’t like how patronizing he was, telling you things you already knew. And when you asked your dowsing rods if he was sleeping with any of his clients, the two pieces in your fists whipped open in a blatant “Yes!” But he wasn’t around now to make you feel low with his supercilious commentary and his notes that he always scratched down right in front of you. Your parents weren’t around to remind you of how utterly unlovable you can be. It was just you, Martha at Hawkins’ Blue Bird Inn, and hopefully a pleasant reunion on the horizon.

Today was the day to finally see Eddie, and Martha urged some confidence into you this morning before sending you on your way with the directions to the garage. No matter how many times you clarified he was just your childhood best friend, she got that sly look about her that always showed when an adult was all amused about the novice in front of them being openly or involuntarily blind to love.

So there you were. On a mild Wednesday morning in late September, standing before Thacher Tire after a lot of asking around, a lot of time flipping through Martha’s phone book, and even more odd looks. You let out a careful breath, doing your best to reassure yourself with the knowledge that the people you spoke to knew his name in the first place. He had to be here, and even if he wasn’t working today he should at least be employed here. Maybe you could be told when to come back to speak with him or where you could find him outside of work. Would they share something like that? People don’t tend to care about privacy in small towns, that’s why everyone knew (generally) where everyone else was. Maybe if you clarified that you’re an old friend, they wouldn’t treat you as a customer and tell you where he would be.

You were wringing your hands as you eyed the door in front of you. The glass looking in was worn from age and weather, clearly cleaned so people could see through it, but there seemed to be an aging to the corners where the rectangle of glass met the surrounding wood that couldn’t be scrubbed out. It felt like a portal looking into what could be, and you suddenly felt yourself getting anxious with what exactly meant could be. You had a knack for catastrophizing, and spiraled in all of the worst case scenarios until you were running back to your car and abandoning the lot.

“Trust me, it’s not as scary as it seems. Going for those intimidating opportunities is always better in the long run than letting ‘em slip away,'' Martha murmured to you before biting into the sandwich you brought her.

You bought typical fast food that you always came running back to when you were stressed, but she didn’t like the grease. You learned that over the past week when you brought up your bad habit, and her nose scrunched up at the mention of crappy burgers and overly salted fries. Instead you got her a tuna sandwich from the nearby marketplace, and she shared her big jug of iced, sweet tea with you.

“I haven’t seen him for over ten years…,” you sigh, toying with the crackling paper that was wrapped around your cheeseburger. “What if I’m the only one who clung onto our friendship? What if it’s stupid to him?”

“Mm, us women always do hold on longer,” she hummed thoughtfully and you refrained from your urge to correct her old-fashioned view of gender dynamics for the sake of staying on topic. “I still think you should go for it.”

“What if… what if it’s not what I think it’ll be? What if I’ve turned him into someone more fictional than Eddie in my mind, and when I’m faced with how he really is now I just… I dunno…wish I didn’t come here?”

“They never are what you conjure up. They’re always better up here,” she pointed a bony finger to her temple and you focused on one of the curls in her short gray hair for a second before bringing your gaze back to hers. “I still think you should go for it.”

You huff out a laugh at her repetition, smiling sadly to yourself as you look down at your hands and notice the thin sheen of grease on them. Maybe Martha’s right. Maybe this food is gross. You grab a few napkins from the brown paper bag and wipe at your fingers.

“Just think of it this way: is it worse knowing the truth or worse never knowing?”

Eddie had been having a shit day. Actually he had been having a shit week. If he let himself truly indulge in his pessimism, he’d be acknowledging that he’s altogether just had a shit life, but he was trying not to fall into that trap. It would make him the kind of depressed and bitter that made him snap at others and then feel guilty about it—which only made him feel worse about himself.

He hasn’t been sleeping well, a sudden flare up of his insomnia throwing off his circadian rhythm. He thought with how busy his schedule was that he’d knock out the second his head hit the pillow, but he only seemed to be exhausted until he finally laid down. Then was when his thoughts randomly chose to run and his heart would race with the sudden surge of anxiety-inducing thoughts. He was beginning to feel so overwhelmed by everything that his eyes burned with the beginnings of hot tears but he wiped at them carelessly with the heels of his hands before they could become too real. In his mind, they didn’t exist until they fell.

Eddie ached with exhaustion that only seemed to let up when he could actually get a shot at some rest. He ached with loss and grief. He ached with pure misery and painful seclusion and a silent trailer—besides the occasional buzz of electricity through his lamp that he turned back on when he realized he wouldn’t be sleeping anyway, or the groan of the old mobile home settling against its cinder blocks. The upcoming season made itself known through the ever growing chill that formed at night and occasionally blew through every crack and crease of the trailer, making him shiver and pull his blankets up before inevitably growing hot again and kicking them away.

He missed his friends that he rarely saw. Everyone is busy nowadays. He missed Wayne who… god, he couldn’t even think about it. He missed Chrissy who lit up his world Spring of ‘86 just for them to drift apart. People seemed to drift from him a lot. People seemed comfortable with forgetting him and giving a brief call only when they got a pang of guilt at any reminder that they were getting awfully close to leaving him behind. But who was he to drag them down? It was heart-aching enough to live the way he did sometimes, let alone when people acknowledged just how heart-aching it was. Sometimes he even missed his dad, but he always avoided thinking too hard about him before it could sink his mood to a new level that would be hard to crawl out of.

He hadn’t been able to fall asleep Wednesday night until early into Thursday morning. He settled into a deep rest around 4 AM just to be abruptly woken up by his 6:30 alarm to make sure he was at Thacher’s by 7:00.

“Fuck off…,” Eddie groaned out loud and slammed his fist down onto the alarm clock, never lifting his face from where it was planted right against his worn pillow.

He laid there for what felt like forever, but was really only a few minutes before he finally peeled himself out of his spot. Forcing himself from the comfort of his old mattress was never easy, especially when he couldn’t rely on any excuses he made up as a teenager to just flop right back into his bed. He had to get up. He had to work.

He went to make his usual toast just to see there was only the end piece left in his loaf of bread, and let out a guttural groan of frustration as he tilted his head back. He forgot to stop at the store. Grumbling a bitter so that’s how today’s gonna go under his breath, he shoved the sad excuse for a slice of bread into the toaster and then began looking through the kitchen for something else to satiate him until lunch.

He wound up eating what was left in his jar of peanut butter with a spoon after slathering the small piece of toast with jelly. He didn’t have time to clean a travel mug (which he forgot to clean last night) so he took a regular one with him on his commute, and wound up dumping his coffee all over himself mid-sip when he had to stop short for a kid suddenly biking across the road. The young teen laughed at the close call and made his way to the other side of the street. Eddie glanced down at his drenched t-shirt and coveralls, releasing his third irritated groan of the morning while he rolled his eyes up to the ceiling of his van before focusing back on the road and moving his foot to the gas. He focused on taking deep breaths as he gripped the steering wheel and made his way to the shop.

Thankfully, Linda had already started a pot of coffee in the break room which he happily drank and patted at his wet clothing with one of the blue shop towels. Staining was inevitable and it really didn’t matter with the coveralls anyways, but that didn’t mean he had to be damp. Taking that moment at the start of his shift helped with his mood, but the amount of customers bitching over the phone about how long it was taking to get their cars back were steadily draining him back into a surly mood. The most he had to look forward to and keep himself from unnecessarily snapping at someone was the fact that it was almost the weekend—and yes he would still have to work nights at The Hideout, but at least he didn’t have to get up early.

Never knowing was decidedly worse.

You had concluded this after ruminating on it all night—with and then without Martha’s help. And despite all of your anxieties that were just barely buried under the surface, you made yourself go to the garage again.

An obnoxious, tinny bell sounded and a dull voice said from behind a counter: Welcome to Thacher Tire. What can we do for you?

You approached carefully as if you moved too quickly, the depressing gray and beige setting around you—which held far more meaning for you than just fixing cars—would suddenly melt away and you’d wake up.

“Do you know where I could find Eddie Munson?” you asked in a soft voice, and the woman obnoxiously chomping at her gum looked up at you over the top of her glasses before looking back down at the paperwork in front of her.

“He’s in the garage. Is he working on your car?”

Your heart jumped and although you hated to lie, you did.

“Yes,” you said probably too quickly, but it seemed nothing could get this woman to care.

“Wait over there, please,” she spoke in a voice that was just as greige as her place of work.

You thanked her meekly and shuffled over to one of the worn, faux leather and hard plastic seats. The room smelled of cheap pine air fresheners and the potent combination of oil, and that specific rubber scent of brand new tires. The space with the front desk and the waiting area was small enough to be cramped if it was a busy day, but since you were the only visitor at the moment you didn’t have to be confronted by the full potential of such limited space. You toyed with your hands and tried to pay attention to the fuzzy television in one corner of the room, but you couldn’t help listening in on the receptionist’s call.

“…’s a girl here to talk to ya… uh-huh… yeah I know… uh, no I don’t think so. I doubt it. Her voice is different from the one that keeps calling about the Ford. Might be though... ‘Kay.”

You anxiously wiped your sweaty palms over your jeans as you heard the clunk of hard plastic settling back into its cradle. What if he didn’t remember you? What if he did, but didn’t care? What if he thought you were weird for showing up? What if he grew up to be someone who stomps on anthills?

Your head shot up at the sound of a door opening and then closing from the back, and a man in filthy coveralls approached the woman behind the desk. He had messy, curly bangs settled on his forehead and the rest of his long hair was in a low ponytail. He was sweaty and clearly exhausted as he wiped at his forehead and left a swipe of grease in his wake, speaking quietly to the receptionist before making his way over to you. The closer he got, the better you could smell the grease and sweat and bitter coffee, but it didn’t deter you. What truly threw you were the circles under his eyes and the sort of pale cast to his skin that people got when they were fatigued or ill. You weren’t sure why a part of you expected to see an eleven year old kid approach you with a god awful buzz cut and big brown eyes, even after fourteen years.

This was it. This was your moment. The time to reclaim your best friend, and have the greatest person you had ever met back into your life. Why was your throat suddenly so dry? You swallowed anxiously and then parted your lips to speak and-

“Miss, I know you’re waiting on your car to be fixed before the weekend—I promise I’m working as quickly as I can.”

You tried not to cringe at the use of “miss” and looked up at him with wide, sad eyes wondering why he didn’t see an almost ten year old girl with a messy braid in her hair that she did by herself, complaining at him to chew with his mouth closed.

“I lied,” You said bluntly and the man stared at you in a way that felt blank and still despite his wonderment.

“I-I don’t have a car here. I just wanted to talk to you.”

He eyed you curiously, his hands slowly wiping onto an old rag. It looked like it had been used so many times, you doubted it was even picking up any filth on his hands but just moving it around instead. He was clearly thrown off by the sentiment which brought a sort of youthfulness to his face in that moment of curiosity before his features hardened.

“Listen. I’m sure whatever prank you have conjured up is hilarious, but I’m tired and trying to do my job.”

“No-- no, no,” you tried to clarify, shooting up from your seat. “I—I-”

But he was already swiftly stomping away from you towards the back, muttering to the receptionist with a quick and surely rude comment about you on his way. You were moments from being politely asked to leave, you’re sure, but the woman hesitated with a gentle expression when she saw you approach her with glossy eyes.

“Could you please just give him this?” you asked in a soft voice that you did your best to keep even, but of course it wobbled just enough to be humiliating. You could feel the heat in your face and (even worse) the moisture in your eyes so you did your best to avoid eye contact.

You outstretched your arm and she met you halfway with a nod, allowing you to drop the old friendship bracelet into her palm.

#eddie munson #eddie munson smut #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson imagine #stranger things x reader #mechanic!eddie #bartender!eddie #bartender!eddie munson #angst #slow burn #slow burn eddie munson #eddie munson x fem!reader #bsf!eddie munson #eddie munson angst #stranger things fanfic #eddie munson series

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honeyedmiller · 11 months

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Night Terrors | Din Djarin

pairing: din djarin x f!reader

disclaimer: this takes place post-season 3 so if you haven't watched yet there will be spoilers!

warnings: slight mentions of violence, nightmares, mentions of loss that only happens in nightmares, angst, din is insanely vulnerable in this, lots and looots of fluff, slight mentions of smut but no thorough descriptions. 18+. minors dni.

word count: 3.4k

synopsis: Din can't seem to shake the continuous nightmares he has, and he seeks solace from you to ease the pain.

divider by the lovely @saradika

It was a beautiful, sunny day on Nevarro. You watched after Grogu as he levitated frogs from the pond out front, babbling away in something far off from Basic.

You smiled down at the little green creature, knees tucked to your chest as your chin rested on top of the arms wrapped around the tops of your knees. You yawned softly, not having gotten much sleep the previous night.

Din kept having nightmares every single night. He would never tell you what they were about, but you know they scared the living life out of him with how pale his usually tan face would be in the moonlit bedroom you two shared.

He'd wrap his arms around your center a little tighter while nuzzling his face into your neck as you held him, raking your hands through his damp brown curls on his head. Your heart ached knowing he was suffering from these continuously awful nightmares, and all you could really do for him was be there to comfort him—or let him bury himself in you until he even forgot his own damn name.

While you loved being intimate with him like that, the reasoning behind it made you want to cry for him. Not in any way that says 'Din, you're hurting me', no—crying for him because whatever these terrors were about seemingly shook him to his very core, to the point where he'd go most of the day without even talking.

Even his body language was different. He was more jumpy, more rigid, and his affections for you during the day seemed to come to a slow halt. This was a complete one-eighty of his usual suave, cool and possessive-over-you demeanor.

You wanted to talk to him about this so badly, but you didn't want to upset him or trigger something in him that could cause rash behaviors. So, you just stayed quiet about it as you lost sleep over your lover's silent troubles.

Din's tall frame blocked half of the sun that was shining brilliantly on your back, and your head tipped up to see your Mandalorian in shining armor. He held a cup of some hot liquid in his gloved hand, to which he stretched his arm out so you could take it.

The blissful smell of caf filled your nose, and you hummed in content as you took the cup from his hands.

“Thank you.” You offer Din a small, sweet smile before turning your head to Grogu again before taking a cautious sip of the hot liquid.

Din maneuvered his large body to sit down next to you. He crossed his legs so his right knee was touching your left. You took note of the subtle touch. It was something that he hadn't done in awhile during the day, so you savored it silently.

You both watched as Grogu was waddling around the pond, playing like a child really should've all along. Greef Karga offering this house to Din once he got back from his mission with the other Mandalorians to defeat Moff Gideon was a nice surprise. Karga had a soft spot for Din and Grogu, and over time, you as well.

He was more than happy to give you three a home to where you could settle in peace and actually live a normal life. At peace you were—well, at least you and Grogu. Din was trying so hard to live in normalcy; it was something that he craved desperately. He was trying so hard to adjust to this new life of his. He just didn't know how.

“I was thinking,” Din started, his voice quieter than usual. “We could go to town today to pick out some fresh fruits and meats for the next couple of weeks.”

This clearly took you aback. Din didn’t like going into town often. He wasn’t much of a talker to begin with, and he liked his little bubble with his clan of three—far away from anyone else.

But, him offering this to you was good. Shocking, but a pleasant surprise nonetheless.

“I’d love to. Let me get changed and we can go.” The glee in your voice was evident, and it warmed Din’s heart. You kissed his visor softly before dusting off your legs and turning to head into the house.

Unbeknownst to you, the Mandalorian was also extremely exhausted. He would try to avoid sleep at this point because he was terrified of the same nightmare happening once again. He thinks going into town will be a good distraction not only for you, but for him as well. He knows how much you like to look at the different stands at the market, taking your time to pick out the perfect fruits and meats for everyone.

You appeared by his side again, wearing a pretty brown dress that was floor length with a thin cream scarf wrapped around your shoulders.

“Mesh’la.” Din commented, wrapping his hand around your calf under your dress as he rested his helmet to your abdomen.

“Such a sweet talker.” You teased, resting your hand on the back of his helmet.

“Only for you, cyar’ika.” He murmured, standing up so he was now towering over you once again. You’d brought Grogu’s pod out so you could have him follow you both effortlessly without having to worry about losing him. The little booger got distracted quite easily.

You picked Grogu up and set him in his pod, not without a few whiny protests from him, but he settled in quickly once he realized you were all going somewhere.

The walk into town didn’t take too long. Forty-five minutes at most. It was a bustling scene today, with vendors around every corner and townsfolk littering the paths. This was probably the busiest you’ve ever seen it.

Din put his hand on your lower back to guide you through the crowd. You felt his thumb rub soft circles into your back, whether it be reassurance for him or yourself, you were unsure. But you loved when he touched you like that in public. It made it known you weren’t to be messed with—not that the citizens of Nevarro had ever been rude or unpleasant toward you.

You spotted your favorite fruit vendor and made a beeline for her stand. She greeted you kindly as you picked out plenty of fresh, ripe arrays of the delicious fruit.

Din appeared at your side and the vendor smiled kindly up at your shiny partner. He leaned down to you, leveling his helmet with your ear.

“Here’s some credits for the food. I’ll be back in an hour.” He whispered, caressing your arm.

“Where are you going?” Your brows furrowed as you slipped the credits into the bag you had slung over your shoulder.

“I need to run a quick errand. I’ll be back. Meet me in the towns square when you’re done.” He murmured, and cradled your cheek with his palm ever so gently. You turned your head slightly to kiss his leather-bound palm, nodding.

“Okay.”

“You be good to her, okay Grogu?” Din looks down at his green bug-eyed son, causing him to tilt his head and coo. You giggle softly and watch Din as he nods at you before turning on his heel, heading in the direction of Karga’s quarters.

“Looks like it’s just you n’ me, kiddo.” You grin, and he returns the gesture as you pet his head gently.

For the next hour, you’re gathering all of the food supplies you think you three will need. You make a point to grab Din’s favorite meat, which luckily happened to be the same as Grogu’s. They were both fairly easy to shop for, especially since Grogu wasn’t a picky eater.

Just as you were about to leave, you spotted a vendor who sold herbs and spices. You made your way to the table and looked for ingredients to make a soothing tea that should help Din with his nightmares. You remember your good old ugnaught friend Kuiil (may he rest in peace), who was one of the wisest you’ve ever known, teach you how to make this specific tea to calm you from your anxieties and nightmares you used to have.

After he taught you to make it, you made it often, so you luckily never forgot how to brew it up. You’d hoped this would work for Din because Maker, it seems as if these nightmares wouldn’t cease anytime soon.

You thanked the vendor as you gave him credits for the few herbs you bought, finally making your way to the towns square where Din said he’d meet you. Sure enough, your beloved in shining armor was leaning against a building with his arms crossed, seemingly looking around with nonchalance. He spotted you and his son rather quickly, pushing himself off the building before making his way to you.

“Hi, handsome.” You greet him, and he thanked Maker he was wearing his helmet because he was blushing like a fool underneath it. He still could never get used to your kind compliments toward him.

“Cyar’ika.” He nods down at you, offering you his arm to loop yours through. He grabbed a couple of bags from you before you three began your journey back to your humble abode.

It was sunset by the time you three got back to your home, and Din quickly helped you stow away everything you got from the market. He saw the herbs you’d purchased and was going to ask you about them, but he decided against it as you were quite the avid tea drinker.

Grogu was well under a deep slumber for the night, as he’d had a long day playing and eating his favorite foods. You made a simple stew for dinner and brewed the tea on the side, and since Grogu was happily tucked away in his bedroom, it was just you and Din for the rest of the night.

He’d already stripped off all of his armor, including his helmet, so it left him only in his flight suit. It was nice to see him in his rarest form—no armor, no helmet, just a beautiful, loving man inside and out to be in the company of. Din. Your Din.

The only thing that genuinely worried you, though, was the immediately noticeable dark circles under his beautiful brown eyes. He was exhausted. You could tell.

You were determined to make him drink that tea tonight in hopes of it working its metaphorical magic on him.

Din was staring at you from across the table as you both had finished the hearty stew, and your gaze snapped to his once your thoughts were brushed to the back of your mind.

“What?” You huff playfully, quirking an eyebrow at him.

“I have something for you.” He says, reaching into a pocket of his flight suit. You sat there patiently as whatever it was was now clutched in his large hand, as his free one reached for both of your hands across the table.

“Ni kar’tayl gar darasuum, cyar’ika. I want to give this to you as a promise. A promise that I’ll always love you, protect you, and support you throughout all of our endeavors in this life. You are the only one for me. You complete me; you complete this clan of three. I’d be nothing without you or my son by my side.” Din is quiet but sincerely heartfelt, making your heart squeeze in absolute adoration.

He grabbed your other hand and unveiled what was in his palm. It was a bracelet. He clasped it onto your wrist, the dainty but shiny metal heavy. You turned it over to see the charm, and tears sprung to your eyes. It was a simple, tiny mudhorn made out of the same silver material that the bracelet was made out of.

Then it dawned on you—the bracelet was made out of beskar. The same shiny beskar Din’s armor was made out of.

“Din,” you whispered, tears threatening to spill from your eyes. “It–It’s so beautiful. Thank you.” You cried, and the soft look in his eyes was enough to make you want to melt into a full-on sob.

“I love you.” You sniffed, admiring the beautiful bracelet that sat perfectly around your wrist.

“I love you more.”

And that was the last of the words exchanged between you both before he carried you off to your shared bed, making the sweetest love he knew how to you.

It had only been a few hours after you both had exhausted yourselves from your passionate love making, quickly dwindling down to a much needed slumber. It was peaceful—Din’s soft breathing on your chest as he lay his head on you, arms wrapped around your torso, and your head rested on top of his soft mane of curls. The breeze was cool enough to keep you both at a comfortable temperature. It was peaceful. Until it wasn’t.

Din popped up with a sharp gasp, gripping your arm so tightly in an unconscious state that it made you immediately jolt awake. He was squeezing your arm unbearably hard, making you cry out in pain as his grip only seemed to be getting tighter.

“Din, Din! Wake up!” You shook him violently, trying to pry his hand from your arm that you’re sure was already bruised terribly. When he kept thrashing around and crying out, you had to think fast. You maneuvered your body so you swung your legs over him so you straddled him. You took both of his shoulders in your hands, squeezing as hard as you could and shaking him as rough as you could muster up.

“Wake up!” The ring of your own plea shocked you as it sounded loud but broken, cracking as the tears spilled from your eyes at the throbbing pain in your arm.

His eyes finally snapped open, chest heaving uncontrollably as his pupils adjusted to the darkness of the room, looking up at you. His gaze moved to the hand wrapped around your arm, and he immediately let go.

Tears were in his eyes as he sobbed, wrapping his arms around you and pulling you down to him.

“Cy-cyar’ika, I’m s-so sorr-y.” He cried, and you tried to shush him gently.

“Din, breathe, it’s okay. You’re safe.” You wept, cradling the back of his head with your hands.

“You’re here.” He choked out, not letting up on your body. Confusion took over you at his words, and you lifted yourself up enough so you could look him in the eyes.

“Din, honey, what were you dreaming about?” Both of your hands moved to cradle his face, and he immediately melted into your touch.

“It’s Moff Gideon. I keep–” He paused, swallowing hard as if he kept speaking he’d quite literally die from lack of oxygen. It took him a minute to compose himself as best as he could before he continued. “These nightmares that I have. They’re always of Moff Gideon capturing you and Grogu and I can’t find either of you. Bo-Katan tries to help me but it’s no use. In this one–,” Din tries to catch his breath, but a heartbreaking sob escapes him instead. “He k-killed you right in front of me.”

Your breathing stopped as you stilled, your brows threading together. Now you understood. You don’t even know how you’d cope with having nightmares like that, especially one so severe seeing Din being taken away from you with nothing you could do about it.

“Oh, Din,” You leaned down, sorrow in your eyes before you kissed him gently. You pulled apart from him slightly, thumbs caressing his cheekbones. “I’m right here. I promise.” You sit up again and dangle your newly prized possession—the bracelet he gifted you—in front of him and pointed at it.

“You see this? You’ll always have me. I’m yours. I’m not going anywhere. I’m here, ner cyare, I’m never going to leave you. Not in real life, not in your dreams. I’m safe. Grogu’s safe. You’ve got us for eternity.” You rest your forehead against his as you lean down again, and as his sobs subside, you two hold each other for awhile before he starts to kiss your neck very softly.

“How badly did I hurt your arm?” He whispers, hating himself for unconsciously laying his hands on you in a hurtful way. Hurting you is the last thing in the whole universe he’d ever want to do.

“Not that bad.” You lied, feeling the unbearable throbbing pain as you spoke.

“Cyar’ika, please don’t lie to me.” He cups your face in his warm palms, eyes searching yours. You give him a small smile and sigh, knowing he sees right through you.

“It’s going to leave a dark bruise.” You admit, and his lips tremble in pure sadness.

“Maker, I’m so sorry. I never meant–”

“Sh sh, I know. I know,” You shushed him, kissing his forehead. You let him hold you a little longer before you began to move off of him.

“Where are you going?” Your heart broke at the tone of his voice, but you slipped on your nightgown over your naked body before offering him your hand on your uninjured arm.

“C’mon, I want you to drink something to help you. With the nightmares and lack of sleep.” He took your hand and slipped his underwear back on before you led him into the kitchen. The moonlight was bright enough throughout the house that you didn’t need any lights on, which set a calm ambience.

You poured Din the premade tea you brewed hours before, handing him a cup. He looked at you then looked down at it, cautiously lifting the cup to his lips as he sipped the lukewarm liquid carefully. You both sat in silence as he drank the rest of the delightfully surprising semi-sweet liquid.

“Let me look at your arm.” He says as he lifts you up on the counter, making you eye-level with him. He takes your arm softly and skates his fingertips ever so lightly over the already purpling bruise, making you suck in a breath and flinch. Even the lightest touch hurt. He gave you a look of apology before kissing your shoulder, resting his head in the crook of your neck.

You tangled your fingers in his soft hair, kissing the side of his head in comfort. You’d never seen Din so defeated. He was a strong man who’s armor made him nearly invincible, but underneath all of it, he was a beautiful man with a beautiful heart who had the strongest love for his tiny family. He would tear the whole galaxy apart to find you and Grogu, and he’d easily take a blaster shot if it meant you two got to survive. You two were everything to him, and although he sometimes had a hard time expressing his feelings, you knew very clearly that he loved you both so very much.

“Let me give you a bacta shot. For your arm.” His eyes meet yours once more, and you’d usually never agree, but the pain in your arm was like nothing you’d ever felt before. You almost felt sorry for the poor laiserbrain criminals Din had killed just by choking them to death with his iron-like grip.

You nod your head wordlessly, hand dropping from his hair as he turned on his heel after telling you to ‘stay right there, he’ll be right back.’ He was back in less than a minute with a pad of alcohol and the bacta shot. He wiped down the area above the bruise on your arm, administering the shot in such a hasty manner that you barely even felt it.

He patched up the little poke on your arm, helping you off the counter. Sleep suddenly overcame you both like a wave crashing to a shore. You threaded your fingers through his and pulled him back to the bedroom, clambering into bed. He followed suit, pulling you in carefully as your injured arm rested on his chest. The strong, steady beat of his heart had you nearly unconscious in less than a couple of minutes at most.

That night, Din had finally slept the most tranquilly he ever has in his life—free of night terrors, wrapped around the one he loved, and finally at peace knowing his clan of three was truly safe in this house they’d all made a home.

mando'a translations:

cyar'ika: darling, sweetheart

mesh'la: beautiful

ni kar’tayl gar darasuum: I love you

ner cyare: my beloved

#din djarin imagine #din djarin fluff #din djarin one shot #din djarin imagines #din djarin #pedro pascal imagines #pedro pascal one shot #pedro pascal imagine #the mandalorian fanfiction #the mandalorian imagines #the mandalorian imagine #the mandalorian x female reader #din djarin x f!reader #din dijarin fanfiction #din grogu #grogu

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fullscoreshenanigans · 2 months

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do you know where to find all the tpn official arts outside of the manga? I also want to know where to find the artbook content so I was wondering

I'll have to open this up to @1000sunnygo but my understanding is Art Book World is *the* quintessential collection of TPN art outside of Demizu's character birthday drawings and other pieces on twitter created post-2020 (I have a little incomplete collection of them in my Posuka Demizu tag, with these being my personal favorites of the trio).

Highly recommend purchasing if you have the means and access, not only for the art but also the insightful interviews.

All the art is sourced and divided into sections based on the source.

(Volume 13 frontpiece rough. 🥺 And the volume 14 cover rough is very cool.)

If you're looking for the original raw covers of WSJ featuring TPN, here's a link to them on WSJ's wiki.

If you mean the promotional anime art that typically is put on clear files and turned into acrylic stands, as far as I know no one has ever compiled them all together in one single-page gallery for browsing outside of online shops selling them. (My small tag of it is here.)

On tumblr there's @just-like-playing-tag's compilation lamenting how TPN Committee can't be bothered to understand Emma's character and preferences because marketing that she's a girl takes precedence.

Offsite, the closest you'll probably get is TPN wiki's collaboration page listing, though as I've mentioned before don't confuse tlieilt_625p's art with official promo art. I still have no idea why their stuff is in the wiki gallery pages; it just serves to confuse more people.

For example, the TPN x Princess Cafe collaboration:

Their style is insanely close to the official art on a quick glance, but the heads and limb lengths and widths are a bit off.

My favorite promo collaboration art is probably with Megane Flower glasses (cute comic focusing on it by @kewstiny) just because I'm always a sucker for characters who normally don't wear glasses wearing glasses and vice versa, but also for reasons addressed here.

We are ignoring that Gilda, Sonya, and Vincent would have been more fitting for this promo because they aren't as recognizable for marketing. 😔🙏 Fucking crying over Emma either gluing or duct taping the frames to her face or just like...holding them for the shot vkldlf

Honorable shoutout to this collab though

Whippin' this out on a date like "relax, babe, I got this"

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solomons-poison · 2 years

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Neighbor!Diavolo hcs

A/N: I can't believe it didn't occur to me before, but I realized I would love to see what Dia would be like as a regular human. Normally I would think about a CEO!AU or something but since this is a neighbor hc post, he is simply a normal human lol. If he didn’t have to worry about prioritizing his duties as prince, he’d be an absolute sweetheart and romance the hell out of you. This went a different direction compared to the JJK boys editions but I really liked this one. Enjoy ❤️

Warnings: MDNI!!, GN bottom!reader (no pronouns or genitals mentioned), human!Diavolo, friends to lovers ;) , mention of oral (reader receiving), little bit of size kink

Masterlist

Neighbor!Dia that, the first time you meet him, practically scares the shit out of you with his massive frame and intense golden eyes. But it only takes a split second for you to realize he's actually just a golden retriever in human form with the biggest smile you've ever seen. He’s not afraid to wrap you up in the biggest and sweetest hug you’ve ever had if you welcome them, practically engulfing you.

Neighbor!Dia that quickly reveals himself to be the boy-next-door type. If you're ever struggling with your groceries, having trouble with your car, or need basic house maintenance, he's always happy to help you. His down-to-earth attitude and his joyful laugh bring some cheer to your day, and he delights in making you smile.

Neighbor!Dia that goes biking every morning, and if you weren't a morning person before, you are now. If you're already an active person in the morning, Dia is quick to invite you to his outings, and you spend the time getting to know each other, discussing your plans for the day and annoying coworkers.

Neighbor!Dia that starts treating you to coffee after your morning outings, either bringing you to his favorite café or delivering the coffee directly to you. It starts slowly at first, him trying to figure out what you like and your preferences, until finally it's a daily occurrence. No matter how much you insist he doesn't have to do it or that you want to repay the favor, he always wins in the end. Eventually, your morning isn't complete until he's given you an exuberant "good morning" and your favorite coffee.

Neighbor!Dia that starts to hang out with you on the regular outside of your morning workout. An occasional dinner together, watching a movie together, playing board games with you. You don't know when it started, but you realize you miss him dearly when he leaves to go back to his apartment at the end of the night, and it doesn't take three guesses to put a name to the flutter in your heart.

Neighbor!Dia that nervously asks you out on a date and you're both a blushing mess over it. Several dates later, he's still completely flustered when you two walk into your usual café holding hands and the staff tease you with a "finally!". The apartment visits turn into a daily occurrence, now complete with kisses and cuddling and plenty of dates.

Neighbor!Dia that tenderly but heavily makes out with you on your couch during one of your movie nights. The movie is all but forgotten as he lowers you down onto your back, large hands cradling you and handling you like you're the most precious thing he's ever held. He's quick to learn all the sensitive spots that make you melt for him, with his fingers and his tongue.

Neighbor!Dia that is afraid of hurting you with his massive dick body but your encouraging sounds of pleasure and your flushed face quickly make him lose his cool, pounding you into the couch before long. He’s also happy to try every position in the book once you give him the green light. Despite the rough treatment, sex with Diavolo is the very definition of love-making, as he makes sure to attend to your every need and desire, and you’ve never felt so loved in your life.

I may have been possessed when I wrote this, I don’t know where the inspiration came from. But now I’m going to be thinking of human!Dia just getting to be carefree and the sweetest person ever 🥺 reblogs and comments appreciated! Also would love suggestions for any other characters for these neighbor!AU hc posts!

#diavolo x reader #diavolo x mc #obey me diavolo #obey me shall we date #obey me smut #nsft warning #obey me imagines #tarren*writes #diavolo x y/n #posting at a horrible time as i am wont to do #the minx can write ✍️#spicy minx 🔥

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chumpovodir · 8 months

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seeing a spate of posts that go like "person A: why can't we have evil women in media / person B: you can't even handle women who are assertive/loud/angry/rude/etc."

and being very aware that netflixvania's carmilla is exactly the kind of unrepentant evil woman those posts are talking about, and i get why people might simply enjoy her for that quality but... i just can't like her in any meaningful way. that might make me seem like a hypocrite because i famously enjoy games!isaac for being the exact same kind of cruel, bitchy character that's prone to violence at the slightest provocation! (hell, these two have so much in common, characterization-wise, even if they come from complete opposite ends when you examine their motivations. which doubly enrages me that people praise n!carmilla yet still shit on games!isaac since they're essentially almost the same character. but. i digress.)

i think the real sticking point is that they simply didn't develop her character enough, so she presents to me as this really shallow, caricaturized "ALL MEN BAD!!!!!!" feminist stereotype that's been historically used to demonize the entire movement. they try to subvert this by hinting that she has deep trauma about about her experiences that drove her to this state, by way of nightmares being mentioned by morana, and then she herself describing her vampire sire as a "cruel, old, mad man" but like. that's it, nothing substantial. now, i understand the hesitancy to actually show what she went through, whatever it could've been - netflixvania gets absolutely no points from me for being able to tackle what would no doubt be a very delicate topic (but isn't it interesting they're okay with putting their male characters through graphic, on-screen sexual assault, but it's almost entirely framed as titillating voyeurism?)

the more i think on it, the more i believe both her and n!hector's characters could've benefitted tremendously if they just focused on their characters and relationship and nixed the rest of the council. (like i'm sorry but they really do nothing for the plot. i maintain that lenore only exists for fetishy reasons, and striga and morana are just the token lesbian couple)

n!carmilla could've had an interesting character arc where we see her turn into the thing she opposes, driven by her aimless hatred (and we do kind of get that in the show, but it feels so out of left field by that point), where she'd basically take the role of games!isaac in relation to games!hector - she who doesn't rise above the cruelty that was inflicted upon her, while n!hector does in regaining his agency.

if you really want to keep the fact that n!carmilla is just a huge man-hating bitch, and you really need to see n!hector dehumanized, then i think both those things could work together without reducing one character to fanservice.

picture this: the end of S2 still happens, where n!carmilla forcibly drags n!hector back to styria, except instead of being introduced to the council of sisters, we see that the entirety of the styrian castle's inhabitants are female - such is n!carmilla hatred of men that she only allows women in her court. at least, until n!hector gets there.

that setting alone already gives you a million more insidious ways to dehumanize n!hector that don't involve him naked and being beaten half to death, and does more to show n!carmilla's petty hatred and cruelty, resenting men so much but knowing full well she needs hector's skills if she wants her plans to succeed, so she messes with his head while still giving him free roam of the castle (albeit with a very heavily implied "but watch out") show how her cruelty towards n!hector is directly mirroring her own experiences so we can sympathize with her, but also show that n!hector is just not the kind of guy she should be directing her ire at. really re-frame her not as a "feminazi" stereotype, but a person who has obviously been so broken by their trauma, despite the cool, confident exterior they project.

take advantage of the fact that n!hector is once again a fish out of water, albeit in an entirely different context - where previously he was shunned by humanity for his unnatural abilities, now he's simply hated by the vampire residents for being born the 'wrong' gender. make him connect the dots and realize in both instances he doesn't deserve any of it, and instead of generalizing by throwing in his lot with one side or the other, pick his battles a little more wisely and yes, ultimately decide n!carmilla needs to die by his hand to regain his freedom.

in case it's not obvious, i'm not sparing a thought for how any of this affect's n!isaacs arc - i guess at the end of things, they could have a bit of a role reversal from their game counterparts where, after killing n!carmilla in revenge for everything, n!hector is almost about to succumb to the same hatred n!carmilla did and begin the cycle anew, until n!isaac swoops in, fully intent on killing him but deciding he's suffered enough anyway, and shares what he's learned over his travels. it gets through to n!hector and he stops dead in his tracks - we the audience realize in the instant that n!carmilla is a tragic character, how the only things that might've saved her from her own undoing are like... connection and understanding. something she never got even though she surrounded herself with others seemingly like herself, but it was purely superficial. how this could've been a nice pushback against the radf*m theory of 'sisterhood' in that n!hector probably had more in common with n!carmilla, but because she simply refused to see any kind of common ground in him for simply being a man, shut herself off from the thing she actually needs and sealed her own fate.

#wow this got really long #man i was *not* planning on writing like character analysis for netflixvania on my day off #but the similarities between n!carmilla and games!isaac jumped out at me and suddenly it was clear #how she could've been a great “evil woman” character without completely throwing away what they already gave her in the show #these are all kinda just surface level ramblings tho like. i get that some of it is pretty cliched and boring #long post #castlevania #castlevaniaposting #anti netflixvania #<- i mean not really? but to be safe

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soft-bellied-tannies · 7 months

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Date Night Debauchery

The first post of Chubtober is a gift for my lovely friend, Cherry.

Read here or on AO3!

---

“Hey Hobs, do you want to go out with us tonight? You can bring Yoongi, we would love to see him again. It’s been so long!” Jimin asked with a hopeful expression.

His co-teacher at the dance academy rarely went out with them and they had only ever met Hoseok’s partner, Yoongi, a handful of times. The last time they saw Yoongi was nearly two years ago when Hoseok had started at the academy and the pair accepted invitations to welcome dinners.

Jimin was very understanding and kind every time Hoseok mentioned that Yoongi was quite introverted and didn’t enjoy going out much. He would simply say that his partner, Jungkook, was similar and he hoped the couple knew that the invitation was always still there if they wanted to accept.

Hoseok shook his head and honestly did look a little dejected. Jimin was a difficult person to say no to considering how genuine he always was. “Sorry, Min-ah, you know Friday night is date night. Maybe another time!”

“Okay, have a good night! We’ll have a drink for you!”

Sending them a parting wave, Hoseok hightailed it to his car. He had a few errands to run before he went home including picking up dinner. Making quick work of his pit stops, he was pulling into their driveway just thirty minutes later.

Although he sometimes thought about taking Jimin up on the offer to go out, Friday nights with Yoongi were not something Hoseok ever wanted to give up. Uninterrupted time with his partner was always a priority, but over the past two years, the activities they partook in on date night had changed for the better in both their opinions.

“Yoon! I’m home!” Hoseok called out, waiting to see if he would get an answer. When he didn’t, he smiled and carried his bags into the kitchen. Yoongi loved a good nap after work so Hoseok never really questioned if he was taking a nap, just where he had ended up dozing off.

After putting his haul away and separating their takeout into portions, Hoseok walked into the living room to find his partner just waking up from his sprawl on the couch as expected. Yoongi’s comfortable work-from-home outfit left little to the imagination, not that Hoseok minded the opportunity to ogle his partner’s evergrowing soft frame.

Hoseok knelt beside the couch and placed a hand on Yoongi’s plump cheek. He moved his thumb back and forth for a moment, excited for what the rest of the night held for them. “Hi, baby.”

“Hey, how was your day?” Yoongi asked as he struggled a bit to sit up. He tugged his shirt down that had ridden up during his nap, a small strip of skin still visible at the bottom even after his adjustment.

“Great, my seniors finally hit their routine and Jiminie and I came up with cool choreography for our new group. How about yours?” Hoseok replied, running a hand up and down Yoongi’s soft thigh - squeezing every now and then because he couldn’t resist sinking his fingers into his boyfriend’s skin.

Yoongi shrugged and pouted his lips for a kiss before answering. “It was fine. Got a new set of lyrics finished with Joon and I picked up a new project from a group that is trying a new dark concept that I’m really into. Also, we need more peanut butter and ice cream sandwiches.”

Hoseok nodded with a laugh. “Got it, I’ll add it to the grocery list. Ready for dinner?”

“Absolutely, I’m starving,” Yoongi answered, patting his stomach and looking up at Hoseok who was now standing. “Did you get extra cheese?”

“Of course, babe, I know your order by heart,” Hoseok said before heading to the kitchen, collecting the pizza boxes and extra add-ons like his salad and Yoongi’s cinnamon sticks. “You want beer or coke?”

Yoongi gave him a little shy smile as he accepted one of the pizza boxes. “Both, please.”

Hoseok kissed his forehead, watching as Yoongi grabbed the first slice and the edge of the box rested on the top of his stomach. His boyfriend was already to the crust when he got back with their drink selections. “Want any of my salad, Yoon?”

Letting out an amused laugh, Yoongi shook his head while his mouth was full of the majority of his second slice. “I’m good, Hoba.”

Cracking open one of the Coke cans, Hoseok handed it to Yoongi and warned him, “Here, babe, make sure you don’t choke.”

Yoongi accepted the drink, chugging down half before going right back into his pizza. The box was now beside him on the couch, pizza in one hand and Coke in the other while they both rested on his stomach. “They kind of skimped on the bacon this time.”

Hoseok leaned over to inspect the pizza and he did have to agree, they went a little light on the toppings. “Yeah, they did, that’s annoying. Want me to go grab some of ours?”

“Yes, please,” Yoongi responded with another sweet smile that had Hoseok ready to give him anything he ever wanted. He watched as his boyfriend let two handfuls of bacon bits rain down on what was left of his pizza before thanking him. “Mmm, much better. Thanks, jagi.”

Hoseok then let Yoongi work on his pizza while he ate his salad and found something to watch. His boyfriend was starting on slice number six by the time Hoseok opened his pizza box which he knew would become Yoongi’s soon anyway.

One pizza was nothing for him these days so Hoseok grabbed two slices for himself and put the box next to Yoongi so he could move seamlessly onto the next pizza once he finished his own.

“Hey, babe, can I get another drink?” Yoongi asked after draining the can of Coke. Hoseok immediately had a can of beer open for him and, without missing a beat, he opened another as he knew that Yoongi always chugged the first beer in one go no matter how far in they were.

Letting out a belch after downing his beer, Yoongi excused himself and accepted the second can. He kissed Hoseok on the cheek and absent-mindedly rubbed the top of his stomach for a brief moment, taking a quick measure of how full he was and determining that he had plenty of room left.

Hoseok smirked when he noticed Yoongi spread his legs a bit and recline into the cushions. If he was getting comfortable on the couch, that meant he was planning on really going for it - ready to be stuck for a while instead of keeping it light enough to waddle off to bed when they were done.

Reaching over to give Yoongi’s stomach a gentle prod, Hoseok followed it with a few encouraging smacks. “Come on, Yoon, it’s going to start getting cold soon. You hate cold pizza.”

Yoongi sighed, knowing that his boyfriend was right, and dug back in. He handed his beer to Hoseok and grabbed two slices, stacking them on top of each other and getting them down in what felt like seconds. After picking up the last slice of his pizza, he tossed the empty box onto the coffee table and pulled Hoseok’s closer to him.

“Good job, baby,” Hoseok whispered, followed by a firm squeeze to Yoongi’s still-soft underbelly. “You have more after the pizza and I’m feeling a little impatient tonight. I might have to start feeding you myself soon.”

If anything, that was more encouragement to slow down because Yoongi loved it when Hoseok fed him, but he, at least, needed to finish the pizza before handing over his control. He started in on his boyfriend’s pizza, realizing it would be easier to get down since it was simple pepperoni instead of the meat lovers he had just put away.

Hosoek wondered if Yoongi had taken it easy during the day because he was actually maintaining a quick pace, going against the persistent teasing that had been happening. As he thought about it, he concluded that he couldn’t have gone that easy because there were at least four ice cream sandwiches left when he grabbed ice from the freezer that morning and now they were gone.

By the time Hoseok had finished his salad and a couple of slices, Yoongi only had two left from the second pizza and his clothes were starting to look a little uncomfortable. “Finish that pizza, Yoon, and then I’ll help.”

Yoongi simply nodded and continued powering through, grabbing the last two slices and wolfing them down as fast as possible. The waistband of his sweatpants was cutting into him and he wanted Hoseok to take over - reaching a level of feeding fatigue even if he definitely had room left to eat more.

Slipping one hand beneath the tight band, Hoseok pulled it below Yoongi’s heavy belly. He moved his hands under the tight t-shirt to travel up from the soft underside across his midsection until he reached the crest of his now taut stomach, giving it an inquisitive press that brought a rumbling moan from his boyfriend’s chest.

“There you go, baby. Much more comfortable, you just need more room, right?” Hoseok said teasingly, watching as Yoongi’s belly spread into his lap when he finally removed his hands.

With that, Yoongi’s reprieve had ended as he watched Hoseok grab a bag from the restaurant and turn it over to dump out the contents. He wasn’t even sure how his boyfriend managed to get a bag full of icing cups for one order, but he would never complain about it.

There was clearly enough to have one cup with each cinnamon stick which is exactly how Hoseok fed it to him. It was sickly sweet, but Yoongi couldn’t say no to the indulgent dessert. Part of him wished they saved a bit of the savory stuff to alternate bites, although Hoseok’s pace didn’t really allow for breaks anyway.

After the fourth one, Yoongi simply gave into his partner’s control. He opened his mouth and ate what he was given without hesitation - reclined heavily into the couch cushions with his hands on his very full stomach until the dessert box was empty and it felt like every inch of his stomach was lined with cream cheese icing.

Yoongi hadn’t even realized the steady stream of cinnamon and sugar stopped until Hoseok’s prodding hand was back on his stomach, finding very little give in his taut skin. He always ate a lot, especially at his boyfriend’s hand, but Yoongi felt absolutely beached tonight - dough and cheese with a bunch of sugar on top filling his stomach to the brim.

“You okay, babe? You’re looking rather full,” Hoseok asked quietly as he continued his gentle massage of Yoongi’s bloated stomach. He knew Yoongi would answer with moans and groans for a little while, digesting his massive meal.

This was Hoseok’s favorite part. That pride in seeing his handiwork on Yoongi’s frame, feeding his boyfriend into temporary immobile bliss. They could gladly spend hours this way - Hoseok manhandling and teasing Yoongi while he just let all the sensations overwhelm him.

“Jiminie asked me to go out for drinks again. I keep telling him Fridays are date nights and he always offers for you to come, to see everyone again.”

Yoongi made a small sound of embarrassment for two reasons. One, knowing where this conversation was headed, and two, from the gurgling sound of his stomach every time Hoseok pressed on a sensitive area.

“Imagine what they would think of you now, baby. They haven’t seen you since I joined the studio and they see all those college pictures on the wall in my office. Remember how much smaller you were back then? Would they even recognize you? What happened to my little college basketball player, hmm?”

The moan Yoongi let out was his only answer, throwing his head back against the couch as Hoseok moved to straddle him - fighting his distended middle for space. The arousal overpowered the shame from his partner’s humiliating words. He could only imagine the look on Hoseok’s coworkers’ faces if they saw him again, especially Jimin whom Yoongi matched in stature two years and many, many pounds ago.

Hoseok’s hands continued their caress of Yoongi’s belly as he placed random kisses on his partner’s exposed neck. He leaned forward slightly to rest more of his much slighter weight on Yoongi’s middle, bringing yet another guttural moan out of the bigger man.

“You finished everything so fast, ate like a starving man when we both know you are never starving these days. I wonder how many snacks you pack away while I’m gone. Seems like there is something new on the grocery list every day.”

Yoongi was a non-verbal mess as he often became under his partner’s attention. He was convinced that Hoseok had the ability to cast some sort of spell over him, convincing him to melt under dedicated hands and intense words.

“We still have time to go meet up with them, could get all dressed up and go out, but we both know that’s not happening since you wouldn’t be able to get off the couch by yourself. You can’t even fit this gut in your sweatpants right now. Putting jeans on would be a nightmare.”

Hoseok was excitedly anticipating Yoongi’s response as it normally went one of two ways on nights like this. He would either completely agree and let Hoseok have his way with him or he would find a little resolve to argue back. Hoseok loved when Yoongi argued back.

“I can get up just fine, thank you very much,” Yoongi mumbled, cheeks pink from both the heat of the moment and his partner’s endless teasing.

With a raised brow, Hoseok climbed off Yoongi’s lap and he let out a disbelieving laugh. “Alright, big guy, let’s see it then.”

Yoongi huffed in response to the nickname and the demand. He knew better than to challenge Hoseok and based on how much effort it took to attempt the first scooch forward, this was going to be a difficult attempt. All that food was heavy in his stomach, pushing both up and out in a way that made breathing a little tough and bending forward impossible.

Rocking back and forth a few times, Yoongi stood slowly while using the little bit of momentum he built up. It took all of his strength to push past the wave of heartburn that rippled up his throat as he stood, a deep belch being forced out from the pressure on his middle. He let out a low breath, trying to hide the amount of effort it took.

“See, per…perfectly fine,” Yoongi huffed, trying to act naturally as if his body was begging for him to collapse back into the cushions. He tugged his shirt back down around his distended middle as far as it would reach and rested his hands on his hips, pretending that his stomach didn’t feel like a lead weight hanging off of him.

The necessary arch of Yoongi’s back to support his overfilled belly only pushed it farther forward, testing the limits of his already snug shirt. After a few more heaving breaths, he felt balanced enough to stay standing, but Yoongi knew that anything more than that would require assistance and at least another hour of digestion time.

Hoseok laughed and palmed the underside of Yoongi’s bloated stomach, giving it a gentle shake. “Well, clearly I haven’t fed you enough if you are ‘perfectly fine’. Sit down, baby, I’ll be back, and don’t even think about touching yourself.”

Yoongi’s eyes widened as he heard the no-nonsense tone from Hoseok. He already felt ready to burst and he made the mistake of mouthing off to his partner. Tonight was far from over now.

Part of Yoongi wanted to push it even more, maybe taking off his shirt or refusing to sit down, but he was already in for a little pain before his pleasure and that was enough for him. He fell back onto the couch with a heavy thud, groaning at the poor choice on his part - a sudden hit of nausea overcoming him with the jostling of his full stomach.

Yoongi closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, resetting himself and preparing for the next round of food as if he hadn’t just put away eighty percent of their takeout order himself. Friday nights were always interesting, but he loved when Hoseok got a little mean, giving up all his control to his typically sunshiny partner.

When Hoseok walked back into the living room with the unopened quart of vanilla ice cream and a bag of honey butter chips, Yoongi was confused. This was not a normal choice for his partner - ice cream obviously, but what was the point of the chips?

Hoseok set the container of ice cream on the coffee table out of Yoongi’s reach and held out the bag of chips for the other to take. As he took the bag from his partner’s hand, Yoongi realized that there was a certain item missing from Hoseok’s haul - a spoon.

Before Yoongi could ask any questions, he was given new instructions that made his eyes widen. Hoseok was full of surprises apparently.

“Okay, big man, since you are feeling so confident tonight, you earned a little prize for yourself. You are going to eat those chips, keep yourself nice and full until this ice cream melts and once it’s ready, you are going to drink the whole thing, got it?” Hoseok explained as he stood in front of the couch, hands on his hips with a look of absolute seriousness on his face.

Yoongi felt a shiver run down his spine at the tone of his partner’s voice. It had been a while since they had a night like this and thankfully he was sitting because this side of Hoseok always made him weak in the knees.

“Yeah, got it.”

“Mhmm, what was that?” Hoseok asked with a smirk.

“Yes, sir, I understand.”

“Good boy.”

Yoongi did everything he could to hold back the moan threatening to fall from his lips. The ask alone made him motivated, but the tone of Hoseok’s voice was nearly enough to send him over the edge untouched.

Without further hesitation, Yoongi opened the bag of chips and put three in his mouth, ready to work through the bag like it was his job. He had to ignore the fact that his stomach was not on the same page as his mind. His body was screaming at him to be done with sweetened carbs for the night, but Yoongi had certainly trained his stomach at this point to persevere.

He was desperate to have Hoseok’s hands back on him, but Yoongi knew that he wouldn’t get that until the ice cream was gone. That was the trade-off for being mouthy even if it was incredibly worth it in the end.

Yoongi couldn’t help but smirk at Hoseok looking as if he could barely restrain himself from jumping back into Yoongi’s lap - well, whatever room was left for him. He simply continued pushing through the bags of chips, focusing on following all of Hoseok’s rules.

Completely unaware of how much time had passed, Yoongi startled when his hand met the bottom of the now-empty chip bag. He looked up to find Hoseok’s amused expression looking back at him.

“So greedy you didn’t even realize you ate the whole bag,” Hoseok teased while taking the empty bag out of his hand. “I gave you enough time to pace yourself for the ice cream to melt and yet you just can’t help yourself.”

Yoongi felt his cheeks heat up in embarrassment before it shifted to a bit of discomfort. It was like the entire bag of chips hit his stomach all at once since he had zoned out through tearing through it.

Letting out an involuntary groan, Yoongi leaned back and his hands found his stomach - his incredibly tight stomach. The pure amount of cheese, sugar, and grease fighting for room would be concerning if he didn’t absolutely love how full and fattening it felt.

“So full…” Yoongi groaned as if he had any chance of stopping Hoseok’s plans. He was the one who brought this on himself and the pain of pushing through was always worth the reward in the end.

Hoseok dropped onto his knees beside Yoongi considering his lap especially was lacking room for him to take his usual spot. He ran his hand up from Yoongi’s soft hip until he drummed his fingers across the taut crest of his partner’s overly full stomach.

“I bet your ice cream is all melted now, baby.”

Yoongi felt packed so full that the thought of ice cream, melted or not, on top of everything else made him a bit nauseous, but the arousal of knowing that he could be more full with Hoseok’s hands all over him outweighed any feeling of sickness.

“Can you do it?” Yoongi asked, certain that Hoseok would be nothing but excited at the request.

Hoseok grabbed the container with a smile and carefully removed the lid, not wanting to spill a drop. “With pleasure, darling.”

The anticipation sent a low heat through Yoongi’s groin, hoping that Hoseok would be ready to do all the work considering he felt glued to the couch before the ice cream that was about to sit at the top of his stomach.

Yoongi felt the cold condensation on his bottom lip as Hoseok held the container up to his mouth. He was the farthest thing from hungry, but his mouth still watered like he hadn’t eaten in days.

Although it was melted, the ice cream was still thick and cold as he started to drink - no reprieve from Hoseok as he held the container at a steady angle. The chilled liquid relieved some of the pain in his stomach at first until chugging reminded him just how little room he had left.

The sugar-filled cream quite literally had nowhere to go except sit directly on top of his stomach. Every swallow felt like it was pushing Yoongi’s stomach farther than it had ever been pushed before. He was familiar with the feeling of going over his limit, but it had been quite a while since he felt that pinch in his side telling him to stop.

Hoseok, ever observant, seemed to notice and gave him a little break - eyeing the bit of cream that dribbled down Yoongi’s chin as he did. He leaned in to lick it up slowly, enjoying the intimate taste of his partner. “Almost as sweet as you, sugar.”

That sent Yoongi right back into a state of nonverbal mess, just able to moan in response as he was desperate for more. More of what? He didn’t even know. Possibly Hoseok’s touch, but now, Yoongi wanted nothing more than to prove how good he was even if his body disagreed.

At the moment though, he genuinely needed a break. The pinch in his side was slowly becoming a cramp. His breathing was felt quicker simply because he feared a deep breath may cause him to pop.

Hoseok noticed Yoongi’s intentional breaths and smirked, wondering if he needed a little help digesting. He palmed Yoongi’s swollen belly and jostled it side to side. Yoongi immediately grabbed his partner’s hand in a tight grip, giving a silent signal that he could not handle the movement.

The last thing Yoongi wanted was to tap out and shaking his stomach would certainly make that happen. Seeing the way Yoongi’s eyes were closed as he breathed through the moment, Hoseok instantly got the hint and started running his fingers through his partner’s hair - peppering Yoongi’s face with soft kisses.

Yoongi couldn’t help the relieved and endeared feeling that filled his chest as Hoseok was fully in tune with him, switching his touches to tender caresses. They may both love the intensity and teasing, but respect and care for each other were always going to be the priority.

Hoseok brought his lips to Yoongi’s ear, kissing his neck just below and whispering, “Tell me what’s going on, baby.”

“Just needed a break, I promise.”

“You sure?”

Yoongi started nodding, not wanting to lose the incredible direction of their “date night” as he had looked forward to Friday nights every single week. “Want to finish…please.”

Hoseok smirked once again, leaning back and holding Yoongi’s plump cheeks in his hands. “My good boy, such good manners.”

Yoongi involuntarily moaned in response to the praise, always reaching a point of uncontrollable desperation at this point of the night. He would be embarrassed if Hoseok didn’t love it. His moan, however, was cut off by the container once again finding his lips.

Opening his mouth and leaning his head back against the couch, Yoongi watched in satisfaction as Hoseok’s eyes lit up. The container was tilting up in an instant, now angled higher as the cold yet melted cream poured into his mouth at a much higher pace.

Yoongi never knew how Hoseok was capable of pushing his body past what he thought were his limits. It’s as if Hoseok’s praise and touch alone increased his stomach capacity.

Seeming to go into another place mentally, Yoongi ignored everything except Hoseok’s warm hand on his belly and gentle praises in his ear. The second half of the pint was gone faster than the first, but it made itself just as well known.

When Hoseok pulled the contained away, he saw every bit of Yoongi’s pleasure and pain - well aware that they had gone farther tonight than they had since close to the beginning. He didn’t know why since it was just a normal Friday night for them, but something was in the air that night.

Yoongi finally opened his eyes as he was missing Hoseok’s touch, confused as to the long pause. Usually, his partner would have been back on his lap and starting to get into his pants by now.

To Yoongi’s surprise, Hoseok was in front of him with his phone out, apparently taking photos. The blush once again returned to Yoongi’s cheeks when he saw the pride on Hoseok’s face which was honestly deserved considering the work his partner had put into feeding him up.

Without another warning, the photos were the farthest thing from Yoongi’s mind as Hoseok dropped to his knees in front of the couch and pulled the offensively tight fabric from Yoongi’s torso.

After his shirt was pushed up to his chest, Yoongi expected Hoseok to move on to fight with the tight waistband of his sweatpants, but he was surprised by the warm sensation of Hoseok’s lips on the sensitive skin of his belly.

Yoongi felt heat rise through his body when Hoseok dedicated himself to worshipping the angry pink lines across Yoongi’s pale middle. As if he weren’t covered in enough marks, Yoongi knew that his belly would be covered in a spread of sweet purple love bites to accompany his variety of old and new stretchmarks.

Between the sudden nips from Hoseok’s teeth followed by the soothing open-mouth kisses, Yoongi could form no words. He sat heavily, melting into the couch cushions as he panted through the barrage of sensations from his partner.

Yoongi’s hand found Hoseok’s hair and grabbed a handful, tugging slightly in a nonverbal attempt at reprieve. Before pulling away, Hoseok spent another ten seconds on the same spot he had been focused on, ensuring that a dark bruise would be left behind.

Hoseok couldn’t help the smirk that formed on his face when he saw the absolute deshelved state of his partner. Yoongi was clearly trying and failing to keep it together and Hoseok loved being the one to cause that.

“What’s wrong, my love?” Hoseok asked so sweetly as if he wasn’t just ravishing Yoongi’s array of stretch marks.

Yoongi huffed and let his head fall back against the couch again to continue trying to collect himself. “Babe, if you keep going, I’m going to cum in pants like a teenager.”

Hoseok laughed brightly, not expecting that response before bringing his expression back to an even more mischievous smirk. “Well, Yoon, that sounds like I’m doing my job correctly.”

It seemed that Yoongi’s break was over as Hoseok’s hands sunk into his still taut belly and his lips found a new mark to focus on. He was immediately worked back to the edge of release as if they hadn’t taken a break at all.

At that point, Yoongi knew better than to fight it and let himself fall into the bliss of Hoseok’s affection. He let the moans reverberate through his chest freely and melted into the soft couch. His hands found Hoseok’s hair once again, but this time in an encouraging, loving touch rather than a resistant one.

Hoseok’s teeth scraped against Yoongi’s skin once again sending a shiver up his spine. His soft thighs instinctively tightened around his partner’s body that was still knelt between his legs. Hoseok blew a soft, cool breath across Yoongi’s flushed, warm skin spreading chills across his body.

Pleasure was not a new sensation to Yoongi, but he certainly loved when Hoseok got creative in how to give it to him. Another strong grip of his thick sides was followed by a strong bite to one of his newer stretchmarks, the skin incredibly sensitive to the touch.

Yoongi barely registered any pain at this point, just the hefty weight of his middle becoming less and less apparent with the impending release of the tension between them. He turned his face to the side and buried his chin into the cushion, finding a place to muffle his growing whines that accompanied his strung-together moans.

Hoseok’s hand suddenly gripped his plump chin and brought their lips together as his other hand trailed down Yoongi’s belly, fighting slightly with his stretched-thin waistband until he could finish what he started.

All that could be heard throughout their open living room was a final sobbing groan from Yoongi before labored breathing and Hoseok’s gentle whispers of praise were left. Neither knew how much time had passed when they finally separated enough to finally look at each other, and then promptly burst into laughter.

“Well, this night has gone better than I even planned,” Hoseok said lightly, following it with a much sweeter kiss than his previous.

Yoongi simply nodded and let his head fall back to his partner’s shoulder. “God, I’m exhausted.”

Hoseok chuckled again as he nodded. “I can imagine. You have a lot of calories and a good orgasm working against you.”

It was Yoongi’s turn to laugh since he really couldn’t disagree. What he could disagree with was the fact that Hoseok held his hands out to offer Yoongi help up as if that was something possible at the moment.

“Hoba…jagiya, if you think I’m getting up any time soon, you are mistaken.”

Hoseok did laugh, but Yoongi also saw the challenging look in his partner’s eye. “You need to get out of those pants at the very least, but we both could use a shower before bed.”

Yoongi continued to look at Hoseok as if he were insane until he let out a deep sigh and finally brought his shirt back down to a slightly more acceptable place than bunched up under his arms. Although, his still very full belly made it more of a crop top than a full shirt.

“15 minutes?” Yoongi asked, knowing he didn’t stand a chance bargaining against Hoseok.

“Oh, sure, I can get you a little snack for your break too,” Hoseok responded, pointing over his shoulder to the kitchen.

Yoongi groaned and held out his hands with an almost pitiful look on his face, knowing that was not an empty threat from his partner. “You are such a menace.”

Hoseok could only laugh once more as he grabbed Yoongi’s hands and braced himself to help his heavy partner off the couch. He watched fondly as Yoongi wiggled to the edge of the couch cushion, mumbling about how he was going to be so bloated in the morning - as if that was a new thing for Saturday mornings.

Once he was up, Yoongi felt Hoseok’s hands immediately wrapping around him from the back as his partner started to direct them down the hall to their bedroom. The walk was slow and slightly embarrassing as Hoseok commented on Yoongi’s ambling waddle to accommodate his stuffed belly.

Yoongi couldn’t bring himself to actually feel any shame when all the comments were followed by the gentlest kisses to his neck and cheeks just as they were every time they made that walk from the living room to the bedroom.

No matter how far Hoseok pushed him, Yoongi always loved date night.

#soft bellied tannies #bts weight gain #chubby bts #bts feedism #chubby yoongi #feeder hoseok #sbt chubtober

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bthump · 8 months

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How much do you think authorial intent matters in analyzing Berserk? Because I've seen your post on Charlotte and how you interpret her sex with Griffith as consensual because Miura usually does a good job portraying sexual trauma, and sex scene tropes in media are usually dodgy while being intended to be consensual. I always have a hard time with this way of thinking because it doesn't change what objectively happened in the scene.

I actually differentiate between authorial intent and narrative intent to an extent. To me narrative framing matters the most. What Miura may have intended can be important inasmuch as he successfully conveyed it in the story, but I don't think his word is the final word on the story itself. If he gave an interview where he said he intended X, but I think the story conveyed Y, then Y is more important to my interpretation of the story.

So to use the Charlotte sex scene as an example, the biggest reason I read it as consensual (if psychologically fucked up to an extent) is because that's the narrative function of the sex. A rape scene would have a different impact on the story. The sex scene furthers Charlotte's love for Griffith, to her it's a contrast to her father's subsequent attempted assault, Charlotte has no misgivings about it, and the king doesn't accuse Griffith of rape but of theft from him. If it was intended to be a rape scene, it would be essentially nonsensical as a story beat and a bigger failure of writing imo.

And yeah, in addition to that there's the greater media context where a lot of sex that should be rape is treated as consensual.

But yeah I get what you mean about having a hard time viewing things that way. I find the terms watsonian and doylist helpful when discussing stuff like this in fandom, where watsonian refers to discussing characters and events as though they really exist, as though characters have agency and lives and make decisions, and doylist refers to taking account of the fiction of the universe, the knowledge that it's written by someone who has a point to convey and might have biases and make mistakes.

So on a watsonian level you can't really argue that it isn't rape because Charlotte says no. If it happened in real life, it would be rape, the end.

But on a doylist level it doesn't fit the story, and there are better ways to interpret that scene to suit the overall narrative better, which we can understand based on the various context clues I mentioned above.

When I discuss stuff I'm usually doing it on a doylist level because that's just how I roll lol, I enjoy analysing media as a construct created by people attempting to convey a meaning. To me, characters/setting/plot/etc are first and foremost tools to futher that meaning. But a lot of fandom is really into the watsonian level, which makes sense because that's where headcanons and fanfiction thrives, and it's a lot of fun to explore and speculate about the characters as though they're real people with real psychologies, to explain away plot holes and bad writing with in-universe explanations, etc.

It's totally cool to prefer one over the other imo! But yeah I think it's always good to differentiate between those different types of analysis, because they're trying to accomplish very different things, and to be aware of what level you're interpreting the story on. I find that it's really easy to get into discussions where people just talk past each other because one person is discussing the story as a fictional construct and the other is discussing it as if it's a real event that happened. It's how you get arguments like ''the depiction of this character is sexist because she's naked for no reason except to titilate the het male audience' 'there's totally a reason though, it's because she breathes through her skin!' or whatever lol.

Thanks for the ask! I like getting the opportunity to explain where I'm coming from when it comes to meta.

#ask #sichlitt #a #b #theme: themes

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afarcryfrommymain · 1 year

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Ok actually I'm gonna continue this rant where everybody can see it. (Mostly focusing on the Heralds bc Joseph,,, could be his own post honestly but he's mentioned when its important.)

Another very VERY well-made part of the framing and body language and everything in cutscenes is how they convey who is in power in every single one.

Let's start with John. He has the least amount of cut scenes in the game but also is shown not in power in 2/3 (4 if you count the beginning of his boss as a separate one) of them. The framing of the first cutscene portrays him as in charge and the focus at first, but then the moment Joseph enters the scene hes shown to have much more control and John suddenly looks like when a child is sent to the principals office or is being scolded by their parents. And that feeling doesn't end when Joseph leaves, because despite him still by all counts having some form of power over you, you already have seen cracks in the mask, and hes suddenly much less intimidating. The second scene is of course all John and the control he can possess when left alone but again, I think a big reason he is seen as pathetic by the fan base because he was already shown early to act almost neutered by Joseph and that was most likely on purpose. See, Johns area of the game is overall the easiest, and it's the one that's hinted at to go do first because it's a low-level area. He is the weakest in-game, and they absolutely knew what they were doing making the first guy you're supposed to fight still intimidating by how off the rails he can be and how him being set off causes violent tendencies that are scary when you are vulnerable, as shown in the Bunker scene and the Falls End scene. The final one i talk about above is finally putting him in a place where he is vulnerable, and it frames it as such, and it shows his panic and desperation in the end.

(Side note, the second bunker scene, from what I remember is the only John scene you can really look all around in, and it makes sense because of course you would be looking for a way out in this situation)

Faiths scenes are a little weird and different because Faith's whole thing is making you think that you want this and that she's just a helpful guide. Nope! No control here shes just showing you all this cool stuff. And for that reason her cutscenes generally allow you to look around and the focus is on both her and the environment. The scene where she has you walk the path is obviously very whimsical in nature and its the "we aren't scary! If we were evil would bliss be so beautiful? Would i be so kind?" Of course we the player also feel almost creeped out by this, because we see the fake smile with too many teeth and know what happens if you stay in the bliss too long. Faith is definitely meant to be the 2nd area in the game, mid level fights, her cutscenes can be put off but not entirely avoided like johns, a greater sense of urgency, that sort of thing. And Faith herself is intimidating because you never know when she's going to show up and where. Half way through a quest? K now you're jumping off the statue. Just stepped out of the jail? You're being shown the end by Joseph. It keeps you on your toes. Of course you can put it off for a while which is something i did often in game. Her boss is also probably the most fucking wild just because the mind fuckery that was present in her cutscenes being used against you more aggressively than before. Faiths 3rd act breakdown is fun too because you suddenly hear her giving excuses and trying to garner pity (albeit while chucking magic at you and flying,, did I mention her boss fight is my favorite?? Its my favorite.) Her final cutscene is soft and she dies with a warning. "If you listen to him, he'll be right" its ominous and it leaves you confused. Isn't she on his side? Its a weird sensation that sticks for a while after her fight. Clearly something meant to come to mind at the final fight with Joseph.

(Side note for her: I did the "side effects" or "after effects" quest or whatever its called after I beat her boss and was finishing up the quests in that area and man was it WILD to hear her giggling after death,,, she made more of an impact than y'all give her credit for, this has been my daily "please talk about faith more" psa)

Every cutscene with Jacob, regardless of weather or not hes actually in charge somehow conveys that he is in control of the situation. Its obvious for most of them, him being free and walking around, carefully chosing his words and what the player sees constantly, even when Pratt tries to reveal his plans its too frantic to understand. His presence is always felt in the Whitetail Mountains and his section of the game is obviously the most desperate. Your focus is always on him. What he's doing, where he's going, what he's saying. And he knows. He makes every word matter. And he is always confident. Even to the end. Theres something to be said about how even in the Joseph cutscene of his area, who always fucking steals the show when he's around, we still have a portion of our attention on Jacob because both of them are an equal threat. His death cutscene is probably the best example of my point. Even when he's hacking up blood and bleeding out he still is confident. He adds to Faith's warning "you did everything he said you would" still trying to instill that helplessness he's been giving you as he dies but it feels more genuine. He dies sitting on a rock, Jacob is gone but it never really feels that way.

Ik that most of this is probably stuff everyone already knew but im a bitch for narrative framing and animation so I wanted to ramble

#far cry 5 #john seed #faith seed #jacob seed #far cry 5 analysis #im talking now #do i tag joseph????#joseph seed #hes mentioned but not a focus rly #i made a readmore so yall dont have to like. scroll through a wall of text if you dont want to #lmao sorry for the essay i just had adhd and also need to take a break from world history homework #college rly do be kicking my ass

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absolutebl · 2 years

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hi! i graduated from film school this year & i've been reading thru ur blog for weeks now. u've talked abt cinematography before & it's a subject i'd love to hear more of ur thoughts abt. which shows do u believe use cinematic storytelling (framing, staging, symbolic parallels, lighting, color coding) to their advantage the most? shows which benefit from a rewatch/slower watch in order to notice visual details & which can be analyzed in terms of visual language. which would be ur top picks? ty!!

OOO, what a good question.

10 Best Uses of Cinematic Storytelling in BL

Okay, I should say up front that this is not BL's strength.

Second, I work tangential to ET but my degrees are not in film studies. So, much of what I know has been gleaned from coworkers and just floating constantly in and out of the industry, I may not always use the right terms.

The post where I get the most weedy about filming technique is actually the one where I talk about different directors in BL (their styles, camera preferences and camera angle choices, that kind of thing).

BL Directors - Overview

Finally, for each pick, I’m going to talk first about what I liked about the story, and then how the filming technique is used to serve that.

1. Restart After Come Back Home AKA Risutato wa tadaima no ato de

Atmospheric study in rural Japan meets complex family dynamics built on a romance framework of city boy meets country boy. It’s beautiful and icy sweet. Slow moving in places but ultimately worth your patience. Full review here.

This was the first BL that came to mind when asked this question. This movie highlights Japan’s sweeping atmospheric style (learned at the feet of Kurosawa) applied to a very simple little BL story about coming home. Like with HIs the move, the Japanese countryside itself is a major player and character, but unlike His this movie really makes use of its beauty as a metaphor for possibilities and acceptance. Some of the establishing shots are truly breathtaking. The use of color and shadow is also tailored without being brazen. The film uses it to contrast the the two leads, one of whom is closed off from his family and his home and, to a certain extent, life but open to love, and the other who is open to all sensation and the outside world, but closed off to love. How these two men are filmed, framed, and lit is interwoven with these traits - dependent on their internal emotional states and whether they are together or alone. Cold lighting, sometimes too direct, when they are feeling exposed or challenged, darker cool hues when they are internally reflective, warmer even angry reds and golds when they are coping with emotions around connection and intimacy with each other. And finally the closing shot of bright full day, revolving sparkles and lens flairs that’s implying a forthright acceptance and unity, not just of each other, but of themselves.

It is, simply put, a really beautiful movie to just watch as a visual piece of art, we are so lucky it also happens to be BL.

2. I Want to See Only You AKA Kimi no Koto Dake Mite Itai

This is a beautiful piece of cinema well acted, about two boys who are opposite personalities and grew up together. It is very pretty and this is the kind of atmospheric elegantly performed BL that only really comes from Japan (complete with dead fish kisses - what you thought Korea invented them? oh no). I felt like I was “supposed to like it” more than I did. Ultimately I was left feeling as if I had seen it all before. So for me this was lovely but slightly unmemorable.

Another show that is VERY similar is His the series (I Didn't Think I Would Fall In Love AKA His - Koisuru Tsumori Nante Nakatta). Only it has a beach setting.

I mention these two in this post and at this juncture, because they are very stylistically Japanese but lack intentionality to their filming. So they feel workmanlike in a way that I often accuse Thai BL of.. It’s almost as if in coming from Japan they can’t NOT be pretty about it. Like good filming technique is so expected, it’s part of the DNA. In actually, both these stories might have been served better if the filming were more gritty and raw, sticky, like BLs from Taiwan or the Philippines, but Japan (like Korea) doesn’t do that.

3. Seven Days

Never doubt my ability to recommend this show. One of the best live action yaois ever made, with perfectly structured angst, fantastic characters and acting, and no problematic tropes (rare in Japanese BL). The leads have excellent chemistry although it’s low heat there’s still some cute mutual kisses.

Seven Days pretty much used the original manga as a storyboard with just a few exceptions. And yet because it takes itself and it’s characters seriously (this in not a slapstick JBL) it’s softer and less cartoony than most Japanese live action yaoi. The color pallet is muted, and staging and farming is almsot too simplistic but somehow smooth and organic, rather than choppy or stilted. It looks genuine, not fantastical (see Korea coming up). The cuts are gentle with us, it never feels hurried or rushed, even though this is not a very long piece. It’s classy without being in your face about it.

This is spot on cinematography entirely subsumed by a story. It’s point (if ti can be said to have one) is that it doesn’t have a point of view, and therefore the story just shines. Never once will you feel thrown out by a perfect shot, and yet, every shot is perfect. This is cinema FOR story. This director trusted the script and the actors implicitly and did not feel the need to do anything fancy, which is, in and of itself, remarkable. This is like a perfectly executed piece of sushi. It doesn’t need anything, no sauce, no seasoning. The filming itself relishes its own simplistically.

I actually picked these first 3 BLs intentionally, and all from Japan. Because I feel like they kind of show the range of Japanese cinema has when it is being subtle. By which I mean less derivative of manga and owing much less slapstick. (See something like My Love Mix Up.)

So now let’s move into the relm of manga filming styles.

4. Minato’s Laundromat AKA Minato Shouji Koin Randorii

As of writing this post this show hasn’t ended yet, so not review, you can read my watch along here. But I am still picking it on the basis of the way they use doorways and transitional spaces to represent where the characters are in their different life stages and emotional development (and how they flipped that at the end).

Also this BL is cribbed directly from the manga, shot for shot in places.

This show is an exploration of how maturity is defined under the contest of an age gap romance, roles in society, and liminality - crossing the threshold form child to adult, from fear of love to acceptance, from immaturity to maturity. The series uses characters in doorway, reaching through them, crossing them, and notions of inside spaces versus outside spaces to represent this. I talk about it a lot in my watch along so I won’t rehash here but it is actually BRILLIANT.

5. Old Fashion Cupcake

This show had me from the moment they broke the egg yolk with the chopsticks in the opening credits. It’s about a younger man with a long cherished crush on his boss (who is ten years older and going through a midlife crisis) who decides to save and seduce said boss with pancakes. It’s wholesome, comforting, sexy, and a very necessary narrative about still having hope, interests, and openness to affection at any age. It’s coming of age/queerness packaged in a subtle critique of expectations around masculinity and love and loneliness... and it’s beautiful. Full review here.

The filming style is very much Japan’s close camera work, super tunneled into spaces, confined and almost, but not quite, claustrophobic. It’s using that to highlight how trapped by inertia Nozue feels, and how trapped by his feelings Togawa feels. Nozue in particular is filmed at home hidden, hiding, in the dark, shadowed, and withdrawn - as tidy as his place is, it (and how he occupies it) is an extension of his loneliness and self isolation.

The cinematographer is using that in contrast to the moments of pull back and central framing when the couple is shown sitting and eating together, usually brightly lit, showing them both opening up to each other and, in Nozue’s case, to sensation.

The very final shot of the series, with the big cheerful window, and Togawa feeding Nozue across the table is a representation of how freed they both are by their acceptance of each other.

Not to mention the way the food is shot in this show, and how food and openness to new sensation are used (and filmed) as an allegory for sexual awakening (lust in terms of indulgence - I will never get over those hamster cheeks) and consequently (ultimately) fulfillment.

More on Japan’s cinematic style here.

6. Cherry Blossoms After Winter

Korea took on early Japanese sweet yaoi but gave it their signature softness and precise production style with a STUNNING color palette (beautiful pastels and sun-saturated over-exposure), manga framing style, some traditional BL character archetypes, that tiny edge of bullying roughness and out-of-control seme, plus FINALLY a palatable take on the stepbrothers trope and it was, in a word, classic. Sophisticated and understated CBAW is not slow, it’s just subtle.

This show is dream-like, as if the whole thing took place under cold water on a warm spring day, dappled sunlight slanting through trees above. Is there plot or peril? Not really. Do we care? Also, not really. Look, I can’t help it, I’m old school and so is this show. I grew up reading sweet yaoi, and this was THAT YAOI just on my screen. There’s no objectivity with me and CBAW. It’s a beautiful pastiche and I loved it for how it made me feel and what it reminded me of. It’s not flawless, but it is a wonderful experience. It’s like a Maxfield Parrish BL. Is the filming style serving story, I’m not sure, but it is serving nostalgia.

7. Color Rush

A unique paranormal twist elevates this classic high school drama into a pitch-perfect allegory for the queer coming out experience and one of the best BLs of all time (I will fight you on this).

It’s no accident that I chose so much Color Rush for my screen caps in the post on yaoi framing styles. It is SUCH a manga (yes I know, it’s Korean). The cuts from one shot to the next could actually just have stepped off the page. If Wes Anderson did BL it’s be something like this.

Of course the use of color is just phenomenal - the range of hoodies, and the different backgrounds. The marriage of simplistic wardrobe with simplistic setting is about precision not the mundane. How Yoo Han is using color to seduce AT ALL TIMES is intentional brutal as we are never to forget the threat this entails (our POV and this movie’s is entirely Yeon Woo). Color is the vehicle and the predator, the danger and the light, it is sexual awakening, it is being gay, it is embracing the monster within - right up to and including the color rush itself as something essentially orgasmic. I can tell you, purely on the basis of the fact that the manwha was in black and white, that this BL must be better that its source because it had color to use in its storytelling. Because it had color to play with. If that’s not the visual voice of cinematography telling me a tall tale, I don’t know what is.

I will never get over this show.

8. Semantic Error

Korea hit it entirely out of the Parks with Semantic Error by doing a university set BL featuring everything we expect from BL just done exactly right. It has Korea's signature quality executed perfectly, and added bonus good story, great pacing, stunning visuals, and fantastic chemistry. You cannot ask for more from a BL, let alone a KBL. And the film team was part of this.

Frankly I would have used screen caps from Semantic Error as much as Color Rush in that post on yaoi framing techniques, but I wrote that post too long ago. This BL owes more to its Japanese roots than any other Korean BL I’ve seen: story, characters, and filming style. That image above with the backlit windows and the empty classroom? Could have popped out of Takumi or Boys Love (would have been more blue toned though), not just classic BL but the beginning of BL.

This is another KBL one where the use of color, particularly contrast, is incredibly strong. In this one cool vs warm tones are tools for characterization. (Usually they are used for mood, but not really in this show.) JaeYoung is usually wearing warm tones or shot in warm lighting and with warm backgrounds (reds, oranges, yellows), except when he enters SangWoo’s space. SangWoo is the opposite, almost always in cool tones and lighting (greens, blues, purples). So we get this fire and ice contrast between the two of them, with the lighting playing up who is “winning” the argument or the intimacy levels by being either warm or cool (or transitioning between them in the course of the shot). When JaeYoung manages to crumble SangWoo’s defensives, it gets warmer, when SangWoo is in charge of the narrative drive, it gets cooler. It’s very clever.

I think Korea is particularly good that this tonal character association and mood enhancement because they use it in high concept Kpop MVs all the time.

9. Cutie Pie

Very high production and a lot of visual references to yaoi gave this show a whiff of Japan but ultimately it stayed firmly in Thailand’s BL camp veering from absurd to appealing to annoying and then back to absurd again. If you can roll with the arranged marriage conceit and very lifestyle D/s relationships, the chemistry is spot on even if the plot is naff and sappy and driven by miscommunication. Watch this one for the pretty, give it a pass on depth.

But if it has so little story for the cinematography to support, why did I pick it?

I like the setting chosen (it’s no accent this is top of my list of best Architecture in BL) but I also love the clean filming style, it’s very very manga for Thailand. Cheewin does this well sometimes (see alos SCOY). Not really the best BL by any stretch of the imagination, but there is something candy bright about this one that really harkens to reading yaoi, and Thailand just doesn't do that very often. This is why I chose it.

Wardrobe, setting, and color choices are all used to really highlight the differences between the characters in terms of age and life stage. Also Zee has really learned how to push his physicality since Why Ru U? so that his body positioning in particular just looks EXACTLY like the seme of some 2000s yaoi.

10. Until We Meet Again

UWMA is a work of narrative genius, and all the actors all turn in stellar performances, it is the best Thai BL from a storytelling perspective. It’s two interwoven narratives, present and past, of lovers who have been reincarnated in order to find each other again and forgive each other (and their families) for that past.

But this is a strange one to chose for this list, since the cinematography is workmanlike at best. There’s repeat cuts and other annoying tics, and general hallmarks of New’s style as a director (which is, quite frankly not particularly stylish). BUT, one of the fun things to watch for in this BL is how New contrasts central framing with peekaboo (AKA dirty) framing with regards to the two lead couples.

Korn & In, the past selves, are secretive, scared, and hiding everything. They are usually filmed with things dirtying the screen: walls, and other objects, so we get this voyeuristic feeling of always peeking around a corner at them, and seeing something we shouldn’t. The few times we see their intimacy fully framed it’s at night, staggered, and/or off center. This illustrates not just the secrecy but the instability of the relationship.

Dean & Pharm, the present selves, the camera treats as a representation, in part, of Dean having learned from his past not to hide who he loves. They are often filmed full figure, and centrally framed, full lighting, bold and direct, standing upright, holding hands, or kissing.

In other words, New is using framing techniques to highlight in a way the couples “outness,” the state of their relationship, is related to the outside world and also how they feel about it and themselves.

And there they are, my 10 picks.

Honorable Mention: Light on Me

The filming in this show was precision engineered. The frame was kept uncluttered, characters appeared exactly in the center, there was little visual noise, and the lighting was full on, even in night shots. To me this reflected the character of TaeKyung - honest and almost stilted in his mannerisms. I feel like the director filmed this series as if the show itself were TaeKyung: careful and clear and specific.

This may come off as one-note or simplistic to a casual viewer but it’s actually quite difficult to film something so precisely and still make it interesting to watch. It forced the viewer to focus almost entirely on the actor’s faces, their nuanced emotion, and their interpersonal relationships to the exclusion of all else. Lucky for us those actors served the lens beautifully.

There is literally NOTHING distracting about this directing style. It’s like the camera was a neutral white room, a well-lit gallery in which the narrative hung suspended for us all to stand and stare at in hushed silence.

I mention not so much because it serves up story, because it doesn’t, but because it is the opposite, it allows the story to serve itself.

All my stuff on the BL filming side of things:

Yaoi filming, staging & framing techniques

Favorite Uses of Metonymy In BL

BL Directors - Overview

Lighting

Diffuse point lighting

Backlighting & Silhouettes

Unidirectional focused lighting

Spotlight on romantic couple moments

That lens flare moment

Framing

Staggered couple framing

Linear cinematography + near perfect framing, in distance shots

Central Aperture Framing

Peekaboo Framing

Acting

Favorite Subtle Character Attributes

Ohm’s Acting

Gun's Acting

We Best Love: Seme/Uke & Sam Lin’s Acting Screen Presence (Charisma + Experience)

Saint’s Physicality

OffGun & The Evolution of Chemistry for a BL Pair

Why Nanon Korapat's Acting is FANTASTIC

Meta Post - All My Stuff on the BL Industry - Master Post talking about financing & production: This is a complication by request of all the posts and discussions this blog has hand on the BL industry as an industry, includes studios, production, country analysis, actor and fan behavior

(source)

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m4ndysk4nkovich · 5 months

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Ok, if I was gonna write a Debbie ending here’s what I think might be interesting -

Franny gets a scholarship to a private school because Debbie notices her various talents…(I’m thinking maybe Art and English?) and goes to different schools to see what opportunities there are. She’s quickly offered a full scholarship.

Debbie turns down Heidi’s offer and is determined to focus on herself. She wants a fresh start but it’s not immediately obvious what this should be. (I’ve mentioned this before) she strikes a deal with Carl and Tipping to work at the Alibi with them. She takes day shifts so she can be there in the evenings for Franny. She finds she’s good at doing the books and ordering product, she gets some help with the math from Mickey. She has lots of ideas and I think it would have been cool if she had helped organise the anniversary party with Mickey. Her and Franny and Carl move in above the Alibi and make it a home.

Ultimately, she’s happy with her life and it’s all going well. One of the last scenes we see of her is when she gets a text from Sandy saying something like “missing you”. She takes a long look at it and it’s very ambiguous as to whether she’s going to reply or not. An open ending - life is good for Debbie.

calli!! i love this please forgive how late i am lol😭

i actually thought about that whole scholarship thing before, and i like what you said about it. i could see it being something art related, we learn that franny’s pretty artistic in s11 and also debbie was really artistic when she was younger (she sort of still is at the end, but i think she’s busy with her kid and work so she’s less artistic now). maybe she gets accepted into the school liam went to? i could kinda see something happening where franny struggles to make friends in her school because their parents won’t let them play with her (11x02) and they think she’s weird + amy and gemma are gone, so debbie tries to find a new, better school because again, franny’s talented, and also because she doesn’t want franny to be as lonely as she was growing up.

debbie 100% declines heidi’s offer. it pisses me off that people believe she wouldn’t because if you watch the scene and know her as a character you know that she isn’t going. i actually just started a fic about debbie in therapy, so i totally agree with her trying to focus on/better herself. because jesus christ, s11 fucks her up. i love the idea of debbie helping carl and officer tipping with the alibi, i could see it happening. i personally think she’d stick with her welding/her business, but bartending could definitely be a side gig for her. she’d enjoy it (plus she is infamously horrible at dealing with change, and since she grew up around the alibi, seeing it gone would fuck her up and she wouldn’t want to let it go). i think that they keep the house post-s11 for numerous reasons, but if they were to move out, the space above the alibi would be a cool place for them to live.

i wrote a fic about something like what you said with sandy and debbie, but it’s currently on hiatus, however i love the idea of some sort of ending with sandy and debbie. i would be satisfied if they weren’t back together, but at least them getting back together wasn’t off the table. honestly, if sandy showed up to the anniversary party (she should have- she literally walked mickey downn the isle!) and we got like one frame of debbie and sandy talking i’d be satisfied. that’s all i’d need and i’d be okay with how they ended her story. well, maybe not ok… but not as angry as i am. i really just wish debbie the best because john wells put my girl through constant hell in all 134 episodes and she deserves some happiness. i loved hearing your thoughts on this, calli! ❤️

#do you mind if i take some inspiration from the franny going to a private school thing for a fic??#but seriously i love this #she was given one of the shittiest fucking endings (along with lip)#shameless #debbie gallagher #franny gallagher #sandy milkovich #heidi shameless

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varpusvaras · 7 months

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I have no idea where I am going with this, and this is not going to be a long post, but the thought just kinda came into my head last night and I need to write it somewhere.

There is a really weird...I don't know if dissonance is the right word, but a really weird something going on with who is given the time to have redeeming traits and who is not, especially in TCW. Like I know that Anakin is the main character of the prequel era, and I know that it is more than natural to focus on him, but the show just lacks in how it cares about anyone else, and who is allowed to have more of them shown and who the audience is allowed to have the time to care about. Like, Anakin is, of course, given the time to have his good and bad traits shown, he is allowed to be redeemed by this framing of the story, and people will write whole essays in his defense.

Then let's take someone like Fox (and this is not about fanon or his portrayal in the fanon, this is solely about what is shown on screen), who is given very little screen time, which is natural. He is one of the many, many very minor characters of the show. He gets a lot more than the majority of the clones, he gets to be named on screen and have some semblance of a personality. And we are shown him doing...nothing really bad? 90 percent of the time the things he does on screen are aggressively neutral in the context. Shooting Fives? That can be argued to be a bad thing, but we don't know if he did it because he was ordered to, because he was manipulated or controlled, or because he's just a trigger happy bastard. We don't know.

But still, the overwhelming majority of the fans absolutely detest him like he personally murdered their entire family, kicked their puppy and ate their goldfish raw in front of them. And this is because we are not given even one scene that shows anything else about him, be it good or bad, and the absence of the former is what makes all of his arguably neutral actions look bad. Because if there is nothing good, then it means that everything is bad. Fox isn't the one who turned fascist, but fans of the show still celebrate his murder by the one who did turn fascist.

Then we can take someone like Dogma, who does...you know, things that are again neutral in context. I'm not saying that he is necessarily right, or that others in the Umbara arc are wrong for their actions, but Dogma is someone who was raised in an extremely isolated environment where they were told that they need to obey and are only meant to be soldiers. But the other clones did differently so why didn't Dogma- because they are individuals. The whole show is about them being individuals. People respond to their surroundings and trauma very differently. Dogma got where the others were a little bit later. He, at least, got given the time to do the good thing in the eyes of the audience- and there he goes. Removed from the narrative, never to be mentioned again. Now back to the future fascist who puts his droid above the lives of his men being shown to be also good for seven seasons!

I don't know. Something about this just kinda rubs me the wrong way. I don't know what it is.

Why is Anakin suddenly likeable too cool for school instead of being a a wet scrunkly with anger issues OH because he can't be shown to have the profile of a serial killer because that would make him look bad ohhhhhhhh-

#just a thought you know #the fascist can have his cake and eat it too but it's too much to ask that for anyone else #for their much much smaller crimes #star wars #this is not an anti-anakin post but it is anakin critical #which is you know #THE WAY HE IS SUPPOSED TO BE VIEWED #anakin skywalker #commander fox #clone trooper dogma #tcw dogma #the clone wars #tcw

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evakuality · 1 year

Text

4 years of Druck s3 - week 3

Things of note in this episode:

1. I know everyone says that there’s no ‘call your girlfriend’ scene in this version, but I would argue that this part operates as this moment for Matteo. Is it the same? Nope - it’s definitely not as charged and heightened as the moment Isak and Even share, but in this context Matteo is convinced they’re both with their respective girlfriends as David tumbles into the room with his arm around Laura and Sara is all over him and suggesting they’re going to sleep together later. To Isak that was cool and sexy: a private moment between the two of them when they were with their girlfriends and which suggested a clandestine bond. To Matteo it’s about the divide between them as they each embrace their ‘girlfriends’ (as he doesn’t yet know that Laura is David’s sister). So no they don’t operate the same, but in both moments our central character experiences something that’s connected to the two girls with each of them.

2. I’m still not over the way this group railroaded Matteo into having this party. Kiki is of course the ringleader but they all jump on board with her. And the thing is, Matteo lost as soon as he started to make excuses as to why he couldn’t hold it. ‘I don’t want to’ is a perfectly fine answer, but hey I get it. I always try to justify why I can’t do something as well. But it still bugs me that they didn’t take his no for an answer. Still, at least he made use of the moment to invite David to come along. Good work there, Matteo!

3. As a hard core Matteo fan, I generally do try to justify his actions but honestly, this right here was an asshole moment. Probably his biggest one. She’s unhappy and vulnerable and she even tells him that if they’re together she wants him to be all-in, so he really could have said ‘I’m not feeling it’ and walked away but he chose to string her along and that was a shitty thing to do and imo does justify her anger later when he dumps her. Still, her posts about this were really awkward. Sara, honey, this is an unhealthy relationship for you and your comment about rather fighting with him than being with someone else should be a real red flag. You’re not happy, child!!!! Cut him loose!

4. I do love how he keeps coming back to this post but is always embarrassed if someone catches him with it. In this case, even himself. He looks away from the phone just after this as if he’s doing something wrong. It’s such a normal ‘I have a crush’ way to behave and I love that it’s this that pushes him to look up the movie David mentioned earlier. This picture is starting to become not enough and so he starts trying to find other ways to get close to David.

5. There’s nothing more to be said here, but I can’t let this episode go without saying how much I love this part of this scene. Everything comes together so well: acting, lighting, music, framing etc etc and this moment where he realises that weed isn’t helping his anxiety is quite powerful. I just really love this scene and I’ll never stop saying how great it is!!

6. Last but not least, the almost kiss of course. I love david here - it’s immediately after he tells Matteo that Laura is his sister and it’s such an expression of ‘can we get this into your stupid head???’ like he’s very fond (of course: David is very much into this guy) but he’s so intent on getting ‘I like YOU’ into Matteo’s head. After this, of course, they start the slow approach to letting each other know that they very definitely do want to kiss each other, but right now David isn’t quite sure. Of course, Matteo is about to tear up at that news, which is something of a big hint :D

#druck #og druck #anniversary rewatch

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nobodysdaydreams · 10 months

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hello! I was wondering if you have a favorite setting or costume from the mbs show :D

Interesting question. I don’t really notice or think about clothes that much, and I don’t know much about fashion, but I do love the color aesthetics they went with, especially Curtain’s blue vs. Nicholas’ green (and how Sticky and Reynie have the same colors, as shown by the gifs below!!!).

I love a lot of the other character's outfits and colors too: Constance’s pink, all of Rhonda’s outfits are amazing of course, and they did a great job with Number Two’s yellow. It makes me wish we could have seen what they were planning with the sister (I’ve adopted the popular head canon that she wears purple to complete the sibling color scheme 💚💙💜).

However, there were two really cool things I noticed when I was going through the gifs for this post. The first is shown below, where in season 2, Kate starts dressing more like Milligan (darker colors, browns, farming clothes) in the same frame that Constance is wearing a green dress (Nicholas' colors!!! It's official, he's her dad, adoption or not, not that there was ever any doubt).

But there was something else I noticed! SQ wears a blue sweater (no surprise, that's probably what Curtain would buy for him), and Constance wears a blue raincoat in season 1. At first I was like "Oh yay, Constance and Curtain parallels", but then I realized. SQ and Constance both almost always wear pink/peach underneath or along with their blue (or in the gif above of Constance, green) clothing items. They are cousins. 💕

I also love how light SQ’s baby blue and peach colors are in comparison to Constance’s darker blues and magentas (and Curtain’s darker blue suits).

As for my favorite setting, you already know I love Curtain’s mad hatter style blueberry tea party for the sheer insanity of it. Like, where are they? It looks like the middle of a field or golf course. Curtain even has a golf cart. Why not just do it inside or next to a building like a normal person? Why is table so long when there are only three people? Why did Curtain just bring a little tea and fruit? It’s sort of implied that Nicholas and Number Two were brought food before Curtain arrived, so why didn’t he eat with them? Why is Curtain sitting with himself facing directly into the sun like it’s his own personal spotlight? He clearly planned this very carefully and was so excited for it he did a little dance beforehand. But what was he excited for exactly? A silly blueberry metaphor, some gaslighting, and an ominous “oh. I can’t wait to show you Nicholas” before prancing off to do more evil schemes? That’s it?

And the look Curtain gives while pouring the tea is incredible. Pure insanity. Pure delusion. Told my neurodivergent brain everything I needed to know about what was going on in that man’s head in that moment. He was operating at maximum silliness that day. And everything about the set up that I mentioned before perfectly tells you what vibe Curtain is gonna be giving this season. Brilliant set design. Looks exactly like the work of an egotistical lunatic. 10/10.

#I’m probably reading way too much into this clothing colors thing and I don’t know if I properly answered the ask #But I hope you like this Milk #Bods Answers #sq curtain #constance contraire #long post (sorry)

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itsdappleagain · 1 year

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HELLO AND WHAT IS UP GUYS TODAY WE'RE DOING ANOTHER CS WEEKLY POST A DAY LATE

okay enough youtuber intro. gross

ITS TIME FOR THE FISHY DOUBLOON CAPER!! Not my favorite, admittedly, but some great moments in there for sure (see: carmen gets put in a fairly desperate situation for the first time in the series as carmen. nice.)

OKAY HERE WE GO notes under the cut because they're LONG

how cool would the intro have been if carmen's passport had gained a new stamp every episode for the place she went!!!

oh i totally forgot the acme b plot in this episode thats pretty good

s1 chase: not one single red thread to pull s2 chase, buying french michaels out of red string: is that a challenge

it was stuffed in her black sack

i love the mints. they had to set them up so bad so julia could follow them

fuck you chase. maybe if you ate less mints you could be nicer

IN LOVE WITH HOW JULIA GETS FED UP. YES GIRL. FUCK HIM AND HIS FUEL HE DESERVES IT

DAMN ZARI HIT HIM FROM REAL FAR AWAY THAT WEAPON IS NEVER THAT LONG RANGE AGAIN

julia he doesnt deserve you

they sneak "where in the world" into every line they can

have i mentioned the way cs draws water because its all so prettyyy

OH, WET pls

no, player we have to wait two more seasons for argentina ok

"not without any real clues" girl idk where you think clues come from but your birthplace could be a fantastic place to start looking

the equator joke was funny

bananafish? as in the anime? (doesn't know what im talking about at all)

quito!! fun fact: the first highest capital is Bolivia's, La Paz!

NOSE IS BLEEDING? BLOOD? In a KIDS SHOW?

omg they foreshadowed the fucking tuna it nearly smacked carmen..

"surface crew is on high alert!" (pan to zack, barfing)

i love that zack's weakness is the ocean. he grew up in boston. literally being in the home of the fish makes him barf

i love how ivy is not helping at all she's so funny

zack barfs way too many times in this show sorry. they crossed the line when someone shoved her fingers in his barf and squelched em around. no. no thanks. stop making him barf

i have to think this episode was one of the earlier ones abby trott recorded for because she is so violently boston at every turn its hilarious

where the fuck is carmen's air tank. that thing on her back is her water jetpack. where is she breathing from. her tubing is connected to something that is. not big enough to supply her with oxygen for that long

woww the framing of that shot where carmen swims towards the ship...she sounds like she supposed to be very excited about it which i love for her

every single time im like surely she cant fit through that hole and then she does. the reason this is possible is because despite having hips CARMEN HAS NO ASS

i also like the little lookaround she does like idk

GOD the ship is so pretty i love how everyone immediately destroys everything inside of it

carmen "im swimming through the past" sandiego, destroying everything in the fucking ship that she touches

why the fuck is there just a crowbar down there

SHES JUST TOSSING SHIT OUT WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL HISTORY IS TREASURE CARMEN YOU FUCKIN HYPOCRITE

love that player picks up the HGRHGDHSRHRGFGRGRGRGRGRGGWGEGEGERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR of el topo before carmen does

the fact that carmen is not terrified upon hearing, deep underwater, a roaring, grumbling noise coming from nowhere is a testament to how stup

WHEN

SHE JUST GOES FLYING ITS SO FUNNY TO ME AJFGS

see el topo has o2 tanks what the fuck is up with carmen breathing underwater. she has to always be streamlined ig

no way can they fucking hear each other no way nuh uh

HE JUST RAMS INTO HER THATS SO FUNNY

i like how player waits until a very nice time to ask carmen what the fuck just burst out of the floor. little break in the action <3

hi. the way carmen says el topo. thank you (applause)

love how player doesnt warn zack and ivy. theyll be fine he said

obsessed with how le chevre's legs bend like the dancing stick bug meme

OH MY GOD THE PURE GAY ENERGY BLAST OF LE CHEVRE LANDING KILLED THEM

sorry side note ivy is so cute

le chevre is. yeah

I LOVE HOW CARMEN JUST S N A T C H E S HIS ANKLE YOU CAN SEE HER THOUGHT PROCESS ZERO IN ON HIS FOOT

the way carmen moves in the water is sooo satisying shes like a wikki stix she just bends

also love how carmen just bounces off of el topo

i also also love how her flippers just gently wave in the breeze

they just fling each other its so fucking funny. she steps on him. he flings her. she full body crashes into him

like how they just keep an arm around each other for a bit. chilling. buddies

do you think it hurts el topo how much venom is in carmen's voice when she sees him now?

anyways

the fish. wow that really did just happen

she just kicks his ass what did he do to her

ALSO this is one of very few fights where carmen is very actively in hand-to-hand!! she usually tries to avoid it i think...more evasive maneuvers/defense but shes BARELLING into el topo shes just doing everything she fucking can to fling him far distances

bubble transitions <3 its like bubble guppies fr

eternally beyond grateful that they dropped ivys weird. woke feminist how do you do fellow women thing ok sorry the fisherwoman thing was. out of place. le chevre is right there and youre worried about fisherwoman

le chevre, the frenchest fucker alive: you dont sound like youre from around here

the absolute terror on ivy's face is sending me. someone else (jackie?? was that you??) pointed out that she reacts like this because they met le chevre in boston harbor but he happens to not recognize them.....super cool i love that s1 and 2 were written together

not a single braincell in le chevres head

she was really about to try to wrestle and do the heimlech maneuver on an 97 pound fish girl no

she sounds so black sheep when she says "come on seriously" 🥺

NO im calling bullshit no way was carmen able to snatch that pipe in the two seconds el topo bodychecked her carmens got fucking superpowers she does not have pickpocketing abilities she has superpowers

we love the attempted murder <3 thats. so dangerous to do but carmen just is like teehee oxygen is gone!!! hope u dont drown or panic or get decompression illness teehee

the most gigantic tracker in the history of mankind

i like how carmen holds that gun whjhehgshsa if she werent underwater she'd be blowing the smoke off it

they didnt even try to come up with a convincing alias they just went with another california city wheeze

wait how is player connected to that walkie talkie. im pretty sure correct me if im wrong but i think that walkie talkies in ecuador dont connect to ones in ontario

theyre such siblings

gay saves the day once more

AGAIN WITH SHOVING THEM IN THE WATER or wait is this the first time?? TREND SETTING?? i feel like they did it once before this but ig not???

lets motor is the same thing as lets jet

HOLY SHIT THEY WERE SO FAR FROM SHORE

THE BUBBLE TRANSITIONS THIS EP SO TRUE

yes carmen speaking other languages i am of the opinion that she should have spoken so many all the time

she cute

i love how loud carmen is talking "SO ITS AN ECUADORIAN DOUBLOON" also hi dr marquez

I AM LITERALLY SUCH A CHILD THIS SHOULD NOT BE FUNNY TO ME "dick?" "dick." (innocent deer-like blinking) gay-bisexual solidarity

marquez: yeah im leading an excavation tea- carmen: i robbed that fucking boat

the deer in headlights look they give is so funny not one braincell avaliable

the way her accusing them drives them all into terrified scrambling

i also like how marquez just accepts the fact that they robbed the boat because they say theyre coin hobbyists (i mean. she doesnt. she follows them. but still)

i love dr marquez shes so cool. i like her voice also

you know carmen's about to do some craaazy shit when an archaeologist starts talking about history and they zoom in on her eyes going all different directions

zack and ivy being so insensitive is so fucking funny. kids do you know who your boss is

the sibling-like manner in which ivy shoves zack in the face to get out of the boat faster than he does is the funniest thing in the world

GASP! vile has a darker, sexier, even more obnoxious tracker!

lots a shit beeping in this establishment today

chase is such a dumbshit i love him as soon as zari reaches into her jacket he disintegrates. and then he saves it. such grace and talent

chase is just constantly ???????????????????????????

CHIEF! hi chief

what were the handcuffs even for

chase gets kidnapped and hes just like can i go back to work please

VILE DRAMATIC MUSIC DRAMATIC CLOSEUP

damn le chevre just pulled that slick wet thing out hot damn it was still dripping....what? the tracker. the tracker was wet. what did you think i was talking about?

"if carmen sandiego is after this doubloon" YOU GUYS WERE AFTER THE DOUBLOON WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT

no. maelstrom never call yourself papa again

el topo just hanging over his shoulder <3

el topo is so cute

I CAN CHASE AWAY THE GOPHERS he so sweet

tfw your boyfriend is kissing ur boss's ass

mael just sitting there listening to them like 👁️👁️

mael is not even evil hes just stupid and petty hes so funny

WOO HOO ALTITTY SICKNESS LETS GOOO KNOCK THAT BITCH OUT

leonardo di caprio stars in the mole of wall street

who in vile was contaminating cheese OH MY GOD WONDER RAT???

i like how chief is just flat out like. yeahh we dont actually. know if they exist or not but we think so we really do

the scrambled brains joke was so funny chief has actually a lot of personality. i would like her if she were real yknow

the way chief snaps back to being formal when chase clears his throat its ok girl hes not important or competent

HAHA there are a lot of tiny callbacks to where in the world sprinkled throughout here that i never really noticed. gee carmen being the leader of vile sure is far fetched. that would never happen

this video is sponsored by crimeNET technology

acme's introduction is actually pretty cool. a third party that could either help or hurt carmen but seem to want her captured either way

love that background dad who shoves a fish into his kid's face

zack's joints cracked more than jo's wtf

the way she goes "fish maharh-" and then passes out gets me every time its so comedic. she doesnt like. step out of the car and in the background, as zack and ivy are chatting, slowly look ill and then pass out, crashing to the floor. zack and ivy run over, terrified. NO she walks out and goes FISH MAHAHRaha.... and then puts her hand on her forehead and faints like a victorian woman and then moans on the floor for thirty seconds

she totally got a concussion from that right

THE PROGRESSION OF CHASE'S VOICEMAIL THIS SEASON FROM THE BIT ABOUT THE LOVESEAT AND ANOTHER THING LATER IS SUCH A GOOD LITTLE DETAIL

hi the way her voice reverberates just slightly in the empty garage. good sound design

omg carmen CAN sweat look jackie

ALSO look at my comic about this because just do

the whiplash of seeing coach brunt and then immediately hearing her speak in a gentle ecuadorian accent

the way raf enunciates words should be studied

chief forcibly transferring him is so funny. no. you have no free will you will be acme right now

mmm she calls out for them immediately <333 they are family. also thee panic at waking up somewhere unfamiliar and alone....what if she thought vile had her again. does she call for them when she wakes up from nightmares. i need to know

HI THIS IS MY FAVORITE FACE CARMEN EVER MAKES

carmens bag ROCKET LAUNCHED those tools across the room DAMN

see i feel like that throwing star had to be 3d it looked 3d?? also why does carmen have throwing stars. also dr marquez is literally the most trusting person on the planet

zack: dont be embarrassed! its ok :) carmen: literally couldnt be more emotionless. literally could not care less about the attention zack is trying to give her. did you find the fucking coin

carmen waiting until they had already wheeled it through the doors to mention it was being wheeled away for comedic effect is such a mood

zack reacting like ivy even though he was literally watching with carmen as the fish got wheeled away

carmen: le chevre. ivy, voice blasting through the halls: AGAIN??

yeah he would id you but he literally tried to skewer these two on a fishhook three hours ago

her face when she says bid to win is so cute

who gave zack the paddle.

150,000 DOLLARS!

ivys look of terror when he says that is so funny

AND CARMEN FACEPALMING

this poor fish market got scammed out of a whole 200 buck fish i hope carmen gave them some money

whats with the flaps in the floor

she WHIPS that poor eel. flytrap could never

LEAVE HIM ALONE

we love carmen pulling out the gun knowing full well the speech wont work

that poor fucking tunafish man

le chevre gets cornobbled

something something el topo on his way to slap some goat cheek something

love how top and bottom dont question why carmen has suddenly given up

i also love el topo taking no credit for slapping him with a fish hes luck uhhh yeah bro its the altitude

the lil whoosh as carmen catches the coin

JULIAS GASP AT THE MINTS

shes like ohhh my god he went into the electrical closet. ohhh fuck

wait a minute if the tube fell out first...how is there still a trail leading from that point. they didnt fall out of the tube so did he just have loose mints in his pocket. or

chief: we are so secretive julia argent: mints

THE ALARM ON ZARI AND JAWLINE'S FACES WHEN JULIA POPS IN IS SO FUNNY THE DISMAY

julia is so starved for compliments that she immediately smiles when the random blue projection who kidnapped chase in a dark closet tells her she's sharp

marquez: someday the world will know your name carmen sandiego marquez, a year later, watching tv: UM I DIDNT MEAN BY STEALING THE CROWN JEWELS HELLO

carmen's 👁️👄👁️ when marquez mentions that shes argentinian is so funny one time as a kid i was talking in my sleep and my mom mentioned the dream that i had been having when i woke up and it scared the shit out of me it was that exact expression

damn... damn these spot the difference games are getting hard

carmen e4: we went our separate ways carmen e9: HOOLY SHIT SHES TRYING TO FUCKING KILL ME

I THOUGHT PLAYER SAID "I HAVE FREAKING NEWS RED"

AW YEAH TRANSITION SENTENCE

GOD SAY GOODBYE OR SOMETHING SHE JUST PUTS THE HOOD UP AND LEAVES

CARMEN "BAD AT SOCIAL INTERACTION" SANDIEGO

like the boat looks 3d too methinks

next episode: team red is permanently blinded as zack drives directly into the sun

okay!! pretty solid episode. one of the classics. not my favorite though it feels a bit like they needed a caper to go with the acme plot and they just threw darts at a map

#carmen sandiego #csweekly #jackie this one goes out to you and all of the breakdowns i made u have in voice chat because i kept having the same ideas as you. im sorry

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