#this is probably a bit too goofy for the drama club to actually do

[funnuraba]

MY DVD OF THE ROOKIES STAGE PLAY GOT HERE, so here’s my ImaHira review (with gifs). You can buy the DVD here; it’s a small production so the DVD is a bit bare-bones without even a booklet, but worth it for the fans!

Okay first of all, Imaoka is very tough in the play! Which is an interesting choice; he starts out like that in the manga, but softens up a lot as the manga goes on, and the drama makes him a pretty mild character from the beginning.

This Imaoka is also just as horrible as Hiratsuka; I started losing it when they just walked up behind Mikoshiba and looked down at him like "welp :/”

and then later they walk in with a book of some very nice ladies, I’m sure, and keep looking at it while Sekikawa gets bullied.

They completely do not care.

You might notice that Okada is joining in a bit at first, and he joins them in the first peeping scene too, which is a very surprising choice since Okada vanishes from those scenes pretty quickly in the manga! They’re actually the three characters chosen to introduce the whole running gag, although the others show up pretty soon:

Everybody is canceled!

I think that like the drama, there was an active choice to make Imaoka seem more... like he does anything at all; he’s there in the scene where Hiratsuka asks Wakana to pachinko, for example, and his overall presence feels more like he’s choosing to start shit when he says things.

He actually walks in first in the slap scene, and asks Touko what she’s doing there, both of which Hiratsuka does in the manga version. Like the drama, the part where Hiratsuka strangles him is cut)

Drama Imaoka is just there for this part; manga Imaoka is getting strangled; stage Imaoka is just kind of letting him go like “this f*cking guy....”

His reaction is basically the same as the manga down to the “Don’t tell me...!” except the play has a mandate that they have to grab each other every other scene, so he does that.

The guitar scenes are truncated into one scene (no peeing onstage):

Imaoka looks a lot more done than in the manga version, where he's just mildly done. Hiratsuka yells "IMAOKAAAA!" when he leaves instead of "NANI?!" like in the manga...

...and Imaoka actually looks back sadly, which is very new to any version of the story! In the manga he just leaves with the other boys, and in the drama version he tries to suggest going back to baseball and gets overruled, joins and participates in the chorus club, then later is able to point Hiratsuka outside to see that Touko has rejoined the baseball club.

The ending of the scene is still comedic, with Hiratsuka strumming sadly to himself and repeating, "Touko-chan... the manager..." in a goofy voice.

Sadly, play Hiratsuka joins drama Hiratsuka in being extremely fake and two-faced about his love for Touko. Manga Hiratsuka is briefly tempted by Fujita-sensei's b**bs in that one chapter where they're all morons, but he gives up peeping after he falls in love, and even fails to join in with the other boys when they cat-call the softball team in that one chapter, instead commenting (probably for Touko to hear) that they all have terrible taste. Drama Hiratsuka and play Hiratsuka both keep peeping and fawning over Fujita-sensei throughout.

I've written extensively about My Thoughts on manga Imaoka, who doesn't show any interest in girls after his character changes, except for collecting photos of at least one idol. However, in the drama he looks at porn even more than Hiratsuka does and joins in on all the peeping, which was transplanted onto the two of them as comic relief.

This carries over to play Imaoka, who you can see is the second to run up to Fujita-sensei, although he gets knocked right tf over for his troubles.

They actually fight for a few seconds over impressing her, before Touko comes in with uniforms and all is forgotten.

Overall they feel a lot more equal than they've been in either other version of the story. Imaoka has more presence in their interactions....

...and he seems to have more control over Hiratsuka's rampages than in the manga, where it's always a quick panel where he's barely holding him back. In the play he successfully calms him down several times.

There was one strangling scene included, which actually surprised me in a live-action setting, and it's treated more seriously than in the manga, with other characters noticing and stepping in to stop it. (Although they do that with a double kancho, which 😭 why Imaoka too....)

Imaoka is a lot pushier beforehand than he ever is in the manga, though, and immediately (like, IMMEDIATELY) puts his hands on Hiratsuka's chest again, so the overall effect is different from in the manga.

Hiratsuka also, in a moment I really enjoyed, does what looks to my American eyes like the throat-slicing motion after Imaoka gets chosen as relief pitcher, and when he hits him with the ball after that it actually seems deliberate, because he doesn't really react and just looks satisfied that he got the out, as opposed to the manga where it's an accident he doesn't care about.

Despite which Imaoka gives him a low-five before he goes to bat.

They both cheer for each other at bat, and Hiratsuka actually gets mad when the pitcher hits Imaoka with a ball, despite having just.......... well, that's Hiratsuka. Let's just be glad we got that moment, because he certainly never gets mad on Imaoka's behalf in either of the other versions. Mikoshiba is STILL calming him down as Imaoka takes his base.

When Imaoka gets back they start acting like this :) and just basically are grabbing each other for a while there, including a part I won't screencap because they already previewed in much bigger dimensions on Youtube BUT this does keep going.

Also this, which seems socially inappropriate to me but what do I know (Yufune is in the same spot on the other end and is not doing that to Okada, who’s in front of him).

Imaoka is also added to the scene where Wakana's bat goes flying and Hiratsuka gets mad. That's just Hiratsuka in the manga, but here it actually looks like Imaoka was more in danger, although it's hard to tell at this camera angle.

It goes on for kind of a while instead of being a quick single panel gag, so maybe????

Maybe???? Play Hiratsuka had some tiny amount of personal growth and realized it's bad when (other) people throw things at Imaoka, actually. Maybe that's what happened....................

Anyway the play ends with everybody peeping at underwear AGAIN, and Hiratsuka's notebook makes a return. In the play, this is where he figures out the rotation, and unlike in the manga where he gets completely ignored, everyone is actually interested and they all run off to get the information. This is also a big departure from the manga and drama versions, where he never really fits in that much with the other boys.

Also another quick scene (also previewed on Youtube in bigger quality) of Kawato trying to inspire everyone and everyone but Mikoshiba going "Stop that, nerd". Imaoka and Hiratsuka walk in very close together, and then Imaoka goes up really close to Hiratsuka again and they b*tchily talk about something in private while everyone leaves Kawato hanging. The end. Flutter into your dreams, glitter into tomorrow.

There was some other stuff besides Imahira but I was not paying complete attention sorry.

#rookies

[carriagelamp]

Since it’s Pride Month, I decided this year I wanted to raid the library for a bunch of different queer books to read. Mostly graphic novels in this case, because I’ve had a hard time settling into much reading lately... thought hopefully now that it’s summer and I finally have my second shot I’ll be able to relax a bit more and dig into some heavier novels again. For now, enjoy some light, queer reads that I indulged in this June.

A Wolf Called Wander

A beautiful novel I had been hearing lots about. This story follows the young wolf Swift, who grows up knowing that he and his pack are the mountains, and the mountains are them. It’s in those mountains that he grows and learns and loves… until disaster strikes and he finds himself viciously torn apart from his family and forced out of the mountains that have always meant home to him. Forced to survive on his own. Swift then begins a gruelling journey that makes him face injury, starvation, and the everpresent danger of humans as he seeks a new place he can call home, and new people with whom he can form a pack.

This is all based on the true story of a tagged wolf known as OR-7, following the unbelievable route he took through Oregon and northern California! It was a very neat read, and I’d definitely recommend it if you enjoy stories told from an animal’s perspective because this book is a master class in it.

Bloom

I decided for June to try to read a handful of different queer books, and this was one of the first graphic novels I picked up. It is a super sweet story and the art is lovely. It’s about Ari, a boy who has just graduated high school and is now desperate to move away from his small town and his family’s struggling bakery, to join his band in the city where they hope to make it big. An agreement is finally reached: Ari’s father will let him leave, if he can find someone who can replace him in the bakery, which is how Ari meets Hector, someone who sees artistry and peace in baking. For anyone that’s read Check, Please, it gives off those types of vibes!

Boule et Bill: Bill est Maboul

Another book of Dupuis comics, because I can’t get enough of them! This one I just stumbled across and ended up reading on a whim but it was very cute. Geared younger than the others I’ve read, but still quite funny. It’s the charming hijinks of a young boy, his dog, and the family they live with. Each page or so is a different stand alone joke, a bit like Calvin and Hobbes except expanded beyond a single strip.

Chicken Run: Chicken Pies for the Soul

This was a ridiculous urge I got and had to follow. I recently rewatched Chicken Run (which is, of course, one of the best movies ever made) and felt the need to see if it had ever been novelized. Well, I found something better than a novelization! This is a chapter book with “advice” and stories written by the various characters, post-movie. It really does a good job with grasping the different characters’ voices and making something simple and funny out of it. It was very cute (and available on The Internet Archive if anyone else feels like reading something ridiculous!)

Doodleville

I picked this up on a whim and honestly, I shouldn’t have bothered. It was not very impressive. Very mediocre, awkward feeling artwork, and a story that only slightly manages to redeem it. The concept was kind of neat, and I did like how the ending came about, the rest was rather… plodding. I did not like the main character at all, her friends felt very Intentionally Quirky Aren’t We Cute :3 in a way that just tries too hard, and… yeah. Meh. It technically gets the “queer graphic novel flag” but it’s so in-passing that it feels rather excessive to give it that.

If you are interested, it’s about a world were doodles actually exist as living creatures that can be drawn into existence (the rather unsettling implications of which is never fully explored). This is all well and good, until the main character draws a monster and takes it with her to her art club... where it begins ravanging not only her doodles, but those of her friends. Together they need to work together to figure out how to stop this menace.

FRNCK v4

Phenomenal. I adore the FRNCK series, and book four wrapped up the first “cycle”, revealing several of the big secrets dogging the series so far, and changing how things are going to be able to run in the future.

If you haven’t seen me talk about it before, FRNCK is a graphic novel (a franco-belgian bande dessinée) about a young orphan, Franck, who’s chafing under the constant parade of uninterested foster parents that visit the orphanage he lives in. Determined to learn about his mysterious abandonment instead, he flees the orphanage… but finds himself tumbling through time, landing among a family of cave-people who rather reluctantly take him in and ensure this modern boy doesn’t die in the strange, dangerous new surroundings he finds himself in. You can get these ones in English as e-books, so if you want a really kickass graphic novel series to read please try these.

Haikyu!!

I’ve heard so much about Haikyu!! that I finally gave in and picked up the first book from the library. And I gotta say, it’s well worth the hype! This series really does capture the best parts of a good sports manga -- which is to say the team is filled with interesting, enjoyable character who all need to learn to pull together, boost each other’s strengths, and cover for each other’s weaknesses. Love me some found family tropes and this series oozes it in the best possible way. And then you also get some very cool action scenes as it makes high school volleyball seem like the most intense thing on earth. I can’t wait to continue it

Queer Eye

I haven’t been keeping up with Queer Eye but I was watching it ravenously when it first came out, and this seemed like a very cathartic book to read… and it really was. It had the same gentle, loving encouragement as the show. It doesn’t expect you to change your entire life, but to learn to embrace who you are, and take small steps to enhance those things. There a segment written (presumably) by each member of the Fab Five, explaining the mentality behind what they do on the show and how you can grow in those areas too. It’s very zen.

Spinning

I got this graphic novel out at the same time as Bloom, but it was the one that interested me less of the two... though that’s just because I have less interest in “real world” slice of life as a genre and this one is meant to be autobiographical. If you’re into that, you’ll probably love this because it really is stunning. Very pretty, and the format and pacing is all really well done. It’s a coming of age story for Tillie as she grows up dealing with a crosscountry move, complicated friendships, a burgeoning attraction to girls, and attending competitive figure skating classes.

This Place: 150 Years Retold

A stunning and heart-wrenching graphic novel told by a collection of different First Nation’s authors/artists, recounting oral histories about the 150 years since the colonialist formation of the country known as “Canada”. In other words, this is a post-apocalypse story, but one that really happened and that entire peoples are still fighting to survive. It’s very eye opening and beautifully told. Very strongly recommend the read, especially if you’re at all interested in history.

Torchwood: Serenity

Whoops, not technically a book. I had thought these were technically audiobooks at first, but rather they’re audio dramas that were played on the radio. Still, I decided to include one because I’ve been listening to them like a person possessed and they’re too fun not to at least mention. Let me indulge in my obsessions.

If you don’t know Torchwood, it’s a BBC series that spins-off from Doctor Who, focusing on the enigmatic and flirtatious Captain Jack Harkness, who is running the covert organization known as Torchwood, which is tasked to protect humanity from and prepare them for alien contact. It’s goofy and campy but also more adult and heavy than Doctor Who tends to get, so it is (in my opinion) a really fascinating series. Though it also has content warnings coming out the wazoo so maybe make sure it’s for you before delving in.

Serenity specifically is possibly one of the best Torchwood stories I’ve ever experienced. The Torchwood team concludes that there’s an undercover alien hiding in the idyllic gated community Serenity Plaza, and so that means it’s up to Jack and Ianto to go undercover as a happily married couple and flush out the alien without being discovered first. Even if it means being sickly sweet together, pretending to care about the local neighbourhood barbecues, and actually caring a bit too much about the Best Front Lawn competition. What is truly magical about this one, is that it manages to make it a Fake Dating AU despite the fact that Jack and Ianto are actually dating in canon. But they’re both used to dating as a pair of alien hunters with insanely dysfunctional lives, and who now need to figure out how to deal with domesticity. It is marvellous.

Wilderlore: The Accidental Apprentice

A middle grade novel that felt a bit like a cross between Harry Potter and Pokemon. It’s about orphan Barclay Thorne who wants nothing more than to be accepted in the rule-bound village of Dullshire, and live up to his apprenticeship as a mushroom farmer. He certainly wants nothing to do with the fearsome Beasts who live beyond the village, deep in the Woods or the sinister Lorekeepers that bond with them. It was, after all, a Beast that had killed his parents all those years ago. But when he finds himself at the very edge of the forest, hunting for an elusive mushroom, he is suddenly unable to avoid any of that. Not when a wild girl and her bonded dragon appear to summon a horrible Beast and end up getting Barclay bonded to it instead. Now, if Barclay ever wants to be welcomed back into his home, he has no choice but to venture into the Woods and find a way to sever the bond imprisoning him to the massive, monstrous wolf now imprinted on his body as a living tattoo.

I honestly can’t decide how I felt about this one. I feel like it’d be a really fun read for maybe a grade 5 to 7 student? I was a bit more meh about it. It was fine, but it was very hard not to draw unfavourable parallels to Harry Potter. But for a kid who’s never read Harry Potter? Or even an adult that has but is looking for something different to scratch that itch, this might be a good book to try. I’ll probably try reading the second book when it comes out.

#book review #book reviews #canlit #canadian literature #queer lit #queer books #pride month #wilderlore #torchwood serenity #this place: 150 years retold #cbc #spinning #tillie walden #amanda foody #queer eye #haikyu #haikyuu!! #furudate haruichi #frnck #dupuis #boule et bill #chicken run #bloom #kevin panetta #a wolf called wander #rosanne parry

[maybe-homestuck-now-or-something]

y'know what the best thing is about imagining the cast of homestuck on earth C? all the collaborative projects and activities they'd get into.

first thing that comes to mind is that Dirk and Jade would absolutely vibe with each other. it'd start off as the two of them getting involved in a complex robotics project, and would quickly devolve into the two of them nerding out about children's cartoon shows. I want them to be best friends, and cosplay together, and draw each other fan art. Roxy and Calliope are involved in this too of course, but their tastes in media are slightly different.

John and Karkat form whatever the opposite of a film appreciation club is. Karkat gets to bicker recreationally, and John gets to earnestly vent about movies he thought were better when he was younger. Dave often tags along for some quality bro time. he has never once absorbed the plot of anything they watch together.

Terezi and Vriska like shit movies too, but won't watch them with the aforementioned film nerd squad because they find the running commentary irritating. even though they basically do the exact same thing. go figure.

I really want Kanaya to be able to design a bunch of beautiful outfits, just like she used to back on Alternia, but this time she has Rose to model them for her. it'd be extra cute if Roxy also got in on it sometimes, just for fun's sake, and it becomes sort of a family bonding thing. and the idea of Kanaya getting really into photography is now my favorite thing in the whole world.

all the nerds who were already always RPing would absolutely start a really complex and involved DnD campaign together. shit gets absolutely wild. I feel like some of their group would just do a really honest and dedicated job of crafting their characters... Vriska, Terezi, Dirk, Jade... they're all good at this. I'm gonna say Rose is DM? Roxy makes her character a super goofy joke character, but then gets really attached, and cares about the game more than she thought she would. Dave would make a joke character that stays a joke character but accidentally ends up kinda OP, so he's in this for the long haul. I feel like John would want to be involved, but he's actually really bad at RPing, so his character is just kinda... himself? all their characters get fan art from everyone who can draw, and a lot of other friends who aren't playing probably still sit in on their sessions. sometimes Rose will call upon audience participation to act as random NPC characters or something. for flavor.

I think it'd actually be interesting if Rose ended up having Jane proofread a lot of her writing. Rose's writing style is pretty different from a lot of their other friends who do writing as a creative hobby, but Jane is fully invested, and is probably the biggest fan of Rose's work out of everyone. this could eventually inspire Rose to try branching out into writing a bit of crime drama... Jane loves a good mystery.

speaking of Jane... I think she's the only human kid who solidly knows how to cook. maybe Jade has like, some practical knowledge... but Jane is definitely the only one who actually likes cooking. she probably ends up horrified at a lot of her friends' eating habits, and ends up forcing them to at least learn how to scramble an egg or something.

idk, that's all I can think of for now.

#homestuck #my rant

[neurosismancer]

Tag Game via @passionate-reply who didn’t actually tag anyone, but that’s where I saw it.

LAST SONG: The Fallout Club - Pedestrian Walkway

Was inspired to listen to Thomas Dolby’s The Golden Age of Wireless album, and this is the last of the download bonus tracks. It’s okay. I’m not super into The Fallout Club’s glam thing, and even Dolby’s own demo is kind of only enh.

LAST FILM: Star Trek: Beyond

I’ve been doing a watchthrough of the Star Trek movies, and this was the last one. I saw it in a theater and enjoyed it a lot. It does hold up. No, it’s not the best Trek movie, but it is the best of the Trek reboot movies. I enjoyed it.

CURRENTLY WATCHING: Twin Peaks

Finally getting off my ass and watching Twin Peaks. I’ve actually never watched anything by David Lynch, and it’s okay. The soap opera elements are a bit goofy, which I think is the point, and I’m enjoying the kind of rapid tonal shifts from soap opera drama to murder mystery to goofy comedy to eldritch horror. Gonna start the second season tonight, probably.

CURRENTLY READING: SM101

It’s a book about learning S&M. Useful stuff for after the plague, I hope.

CURRENTLY CRAVING: Coffee

I’ve almost completely cut out caffeine since starting my current ADHD medication, so that’s cut down on my coffee consumption. I do have some whole-bean decaf in the freezer, I’m just too lazy to grind it and brew it. And certainly to clean up afterwards.

Tagging: @brightoncemore @bisexuhellvevo @altruisticpervert and anyone else who wants. I can’t stop you.

#cw: kink

[prolestariwrites]

Time To Go [9] Epilogue: How To Lose A Fortune In 10 Days

Fandom: Devil May Cry Rating: M   Characters: Nero, Dante, Vergil, Kyrie, Nico, Trish, Morrison   Tags: Mystery, Humor, Missing Person, First Time, Family Drama, Family Bonding, Post-Canon Chapter: 9/9 Chapter [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

Summary: When Kyrie goes missing, Nero goes on a desperate search to find her. Unfortunately, Dante and Vergil go too. Sparda boys shenanigans, fighting demons, a smattering of family drama, and male bonding (otherwise known as Nero’s worst nightmare). Please check it out below, or you can read on FFNet or AO3.

It’s the last chapter!!! I’m so excited to have this story wrap up, but it being my first DMC fic it’s also a bit bittersweet too. I want to give a huge thanks to @copper-wasp for being such an awesome beta, and to @solynacea for being an amazing friend and cheerleader.

I have some new fics in the works and will be publishing new stuff in the next couple of weeks! Meanwhile please leave me a comment or emoji to let me know how you liked the story. I’m also planning a sequel so if you liked the fic and want more, let me know! Please enjoy and thank you to everyone for reading!

━━━━━━━✧━━━━━━━

Nero lounges on the couch, feet up on the ottoman, Kyrie curled up next to him. Her head rests on his shoulder, his hand rubbing her thigh as they watch a movie. It has been a few weeks since he had found her again, and he savors moments like this now, when the kids are in bed and the house is quiet and it can be just them together. Most guys his age are probably at a bar or club, but Nero must admit he likes this domesticity. Even though it was barely a full twenty-four hours, her disappearance had affected him, and only reinforced his determination to protect their family.

He turns and presses a kiss to the top of her head. Kyrie smiles up at him and wraps her arms around his, snuggling closer. "You look thoughtful," she murmurs.

"Just thinking of you," he replies.

Kyrie rests her head back on him, and Nero moves his arm around her waist, holding her tightly. Protect their family. The words had taken on a new meaning since his search. Particularly where Dante and Vergil stand; Nero has found his patience with them both is lasting a bit longer, his willingness to overlook their more ridiculous traits a bit easier. He had even started calling Vergil every few days to check on him or just say hello, even though the conversations are stilted and at times, uncomfortable. Dante is easier, but he always had been, their work allowing them a more natural way to bond and his natural goofiness not allowing any room for awkwardness.

He goes back to watching the movie, thinking about whether or not he should get Vergil a cell phone—a piece of technology the man is strangely against but would make all their lives a hell of a lot easier if he would just give in—when his own rings. Kyrie eases back as he fishes it out of his pocket, sighing when he sees Dante's number on the screen. "Yeah?" he chuckles as he swipes to answer.

"Hey kid, you home?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Cool."

The line goes dead and he frowns. Kyrie is sitting up, having paused the movie, and Nero looks over as she asks, "What was that?"

"Who knows."

Their front door bursts open, making them both jump. Dante and Vergil stroll inside, and it isn't so much the intrusion that has Nero gaping as what they are wearing. Vergi is in what is best described as a tuxedo; but it is purple, possibly velvet, with a tight doublet and a puffed collar, the monocle he wears and cane he carries completing the look of some medieval count. He flicks the tails of his coat behind him as he sits in their recliner, grinning.

Dante has taken the opposite track. His suit is bright orange, the shirt underneath unbuttoned to nearly his navel, several gold chains hanging on his chest. He taps his cowboy hat as he walks through the room, and when he does a turn Nero is startled to see he is wearing snakeskin boots that jingle with each step.

"What the actual fuck?" says Nero.

"Nero," Kyrie chastises with a laugh, her hand pressing to his arm as he continues to stare. Dante places a briefcase on the coffee table, and Nero shakes his head to see his fingers have several large, clearly fake gold rings.

"Wait until we tell you what happened," Dante says.

He and Kyrie exchange a glance. "Oh, I can't wait," he sighs.

Dante holds up his palms. "Get this. We were thinking, right, about what those dinguses said who took Kyrie. How mom's family had money. So we went to look, me and Vergil." He gestures between them. "We found the old house, and let me tell you, it looks like hell. But it's still there. I thought for sure there'd be some kind of, I don't know, strip mall or something there by now. But the land is untouched."

Nero looks between them. "Which means what?"

"Which means it still belongs to the Sparda family," Vergil says. "Not the bank. Which means Father and Mother had already paid it off."

"So we went to city hall in the nearest town," continues Dante. "Found the deed and everything. Sure enough, Eva Sparda, right there."

He pulls a piece of paper from his pocket, handing it to Nero. Kyrie peers over his shoulder as he reads, and just as Dante had described, it is a deed for two hundred and fifty acres of land, paid in full. "Wow," he says. "This must be worth a lot by now."

"Yeah! So Vergil and I went to the bank. We figured we could take out a loan, and use the place as collateral."

Nero frowns up at Dante. "You really think that's a good idea? Getting in more debt?"

"We didn't have to," Vergil says.

"What do you mean?"

Dante gestures excitedly as Vergil explains, "Once we gave our names, the banker recognized us. Said we had a safety deposit box there, that could only be opened when we came together."

"It's been there since we were born!" Dante exclaims. "It was opened when we were only a month old."

"So what was in it?" Nero asks, his own excitement starting to spark.

"Tons of stuff," Dante says. "Papers from the house, our birth certificates. Who knew I even had one?"

Nero chuckles. "You're official."

Dante nods. "I existed this whole time and never even knew."

"You've left out the best part," Vergil scolds him. "The deposit box also had the fortune those dinguses were after."

Both Nero and Kyrie give a gasp at the same time. "What do you mean, fortune?" Nero asks tightly.

"Stocks. Bonds. Stakes in all sorts of businesses." Dante grins and puts his hands on his hips. "Worth at least a million dollars."

The blood drains from Nero's face as he takes it all in. Their family, millionaires? This could be a game changer. They could move, get a bigger house, get out of the city like he's been dying to for years. They could afford to formally adopt. Samuel will be going to college in a few years—hell, Kyrie has been talking about taking classes too, and it can happen. A home, school, their futures secure.

His eyes slide to the briefcase on the table. "So what do we do?"

"Well," Dante says, rubbing the back of his neck. "It wasn't as easy as we thought. We called Morrison, and he hooked us up with his lawyer guy. We cashed in the money and paid off the debt we owed."

"You owed," Vergil interjects.

"Well devil hunting isn't easy. And I didn't exactly have a steady stream of income spending three months in hell, you know," Dante argues.

Nero shakes his head. "Wait. So there's nothing left?"

"Well I wouldn't say that," answers Dante. "I paid off the building, so I own it outright now. Then I paid the utilities, and the insurance I owed, and what I owed Lady, and what I had borrowed from Morrison, and paid all the back taxes."

"And I paid off my apartment, and the fines for um… some of my run-ins with the locals," Vergil adds.

"We also used some for these cool business outfits," Dante says. "What do you think?"

Nero blinks, but Kyrie answers, "You both look wonderful."

"We took your advice too, Nero," Vergil says quietly.

He frowns at his father. "My advice? What advice?"

"We hired a private investigator. Paid up front," replies Vergil. "We want to find out what happened to Sparda, once and for all. He is going to find us all the information he can, and then we're going to figure out where he is, and if he is alive."

"You'll come too, right?" Dante asks.

Nero hesitates for a moment before huffing out a laugh. "Sorry, I'm still processing all this." He glances at Kyrie, who is smiling broadly at him.

"It's amazing," she says sincerely.

"Yeah. Find Sparda, huh?" Nero chuckles and rubs the back of his neck. "Yeah, I'd be down for that. Sparda Family road trip, part two."

Dante cheers as Vergil chuckles, and Nero holds the deed out to return it. But Dante waves him off. "No, you keep it."

"What?"

"Vergil and I talked about it. You deserve something too, and neither one of us can take care of the place. You can sell it, or rebuild, or do whatever you want." Dante shrugs. "The property belongs to you now."

Nero looks between them in shock as Kyrie grips his arm. "Really? You're giving this to me?"

"Of course," Vergil says. "You're Eva's grandson. You should inherit her house."

"I don't know what to say." The money is gone, just like that; but that's okay, isn't it? In the end, they all got what they needed, and Nero smiles. "I'm happy for you guys," he says slowly. "I really am. And this… thank you." He looks over the deed one more time, his chest tightening a bit.

Kyrie kisses his cheek, pulling him out of his thoughts. "So what's with the briefcase?" he asks.

Dante grins and sits on the floor, laying it down to fiddle with the clasp. "Last of the money in here."

"Oh yeah?" Nero slides forward, wondering how much. Maybe a few thousand?

Instead, there are four Big Macs and a twenty-piece McNugget inside. "Celebratory dinner on us," Dante says happily.

He hands Vergil a sandwich before tossing one to Nero, which he looks down at in a mixture of amusement and confusion. "You guys really know how to live well," he laughs.

Dante pretends to "clink" his Big Mac with Kyrie's, and they dig into the meal when Nico appears at the door. "You guys still on your date?" she calls obnoxiously before gawking at them. "Hey! You got McDonald's and didn't tell me?" She plops down next to Dante, leaning over him to scoop up some nuggets. "Halloween was a week ago, you know," Nico jokes, eyeing his outfit.

"Hey, I make this look good," he says.

Nero laughs, listening to them argue and then team up together when Vergil jumps in. Kyrie leans against him and he puts his arm around her, giving her cheek a kiss. His eyes fall on the deed to the Sparda land as he smiles to himself. Protect their family. Yeah, absolutely.

#dmc #devil may cry #dmc dante #dmc nero #dmc vergil #nerokiri #dmc kyrie #dmc nico #dante sparda #vergil sparda #fan fiction #time to go #myfic #it's all done! #please help me celebrate :)

[camistired]

the peculiar one

chp. 3 // welcome to river-hell

not edited

january 23, 2019

word count: 3138

song: antidote by faith marie

one / two

-

I couldn't sleep. The feeling of dread washed over me, making my eyes stay stapled open as I lay on my back. The soft sound of the TV show I was watching on my phone bounced off the walls but never met my ears. All I could think of is what will happen in the few hour ahead.

I didn't hate school, surprisingly. I do excellent in my class besides the two I seemed to take a little longer to comprehend. It was the people at the school that made me feel this way. The whole group of people that I knew to be there, it all just seemed like a scene from 'Heather's' or 'Mean Girl's'.

Either way, I was not willing to be Cady or Veronica in this situation. I turn over to see my phone had turned off. I got out of bed and walk over to my bathroom, opening the medicine cabinet to grab my sleeping pills. I take one, seeing as I already took my dosage earlier and it was still not even working. I lay back down and eventually lost myself in a dream world. And a strange one at that.

I open my eyes to see myself in a basement of sorts. I gag as the smell of blood and rotten blood fill my nose. I look around to find an empty chair, ropes loosely hung around the back of it. I hear the faint sound of crying making me turn to see a woman with her head hung low.

When she looked up, her face was impossible to identify. It's as if the world scratched out her face to show absolute nothing. Her cries seemed to echo off the walls louder. Footsteps slowly made their way down, only to be met with another faceless person. It's as if the world didn't want me to see that these people were out there, somewhere, in the world.

The womans cries and got louder and louder, my ears ringing as it seemed to get to a pitch only a dog could here. Than it all just- stopped. The cries were gone, the scratches on their faces seemed to be changing hues every second, and the room slowly turned into nothingness.

My eyes pop open as I stare at my ceiling. The only words coming to mind were; what the fuck? Obviously sleep deprivation and my imagination are never a good mix for dreams. I look over at the clock on my wall to see it's only 6:17.

I groan inwardly and have up on sleep. What's the point? I'll have to get up in an hour anyways. I sit up and decide to rewatch 'The Breakfast Club'. It's genuinely one of my favorite movies from the eighties. Hell- one of my favorite movies in general.

I sat silently as I watch the opening as I relate to certain things and people. Obviously I relate myself more to Allison, being a bit of a basket case myself, but I can easily put myself in the others perspective. I also silently wish I could have a group of friends like theirs. Seemingly strangers with nothing in common, to all of a sudden be close to the hip and making jokes about each other's difference's. Who wouldn't want that?

I eventually get lost in the teen drama that I didn't even notice the sun rise or it being nearly an hour an twenty minutes later until my dad knocked on the door and peeked his head inside my room.y head popped up and I lock eyes with him, smiling softly. I pause movie as I focus on his words, unfortunately only catching the end of his sentence.

"- So with that being said, are you excited for your first day of high school?" he asked and all I can do is nod.

"Yea, I am. Who knows, maybe my nerves are just everywhere for nothing?" I try to be optimistic about today, but I'm just uneasy.

He smiles assuringly and giving me a thumbs up before turning out of the room and leaving, closing the door behind him. I quickly hop out of bed, and decide to pull on just some black jeans and a green t-shirt. I lace up my boots as another knock was heard, but this time by the window. Luna hissed from under my bed, making me chuckle.

I stood up and see Jughead by my window with a goofy smile on his face. I roll my eyes and open the window for him, "There's a front door you know."

"I know, but where's the fun in that?" He responds, climbing through my window with ease.

I roll my eyes, grabbing my glasses and sliding them on my face. "But if you use the front door, it doesn't look like I'm trying to sneak you into my room."

"You know a couple years ago you would have said something different." He chuckles at me as I stick my tongue out at him.

"That's then, this is now." I grab my backpack and pet Luna as she jumps on my bed.

Jughead went to do the same but instead he only got hissed at. He immediately retracts his hand and I laugh softly at the scene before me. "Don't take it personal, she doesn't like people."

"She likes you." he points out, heading towards the door. "I swear it's like somehow, someone was able to put your personality into a cat."

"Well I'd like to meet that person one day and thank them." I cut in front of him to head downstairs. I'm immediately hit with the smell of food. I sit my bag down at the leg of the dark wooden table. I grab a plate and grab a bit of everything that was available. I sit down at the table and start eating.

"You know not to expect this everyday, right?" Lila tease as she sits down across from me with her own plate of food. I nod to her as I continue to eat.

"Can I at least expect this every now and then?" Jug ask as he sat down next to me. His tone was teasing, but I knew he was almost completely serious.

"Sure Jug. Just let me know when you decided to move in with us and when you decided you get to choose what's for breakfast." Mar joined the teasing as she sat down next to Lila, who was stifling her laughter while also trying not to choke on her food.

"Okay, would you prefer a day or week's notice before I start to move in?" He asks his cousin after swallowing his food. I let out a small squeal while trying to stifle my laughter, only to cough as I choked on my food.

I heard a burst of laughter around me, only making me laugh more after I stopped coughing. After everything has calmed down, Jughead, Daniel, and I headed off to school. Daniel actually met up with a friend of his half way there, so now it was just me and Jug.

The silence between the two of us was a bit tense, but not knowing from what we didn't act on it. We slowly approached the school, the tension only seemed to be rising. Maybe I was the only one to truly acknowledge it causes when we walked through the doors of the school, he smiles as if nothing was wrong and offered to take me to the office to get my stuff.

I trailed slightly behind him as he lead the way to the office. The tension still there but than again it seems like I'm the only one to truly notice it.

Mabe it's just my nerves? That'd make sense, right?

I got my schedule and Jug offered to show me to my locker. I thought about this tour around Riverdale High, but I decided not to attend seeing if I needed directions, I'm sure Jug wouldn't mind showing me.

We had a few more minutes before class started so me and Juggie just stayed by our lockers – which were right across from each other's. We talked as if whatever I thought was wrong, wasn't wrong. It was if I imagined it all, and maybe I did. However, I felt much better now than I did walking to the school.

And before I knew it, class had started.

☾

I wasn't sure how I ended up where I did. I had lost Jughead a while ago, so now I'm sitting next to Archie with Daniel sitting behind me with his friends. Students were told to go to the gymnasium for something about a school dance that I honestly don't know of I cared about or not.

I look up front to see Cheryl standing at the podium, staring at the crowds of teens.

"Let's have a moment of silence for Jason." The room falls silent. I look up around, seeing if I can find Jughead, only to make eye contact with him as he shifts before looking back at his laptop.

"Thank you for that moment of silence. Many of you were lucky enough to have known my brother personally. Each and everyone of you meant the world to Jason. I loved my brother. He was and always will be my soulmate. So I speak with a confidence only a twin could have. Jason wouldn't want us to spend the year mourning." I make eye contact with Jug once more, after he finishes rolling his eyes.

"Jason would want us to move on with our lives. Which is why I've asked the School Board to not cancel the Back-to- School semiformal." The room erupts in cheers as I look over at Archie as he maked eye contact with a younger teacher.

"But rather, to let us use it as a way to heal, collectively, and celebrate my brother's too, too short life on this moral coral. Thank you all." Cheryl finishes as everyone seemed to clap. I watch as Cheryl walka away, letting everyone clean out the gymnasium before lunch started

☾

I sit under a tree at lunch time, surprisingly, not with Jughead. We got seperated as everyone was piling on top of each other to get out of the gym. I was looking down, drawing, as I heard someone approach me.

I slowly look up and my eyes meet with an unfamiliar brown pair.

"Hi. I'm Veronica Lodge. And who might you be?" She introduces herself, smiling brightly down at me.

"Uh.. Alexandria. Nelson." I reply, timidly. I knew who she was and who her parents were. It's probably weird that I know so many things about these teens parents, and they don't even know the half of it.

"That's a pretty name," Her smile never fell, in fact I'm pretty sure it grew when I hummed a small 'thank you', "You're welcome. Anyways, I saw you over here alone and wanted to invite you to come sit with me and my friends."

I look over at the table she was sitting at and see that Betty and Kevin staring over at us before I look up at her again.

I'm probably about to make a big mistake..

"Sure. Beats sitting here alone."

I gather my stuff and follow her back to the table with Betty and Kevin. I wave slightly as I sit down and take my sketchbook out again, and decide to continue some old family pictures.

There was an awkward silence, that I was blind to Betty and Kevin sat shifting from my presence at the table. Veronica glared at them as she probably thought that I didn't notice. However, I did notice but didn't show it.

Someone cleared their throat and I look up to see it was Veronica. I sit up straight and place my pencil on the table, turning slightly to look at her.

"So. I have a few questions. If you feel uncomfortable, you don't have to answer."

I nod slightly. She seems nice, nothing like her supposed manipulative father that I've heard about.

She smiles slightly and looks at my book, "So.. You're an artist?"

I nod once more,  "Yeah, I guess. Right now I'm just drawing an old picture of my mom bwck when she was in high school. It just helps keep my mind of things."

I slid my book towards her and show her the picture I'm recreating. I'm currently on the details, already having the main base line work done.

She nods  before grabbing the photo and analyze it, before putting it down and points at my mom, who was in the middle between my dad and Alice.

"Is that your mom?" She asks hesitantly. Noticing her being tence about asking the question, I just smile softly.

"Yeah.. That is."

"She's very beautiful."

"Thank you." I sigh slightly, "Her beauty ran throughout her. She was kind to everyone.. She thought everyone deserved a second chance.. Hell, push your luck, you may even got a third. She protected the ones she loves. Sometimes I don't even know how I could be someone better than her."

I shake my head as I stare at the picture. I feel tears welling up in my eyes as I stare at her. Ehat sucks is that she could be dead somewhere and we wouldn't even know. She's been gone for years, and no one knows what could have happened.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Veronica panicked as she saw the tears fall down my face.

I shrug it off, wiping the tears away, "You didn't do anything. You have no reason to apologize."

I take the picture from her and place it back in my sketchbook.

"Thanks for inviting me, Veronica.. But I think I've over stayed my welcome." I glance over to the two looking at me before I say my goodbyes and got up to go hide somewhere.

I walk into the building and I find yhe music room empty. I look around before walking inside, closing the door behind me. I place my stuff by the door – after I grab my notebook – and go over to the piano, running my fingers over the keys. I sit down on the bench, sitting my notebook out in front of me.

I slowly start to play the piano as everything slowly started to become natural again. I smile softly before closing my eyes as I let my hands run over the keys.

"Finding refuge in my own lies.. ‘How are you?’ ‘I'm doing alright’.. Small talk is a great disguise– just let me be, just let me be.." I sang softly as I played the notes on the piano, "Empty thoughts start cloud my mind.. Am I only living, living to survive? Shake it off, but I lost the drive– just let me be, just let me be.. Let me be o-kay.

"No knows what goes on up inside my head.. There's a new kind of poison and it's starting to spread. No knows what goes on up inside my head, they don't think I need help but I'm scaring myself.. I just want be okay.. I just want to be ok."

I lost myself in the song, I didn't even notice the door open to whomever noticed me singing.

"All the voices in my head are coming to life.. They're getting louder and I'm, I'm terrified..! How do you tunf tom your own mind? Is this what I've become? Take back, what have I.. done?"

I didn't even noticed that I've started crying until a tear fell on my hand. I pull my hands away from the keys to wipe my face, chuckling to myself. I let the room become quiet before clapping was heard from behind me. I instantly pop up, making the bench fall at my sudden movement, as I look into a familiar pair of bluish green eyes, making my releax a bit.

"How long have you been there?" I ask, immediately fixing the bench before grabbing notebook and shoving it back in my bag. Jughead smirked teasingly.

"I didn't know you could sing." He dodge the question, looking at me sling my bag over my shoulder.

"You didn't answer my question, Jones." I pressed as I look at my shoes timidly. Anything seemed more interesting than the teasing male in front of me.

"How have I known you for years, but never realise you could sing?" At this point, he seemed genuinely confused. He was no longer teasing, but seemed more disappointed in himself for reason.

"It's something I did to help calm my nerves for a short while. As well as playing the piano." He nods and wraps a arm around my shoulder, "Let's go get this day ocer with."

☾

"So, Pop's?" Juggy asks as we walk along the bleachers outside. It was after school hours, it was still open due to after school activities. We just decided to stick due to pure boredom.

"Jug, you practically live at Pop's. You can wait another thirty minutes." I tease him as he groans playfully, making me laugh softly.

"Hey, Alex!" I hear someone call. Me and Jug turn to see Ronnie waving her down, in her new Riverdale Vixens cheer outfit, next to Betty, who is also wearing her outfit.

"Ronnie. Hi! What's up?" I call back, using my hand to keep the sun out of my eyes.

"Are you coming to the semiformal?" She asks, curiously.

"I dunno! School dances aren't really my thing!" I reply, squinting my eyes as my hand doesn't do much protections for my eyes.

"What do you mean? From what I heard, you're last school dance was probably a school Christmas party!"

"She's got you there." Jughead mumbles in my ear, making me elbow him in the stomach. "Ow!"

"C'mon! You can even bring mister Jason Dean behind you!" She points over to the beanie clad boy behind me.

"I'll think about it! I'll let you know my answer later!"

She nods before walking away with Betty. I turn to continue walking with Jug.

"Another school dance. Maybe this one can make up for the Valentine's Day one." He jokes.

"Is it wrong I wanna go?" I whisper, hoping he wouldn't hear, but he's right next to me, so of course he does.

"No. It's not." He stops and turns to me, "Let's make a deal. If I go with you to the dance, we have to leave early and go to Pop's."

I nod, "I'm ok with that."

He smiles as I smile back. He wraps his arm around my shoulders as we walk towards the actual school building, going inside to end the school day.

#riverdale season one #riverdale #jughead jones x ofc #jughead jones #original female character #veronica lodge #betty cooper #kevin keller #cheryl blossom #angst #fluff #slow burn #mutual pining #archie andrews

[nerdierholler]

As requested by @slothssassin, from the OC Codex prompts, #14 for Marie.

14. Your OC talking about your favorite quest

Now that you’ve asked me this, I realize there aren’t a lot of laid back fun or goofy quests in ME. Almost everything is high stakes drama. Except for the Citadel DLC. Bless it. 

Anyways, here a post-War interview with Marie discussing Grunt’s Rite of Passage. A bit longer than a codex entry but whatever.

Alliance News Network: Commander Shepard, you’ve had no shortage of seemingly impossible exploits in your career, beginning with Elysium and going all the way through the Reaper War. Are there any missions that stand out in your mind or that you can give us insight on?

Commander Marie Shepard: (laughter) Assuming most of that isn’t classified.

ANN: Of course (laughter). This is going to be a very short piece otherwise.

Marie: (pauses thoughtfully) Here’s a good one, from when I was going after the Collectors. It involves a thresher maw and a krogan rite of passage.

ANN: Oh wow, that sounds like quite the tale, please go on.

Marie: I’ve had a couple of krogan on my crew and at the time I had a younger krogan on board, Grunt. Grunt’s a little different, even compared to other krogans and he was having….let’s say, anger management issues. I know, I know, krogan aren’t exactly known for their calm and peaceful demeanours, but this went beyond that. When a krogan tells you they’re worried about their own irrational feelings, you probably should be worried too.

Anyways, I didn’t know what to do so I decided to go ask an expert, which meant going to Tuchanka. Urdnot Wrex had helped me take down Saren so I brought Grunt to him to see if he could offer any insight.

ANN: And how did that go?

Marie: Well, not a lot of humans...or turians...or salarians, visit Tuchanka, so they were naturally a little suspicious when we landed, and given their history, I didn’t blame them. But anyways, Garrus and I took Grunt to meet Wrex and it turns out some things are more universal than we would imagine.

ANN: Like what?

Marie: Well, if I were to tell you I knew a young human who was moody and grumpy and sometimes had occasional outbursts, what would you say the issue was?

ANN: Umm, I guess it just kinda sounds like being a teenager to me.

Marie: There you go. Seems obviously looking back on it now but at the time we were worried that he might have some kind of issue related to his...unique upbringing. Turns out he just needed a little focus and to prove he was ready to be an adult.

ANN: And I’m assuming this is where the thresher maw comes in.

Marie: Yep. Now, think about some of the dumb things you did as a teenager to try and prove you weren’t a kid anymore, that you were a grown-up.

ANN: I don’t have to give any examples do I?

Marie: (laughter) No, you’re fine. I’m not sharing either. Now imagine what that looks like for a krogan. Sneaking out of the house or using a fake ID to get into a club isn’t going to cut it. So they have this rite, and it’s actually a very serious event in their life, not just because it’s potentially deadly but because it proves that a krogan can pull their weight if the clan needs them to.

Grunt gets to choose a krantt, people who can help him, so Garrus and I go with him to this arena and they have this big hammer thing that keeps pounding on the ground. The sand is shaking under your feet as you walk and it pisses off all kinds of things that might be in the area. First it was just varren, I mean, there were a lot of them, but nothing too out of the ordinary. Next came the klixen, and that’s a bit tougher because you’re in this big open area and if you let those things flank you, the situation is going to turn pretty quickly. 

Then the ground really started to shake. It wasn’t just the rhythm of the hammer, you knew something else was coming. Now, I’d killed a few thresher maws before this, but I was in a Mako, not running around on the ground with a little gun hoping for the best. I should also mention that Grunt was just loving this, it was like the pure joyfulness you see in children when they’re playing, but in krogan form.

So this thresher maw comes bursting out of the ground, screeching and spitting venom, and we’re just trying to dodge and find cover where we can. Take a few shots, dash, a few more shots, get a breath behind a pillar, shoot and run again, you get the idea. It was nonstop. Finally I got a couple of good shots off with the rocket launcher which didn’t take it out, but at least softened it up so our guns could do the rest.

That thing made a hell of a thump when it hit the ground and right then, I got it, I understood what that meant. It’s so primal, man vs nature, taking down a massive foe. There’s this joy of being alive. Or maybe that’s just the adrenaline, but it felt pretty damn good. I think Grunt and I just yelled in each other’s faces for a full minute. It... it was a good fight.

ANN: And makes for an incredible story.

Marie: Also, it turns out, we didn’t have to kill the thresher maw, we just needed to stay alive and someone would have called it off after a certain amount of time. Ah well, overachievers I guess. Proved Grunt’s place in clan, no question. I was really proud of him.

ANN: I think that’s a good note to leave things on. Commander Shepard, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us today.

#Mass Effect #jane marie shepard #urdnot grunt #nerdy writes #life at nerdy holler

[florrickandassociates]

TGF Thoughts: 3x08-- The One Where Kurt Saves Diane

I wrote this over the span of, like, a full year and it is not very interesting. I am posting it simply because I am committed to the idea of writing something about every episode of this series. I recommend that you go check out Evil instead of reading this.

I’m just not intrigued by the clips of news footage about some sort of “Unredacted Unspecified Report” that open this episode.

Diane doesn’t seem to be that interested either: she’s not watching and talks over it. 

More interesting (but, tbh, not actually that interesting to me either, because I’m losing interest in this season) is that Diane gets a letter of warning from a ~mysterious source~. 

Most interesting of all: Diane and Kurt have a normal morning together.

Kurt spots the letter first and opens it. STOP DIANE. THEY KNOW ABOUT THE HACK. So maybe it’s directed at Kurt. Or maybe it’s supposed to say, “Stop, Diane.”

I still haven’t warmed to Diane’s bedroom set, especially because it still feels like Diane lives in her bedroom and her home has no other rooms. 

Joy, Felix Staples has returned. All I have to say about this case is that the day this ep aired, basically what’s happening in this case happened in real life, because… Kings. 

Hello, it’s October now and I suddenly felt like returning to The Good Universe and writing. It’s been a while. 

My memory of this episode/arc is that Diane and Liz just did something uncharacteristically dumb and illegal, and this is the episode where Kurt secretly puts an end to the shenanigans without Diane even knowing. I remember this episode being satisfying, if only because it got rid of the aforementioned dumb and illegal plot. Let’s see how good my memory is. 

Wait why don’t I remember Roger Bart being on this show and why didn’t I note it earlier?! How could I let George The Killer Pharmacist go unmentioned?! 

On that note, how did I not use the opening scene of the season (Diane saying “I’m happy” as an excuse to ramble about how weird it is to experience happiness on a personal level in today’s world?) (I was just watching 3x01.)

I’m actively not watching the case scenes so they don’t kill my drive to actually write this. 

Oh God, I’m going to have to deal with Blum again at some point. I had blocked out his bloviating. I think this is the last of the Blum/Maia free eps? 

The weird Lucca/British actor plot is still happening!!!! I didn’t miss it during all those months in which I wasn’t reminded of it. 

The joke about how these TV lawyers aren’t like other TV lawyers, except they are, was funny the first time. 

Always great to see how Lucca, who is the head of a department at this point, gets called into other cases frequently. Definitely how things work. 

Is it bad that I’m more interested in making a mental list of all the times TGF/TGW have filmed in this little park than this Marissa/Alan Alda scene? 

I can see why this is the episode that made me stop writing these for a bit. So far, this ep is all case and a subplot I don’t care for.

You know what else was funny the first time and has hit a point of diminishing returns? The thing where a main character’s love interest shows up in court and then they get thrown off their game and it’s CUTE FLIRTING!!! Find a new, unique way to signal interest, writers! 

This gag now involves literal gagging. I’m overjoyed. 

Lucca’s monologuing at a toilet about her crush. This plot is cute. It isn’t bad. It is watchable. BUT! I know it’s a novelty, so I’m just not that excited by it or invested in it. It’s not really deepening my understanding of Lucca. 

Lucca picturing everyone in court in their underwear is just unnecessary and honestly not funny??? 

Kurt leaves the warning note out for Diane to see. He confronts her about it and she asks for a drink.

The credits are at 19 minutes in. I do love them. Have any of you watched Evil yet? I watched part of the first episode (I intend to go back to it, I’ve just been busy) and the credits resemble the TGF credits. (Update as of March 2020: I watched all of Evil and you should too.)

Diane tells Kurt about Book Club or #Resistance or whatever I was calling it. Even though Diane doesn’t tell him the full story (mostly for his own protection, and she makes it clear she’s omitting stuff), I do appreciate that Diane and Kurt don’t keep secrets from each other, and if/when they do, they talk about it openly and calmly. I love them. 

(I have blocked out Kurt/Holly almost entirely. I know it’s canon, but I still don’t believe it was anything other than a plot device to motivate some unnecessary drama in the TGW finale. God, that finale was bad. Ghost Will? Kurt cheating? GENEVA and Peter? GHOST WILL? Even the slap, which is one of my favorite parts, is more powerful as a symbol than as an actual plot development, since (1) Alicia betraying Diane is something Pilot!Alicia would’ve done to any friend to protect her family and (2) it stems from the nonsense about Kurt cheating and Peter tampering with evidence. What a letdown of a finale. The Kings are lucky they got to redeem themselves with TGF.)

(As anyone who’s had a one-on-one convo with me about the TGW finale at any point in the last three years will tell you, I will NEVER tire of discussing it, even if it means rehashing the same points over and over and over.)

I forgot about the thing where it wouldn’t stop storming in season 3. 

Don’t have much to say about Kurt devising a plan to help Diane get out of trouble, but I do find it very fun! 

OOOOH this is the episode about censorship that got censored!!! If you haven’t already, do read Emily Nussbaum’s piece about the behind-the-scenes drama of this episode. I thought the “this content has been censored” screen where the short would have been was a joke… but it was actually censored. That may be the most interesting thing about this episode.

I want more character-driven plots. I want more Liz and Lucca. I have nothing to say. 

Book Club still believes the con artist who brought them together is something other than a con artist. Book Club is not that smart for being a collection of very smart people. 

“So the whole group is bullshit?” Liz asks when Diane loops her in. Yes. But also, like, this is what happens when you do illegal shit with a group formed by a literal con artist. Liz may have an excuse for trusting the group (Diane brought her in), but why does DIANE trust them? 

“My life is simple, Diane. I have a son. I have a mortgage. I have my job. And I go from home to work and work to home. So this stuff is, this bullshit intrigue… I’m done. Too much drama,” Liz laments, about a week too late. Where was this last week when Liz was like YES LET’S DO CRIMES? 

One of my problems with the whole Book Club arc is that it makes very little sense that Liz would get involved in the first place. I understand why she would be sympathetic to their cause and willing to look the other way on their methods… if she were watching a news report about them on TV. She’s too practical, and has too much to lose, to get involved with a group like this. 

An NSA nerd is back!! He’s the one warning Diane! 

Okay, picking this back up in March 2020 because *gestures at the world* I have time. Like, I have so much free time I’ve finished 9 books in the last 14 days AND finally made it to the episodes of The Sopranos with JMargs. I began watching The Sopranos in 2017.

As I write this, I have no idea if TGF is coming back on April 9th as planned or not. Unless there’s something in the works for season 4 that can’t possibly be left unfinished or air today, I think they should air whatever they have now. TGF is always timely, and while scenes set in an office are suddenly feeling weird and implausible, they’ll probably play better now than in six months. And we’d all forgive the writers if they had to wrap up the arcs through an animated recap song. 

It’s been a while since I’ve seen the TGF credits so I rewound to watch the credits. I went to 2 minutes into the episode, then remembered… they’re 20 minutes in.

Y’all. They blow up a purse with hand sanitizer in it. Did they predict this?! 

I wrote that preamble and then stopped writing. But now we know that TGF is really coming back on April 9th, which means I have to stop watching The Sopranos and write these things! 

Ah, Felix Staples. I haven’t missed you! 

Case stuff happens. Really riveting episode, this one. (It is an interesting case, though.)

Kurt saving Diane is pretty fun. But I don’t have anything to say about it and to write about it would just to be to give a half-assed play by play… and why?

Oh WOW, Lucca and Downton Abbey guy is still happening?! 

Getting to see Kurt be really competent and caring is the best thing, by far, about the Book Club arc.

Wait, I take that back, Liz’s speech about voter suppression is also pretty high up there-- as long as you ignore the context. 

V excited (!!) to get back to Maia’s bullshit in the next few episodes, not because I want to watch it but because if there’s one thing I’m actually motivated to write about, it’s how the show has handled Maia Rindell. Also, they handle the next few episodes well for her. 

Oh RIGHT Liz tells ChumHum about her dad’s sexual harassment issues! And Adrian and Liz are finally going to tell the press! It may mean losing Neil Gross, though. 

Book Club is over! Wooooooooooooooooooooo! On to more interesting things!!!

Also gone? Downton Abbey guy, who gave an interview about something new and exciting in his life. Lucca thought he was talking about her, and he was talking about some...personality test that sounds like a cult from the way he describes it? AAAAAND I Googled it and yup. It is. What a goofy ending to this arc I didn’t care about. Reminds me of the way the Marilyn arc ended (with a cameo from a celebrity who she was supposedly sleeping with). Glad the actor was so game to poke fun at himself, but is this the best we can do for Lucca? 

Diane thinks she took care of the hack and made it go away. Kurt lets her take the credit. 

The end! 

#the good fight #is coming back soon!!!! #tgfthoughts #yes i still check this thing

[freewheelshippin]

30 utapri questions!

Thanks @dekiaibadchoices​ for the tag, this was an awesome way to wind down after a ton of nonstop busy busy busy!!! (and thanks for tagging this blog vs the general utapri one so i can REALLY gush LOL) Here’s the OG meme! 

1. Your best boy?

BANANAMAN RAN WHO ELSE  

2. Your least favorite boy?

“least favorite” implies dislike which...not true! truthfully it’s much of HEAVENS by nature of ‘I haven’t spent as much time getting to know these characters so I don’t really know who they are.’ (though I already know I love to go for drinks and snacks with Van hehe) i do like all of HEAVENS quite a bit from what i’ve seen so far but that affection has not had time to ripen! 

3. A character that you never thought you would love as much as you do now?

mnmnj ranran tbh 

4. A character you can relate to in any way?

I can’t answer everything with Ranmaru but like. His ambition, straightforwardness, and how the soul and spirit of music motivate him to move forward beyond a tough past are things I same hat so much ;; But HONESTLY I also relate a lot to Masa and Tokiya, especially in their moments of self-doubt and dramatic commitment to to their art? 

5. A character that you think deserves more love?

Oh, Cecil, without a doubt. He’s such a resilient, committed, and open-hearted cutie and gets really shafted by canon tbh. Which makes it harder for everyone to see what a great boy this sweetie is! But I appreciate how Shining Live has given him some room to have really cute and standout moments so everyone can love him more but okay like, give me more Ceci and Ran palling around I love him most when they’re up to shenanigans 

6. A character you would want as your partner?

well we’re posting this fuckin here so you all fuckin know (im very embarrass rn i can barely say it lmao) 

(for the record i would also very much like to be friends with reiji and syo, they are cool people i think i’d get along with! and i know myself, if i knew otoya or masato IRL i’d just be like ‘well. that’s my son now’ and basically appoint myself their tough big sis-type-friend lookin out for them lol) 

7. A character you would want as your mentor/senpai?

I would swallow a pinecone before I called him ‘onii-san’ but teach me how to network kotobuki-senpai 

(No, like, forreal, I suck so, so bad at a ton of stuff Reiji is aces at, and I respect the hell out of his *waves* general everything and skilll navigating the industry. Since I’m a goofy, jokey, overenthusiastic teacher for work a lot it’d be nice to be on the receiving end of all that energy! and be a fucking decent kouhai that isn’t so horribly unappreciative of all his hard work and good cheer ) 

8. Your favorite ship?

shut your whore mouth i dont have the marbles to write it out 

(tbh it’s also Haru/Tomo, I just feel so much more romantic chemistry between those two than Haru and any of the boys u___u  Friends’ selfship stuff goes without saying, haha, and ngl I’m kind of About a Ren/Van rivalry hatemance? can i call it a kismesis thing? it’s a kismesis thing.) 

(actually no I think I’m just a member of the “Ren Fucks and sometimes it’s Hatesex” club) 

9. A character that you want to cosplay/have already cosplayed?

I had plans to cosplay Ranmaru a couple months ago bc it’s really not much of a stretch for my wardrobe, haha, but I dunno about that anymore! Part of it was wanting the Euphoria of looking like a tough, twunky, princely anime character but tbqh I’m already that every day of my life so 

I suppose if you were to pull my leg I’d go for cosplaying Van, mostly because I wanna try that mullet on for myself. 

10. Favorite side character?

TOMO!! LOVE U BITCH WHEN WILL I HEAR U SINGGGGGG 

11. Your favorite solo song?

god this is horrible how can I decide??? so many good ones??? I think it’s a draw between Top Star Revolution, No. 1, Brand New Melody, Wild Soul, Seien Brave Heart, and Junketsu Nara Ai ~Aspiration~ ??? 

12. Your favorite duet song?

HMMMMM again too many good ones. Three-way tie between Haru Hana, NorthWind and SunShine, and Original Resonance! 

13. Your favorite trio song?

Ahhh Dream More than Love is really nostalgic bc it’s the first Utapri song I really loved, but i gotta be real. It’s just Egoistic. There’s just no getting better than Egoistic 

14. Your favorite group song?

mmmm i’m be basic. Poison Kiss 

15. Your least favorite song?

I love Ai and Shouta Aoi’s incredible voice but......I’m really not a fan of super slow, overly-saccharine songs. u__u so A.I. really, really doesn’t land with me, much less so than easygoing (like Knocking on the Mind) or somber (like Winter Blossom) songs. 

16. Your favorite singer?

ranran...it’s always ranran...

(I do also adore Natsuki’s and Camus’s voices! I tend to like deeper, richer vocal qualities, but you just can’t beat Ranmaru’s subtle growls and high-energy rock!!!! <3) 

17. Your favorite group/trio/duo?

god what combo of these idiots DONT i love? I could watch Reiji prank and tease Ranmaru all fuckin day, and I also really like it when Ran’s at his most ‘tuff big bro-y’ with, like, Ai, Otoya, and Cecil!!! but honestly I do like how the Ran/Masa/Ren trio isn’t so straightforward and is more or less held together by a thin string of professionalism, there’s something i appreciate about not forcing ppl to just bury the hatchet and be Perfect Friends but you all can still care about each other? (Ranmaru needs to be nicer to them still but...) 

i need to suggest one that isn’t ranmaru centric fjdsioafjsa i fuckin love Soccer Buds (otosyo) and I loooooove it when Otoya and Cecil are good to each other!!! 

18. Your favorite member of Starish?

they’re all my favorite but if you REALLY had to make me pick.....Masato, probably, haha. I just...if you take yourself too seriously and care so much about everything but still know how to be Nasty how can I not love you??? 

19. Your favorite member of Quartet Night?

what do you fuckin think, hoss 

20. Your favorite member of Heavens?

I mentioned earlier I don’t really know Heavens well, so ofc this is all liable to change! But off the bat I love what a conniving yet wholesome bastard Eiichi is and Van is just the kinda guy I would rib and pal around with IRL!! 

21. Your favorite seiyuu/voice actor?

Ahhh that’s tough! I love all these goofbags, and Tattsun really is just so cool and makes music I’m pretty about. But I think I gotta give it to Suwabe, his performances are always so him but still pretty varied, and how can you not adore a man who loves his chihuahuas that much??? 

(if i’m being 100% honest Tattsun lost points bc he voices my absolute least favorite character in granblue ffjsfjisda) 

22. Favorite Drama CD?

HMMMMMMM see as a certified Giant Tool for Everything Mecha and silly and extra, I enjoyed the hell out of Polaris, but it really suffers from a lack of Ranmaru in my humble fuckin opinion lmao. So even though I’m not one for pirate stuff most of the time, I gotta give it to Pirates of the Frontier!! I really loved Ranmaru and Otoya’s dynamic in that one, and Camus was juuuuust the right amount of shitheel, too. 

I haven’t heard the whole thing but that thing from Egoistic where Natsuki squeezes Ranmaru to death and Eiichi’s just like ‘WUAHAHAHAHAH’ is also the mcfuckin best. 

23. Your favorite shining live card?

CAN’T PICK 

HOW COULD I POSSIBLY PICK?????????? LIKE??? I love the fucking dumb, dumb, dumb ostentatiousness of Evil Villains, I LOVE a good heel, and I also worked so so hard to t1 that event and had a lot of fun doing it!! But also, I just love his big smile and all the energy and mixed prints from Fortune and Prosperity, and it was literally the first time I ever got the exact card I was rolling for in a gacha on the last pull I had left!! (He also came home during a time I was really going through some shit, and ngl it rescued me a little bit!) but AHHHH Soulful Bass also came out right around my birthday, I love all the textures in the outfit and it’s generally the most My Aesthetique thing Utapri has ever released!!! And god, I just love it when he’s so confident and in his element like this, it sets me on FIRE to see him light up the stage wurghjgfj ;___; They all make me just want to HUG SO MUCH ARGGHHHHH 

24. Your favorite song beatmap?

Ahhh I think Shining Live really has great beatmaps across the board so that’s a tough pick! Almost all of them are super fun in their own way, but I think I gotta hand it to Wild Soul, Top Star Revolution, and Innocent Wind! 

25. Your least favorite song beatmap?

A.I. u__u Sorry, Ai...it’s just not fun for me.

26. Black Deja Vu or White Gravity?

Actually I’m really glad for this question bc I’ve been so busy lately I hadn’t given myself the time to really check them out! checking ......... 

and yep. Black Deja Vu. (I mean...Ranmaru is on it, haha.) But I’m so about this. Love this heavier sound and all these harmonies, this is so juicy. (White Gravity also absolutely kicks ass though!! I’m really liking that voice group, it’s making especially good use of those higher registers!) 

27. Utapri merch that you own/want?

Honestly I don’t have much u__u Not a lot of Utapri merch is my thing...you know? I’m mostly shopping for Ran merch if I’m getting any, but I’m very picky about how he gets drawn? Keeping his toughness and a particular clothing style about him is so essential, haha, and barely anything hits that sweet spot for me. But I will say I adored the whole ‘My Favorite Things’ series, and if I had the budget and space atm I’d love to get some of the Ran goodies from that line! 

28. How did you get into Utapri?

I first heard about it through some acquaintances from cosplay before Quartet Night was a thing. It didn’t appeal enough to my heavy metal ass to make me drop everything and try it, but I did have an interest in it I couldn’t explain and I’d always intended on trying it out. (especially after I got into Love Live and idol anime for a bit.) But it was Shining Live that got me! And I really only downloaded Shining Live because I was super exhausted after a business trip, didn’t want to leave bed once I got back home, and just wanted to sink my teeth in something new I could enjoy for hours while lying down, haha.  

29. A set theme in shining live that you want to see in the future?

This will surprise nobody, but something tougher. More rock, more punk, more metal. I want all of them in studs and spikes and leather, and I want less polish. More rough! 

I’d also love a wrestler set complete with who’s-a-heel-who’s-a-face but that’s a pipe dream and a half, lmao. 

30. Why do you love your best boy?

Oh boy. 

I think he’s this powerhouse of a human bean who can face a ton of pain and meet it with a big middle finger. And that middle finger is chasing after ambitious dreams, of spreading the power and soul of the same music that made me who I am and influences so much of my work, but also being ... you know, smart about it? He’s an idol because like, sure, maybe it’s not the OG dream, but you can’t dream if you’re dead, and you also deserve to give yourself a life and platform to share some of who you are, and you can do a lot of good with that, too. (And I won’t lie, I respect the drama of a man who takes his hair that seriously and commits so hard to the aesthetic he wears fuckin mismatched contacts i just. charm point ) 

But at the same time....I don’t know, this might sound presumptuous, but. I think. I just think he’d think I’m as neat as I think he is. I’m an ambitious, passionate person, too, and I also furiously stick to my ideals, and I also love the same kind of soul of music he does. I lean a little more metal than I do rock, but I think that’s nice, like sharing it has that ‘alike but different’ kind of familiarity and novelty all at once. Sometimes it’s tough sharing just how deeply rock and metal have sculpted me and my artwork (and therefore my career), bc it’s so deeply personal to me, and sometimes there’s weird elitism/misogyny/racism to deal with, too. But. The way he talks about rock, the way he describes the passion and how it transcends identity and is just a pure rush of power and sharing your feelings..................it just feels like he Gets it the same way I do. Just that unspoken, burning passion and understanding. I know it sounds weird to feel that strongly over just a music genre, but I just vibe with how to him, it really isn’t ‘just’ a music genre. I feel more accepting of myself for it, and I’d like to think he’d be real proud of himself for that.  

And listen, like....I’m very sentimental, but I really don’t like saccharine, flowery, romantic kinds of affection to be lavished on me. Just be straightforward but also a little tsun about it fjdsjfas and ..... those are the kind of feelings I can accept. And that’s the way Ranmaru is, and it’s also grounded in the kind of reality that I don’t like to be swept away from. He’s just so cool and hardworking and unwavering in his passion, it makes it easier for me to do the same despite all the bumps in the road. This got real long but Ran’s a cool dude, haha, I got a lot of positives to say. 

Anyways, I never tag folks for these things, but I love seeing everyone’s answers! If you see this and wanna fill it, feel free to count this as a tag from me :) I know this got real long, but with 30 questions how could it not haha? Thanks for reading and sticking around! 

#iron maiden & rocka rolla #memery #long post

[thathomestar]

Yakuza 6 beaten! This game is mechanically rough but the story is good. An interesting sendoff for Kiryu’s final adventure, to say the least.

Putting this under a read more because it got kinda long sorry

I’ve already talked at length about the combat mechanics and how I’m not a fan, but I’ll sum up my thoughts here a little more succinctly. Kiryu’s old Dragon of Dojima style he’s had for like 6 games now is replaced with this weirdo clunky fighting style that’s really slow. It gets better when you get the speed upgrades, but Yakuza 0 has this game beat by a long shot. The enemies, at least on Hard difficulty, love to swarm you all at once and all attack at once, making large group fights a real pain. The combat is at it’s best when you’re one-on-one with a boss, but previous games have done it better.

The introduction of Extreme Heat Mode is an interesting decision, but ultimately I feel it’s a misstep. A large amount of heat actions being locked behind a limited-duration ability is odd, and you can’t do your standard combos while in Extreme Heat Mode either, as your standard rush combo becomes essentially a Dempsy Roll. Not to mention, activating Extreme Heat takes a solid 2 seconds, which means setting up for specific heat actions is much more difficult. You’re still susceptible to flinch from enemy attacks while in Extreme Heat Mode, so wailing on your opponents isn’t feasible. The best method for crowd control is to grab and throw, or use Finishing Holds.

How you level up is also completely new. Gone are the Mind, Body, and Technique categories, gone are the sphere grids and multiple styles. There are now five aspects that you can earn XP points for: Strength, Agility, Spirit, Knowledge, and Charm. Just about everything gives you XP now. Fighting, eating, going to the RIZAP gym in Kamurocho, completing substories, filling out the completion menu, etc. Earn enough of these, and you can either level up your core abilities (health, attack, defense, evasion, heat) or choose to purchase skills, whether it’s new attack moves or augmenting your heat.

I don’t mind this new system, except for one thing: knowledge. There is no good way to get XP for knowledge outside of eating food (you don’t earn it from fights, and typically don’t get much of it as a reward for side activities), so you will be stuffing Kiryu full to the brim every single chance you get just to scrape together some knowledge XP. However, Kiryu now has a stomach capacity meter now. Eat too much, and you can’t earn XP from the food you eat. Being full or hungry doesn’t affect Kiryu outside of this though, thankfully, but it’s rather annoying. You quickly find out which restaurants are worth eating at for knowledge XP and ignore the rest.

Enough about the gameplay then. The story is pretty damn good. It’s like if Yakuza 5 was actually cohesive and paced well, lots of new characters and good drama. The stakes are probably the highest they’ve been for a Yakuza game, which I know sounds ridiculous considering the kinds of things Kiryu ends up getting sucked into, but it’s the truth. There’s a few older characters like Daigo, Majima, and Saejima that make what amount to cameo appearances, and they are quickly shuffled out of frame to make way for the new cast. I love all the new characters. The Hiroshima newcomers take some warming up to but they come into their own by the time the story concludes.

Side stuff this time is a mixed bag. New engine, new minigames. The railgun spearfishing game where you genocide fish was my favorite, the baseball management game not so much. Karaoke has finally gotten a much needed overhaul, making rhythms not a guessing game. All of the classic Sega arcade games from Yakuza 0 are brought over, as well as Puyo Puyo and a full arcade-perfect port of Virtua Fighter 5. I am fucking awful at Puyo Puyo. The batting cage game is a bit different now too, it’s more like how Shinada’s batting minigame was from Yakuza 5. Darts and Mahjong have also returned. Woo. I ignored hostess clubs as I always do.

The camgirl game is amusing on your first go but it’s be boring to play it over and over just to view all the different branching scenes, unless you’re into that sort of thing I guess. Substories are now all fully voice acted, to my surprise. There’s 52 in total, which is less than usual, but given how each one has a lot more time and effort spent on it makes up for it a bit. Unfortunately, some of them are tied behind stuff like the baseball management game, like the ability to be a regular at a hole-in-the-wall pub. Also, I don’t know if there’s anything else to the Cat Cafe thing if you actually find all the cats, because I didn’t bother.

The Clan Creator is the big new side activity for Yakuza 6, and it’s... kinda boring. The little story thread is that this bigass gang (led by New Japan Pro Wrestling members for some reason) is causing a lot of trouble, so Kiryu and some kids he meets up with form the Kiryu Clan to stop them. You recruit leaders to your ranks and slot them into a hierarchy, then set off on missions. It plays like a bare-bones RTS game where you send out troops, up to 6 of your leaders and your pick of generic gang members who specialize in different things (some are tanky brutes who can soak up damage but are slow, some stay back and shoot guns, some chuck grenades, etc). You send your gang up or down a street and have them duke it out with the enemy gang, occasionally using your leaders’ abilities to help turn the tide in your favor.

Unfortunately, it’s not exactly that difficult or that fun. I did use a code or two to unlock OP leaders (like Daigo with his ability to refresh your reinforcement pool), so maybe that’s why, but it was always a steamroll until the very last battle. Hell, I didn’t even have Daigo for a while and I was still cruising through it. But you’re encouraged to find and use codes, so I dunno. The little storyline was kinda boring outside of the goofy wrestling personas doing their goofy things.

I guess I oughta wrap this up. Overall, I still enjoyed Yakuza 6. But literally every time I was in combat, I was thinking about how much more fun Yakuza 0 or even Yakuza 5 was. The story is great, I loved the characters, but it’s brought down by the rough mechanics of this new engine and fighting style. I hope for Shin RGG they really polish its mechanics. I would not recommend this as a first Yakuza experience, but I think I would recommend it for people who have beaten 0 and Kiwami.

God I wish they port the PS3 games to PS4 WELL HEY

#yakuza #ryu ga gotoku #yakuza 6 #ryu ga gotoku 6 #ths writeups

[uniformbravo]

god free! is such a dumb goofy series i love it like shit gets real sometimes but when it comes down to it it’s just a bunch of dumb goofy teens living their lives together?? i have compiled a list of my favorite examples from s1

makoto: *enters haru’s house uninvited, walks right into the bathroom while haru’s in the bath, presumably naked* hey haru: ....................................hey LIKe he just.... Accepts that this is happening, theres like a solid like 2 seconds of him just staring at makoto like he’s debating within himself whether to Say It or not before almost tangibly going “fuck it” & just going along w/ it*

haru & makoto & nagisa going “is it really okay to dig up our old trophy if rin isn’t here? idk it just feels wrong w/o him” only to find out that rin not only beat them there but also fucking just went ahead and dug it up by himself hfjdkjgd

haru having some kind of sixth sense for sugar apparently??? when nagisa throws “salt” on them he like tenses up all dramatic & goes “this isnt salt........................ it’s sugar” like ok????? just gonna let that one go i guess

rin having sharp teeth for absolutely no fucking reason

haru & rin not noticing the fucking pool they're about to race in is empty????

haru straight up rejecting their encounter with rin & trying to convince himself they all hallucinated him like huh? what? rin?? haha impossible he’s in australia there’s no way he couldve been at the swim club last night. no theres no such thing as airplanes he’s gone forever. yes im sure

rin going back to the old swim club again bc the first time his melodramatic brooding was interrupted by those old elementary school Goons showing up so he needed a do-over

nagisa skinny dipping in samezuka’s pool??? an apparently prestigious competitive swimming powerhouse that trains up future professional gold medalists, reigning champions of interhigh swim meets near and far in that same water & nagisa just jumps the fuck in dick out no fucks to give whatsoever???? this bitch

haru literally only showing up to both the old swim club and samezuka academy for the pools, it’s literally the equivalent of college students showing up to any given event for free food (and the fact that they had to break in both times, these Rowdy-Ass Teens)

rin showing up just in time to interrupt their illicit pool activities bc he Sensed Them

haru wearing his swimsuit under his clothes literally everywhere despite reportedly not having actually swum since middle school (except for in the ocean during summer, but it’s like the middle of spring rn?? is he just doing this in way advanced preparation? is this the equivalent of people who start posting abt halloween in july)

gou showing up to haru’s house bc apparently she just Knows where he lives (also haru hearing the doorbell & immediately submerging his head in the bath bc he’d rather drown than have to answer the door #relatable)

rei calling haru “haru-chan-san” upon first meeting him bc “haru-chan” is what nagisa has been referring to him as so that’s his sole point of reference but he also has to add his own honorific too bc come on

haru being instantly pissed at this random new fuck for calling him not only -chan, his Least favorite honorific, but now -san on top of it too??? Outrageous (and this is the same guy who reportedly “hates water,” a completely unacceptable sentiment that should under no circumstances be allowed anywhere near their team in the first place- honestly from haru’s pov it’s like “oh so this is the guy who hates water huh, this hot shit” & then the hot shit’s all “you must be haru-chan-san” he probably just immediately sees red ghdjsjf)

nagisa’s whole “we need this guy bc he has a girly name just like us it’s fate” thing even tho rei’s already in the track club doing pole vaulting that he’s obviously been training v hard to be able to do is such a stupid anime bullshit motivation & my favorite part of it is that their plan for recruiting him basically amounts to the whole gang of idiots showing up to all of rei’s practices and staring at him intensely from the corner until he joins them, like,,,, think of this from rei’s perspective he’s just minding his own business trying to perfect pole vaulting & these fuckers have fixated on him for no apparent reason? he can’t even swim???

rei going so far out of his way to avoid admitting to nagisa that he can’t swim that he comes up with this bullshit philosophy about “humans evolved from the water so why would we regress and get back into it??? Checkmate y’all are fucking idiots now leave me alone” (& also the effort & passion he puts into the delivery, the overdramatic gesturing hfhhddjf rei are u sure u don’t actually belong in the drama club)

after all that, rei up and deciding to leave the track team (even tho he literally structured his daily schedule around it, went running in the mornings & everything, read books n shit) to join the swim club bc haru just looked really, really cool while swimming that one time

haru legitimately having a hard time choosing between like 5 of the exact same swim suit

when they’re trying to figure out why rei can’t swim & haru’s like “the water doesn’t like him” & nagisa’s immediately like “poor rei-chan :(” like hfkglfkj he just Accepts

rei being so frustrated with his inability to swim that he blames it on his speedo & is very convinced that buying a new one will somehow solve all of his problems (& everyone else just going along w/ it like ok i guess it’s time to go swimsuit shopping then)

haru, the owner of the previously mentioned 5 identical swimsuits, joining in with everyone else to go shopping for even more swimsuits, and picking out another one that looks just fucking like the other 5 he already has

nagisa being told that he can’t put their ugly-ass bird mascot on the swim team uniform so he puts “secret iwatobi-chan” on the back of the shirt that will be hidden beneath the jacket as if that’s not Blatantly what he was told not to do (also the fact that anyone entrusted the handling of the uniforms to nagisa, the exact kind of person who would do exactly that kind of thing)

(ok this one isnt rly goofy but haru just bit his ice cream & im so intimidated rn??)

rin’s fucking 6th sense for haru again???? “smells like mackerel”????? i truly cannot handle this one (haru & company are looking in at samezuka’s practice through the window & rin’s just like “HUH what the fuck is that who’s there i smell Mackerel” like????? oh my fucking god)

amakata “we don’t have enough money for a training camp” miho renting herself and gou a room at a lodge on the beach?????? power move

this goddamn show having a fun ~spooky~ haunted house adventure right after everyone almost fucking Died

haru’s story about his “first love” being about a fucking waterfall igmgkdjkg

rin jogging on the beach the next morning & stopping by the tents like “who r these fuckin dumbasses camping right on the shoreline” & then he turns around and there’s haru & his band of swimming idiots

rin waiting in the hallway at the interhigh in case haru comes by so he can casually get up & have a Cool And Dramatic confrontation w/ him where he brags how he’s gonna beat him in their upcoming race (which, even better, he purposely entered himself at a lower skill level to be able to do while probably his whole team went “uhhhh are u sure abt this lmao we’re kind of trying to be the best here” & hes just like “yeah yeah its fine it’s gonna be so fucking cool just wait”)

haru apparently also having a Rin Sense where he just Feels that rin is there, watching him about to swim (although now that i think about it that bright red hair is probably a fuckin beacon, i bet literally everyone looked over at him the second he stepped out of that doorway- that and the massive aura of Teen Angst surrounding him at all times)

the whole thing with nagisa & rei’s operation at the summer festival to keep haru from seeing rin? first of all is v cute but they get so into it fjdhgkdj fucking dumb cute kids playing secret detective mission texting each other Classified Intel about the location of their targets while also trying to hide it from haru & makoto (who eventually find out bc nagisa is literally the worst liar ever while also already being the most suspect little shit out of all of them by nature)

rei getting so caught up in the detective shit that he ends up following rin out of the festival entirely & into town where the purpose of his pursuit in the first place is irrelevant bc haru’s not gonna suddenly happen upon rin at the elementary school?? rei is such a nosy bitch i love him

rei being such a nosy bitch that he inadvertently fixes the emotional turmoil that has been building between rin & the others unresolved for years

rin texting gou to get rei’s number bc he needs to have a Serious and Dramatic conversation w/ him but he didnt have the chance to exchange contact info the last time they yelled at each other behind the school

rin sitting alone in samezuka’s bus bc they banned him from swimming for being too obsessed w/ haru & he needs somewhere to Sulk

rin finding some random tree outside the swim meet & being like “this reminds me of that tree from elementary school” bc hes a nostalgic bitch like that

haru being able to find rin bc he saw the same tree earlier and went “wait, rin’s a nostalgic bitch, i know Exactly where the fuck he went” & Sure Enough

iwatobi getting themselves disqualified bc they wanted to swim w/ rin in an official race like??? i know it’s an emotional & satisfying moment but miho chewing them out for it afterward is so fucking funny like objectively this team was doing rly well & then suddenly went “u know what, we do what we want, this red guy is ours now” & the judges went “hmm............... no”

in the v last episode when theyre all just sitting in a classroom w/ rin having him pretend to introduce himself as if he were a transfer student like theres absolutely no reason for this, theyre just goofing off together and reconnecting after having lost each other for so many years & it’s so dumb & heartwarming & the perfect way to close off the season & im crying i really do love this show i love these characters so much what a dumb cute goofy heartfelt show aaaaaa free is a treasure

*from the very 1st point: i know there r cultural differences to take into account where it’s probably not as big a deal for makoto to walk in on haru’s bath time in japan as it would be in like, america & the real issue haru takes w/ this happening is that his one little place of refuge in a world w/o water is being breached by this annoyingly persistent guy who not only interrupts his coping time but is actively trying to get him to leave it for “important” things like “going to school” and “not being late” & the extended pause is really him registering this unpleasant situation & trying to decide if it’s worth it to fight for his solitude, ultimately deciding it’s not worth the energy and begrudgingly accepting makoto’s outstretched hand, though he vocalizes his displeasure by rejecting his -chan bc no one who pulls him away from the water is someone he can call a friend, not even his like. actual friend. only friend. either one

anyway i love free bye

#hm i love free hm hmm #retag later #free blogging #i havent done a post like this in a while it's. good #i might do this for s2 too but i remember it less & it's hard to take notes when ur watching w/ someone & cant pause it a bunch #so we'll see

[carriagelamp]

March 2020 Book Review - Books To Quarantine With

You know, when I talk about wanting more time to read this isn’t REALLY what I was talking about. Anyway, here are some of the books I read this month and/or helped me stay sane during self-isolation

Belle Révolte

Quarantine Queer Reads! This is a book I’ve been excited about for ages, from one an author I love, and is definitely worth picking up if you like high fantasy, complex magical and societal rule systems, and queer ladies leading the charge. This was a bit of a prince and the pauper story, with the wealthy Emilie switching places with the lowborn Annette so that Emilie could run away from her finishing school and study noonday magic necessary to become a physician, and allowing Annette to take her place to study the delicate midnight magics at a wealthy school. Both end up getting embroiled in the societal and martial turmoil of their country. (Also, if you haven’t read it, go back and check out Mask of Shadows, Linsey Miller’s first duology!)

Calvin and Hobbes: Weirdos From Another Planet

Let’s be honest: this has been a stressful time for everyone. I have no idea what my job is going to look like next week, it’s a little terrifying, and sometimes you need something feel-good. So I pulled out my old Calvin and Hobbes books and have been rereading them relentlessly. As a kid, this one was always my favourite, and you know what? You are literally never to old for Calvin comics.

The Witcher: Season Of Storms

Took me some time to decide if this was meant to be read third or last in the Witcher series, but I finally decided to follow the advice to stick to chronology and read it third. I was glad I did! Season of Storms reads like a really really long short story somehow, and it was just a really enjoyable adventure. An entire plot based around Geralt losing his swords is hilarious to me, yet it managed to cram in all the philosophizing and emotion as the other stories so far. It’s a really impressive balance. Also there was lots of Dandelion trying to be helpful and Geralt Having Feelings so how can I not love it? Seriously, the Witcher novels are some of the best “classic high fantasy” novels I have possibly ever read, and they routinely make me incredibly emotional.

Sisters

A Raina Telgemeier book I hadn’t read yet. Like her others, this was a cute, heart warming story, this one focusing on families, siblings, and the importance of connection and bridging differences. I’ll be honest... not a lot of this stuck with me afterwards, I couldn’t tell you much about it now, but it was a very pleasant read at the time and the art in these books is always lovely.

Kristy’s Big Idea

Rather the same as above. It was a retelling of the first Baby-Sitters’ Club book in a graphic novel format. It was fine. I never loved this series as a kid, and I can’t say this adaptation is what made me fall in love with it.

No Fixed Address

A fantastic Canadian novel! This is a story that touches on the child homelessness crisis in Vancouver, and is about a boy who lives with his single mother. When his mother loses her job, they wind up needing to live in a van, as a web of complicated little lies weaves tighter and tighter around them. It isn’t as depressing as it sounds though! The book manages to be very goofy, light-hearted, and funny -- and over all optimistic! So while there were definitely bits that had me crying, it was over all a really enjoyable read. I would recommend, and this coming from someone who normally isn’t super into real-world fiction!

Bleach 7-9

I had taken some more Bleach books out of the library before this all hit, so I had plenty of time to get through them during this quarantine! Have to admit, these later books are a bit more meh than the beginning of the series, in my opinion. I’d never actually read this far into the series as a kid, and I can see why I stopped. It’s a bit more of a run-of-the-mill shonen fighter at this point. But I still love Ichigo and once the libraries reopen I’ll probably continue reading.

Candy Color Paradox

A manga that did not let me down. I absolutely adore this series -- and finding a yaoi series that actually feels like it has a really good, solid, interesting relationship is like finding a needle in a haystack. Since the couple has really already gotten together, there’s not much relationship drama in this book, and it’s more to do with the drama that comes from their jobs as reporters, and honestly it was very refreshing. I’m looking forward to the next book getting translated.

Kiki & Jax

I’d read Marie Kondo’s book, so when I saw that there was a picture book to I had to pick it up and check it out! It’s actually really cute! It’s a charming little way to introduce the importance of cleaning to children that’s a bit more relatable than just “because I told you to”, and provides some of the more practical, useful tips from Kondo’s book presented in a simple, visual format. It was lovely.

F in Exams

This is just a collection of some hilarious test answers. It takes about ten minutes to skim through but made me grin. Some are so clever you feel they should really just be given the point.

Five Nights At Freddy’s: Into the Pit

More FNAF? Yes. Listen, I’m not proud, but I was too curious after that first one not to dig deeper into this (hurr hurr) pit. This one isn’t a part of the same series, and is a much simpler collection of short stories. While Silver Eyes actually managed to be kind of intriguing and suspenseful, this was mostly just... annoying. Like bargain bin twilight zone episodes that vaguely had animatronics slapped into it. A barely dragged myself through it, and it was less than two hundred pages, though in fairness it’s also clearly written for a younger age demographic than Silver Eyes.

Deltora Quest: Special Edition 2 (volumes 5-8)

I’d read the first special edition earlier this year (books 1-4) and finally got around to finishing the series (or at least the first arc of it). Reading it as these big collected volumes is great, because it feels less like tiny little books, and more like chapters within a larger story. Honestly, Deltora Quest remains one of the my favourite series, and it did not become even a little less enjoyable to read as an adult. The characterization of the main characters is fantastic, and this author doesn’t shy away from putting her characters in truly horrifying situations that feel new and intense. Despite the premise being a classic (the characters are seeking the seven stones of the Belt or Deltora) Rodda creates really unique creatures, people, world building, and plot points.

#book review #book reviews #queer lit #canadian lit #deltora quest #belle revolte #linsey miller #season of storms #the witcher #calvin and hobbes #raina telgemeier #candy color paradox #five nights at freddy's #into the pit #marie kondo #manga #comics #graphic novels #bleach #no fixed address #susin nielsen

[themostrandomfandom]

Hi! How would you personally rank the seasons of glee from your favourite to your least favourite & why?

Hey, @sitandsingtoyou!

Since I watch Glee almost exclusively for the Brittana, it’s probably no surprise that their narrative treatment is the single biggest factor that determines how I feel about any given season. 

If Brittana have a prominent, well-wrought arc from season premiere to season finale, then chances are I’ll like said season no matter what shenanigans are going on with other characters or storylines. 

The same is also true in reverse. 

That said, for the purpose of answering this ask, I also considered factors like the overall storytelling (beyond the Brittana of it all), the music, the presence of any standout episodes, general cohesion, etc., when making my rankings.

The final list appears after the cut.

WARNING: Here be strong feelings about Glee and more than a little bit of negativity about its writing and production. Note that the views expressed in this post are the author’s personal opinions based on her preferences, and they may very much differ from your own.

___________

In order from favorite to least favorite:

S6: As I discussed in this post, in addition to providing our girls with the happy ending they always deserved, S6 offers much of the best-written, most fully-developed, adorable, emotional, poignant, and narratively-satisfying Brittana we get throughout the series. We’re talking fanfic quality stuff, and not just in bits and pieces here and there but basically across the board in every episode in which Brittany and Santana feature. While there are a few things I’d change, on a whole, I can’t think of a more enjoyable canonical culmination to Brittana’s journey. As for the non-Brittana stuff, while there are, admittedly, some really low lows—many of the middling episodes of the season are an affront to screenwriting—there are also some suprisingly pleasant turns. Don’t tell anybody, but I actually love most of the New New New Directions and find the storylines that focus on them (as opposed to the adults of Lima and alumni advisers) kind of delightful. While the series finale itself somewhat underwhelms me, the flashback sequence at the end of episode 6x11 totally makes me cry. A lot of this season is about getting back to what made Glee fun and likeable in the beginning: good tunes, camp gags, and stories about a ragtag group of underdogs overcoming adversity through love and music. In general, I feel like S6 does a nice job tying up the loose ends for glee club members old and new and fulfilling the main thesis of the show (“Something is special because you are a part of it”).

S2: Brittana’s S2 storyline is one long, amazing roller coaster ride of emotion. It’s hard to describe exactly what it felt like watching it all play out for the first time as the episodes were originally airing; I hate to use the word “special” because it sounds so quaint, but it’s kind of the only term that really fits. Because the “Sex is not dating” line in episode 1x13 was initially treated like a one-and-done deal, going into S2, no one in the fandom really expected to see a fully developed Brittana romantic storyline—and yet that’s exactly what the Back Six gave us, and each successive Locker scene brought elation, heartache, fear, hope, and continued anticipation. Nothing beats S2 Brittana angst, and especially not the Hurt Locker, which is far and away the ship’s pièce de résistance. Then beyond the Brittana, the rest of the season is generally high quality, at least as far as Glee goes. There’s some nice tongue-in-cheek comedy, iconic scenes, and heartfelt character development, plus episode 2x19 is one of the show’s musical high points overall. As always with Glee, some pitchy moments sneak their ways in and a few episodes beg to be forgotten, but for the most part S2 is Glee in its stride, and it’s held up well over time.

S1: Since Brittana are not yet main characters, they don’t have a main text S1 storyline, per se. Still, when you fill in the gaps, there’s a lot going on with them on a subtextual level, enough so that rewatching S1 knowing what will eventually happen in later seasons will provide a strenuous cardio workout for any serious Brittana shipper. There’s plenty of excellent Heya improv to go around, and the classic “Brittana on the back row” can’t be beat. Plus, Brittana’s mini-arc with Finn between episodes 1x14 and 1x15 is heartbreaking. Still, the reason why I rank this season so highly has less to do with Brittana in particular than it does with overall quality: Simply put, I think that Glee had a better idea of what it was about during the first thirteen episodes of S1 than it did throughout much of the rest of the series. While later on the show would struggle to balance comedy and drama, realism and camp, trying and failing to be all things to all people, in the beginning, it was just an earnest, theatrical little show about nerdy choir kids trying to find their places in the world, and it didn’t take itself too seriously. Though many of the S1 storylines were schlocky—hello, fake Schuester pregnancy!—there were more than enough heartfelt performances and excellent character moments to balance them out. For instance, for as much as I generally dislike Finn, the “I’ll Stand by You” scene in episode 1x10 is so well done on every level. Whatever Glee became in its later seasons, in S1 it was at its core still good. It hadn’t forgotten what it was all about yet.

S3: Now we’re getting to the bottom of the barrel. I rank S3 fourth on my list not because I really enjoy it all that much but because it’s less terrible than S5 and S4, at least imo. The season’s biggest issue is that it’s all over the place in terms of quality. Sugar was a blessing, but Rory not so much. Likewise, on the Brittana side of things, there are some really high highs—our girls officially start dating! they share their first on screen kiss! they have a fabulous time at their senior prom together!—but there is also the giant bugbear that is Santana’s “coming out” arc, which is awful on so many levels. The writing and characterization for Brittany and Santana vacillates wildly throughout the season. In some episodes, like 3x04 and 3x13, it’s really great. In others, like 3x16, it’s utterly headache-inducing. And it’s not just our girls who suffer from spotty writing throughout the season; Quinn’s storyline is a complete mess, and Sue is an unbelievable Yosemite Sam caricature of herself whose exploits are so exaggerated that they make it virtually impossible to suspend one’s disbelief enough to enjoy her scenes. While the Troubletones are a musical highlight for the whole series—and the “Rumour Has It/Someone Like You” mashup is the best musical performance in all of Glee, hands down—a good soundtrack doesn’t make up for some of the season’s more glaring deficiences, and especially not the way Santana’s storyline was treated both inside and outside the universe of the show. Though there are a handful of S3 episodes I will rewatch for my own personal enjoyment, there are many that I’d prefer not to recall. S3 was the first season of Glee to bring in new regular writing staff beyond RIB, and with all its inconsistencies and the disuniform quality of the episodes, unfortunately, the inexperience really shows.

S5: With the exception of episodes 5x12 and 5x13, I hate almost everything about S5—and, yes, that includes the majority of Santana’s NYC episodes. I get that Heather Morris was largely off the show during this season, so it’s not that I blame TPTB for pairing Santana with Dani or making her Hummelberry’s sidekick. It’s just that it breaks my heart watching Santana repeatedly throw herself against a brick wall as she tries over and over again to win Kurt and Rachel’s friendship and trust, always to no avail (see here and here). In theory, Hummelpezberry could have been a really fun brot3—god knows that myriad fanfic authors have been able to pull it off to great effect—but in canon it never really worked, largely because the writers were reluctant to stop using Santana as a convenient heavy whenever they needed to generate synthetic conflict in an episode, even though she had long since ceased to function as an antagonist in terms of her narrative arc. While there were plenty of zingers and jaunty musical numbers in the Loft, I could never really enjoy them because the happy times never lasted. Santana was made to feel like an outcast in her own home, and for someone who loves that character as much as I do, it hurt to see her feeling so lonely and ostracized. Once she ran off into the sunset with Brittany, things took a turn for the better. Still, there were really only a handful of bright spots overall. Anyone who’s read TKTD knows that my second favorite ship on Glee is Samcedes, and I did truly enjoy the cute little romcom that was their 5B storyline. I also loved the Sancedes and later Brittanacedes friendship moments on the tail end of the season. But in general, everything felt strained and disjointed, and my ultimate sense is that the tragic early loss of Cory Monteith proved an insurmountable hurdle for the season’s creativity and writing direction on a whole.

S4: I liked the production of Grease, but otherwise this season was one long fail from start to finish, and there is not a single episode out of the twenty-two that I at all care to revisit. Though I’ve been able to rationalize and justify and meta my way through the Brittana arc, doing so is just more intellectual and emotional trouble than it’s worth. Throughout S4, the depiction of every established character including our girls seems OOC, some to an incredibly noticeable degree. Sam Evans, whom I loved in S2 and S3, absolutely gets trashed, going from a goofy, lovable dork to idiot Finn Hudson Version 2.0. Episode 4x04 represents one of the worst and most misguided writing decisions I’ve ever seen made on a primetime TV show. That a group of professional screenwriters would sit down and say, “Let’s break up three of our flagship couples not for any good or compelling narrative reason but simply because we want to ‘spice things up’ and see how our heavily-invested, emotionally vulnerable, primarily teenaged and young adult audience reacts!” boggles the mind, as does the fact that they were then surprised when their viewership numbers dropped off dramatically thereafter. I do want to say that I liked Marley Rose, Unique Adams, and Kitty Wilde, though I otherwise found the New New Directions kind of meh. Overall, this season is the one that seems to stray the farthest from Glee’s original premises and spirit. There isn’t much that’s fun, triumphant, or satisfying. There’s just a lot of racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, cultural insensitivity, bad writing, and miserable story arcs in scads.

Thanks for the question!                                  

#Crazy Brittanalyst answers #sitandsingtoyou #I also have another ask from you plus ones from deleteee and tryingtoohardddd #which I'm working on slowly but surely #though it may take me a while since this week is a busy one for me outside of the internet

[artificialqueens]

But I'm A Cheerleader! - Chapter 18 (Aja x Farrah) - Millie

A/N: I’m going on holiday for three weeks on Sunday, so updates will probably be irregular because I’ll be in a different time zone + for one of the weeks I won’t have wifi. But don’t worry, when I’m home they’ll be all back to normal!!

Aja couldn’t stop smiling. It was stupidly late and Farrah had drifted off long ago, but she was still wide awake. After last week’s unplanned sleepover, both of them had implicitly decided that sleeping in the same bed was actually an okay idea, and there was way more room. Plus, Farrah had admitted that sleeping on Aja’s floor was like trying to get comfy on a bed of nails.

Although they hadn’t been friends long, and Aja had only liked her a short amount of time, she’d certainly fallen fast.

Unable to sleep, Aja was stuck to mindlessly scrolling through social media until she was tired (as one does). She wasn’t paying that much attention until she came to one photo on Instagram that Kandy had just posted: a photo of herself, Momo, Dahlia, and Aja. They all had smiles on their faces and were squeezed in together so they could all fit in the photo. The picture must’ve been over a year old. The caption read, “#TBT. My best friends!”

Aja remembered posing for that photo, partially because they had so much fun that day, but mainly because it was the last time her and Dahlia were proper friends. Looking at it filled her with a sickly feeling, and her previous ecstasy was cut short. She clicked on Dahlia’s tag on the photo and briefly looked through her account, but it was just the same old stuff.

Farrah rolled over and rubbed her eyes, interrupting Aja’s sudden drop in mood. Seeing her there wrenched her heart even more, as she realised the similarities between her feelings for Farrah and Dahlia. Both were (or at least used to be) her close friend, both occurred during high school. Okay, they were pretty vague and common similarities, but the worry she felt towards them was just the same.

“You’re still awake?” Farrah croaked.

“No, I can look at Instagram with my eyes closed,” Aja snapped, although that wasn’t her intention. “Yes, I’m awake.”

“It’s late,” Farrah said. “You should really sleep.” Her voice was soothing, and Aja found herself becoming more drowsy with each word.

“Alright,” she said simply.

She turned off her phone, the pitch black of her room greeting her instead of the harsh light. Farrah nuzzled her head into the crook of Aja’s neck and sighed contentedly; Aja silently freaked out. She closed her eyes and rested her head on top of Farrah’s. Several minutes passed, and just as Aja thought she was about to drift off, Farrah spoke again.

“Can you stroke my hair?” she asked.

Despite being pissed for being woken up, Aja wrapped her arm around her so she could reach her hair in a more comfortable fashion. Eventually, they both fell asleep in that position, Aja stroking Farrah’s hair until she was too tired to do so.

-

That Tuesday was the final game of the season. Everyone was on edge, bracing themselves for what was to come. The Glamazons and The Bombers were neck and neck at the moment, and this game could go in any direction.

The cheerleaders always became the most patriotic when it was the last game. Many of them painted their faces with their team colours, as well as writing its name on their arms and legs in hopes of catching the attention of one of the guys. This year, the Glamazons had opted for a giant, purple flag with a silver RG sewn on gratuitously by Miss Visage and the textiles teacher, and they managed to place it at the top of the stadium where the wind would blow more fiercely and show it off. The Bombers had friends in the audience holding up makeshift posters and signs, most of them covered in demeaning terms meant for the other team. Miss RuPaul didn’t seem to notice, but if she did, she didn’t say anything for the sole reason of drama and competitiveness.

This week was also the last rehearsal before the West Hollywood Cheerleader Tryouts, and it was safe to say that all of them were absolutely shitting themselves about it. Their routine was pretty much complete now; they just needed to go over it a few more times and it’d be perfect. The worst part about it was not knowing what they were up against, and they had to create new routines even faster than usual. They’d only find out if they got in at the end of August, and if they didn’t make it then tensions were bound to rise between the teams.

The end of the game was fast approaching, but it was still unclear as to who would reign victorious. The cheerleaders had stopped doing their supportive routines and were now just standing there attentively, closely observing the footballers. The scores only had a couple of points between them.

“We’re in the lead!” Sasha whispered loudly to Aja at one point, indicating to the scoreboard. She noticed that there were only a few minutes left.

A huge, goofy grin appeared on her face. “We better win,” she replied.

Sasha nodded.

They all continued to watch the game unfold, and the Bombers’ cheerleaders began to panic; Aja could hear the scared whisperings behind her. The Glamazons had the ball at the moment, and were inching towards another goal… before one player from the Bombers tackled them. The crowd blew up into cheers and praise now that the Bombers had taken control again, and within a few speedy seconds, they’d scored another goal. Aja’s smile dropped.

The few remaining minutes of the game were concentrated on with even more intensity. Mr. Mathews had his hands clasped together as her watch with them, his mouth close to the microphone to announce the winner at any minute. Those anticipated moments passed quickly, and the time was running out.

“3…” Mr. Mathews shouted into the microphone, “2… 1…” He blew his whistle and the footballers froze. “And the winners are… RuPaul’s Glamazons!” he announced before anyone could even look at the scoreboard.

There was a second-long delayed reaction filled with shock and euphoria before everyone erupted into screams and claps, even the people in the audience who were rooting for the Bombers. By only one game win, RuPaul’s Glamazons had taken the crown (or rather, trophy). Although disappointed about losing this year, the B-52 Bombers footballers still clapped.

All the Glamazons’ cheerleaders brought each other into a group hug, holding one another tight. Despite not even playing, they felt like they’d just won, too. Now, all that was left for them was the crowning of Cheerleader Of The Year at the end-of-year assembly, and they all had their fingers crossed that they would win (although, it could always be a Bomber).

-

“Congratulations!” Farrah exclaimed when she found Aja waiting for her outside school. She hugged her tight.

Aja beamed at her. “Technically, we didn’t win; it was the footballers,” she said.

“Well, you’re my winner.” She smiled in return. “Hey, I was thinking… I’m seeing my friends from the LGBT club straight after I get home. Do you want to come? Obviously you don’t have to-”

“Sure,” Aja cut her off. “I’d love to.” Besides the fact that she’d get to know some probably pretty cool, new people, Aja figured that if Farrah did like her, even just a little bit, she could tell by the others’ reactions to her coming.

They set off to Farrah’s house, adrenaline from the game still coursing through their veins.

“So, who do you think it going to win Cheerleader Of The Year?” Farrah asked.

Aja didn’t really know. Over the course of the year, she’d seen so much development in everyone’s performance - anyone stood a chance.

She shrugged. “I’m not sure,” she said. “Shea, Trinity, and Valentina stand out the most to me. What do you think?”

Farrah noticeably winced at the mention of Valentina. “I agree,” she said. “And maybe even Sasha or Eureka.”

Aja nodded. “They can turn it out.”

As always, it only took a matter of minutes before they reached Farrah’s house. She quickly went inside and grabbed a sweater for each of them as they were starting to shiver in their less-than-conservative outfits.

“Where are we meeting them?” Aja asked, pulling Farrah’s sweater over her head.

“Oh, just the park,” she said. “It’s actually the one that James and Chuck do community service at. It’ll be nice to see it clean.” They both laughed.

Soon, they were at the entrance of the park, and peering in, Aja could see a group of people huddled together by one of the benches. Butterflies began to swarm her stomach, but it wasn’t the good kind.

“You okay?” Farrah asked her before they entered.

“Yeah, yeah, just a bit nervous, I think.”

“Come on - you’ll be alright.” She held Aja’s hand and pulled her forward. “Let’s go.”

After walking a few steps, a couple of the people by the bench turned around and greeted them, and they all followed suite.

“Hey, guys,” Farrah said, both of them walking over. “This is my friend, Aja.”

Aja plastered a smile on her face, and they did the same in return. “Hi.”

Farrah looked up at her and beamed. “So,” she said, squeezing Aja’s hand. “These are some of my friends from the club.”

The group waved and said hi to her. Everyone was noticeably cold, and it occurred to all of them that a park in the evening was not the best gathering place, even if it was the end of May.

“I’m Trixie,” one girl introduced herself. “And this is my girlfriend, Katya.” She motioned to the girl stood beside her. Katya was a combination of sexy Russian gymnast and blind fashion designer. Trixie had very… prominent makeup, to say the least, but it suited her well. They looked like complete opposites.

“Nice to meet you,” Katya said in a soft Russian accent, smiling. “We’ve heard lots about you.”

Aja’s eyes lit up. “Good things, I hope.” She chuckled nervously.

“I’m Alaska.” A tall, thin girl came forward and spoke with a low, rough voice. Her platinum-blonde hair was packed on top of her head into a messy bun (although messy was an understatement) and she smiled widely. Aja smiled back at all three.

One of three boys spoke up. “I’m Derrick,” he introduced himself, “and these are my boyfriends, Mac and Nick.”

Aja recognised Trixie, Katya, and Derrick as past students from Tuckahoe High School, and Farrah informed her that Alaska and Mac were there just before Aja and Farrah were freshmen.

“You should totally join the LGBT club, Aja,” Katya piped up. “And there’s a load of other people if you get tired of us.” She laughed.

“I might…” she replied hesitantly. It would be a great opportunity, but the only problem was that she wasn’t out to her mother yet. What would she tell her? She always saw straight through Aja’s lies.

“Please, please, please,” Farrah insisted, gazing up at her with what looked like complete adoration.

“I’ll think about it.” Aja smiled. She’d try her best to resist Farrah’s ‘begging’ face.

-

That evening consisted of random small talk that Aja mostly couldn’t follow, but soon she began to settle in. Everyone invited her into the conversation and were overall very welcoming. When she was with them, she felt an air of acceptance that she’d never felt around other people. Now, Farrah and Aja were on their way home; it’d just got to 9:30pm, and Aja had figured that her mom would want her home by now.

“If it ever came down to it,” Farrah spoke up, “you could date one of the people from the LGBT club. Alaska’s recently single.”

It took everything Aja had to not grab Farrah by the waist, bend down and lean in close, look deep into her eyes, and tell her how fucking oblivious she was. She didn’t want to date Alaska - hell, she’d only known her an hour - or anyone else, for that matter. Aja wasn’t exactly through her any hints, but the frustration still resided within her. She only wanted Farrah, and she wouldn’t settle for anyone less until she knew the other girl’s feelings.

“Nah, I’m okay for now,” she said through gritted teeth.

#but i'm a cheerleader #millie #farraja #aja #farrah moan #au #rpdr fanfiction #lesbian au #cheerleader au

[trixcuomo]

Final?? Org Daily Mail Interview With Trixany Cuomo

Approx. 10 min read. The Org Daily Mail liquors Trixany up and let’s ‘er rip. BTW Trix has a guild tag now, but I did leave her unguilded for a while and it inspired me.

Alternate title: Free Trixany!

Org: So, Trixany…

Trix: Eyup.

Org: Eyup.

Random Orc #1: …Eyup.

Random Orc #2: Uh-huh. *hands out the beer*

Trix: Wow. Kaja Cola makes beer? Nice. *has a big sip*

Org: Sort of. Miss Trixany Cuomo, thank you for joining us again.

Trix: Yeah. Being here for the second time is… meh. I guess. And I figure the Trixany versus the Org Daily Mail, love-hate relationship thing has to end sometime, right? You know, this Kaja Cola beer is unusually good. It’s even giving me ideas!

Org: Well done, Trixany. You’ve earned a toffee.

Trix: Haha, nice! *spins in her swivel chair*

Org: Let’s get to it--

Trix: Ooh! I know a girl in another video game who says that. She’s good with a whip. And if I ever, as a video game character, did a cosplay of another video game character, like inside my game? It would totally be Franziska Von Karma.

Org: What… the heck are you talking about now, Trixany?

Trix: *gulps more Kaja Cola beer from the can, swivels*

Camera man: *chuckles*

Org: *starts ignoring Trixany* Alright. So, a lot has happened since the last time you were in the Org Daily Mail studio. Care to explain?

Trix: Oh cool! Yeah, I was wanting to talk about that—wait, do you mean about my glam fishing project?

Org: Welp, this episode will be boring and drop our ratings then… *mutters, annoyed* No, tell us about something more… spicy.

Trix: Okay so, me and Haris Pilton finally had that knock-down, drag-out fight that witch deserved. But then, someone got cute and put us in the same ghetto Lower City Hospital ward. *shrugs, swivels* Which only led to a re-match.

Org: Woah. That’s awful, Trixany. We’re so sorry to hear that someone out there finally took a swing at you… *winks at the camera*

Trix: No, she’s the rotten one. After her little dog stopped being cute, Paris stole my pet dragon whelp Nautistrasz, saying it wasn’t ‘my brand.’ And I told her that her brand is trashbags and Febreeze! Then, she hit me. *tears up* I’m a Bloodknight. She started it, I finished it. Retribution comes with the territory. *sips her beer, calms* Anyway, it ended on a good note. After they transferred me to Scryers Hospital and my recovery was almost finished, I figured—hey, I’m already in here. Might as well get some work done. And there are some treatments you can only get for a good price in Outland. Can you see it? I sort of have a new face now, like that Kardashian girl. *puckers* It’sh shubtle, but alsho mega poutier, shee?

Org: Uh… Hokaaay...

Camera man: How do we trick her into talking about the really good stuff that’ll get her jailed again? Try that!

Org: Ah! So, I see that you’re currently guildless. Isn’t that a bit shameful for someone at your level? A bit… sad? Aren’t you lonely? Angry? Angry enough to start fighting people, or to start some other crazy drama? Maybe shave your head? Attack a Goblin trike with a baseball bat? Punch a camera man in the face like Kanye while you’re walking out of the Mankirk’s Wife Memorial Airport*, right at the heart of Orgrimmar?!

Camera man: Or, you could not encourage her to punch me in the face…

Trix: Wait, is the zeppelin… place… is it called that?

Org: Yeah, it’s pretty sweet. The new zeppelins are now tricked out in all those Quilboar hides that were just piling up in the Barrens, but few people know. Actually, we’re going to start calling it Mankirk’s Wife Memorial Airport after we crash the zeppelin master’s association dinner and finally expose them. Can’t wait. Muahaha…

Camera man: Yeah, you have to tune in for the next episode!

Trix: Mhrm, *files nails* I figured that seemed more like something -you guys- would do.

Org: Now, about you being guild-free and ready to hurt people and also raise our ratings?

Trix: I know, I know, whenever you see someone max-level without a guild tag, it’s like… I dunno, seeing someone who’s clearly not wearing a bra and it’s kind of awkward? And also kinda hawt. But I think you guys can handle that from Trixany. Like right now. We’re hangin’ out and everyone’s fine.

Org: … Wait.

Camera man: Woah. And now, this episode is being banned in Thundberbluff, the Exodar, Stormwind… Not Goldshire, for some reason.

Trix: Being guild-free is liberating, it’s wild! Another thing, being guildless is like being bra-less in that it’s also nobody’s bloody business. I tell those haters, ‘Don’t spam me with your life advice—I look great!’

Org: *clears throat and carefully looks her in the eye* Well, um. But don’t you sometimes feel like you need… more support? Social support, I mean.

Camera man: Sure, Bill. Whatever you say, Bill...

Trix: Nah, I got friends. I still hang out with all the Kaja-Cola girls, too—Actually, there’s talk of us re-forming our girl band. Our new single is going to be unbelievable. Mega Meghan Mango and I wrote it. I think we’re calling it… Roleplay Got Back? It’s the cutest song. And scandalous, yet empowering. And hilarious. Which is like, exactly my brand. Stupid Haris….

Org: Wait, let’s go back to the free Trixany thing—

Trix: Wanna sample? I know one of the verses. Let’s see… *turns her rose red RET HO snapback the other way, and gestures aggressively* My emote anaconda don’t want none unless your roleplay got buns hon!

Org: STOP!! Now, about your lack of a guild… Ratings… need ratings… Trixany! Wouldn’t you be more comfortable if you went around in a um…? And, I mean, I’m a guy, but still-- aren’t there benefits to having one of those… *trails off, looks her cautiously in the eye again* Anyway! I’m just saying, we here at the Org Daily Mail, a quality family show, are very concerned because, without a bra-- a guild! Without a guild, you might stick out too much—No! What I’m saying is, you won’t fit in with other people! And you get less experience. Your mail doesn’t get delivered as fast, right? And aren’t there certain battle pets and other stuff you won’t be able to buy? Is being an individual really worth it?

Trix: I think I stick out just fine. Also, I have plenty of amazing experiences, the mail man always visits me first, and I walk right up to the front of the line at the auction house. They just let me. I even get a discount. Thanks, Drezmit! He’s taking me out this weekend. Aww, isn’t that so sweet of him? He says he’s been worried about me.

Org: *Tries hard not to laugh*

Camera man: Holy crap. I think she’s actually onto something there.

Org: Hold on. *feigning serious again* Are you… saying that you planned this? Going, let’s call it ‘tag-less’, is a real strategy for you?

Trix: Either that, or I just don’t care. *gulps more beer* Do you know what? Maybe it’ll be like that ‘I kissed a girl’ song or that thong song and everyone will start dropping their guild tags for the realer benefits, am I right? I mean, you’ll go to Club Night Owl and be like dancing, and then some hottie without a guild tag will walk in, and then they turn up the music, shine that spotlight, and suddenly everybody just drops their guild tags too, and parties even harder!

Org: Yeah, that won’t happen.

Trix: It could trend, you don’t know. Like glam fishing. I will force glam fishing to be a trend if I have to. Ouch! Sorry—kinda TMI I know, but this bra has been pinching me all day.

Org: Sure it is and I guess I’ll finally ask you… What’s glam fishing? Is this like a low-budget glamping that only Horde B celebrities would be into?

Trix: Seriously? Someone is finally asking me? Yes! Oh goodness, now I’m nervous. I invented it myself, it’s so cool. And it’s perfect if like, you feel your toon, IC’ly, would never dirty their hands with fishing, like me. Well, first, you find a beautiful fishing spot. Next, and this part is most important, you--

Org: Wait, nevermind! My camera man here says we’re out of time. *fake smile* Trixany, we can’t thank you enough for coming into the Org Daily Mail studio and telling us how you are. We care so much and we’re so glad that you’re out of rehab now and doing the topless thing—

Trix: It wasn’t that kind of rehab, and I would never do that! Why would you say that? Are you somehow twisting my words? I thought our last lawsuit settled this! *her speech slows* Wait, whyyyy did I blaaather on the way I did? What’s in thiiiiis friggin’ beer? And WHY did you saaaay this episode was being banned eeeeveryplace but Goldshire??

Org: And thank you all for watching! Remember everyone, the Org Daily Mail cannot be held liable for any gross misinterpretations of what its employees actually said and did today in the studio. Org Daily Mail is also a subsidiary of the Kaja-Cola Corporation: ‘We don’t exploit our workers, we exploit big flavor!’ *cheesy TV grin* Now everybody, you know how it works. Let’s say it together!

All: FOR THE HORDE, AND GOOD NIGHT!

Trix: Waaugh! *Falls out of her swivel chair.*

…

*Note:

Special thanks to a random stranger I talked to a whiiiiiiile back on an alt for the Mankirk’s Wife Memorial Airport idea. Sadly, I can’t remember your name! I joked about all the Quilboar hides piling up in the Horde probably going into the airport in Orgrimmar; that our zeppelins would be covered with them. And then, they laughed and said that if I saw the zeppelin towers as an airport (and it SO totally is) then it would have to be called Mankirk’s Wife Memorial Airport. I can even see Blizz putting a sign up there that says it. Can’t you? Okay so… possibly. And also some NPCs curing Quilboar hides as well as towing parcels… It’s kinda goofy, but I love it. Thank you, kind stranger! I hope it catches on. Another reason why I love this game. Random encounters with really, really fun people. Hahaha!

#mankirks wife memorial airport #warcraft

[namea]

Pride questionaire

the following questions are meant to make people familiar with the various shades of love, attraction and identity, feel free to add your own. happy pride 🌈

what is your sexuality? Pansexual. Generally I just say bisexual since a lot of people don’t know or believe in pansexuality. 

what do gender do you identify as? Female

how long have you been aware of your sexuality/gender? I’ve been aware I was bisexual since I was probably 6 or 7. I didn’t become aware of the term pansexual and the differences between them until my junior year of highschool so about 11 years ago. 

do you have any preferences? I highly prefer women physically. I find them much more attractive and sexually attractive. I have had more success in relationships with men however so if it’s something other than physical I tend to lean towards men. Female relationships have always been far too dramatic and mind-gamey to me. 

share a positive memory about coming out! I told my Dad when I was about 14 and he just said “Yeah? And?” I’m pretty sure he knew. My family was always really accepting of sexualities and we’ve always had gay, trans, etc people in our lives thanks to my mom’s diverse group of friends and my Dad’s sister who is a lesbian. My older sisters are also both bisexual so our family is pretty chill.

how do you feel about pride month? I think some people take it too far to the point of excluding others. However all in all I think it’s a wonderful thing and I am happy for a month to celebrate the accomplishments of the LGBTQ+ community, remember our struggles, and show support for everyone around the world who is a part of it both here and those we’ve lost.

do you participate in pride related events? any other events? I used to. I had a very bad experience at a pride parade here in Nashville once and since then I have not been comfortable with the lgbt community here. I have found it to be a very hostile and dangerous place that shows far more bigotry than even the most conservative straight people I know. 

how do you feel about lgbtq roles in media? I am very excited by the growing prominance they hold. I don’t believe in the “bury your gays” conspiracy theory. I am a bit miffed at the stereotypes shown and the lack of variation from them but all things in time. For now every bit of exposure and normalization of non-hetero relationships is a step forward. 

do you feel pride in who you are? Absolutely but not just for my sexuality. My sexuality is only a very small part of who I am. I’m more proud of the changes I’ve made to myself, how I’ve matured, how I’ve changed and become a better person. How I’ve become a good mother and a good friend, daughter, sister, and wife.

who has been your supportive idols in your self discovery? My Dad for one. He’s straight but he’s always been supportive of everything I do and who I am. Also Xena...XD My mom is a great source of inspiration as well. For as long as I can remember she taught us that love is love and kindness is not optional. 

tell us about your first crush? Xena. I had a crush on her before I ever had a crush on a boy. It wasn’t until my first boy crush that I realized I felt the same way about boys and girls. I didn’t really think anything of it or address it though. 

what sort of advice to have you lgbtq teens? Love yourself. Even if your family doesn’t approve, even if your friends turn on you. Love yourself and know that you are loved. There are so many of us who have been through what you’re going through and even if we’ve never known you we love you and support you. We want you to grow up and join us and be accepted. Someday the world will see you as the shining light that you are. Please don’t give up. 

have you come out to friends and family? Yup. I’m completely open. It’s not like I tell everyone the moment I meet them but there’s no hiding it. If someone asks I tell them straight out. Anyone who doesn’t know by now is just ignoring it and lying to themselves if they actually care about me. 

how do you feel about the term “coming out” ? I think the term means different things to different people. I don’t really feel like I have the right to answer that because I didn’t so much as “come out” rather I kinda just “confirmed what my family already knew”. I had a very easy time of it. 

do you believe there is a “closet” to come out of? For some people I’m sure. 

any tips on coming out? Again, due to my relatively easy experience I can’t speak for the difficult ones. I can say that if your family has been supportive of lgbt issues in the past it’s best to be honest with them and yourself as soon as you can. 

what’s your biggest pet peeve when it comes to lgbtq characterization in media? The constant pervasive idea that any lesbian or bisexual woman will immediately turn her head for a man if he’s hot enough. Also the idea that every single gay man is obnoxiously effeminate. And lastly, probably the most angering to me: The gay bff trope. It causes straight girls to treat gay men like fetish objects. Accessories. They think they need a gay bff but what they really want is basically a piece of jewelry to spout sassy quotes and talk about boys with them. They don’t care about them as people and that bothers me so much. 

what’s your favorite parts of lgbtq characterization in media? That they’re there! This is such a huge evolution from even when I was young. I remember how Xena and Gabrielle were in an obviously romantic relationship but they had to cover it up with subtext and make sure it was just shown as “best friends”.

what did your teachers say about the lgbtqa community in school? I went to a very open school in High School. When we learned sex ed there were portions on the LGBT community. Several of my teachers were openly out even. One of my most religious teachers who had a cross in her classroom even spoke happily about gay rights and was in full support of them. We had projects in which we had to “marry” a classmate and the teachers allowed gay marriage. We even had an LGBT club that ran events and had a ton of fun. 

do you practice safe sex with the same gender? ABSOLUTELY. Always. Pregnancy isn’t the only thread with sex. Even having sex with other women it is important to erm...clean your instruments...between uses and/or use condoms for them. 

what’s an absolute turn off for you in the opposite/same gender? My biggest turn off in men is arrogance. If a man comes off as being full of himself I don’t find it sexy, I find it annoying. My biggest turn off in a woman is immaturity. Not in a playful way but the kind of immaturity that leads to high school level head games and drama. I’m comin’ up on 30, anyone my age should be done with that crap. 

what’s an absolute turn on for you in the opposite/same gender? My biggest turn on with men is humour. I love goofy guys and I married the perfect one! My biggest turn on with women is also humour. I like a woman who isn’t afraid to be silly, even in public. Let’s dance in the grocery store or tell silly jokes in the restaurant. If we’re together we should be able to have fun without fearing judgement. 

how do you feel about lgbtq clubs/apps/websites? Not for me. To be honest I’ve faced more hatred and cruelty from the LGBT community than I ever did from straight people. I was friends with a group for YEARS here in Nashville but the minute I stopped just sleeping with my husband and actually got together with him they turned on me as if dating a man suddenly made me “not bi enough”. I got insulted, bulliled, had drinks thrown on me, and was almost beaten up at a pride parade. It was humiliating and awful, all because I was with a man. Since then I’ve been wary of LGBT groups. If they can’t accept me even married to a man then they aren’t as open minded as they should be. 

how do you feel about the term “queer” ? I have no issues with it. 

how does you country view the lgbtq community? Totally mixed bag tbh. I live in the south but I’m in the most progressive part of TN so at least it’s not bad here. 

favorite lgbtq actor/actress? I adore Ellen Page, Zachary Quinto, and my very favourites are Sir Ian McKellan and George Takei

any tips for heterosexual and/or cisgender people on how to handle lgbtq events/news? Just be supportive. You’re welcome at my table at least. I don’t exclude anyone who wants to be friendly and an ally. Be kind, don’t sling inappropriate jokes or slurs, and apologize if you’re corrected on something. 

what’s the most annoying question you have ever gotten? “So if you’re a man now you’re straight, right?” No. My sexuality doesn’t change just because I’m now with a man. Still like ladies, still look at them, just can’t touch. 

how do you feel about receiving questions about your sexuality/gender? Happy to answer for myself any time. I can’t answer for others since there’s such a huge varied spectrum. 

#nonsims #pride #lgbt #quiz