#like her plots are good but the intros always make me cringe

[lunarw0rks]

hi hiii, I hope ur having a good day<3 I'm rewatching 365 days rn and I was wondering if you could do 141 + graves and Alejandro watching it with us? nsfw would be amazing but it's completely up to you, this is really random im sorry 😭 i just thought of it out of nowhere, and no rush ofc<3

Have a nice day/night/afternoon<3

A/N: If you can't tell I hate this movie. I fell asleep not even halfway through when I watched it. BUT IT'S AN ENTERTAINING REQUEST, SO ENJOY<3

Summary: How they would react to watching 365 Days with you.

Warning(s): suggestive content/language (18+), established relationship, GN!Reader, no use of y/n

Word Count: 1.5k

꒦꒷ MAIN MASTERLIST ꒷꒦ 141 MASTERLIST // have a request? ⋆ ⚘ 🕊 ˚✧ ₊˚ʚ ao3 ver.

365 Days | 141 Headcanons (+ Ale/Graves)

Price

As much as he loved movie nights with you, sometimes he had to join late. Though you insisted that you would wait on him to start it, that you wanted to start from the beginning—he put his foot down. He can come back, halfway through the movie, guess what’s going on, and still enjoy it with you, right? At least, that was his logic.

Tonight was playing out like usual; dinner finished, and he had some paperwork that needed tending to first. So, you’re sat on the sofa, already several minutes through this… questionable movie. Why you had chosen it, you weren’t sure, but it was something to keep you entertained.

He strolled into the living room, a heavy groan when he was finally able to relax. ❝What are you watching, Sweetheart?❞ John’s arm found its way to the back of the couch, a not-so-subtle way to wrap his arm around you. ❝Oh, they’re on a boat. Is this some sort of adventure—❞

❝Oh.❞

As good as he was at keeping his composure, the sudden cut to the explicit boat scene, stunned him to near silence. It was quite humorous, the mortified look on his face as you sat there watching it nonchalantly. But the scene continued, cut-to-cut, at least two minutes of the smutty montage.

❝Are you trying to tell me something?❞ He asks with a stern look, dripping with playfulness, though he found the movie downright unrealistic and cringe-worthy; not at all how he views romance or sex. He’d kidnapped her, tried to make her infatuated, seduced her… he found it downright strange. It definitely didn’t get him in the mood, he spent most of it with a look of contempt on his face—unless he was staring at you.

Simon

He would always let you pick the movies, no matter what. There was no arguing, no bickering over action v. romance, he truly didn’t mind. Movie night often started with Simon silently handing you the remote, eyes glaring until you give up on being polite and just pick the damn film.

You clicked on the Netflix icon, scrolling through the array of films you two hadn’t watched yet. Finally, you hovered over an… interesting choice. One you had seen talked about across social media since its release. Surely, it’ll at least be amusing, right? Even if it's awful?

❝Looks stupid.❞ The intro to the film began to play, his broodiness ever-persistent. But you could take what he dished out because no matter how tough he acted, he cherished evenings like these—no matter what you picked to watch. Throughout the film, he maintained that same stillness he always did; legs spread with one hand in his lap, the other draped over the back of the couch, even during the most heated of scenes.

There were plenty of those, for sure. ❝Can’t believe I’m watchin’ this shit…❞ He grumbled, but was he going to shut it off? Nope. The longer it played, your flushed expression would amuse him—whether it was because you were embarrassed by all the explicit scenes, or because the movie was simply p^rn with little plot. Either way, he spent more time with his eyes on you than the screen. If he did feel himself start getting heated, he’s not going to outright ask, either. He’d rather suffer for an hour and a half, and tease you about the film choice, something might happen ;)

Soap

It wasn’t that you were hiding the fact that you picked this movie, but you didn’t exactly want it to be one you watched together. Your fingers were practically crossed under the blanket, hoping he would at least walk in during one of the semi-normal scenes.

His voice startled you because he had come in so suddenly, and of course during one of the many explicit scenes the movie was littered with. ❝Steamin’ Jesus, bonnie, if you wanted to watch p^rn I could’ve sent you some.❞ His arms crossed over his chest as he watched the screen, but his look was one of awe. Why the hell were you watching this? But most of all, why was he standing here doing the same? You had no doubts about what he said, either. He probably would if you were desperate enough, and it wasn’t exactly a secret how much of a dirty mind he had.

His weight settled on the couch next to you, in the typical cuddling position he put you in during movie night; forcing your head into his lap or against his heart. To this day you’re convinced he only does this so you’ll play with his hair if you were being honest. ❝Didn’t know you liked movies like this…❞ Soap was only trying to be casual, to act nonchalant about what was on screen. But, his mind did wander—doing what he always did when he watched things like that; imagining you in it.

(Let’s just say… he had to do that thing where guys readjust themselves, shifting their hips against the cushion…)

Gaz

Strangely enough, he probably saw the memes about it and decided to give it a try on movie night. So, he got all the favorite snacks, drinks, and most of all you—huddled next to him under layers of blankets. He was expecting something like Fifty Shades—how the both of you spent the entire time cracking jokes and giggling at the outlandish nature of it—or at least, he did. This movie made Fifty Shades look like nothing.

He flashed a side-eye, one to see your expression during such a movie. Explicit scenes; whatever. But this? It was… unsavory for him.

If you wanted to finish it, so be it, but that didn’t mean he wanted to be there. Gaz just found sex scenes like this (overly aggressive/no plot-driving ones) obnoxious. “You sure you want to finish this, babe? I’d rather watch Gray Shades, or whatever the hell it was called, again.” He sounded uncomfortable as if he was watching the scene with his parents looking over his shoulder.

But then again, some of the acting was like a car wreck—so horrific you couldn’t tear your eyes from it. ❝I could beat his ass.❞ Gaz eventually resorted to fierce disdain for the male protagonist about halfway through the film, sizing him up through the screen. Partially to make you laugh, partially because he disliked the character so much, and the film itself. It was humorous for you to watch, to say the least.

Alejandro

Alejandro wouldn’t have chosen the movie. He prefers older movies, nostalgic films, and classic romance movies with plots, not… that. But you wanted to watch it, so he gave it a shot. All else fails, he’ll fall asleep beside you until it’s over, and then get to pick something better once the credits roll. 

That’s exactly what happened; him snoring beside you from sheer boredom. Unbeknownst to him, he’d fallen asleep before any of the action happened, so he was in for a literally rude awakening. An awakening you were itching for, to say the least. His head perked up, eyes adjusting to the light from the screen. As usual, he had to wake up from his power nap at the absolute worst moment.

❝They’ve been going this whole time, Mi Amor?❞ Alejandro groans, brows in their natural state—furrowed and focused.

Though it's unfortunate that he wasn’t wrong. The scenes were one after the other, and they barely held weight with the plot. You expected him to be more grumbly about it, hell, even judgmental towards the male character’s form or something. But he merely snickered, eyes turning to yours, ❝I’m nicer to you than that, que no?❞ He says while the female protagonist is being intimidated by her captor, unrealistically aroused while it’s happening. He was, managing to both satisfy you and keep you on your toes simultaneously.

Graves

Graves doesn’t watch movies with you often, both because of his workload, and because he doesn’t sit still long enough to do so. He spends most of his time standing behind the sofa, making snide comments towards something that’s inaccurate in the film, or what a character should’ve done. Tonight, he hadn’t been seen at all, despite knowing you were watching something.

You expected it when you read the description of the movie, it’s sexual nature. You knew he would stroll into the living room at the absolute worst moment. That’s exactly what happened, and it made your eyes roll the second you heard the small chuckle from behind your head. ❝Christ, Sweetheart, you could’ve just asked.❞ Indeed, he had his arms folded across his chest, lips formed into a slight smirk when you turned your head. His smugness was like a parasite—latched and hard to get rid of.

Graves was surprisingly quiet in the moments following, watching the movie in a nonchalant stance. By the shake of his head, you could tell he was going to begin his routine of constant commentary, constant knit-picking. ❝She supposed to be a captive, or somethin’? Should’ve gone that way instead. Now look at her.❞ A smug sneer returned when he sensed your embarrassment as he commented on the explicit scene playing out. It was entertaining for him, to say the least—and it wouldn't be the last you’d hear of it, surely.

#mw2 #mw2 fanfic #call of duty #task force 141 #task force 141 x reader #simon riley #ghost mw2 #alejandro vargas #captain john price #john price #kyle gaz garrick #kyle garrick #soap mctavish #philip graves #phillip graves

[poisonouswritings]

OC Introduction: Kit

Hey everyone! Ignore the fact this came out way later in the day than I intended

Credit to @bananacockatiel [Reg] for the character profile/intro cards, the chibis, and the special pictures, as well as just generally being supportive of my spitballing and willing to listen to me ramble all the time lol.

Let's start with these (the full-body Kit was done by me with many many references. The outfit is partially inspired by the Assassin's Faith suit and general Pigeon aesthetics from LN and some pics I found on Pinterest. The profile picture and little chibi are courtesy of Reg, as are the actual cards)

To briefly go over Kit's backstory (CW: abuse/assault mentions, death)

She's a half-demon born on Halloween in the middle of the Virginia forest, aka where a lot of (American) cryptids are said to live. Why? Because it was spooky and silly and I refuse to let cringe culture make me feel bad for wanting to be spooky and silly

She was born into a cult-ish house with her over-aggressive and alcoholic father (Matthew), negligent and cowardly mother (Roseanne), and golden child older sister (Eve). Matthew is a (fallen/disgraced) angel, Rose is a human, Eve is a half-angel, and Kit (originally named Lilith) is a half-demon (long story short, she ends up finding out during the main story that Rose slept with a demon). Being the only demon, Lilith is frequently punished and mistreated by Matthew and Eve. She meets a white cat which turns out to be a demonic Familiar. Lilith calls her Snow. No one except Matthew is allowed to leave the forest, so Lilith is only able to learn about the outside world through Snow and through a shitty old bunny ear TV.

Shortly after turning 11, Lilith decided to run away with Snow. She tried to convince Eve to escape with them, but Eve refused. Worried that Lilith would either die somewhere in the woods or get caught by Matthew and severely punished, Eve attempted to use her magic to stop them leaving. This turned into an emotionally-charged magic fight ending with Lilith accidentally triggering her magic and throwing Eve. Unfortunately Eve went head-first and ended up dying. Lilith's screaming and freaking out finally wakes up Matthew (drunk) and Roseanne. Matthew goes balistic and in a fit of rage/grief, loses control of his powers and sets the house on fire. Snow is able to pull Lilith outside while Matthew and Rose both perish. Lilith is obviously severely traumatized and blames herself, having a complete mental shutdown. Snow decides the only thing she can do is wipe Lilith's memories of the accident, and additionally removes any memory of magic so Lilith isn't left questioning whether or not she's a monster. Snow also uses her own magic to suppress Lilith's, having to surrender her human/demon form and being stuck as a cat for the rest of her life. Now all Lilith remembers is being abused by a hyper-religious family, having a pet cat, and a house fire. She decides to abandon her name, and she and Snow leave the forest for good.

The two travel and live on the streets for two years before ultimately ending up in San Diego on the streets where they befriend a teenager (Ken). Ken's parents (Reyes and Morgan) ultimately end up taking them in. They notice how protective Snow is towards Lilith (who doesn't have a name by this point) and start calling her Kitty, which eventually gets shortened to Kit.

Reyes (Mexican) teaches Kit about relationships and emotions and family. Morgan (ex-ballet performer and also autistic) teaches Kit how to dance and fight, but also things like how to safely stim, that it's okay to ask for help, how to pick on emotional choreography, etc. Ken (a teenager) teaches Kit about pop culture and how to use technology. He's the one who gets Kit into Last Legacy. It ends up becoming a special interest of hers and he's always happy to listen to her rambling. Music ends up playing a massive part of Kit's life and how she relates to emotions so it is kinda plot-relevant and I'm totally allowed to mention it!! Also she has a 'field journal' that she uses to keep track of different emotions, expressions, idioms, social cues, etc that are common and give her trouble. So you can constantly find her reading and making notes and sketching. Have you guys heard about how autistic children were often thought to be Changelings during the Middle Ages? Well no one in Astraea knows about autism so when they find her notebook, they start questioning if she's actually a Changeling. Just a silly little thing I thought was funny.

Shortly after turning 21, Kit is assaulted. Snow (still stuck in cat form) tries to protect her but ends up being killed. Kit is severely traumatized. She eventually accepts the fact it wasn't her fault but still struggles with it all five years later (aka when the main story starts). The longer she's in Astraea, the more Snow's spells begin wearing off, and the more Kit's memories/powers begin to re-emerge.

While I do write stuff for all three routes, I mainly do Kit/Sage. She chooses him to be her teacher because A) she already knows physical fighting from Morgan teaching her and B) he is a fluffy white cat and reminds her of Snow and she really needs the comfort.

Relationship chart of what Kit's relationship is or would be with each character (again, credit to Reg for the adorable chibi)

Kit's Astrolabe, which I posted as part of LegacyTober. Like I mentioned in that post, I was initially under the impression that the Astrolabe couldn't be an actual weapon because it's a healing item and therefore violence would be antithetical. My friend told me there was actually apparently a sword version for the Astrolabe that was apparently cut from the final game?? I'm super sad about that. Anyways, since Kit learned how to fight through Morgan, she's very focused on timing and beats and ends up being a very smooth/agile fighter. She often hums/sings to herself as a stim but also to help her maintain her tempo during battle. Also, since music has always been a big part of her life and a way for her to express her emotions, it just kinda seemed fitting. So the Astrolabe is a microphone. Something about the magic transforms her phone into that gem at the bottom, which allows the Astrolabe to use the specific song she's singing to better access her emotions. It's also meant to resemble a moon (the gems along the ridge mimic the phases of the moon and the spine-fabric behind the actual mike is meant to be a pop filter but also obviously a crescent) because Kit loves the night and also I liked the contrast with Sage and Zenith.

Bonus: Kit's initial cosplay/StarSworn uniform! Partially inspired by the Heaven Messenger suit and other Lilith clothing from LN, and partially from Pinterest.

And the full versions of Reg's amazing drawings (+ an amazing piece she did for my birthday with our OC's and I love them so so so much)

Anyways, I think that's about it! I'd love to answer any questions/comments you guys have (as long as you're nice about it! If you think she/her backstory/whatever is dumb then just. Don't. Tell me that.) because I've been working on Kit ever since I got into LL and she is a big chunk of why I'm still into the game. Also the more I talk about her the more I'm able to think of things and come up with new stuff.

#fictif last legacy #last legacy #last legacy oc #oc intro #oc stuff: kit #ref

[thursdayplaid]

Ep 1 Love Between Fairy and Devil

The time has come!  That’s such a big gif!  I have a big mood, let’s do it!

I was going to do a live watch to amuse the people who have been waiting for me to finally get on the train to beautiful art and I’m finally on it!  (@dongfangqingcang​)

* I love the sliding doors, and other types of archetecture to show the passage of time.

* I also love intro art.

* The biggest complaint I’ve seen with xianxia lately is that it doesn’t make sense - but then I love Guardian so that isn’t that much of an issue with me - but this magic world makes a lot of sense.  Everything is simple with just enough hand waving, the destiny books make sense, I like their little leaf boxes, whoever came up with using those is a genius.

* The actual set dressing is nice too, you can’t have the Heavens look cheap or silly if it’s all super simple!

* I love the fairy in charge of the destiny books and I can see how being in charge of something like that can turn you into a depressed wine aunt

* The story is also complex in the way that it’s very clearly not all what it depicts itself to be.

* Orchid is so charming in her relentless optimism despite hardship, she’s such a sweetpea

* While she clearly has a lot of learning and growing to go, she still has enough emotional maturity to be enjoyable

* I have watched too much Guardian, I trust the Emperor and his story 0%

* I love the CGI too, CGI always runs the risk of looking awful in ten years, but it feels like there’s enough real solid stuff, and that it’s painterly so that it won’t be unbearable.

* I am not kidding when I say I want a series that is all just Heavenly Clerks and Archivists, give me some support staff doing heavenly deeds.  An army marches on it’s stomach, but civilization survives on admins and manual workers.

* It’s clear that Orchid has a big crush, but the guy did literally save her life (as far as she and I know) so it feels like it’s pretty understandable

* Good for her for standing up for herself even though her bullies seem to interpret her strength as cringe

* I love how most of the buildings we see have a sort of boat feel and I love that, it feels very unique

* The fact she has a chronic illness and that there is a stated division between born immortals and cultivated immortals in a subtle way is refreshing, most dramas talk around it

* She’s such a brave girl returning the good that was done to her

* I want to state again that I 0% trust the emperor or what he says

* Look at the prince, what a good boy

* I watch enough dramas, and have seen enough painted opening credits that I can guess one of the plot twists, but I think more than it’s value being a secret, it’s in the little Orchid learning herself

* Insert magic kiss montage

* I love it, the vibe, the frost, the island, the sneeze to spooky forest dreamworld

*

* I do like that she’s still trying to do what’s right even when she’s scared

#love between fairy and devil #Little Orchid? #More like Sweet Pea

[duck-era-lexi]

morgan matson’s setup always sounds like what 12 year old girls think high school is lik

#books #morgan matson #the unexpected everything #like her plots are good but the intros always make me cringe

[feelingofcontent]

DNP Rewatch: Our WORST Dating Experiences

Date video was published: 12/05/2020 (X)

DNP Main Channel Rewatch: 427

The start of the “Phil and Phriends” Stereo shows and SO MANY videos in December 2020. He announced these on December 1. The actual live show was on December 2, so a few days before he got this edited and posted.

 Phil’s last collab with Louise on his channel (including Dan) was in 2016, and the only previous video he had with just her was back in 2013.

0:01 - he started doing this little “preview” thing in his December videos

0:22 - Christmas Phil! also, I forgot he did a tiny filmed intro for this one to introduce the Stereo shows. this black shirt and the long quiff...yes

0:39 - he must have recorded this after the live show (or he’s just predicting a “large lol”)

0:45 - always weird to see the mirrored image of him

1:24 - even though it’s mostly Louise saying it and not Phil, an age mention/conversation is strange on Phil’s channel. he doesn’t really talk about how old he is ever

1:49 - I enjoy that Phil put in some of his usual editing touches

2:16 - DNP did not have room for a lot of Christmas decorating with just living in the filming flat at this point. those lights on the plant and the tiny tree (🥺) were about it

2:29 - I enjoy Louise roasting him a bit for that 😂

2:38 - if you didn’t know what Phil was talking about, this would be quite a transition, lol. at least he included a clip of it for some context

2:56 - I feel like Louise was not prepared for Phil’s topics

3:06 - jesus christ...I don’t want to know where Phil comes up with these things

3:26 - Phil looks slightly horrified by that revelation

3:50 - this whole conversation...why

4:25 - I don’t think anyone would have predicted this topic of conversation

5:28 - awww, nice Louise

6:13 - yes, good safety points

6:59 - “maybe two years ago, I would go for the ‘your mum’ joke...” not just two years ago; literally always 😂 also I don’t think Phil quite processed the situation that was being described in that message

7:37 - “I’m a gay” yes Phil; every time he’s so open and casual about it, it makes me so happy for him

7:54 - and he can keep all the stories distinctly pre-university...

8:06 - there was some missed communication ahead of this that Phil was going for “awkward teenage dating”

8:21 - awww, poor Louise that is awkward; and nice Phil!

8:55 - I would not know how to react to that, yikes?

9:54 - oh, poor young Phil

10:18 - Phil’s little smile and glance down at Louise’s engagement 🥺

10:37 - “you don’t know in your 20s and 30s either” Phil cannot relate

10:43 - Phil thumb biting is not a usual video thing. hard maybe to keep track of the audio, what probably felt like a zoom hangout with Louise, and that it’s actually being recorded; a different feeling for him than a usual YouTube video

11:37 - this story gets creepier the more it goes on

12:14 - Louise getting that self-promo in

12:45 - what a plot twist. Phil’s reaction is great. also...WHAT. what would you even say

13:21 - just yikes

13:59 - oh my god, Louise 😂

14:47 - this story had many plot twists too

15:25 - Louise’s face at “do you want to see my blastoise” 😳

15:37 - now she got it, lol

16:02 - Louise not knowing what Pokémon Go was called either. even though she played it!

16:55 - ooo, listening to this live and the hesitation before the Dan mention...it definitely felt like Louise wasn’t sure if that was okay or not

17:02 - she’s thinking of the third Pokémon Go video on the gaming channel. Phil knows exactly where they were and what happened!

17:26 - I would read “getting off with” as much more than “making out” 👀 ...regional/country differences in language are something

18:27 - “if I’m gonna woo this lass” 😂

18:38 - those were very normal air-quotes from Phil...he CAN do them

18:46 - who doesn’t want chocolate?!

19:16 - Louise’s reactions during this whole story are fantastic

19:36 - I’m with Louise cringing here “what did you do?...” oh Phil

20:43 - maybe the girl was like...’please let me babysit with someone else next time’ 

21:44 - yeah leading off with that so early...maybe not

21:49 - “there’s a time and a place for the foot fetish” -phil lester, 2020

22:00 - this was the “stereo exclusive” bit for the later shows. Phil didn’t quite have it all worked out for this first one, which makes sense

22:34 - I’ve never heard the airports one before, lol

23:30 - yeah, this was the weird news story of the week at the time

24:18 - awww, both of them smiling at those memories

25:14 - oh no; I’m sure Phil felt bad at the time, but at least Louise is laughing about it now

25:59 - oh it must have been really bad

26:39 - Phil with the perfect memory of the gaming video...no clue about this. visual Phil though...he remembers the picture!

26:47 - this google search history is hilarious 😂 the picture Phil wanted here but couldn’t find was from Playlist Live! in 2014

27:16 - sometimes I think Phil makes it a little too weird for Louise. she doesn’t know how to react

27:54 - love any sort of bonus/behind-the-scenes content

28:05 - thumbnail posing is always a laugh to see 😂

28:13 - that did turn into the thumbnail!

29:35 - ooo, scandalous secrets apparently

I don’t think I’ve rewatched this since it was posted. (And I did listen to the Stereo show live as well.) This first show was pretty messy, because the app did not seem prepared for the number of people listening so Phil and/or Louise dropped off a few times. Phil did a good job making it flow together with the editing for the video version!

Dan was also popping out of his cave more (1, 2), which definitely fueled the speculation that he would be one of the Stereo guests.

#dan and phil #dnp #dnpRewatch #amazingphil #phil lester #amazingphil videos #Our WORST Dating Experiences

[heyheydidjaknow]

Why do I not have the option to copy and paste formatting? Why is that an option I am not given? Who thought that I wouldn’t need that when I’m on my phone? Screw that guy, who I am arbitrarily calling Adam. If anyone knows how to do that, please tell me.

Chapter 6 Pt 2

“There is no fucking way you got a date with her.” Raphael does not even look it up. “No way in hell.”

“And yet the flow chart worked.” He laughs from his lab, shutting off any excess equipment as to not overwork it. “It worked like a charm and she asked me to go to her place so ha.”

”You didn’t show her the chart, did you?”

“I did not.”

“Well, there you go.” Leo looks back at him from his seat on the couch. “What time?”

“Seven o’clock.” He slides the door closed. “But I’m planning on being there at six fifty-five so that she knows I value her time.”

“Does the sun set that early?”

“Why do you even ask?” Raph turns a page in his once periodical periodical. “You know he looked it up.”

“As a matter of fact, I did. Forgive me for also valuing preparedness.”

“Nobody likes a know it all.”

He grins smugly. “That’s where you’re wrong. See, I,” he gestured to himself, “have a date with a gorgeous girl tonight, one where she has already invited me into her home, and you,” he gestured to Raphael, “are reading a magazine from a company that went out of business two years ago alone.”

“Donnie, don’t be a jerk.” Leonardo looked back at the television. “Raphael brings up a valid point; you tend to act like you know everything, and the actual request wasn’t for a date.”

“How else can I interpret one on one time with her?”

“Well,” he counters, “how do you interpret one on one time with us?”

He blinks. “Wait, so you’re saying she’s… how do you put it?”

“Nah, I don’t think she’s friendzonin ‘im.” Mickey looks up from his drawing. “Think she’s sending signals she doesn’t mean to.” He sets his half-shaded piece aside. “Think about it; she said she’s been all stressed out, right? She died like two weeks ago.” He shrugs. “She’s probably just lonely and needs the company.”

“That’s… actually really insightful of you.”

He grins. “What can I say? I’m a modern McPherson.”

Raph snickers at that. “Donnie is more of a McPher—how old is that movie, anyway? A hundred?

“Hey!” He shoots a glare at his brother. “Respect the classics.”

“Not to interrupt your riveting intro to film class,” Donnie interjects, losing his shit, “but I really need to know what this is before I go, and it’s already fifteen ‘till.”

“Look, maybe she’s interested, maybe she’s not.” Leonardo’s eyes are back on the screen. “Just try to tread carefully and you’ll probably be fine.”

“Probably?”

“Again, Raph had a point.”

He groans, walking to the entrance and exit of their home. “You guys aren’t helping.”

“Not our job.”

Leo calls after him. “Be home before six!”

He turns the corner, cradling his head in his hands. ‘I am totally and thoroughly fucked.’

--

GoodFellas.

Of all the movies in the world, that is the movie you have decided to use to explain these concepts. This is the example piece that you are going to show to the vigilante. All you know is that you had started watching the Phantom Menace and had decided against explaining the concept of racial coding and this is the only other movie that you can think of right now. You have decided to commit, and you are already regretting it, but you decide to figure it out as you go.

You set the pizza on the coffee table, throwing a bag of popcorn in the microwave to pop. You do not expect Donatello to be late, so you decided to start now so that they could get started right away. You start walking to the window, stopping at the mouth of the hallway. You look yourself over one more time in the bathroom mirror despite yourself. You do not exactly know why you care so much; this was not a date, and you had not advertised it as one. Still, impressions are important, and the last thing you need is for him to not listen to you because of it. That is what you are telling yourself, anyhow.

You hear knocking against the glass. You check your phone for the time. ‘Five minutes early.’ You smile softly. ‘How responsible.’ You open it up, smiling at your guest. “Welcome, Donatello.” You take a step back. “Please, make yourself at home.”

He barely makes a sound as he steps off the windowsill, looking around your apartment, fully illuminated, for the first time.

After about thirty seconds of his investigation, you clear your throat. “Donnie?”

He snaps out of it. “Huh?”

You smile gently. “You wanna sit down? I bought pizza.”

“Uh, yeah.” He nods, sitting down and facing the television screen. “I like your place.”

“Thanks.” You sit down next to him, tucking your feet under you as you flip on the television. “How do you feel about gangster movies?”

“Gangster movies?”

“Yeah.” You list a couple on your fingers. “Scarface, Godfather, all that jazz.”

He shakes his head, brow furrowed in confusion. “How can you make gangster movies legally?”

“That is a long answer. The short version?” You lean forward, taking a slice from the box. “The police are kind to those who cooperate, and people think their stories are fascinating.”

“So they’re documentaries?” He mimics you.

You shrug. “Sometimes. Not always, but sometimes. You want something to drink?” You hear the microwave beep as you stand up.

“Water?”

You nod, walking over to pull the popcorn out of the microwave and grab your drinks. “I trust the walk wasn’t too bad?”

“Not at all.” The small talk is torture. “Getting to your window was a bit of a challenge, but it wasn’t anything too bad.”

“That’s good.” You pour him a glass. “I’ll have to get something for that; maybe a planter or something, so you have a bigger ledge.”

“It’s alright.” He taps his fingers against his knee. “It’s wide enough to stand.”

“Still.” You place his cup on the counter, dumping the kernels into a large plastic bowl. “I wouldn’t forgive myself if one of you guys got hurt trying to come in through the window.” You grab a can of soda out of the refrigerator, sitting down and handing him the glass.

He smiles slightly. “You’re really sweet sometimes, you know that?”

You grin. “I try,” you hum, starting to pull up the movie. “I think you’re pretty cool too, Hamato.”

He chuckles. “You make me sound like I’m fifty.”

“Oh, totally.” You nod in agreement. “You’re an old soul.”

He blinks. “Old soul?”

“Mature, I mean.” You shrug. “I mean, handling the stuff you do with any degree of tact, to me, displays a great maturity you don’t see in most teenagers, myself included.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

You get back up for napkins and plates. “Not at all.” You hand him one of each. “It’s an admirable quality, though not one I particularly envy.”

“You think?” His hands linger for a moment longer than typical as he took them.

“Yeah. You want me to turn down the lights for the movie while I’m up?”

His face goes red. “I-I mean,” he stutters, “if you want to.”

“Then I will; shows the image better when it’s dark.” You walk to the wall, flicking off the lights and sitting down next to him, setting your slice on your plate as you turn on the movie.

Your reactions to it are different.

He does not seem what you would call disturbed, but he gets grossly invested in the story extremely quickly. He is noticeably more interested in watching you watch the movie, but he studies the plot intently, noting the more domestic plotline between the lead and his wife in particular. His reaction to the violence is strange to you; he is not aloof, so to speak, but he does not flinch much until the fighting is between Henry and Karen.

You have seen this movie what feels like a thousand times. Whenever you think it applicable, you lean over and whisper to him about the directing, the script, the plot—it is supposed to be a lesson, after all. But you realize that your attention, every so often, shifts to the bed, to your pillow with the knife underneath it. The violence of the movie makes you edgier than you are used to.

About halfway through the movie, you move closer to the boy sitting beside you. You lean your head against his shoulder, closing your eyes as you listen for cues for comments. You don’t notice his reaction, but you do notice how his arm snakes around your waist, pulling you closer to him. You do not object; you were the one who initiated, after all.

“Here’s a psychology relationship thingy you can tell your family about.” You cringe at that poor little girl standing in the hallway. “’That’s all in your head’ is classic gaslighting. I dunno if that’s really your area or not.”

“Oh, yeah, I see what you mean.” He fiddles with the cloth of your jacket absentmindedly. “It’s kinda hard for me to wrap my head around, people staying like that. I mean,” he clarifies, “I get why, but—”

You both tense up as a young man on screen is shot dead by Joe Pesci’s character.

You exhale. “Yeah, I get what you mean.” You shrug. “But folks get scared, ya know? In her case, she doesn’t want to break the family apart, and she’s really into him.”

“What? No way.”

“Yes way.” You look up at him. “What can I say? We fall into infatuation so fast with bad people who say what we want to hear.”

“Don’t you mean fall in love?”

You watch as Lorraine Bracco holds a gun to her husband’s face. “Nope. Love is entirely different.”

“Yeah?” He glanced down at you.

“Apples and oranges.” You gesture to the television. “Love is supplementary, a beautifully imperfect connection between people.” Your voice becomes smoother, airier. “It’s a bond built on trust and respect. Infatuation is more of an addiction than anything.” You sigh as Liota meets to discuss his relationship with Sorvino. “At least I think so. That’s why love at first sight is a bunch of bullshit; you can’t have that kind of profound trust with someone you just met.” You shrug, looking back up at him. “Then again, what do I know? I’m an inexperienced, fifteen-year-old girl.”

“That makes a lot of sense, actually.” He looks back down at you. “I get what familial love is, but whenever Master Splinter talks about his wife, he has a hard time putting what he means into words.”

You hear their guilty verdict. “Totally get that. Articulation is not easy to do.”

A few minutes go by.

“May I be frank?”

“Please.”

You watch as a man drags his wife out of a Christmas party. “This movie is exactly why I don’t ever want to learn how to do the stuff you do. It changes you, all that violence; desensitizes you.” You bring your knees to your chest. “Especially Raphael. I swear, that shift was as dramatic as his, at least at this point in the flick.”

He pauses. “Please, tell me you’re kidding.”

You close your eyes, breathing slowly. “I’m going to try my best,” you swear, “do everything in my power, to see to it that you guys don’t experience more than you have to.”

You mean it. He can tell.

You two are quiet for the rest of the movie. You explain why certain directing choices were made, connect the beginning with the end, talk about the theme, all while you two watched their fall from grace. When the movie ends, you realize how tangled up in him you are; your head on his chest, legs draped over his with his arms around your waist. You feel the icy air against you, as if his skin attracted it to you. You push the hair out of your face. “So,” you stretch, turning the light back on, “do you wanna see another movie, or do you have a curfew?”

He pauses. “I should honestly probably get home,” he sighs. “If I’m not home early they’ll start getting ideas.”

“Oh, yeah.” You nod, completely understanding the reasoning. “You can take the leftover pizza home if you want; the guys’ll probably eat it before I do.”

“Mikey’ll be on cloud nine.” He picks the box off the coffee table. “Thanks.”

“Any time.” You stand at the window, opening it for him.

He climbs onto the windowsill, looking down at you from his perch. “I had a good time.” His face flushed. “We should do this again.”

You nod in agreement. “Definitely.” You rub the back of your neck. “I’ll pick a lighter movie next time.”

“Alright. It’s a plan.” He gives you a thumbs up.

You steal yourself, cupping one side of his face and kissing him gently on the cheek. “Goodnight, Donnie.” You smile. “See ya tomorrow.”

You are a bit concerned he’s going to fall off the windowsill. “Y-Yeah,” he grinned, words slurred. “See ya later, Y/N.” He waved, climbing up and out of your window.

You smile softly, sigh. You flop back on the bed, rolling over. You have not been this at ease since you died.

‘I really like that guy.’ You close your eyes. ‘I really, honestly do.’

You drift off to sleep, dreamless for the first time in too long.

Table Of Contents

Chapter 6 Part 1

Chapter 7

#tmnt #tmnt donnie #tmnt fanfiction #tmnt 2012 #tmnt 2k12 #tmnt donatello #tmnt x reader #teenage mutant ninja turtles 2012 #teenage mutant ninja turtles #teenage #donnie x reader #2012 donnie #donnie #donatello x reader #donatello #nyc #pizza #movie #finally got some action goin on maybe #i finished writing this shit at 4 in the fucking morning #I’m usually relatively fine with tense #but today was a struggle #4710 words #part 2

[ftstorm]

My take on 5x10

Welp, that was a big one!

You know, before going into this episode I reminded myself this was the first episode of a new era, the first episode completely made by the new team.

So with that in mind my expectations were "Okay, let's see what they've got."

And oh boy did they surprise me.

DISCLAIMER: this text post is long af, not kidding.

1. THE INTRO SCENE.

You guys have no idea how glad I am that we got Mac doing a usual MacGyvering in his house. It's been ages since they implemented this format of showing his dynamics outside Phoenix and around his house.

I wasn't worried about the proposal thing at all. Guys, you have to accept that MacRiley was always going to happen after that 4x04 episode.

There was also the fact that this was the intro scene (usually the most important plot issues happen in the outro scene), Bozer's weird reaction and the melancholic audio cue.

If that proposal was happening, they would've made it more uplifting.

(I gotta say that watching Monica Marcer and the official MacGyver account making damage control in Twitter 3mins into the episode was a funny experience)

So my initial questions about Mac wanting to propose were: "what are his motivations?" and "how is this not going to work out by the end of the episode?"

The second question we got the answer later on. The first question remains unanswered. If we take on Mac's words, he says:

Mac: Unexpected, I know, I know. But that's why I like about it. You know ever since I lost my dad and Jack I've been thinking about the bigger picture. A commitment to make things work it's exactly what Desi and I need. A grand romantic gesture. *cue melancholic music*

Here we're presented with a bunch of things worth analysing, in my opinion.

He's trying to see the "bigger picture" which, for me, it means he's trying to tackle down different issues from his life with one specific, efficient action [the proposal]. Those issues being:

> his current romantic relationship: make is aware they have an inconsistent relationship > his performance at work: he needs balance between his personal affairs and his work, which is based on saving the world in a daily basis and for that he needs to be focused. > dealing with his past losses: to my understanding, saying "ever isn I lost my dad and Jac I've been thinking about the bigger picture" means that he doesn't want hopelessness to take over him, he wants to keep on moving and being proactive about his life.

So... you have to understand that in some sort of way, this proposal thing is a signal that Mac is healing. In some sort of way, if you were in Mac's shoes you would see that it was a positive thing for him. A step forward.

The thing is, we [the audience] have an extended understanding of the situation and we know that an engagement would be an incredibly rushed decision.

As well as it is that Mac's trying to move forward, he obviously hasn't been able to pinpoint the true issue behind his relationship with Desi. He isn't wrong about them lacking in the commitment department, but forcing the relationship to scalate isn't the right move. He should be asking himself: "Why are we avoiding commitment?"

And that's when he'd find out that they have very deep and important trust and communication issues.

~~~~

2. Moving on. MURDOC.

Russ: I can process it more efficiently by having it all spread out ahead me, you know. I reckon see the bigger picture at once.

This is when I realized that the episode was centered on this whole "bigger picture" idea. Russ struggles to see the full picture until the very end and Mac finds out that he hasn't been seeing the full picture of his life at all by the end of the episode.

Fast forward, the team's in Mexico, Riley knows about the ring already and she has already had the talk with Bozer in which she refers to her feelings for Mac in a past tense.

Then Murdoc appears.

And as if the episode wasn't already a rollercoaster after Mac's reveal, now Murdoc shows up to put everything upside down.

First I gotta say, man Dastmalchian is SUCH A GOOD MURDOC. Excellent actor. The way he delivers his lines, his facial expressions, all of it make an original and very entertaining Murdoc.

He always gives me such a Andrew Scott's Moriarty vibes and I love it.

Secondly, his dynamic with Andrews: *cheff kiss*

I loved how Andrews was so over Murdoc's theatrics, to the point his facial expression screamed "Why did I even reclute this guy" LOL.

Back to the story.

This is something I was hoping it wouldn't happen but at the same time I don't see another way it could've happened which is the explanation behind Murdoc's escape and how Phoenix didn't know about it.

Because what they told us is that the FBI didn't let them in on Murdoc's escape, right? Does that imply that the FBI has a corrupt agent in charge? Does it imply that the order of not letting Phoenix in came from above? Maybe someone with higher clearence than Matty? A politician? Governement conspiracy?

It smells like plot hole, tbh. I feel like the Murdoc's escape is a classic "it is what it is". We'll see if they come back to this in later episodes.

~~~~

3. BIG SECRET REVEAL 1.

By now we're at the point of the rollercoaster where you're going up and up and up. Your tension building more and more as you're getting close to the drop.

Bozer and Riley's audio was the drop.

You know, during this scene I jumped from my seat, closed my eyes, cringed, squealed, my heart accelarated, forgot how to breathe...

As a person who is a little bit bipolar when it comes to romance (I can be very shy about it or very outspoken about it) that scene made me SO UNCOMFORTABLE.

Imagine having your feelings exposed not only to the person you have feelings for but also his girlfriend who happens to be your friend, your boss and the criminal that's threatening to kill hundreds of people.

I was like: "Not like this!!"

And Mac's reaction didn't help because of the lack of it. I don't know what I expected but his slightly monotone reaction broke my heart.

Thankfully, I've recovered since then and I don't mind that it happened that way.

Still, imagine how suffocating it must've been for Riley. That idea was what made me so uncomfortable and I think that's what they were going for. They wanted to make it as straightforward and awkward as possible.

But it doesn't end there. It's followed by Mac revealing the ring to Desi (and Riley). Mac's in "fuck it" mood and Desi kinda panics.

Little side note here, using GUM and a DIAMOND to break a bullet proof glass... BIG YES. That's an intrinsic MacGyverism.

~~~~

4. BIG SECRET REVEAL 2.

Then we get a breather from this drama by introducing another drama, Leanna's death.

Bozer's reaction to the news was heartbreaking for my already heartbroken heart.

I have my suspicions as to why they decided to kill her... The other episode completely made by the new team was the Quarantine one (5x06). During that episode Mac and Bozer bond over Bozer's pain. After learning about Bozer's mom, Mac chooses to share a piece of his own pain with him.

So, hear me out, I think they writers are planning to help Mac process his own grief THROUGH Bozer's grief. Keep in mind that we still have a Bozer centered episode coming up.

This is just a theory. I may be wrong, but I think it may be right too.

Back to the episode.

Once again we see a three dimensional Russ. He does something accordingly to his own judgement thinking it's the right decision [hiding Leanna's death], he realizes he screwed up, he gives Bozer a very heartfelt apology about it.

Henry's acting talent shone with this narrative. Actually, most of the actors had the chance to shine THANKS to the NARRATIVE. Murdoc, Andrews, Desi, Mac, Russ and Bozer... they all had their highlight moments (I'll talk about Riley later).

Parenthesis here... THE NARRATIVE HAS RETURNED THEIR SOULS TO OUR DEAR CHARACTERS!

WOW, they aren't brooding, angry, sad or whiny ALL THE EFFIN TIME. ABOUT TIME!

~~~~

5. LAST ACT.

For the third or fouth time in this episode my heart broke again when Mac was friendly towards Riley, after she explained herself. It really felt like he was friendzoning her.

But here's something to point out. Riley visibly relaxed when he reacted that way. What does that tell us?

> She had been so tense up until that point. Imo, she's on the defensive now. You can even see it in her wardrobe, make up and hairstyle choices. They're very contrasting to Riley's most vulnerable moments in this show (like when Audrey broke up with her).

Riley has had a year to sort out her feelings. We see in this episode that she spoke about them in a past tense. Whether she achieved it or not is unknown. We just know that she has at least tried to move on.

> She was mostly afraid of ruining her close relationship with Mac (who's her only family, along with Bozer) and her friendship (?) with Desi. We've seen it over and over again: Riley DID NOT WANT to get in the middle of them.

Keep that in mind as we go in the last scene.

It took me a while to figure out a possible thread of thought inside Mac's mind. Why did he look at the ring and decided to go to Riley's house? It really didn't make sense to me.

One moment he was thinking about his proposal and somehow that lead to him having the necessity to know if Riley still had feelings for him? Why??

My theory is that he went to her apartment for permission.

His question was a way of asking Riley for permission to propose to Desi. It was a way of reassuring himself that proposing was still the right decision.

In a way, he could also be fishing for an excuse to not do it [the proposal].

Because now he has doubts. He's confused, unsure.

Mac asks:

Mac: Hiding your emotions and letting it pass. Did it go away?

What could her answer have been? Here I wanna go back again to Riley being emotionally defensive, added her strong desire of not wanting to be in the middle of Mac and Desi's relationship.

I think she would've said "Yes, it worked."

Because it also lines up with my idea that the love triangle has changed from "Riley's a better match for Mac" to "Mac needs to win Riley's heart".

Riley's done her job. She worked out her feelings. Now it's time for Mac to sort out his humongously messed up internal self and reignite her spark. That's what I think.

Also, if anyone has any idea on how the song that played in that scene relates with the moment please share it with me because I don't really understand the song choice lol.

~~~~

6. ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

Desi. I'm not sure what's going on in her mind. She seemed stressed out by the ring, very serious about Riley, lenient with Mac... I'm really not sure.

My guess would be that she doesn't want that type of commitment but she wants to be with Mac yet she can't ignore Riley so does that mean she has to end it with Mac? That's the thought process she may have had? Idk...

I'm glad they let her be mature about it, with no overreactions, no whining, no blaming, nothing of that style that we're used to see in her.

I'm also glad about that moment when she defeats Murdoc and Andrews. THAT'S HOW YOU WRITE A TOUGH DESI. It was filmed with such a gracefulness and elegance. I liked it.

From a MacDesi point of view, she's probably being open minded and giving him space and waiting for him to come back to her... but somehow I got the vibe that she's actually... running away?

Lastly but no less important.

THE HISPANIC REPRESANTION OMG. RUSS SPEAKING SPANISH AND THAT CUMBIA MUSIC FILLED MY HEART WITH SO MUCH PRIDE!!! :')

#MacGyver #review #long post #finally finished it #macgyver meta #my meta

[brightbeautifulthings]

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

"'What if sometimes there is no choice about what to love? What if the temple comes to Mohammed? What if you just love? without deciding? You just do: you see her and in that instant are lost to sober account-keeping and cannot choose but to love?'"

Year Read: 2014, 2020

Rating: 5/5

Context: It's hard to know where to begin writing a review for this book. I read it for the first time in graduate school in about five weeks (alongside everything else I had to do in grad school, so I don't recommend that), and it basically blew my mind. At the same time, it's hard to imagine tackling it any other way for the first time. Despite its difficulty, there are things obsessive and immersive and, appropriately, even addictive about it. Full immersion might be the only way to read it for the first time, and I obsessed about it for months afterward. Since I'm not on any deadlines, I took it more slowly this time (21 weeks) so I could enjoy the writing and the nuances without the pressure to finish. For my less coherent weekly updates in real time, see my blog posts. Trigger warnings: Everything, everything. Death (on-page), child death, animal death, suicide, suicidal ideation, rape, pedophilia, possible incest, child abuse/abusive households, graphic violence/gore, eye horror, severe injury, drug use, addiction, alcoholism, mental illness, depression, OCD, grief, racism, ableism, transphobia, sexism, inexplicable hostility toward Canadians.

About: If it's difficult to know how to write a review, it's equally hard to describe what Infinite Jest is about. It's about so many things, tennis, addiction, communication (failures), and entertainment among them, but I'll do my best. Beneath all the numerous characters, timelines, and subplots, the main plot is about a film so entertaining that it kills anyone who watches it, robs them of all desire to do anything but watch it until they die, and what a faction of Canadian assassins will do to possess it. The auteur is James Incandenza, a suicide whose son, Hal, is a prodigy at Enfield Tennis Academy. Next door to E.T.A. is Ennet House, a drug rehabilitation center where Don Gately, former thief and Demerol addict, is taking it day by day to stay sober. Though they don't know it, Hal and Gately are connected, and the deadly Entertainment and those who seek it draw their paths closer and closer together.

Thoughts: It's rare to find a book that is actually as smart as it claims to be, but IJ is--certainly much smarter than I am, despite all my attempts to make sense of it. It starts off strong and doesn't let up for several hundred pages, which is a huge achievement all by itself. Wallace excels at writing extremely polished sections that could almost function alone as short stories, and the first chapter is one of my favorites in all fiction. It's reassuring, I think, to start the book off on a strong note, in case we worried we were in for a thousand pages of tedious slog. It can be both, but it's often heartfelt, insightful, and funny as well, and the payoff is well worth the effort. I don’t know how Wallace manages to pack every page with so much meaning. Anybody can put tedious lists in their books or make reading purposely difficult (and I have attitude about writers who do this for no reason), but there’s nothing haphazard about this book, despite its size and varied focus. Everything seems utterly intentional. The conversations are really top-tier; Wallace has a great ear for how people talk, and it's a fascinating look at how communication works and doesn't work.

Thematically, I think the book succeeds on more than any other level, including plot or structure. If we could say this book is "about" anything, we would almost certainly start with the themes and not the plot, which is often secondary to whatever point Wallace is trying to make at the moment. It takes an in-depth looks at things like addiction, depression, loneliness, failed communication, sincerity v. irony, critiques of postmodernism and metafiction (while being very meta itself, at times), and the very specific selfishness of an American culture that insists on freedom even to the point of self-destruction. At times, it feels a little heavy-handed or like it was yanked right out of an intro to philosophy course, but I suppose something in a thousand pages has to be obvious if we're ever going to pick up on it. A lot of these themes resurface in his other work, from "This is Water" and "E Unibus Pluram" to Orin Incandenza's Brief Interview style Q and A (and he would be a perfectly fitting character in that book).

The characters are some of my favorites in literary fiction as well, particularly the Incandenza family and Don Gately, and to a lesser extent Joelle Van Dyne (although Wallace typically doesn’t write female characters very well, and she comes with some issues). Hal and Gately couldn't be more different; Hal excels at everything he's ever done, and Gately has a record that includes accidental homicide on it. Hal is the hero of non-action, since little that happens in the book is engineered by him, while Gately is closer to the more typical hero of action, who defends the undeserving at great cost to himself. Yet their struggles with addiction are similar, and they both manage to be incredibly sympathetic characters. In my opinion, the book is always at its best when we’re with Hal or Gately, but I’m strongly driven by good characters. Despite being dead, James Incandenza's presence is also felt all over the book, from the Entertainment he created to his haunting ETA and sticking beds to the ceiling (probably the weirdest ghost I've ever seen in fiction). He's a tragic character in a book full of tragic characters. The others are too numerous to name, from the other tennis players at ETA and recovering addicts at Enfield, to the various bystanders populating Boston. We get brief glimpses into almost all of them, and while they may not all feel relevant at the time, most are memorable or heart-wrenching or slapstick funny, or all three. It's a book that contains multitudes.

That's not to say it's always on point though, and it isn't. There are a number of very serious problems with representation in this novel, and they're as bad as its detractors claim. A lot of the 90s humor aged very poorly, but that's not an excuse for some of the unabashedly racist depictions of African Americans, the uncharitable descriptions of Steeply's and Poor Tony's cross-dressing, or--however much I love him as a character--the fact that Mario Incandenza’s descriptions are ableist in just about every possible way. Wallace thinks he's capturing "voice" when he's really encouraging harmful stereotypes. The humor of the novel often doesn’t depend at all on these stereotypes and would in fact, be a lot more funny if I wasn’t spending so much energy cringing at it. So many of the little racist and ableist asides could have easily been edited out of the entire novel to make it less offensive. There are also sections where he seems at pains to be as gross as possible for its own sake. There are plenty of things grim or uncomfortable or flat out distasteful about this book, but sometimes the graphic violence kind of jumps out and stabs you in the eye, say, with a railroad spike.

If there are times when I was totally absorbed in the little tragedies of the Incandenza family or Gately's struggles, there are plenty more where it's like pushing something heavy up a hill. No lie, some of it is slogging through tedious minutiae and various experimental writing styles (some more successful and less offensive than others). Wallace has a gift for purposeful tedium; it’s at its peak in The Pale King, but he gives it a nice warm-up round here. The novel is difficult and meant to be, since Wallace maintained that some of the best pleasures are the ones we have to work for, and he's not totally off base. There's something very satisfying about living, for a time, in a book that spans a thousand pages, that demands focus and perseverance, and manages to give back (almost) as much as it takes. The book is always structurally interesting, but it starts to get more complicated toward the end as various characters and plots begin to almost slide into one another. I forgot how frustrating it was to near the end and realize--again--that it wasn't going to wrap up with any kind of satisfaction; the various plots slide, but they don’t meet. I thought if I paid closer attention on a second read that I would pick up more of the plot things I’d missed on my first, but I think the problem is that those answers simply aren’t to be found in the actual text. Of course, they can point us toward various conclusions, and the novel certainly encourages us to speculate and make connections, but I don’t think the actual answers are there.

That brings me to some of my final thoughts, for now. There's no doubt that this is a hugely successful book, and I believe it accomplished exactly what Wallace meant it to do. He jokingly referred to it as a failed entertainment, much the way Jim considered his lethal Entertainment a failure, but I have the sense that Wallace, unlike Jim, failed on purpose. The book purposely pays more attention to structure and theme than it does to plot or character, yet the plot and characters are hugely compelling for what we see of them. Imagine the book it could have been if he had paid equal attention to all of them. Wallace attempted to create a book that people wouldn't want to stop reading. Reaching the end certainly encourages us to begin again, as the first chapter is actually the last in chronology, but that trick only works the first time. By my second read, I realized that starting over wouldn't help me fill in any of those blanks or answer any of my questions, and I was content to let it go. On the one hand, IJ depends upon its structure to tell the story it's telling. On the other, think of the book it could have been if it spent more time telling a story and developing its characters and less time belaboring a point. It's one of the best books I've ever read, and the tragedy is that I think it could have been even better.

#book review #infinite jest #david foster wallace #literary fiction #adult fiction #5/5 #rating: 5/5 #2020 #bookoween

[saltypicks]

reviewing may’s comebacks (in june, because i have shit to do)

There were a lot of comebacks this month. I guess it's summer now? No idea, there's no summer in my country. The girl groups have started coming back in full force but are not impressing. The boy groups seemed to mostly go the groovy route and now I need an adjective other than 'groovy' to describe songs.

Not The End, Highlight

I'm so glad it's not a ballad. It's not bad.

You are so beautiful, SGO

Everyday I'm grateful for the retro trend and this is a great representation.

Gray Area, Hi Cutie

At some sections I like this song (the verses and the chorus) and at others I dislike it (the trap breakdown, the middle of the chorus). I complained about MAJORS' company having no money previously but Hi Cutie's company is bankrupt. Poor nugus.

Dreamcatcher and GWSN have far superior 'Red Suns' but this song is okay and I'm happy the girls look so happy to have some work (and hopefully some money) at last.

Today, CITI

A nice midtempo song. And no, I did not hear it first from a drama OST.

Make Up Your Mind, AILEE

Sounds like a Beyonce-type song.

MALO, SHAX

Apparently this is a drama OST (Imitation, to be specific. It's based on a webtoon). Basic boy group song but it sounds like it's from the 2010s or something, and that's a compliment.

Hot Sauce, NCT Dream

Initially: Um...at least Renjun looks good? Honestly I don't know what to say about this song. NCT is a group I stan so this will definitely grow on me but...is this really not an advertisement for hot sauce? Also the set resembles the set for SHINee's Atlantis in my opinion. Now: The shouting is annoying and unnecessary. Love Chenle's voice in this; it provides a nice contrast to Haechan and Renjun. Someone said the chanting should've been left to the rappers and I fully agree. Don't know about Jisung and Jaemin but Jeno and Mark would be a good fit with a chant. In my opinion the dance break isn't really needed but is it NCT without a dance break? Also, wtf are they wearing around their necks? Someone should inform the SM stylists that less is really more.

DUN DUN DANCE, OH MY GIRL

It's light and pleasant but if this song was a meal it would be a tiny appetizer that tastes good but doesn't satiate you.

WHATEVER, KEEMBO

I didn't think I'd like it at first but this is groovy and makes me want to dance while doing my chores.

Always, VAV

Song for the fans but if you need a VAV song to listen to I recommend Gorgeous.

Hurt, Baekhyun & Seomoontak

Hasn't Baekhyun been shipped off to the army yet? Anyway, love how dramatic this is.

Waiting for Victor, 015B ft. Dawon

Another great retro song! Also the singer is cute and her hair is cute as well. She reminds me of Chuu a little.

Uncertainty Principle, 015B ft. Dawon

I prefer their other song, but this one is retro as well and it's great.

척하면 척, 강혜연 (Kang Hyeyeon)

Trot that's kind of subdued but still danceable.

Badly, SURA

Loved it from the first second.

BLACK MIRROR, ONEUS

Then: Is it good enough to make up for No Diggity? I don't know about that, but this song is groovy and I'm somewhat okay with it. Doesn't have much replay value for me though. Now: Eh, it's basic groovy boy group song but I won't skip if it comes on.

Breathe Again, BLITZERS

Another boy group with a somewhat questionable name. This song is pretty good as a debut and it's somewhat memorable. I wonder if my rating increeased because of the guitars? District 9 was the same for me, but right now it doesn't interest me. I think this song will stay for a good while on my playlist though. I like the anthemic vocals in the chorus and this song needed more of that.

EASY, WJSN THE BLACK

The girls looked good but the storyline kept getting interrupted by shots of the girls. Yes, we know they're all visuals but I'd be more interested if there was actual action and plot. The song is good objectively but doesn't really interest me. Who knows? Maybe a few more listens will change my mind.

Outerspace (ft. Loco), Kang Daniel

Groovy and better than his last two releases.

Giant, Yuqi

So nice to hear Yuqi's voice on its own. The song was fine until the chorus crushed all my love for it.

Glass of Tears, HONG JA

Appropriately dramatic for a song named 'glass of tears'. It's good and if you like trot you'll like this one.

Taste of Life, Yang Ji Eun

What do you call this? Folk trot? Whatever it's called, it's good.

LOOK AT ME, ICU

OK.

WE GO, fromis_9

It sounds like the token girl group summer song. I don't dislike it, but nothing about this song stands out to me. Honestly with a mini-album called '9Way Ticket' I expected more, because it reminds me of Nine Muses' Ticket everytime I see it. The b-side 'Airplane Mode' is pretty good though and the other one, 'Promise' is a slow song but I don't really mind it, it's fine as background music.

Next Level, aespa

Umm...what is SM's plan for these girls? How can a rookie group from the big 3 have only 3 songs? And only one is an original? The song is not the best thing ever and SM surely can do better but at least it wasn't as bad as M.A.F.I.A. aespa deserves more than this.

Ring Ring, ROCKET PUNCH

Finally after Bim Bam Bum these girls have a title track I enjoy. You can't go wrong with covering Take On Me, can you? It's no Platonic Love or Sea of Moonlight, and it certainly could have done without the rubbish trap section but it's a bop anyway. Meanwhile, the b-side Ride is great and I hope they promote it. This song would be more enjoyable if their voices weren't so shrill in the chorus. High notes aren't a necessity for good songs.

Advice, Taemin

Not the best of Taemin but it's good. I love the fast tempo of the piano and the way it drives everything. Taemin's performance also elevates this song and I'm grateful he's leaving us with a good song before going on his two-year vacation.

RUB-A-DUM, TRI.BE

They're really going all out with this 'tribe' thing, aren't they? It sounds very Middle Eastern to my ears at times, sometimes it sounds African-ish and the other times it is just typical trap kpop. DOOM DOOM TA was better and more fun. At least they got the catchy catchphrase right. Blackpink in your area who? Tri-bee da loca! The b-side 'LORO' is not much fun either. The only difference is it's Latin-influenced.

Shadow, Dreamcatcher

Typical Dreamcatcher song slowed down by a lot. It's not bad, plus it's nice to hear Dami sing. Also what is it with Korea and zombies? With the MV the song sounds a lot better but the MV distracts me. Shouldn't zombies be mindless? How do they use tools and know martial arts? Or is it just my eyes? And can that tiny gun protect anybody? Are you sure that's not a toy?

The beginning of spring, E'LAST U

Not horrible but not for me either.

Oh MAMA, BLING BLING

One of the few new ggs in a while with unfortunate names. They've clearly upgraded in terms of styling and MV budget, but their song quality is no different.

Let Me Know, PIXY

Sonically it sounds nothing like their dark concept. Actually it does sound like a dark concept, if done by a boy group. It's not bad but it's not good. The industrial-like sounds in the back are interesting but the whole song is not.

Son of Beast, TO1

TOO rebrands as TO1 with this song. It's groovy.

HAPPEN, Heize

For the first time I like a Heize song. The MV is interesting too, the story was cliche but I liked the visuals and aesthetics.

FEVER, ENHYPEN

Rhis song was from the [BORDER: CARNIVAL] mini. I listened to that mini but I remember not really liking any of the b-sides except the outro and the intro, so this is a surprise.

My Flower, Kim Jaehwan

Nice upbeat song with guitars all over it. I like it.

Corazon Perdido, Yesung (Super Junior)

Initially I wasn't going to review this because I didn't even review the title track but the final moments of this song are beautiful and it deserves a mention.

Butter, BTS

The song is smooth as its title. The MV is fine except for that ARMY thing; I cringed so hard.

Bonnie and Clyde, Yuqi

Better than the other one.

Ride, ROCKET PUNCH

This is so great and I'm glad it got its own video, even if it was just a dance video glorified as a 'Special Stage'. Now if only I could stop chuckling whenever I hear "looks rike a lainbow".

Rush Hour, GAHO

Love it, especially the guitar strumming moments and the chorus when the electric guitar comes in.

GEMINI, AB6IX

Love how the vocals don't distract from the great instrumental.

FIRST, EVERGLOW

In a comment section someone said La Di Da was a fluke and I kind of agree. Everglow returns to their usual style (chanty chorus + catchy riff repeated over and over) and this song is in the same vein as Adios. I like the chorus but the rest of the song is hard to recall. Siyeon, Aisha and Yiren are the only ones who actually look good and EU needs more lines and her blonde hair back. Also why does kpop think that moving the camera around a lot creates the illusion of motion? All it does is make me dizzy.

Like It Hot, GWSN

Sometimes I like GWSN title tracks, and sometimes I don't. I don't think much of this song, but their album is great.

Je T'aime, Joy

I love you Joy but this is boring. If it was meant to be a lullaby then SM succeeded.

Burned All Black, Kim Jaehwan

His other song is a ballad which is somewhat pleasant. Well, it was until it slowed down in the first chorus.

Purple, woo!ah!

Still not one song from woo!ah! I like.

GGOMA, Tae Ho (IMFACT) and Choi Ye Geun

Loved Choi Ye Geun's Scarecrow so I was happy to see her again. The song is groovy but the chorus sounds somewhat...empty? Love the scat at the end, should've been longer. This is also a great example of a bright boy group song. See? Upbeat and bright boy group concepts don't have to be childish.

DIAMOND, Sparkling

Another Imitation OST. I honestly doubt that there are actual kpop songs as bad as this.

7days Tension, Weeekly

Ad song. Bright and the chorus is nice.

0X1=LOVESONG (I Know I Love You), TXT feat. Seori

The angsty opening line caught my attention, then the verse after it dropped the energy. It picked up again in the chorus and pre-chorus, thankfully. It's very much pop rock, except there are no guitars in this. Doesn't stop the song from being good though.

Hello, Joy

I love Joy's voice as always but this song doesn't do much for me even though it's upbeat. A few more listens might change my mind.

Call Me, Omega III

Another Imitation OST. Doesn't do much for me, just like all the Imitation MVs. At least let us understand what your drama is about. Instead we get these random shots of what idols are supposed to be like? I don't know much about idol life but it's obvious these girls would be called nugus in real life, and I honestly doubt nugus have such nice living conditions.

No Answer, LA LIMA

Jiyeon from T-Ara is on this one. This and MALO are my favourites from the Imitation OST so far. The song is nice with a sleek catwalk vibe to it but like the rest the MV is boring.

Show Me, Tea Party

Are these the Omega III girls? Not sure but I think so. MV still boring, song doesn't interest me.

Let me go!, The Volunteers

Great rock song, I just wonder why it's all in English (I'm not complaining).

#saltypicks #kpop reviews #reviews #monthly reviews #may '21

[moonlightreal]

Fate Episode One

At long last, it’s tiiiiiime!

First: whitewashing bad.  Fact acknowledged.  Everybody else has said everything on the subject (ad nauseum...) so no reason to say it all again!

I’m diving in with questions.  The main one is “Will there be a good reason for Musa to be a mind fairy rather than a music fairy?” Dunno why that’s what I’m wondering the most, but it is.  There’s also “Is Fate!Stella truly an unholy union of Stella and Diaspro?” and “so what makes them fairies not witches/psychics/mutants?” and “So what’s up with Beatrix?  We know nothing about her, and as an Umineko fan I’m favorably disposed towards witches named Beatrice!” and also “They’re not really having sex are they?!”

I’m going to try and approach Fate just like I do every season of the cartoon, ready to celebrate the good, snark at the bad, enjoy many headcanons, reference random stuff, and have a good time.  Pretending I haven’t had my fannish heart nigh to broken by the state of the fandom and that I’m worried I’ll get hate for even posting this.  I’m’a try to start from zero to find my own answer the really big question… “Good, bad, or totally irredeemable?”

So… In which we discover a new world.

We start with… a night scene.  Not promising when “too dark can’t see” is one of my pet peeves!  An old fella comes out to check on his cute Irish sheep.  He passes through the barrier, into the dangerous forest beyond to look for a missing sheep.  Yup, he’s gonna be guest victim in the first five minutes.

Oh no!  Something has disemboweled a sheep and left it hanging in a tree!  Clearly there are leopards in the magical realm!

There is a great roar and an unseen but very large-sounding beast chases our poor shepherd!  The guy trips and falls just as he’s about to get through the barrier and is set upon and devoured by the unseen beast!  Blood spatters the rocks!

Opening! It’s the wings we’ve sen and some really beautiful music.  One point for the music.

Then a gorgeous flying shot of the outside of the barrier and Alfea. Whatever the plot turns out to be, the outdoor setting is beautiful. Music that seems to be both pop and edgy plays as we zoom in on the logo on the gate, and there’s Bloom coming in the gate.

And there’s Terra with her father and a tray full of plants.

And there’s Aisha walking by with her dreads

And there’s Stella taking a selfie with other students.

And there’s Musa leaning on her suitcase, headphones on, looking at her phone.  Another girl says something to Musa and she turns and replies and smiles.

And there’s one of the guys twirling a knife.  I’ve heard Sky starts out in a pink shirt so this must be Riven.  The camera comes back to Bloom as she gives him a doubtful look.  In the novelization she’s mentally labeling him an edgelord, and that kinda fits.  Any dude showing off his willingness to twirl weapons at a high school probably is best avoided—except the dudes here are training to fight so the weapons rules must be different.  I wonder if Bloom knows yet that dudes with swords are normal here.

Bloom gets a text to meet Stella at the gate.  She waits.

Camera pan to Sky talking to another guy.  Sky looks… Sky-ish.  Chris Evans style handsome, blond.  I’d’ve made him grow his hair to mimic cartoon Sky’s silly shaggy haircut, but points for making Sky look like Sky!  Minus points for not dying Riven maroon.  They could’ve made it work!

Sky is indeed wearing a pink shirt.  In the novelization Bloom thinks he’s wearing it “because gender roles were for the weak” which is a line I think is funny and intend to use in a story somewhere. There is no obvious hint in the show that Sky thinks gender roles are for the weak

Bloom’s tired of waiting.  She heads off.  Sky ditches his buddy to go meet her.  “Wow, you are so lost.  I’m impressed with your confidence in the face of complete ignorance.  Issue is, you’re overcomitted. You’re essentially running.  And now that I’m here you can’t possibly give me the satisfaction of turning around.”  he says, all in one go.  

I can’t decide if that’s jerkish or charming.  Maybe Bloom shares my weakness for men with accents because she decides on charming.

Bloom says she’s a fairy, giggles because that’s something she never thought she’d say, they’re standing in the courtyard of a college for fairies, Bloom’s from California, not the Otherworld.  So we get all that established.  Sky is kinda charming here and points out the specialists’ hall and fairy hall.

Sky: “I’d be happy to-”

Bloom: “Mansplain it?”  

So the writing team does know some modern issues!  Bloom says Sky seems like a mansplainer, which seems like quite a leap since she is new and he is helping her, in a friendly-sarcastic kind of way.  She’s giggling, clearly charmed.

Then Riven comes up, and he’s like a foot shorter than Sky, and Bloom escapes for some reason so maybe she wasn’t enjoying the conversation as much as it looked? Or maybe it was just the plot needs to move along.  Riven glomp-hugs Sky.  He’s got a great accent too.

Bloom must’ve left because she saw Stella, they say hello.  Bloom says she got impatient waiting and Stella says, “How very American of you”  So American stereotypes are known in magical worlds also?    

So, Stella!  Blonde, tall, zero Stella vibe.  Accent. Long pale coat and a satiny top with big chunky pendant.  She gets to her ring quick, “Portal ring, the only thing that keeps me sane in this place is the ability to leave it.  Your world may not always be thrilling but it beats this one.  There are seven realms in the Otherworld, each a different kind of boring.”  All spoken in a jaded monotone.  Ugh, what have they done to our Stella!

The girls walk inside while Stella speaks, the school is pale stone and arches and plants.  Other students are arriving, hauling suitcases, hugging.  At least some of them seem happy to be here!

Cut to the globe!  and it’s a magical globe, the water moves and there are lil sailing ships!  But the lands are totally blank, so it’s a cheap magic globe Dowling didn’t pay enough for the one with tiny forests too.  Alfea is in the realm of Solaria.

Maybe they shouldn’t have made Ireland = Solaria.  I’ve only been to England but we did not see the sun the whole trip!  Bloom’s in Dowling’s really cool office.  She spins the globe but the camera pans away before we see the names of the other realms.  Bloom’s talking nervously about seeing people updating their insta stories, expecting Tinkerbells, and the lack of wings.

Dowling: “We had wings in the past.  As we’ve evolved, transformation magic has been lost.  Tink was an air fairy, you’re a fire fairy.”

Dowling says classes tomorrow, learn to use magic slowly but safely… we establish Bloom is here to learn to control her magic so she can go home and not keen on ‘slow.’  Dowling says, ‘trust the process’ which immediately makes me mistrust her.

Then she gives a great lil speech: “Alfea’s graduates have ruled realms and led armies.  They have forged powerful relics and rediscovered long lost relics.  They shape the otherworld.”

But Bloom just wants to get done and go home.  She says, ‘I'm here because you promised you’d teach me control.” and Dowling says, ‘no, you’re here because you knew you have no other choice.” and Bloom looks betrayed.

Yeah Dowling’s sus.  

Next scene: Bloom showing her dorm to her parents over video call!  How does that work between dimensions?  Her folks look nothing like Mika and Vanessa, dad’s got a beard and silver temples, mom’s got big blonde curls.  Neither of them have burn injuries or the sort of freaked out vibe I’d expect from folks whose house was just on fire.

Roommate pan-around!  Terra puts potted plants everywhere!  Stella preens at the vanity! Musa headphones-and-laptop but smiles at Terra.  Aisha comes in with her laundry bag.

Bloom’s parents get suspicious about the timezone thing, they think Bloom’s in the Alps, and Aisha comes and covers for her saying it’s time for lights out.

Aisha intro!  She is wearing a pink and brown checkered dress that’s not super fashionable or flattering.  I like her blue braids though. Aisha does not seem to have the accent that many Alfeans have.

Bloom explains the “human parents, fairy daughter, I must be a throwback to an ancestor” thing.  Aisha looks dubious.  Then they mention Harry Potter!

Bloom; ‘Ravenclaw, sometimes Slytherin.’

Aisha; ‘Explains the lies then.  Gryffindor.’

Bloom: ‘Explains the judgment.’

Congrats, you both were jerks in three short lines. 9_9  But they’re smiling so I guess it’s friendly sniping.  

Bloom goes to see Stella, who’s holding up sparkly tops to herself. She’s also got this weird rainbow skirt that looks like gymnastics clothes not real clothes.  Stella’s changing for the party because people have already seen her in her clothes.  Bloom asks confused, ‘People expect you to wear multiple outfits?’ and Stella comes back with, ‘people expect me to care how I look.” In the same jaded monotone.

Before Bloom can WTF outta there like a sensible person Stella snaps her fingers and creates a ball of light.  Bloom gapes, but not nearly as much as I feel like she should.  The magic is beautiful, it’s all rainbowy and sparkly.  Bloom just hesitantly asks, ‘Can I ask, how exactly you..?” and Stella shuts her down with an almost kind, “I’m a mentor, not a tutor.”

But she does give a little infodump.  “Fairy magic is tied to emotion. God thoughts, bad, hatred, fear, the stronger the emotion the stronger the magic.”

And Bloom says, ‘Do you hate me or fear me?  You were looking at me when you did that.  And I’m pretty sure you don’t love me.” Smart cookie, Bloom!  Points to you!  We know it’s because Bloom was talking to sky, and that gives Stellla some emotions.

And points to Stella, she thaws out her voice and talks like a real person, ‘I don’t know you.  I’m sure once I do I’ll find something to love.”  She sounds rather doubtful about the last bit but yay actual emotion!

Then Stella goes over to Terra for her intro scene and I cringe because the novelization did Terra dirty and I’m not keen to see it on screen.  But it works ok.  Stella gently calls Terra on the number of houseplants and says the secret garden was better kept secret, Terra responds that wasn’t really the message of the book, Stella looks at her with amused patience and leaves Musa and Terra to continue the scene.  And I decide if there’s no infodump about how earth and the Otherworld relate to each other in this show I shall be cross.

Then Terra chatters on about her family and how she grew up at Alfea since her dad works here (she’s holding a 100% fake plant) and drops that Stella is a second year.  Musa asks why a second-year is in a first-year suite and Terra says it’s some administrative thing probably best not to mention.  But Terra totally knows the secret.

Musa’s eyes glow purple.  Magic!  But we don’t hear what she hears.  She starts putting her headphones on.  Terra goes on to say they should all not mention it to Stella, then interrupts another headphones-attempt to offer Musa a succulent, “They’re low maintainence, perfect for you, not that I really know you...’

Musa: ‘If I take it will you stop talking?”

Terra visibly deflates and Musa apologizes and grabs the succulent before finally getting to escape into music.

Aisha leans in to ask Terra if Alfea has a pool.  It has a river and Aisha’s been swimming—twice a day every day!  Terra says no pool, just the pond where the specialists train but nobody swims there, at least not on purpose.

And we immediately cut out to the pond, which looks pretty mucky, I wouldn’t want to swim there either!  Two specialists, a boy and a girl, are whacking away at each other with wooden swords on the shore.  They’re all dressed in black pants and tank tops, very Divergent movie poster except with the Alfea logo on the front. There’s a bunch of specialists training all around the pond and one does indeed knock their opponent in with a splash!  But we home in on Sky and Riven and I cannot get over how short and skinny Riven is compared to Sky!  And the fact that I’ve just been rewatching Lord of the Rings and Riven doesn’t look 100% not like Dominic Monaghan… sorry Riven’s actor, I’m sure in future episodes I’ll stop thinking you’re a hobbit!

Anyway, Riven’s teasing Sky about his crush on Bloom, says Sky always goes for the crazy ones and all redheads are crazy.  Sky puts Riven on the mat and Riven says he was getting high all summer and not practicing. Before Sky can give him a “big brother speech” on that riven skedaddled because here comes the teacher with a different speech!

This show’s Codatorta, whose name is Silva and who looks very irish and I like him, does a little speech about how y’all gotta train, singles out a black guy I think is Dane and says, ‘even you will be able to fight like him.” and attacks Sky, who fights back.  They spar for a minute.

Infodump: “Sky’s father was Andreas of Eraklyon, that makes him a legacy.” Also, some of these kids are from families of specialists and some were selected by Silva based on their talent for combat and weaponry. “This place will seem like hell until actual hell comes.  We are the first line of defense, a certainty when the future is uncertain!’

Then Dane snickers about the whole ‘school full of kids with swords’ and Silva says it must be nice to be so ‘soft’ he can make fun. And Dane drops that the barrier exists ‘to protect the school from Burned Ones.”

As he says it, we cut to Sky going out through the barrier to smoke.  

Burned ones are gone.  But Silva saw one when he was a kid.  His father shot it but was killed by the Burned One’s poison.  Burned Ones are inhumanly strong and fast, and have a terrible poison, or disease that kills people who get away.

Sky looks over and sees the shepherd’s body.  Yikes!

Cut to the staff arriving to look at the remains.  Just three: Dowling, Codatorta, and Terra’s dad.  Is that the whole staff?  Who teaches? Could’ve been a wolf or a bear… Terra’s dad collects some gunk from the body and I think calls it “char residue.”

Dowling says, “She killed all the Burned Ones.”

She? This world’s Marion/Daphne, likely.

But the adults clean it up so the kids can party!  Our girls are gathered around the food, and they’re better dressed!  Aisha’s got her hair up and a blue hoodie, Musa’s got a little red coat.  Terra has not been blessed by the fashion fairy, she’s in some overalls it looks like, not flattering.  Terra is saying hopefully that maybe the shepherd died of old age and Musa’s ‘Yeah, that old age decapitation” is gentle ribbing not cruel.  

Aisha’s loading up a stack of cookies, says how much she eats and, ‘If I didn’t swim I’d be massive.” it’s not aimed at Terra , but Terra flinches.  Aisha heads off and Terra says something that boils down to, ‘Musa, you’re tuning out me in particular.” which, Terra you’ve known Musa for what, six hours?  Way too short a time to take it personal.  Musa says, ‘It’s a me thing, it’s not you.” and Terra just flusters and heads away.  Musa looks troubled but not sure what to do and puts her headphones on.

This is SO much better than in the book.  Not perfect, all the interactions between the girls have been very weird as if they’ve been given a script full of cruel catty lines and instructed to say them in a kind way, but at least they’ve tried for the vibe of “trying to be nice to people we don’t know yet and flubbing it” rather than “we are all terrible people” like I feared.

Terra meets her dad and tries to go to the greenhouse with him but he makes her stay to enjoy the party.

Cut to some grownup dude—Dowling’s secretary? Apparently searching for something in a desk that I presume is outside the headmistress’ office.

Beatrix… or possibly a gothed-up Bloom… comes to see Dowling and when told the headmistress isn’t in says, ‘I’ll just take a water, room temp, thanks love.’ and then when the door opens Beatrix greets Dowling with a simpering ‘I'm your biggest fan, I’m obsessed with Alfea...” and cascading apologies for swearing, with more swearing. Dowling and her secretary are as confused by this as I am but Dowling says Beatrix can study the history of Alfea in the library if she wants to.  I assume this is evil Beatrix slyly getting permission to hit the books.  Is Beatrix even a student at Alfea?

Cut to Bloom’s notebook, she’s already started taking notes about powers being linked to emotions, love hate and fear.  Great initiative Bloom, but are there no textbooks you could be reading ahead in?  

We get dumped back to a flashback: Bloom’s mom wants her to go out on a Saturday night, to a party or a movie or whatever teen thing.  All Bloom wants to do is go to antique sales apparently.  Bloom doesn’t want to be a “basic bitch” like her mom and her mom doesn’t want her daughter to be a “weird loner.”

Pause while I urban dictionary “basic bitch.”  Huh.  Not a term I ever heard in my circle of nerds.  

Bloom and her mom are awful to each other.  Back in the present Bloom’s eyes flame up as she remembers.  She decides it’s time to go experiment!  Right now!  Before even one day of magic class or one page of a textbook!  The idiot ball has entered play.

Night has fallen because of course it has.  Bloom runs into Sky at the party.  But she’s not looking to party, she’s looking for a place to be alone outside.  Sky directs her to beyond the barrier, because we’re about to have Plot.  If it weren’t for Plot I‘m sure Sky could’ve suggested a specialist workout area inside the barrier. Sky says there might be wolves or bears or “maybe something much scarier” and Bloom catches the idiot ball and says, ‘But no people?  Perfect!”

Sky offers to go with her but Bloom says no thanks in a “I think you may be flirting and I may be down for that in the future just not right now.” kind of a way.  Good character interaction!  Except Stella grabs Sky for a chat once Bloom heads out to meet the Plot.

Sky and Stella have an opaque exchange that really just establishes they have a past of some sort that everyone knows about because everyone stares—or at least Stella thinks everyone is staring.  I’m starting to feel weirdly sorry for this Stella who has none of her namesake’s sparkle and confidence.  Why does she think all the realms are boring?  Is she ever enthusiastic?

...wait, it’s still day!  Why was it night inside??  This show is weird about lighting.  Gosh Ireland is beautiful!  Where’s this castle they got to be Alfea?  Can I go there?  This FOREST!  It is a fully magical forest.  Aisha is swimming in the river, with goggles and a cap but Bloom heads into the amazing forest.  Good music here too!  Forests and magic and music, come on Fate you CAN be a good show, I believe in you!  Just put down the idiot ball and step away...  Bloom goes through the barrier and outside it sees a swirl of orange and white sparkles in the air.  She watches it and laughs and then hikes through a little more forest.

Finding a clearing Bloom calls her fire.  At first she can’t, then she looks through the pictures on her phone looking for emotion. “Pictures of my sad teenage years are not happy thoughts.  Noted.” She says with an angsty little smile.  Then there’s a photo of the burned out house.  She zooms in and stares at it taking in all the details.  And we get flashbacks to the line of fire racing towards her parents’ bed.

Fire! Bloom turns her handful of fire this way and that, delighted, then tries for two hands.  This is the scene from the trailer, playing with fire.  Good music here.  And good that Bloom thought the magic was neat… uuuuntil she realizes she doesn’t know how to put it out.  She freaks out and waves her hands around trying to blow out the flames.

Aisha comes to the rescue and says dumb things like, “You’re losing control.” and “If you get angry at me...” and Bloom does get angry and throws lines of fire right at Aisha.  Who looks terrified. Sensibly, but also has she never seen fire magic before?  She grew up in a magic realm, does she know nothing about how to help someone get control?  Is control taught to magical babies so teenagers rarely see someone wigging out?  But if magic is emotion then everyone will lose control sometime since we all get upset.  How does an emotion=magic society function?

Anyway. aisha pulls water up from the ground and puts out the flames.

Inside Aisha gives Bloom what for about losing control.  Including, “Is that American for sorry I almost set you on fire?”  Srsly, this show is Irish people and Italians stealth throwing shade at Americans!  *Laughs in January 2021* Bloom retorts that she went away from people to experiment for just that reason, and tells Aisha about not having had fairy parents or any magical experience.

Aisha responds with the story of flooding her school including the toilets and having to wade through poo.  (I also tend to call it poo, after watching Mike Rowe.  I wonder if they watch Dirty Jobs in the Otherworld.)

And Bloom tells her story.  Bloom isn’t a cheerleader, she likes antiques and staying home by herself, so she and her mom don’t get along.  Her parents removed her door, which is awful!  And Bloom got flamey eyes and sent fire straight at her parents while they slept. While Bloom sat on her bed in a rage trance.  Understandable level of fury after that fight.  And Bloom feels awful, also understandable. And she snuck out to sleep in a creepy warehouse to protect her parents.  Her folks didn’t know it was her of course, they don’t know about magic.

Aisha says that beats her flood story, but Aisha is also wondering about something.  “You drew on a good deal of magic without even trying. it’s hard to believe you’re from a dormant bloodline.  Is there any chance you’re adopted?”

Bloom laughs.  Then says she heard the story of her birth a million times, she was a miracle baby diagnosed with a heart defect but then after birth her heart was fine.

Aisha: “Oh god, you’re a changeling!” … ‘It’s barbaric and it barely ever happens anymore….”

Bloom has had enough and just says, “why would you even tell me that?” and leaves.  Musa comes over and asks Aisha what she said.  Aisha: “The truth.  Because someone’s been lying to her.”

Cut to Dowling, lookin’ sus!

This changeling thing had better be fully explained later.  Why was it done in the past?  Why is it considered barbaric?  What happened to the parents’ real kid?  I assume she died of the heart condition, but that’s a bigole dangling bit of Plot.  In the unlikely event that Fate goes for many seasons that baby will turn up with magic too or as a specialist or something. 

Dowling pours tea.  Then she telekinetically locks her office door and opens a secret passage!  Dowling is sus.

Back at the party, where it again seems to be night.  Dane is leaning on a column hangin out when here comes Riven with a flask!  He offers, Dane says no thanks, Riven says, ‘There are two types of first-years: pussies and aspiring former pussies.” and pours the entire flask’s worth of booze into Dane’s cup anyway.

Dane says something about, “It feels like less a binary choice and more like a spectrum.”  And points for the actor delivering this line like it’s a sarcastic comment on social juscice-ness rather than the large sign saying “Dane is not straight!’ that the writers intended.  Dane drinks, makes a face, and Riven bullies him into drinking the rest, tipping the glass so Dane chokes.

Terra rides to the rescue, “Bullying the first-years?  Can you be more basic?” and Riven says Dane was into it which he wasn’t.

Terra: “Thinks he’s some badass but you should’ve seen him last year he was just a tragic nerd in disguise.”

Riven: “And she’s just three people in disguise.”

Dane does call Riven out on that bit of nastiness but Terra just does a great lil speech and strangles Riven with vines.  Thought I’d hate that but I kinda liked it.  Go Terra.  Then she introduces herself to Dane, says that wasn’t a great first impression but Dane says he’s about to make an impression by throwing up after a single drink, and Terra hurries him away presumably to the nurse.  

Bloom google-imaged changelings!  Lotsa woodcuts, someone’s fanart entitled “horror of fairy babies.’  There’s more nuance to it than that…  Bloom looks at a family photograph.

There’s Stella, coming to be sympathetic?  Nope, she’s coming to conivingly advance the plot!  “You know there’s no shame in that, wanting a normal life, wanting to be home...”

When the girls get back Bloom is nowhere to be found.  Musa mind-reads that Stella is wracked with guilt,  They put it together, Bloom was talking to Sky and now she’s gone.  Apparently Stella did something nasty to the last girl who talked to Sky.  Terra is kinda straight up badass.  Stella confesses, she kindly loaned Bloom the portal ring so she could go back to “the first world” but to use it Bloom has to go deep into the forest outside the barrier to a door in a graveyard.

Portal’s super low special effects, Bloom pushes open a door in a cemetary, the ring glows, and Bloom walks into what must be the warehouse she hid out in.

It’s very dark inside both buildings but away from the cemetary it seems to still be day so we can see a Burned One’s shadow coming towards the portal.  Day and night seem to depend on location in this show, and anywhere you need a monster it’s gonna be dark!  Bloom seems to leave the magic portal open and we see her step out on the warehouse into a weirdly well-lit night on earth.

Real actual nighttime on earth.  Bloom walks to her parents’ house and calls them from outside.  Her dad’s surprised she called twice in one day.  This call her folks seem just worried and nice, not awful like they were in the flashback.  Bloom cries.  She can’t ask her parents about the changeling thing.  Her mom says very kind, ‘Your path isn’t like mine or your father’s but I can’t wait to see who you become.”  Bloom hangs up and cries and watches her parents in their house, then walks back to the warehouse to return to Alfea.

But first we get to see where she was camping!  In a little office in the warehouse. She brought a lot of stuff, bedding and pictures for the walls and everything.  She opens a notebook and we see that she was experimenting already, discovered she was fireproof, wondered if she had superpowers.  Then she senses something and looks out through an interior window into the rest of the warehouse.

Yikes! it’s a Burned One!

Bloom staggers back, trips, and drops Stella’s ring down a grate in the floor.

Bloom’s never heard of Burned Ones at this point but she knows a monster when she sees one.  She cowers, back to the wall. The Burned One breaks through the window and tries to grab her!

Bloom escapes into some kind of tunnel, I guess she opened the grate that the ring fell through?  It’s not totally clear.  There’s the ring, on the other side of a different grate or screen, Bloom can’t reach it, there’s lots of roaring, Bloom runs like hell!

And there’s Dowling!  She says, ‘don’t stop now.’ and gestures Bloom through the door back to the cemetery.  The door closes behind her.  Terra, Musa and Aisha are waiting to make sure Bloom’s ok. Bloom says the Burned One got the ring.

Stella, meanwhile, is on Sky’s bed when he comes out of the shower! Dressed, at least.

Sky is not interested.  “You can’t be here, Stell.  If Silva finds out-’   Sky goes for his trousers but Stella comes over and snuggles up to his bare back.  Sky is still not keen.  Seems Stella dumped him then went silent all summer and now she’s jumping in since he talked to Bloom.  Stella… comes out and says, “I got jealous. I did something really stupid.”  and she says, “I can’t sleep in a room where everybody hates me.”   For sending Bloom into danger to get home when that’s what Bloom wanted?  Not great, Stella, but hateworthy?  Did the girls all tell her they hate her or does Stella just think she’s an awful person?  And is Stella actually desperately unhappy or is she just trying to get in Sky’s pants?  Not sure what to take away from this.  Sky hugs Stella and tells her she’s better than she thinks she is.  

The others get back to the dorm and Aisha reassures Bloom that Dowling can take care of the Burned One.

Cut to Beatrix leaving her raid on the library with armfuls of books. She passed Riven, who’s smoking.  They say flirty things and Beatrix says she’s been “snorting the midnight adderall” to show that she’s a bad girl.  Riven offers her a puff but her hands are full of books so they do this almost-kiss so Riven can blow smoke into her mouth.  Erotic, also gross.  Is that a real thing people do? Riven asks Beatrix if she’s a first-year and she says “I’m lots of things” and walks off leaving Riven and the room he’s in, which has the most gorgeous arched windows with trees in them.  Is this place real?  It’s the same place the party was but now it’s night and these windows are glowing green with tree outlines in them. This has gotta be something the filmmakers added.

Pajama scene in the girls’ suite, Terra waters plants, Musa hops in bed with headphones on.  Terra does a needy little wave.  Musa reluctantly un-headphones.  Terra offers a speaker she borrowed from her brother so Musa can have her music without shutting other people out.

And I cringe so hard because just let people tune you out if they want! Communicate by whiteboard!  People not wanting to share doesn’t mean they hate you, it means they have their own thoughts they’re busy with!  Come on Terra, be better than your novelization self!

Musa calls Terra out on her fake-happy bullshit.  Musa can feel all of Terra’s insecurities and anger.  Seems like maybe empaths shouldn’t have to share a room!  What’s the range on mind reading?  How did Musa hit 16 without learning to tune stuff out or going mad?  But Musa says, ‘but if you want to know how I really feel...” and switches her music to a speaker, it’s guitar-y and nice.

Up in Dowling’s office, Silva says she should’ve killed the Burned One not left it chained up and knocked out in a shack outside the barrier.  Dowling needs to investigate this Burned One, see if there are more of them.  Then Dowling spills that Bloom is a changeling, from the time the last Burned One disappeared.  And she says, “Rosalind kept so much from us.  I’m worried about the students. The Alfea they know is very different from the one we attended.”  There’s something very “there was a war before” about the two of them.  Dowling may not be sus after all, though that may make her a terrible headmistress depending on how the next episodes go.

Montage of sleeping students.  Terra and Dane are texting.  Dane accidentally likes one of Riven’s sexy photos.  Riven’s pleased.  Sky and Stella are sharing a bed but after the last scene I can’t imagine they actually did anything.  Sky seemed pretty unseduceable.  

And outside a Mysterious Cloaked Figure passes through the barricade, finds the Burned One in the hut, and zaps it awake with lightning. It pushed back its hood… Beatrix!  So if she undid her too-tight braids she’d be Stormy?  So is Beatrix the villain?  I mean obviously she’s a villain but the threat of the Burned Ones feels... bigger than one teenager in Bratz clothes who has not got the presence of even one Trix much less all three wrapped up together.  But anyway she’ gets to be a doomful cloaked figure at the end of episode one.

Very pretty ending credits music. Listened to it several times.  I can’t understand the lyrics which is probably just as well.  Is it in irish or is it just sung in a way to not have clear lyrics?  C’mon fate, Irishness is a big thing you’ve got going for you, please milk it for all its worth!

I… I LIKED it!  Now my friends say future episodes get worse so I can’t get my hopes too high but this wasn’t awful.  None of the girls really had any vibe of their characters, only Bloom and Sky really look like Bloom and Sky.  The worldbuilding is lacking, I’m left with more questions than answers.

And oh god one episode was ten pages and about five hours.  I… I meant to do this with every episode but I’m not sure I can.  There’s so much to comment on it takes forever.  Maybe I’ll do each one in parts.  Or maybe I’ll abandon the writing and just watch the show like a normal person.  It’s a lot of fun to fine-toothed comb each scene but I’m’a be here forever!

#fate the winx saga

[theshy1sout]

Poppy’s extraordinary list

I dunno how to write the intro... I'm a kinda person who doesn't read it at all. I can only say that I make up the plot during the writing what's (I'm sure) really visible XD but Hey, it's only English homework and I love trolls, I love Zoey, I let this fanfic be cringing so let's go

_________________________________________________

Chapter 2

- DJ! DJ! Wake up!

- Huh?

Poppy trembled her so hard without any results. Suki was known as really hard to wake up and it was not without the reason: she couldn't come back to reality by calling or shaking. She couldn't even open her eyes. She was just snoring as she was snoring before Poppy went into her pod.

- Suki! I need your help! - Poppy didn't give up. - You know trolls better than me, cause of these parties you did every day! I need information! WAKE UP!

- Poppy... - Suki snored unawares. - Gimme a sec... I... Got... A nap...

- You're napping for hours! - Poppy said. - Please, I need your help now!

- Why is that so urgent? - Suki opened her eyes trying to sit on her own.

Poppy stopped. Why was it so urgent? She didn't know. She knew there were lots of Trolls needing her help. And she knew she really needed to do something, anything! Anything but thinking or feeling...

- Please... - Poppy put her hands together as if she was praying.

Suki finally sat straight on the couch and looked at Poppy clicking her tongue twice.

- What do you need? - She asked with a more strong voice.

- Do you know something about the gray troll in our Village? - Poppy asked.

DJ was thinking for a while, frowning and clicking her tongue.

- You mean Branch?

- Yes, this one's sitting on the branch above the Village - Poppy nodded excitedly.

- No no no, Poppy, his name is literally Branch - She said, stressing the last word.

- Oh... - Poppy was surprised.

- Is it that weird? Your name is literally Poppy!

- No, I mean... Did Trolls name him Branch because of his sitting on the branch the whole day and watching the Village? - Poppy asked.

- What? No... No one saw him on the branch above the Village. You did?

- Yes, and...

- And you think what? Why did your parents name you ‘Poppy’? Because your hair is poppy or you're the princess of pop trolls and they thought "Oh, Let's name her Poppy! She will be Poppy Queen of Pop! Poppy the Pop troll! It's really funny!" or maybe because you popped out your Mother 's hair and they were like "Oh, she just popped out from the hair, let's name her...

- Okay, okay, I understand, please stop - Poppy was laughing so much. - So his name is Branch. Just Branch. Only Branch. Without any reason.

- Yea, you Sherlock - Suki yawned, rubbing her eyes.

- So... Do you know anything else about him? - Poppy asked.

- Let me see - Suki looked, still quite sleepy, on the floor. - He's really mean, always angry, hates parties, hates everything, talks with no one, lives alone in the Forest, why are you asking? - She said it really fast, all in one breath.

- Well, he's gray and I'm the Queen so...

- But you have a boyfriend, girl! - Suki interrupted her.

- What? What?? Suki! You're really still sleeping right now!

- And what are we talking about? - DJ said pretending to be much more asleep than she actually was. Poppy laughed.

- Branch. How could I help him?

- With what? - Suki said confusedly.

- Returning his happiness of course! - Poppy smiled widely.

Suki smiled widely too but for other reasons.

- You're kidding me...

- No, I’m not! - Poppy said enthusiastically. - If I want to be a good Queen I must be able to make every single troll happy! And also everyone deserves to be happy, am I right?

- I dunno - Suki said without any enthusiasm, looking mindlessly at the floor. - You didn't even know about Branch existing, did you?

- But I changed it! And now I want to change everything! There are many more trolls needing help than I thought - Poppy said, walking to the window and looking through it. - I want to help them all. I want to make them feel happy.

She heard that Suki groaned out and fell on the couch. Poppy still looked through the window at the walking trolls. There were many of them! Maybe Suki was right, Branch would be too much at the beginning. There were so many others who needed her help, that she couldn't decide where she needed to start.

And then she heard the music. She turned around, but the only thing she could see was DJ's feet sticking out from the couch.

And then DJ sang:

Yo listen up here's a story About a little girl that lives in a blue world

Poppy came back to the couch to see DJ 's face. It was still weird for her but now she knew that only she could see and hear what was just happening. She sat in front of the couch and listened up.

And all day and all night and everything she sees is just blue Like her inside and outside Blue her house with a blue little window And a blue corvette And everything is blue for her And herself and everybody around 'Cause she ain't got nobody to listen

It was really surprising for Poppy. She always thought of her best friend as a chill person without any problems. She thought Suki could have her small problems and there was nothing more than that. Only happy, chilling Suki enjoying every single party that she hosted.

But Poppy was wrong. Suki wasn't that happy.

I'm blue da ba dee da ba daa...

Suki took a pillow and put it into her face, not stopping singing. This muffled "da ba dee da ba daa" sounded really pathetic. When she finished, she put the pillow back to its place and came back to her previous position, like she didn't move even a bit. Then she saw Poppy in front of her staring at her narrowly.

- What? - Suki asked, a bit confused.

- Is everything ok with you? - Poppy asked, pointing at her.

- Yea, I'm fine - Suki said with a blank face.

Poppy sighed, feeling really bad. Of course, there was something not ok with Suki, but if she hid it, Poppy couldn't help her. And it also hurt that her best friend hid something from her like she didn't trust her that much. Poppy wanted to help the whole Village and she even couldn't help her best friend! It was overwhelming.

- I'm sure you're not - Poppy pressed on her.

Suki twisted her lips. But didn't say anything.

- Suki, I am your best friend - Poppy said raising her arms widely. - You can tell me everything.

- I Just... Dunno... - She mumbled. - We don't spend that much time since you... started going out with Creek.

Poppy melted.

- I've even noticed that you spend time only with me out of all the Snack Pack - Suki gulped and looked at Poppy kinda worried if she was already upset or not.

- You know there are many bad things in this world and you always try to pretend that everything is ok - Suki continued, sitting up on the couch. - I feel like you hide more from me than I do from you. And it also feels like you hide those things also from yourself.

Poppy bit her lips. It wasn't true, was it? She just tried to be perfect Queen and make everyone happy. Was it bad?

And then she recalled her dad and felt tears in her eyes.

- No - She said, rubbing eyes and standing up. - No! I'm just trying to help you, ok?

Suki looked at her really sad.

- You didn't even listen to me.

- No, I listened!

- So what was I saying?

- About... About... - Poppy was shattered. - About me being bad Queen.

Suki rubbed her eyebrows.

- I didn't say that.

- Yes, you did!

- Ok, even if I did, I didn't mean it! - Suki was calm before, now she couldn't hold her tongue - Please, stop behaving like a child and escaping from your problems! Just listen to me!

Poppy couldn't stand it anymore. It was too much for one day. Too much, really too much... She started shaking her head.

- No - She said. - I've got enough to listen today!

And there she was. Running from Suki's pod through the Forest. Again.

It was really late evening so this time the woods were really dark and grim. Also, she didn't think about not getting lost in the Forest this time so she was of course lost after a few minutes. She didn't let the tears go down so she ran with a blurry view, almost gropingly. When she stopped, she found herself panting and exhausted, both physically and emotionally.

- You got this - she said to herself. - You are strong and you are brave. You can be a good person, you can be a good Queen...

She closed her eyes and frowned, whispering.

- But you can't be a good friend and you can't be a good daughter.

She felt tear swam down through her cheek. But before she could think more, she heard singing:

When you're falling in a forest and there's nobody around Do you ever really crash, or even make a sound?

- Oh no - She whispered. She forced herself to run again. Running as fast as she could. Running towards the singing.

When you're falling in a forest and there's nobody around Do you ever really crash, or even make a sound?

She felt her legs hurt, but she couldn't give up. She couldn't disappoint anybody else.

When you're falling in a forest and there's nobody around Do you ever really crash, or even make a sound?

She was almost there. She heard his voice so clearly. Suddenly she popped out from the leaves and stood a few meters away from Branch.

It was really unexpected. For him and for her.

Firstly, closely he looked different than she had imagined him. She thought for some reason he would be dirty, rusty, ugly, hunched, his hair is a mess... You know, just awful and wild. Like a troll who lived in the Forest for years and hated trolls so much. But he was... He was handsome. His black hair wasn't in a mess (there was also something galvanizing with them). His leaves hand-made vest looked really good, especially on him. And his eyes. His blue eyes were unexpectedly appealing.

- What are you doing here - Branch said toughly like it wasn't a question. She noticed that he also had a really pleasant voice, even if he was mean. And then she also noticed a rope that he was holding in his left hand.

It was the only thing that looked exactly as she expected but she wasn't happy with that.

- I guess... - She started shyly. - The same as what you do. Escape from the problems.

He dwined. His 'I hate you, at first sight, stranger' face melted a bit. Just a bit. They stood like that, looking at each other like the time had stopped. Then she felt a bit ashamed, so started rubbing her neck.

- Wanna walk a bit? - Poppy asked shyly.

- I don't want to go to the Village and meet happy-ever-after trolls - Branch murmured.

- Me neither.

He gave her a surprised glance and then looked discreetly on the rope, squeezing it.

- Fine - He added, then hid one hand into a pants pocket and started walking onward without explaining. Poppy just joined to his side but not so close. They were the strangest strangers in her whole life and it felt so dumb and awkward. But she also felt some kind of understanding connection between them, like they had the same sort of problem.

But she was sure they didn't.

- So... I've heard you live here in the woods... - She tried to start a little talk. - How is that?

- I dunno, dark, lonely, dangerous, boring... - Branch said, not looking at her. - Maybe you didn’t even know those words before.

- I knew those words... - She said, but then she added sadly. - I thought I knew...

He looked at her this time. He looked very surprised when she said something sadly.

- Why are you looking at me this way? - She asked, not sure if she was doing something wrong.

- Till now I thought I was the only sad troll... Ever - He said. - And I don't even know... You know who I am?

- Not at all - She answered. - I know your name is Branch and it's not because you like sitting on the branch above the Village and watching the trolls.

Corner of his mouth lifted a little up, making a tiny smile on his face, which surprised Poppy a lot. She didn't know he could do that. Did she amuse him? Thinking about it made her smile a bit.

- And... - She tried to continue. - Trolls thought that you're so mean and scary.

- And you?

- And I?

- You think that too?

- I dunno... I don't know you, I can't judge you but you seem to be really kind.

Branch lifted his eyebrow up.

- Seriously? - He said waggishly.

- Yes, you do!

He looked really amused by her. She didn't even notice when his smile became this wide. She forgot about her problems until he asked her:

- So... What was your problem?

- Hey! You didn't ask about my name! - She tried to stretch small talk a bit till they would start talking about their problems.

- Your name is Poppy - He said like it was obvious. - Poppy the Queen. Queen Poppy of the Pop trolls. Everyone knows you even if they don't want to.

- I wish they wanted - She said smiling widely and seeing as it made Branch a bit overwhelmed. He urgently came back to the topic.

- So... What's your problem? - He said. - I thought good Queens don't have any problems.

- I don't know if I am one - She said sadly.

- Why do you think so? - He worried. Just a bit.

She twisted her lips. And then groaned out slightly.

- I... I don't even... I can't even visit my dad in the hospital - Poppy forced herself to say that. - He's dying and I... I can't get it. Why him? Why now? Why do I feel so guilty?

She felt her lips wobbling, but she tried so hard not to cry in front of Branch.

- And my best friend... She said that I can't listen. She said I behaved like a child. And she said I was escaping from my problems and... And... And...

She felt tears in her eyes. She made a deep breath to calm herself.

- And she was right. I can't help anyone. Even myself.

- Well, you actually helped someone - Branch said.

Poppy frowned. She lifted up her eyes to see his face, trying to understand what he meant. But then she noticed his hands were empty... And there wasn't rope anywhere.

- And I think the only troll who can help you is your dad - He said with a blank face like he didn't know what expression he should show her.

She put her eyes down on the ground.

- I don't know if I already can...

- You have got time till the end of the world - He said shrugging his arms.

He was right. Her dad couldn't wait any longer for her. She should spend as much time with him as she could. Like... Right now.

And maybe he could be this one person in the world who could understand her hearing-thoughts problem. She looked at Branch so gratefully.

- Thank you - Poppy smiled at him. She wanted so hard to hug him but she knew it would be too much for him. They were still more strangers than friends.

- You're welcome - He crossed his arms on the chest, smiling back to her. It was still surprising how charming his smile was.

- Will we meet again? - She asked, hoping that he didn't disagree.

- Well... - He looked like he was thinking about something. Then he finally said: - But not in the Village.

- No - She smiled warmly. - Not in the Village.

They stood like that for a while until Branch folded his arms saying:

- You don't know the way back, do you?

Poppy giggled. He guessed exactly what she thought.

- No, I don't - She smirked.

Branch rolled his eyes and guided her to the Village.

* * *

It was harder than she'd expected. Or it was just a week full of unexpected things. She came back to the hospital almost in the middle of the night and found the room where her dad laid. She was walking a bit in front of the door - she couldn't go in. It was still too much for her. She hadn't let herself think or feel about it, so now she was filled only with that. She trembled. And then she heard her daddy's voice singing:

Hear my voice... as i'm calling out for you Hear my voice... there are things I wish you knew for even if my heart is strange and hard to understand I'll give all that I have for you I'll help you take a stand so hear my voice... as i'm calling out for you Hear my voice... there are things i wish you knew so hear my voice... Hear my voice.... Hear my voice...

It was really heartbreaking. She went into the room and then she saw him. King Peppy just laid on the hospital bed and looked sadly on the wall. She went towards him and called him out with tears in her eyes. He beamed as he saw her. She jumped to his bed and hugged him so tight.

They cried like they hadn't seen each other for years.

___________________________________________________

DJ Suki - I’m Blue

Branch - Waving through a window

King Peppy - Hear my voice

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#dreamworks trolls #trolls #branch #branch trolls #queen poppy #poppy #poppy trolls #trolls poppy #trolls branch #fanfic #fanfiction #Poppy's extraordinary playlist #zoey's extraordinary playlist #zep #creek #dj suki #king peppy #trolls world tour #trolls 2 #Trolls #dreamworkstrolls #guy diamond #Cooper

[patriiiarch]

Hi what are your thoughts on some of the lesser known addams family adaptations namely addams family reunion, the late 90s sitcom, the musical and the recent 2019 movie?

Addams Family Reunion was my first experience with the Addams Family. I had the VHS when I was a kid and I loved it. I remember taking it to my gran’s house and leaving it there just so I could have something to watch when visiting. But then I grew up and saw the early 90s movies, the tv show, and the 90s cartoon and I realized that those were WAY better.

Now whenever I see any scenes from that movie, I cringe. It’s just not great and none of the actors have chemistry with each other, which is so important for them as a family unit. Even the plot was dumb. The whole thing starts with them getting an invitation to a family reunion, but it’s addressed to the “Adams” and they’re just like lol ok guess that’s for us then. It’s just all a bit silly and lame, especially when it was the follow-up to the early 90s movies and the dream cast. 

From what I can remember, I don’t think I ever saw an episode of The New Addams Family when I was younger. To this day, I’ve only watched a few because I just can’t handle it. They remade the classic show’s episodes, but they just miss the mark. Maybe it’s a show that people would be attached to because of their childhood, but I don’t have that kind of attachment. I just remember my reaction to the first time I heard the new theme they had for it and just… nah. The Addams theme is too iconic to change. There are ways to update it, but don’t change its core.

The musical is ooc for a lot of the characters. It’s like they didn’t know how to make a musical about them without including some kind of unnecessary drama. First of all, Wednesday wants to marry this guy and she changes the way she dresses just to impress his family. She tells her parents that she wants “one normal night” and “can’t we be an average family” when she would never say that. The whole point of the Addams’ is that they aren’t aware that they’re abnormal. They think everyone else is strange! So, it’s weird for them to even entertain the thought of pretending they’re something they aren’t. They have this attitude of ‘we are who we are, take it or leave it.’ They wouldn’t change for anyone and Wednesday definitely wouldn’t change herself for a boy. What is this, Grease? 

Anyway, then we come to the issue with the portrayal of Morticia and Gomez’s relationship. Dear Lord! So, Wednesday goes to Gomez and tells him to keep her engagement a secret from her mother, which seems strange already. The family has always been really close with each other and for there to be this weird tension between mother and daughter is just bizarre. Again, drama for the sake of drama.

So, Gomez keeps the secret (even though he wouldn’t keep a secret from Tish) and then Morticia finds out and she’s angry about it. She’s so angry that she actually packs her bags and kisses a sleeping Pugsley goodbye (I’ve only seen the UK tour live so I’m not sure how many differences there are in other versions) and then goes right to the gate. Morticia was really going to abandon her children and husband over something like that. The family is all about sticking together through everything and this didn’t show that. So many people are always praising them for being the most functional family in fiction, but the musical cheapened them by throwing in some soap opera drama and dumb bs.

It gets worse, too. I remember there was a part that made it seem like Morticia had given up everything to have a family. Like she had so many dreams and goals, but she sacrificed a life of travel (she said that she never got to see the catacombs of Paris) to settle. It made it seem like having a family and being a wife was a second choice and it was very woe is me. I hated that. I don’t know how they got Morticia’s characterization so wrong. I could rant about this for days, but me and Rae ( @mortiiicia ) have literally gone on long Discord rants about this with each other. 

There are some good songs in the show. I do like When You’re An Addams, Happy/Sad, and Move Toward the Darkness. I wish they would do a completely new musical and keep them in character while having similar effects that the Beetlejuice musical has. But yeah, let me end my rant here before I go on and on.

I was surprised by the 2019 movie. The CGI made me wary and the trailers were a bit off-putting with some of the jokes and the forced meme-y dialogue on some of the promotional art. I think it was one of Pugsley’s posters that used a line that referred to something being “lit”. It also didn’t help when Cousin Itt rolled up to the house with Snoop Dogg music playing in that one trailer. I know he voices him (although there isn’t much to voice lmao) but I was like come on.

But surprisingly, I liked it more than I thought I would. It was actually pretty heartwarming and I liked that they gave Pugsley his own little storyline because he’s usually cast aside for Wednesday. Then they recreated the original show’s intro sequence at the end and, honestly, that was iconic. So, yeah! I didn’t hate it! 

I’m so protective of the Addams Family and I just want them to be portrayed well. The early 90s movies still reign supreme along with the TV show. The 90s cartoon is amazing, too. The 70s one? Eh, that one was a bit all over the place, but I think that was more to do with the dated jokes and Gomez’s voice acting in that is WEIRD (and not the good kind.) I have the boxset of the 70s cartoon and will give it another go at some point. I just wish there was a DVD release of the 90s one :(

But yeah! That’s how I feel about the different portrayals. Thanks for the question!

#Anonymous #&; out of cigars ( OOC ) #//man i went off #//these are just my opinions!

[schibi12]

Review/Reaction for "Quack Pack!"

Forgot to mention on the first post that i loved that they added Della on the intro just a nice touch and secondly i feel that the animation got better, don't get me wrong the animation has always been good but in these two episodes it looked a lot smoother and more animated (i see the irony in that sentence).

This episode was unsettling and somewhat disturbing ok i may be exaggerating but those humans were super creepy and nightmare inducing. But the plot and humor of this episode was so good.

Favorite Moments

The 90's sitcom cringe was real and strong on this episode.

The cold open and the intro had me in stitches. Also Don Cheadle beautiful buttery voice reveal was amazing.

So i first thought that Scrooge was going to dress the children in old timey fauntleroy suits not Donald which why Donald why???

Huey's mad descent to realizing that something is off and wrong in that reality was great including the self-referential jokes like the fourth wall, the acknowledgement of the live audience, the commercial break and that transition was beautiful.

Those ads especially that Disney Channel parody were so weirdly nostalgic.

Launchpad and his band One Day You Will make it just not today or ever.

Then we get Goofy which was so Goofy it was nicely done.

The Flashback effect and realization was so funny to me i watched that scene like 5 times, also why is Goofy remebering he wasn't even in the adventure.

Ok so Donald's wish was not that surprising to me i Will get to this on the Review part of this post.

I love how all the family react to the Flashback with their catchphrases and Beakley's acknowledgement of her awful catchphrase is the Cherry on top.

Ok so casting a classic 90's sitcom actor as Gene a genie that has been stuck since the 1990's in this epsiode parody of a 90's sitcom was Genius.(so many 90's)

So Donald's reason for the wish and Della's reaction to it, like i felt the pain.

Donald selfishness ughhhhhh come on Dude.

I hope i never see that Ducktales reboot that Gene teased NEVER.

Those Humans they are gonna haunt my dreams and nightmares for weeks.

Loved how Dewey was holding Della's shirt it was so cute and nice little detail (i wish i could show a screenshot but My phone is broken and i can't take screenshot so if You wish to see it for yourself it's around 16:02 and 16:08). Also Dewey's weakness is having low self-esteem and disapproval is a whole mood.

The fight was great as always loved the humor, the gags and the whole cleverness around it was epic. I adored that talk Donald and Goofy had about what's normal and how your own family uniqueness is what makes You normal it touched My heart. Loved that when Donald enters the room and starts getting angry the family cheer at him cause they know that Donald is going to finish this fight, also liked that Goofy is just taking pics, Launchpad and that saxophone solo is something i didn't know i needed and of course we get that iconic and trademarked Goofy howl.

I AM very CONFUSED so Goofy exists in Ducktales now but he didn't exist before but he is popular so Goof Troop exists but not in that reality so he exists in the human reality is Goofy even real or is he just made of genie magic but if he's real that means that Goof Troop is canon but is it in the same reality i am just what WHERE IS MAX???

Loved Donald's final wish and i loved him in there on his Houseboat with the triplets i think since the season 1 premiere we haven't seen them together just the four of them, Louie was going all Disney Villain with the wishes he was suggesting and i just love this final scene.

Review time.

Ok so i haven't seen Ducktales the movie, Quack Pack or Goof Troop take this as biased or unbiased review.

Gene the genie was great liked his character and personality.Goofy You can't go wrong with Goofy he was lovable and so great with Donald. Wish to see Gene and Goofy in future episodes.

Loved the overall craziness of the epsiode and the self referential humor and comedy it was great didn't expect it to be a Donald focused episode i'm not complaining i just didn't expect it was still great, So Donald's wish came with good intentions but it was horribly executed, and yeah it wouldn't be Bad to have normal problems for once in awhile but forcing the family to be something they're not that's where You draw the line but Donald wanted to be normal that's where he is wrong not that he has a problem is that he needed to accept his family just the way they are and this might be the beginning of some character growth for Donald first starting with his family maybe then with his Friends and lastly Daisy.(if You want a better analysis on Donald in this episode ge see @drummergirl231-2 post about it she does an excellent analysis)

Overall this was a great episode with wacky hijinks and good comedy not the multidimensional travelling episode i was hoping for but it was still super creative i give this episode 4.5 ducks out of 5

🦆🦆🦆🦆

#ducktales #ducktales 2017 #quack pack #donald duck #scrooge mcduck

[kzesl]

Kdrama: Moorim school-thoughts

I have a lot of feelings about Moorim School: Saga of the Brave, and guess what? I’m going to share. Fair warning, this post is probably going to be a jumbled mess. Like me. I’m a jumbled mess. Spoilers ahoy.

Meet everyone at the school. They all look dorky. Headmaster in the middle, students on the left and teachers on the right, with some overlap.

How I got into this one? I watched Secretly, greatly (ouch, my feels. I could write a long post about it. Stop me. Please.) and then I decided to see what else Lee Hyun Woo has acted in. Because he was an adorable badass in it, and I am weak.

Objectively speaking, Moorim school is not very good. I, however, don’t watch things objectively. Why be objective when you can be subjective? Right? Right. This is not a kdrama that I would recommend to anyone who has never watched a kdrama before. This is a drama for those who like certain, specific things in their dramas. I enjoyed it. Even though I had to increase the speed at times. I use Super Netflix extension occasionally, I admit.

What is it about?

This is the IMDb summary: Moorim School isn't focused on high academic scores. The school teaches students virtues including honesty, faith, sacrifice and communication. The teachers and students at the school come from different countries with their own stories.

These are the four main characters, from left to right: Wang Chi-Ang, Shim Soon-deok, Yoon Shi-Woo, and Hwang Sun-ah.

The intro is a bit misleading. It makes you expect badassery and mysticism, and instead you get a bunch of dorks arguing about who gets the bed with a good view though the window.

It starts with a man protecting a little girl, and fighting off a bunch of mean looking men, dressed in black (gasp! Bad guys) in the woods. The fight scenes are not exactly good. They make me cringe. It’s not high production. However, not every series can be like K2 when it comes to fight scenes. It’s a bit bad, because the series focuses on martial arts quite a bit, but eh. They managed to convey that the man protecting the girl is a badass. Let us move on and not mention the quality of action scenes again. He fights the bad guys off and hides with the girl behind a shield that he raises by activating magical symbols. (Magic is never explained. Everyone just accepts its existence. It’s not taught at the school either. It just exists and no one questions it.)

Then we jump to eighteen years later.

People are preparing for a concert, but the main star, the most popular member of k-pop group Möbius, Yoon Shi-Woo, is sleeping instead of rehearsing. He gets chewed out, but he is not overly concerned. He’s got bigger problems, like the splitting headaches and wonky hearing.

Next we meet Wang Chi-Ang, who is spoiled, sheltered momma’s boy, who only wants to make her happy and his father, the chairman of the Shang Hai group, proud. He’s in the city to go to the concert, because his father’s company is sponsoring it. Shi-Woo is a model for their company.

Shim Soon-deok is a resourceful young woman who is working hard to support herself and her blind father. She sells food at the concert, and she works at a chicken place. She also attends Moorim school. The ladies are badass in this series. Which is nice.

Hwang Sun-ah is Soon-deok’s friend and Shi-Woo’s biggest fan. She calls him my Shi-Woo (headcanon: she is the founder of his fan club. It is a secret she will take to her grave, because it feels a bit awkward when certain truths come to light. Headcanon 2: Shi-Woo knows, but lets her think he doesn’t.). She had to sneak out to go to the concert, because her father, the headmaster of Moorim school is overprotective.

There are a couple of shirtless scenes and Shi-Woo has a Very Important Necklace, which we know because the camera focuses on it a lot.

Chi-Ang and Shi-Woo are accidentally given the same room at a hotel. Oh, no. Who’s going to be the one to leave?!?! Chi-Ang attempts to throw his weight around and refuse to sponsor Shi-Woo, because everything is a competition for that man and he has to win. But Shi-Woo is unimpressed and uninterested and like cool, whatevs, day off.

That’s Shi-Woo there, in white. No fucks given. Can’t win against someone who’s not playing, Chi-Ang. Now this says a lot about their future relationship. Chi-Ang always tries to win, and Shi-Woo always refuses to compete.

The concert goes okay, until there is an accident on stage and Shi-Woo almost gets injured/dies because a piece of equipment starts falling on him and he doesn’t hear everyone shout at him to move because of the wonky hearing. He slows the equipment down with his surprise magical powers and Sun-ha manages to save him. She tells him to go to Moorim school, but doesn’t tell him how to get there (who needs directions, anyway).

Both he and Chi-Ang end up there in the end. Chi-Ang because his father insists (he has nefarious plans) and the girl he likes goes to the same school, and Shi-Woo because he wants help with his hearing. There is a possibility that he will permanently loose it and music is all he has. He is an orphan who has no one else in this world since his manager/father figure turned out to be all about the money. Also, the relationship he has with the rest of his group seems strictly professional. And Möbius was the name he used for himself before he was even scouted. So it predates the group. (I want to read a fic about group feels, or an AU where they are actually close.)

Also, the shield magically comes down when they come close to the school for the first time, and that was not supposed to happen and everyone is concerned. But that relates to the plot and the plot is a bit meh. I’m here for the relationships anyway. (Sigh. The plot had potential.)

Things happen, and I won’t go into detail, but the two of them get expelled, go on a quest, get accepted back into the school and become friends. BFFs.

The school teaches cooking, martial arts, manners (I think), dance (?), meditation, and no other subject, it seems. It is a very weird school, and the professors are weird and nothing makes sense, but okay. Not many things about this series make sense. Moorim was created to ensure world peace, apparently. And it’s a martial arts school, primarily, but they are more focused on teaching good values. There aren’t that many students in this school, and they are from all over. I’m not sure how students are actually recruited. The school is a secret. Are they scouted? Are they those connected to Moorim? Or those who get lost in the woods outside of the school? Who knows. Not me. They also seem to struggle financially because the heating is off. Why else would everyone sleep pretty much fully clothed?

The other students in the school get some screen time, but their characters are not all that well fleshed out, so I found myself not caring too much. It got a bit better in later episodes. One of them keeps badmouthing others in English, for some reason. It’s not like on one understands him. Everyone understands him. He just likes speaking English, I guess.

There is a mysterious man in a coma, villains, a magical key split into three pieces that can lead to unlimited power, reunited families, surprise siblings, etc.

Also, let’s ignore how quickly some people became good at martial arts. Now, I’m no expert, but I have a bit of experience in martial arts and I have known some extremely talented individuals, prodigies, but even they needed more than two months to get anywhere. I’m going to leave it at that. Magic is real in this universe. It’s magic. Problem solved.

The part I like the most about this series is the relationship between Chi-Ang and Shi-Woo. They start off as roommates who don’t like one another, so they fight a lot. It changes, but- Now I’m all for men being shown as having other male friends they can have healthy relationships with, someone they could lean on and cry in front of, if necessary, without toxic masculinity getting in the way. Let men be friends, yeah? And I’m not one who immediately sees gay in everything. But, those two guys have the hots for each other. They’re all: I came back for you/I stayed for you/I miss you/You mean more to me than unlimited power/You’re so cool-No you are/Don’t smile, I might start liking you.

Ahem.

They like the same girl (Soon-deok). Which seemed very hard for them, but I believe that was the best thing that could have happened to them. Soon-deok kept refusing Chi-Ang, and she was very clear about it. She drew the line at one point, and he made me very uncomfortable when he outright told her that he doesn’t care about her lines. This could have turned very ugly if his rival had been anyone other than Shi-Woo. He threatened to destroy Shi-Woo more than once, and he came close to irreparably destroying their relationship, but in the end he didn’t. Because Shi-Wook had so much faith in him, he couldn’t bear to. Again, if it had been anyone else, he wouldn’t have even hesitated. (Hmm, imagine a Dark AU. So many possibilities. )    

I have the urge to write fic. Sigh.

Also, at one point the students have a party and Möbius’s song plays in the background and no one teases Shi-Woo about it or peer pressures him into doing his part of the song or the dance, or even looks at him while smirking. WTH. Come one, guys!

Back to the two leads. It’s an interesting dynamic they have. And although Chi-Ang is taller, physically stronger and more imposing, it’s Shi-Woo who’s actually in charge. And I’m not going to tell you to get your mind out of the gutter, because that’s exactly where mine is. And Chi-Ang looks like he might have a serious praise kink. Besides, we have seen that Shi-Woo is not shy about going after what he wants. As we saw with the two kissing scenes with Soon-deok, he is quietly assertive. Unlike Chi-Ang, who is more… bluster and need for attention.

Shi-Woo started as this arrogant, irritable superstar, but it didn’t take him long to shed that behavior, that image. As if, all this time, he was just waiting for a moment out of the spotlight, for a place where he can belong. He seems like one of those people who were born knowing which lines they are not willing to cross. His urge to harm someone is his greatest fear, because he is aware of the damage he is capable of inflicting.

Chi-Ang had different masks. He too knew loneliness, but his was of a different kind. While Shi-Woo was not protected enough, Chi-Ang was sheltered too much. His mother dotes on him, and his father adores him, albeit in his own, extremely unhealthy way. It was clear to me from the start that his father loves him. It seems a significant thing that he is the son of a mistress and not legitimate, but his father has made no attempt to hide him. He provides for him, protects him and spoils him. He has no kind words for him, though, and his lessons are poison, but he tried to make his son strong. Which is what he values. And he has used him. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t love him. He just doesn’t know how to love properly. 

Chi-Ang takes after his father in many ways. We see that the most in later episodes. But he has people who have faith in him, and who are willing to tell him off. He is aware that he is wiling to cross too many lines, lines he shouldn’t. He is gray, and will probably always struggle with himself. He seems like a puppy most of the time, but when he is serious about something, his determination is a scary thing.

Shi-Woo would make a more terrifying villain, though. He wouldn’t become one, precisely because he terrifies himself when he thinks about what he could do, if pushed enough.

I could talk more about this series. There are quite a few touching moments I could cover, and also a lot of ridiculousness and wth moments, but there is a reason I didn’t do a recap of every episode. I don’t have time. Besides, I wrote all of this just to get it off my chest, because I have no fandom friends to discuss stuff with. It is sad.

Also, I should have broken up the text in this with a few more photos, but I’m tired.

#kdrama #korean drama #moorim school #headcanons meta fic musings

[zealusts-blog]

❛ ⋆ ․˙✰ nora grace nguyen is graduating in a month with plans to attend harvard in the fall to study law and political science. four years complete and she’s leaving the hamptons being remembered as the zealous, which makes perfect sense considering how articulate, venturesome, pugnacious, and unpredictable she is. that title landed them the senior class superlative of most likely to be arrested for organizing a sit- in protest at the local kill shelter. you’ll know they’re around when you hear hierarchy - cailin russo coming from a car this summer. speaking of summer, i hear their plans are to spend it doing a part-time internship at a law firm. morning coffee and afternoon boba, shiba cuddles, sitting in during public court cases, and plaid skirts with oversized knit sweaters.

hello it me ellie (she/her/hers pronouns) and this is nora! i havent done an intro or been in a rp in 10 years so please excuse this post if its awkward n stuff im cringing just writing this bc i forgot how awkward an intro post is like wow... ANYWAYS! i’m vv excited to b here and rp with u guys, love u guys, b here w u guys, all that nice cute stuff w u guys!!! 

u can read nora’s stats here and learn more about her here but like that page is  really long n lengthy so i’m gonna some her up for u guys as best as i can but if its gets long n lengthy too pls forgive me thank u im trying 

her family is wealthy bc of their role in pharmacy work. their family owns  a couple pharmacies (mainly in new york, new jersey, n rhode island) and has some investments in other companies as extra money

theyre wealthy and could stop working for like maybe 10 years if they pleased, but the nguyens dont rest and thats y nora’s parents are absent alot 

bc her parents r absent since theyre always working, nora had to grow up faster to b independent and also raise her younger sister, daisy jane

shes mature but only bc asian parents love handing off parenting duties to their eldest daughter and that happens to b nora! it’s only two of them but still she gave up part of her childhood to p much raise daisy jane on her own despite her parents being alive n healthy

shes a big time activist and feminist and is very upfront about how she feels about certain things and about policies and regulations she thinks should b changed/fixed/removed/etc. 

her dream is harvard and thats been her only dream and plan since she was born. her parents gave it to her and she’s never changed it bc (1) her parents r strict n (2) she craves their acceptance and wants to make them proud and if it means listening to what they want from her then she’ll do it 

shes v open about what she believes in and will talk about it and will also fight for it. 

shes always willing to fight someone and have a debate over anything like it’s more fun for her if its something surrounded politics or stuff going on around the world but also if u wanna argue about how people who aren’t lactose intolerant are abnormal then she’ll b a square bc its literally not normal for ur body to still b able to breakdown lactose enzymes 

shes somewhere in the top 10/15 of the entire class, but shes worked hard to get where she is. studying doesnt come easy to her and she doesnt have photographic memory. she feels really dumb bc of that and hates how she has like... work to get the grade bc she wishes she was smart n could read the textbook once and get it but shes not wired like that n so  a bitch struggles w that n feeling like shes not as smart as her parents want her to b n it doesnt help that her parents let her know that

shes v sarcastic n argumentative and funny and sometimes sexual but she’d never act on those sexual things she says shes an innocent n too shy to b upfront like that u feel 

like she never deters from an argument n hates losing but if u say something too sexual for her n make an initiative to do it then she’ll back down n shy away like thats the only way u can win an argument w her otherwise she’ll keep pulling shit out of her ass until she wins or u call some truce (but in nora’s mind she won bc who backs away from a fight? hm not her!)

nora struggles talking about her feelings and will literally not talk about deep shit about herself like  ya she’ll voice her opinions n fight for it n shit but if u wanna talk about her parent’s incoming divorce, her academic struggles, her need for her parents acceptance, n shit like that then good luck trying to make her talk n shit  bc she wont unless ur close to her and have her 100% complete trust 

this is already long and im blanking on what to include bc idk whats important important about nora that i need to include here but! feel free to read the tidbits page for her u’ll get to know nora better n  know lil like... things about her like hades, veganisms, protests, driving, etc. 

i’m also a slut for plots so if u wanna plot with me for ur chara and nora then please reply to this with a word or something so i know and i’ll come to u!! id tell u guys to like this post n then i’ll come to u but sometimes im not sure if people  r liking the post so its like.. an acknowledgment or bc they actually wanna plot idk if that makes sense pls help me?? ANYWAYS below r some connection ideas that i thot would b cool for nora aha x 

neighbors! 

(1) theyre friendly and hung out a lot bc u kno neighbors n its easy to go to each others houses. the person would also b friends w nora’s little sister daisy jane bc when theyre home and nora is on parent duty she n daisy jane r a duo 

(2) theyre not friendly n they cant stand each other we love a good notp! we can expand more  on this if ur interested but rn my mind is blanking

childhood besties:

(1) maybe things went sour and now theyre enemies like maybe its a betrayal or something but like! besties for the resties to besties for never r always so beautiful im a slut for those type of connections

(2) things didnt go sour but they just drifted and now theyre kinda awkward but try really hard for it to not b awkward??  they knew each other like the back of their hands and now theyre kinda like?? r u still the same or did u change?? whats up whats happening??? 

one sided crush: nora could have a crush on them thats ongoing or is new, but its just a crush and nora actually acting on it is so so rare like she’ll punch someone for saying some racist shit to her but will cry if someone forces her to shoot her shot

(1) maybe the person knows and teases her for it n nora hates them for it but is also like :) but also :( u feel like does that even make sense? 

(2) the person doesnt kno n is kinda just like what the fuck y is nora so timid n shy around me when she just decked a guy for blatantly littering at the beach and saying the beach should b more trash cans if they didnt want people littering 

enemies! 

friends!

tutor: maybe a tutor?? like nora isnt dumb and shes not failing like she’s in the top 10 of  the class but that doesnt mean she’s the smartest person and not struggling trying to keep her grades up. having someone she can study with n can like. help her would b really good for her 

(1) twist is that it could b secretive bc maybe nora doesnt want people knowing that she has a tutor or that the person tutoring her is her tutor for whatever reason. again i can expand on this if ur interested!!!!

bad influence: someone to get her to wild n out n like tell her to forget her parents n responsibilites n shit. maybe make her hoe it out so she can stop getting cold u feel what im saying?? idk if u do im literally just rambling at this point im so sorry

i’m out of connection ideas rn but! if none of these r interesting enough for u then we can do something else like if u have a connection u want filled or like??? we can just think of something else that’ll b more fitting im down for anything n everything 

#intro #✘.:｡ but my mom said it was big — OOC⌋ #hello i tried this is so long n wordy im so so sorry

[residentlesbrarian]

Magic, and Princesses, and Horses...Oh My!

Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst

For the first review in this series I am going with one that I picked up while I was at ClexaCon 2018. I had the lovely experience of getting to meet Audrey Coulthurst during a panel and in Artist Alley. It was a pleasure to have the opportunity to sit down with her for a moment and talk about building fantasy worlds and how she and her editor worked hard to make sure the world that Of Fire and Stars takes place in has no concept like homophobia. We deal with that kind of hate enough in reality it doesn’t need to be in our fantasy worlds as well. Now onward to the review!

Unicorn Rating:

Blurb: Two princesses who couldn’t be more different are forced to ride horses together and magic happens. Literally! A great show of LGBT characters and their stories taken into the fantasy realm.

Disclaimer: I will try my best to not spoil anything from the book, but my book loving rambles may give more away than a traditional review. Here we go! Ramble time!

Review:

This book as a whole was far too much fun to read. I tend to shy away from high fantasy novels, even in the Young Adult vein, because they try too hard and tend to have ‘yikes’ level themes, but this book did an excellent job of immersing me in the world without forcing me to slog through an introductory lore dump cringe-inducing interactions. It did an excellent job of pacing out the necessary lore as we needed to know it without forcing it into the narrative. As a writer myself I lean more toward third person narration, but I can enjoy reading first person if the characters are engaging. This book does that really well, even when the perspective switches between Mare and Denna, it would be incredibly difficult to confuse which character is the narrator at any given moment.

The other aspect of this book overall that I genuinely enjoyed was the absence of homophobia. As I mentioned in my intro I knew about this aspect before I even opened the book, but it was still so pleasant to not have the constant sour taste of homophobia coloring the drama of the story. Don’t get me wrong, there is drama! Oh boy, is there, but the homophobia is refreshingly missing. Let’s look at the plot a bit now shall we?

I found the plot of the book was simple while also being twisty enough to not know what was coming next everytime. I did predict a few things before they happened but as someone who had timed contests to try and figure out the murderer in CSI episodes with my dad, I’m real good at figuring this kinda shit out. So surprising me is an accomplishment to say the least. I think the plot could have been a little stronger in places but it definitely kept the pace up and moving when it needed and slowed down for the more personal scenes with our heroines. Speaking of which let's dive into some character talk.

Our protagonists are Mare and Denna or more accurately Princess Dennalia and Princess Amaranthine. And let me tell you I love these two girls so much! They are very different in pretty much every aspect of their lives, and it shows in their interactions with each other and those around them.

Denna won me over quickly with her palpable nerves about meeting the prince that would one day be her husband, but also her immediate want to help in the struggles of the kingdom. As a middle child who always felt the need to excel in what I was doing I could really relate to Denna and how much she put what was right for her family and country before her own personal wants or needs. This chick is smart and is gonna be one hell of a queen some day if certain people, I’m looking at you Prince Thandi, would just get out of her way and let her help.

Mare, on the other hand, puts up the facade of not caring at all about being royalty when she genuinely does care about her family and the people of Mynaria. She was a delight to delve into, because she felt so genuine and real. I will admit I have a weakness for the more closed-off characters who have that extra depth to them. I like the ones that make me dig for the good bits, and Mare gave me my fix. Nothing about her character fit the usual mold of the princesses that society is used to. She was foul-mouthed, wore pants 9 times out of 10, and honestly just wanted to ride her horse as far away from the castle as possible, but the more we get to know her the more we see a girl underneath all of that.

As far as the romantic subplot, all I will say is it was masterfully done with the right tension filled moments and soft caring ones paced perfectly. I am weak and gay! I am a sucker for the rough and tumble character who is softened by the eternally optimistic one, gets me right in the feels every time.

The only other character point I want to talk about in this review before wrapping up is the relationship between Mare and Nils. Without ruining anything, Nils is a guard in the castle whom Mare has known for most of their lives. Nils on his own is a good character who is a bit of a Fabio but always respects the women he woos as far as we see. Which is not at all surprising with how we see him interact with Mare. From my interpretation of their relationship has not always been the platonic one we are treated to in the story. Whether Nils wants more to happen there or not is up to you, but the fact is he doesn’t treat Mare any differently regardless. He is there for her as comfort and a confidant when she needs it and I loved it so much because you don’t see that between queer female characters and their male friends very often. There is always an uncomfortable tension written into those interactions the were refreshingly missing here.

For my final thoughts I just want to say as a writer I really appreciate the way the story building was built into the story. Do I still have questions about the world as a whole? You bet I do! But those questions didn’t keep me from enjoying this story thoroughly and has me very excited for the sequel coming out later this year.

Queer Wrap-up: Okay, so now to talk about the brass tax. Why did I give this book five unicorns? There are two queer main characters who we get to spend time with and watch the plot unfold around them both. We get a world where Denna is more concerned about her personal feelings hurting an alliance that has been in the works since she was born, than the fact hose feelings happen to be directed at another woman. This book shows what I wish we could see more of in fiction, especially YA fiction. It shows our protagonists being unapologetically queer while also having to deal with everything else the plot requires. Outside of the romantic subplot their queerness is just another part of who they are. They aren’t defined by it and it definitely isn’t a weakness. I will say I was torn between giving this four or five, but it was the platonic relationship with Nils that actually pushes it over for me. As a queer woman who had a lot of guy friends it was so refreshing to read a relationship that fit my own friendships for once. Good on you Of Fire and Stars, five unicorns for you!

Links:

Audrey Coulthurst’s Website

Goodreads

Amazon

To close up this review I just want to encourage you to give this book a shot if you are a lover of high fantasy and want to read about princesses being badass, quick witted, and just...so gay. Also if you want to read this but don’t want spend the money without knowing for sure you are going to like it, go to your local library. You’d be surprised what they have on their shelves just waiting to be discovered. Trust me, I’m a lesbrarian.

#of fire and stars #audrey coulthurst #resident lesbrarian #five unicorns #lesbian #wlw rep #ya fiction #fantasy #go to your local library